i42 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



mechanics and it is the crowning glory of Galileo's life. It attracted 

 instant and universal attention, and at the age of seventy-four Galileo 

 was again recognized by all Europe as a master of science — a founder 

 of doctrine. The troubles of his later years grew light in the satis- 

 faction of his legitimate pride. 



Myths have grown up about the history of Galileo that it is not 

 necessary to destroy. The whole distressing story has been told in 

 authentic documents. He never suffered bodily torture; he was 

 humiliated and discredited. He never even dared to whisper: E pur 

 se muove. His history, though misinterpreted, has been of the deepest 

 service to the world. It affords a symbol around which the rights of 

 men to freedom of thought have clustered. Just as Benedict Arnold 

 serves as the type of a traitor, so Galileo has been made to serve as a 

 martyr of science. But he was no martyr. A true martyr does not 

 abjure his opinions even in presence of the rack. While his recanta- 

 tion may be excused, it does not testify to moral greatness. We may 

 add a paragraph from Gebler: 



Party interests and passions have to a great extent and with few ex- 

 ceptions, guided the pens of those who have written on Galileo's life. The one 

 side has lauded him as an admirable martyr of science, and ascribed more 

 cruelty to the Inquisition than it really inflicted on him; the other has 

 thought proper to enter the lists as defender of the Inquisition, and to wash 

 it white at Galileo's expense. Historic truth contradicts both. 



Galileo was a genius of the first order. His title to lasting fame 

 rests principally on his investigations in mechanics and physics, on 

 the theory of the pendulum, the law of falling bodies, the invention 

 of the thermometer, and on the intelligence with which he employed 

 his unique opportunity for telescopic discoveries. His popular reputa- 

 tion will, however, always be based upon his re-invention of the tele- 

 scope, his advocacy and proof of the Copernican system, his sufferings 

 from the Inquisition, his torture, his abjuration, his seclusion at 

 Arcetri. He will remain preeminently the martyr for science. 



