Downloaded from German library here; text extracted by BackToLuther 2020-02-10; German text here; Published here; Last edit 2020-02-10;
NB: see scattered Comments scattered through this document.
Wait for JH to see if he comes up with an image for Schöpffer!
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Dr. Schöpffer
the Great Reformer
of Astronomy.
A misunderstood genius honored for his scientific unworthiness
by
C. Jm. Küster,
Evangelical pastor in Gemünd.
Motto:
Science must turn back.
Stahl
Cologne.
Gering von C. Roemke & Cie.
1874.
The Manen Friedr. Schürmann's former head teacher in Moers!
When I consecrate these fleeting lines to Your memory, beloved fatherly friend, I am conscious that they are not a monument worthy of Your beautiful life and blessed work. Your noble image had been desecrated to me in connection with the great masters of the two sister sciences for which your soul glowed, by that mighty power with which "the gods themselves fight in vain" and which you have always hated with all the power of your strong soul. This profanation demanded atonement. May I have succeeded in depicting in this flyer Your stretched Hmm! with which You greeted this enemy of the human race when she had unconsciously stolen away, as well as Your holy anger when she stubbornly combined with arrogance. Your eyesight was well extinguished when we sat at your feet, but You did let us see that heavenly light which illuminated your soul during long dark years.
May soon a more dignified person than myself draw your dear features on the many who love you and thank you forever!
But those friends and pupils of the dear departed who should consider me worthy and capable of drawing the unforgettable teacher, the noble man, the penetrating thinker, the pious Christian, I ask you to put me in the position to do so by your contributions!
[Page 5]
In short he was an original
And from originality
He would do fools like others!
Göthe.
A certain Dr. Carl Schöpffer in Leipzig had the clever idea to become a reformer of astronomy. We have no objections to it. We can be highly indifferent to whether the earth or the sun is running; we take things as they are, if only we do not otherwise return or even come down. But we would have been very badly off if we had accepted it indifferently if men like Newton, Leibnitz, Kant, Laplace, Herrschel, Humboldt, Gauss, Encke 2c. had been treated like schoolboys. That the great doctor did this is illustrated by the following.
In his brochure: "Contradictions in Astronomy. " (Who denies that there are any of them? "The world is full of contradictions" says Göthe, and yet it even exists with a Dr. Schöpffer), he wants to shed light on the world that is deeply caught in superstition, stupidity and atheism (of course, according to the hackneyed Moravian myth, the Copernican hypothesis must favour atheism among a certain class of Orthodox, which Schleiermacher calls "larvae" [page 6]! By one of the light stumps he produced, on which he does a lot of good to himself, one can see how the lighting turned out at all, and admire the eminent acumen of the great Doctor. We note beforehand that we have no intention at all of making him understand, or of taking away his opinion, which makes him so happy; even the opinion that he stands up for truth and justice undaunted, as he repeatedly assures us, we want to leave him unchallenged; he may well believe this in sincere earnest. That he at least made it far in the intrepidness of the person he was looking at, he gives proof of that, too. That he believes he is fanatically hated and persecuted, for which he is in fact too innocent, should not surprise us, since he boldly puts up barriers with all the greats of this and previous centuries, and the true greats also have their powerful haters. He complains that no one pays attention to him and refutes him; he also considers this to be impossible, and as far as refuting is concerned, he is completely right for himself and people of his kind.
Let us now take the weighty proof with which he irrefutably demonstrates that Newton was one of the most pupil-like mathematicians who did not understand the bean of circularity.
It is the proof for the rotation of the earth closed by the flattening at the poles, which is to be established by measurement. The ingenious Newton concluded (the Plateau's experiment proves the correctness of this conclusion) that when the earth rotates, it rotates, assuming a transition from a softer state to a general solidification, at which poles should have flattened out. This can be determined by degree measurements on the meridian. Newton says: the [page 7] correctness of my assumptions is admitted, the surface of the earth must become more curved after the equator, the closer to the poles, the flatter. Since the flatter arc now belongs to a larger circle than the other, the degrees of a meridian to the poles must also become too long. These measurements have been made and have fully confirmed the ingenious conclusion of the great Briton. Dr. S. is now so malicious as to claim that they wanted to find the result, the results were not correct and what are such cheap objections more. He seems to have no idea of the difficulty and laboriousness of measuring degrees. Meridians are not ellwares; but it is strong to believe that men of science are capable of such humbug, and such expensive and tedious ones at that!
A == Equator
| X
E N == Nordpol P
N’
But Dr. S. wants to prove that it is. - Good! Even the best can be wrong. Respect for an evidence that does its duty. For the clever Doctor says: If Newton's presupposition were correct, then the reverse would have to be true; the degrees would have to become too shorter and not longer after the poles, since X N', although a flatter arc is shorter than the arc X N, and the good Newton has forgotten that the arc X N' belongs to another circle than the one with the centre E.
