434 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



" false," " opposed to Holy Writ," and " damaging to Catholic truth," 

 Science has persuaded even Monsignor Capel to accept. 



But it is a constant tendency rather than a single fact which is 

 chiefly important here, and a few jottings will show with sufficient 

 plainness what this tendency has ever been. The fate of Giordano 

 Bruno is referred to in my Belfast Address. For a further reference 

 to him I would direct the reader to a brief passage in the Appendix 

 to the same. The case of Galileo is also touched upon ; and to this it 

 may be added here that he died the prisoner of the Inquisition, which, 

 true to its instincts, followed him beyond the grave, disputing his right 

 to make a will, and denying him burial in consecrated ground. 1 



Again, the famous Academia del Cimento was established at Flor- 

 ence in 1657, and held its meetings in the ducal palace. It lasted ten 

 years, and was then suppressed at the instance of the Papal Govern- 

 ment. As an. equivalent, the brother of the grand-duke was made a 

 cardinal. The Jesuits were less successful in Bavaria in 1759; for 

 they did their best, but vainly, to prevent the founding of the Academy 

 of Sciences in Munich. Their waning power was indicated by this 

 fact, and in 1773 Pope Clement XIV. dissolved the order. The de- 

 cree was to be " irrevocable;" the Society of Jesus was "never to be 

 restored;" still, in 1814, an infallible follower of Clement, Pope Pius 

 VII., undid the work of his equally infallible predecessor, and revoked 

 his decree. 



But why go back to 1456 ? .Far be it from me to charge by-gone 

 sins upon Monsignor Capel's Church, were it not for her practices to- 

 day. The most applauded dogmatist of the Jesuits is, I am informed, 

 Perrone. Thirty editions of a work of his have been scattered abroad 

 in all lands by a society to which he belongs. His notions of physi- 

 cal astronomy are quite in accordance with those of 1456. He teaches 

 boldly that " God does not rule by universal law .... that when God 

 [obviously a Big Man] orders a given planet to stand still he does not 

 detract from any law passed by himself, but orders that planet to 

 move round the sun for such and such a time, then to stand still, and 

 then again to move, as his pleasure may be." Jesuitism proscribed 

 Frohschammer for questioning its favorite dogma that every human 

 soid was created by a direct supernatural act of God, and for asserting 

 that man, body and soul, came from his parents. This is the society 

 that now strives for universal power; it is from it, as Monsignor Capel 

 graciously informs us, that we are to learn what is allowable in science 

 and what is not ! 



In the face of such facts, which might be multiplied at will, it re- 

 quires extraordinary bravery of mind, or a reliance upon public igno- 

 rance almost as extraordinary, to make the claims made by Monsignor 

 Capel for his Church. 



A German author, speaking of one who has had bitter experience 



1 Draper, "Trial of Galileo." 



