A NEW ASTRONOMY 223 



to enlighten, to warm, and to nourish it. What are these parts of the 

 microcosmos ? Two nostrils, two eyes, two ears, and a mouth. So in 

 the heavens, as in a macrocosmos, there are two favorable stars, two 

 unpropitious, two luminaries, and Mercury undecided and indifferent. 

 From this and many other similarities in nature, such as the seven 

 metals, etc. which it were tedious to enumerate, we gather that the 

 number of planets is necessarily seven. Moreover, these satellites of 

 Jupiter are invisible to the naked eye, and therefore can exercise no 

 influence on the earth, and therefore would be useless, and therefore 

 do not exist. Besides, the Jews and other ancient nations, as well 

 as modern Europeans, have adopted the division of the week into 

 seven days, and have named them after the seven planets. Now, 

 if we increase the number of the planets, this whole and beautiful 

 system falls to the ground.' Fahie. 



It was inevitable that such a man as Galileo should accept the 

 Copernican hypothesis. He writes to Kepler in 1597: 



'I esteem myself fortunate to have found so great an ally in the 

 search for truth. It is truly lamentable, that there are so few who 

 strive for the true and are ready to turn away from wrong ways of 

 philosophizing. But here is no place for bewailing the pitifulness of 

 our times, instead of wishing you success in your splendid investiga- 

 tions. I do this the more gladly, since I have been for many years 

 an adherent of the Copernican theory. It explains to me the cause 

 of many phenomena which under the generally accepted theory are 

 quite unintelligible. I have collected many arguments for refuting the 

 latter, but I do not venture to bring them to publication. 



'That the moon is a body like the earth I have long been assured. 

 I have also discovered a multitude of previously invisible fixed stars, 

 outnumbering more than ten times those which can be seen by the 

 naked eye, forming the Milky Way. Further I have discovered 

 that Saturn consists of three spheres which almost touch each 

 other.' 



While none of Galileo's astronomical discoveries were either 

 necessary or sufficient to confirm the Copernican theory, their 

 support was exceedingly important. Thus the slow motion of 

 the sun spots across the disc and their subsequent reappearance 



