356 THE INTELLECTUAL RISE IN ELECTRICITY. 



of physics, and at last, in 1620, the Church itself yielded 

 sufficiently to sanction the discussion of the Copernican 

 theory as an hypothesis merely. This gave Galileo a safe 

 opportunity, as he believed, once more publicly to reaffirm 

 his belief therein. He went too far, and tried to prove it 

 orthodox. However the ecclesiastical authorities may 

 have intended to deal with others, the fact of his having 

 violated, as they claimed, his earlier promise gave them a 

 reason for coming upon him despite the permissory decree. 

 He was the most shining of all shining marks. To crush 

 him would do more to paralyze independent philosophical 

 thought, at least within the pale of the Church, than any 

 random anathema that Rome could hurl. 



The effect upon all Europe was profound. The faithful, 

 who found themselves in the van of philosophical pro- 

 gress, stopped and drew back. The blight of uncertainty 

 fell upon them. If, after years of free discussion, Coper- 

 nicanism had come to be heresy, inviting the dread visit 

 of the Holy Office, what then might be safely taught and 

 studied? The light laughter at the ecclesiastics, who 

 sought to govern Nature's laws by theology, was heard no 

 longer from the Protestant ranks; but instead the hatred to 

 Rome leaped into new vigor, and sarcasm, invective, ridi- 

 cule fierce and bitter came pouring forth. 



But the blight persisted none the less. There was great 

 force in it. "If the opinion of the earth's movement is 

 false," said Rend Descartes grimly, locking the mamiscript 

 of his Principia in his cabinet, "all the foundations of my 

 philosophy are also false, because it is demonstrated clearly 

 by them . . . yet I would not for all the world sustain 

 them against the Church." And so the book remained 

 unpublished for ten years. But when it did appear there 

 followed a revolution in the realm of thought. 



So far, from Gilbert onwards, we have seen the students 

 of the lodestoneand the electrics dealing with phenomena, 

 and seeking to derive laws from experiment. We have 

 seen the inductive method, as it were, in the air and affect- 