I don't know whether Carlchen Mießnick is still sitting in subquarters; but I believe he would have been just as capable of making this [page 8] discovery. One does not know what to wonder more about, ignorance, or the noble audacity with which one dares to stamp men of science into stupid boys. The great mathematician Newton and the "tail of astronomers and mathematicians after him", they are all said to have carelessly jumped over something that could possibly give a Quaternary a slap in the face? Truly, if astronomical science stood on such weak foundations, it would be time to gather all the libraries together and give the great doctor a matchbox in his hand. Would it be possible to find a more indestructible faith in one's own infallibility in Rome? A reasonable person would say to himself here: this is a real folly and before I look for stupidity in Newton, I look for it in myself and prefer to think about it ten and again ten times. But that's how it goes, when you're even too hot on the laurels of a reformer!
Now let's see how it plays out. We assume only the most elementary geographical terms.
If you think the axis of the earth extends beyond the north pole, it meets a well known bright star, called Polaris, because it is almost perpendicular to the north pole. This star is in the horizon of the equatorial dweller, the supponated polar dweller has it in the zenith. If we think that the equatorial inhabitant also has a star at the zenith and we then draw a straight line from this star along the vault of the sky to the North Star, we have ¼ of a whole circle, a quadrant == 90°. So for the equator inhabitant the pole height == 0° for the pole inhabitant == 90°. If we now walk in our mind with the protractor in our hands towards the North Pole, it is clear that the further north we come, the higher the Polaris rises. If it has risen by 1° on the horizon, then we [page 9] on earth have passed through 1° of a meridian; in general, the height of the pole is always equal to the latitude, and so it is according to the height of the pole that we determine in which region of the earth we are. So you see! The latitude circles are not determined from the centre of the earth to the centre, as the obstinate Dr. Schöpffer wants, but according to the height of the pole, and for good reasons!
The quadrant from the equator to the pole, the earth quadrant, should not be confused with the celestial quadrant. The quadrant of the Earth, Newton assumed, is not a regular quarter circle, it becomes flatter, as mentioned above, the closer we get to the pole, (A X N') If we now stand at the equator, facing the North Star, we first have the more curved part of the Earth quadrant in front of us. If we now walk north on the more curved part of the arc, we must necessarily see Polaris rising faster on the horizon than on the flatter part of the arc, i.e. the closer to the pole, the slower Polaris rises, so the further one must walk to see it rise by one degree: i.e. the degrees are too longer after the poles than closer to the equator, as the measurements have also determined. *)
A K
|
|
———————————
X B C Y
For those for whom this representation should not yet be quite clear, the following consideration: C Y is a plane. On this level there is a church tower whose cross is in K. A B and A C
———————————
*) The sighted will easily notice that, like X N belongs to a larger circle, so A X belongs to a smaller circle than the one with center E. The reason lies in the mass shift.
[Page 10]
are two paths that lead from mountain top A to the plain. The path A B is steeper than the path A C. A and K should be thought of at the same height. If we go down path A B and keep an eye on K, we find that K rises as we enter the plain. The same is the case with A C, but the difference is that when we walk A B, K rises faster than when we walk A C, because the latter path is less steep, flatter and therefore longer. This as a visual aid!
So the bullshit has the honor of being on the side of our doctor. What can one say about the brain of a person who does not even understand the most necessary elementary concepts of a science and who then claims to want to reform it? We strongly recommend Diesterwegs Himmelskunde, in which the elementary concepts are developed with the usual mastery. He said he would leave it at that with the letter for the time being. It is not good to read a lot of books, you have to understand them. The man used to lecture astronomy to young girls. He'll have cooked up a nice mess.
The great Doctor gives all credit to practical astronomy; but theoretical astronomy is an abomination to him. Believe it or not, it takes brains and a little abstraction. But here the theory he damned up has taken terrible revenge. For everyone pleads at first sight that here Newton was the practitioner, but the great doctor was a theorist. As he wants to measure the meridians from the center of the earth, who would not be curious about this outrageous feat? Yes, doctor, there is an awful lot of irony in science. I don't suppose you'd have believed it!
Now some more blooms! [Page 11]
He knows that the sun is at most 1000000 miles away from the earth. (How does he know?! Quiet! Who's going to ask such a thing!) She is a flame that goes around the earth in 24 hours. (He closes that and he can still close what and from what he wants.) We calculate 1 million miles distance, makes a diameter of 2 million, so a path of 3-1/7 x 2 million miles, makes to the second:
3-1/7 x 2000000 6285714-2/7
------- == ------ == 72.7 miles.
24 . 60 . 60 86400
A good speed!
He hasn't calculated it; but he thinks we are used to high speeds nowadays! How does the sluggish earth with about 4 miles a second want to come up against it!
