ABSTRACT
Novelties began to be noticed in the heavens. According to the received view drawn from Aristotle, the heavens were cyclical in their motions and essentially unchanging; perhaps even more fundamentally, all objects in the heavens were already known, at least in principle. There is certainly something very noble and large minded in the intention of those who have endeavored to protect from envy the noble achievements of distinguished men, and to rescue their names, worthy of immortality, from oblivion and decay. But others, having regards for more stable and more lasting monuments, secured the eternity of the fame of great men by placing it under the protection, not of marble or bronze, but of the Muses' guardianship and the imperishable monuments of literature. The number of the Fixed Stars which observers have been able to see without artificial powers of sight up to this day can be counted.
