THE BELFAST ADDRESS 165 



The Italian philosopher, Giordano Bruno, was one of 

 the earliest converts to the new astronomy. Taking Lu- 

 cretius as his exemplar, he revived the notion of the in- 

 finity of worlds; and, combining with it the doctrine of 

 Copernicus, reached the sublime generalization that the 

 fixed stars are suns, scattered numberless through space, 

 and accompanied by satellites, which bear the same rela- 

 tion to them that our earth does to our sun, or our moon 

 to our earth. This was an expansion of transcendent im- 

 port; but Bruno came closer than this to our present line 

 of thought. Struck with the problem of the generation 

 and maintenance of organisms, and duly pondering it, he 

 came to the conclusion that Nature, in her productions, 

 does not imitate the technic of man. Her process is one 

 of unravelling and unfolding. The infinity of forms un- 

 der which matter appears was not imposed upon it by an 

 external artificer; by its own intrinsic force and virtue 

 it brings these forms forth. Matter is not the mere naked, 

 empty capacity which philosophers have pictured her to 

 be, but the universal mother, who brings forth all things 

 as the fruit of her own womb. 



This outspoken man was originally a Dominican monk. 

 He was accused of heresy and had to fly, seeking refuge 

 in Geneva, Paris, England and Germany. In 1592 he fell 

 into the hands of the Inquisition at Venice. He was im- 

 prisoned for many years, tried, degraded, excommunicated, 

 and handed over to the Civil power, with the request that 

 he should be treated gently, and "without the shedding 

 of blood." This meant that he was to be burned; and 

 burned accordingly he was, on February 16, 1600. To 

 escape a similar fate Galileo, thirty-three years afterward, 

 abjured upon his knees, with his hands upon the holy 



