234 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 2 8 



not upon experimental bases, but upon dogma evolved out of the 

 imaginations of the philosophers. 



The train of scientific thought was founded largely upon the 

 hypothesis that the writings of Aristotle were to be the ultimate 

 court of appeal in all matters of dispute, and wondrous indeed were 

 some of the things which Aristotle and his disciples had said. 

 A good example of some of their misty philosophizing is the proof 

 given by one of them that the world is perfect. 



The bodies of which the world is composed are solids, and therefore have 

 three dimensions. Now, three is the most perfect number ; for, of one we do 

 not speak as a number, of two we say both; but three is the first number 

 of which we say all. Moreover, it has a beginning, a middle, and an end. 



ToAvard the end of the fifteenth century we find young Galileo 

 enjoying the princely stipend of 15 cents a day as professor of 

 mathematics at the University of Pisa. It is true that the professor 

 of medicine gets 30 times as much, and Galileo's parents had origi- 

 nally intended him to be a professor of medicine. But what does 

 he care ! For he is much interested in discovering the laws of 

 falling bodies; and, in sj^ite of the fact that Aristotle has said 

 otherwise, he is contending that heavy bodies and light bodies fall 

 at the same rate. In scientific circles much resentment is felt at 

 such a revolutionary suggestion; for Aristotle, without appeal to 

 experiment, has evolved out of the consciousness of his inner mind 

 the decision that bodies fall at rates depending upon their weights. 

 It matters not that young Galileo has ascended the leaning tower of 

 Pisa with a one-pound weight and a hundred-pound weight and, 

 in full view of the learned men of the day, has dropped them from 

 the tower and found that they struck the ground together. For 

 Aristotle has maintained otherwise, and science is the voice of 

 Aristotle. 



Neither is there more tolerance in the matter of astronomy. For 

 Galileo has invented and constructed a telescope, and though he 

 has received much honor from his university for this performance 

 and has had his salary doubled there are many who not only refuse 

 to accept what the telescope reveals but steadfastly refuse to look 

 through it lest they should be convinced of the truth of that which 

 they do not wish to believe. With this obnoxious machine Galileo 

 has found that the moon has mountains like the earth, which robs 

 that body of some of its individual importance. He has found spots 

 upon that most perfect of heavenly bodies, the sun, but worst of all 

 he says that Jupiter has four moons attendant upon him. This 

 last conclusion is in a way .to upset everything. Though too much 

 of a man of progress lo doubt the evidence of his own eyes, even the 

 great Kepler is disturbed in his mind. For according to all prevail- 



