128 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



ful or move successful diplomatist, Pellegrino 

 Rossi, who enjoyed equally the favor of the courts 

 of Rome and of France, and whose assassination, 

 some two years afterward, cast so deep a stain 

 on the ephemeral Roman Republic of 1848, pro- 

 cured the restoration of the precious MSS. to the 

 Vatican archives. The first use made of the re- 

 stored documents in the way of puplication (their 

 publication having been promised to the French 

 Government) was made by the late Monsignor Ma- 

 rini, their custodian, who produced, in 1850, a lit- 

 tle brochure, entitled " Galileo e 1' Inquisizione Ro- 

 mana : Memorie storio-critiche." This was a piece 

 of ex-parte pleading, composed for the purpose of 

 showing that the Holy Office had condemned, 

 not the Copernican doctrine, but the theological 

 notions which Galileo had mixed up with its expo- 

 sition. Such an assertion was a rare specimen of 

 effrontery ; the documents being in their falsifier's 

 hands, and staring him in the face. If Monsignor 

 Marini supposed that the secret archives of the 

 Vatican would never be opened to any one more 

 studious of the truth of history than himself, he 

 reckoned without his host. The papal Government 

 subsequently allowed access to those archives, first 

 to a French author, M. Henri de l'Epinois, who 

 published at Paris, in 186*7, in the "Revue des 

 Questions Historiques," an essay|entitled " Galilee, 

 son Proces, sa Condamnation, d'apres des Docu- 

 ments inedits ; " secondly to M. Berti, whom 

 Father Theiner, the learned and liberal archivist 

 of the Vatican, allowed to consult and take copies 

 of them. A third restorer of the text of the 



proceedings against Galileo is Herr von Gebler, 

 who, like M. de l'Epinois and M. Berti, has been 

 allowed free access to. the MSS. 



The three writers above cited, who have now 

 placed before the public each his own transcript 

 of the official records of this too famous proced- 

 ure, have played the part of inquisitors over each 

 other, in a sort of emulation of the Holy Office. 

 M. Berti took the lead by criticising the first 

 partial reproduction of the original documents 

 which had been made in the earlier essay of 

 M. de l'Epinois. M. de l'Epinois rejoined by ac- 

 knowledging and accounting for the imperfec- 

 tions of his own previous publication, and sup- 

 plying a fresh transcript of those documents, 

 with critical comments on the errors and inaccu- 

 racies of M. Berti's edition. And Herr von Geb- 

 ler brings out a third, with corrections of both 

 the others. One result, at least, of the researches 

 of all three critical inspectors and copyists, who 

 have taken so much pains to be right, and to set 

 their rivals right where wrong, will be to render 

 impossible the exercise of any pious frauds for 

 the future in disguising or distorting any of the 

 main racts of the case. As to the manner in 

 which those facts should be regarded, modern 

 opinion has unanimously pronounced already, 

 and M. de l'Epinois, who, following after M. Hen- 

 ri Martin, labors to reconcile the fair and full 

 exposition of the case of Galileo with the vindi- 

 cation of the character of his Church against 

 the " attacks of ignorance," adduces no facts or 

 arguments of any force to alter that opinion. 



— Quarterly Review. 



SPEEAD-EAGLE PHILOSOPHY. 



MR. JOSEPH COOK, "the Chalmers of 

 America, is a large man, tall and brawny." 

 " His features are strongly marked, and his mas- 

 sive head is adorned with a bountiful covering 

 of sandy hair." In these words a correspondent 

 of the Scotsman describes Mr. Cook, a lecturer 

 who is the bulwark of the orthodoxy of Boston 

 (Massachusetts). It seems to be admitted that 

 we cannot appreciate Americans of genius unless 

 we know how they appear to the people privi- 

 leged to behold them in the flesh. An admirer 

 reviewed Mr. Walt AVhitman as he was bathing 

 some years ago ; and a description of Mr. Whit- 

 man's frame was the not inappropriate introduc- 

 tion to a book in which that poet spoke freely 



enough of his own limbs. As the picture of Mr. 

 Cook's brawniness and sandy hair is served up 

 in company with the Glasgow edition of his "Bi- 

 ology " (David Bryce & Son), it is plain that the 

 Glasgow editor, a Free Kirk minister, expects the 

 public to take a personal interest in a gentleman 

 who has " prepared for his public ministry by a 

 severe course of self-culture, both in America 

 and Europe." 



To understand Mr. Cook and his lectures, 

 which we consider a very queer contribution to 

 modern thought, it is necessary to explain how 

 they came to be delivered. Prof. Huxley lect- 

 ured in the United States not long ago ; and, if 

 we are not mistaken, some other " advanced think- 



