phenomena. The earliest records relating to them are not very clear,
and we cannot in every instance be certain that it was one of these
appearances that the ignorant and superstitious old chroniclers are
trying to describe. The first temporary star that we are absolutely
sure of appeared in 1572, and is known as ``Tycho's Star,'' because
the celebrated Danish astronomer (whose remains, with his
gold-and-silver artificial nose -- made necessary by a duel -- still
intact, were disinterred and reburied in 1901) was the first to
perceive it in the sky, and the most assiduous and successful in his
studies of it. As the first fully accredited representative of its
class, this new star made its entry upon the scene with becoming
éclat. It is characteristic of these phenomena that they burst into
view with amazing suddenness, and, of course, entirely unexpectedly.
Tycho's star appeared in the constellation Cassiopeia, near a now
well-known and much-watched little star named Kappa, on the evening of
November 11, 1572. The story has often been repeated, but it never
loses interest, how Tycho, going home that evening, saw people in the
street pointing and staring at the sky directly over their heads, and
following the direction of their hands and eyes he was astonished to
see, near the zenith, an unknown star of surpassing brilliance. It
outshone the planet Jupiter, and was therefore far brighter than the
first magnitude. There was not another star in the heavens that could
be compared with it in splendor. Tycho was not in all respects free
from the superstitions of his time -- and who is? -- but he had the
true scientific instinct, and immediately he began to study the
stranger, and to record with the greatest care every change in its
aspect. First he determined as well as he could with the imperfect
instruments of his day, many of which he himself had invented, the
precise location of the phenomena in the sky. Then he followed the
changes that it underwent. At first it brightened until its light