74 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of the book. ' Your reasons/ says Simplicius, ' are most ingenious ; 

 but I do not believe them to be either true or conclusive.' Then 

 Simplicius recalls a wise reflection, made formerly, in his presence, by 

 an eminent personage before whom all must bow, as follows : ( We 

 observe,' he says, ' nothing but appearances ; by what right do you 

 presume to limit the power of God by fixing the ways in which it has 

 pleased Him to produce them?' These are the very words spoken by 

 Pope Urban to Galileo in 1624. They were considered conclusive 

 by the Pope. In the mouth of Simplicius they ring hollow. 



It must not be forgotten that Galileo's theory of the tides upon 

 which the Dialogues turn is, in itself, entirely erroneous. The tides 

 are not due to the moon, he says, but to certain motions of the earth, 

 which are then discussed. The first motion is its rotation round an 

 axis, the second its motion of revolution about the sun, and there 

 is a third motion by virtue of which its axis of rotation is constrained 

 to pass always through the same stars. The third motion (invented 

 by Copernicus) is superfluous. The axis of the earth is always parallel 

 to itself as it moves round the sun. Two motions are sufficient to ac- 

 count for all the phenomena; the third does not exist. It was, how- 

 ever, upon this third motion that Galileo founded his theory of 

 the tides, which is, therefore, baseless. Many of his arguments for 

 the Copernican doctrine are irresistible. Those founded on the tides 

 are, necessarily, erroneous. 



To obtain the authority to print the Dialogues Galileo went to 

 Eome (May, 1630), where his friend and former pupil, Father Eiccardi, 

 was censor (master of the Sacred Palace). Without the imprimatur 

 nothing could be printed. When the imprimatur of the censor was 

 once given to any book its author was prima facie relieved from re- 

 sponsibility. In the subsequent proceedings against Galileo it was 

 charged that he obtained the imprimatur by a * ruse.' The history, as 

 understood at Eome, was briefly as follows: In May, 1630, Galileo 

 took the MS. to Eome, submitted it to the master of the Sacred Palace 

 (Eiccardi) and asked permission to print. Eiccardi wished, for 

 greater security, to review the book himself. To save time, it was 

 agreed that the book should be printed at once and that the sheets, 

 leaf by leaf, should be sent to Eiccardi. To carry out this plan the 

 imprimatur was given for Eome. Galileo soon went to Florence and 

 from thence asked the censor for permission to print at Florence. 

 This permission was refused. Eiccardi insisted that the sheets should 

 be submitted to him according to the original agreement. The plague 

 was then raging throughout Italy and it was impossible to transmit 

 parcels from Florence to Eome on account of the quarantine. 



It was finally arranged through the Tuscan ambassador, Niccolini, 

 that the printing should be done at Florence under the condition of 



