GALILEO. 259 



wished his brilliant son to adopt the lucrative profession of medicine. 

 Galileo's early inclinations seem to have been to become a painter. 

 The boy was educated at the monastery of Vallombrosa, where he 

 learned Latin, some Greek, a little logic. He was an excellent pupil, 

 but as his eyes were affected his father removed him and, at the age 

 of seventeen (1581), sent him to study medicine at Pisa. He was 

 already a clever musician, witty, eloquent, with a strong talent for 

 painting, and had laid the foundations of a literary style which Italians 

 estimate highly. In his later years Galileo knew the poems of Ariosto 

 by heart. His general health was not good, but he was amiable, gay, 

 versatile, fond of society and also very fond of a country life and of 

 his vineyards and groves. He was considerate and liberal to his fam- 

 ily, devoted to his children.* His friends loved him ardently, and his 

 enemies were equally constant in their dislike. The characteristics of 

 his maturer life were in evidence throughout his youth also. His pow- 

 ers of observation were extraordinarily quick. He was a philosopher, 

 also, from the first, and very expert in all mechanical matters. 



Before the high altar of the cathedral at Pisa hangs a lamp, — a 

 masterpiece of Maestro Possenti. Watching its swingings to and fro 

 one day Galileo, then a student, observed that although the amplitude 

 of the swings diminished the time of oscillation remained the same 

 (1583). From this chance observation resulted the law: The time of 

 oscillation of a pendulum is independent of the amplitude of its 

 swings. If this be true (and it is true when the amplitudes are small), 

 the pendulum can be used to measure, with precision, intervals of time. 

 A hundred of its swings will always require the same time whenever 

 the arc of swinging is not large. The first application of this discovery 

 was the invention of a pendulum suited to measure pulse-beats. 

 Towards the end of his life Galileo endeavored to construct a pendulum 

 clock. He was engaged in this research at the time of his death, aided 

 by his son Vincenzio, who carried on the work. A short pendulum 

 beats more quickly than a long one. The law of the relation of length 

 to period was also discovered by Galileo. It is : The lengths of pendu- 

 lums are proportional to the squares of the times of oscillation. A 

 pendulum beating seconds is four times as long as one beating half- 



* Galileo was never married. He formed an illicit connection with a 

 Venetian woman, Marina Gamba, by whom he had three children, two daughters 

 and a son. His daughters took the veil in a convent at Arcetri. His son 

 married and left descendants. The mother of his children subsequently mar- 

 ried one Bartolucci, with whom Galileo was in friendly relations after the 

 marriage. In 1627 Pope Urban VIII. granted a pension to Galileo's son who 

 did not accept it, owing to religious observances necessitated by the grant. 

 The pension was transferred to a nephew and finally it was increased and be- 

 stowed upon Galileo himself with the condition that he should adopt the tonsure. 

 This pension was drawn by Galileo till his death. 



