n 4 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



tant as if they were near, and, on the other hand, near objects to 

 appear much larger than they are before our eyes." 



In 1610 Porta became a member of the Academy. The first 

 academy for scientific investigation to be established in modern 

 times was the Accademia Secretorum Naturae, which he founded 

 at Naples in 1560. Porta was the President and leading spirit of 

 this Academy until it was interdicted by the Pope, and Porta 

 compelled to go to Rome to defend himself against the charge of 

 magic and black arts. Porta became Vice-President of the Lincei, 

 and some of his greatest works were published under its auspices, 

 among which were Magics Naturalis ; De Humana Physiogno- 

 monia, from which Lavater is said to have borrowed so exten- 

 sively ; Phytognomonica, a treatise on the physiology and virtue 

 of plants ; De Befractione, optices parte, in which he speaks of 

 binocular vision ; on Pneumatica, and various other works. In 

 the Mag ice. Naturalis he describes the camera obscura, which he 

 had discovered, and mentions the many optical experiments he had 

 made with it. He considered the eye a camera obscura, and thus 

 approximated the true idea of vision. Here we find the passage, 

 written several years before, in which he speaks of a combination of 

 lenses by which <f we may contrive to recognize our friends at a 

 distance of several miles, and those of weak sight may read the 

 most minute letters from a distance. It is an invention of great 

 utility, and grounded on optical principles, nor is it to be under- 

 stood by the vulgar, and yet be clear to the sharp-sighted." Who 

 knows what Porta would not have done, with these facts in his 

 possession, had he not been deterred by the charge of resorting to 

 black arts, already resting upon him ! Why should he, he may 

 have reasoned, put to practical test that which, in his then present 

 position, would almost certainly lead him to the stake. Galileo 

 was a bolder man, and enjoyed the patronage of the powerful 

 Medici, yet even he paid the penalty of his boldness. 



When Galileo brought his little telescope to Rome in 1611, and 

 set it up in the Vatican gardens, very naturally his most enthusi- 

 astic supporters were the Lynceans. Early in the year he became 

 a member of the Academy. His signature runs as follows : " Ego 

 Galileus Galileeus Vincentii filius Florentinna setatis mese anno 

 LII, Sal. 1611 die 23 April : Roma? maim propria scripsi." The 

 whole of this, the first visit of Galileo to Rome, was one continued 

 ovation, being received with the most marked distinction by the 

 ecclesiastics and scientists alike. The experience of one looking 

 through a telescope for the first time, at the moon, for instance, 

 must have been novel indeed. 



Those of us who remember the sensations they experienced 

 when witnessing for the first time the workings of the telephone 

 or phonograph can make only an imperfect comparison ; for we, 