I am now so free and hold it for the time being with Copernicus. It is also not well-behaved to lie still yourself and let others run so furiously. Perhaps a mode can be found between Copernicus and S. that the sun and earth alternate every 24 hours. Would you friend of the standing or lying earth not be satisfied with this? What does it actually stand for?
A new revelation about the light! All the nonsensical undulation and other theories are eliminated in one fell swoop by the "luminous matter" on which the "disembodied" (!) comets also exist. Hence also Moses in the 1st cap. of Genesis (of course he knows exactly that Moses wrote this, he probably looked over his shoulder) the creative discovery, which was about to happen in the 19th century, did not mean "lights", as Luther translated wrongly, but candlesticks. It must therefore be said: God made two great candlesticks. A great candlestick to rule the day and a small candlestick to rule the [page 12] night. (Is he not sublime?) Now he did not discuss whether the seven-armed lampstand from the tabernacle was also there, nor how the lampstand should shine, since the light hastens on the body and similar good-natured things, which a criminal curiosity may ask about. He honestly admits, by the way, that he actually knows nothing about all these beautiful things. For once a man has his own taste. He has the peculiar hobby of trying to explain what he himself does not know. So he also thinks that infinitesimal calculus is fake. It is well known that the priority of their discovery was a dispute between Newton and Leibnitz . One will probably not be able to avoid granting everyone the price of independent invention; a very strong proof that the matter cannot be without it. People who don't think as sublimely as Dr. S judges. But perhaps he will say: Why shouldn't two great men do something stupid at the same time and pass the time with faxes? Certainly! Nothing in the way. But we already know what his opinion is worth. If he thinks that the mathematicians only talk about this science among themselves, that nobody understands anything about it and they are only ashamed to say it, it is so much clear that the great doctor himself does not understand anything about it at first. But he can judge. Who's gonna fight him off?! What this clever man does not know is not there for once; what he does not understand is nonsense.
Of the comets he knows that they are "disembodied", that they have no closed orbit and therefore no one has ever returned. Probably because he is on good terms with this airy "disembodied" clan. With the cunning with which he uses the centre of the earth for experimentation, what prevents him from suddenly tying a knot in the tail of every comet? That's how he knows his cardboard cutouts. [Page 13]
To accept an infinite space is the crown of nonsense! Surely, where the world is boarded up, he has personally investigated the matter.
What are depths in the sky? Rats! What is infinity? Fantasy!
He tells a wonderful story about Humboldt and Gauss. Humboldt agreed with him, but said that superstition was too widespread to dare to rise up against it. On the other hand, he would stand up as soon as an astronomer of reputation preceded him, and Gauss was said to have exclaimed when he told him so: If only I were 20 years younger! To anyone who has read the first volume of Humboldt's Kosmos, wouldn't that seem Spanish? Although we do not want to doubt the credibility of the Doctor, it is hardly possible to assume that H. meant this in all seriousness to an ignorant person, [I was waiting for someone to question Schöpffer's account] who is not yet beyond the elementary concepts. The old scholar probably didn't know any other way to get rid of the great Doctor in a good way and the cozy Gauss probably thought that the Doctor hadn't lost all hope and malt, since he, if you can believe him, tried so hard, especially since he was wonderfully preserved in Göttingen in an explosion and had the opportunity to prove his faith with a superior smile to three Jews who were screaming in mortal fear in the Baden area or somewhere else when the mail van crashed down a slope. But the unbelieving Jews were also saved. Surely for the sake of the believer!
The previous speaker, Dr. Frantz, is also a saint of a well-known kind. He makes mighty pranks against the Edomites, (of course all those who are not of the same color as him) fanatics and fools who are so morally degraded that they can no longer see the [page 14] bare bare truth. May be also a doctor who sends such a student-like book with a preface into the world! Well, we are accustomed to seeing people laughing at reason and reason, if only they were not Edomites, that is, they were among the chosen ones. Habeant sibi. Despise only reason and science! They have been chosen - by the high goddess, against whom the gods fight in vain. Our doctor says, whoever scolded him, his cause was not far off. He did not omit the proof of this important word in his Exercitium.
The doctor, as he says, fights for truth and enlightenment. All noble people do. Only the way of fighting is different. Some prefer to fight nonsense by nonsense; others, less satirically, are just about to start. If he should belong to the former, I hereby sincerely ask him for forgiveness, for he has then delivered a work which is unparalleled and will render all the greater services the more widely it is distributed. Therefore, dear Doctor, let us move forward in unity: truth, education, freedom of mind, salvation from all dogmatic superstition, that shall be our slogan, like that of all honest men!
No offence that I have your friendly advice: "Stay away from astronomy! "...I did not obey. Unfortunately, I had already enjoyed a little bit of the tree of knowledge before. But one more thing: Where did you actually do your doctorate, Doctor? Adieu!