138 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Ptolemy and that of Copernicus, as open to discussion, inasmuch as either 

 one might be true to nature; but after the said decision, assured of the wisdom 

 of the authorities, I ceased to have any doubt; and I held and still hold, 

 as most true and indisputable, the opinion of Ptolemy, that is to say, the 

 stability of the earth and the motion of the sun. 



Questioned upon the publication of his Dialogues, he answers in 

 accordance with his previous utterances. ' I am here to obey/ he says, 

 ' and I have not held this opinion since the decision was pronounced.' 

 The protocol of his trial concludes with the words: (Galileo's) ' signa- 

 ture was obtained to his deposition and he was sent back to his place.' 

 This place was not the palace of the Tuscan ambassador. Galileo was 

 detained at the building of the Holy Office till June 24. It is the 

 opinion of the best judges that Galileo was not confined in the dungeons 

 cf the Inquisition. 



There is not in the Vatican manuscript of the protocol, or in any 

 other place, any evidence or any hint that Galileo was put to the 

 torture at this or at any time. That he was threatened with the 

 torture is equally certain. If he had boldly professed the Copernican 

 opinion the proceedings would have taken a course that had been 

 prescribed in advance (June 16). As he was disposed to abjure this 

 opinion the course was different. 



On the twenty-second of June, 1633, Galileo was brought into the 

 presence of his judges, where his sentence was pronounced. The 

 sentence of Galileo is a long document. The following extracts con- 

 tain the points of especial importance. 



We the undersigned ( the names are given ) , by the Mercy of God, Cardinals 

 of the Holy Roman Church, Inquisitors-general throughout all the Christian 

 Republic, deputed by the Holy Seat against heretical perversity: 



Whereas, you, Galileo, son of the late Vincenzio Galilei, Florentine, aged 

 70 years, were denounced, in 1615, to this Holy Office, for holding as true a 

 false doctrine proposed by several authors, that is to say, that the sun is 

 immovable . . . ; and moreover for having had certain disciples to whom you 

 taught the same doctrine; for having corresponded on this subject with 

 certain mathematicians of Germany; for having made public certain letters 

 on the subject of spots upon the Sun in which you expounded the said doc- 

 trine as true; and whereas you answered, when objections were made to you 

 citing to you passages of Scripture, by explaining the said Scripture in your 

 own manner; and whereas a copy of a letter was shown to you, said to have 

 been written by you to one of your former disciples (Castelli), in which 

 you, still maintaining the hypotheses of Copernicus, interpreted several propo- 

 sitions contrary to the meaning and the authority of Holy Writ : 



This Holy Tribunal being therefore desirous of proceeding against the dis- 

 order and mischief thence resulting . . . the two propositions of the stability 

 of the Sun and the motion of the earth were . . . qualified as follows: 



The proposition that the sun is the center of the world and does not move 

 from its place is absurd and false philosophically, and formally heretical, be- 

 cause it is expressly contrary to the Holy Scripture. 



The proposition that the earth is not the center of the world and immovable, 



