The Martyrs of Science, or, The lives of Galileo

CONTENTS.


LIFE OF GALILEO.

Page.
CHAPTER I. 1

Peculiar interest attached to his Life--His Birth--His early
studies--His passion for Mathematics--His work on the Hydrostatic
Balance--Appointed Lecturer on Mathematics at Pisa--His antipathy
to the Philosophy of Aristotle--His contentions with the
Aristotelians--Chosen Professor of Mathematics in Padua--Adopts the
Copernican system, but still teaches the Ptolemaic doctrine--His
alarming illness--He observes the new Star in 1604--His Magnetical
experiments,

CHAPTER II. 20

Cosmo, Grand Duke of Tuscany, invites Galileo to Pisa--Galileo
visits Venice in 1609, where he first hears of the Telescope--He
invents and constructs one, which excites a great
sensation--Discovers Mountains in the Moon, and Forty Stars in the
Pleiades--Discovers Jupiter's Satellites in 1610--Effect of this
discovery on Kepler--Manner in which these discoveries were
received--Galileo appointed Mathematician to Cosmo--Mayer claims the
discovery of the Satellites of Jupiter--Harriot observes them in
England in October 1610,

CHAPTER III. 42

Galileo announces his discoveries in Enigmas--Discovers the
Crescent of Venus--the Ring of Saturn--the Spots on the
Sun--Similar Observations made in England by Harriot--Claims of
Fabricius and Scheiner to the discovery of the Solar
Spots--Galileo's Letters to Velser on the claims of Scheiner--His
residence at the Villa of Salviati--Composes his work on Floating
Bodies, which involves him in new controversies,

CHAPTER IV. 56

Galileo treats his Opponents with severity and sarcasm--He is aided
by the Sceptics of the day--The Church Party the most
powerful--Galileo commences the attack, and is answered by Caccini,
a Dominican--Galileo's Letter to the Grand Duchess of Tuscany, in
support of the motion of the Earth and the stability of the
Sun--Galileo visits Rome--Is summoned before the Inquisition--And
renounces his opinions as Heretical--The Inquisition denounces the
Copernican system--Galileo has an audience of the Pope, but still
maintains his opinions in private society--Proposes to find out the
Longitude at Sea by means of Jupiter's Satellites--His negotiation
on this subject with the Court of Spain--Its failure--He is unable
to observe the three Comets of 1618, but is involved in the
controversy to which they gave rise,

CHAPTER V. 72

Urban VIII., Galileo's friend, raised to the Pontificate--Galileo
goes to Rome to offer his congratulations--The Pope loads Galileo
with presents, and promises a Pension to his Son--Galileo in
pecuniary difficulties, owing to the death of his patron,
Cosmo--Galileo again rashly attacks the Church, notwithstanding the
Pope's kindness--He composes his System of the World, to
demonstrate the Copernican System--Artfully obtains a license to
print it--Nature of the work--Its influence on the public mind--The
Pope resolves on suppressing it--Galileo summoned before the
Inquisition--His Trial--His Defence--His formal Abjuration of his
Opinions--Observations on his conduct--The Pope shews great
indulgence to Galileo, who is allowed to return to his own house at
Arcetri as the place of his confinement,

CHAPTER VI. 102

Galileo loses his favourite Daughter--He falls into a state of
melancholy and ill health--Is allowed to go to Florence for its
recovery in 1638--But is prevented from leaving his House or
receiving his Friends--His friend Castelli permitted to visit him
in the presence of an Officer of the Inquisition--He composes his
celebrated Dialogues on Local Motion--Discovers the Moon's
Libration--Loses the sight of one Eye--The other Eye attacked by
the same Disease--Is struck Blind--Negociates with the Dutch
Government respecting his Method of finding the Longitude--He is
allowed free intercourse with his Friends--His Illness and Death in
1642--His Epitaph--His Social, Moral, and Scientific Character,