Ni:W CHAPTERS IN THE WARFARE OF SCIENCE. 585 



whicli Thou didst show to the thief on the cross." Not till thirty- 

 years after did a friend dare write on his tombstone a memorial 

 of his discovery.* 



The preface of Osiander, pretending that the book of Coperni- 

 cus suggested a hypothesis instead of announcing a truth, served 

 its purpose well as regards the book itself. During nearly seventy 

 years the Church authorities evidently thought it best not to stir 

 the matter, and in some cases professors like Calganini were al- 

 lowed to present the new view purely as a hypothesis. There 

 were, indeed, mutterings from time to time on the theological 

 side, but there was no great demonstration against the system 

 until 1616. Then, when the Copernican doctrine was upheld by 

 Galileo as a truth, and proved to be a truth by his telescope, the 

 book was taken in hand by the Roman curia. The statements of 

 Copernicus were condemned "until they should be corrected," 

 and the corrections required were simply such as would substitute 

 for his conclusions the old Ptolemaic theory. 



That this was their purpose was seen in that year when Gali- 

 leo was forbidden to teach or discuss the Copernican theory, and 

 when were forbidden " all books which affirm the motion of the 

 earth." Henceforth to read the work of Copernicus was to risk 

 damnation, and the world accepted the decree, f 



There was, indeed, in Europe one man who might have done 

 much to check this current of unreason which was to sweep 

 away so many thoughtful men on the one hand from scientific 

 knowledge, and so many on the other from Christianity. This 



* See Figuier, Savants de la Renaissance, p. 380 ; also, Flammarion, Vie de Copernic, 

 p. 190, 



f The authorities deciding this matter in accordance with the wishes of Pope Paul V 

 and Cardinal Bcllarmine were the Congregation of the Index, or cardinals having char"-e of 

 the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, Recent desperate attempts to fasten the responsibility 

 on them as individuals seem ridiculous in view of the simple fact that their work was sanc- 

 tioned by the highest Church authority, and required to be universally accepted by the 

 Church. Eleven different editions of the Index in my own possession prove this. Nearly 

 all of these declare on their title-pages that they are issued by order of the pontiff of the 

 period, and each is prefaced by a special papal biill or letter. See especially the Index of 

 1664, issued under order of Alexander VII, and that of 1761, under Benedict XIV. Co- 

 pernicus's statements were prohibited in the Index ^^ donee corrir/nnfur.'''' Kepler said that 

 it ought to be worded ''■donee explieeiur." See Bertrand, Fondateurs de I'Astronomie 

 moderne, page 57. De Morgan, pages 57-60, gives the corrections required by the Index 

 of 1620. Their main aim seems to be to reduce Copernicus to the groveling level of Osian- 

 der, making of his discovery a mere hypothesis ; but occasionally they require a virtual 

 giving up of the whole Copernican doctrine— e. g., "correction" insisted upon for chapter 

 viii, p. 6. For a scholarly account of the relation of the Prohibitory and Expingatory In- 

 dexes to each other, see Mendham, Literary Policy of the Church of Rome; also, Reusch, 

 Index der verbotenen Bucher, Bonn, 1855, vol. ii, chaps, i and ii. For a brief but very 

 careful statement, see Gebler, Galileo Galilei, English translation, London, 1879, chap, i; 

 see, also, Addis and Arnold's Catholic Dictionary, article Galileo, p. 8. 



