IOWA ACADEIVrY OF SCIENCES. 27 



Of course when men would nob believe the evidence of 

 their senses if it contradicted any of the standard author- 

 ities, there could be little scientific observation. And 

 under such a despotic rule of authority experiment would 

 be useless and would be calculated to bring men into 

 trouble. It was when authority was deposed and experi- 

 mental research was enthroned in its place, that modern 

 science had its beginning. Four hundred years ago many 

 men had begun to acknowledge the inadequacy of the old 

 methods ; and the real war of intellectual independence 

 was waged during the century that followed. A long time 

 was spent by men in striving to free themselves from the 

 despotism of the ancient philosophers, which even 

 after the seventeenth century claimed its victims, and 

 sacrifices. 



The pioneer army of modern science included many 

 illustrious names, but no single leader can be said to have 

 earned greater credit than Galileo. He lived and worked 

 in the most critical period, saw most clearly the inade- 

 quacy of the old methods, ani gave the most striking illus- 

 trations of the new processes. The importance of his 

 experiments and discoveries and the principles he estab- 

 lished and formulated were great enough to entitle him 

 fairly to the name of the father of modern science. Though 

 his brilliant astronomical discoveries made him immedi- 

 ately famous, it is what he did for physics that constitutes 

 his chief claim to greatness and fame. 



The experimental method, of which Galileo was the first 

 conspicuous exponent, was the agency that gave new life 

 to science progress. By it nature was made to allow the 

 secrets of her processes to be laid bare, by being compelled 

 to repeat them under restrictions and simplified conditions 

 imposed by man. When the unequal weights, dropped 

 from the Leaning Tower, were seen to strike the ground 

 together, the old theory of gravitation was disproved, not 

 because men saw the action of the experiment, but because 

 the conditions were such that they were bound to trust 

 the evidence of their own eyes. The experimental method 



