8o2 



NATURE 



[June 24, 1922 



holding this view^ and also for describing spots observed 

 by him on the sun, Galileo was denounced to the Holy 

 Office in 161 5, and when before the Inquisition in 

 1633 his condemnation by the Cardinals of the Holy 

 Roman Church contained the words : " The proposi- 

 tion that the sun is the centre of the world and im- 

 movable from its place is absurd, philosophically false, 

 and formally heretical, because it is expressly contrary 

 to Holy Scripture. The proposition that the earth is 

 not the centre of the world, nor immovable, but that 

 it moves, and also with a diurnal motion, is also absurd, 

 philosophically false, and theologically considered, at 

 least erroneous in faith." Wherefore Galileo was 

 imprisoned, ordered for three years to recite once a 

 week the seven penitential Psalms, and made to swear, 

 " I abjure, curse, and detest the said errors and heresies, 

 and generally every other error and sect contrary to 

 the Holy Church ; and I swear that I will nevermore 

 in future say or assert anything verbally, or in writing, 

 which may give rise to a similar suspicion of me." 



As one of his biographers has said, Galileo, like Peter, 

 surrounded by a crowd of enemies, denied his Master ; 

 yet for more than fifty years he was the knight-militant 

 of science, a rebel against the dead hand of tradition 

 and authority, whether of priest or philosopher, when 

 it was used to prevent the growth of knowledge through 

 the evidence of the senses. For more than a thousand 

 years the mind of man had been constrained by monkish 

 theology and Aristotelian philosophy, and all attempts 

 at freedom of thought were rigidly suppressed. The 

 Holy Scriptures, together with the works of early 

 Christian fathers and some Greek philosophers, were 

 believed to contain the truth about all things — visible 

 or invisible — and men used them as the final court of 

 appeal as to what was true in Nature. When Galileo 

 discovered the four satellites of Jupiter by means of 

 his small telescope, the philosophers of his time would 

 not look through the instrument to see the objects 

 for themselves, for, as Galileo remarked, " These 

 people believe there is no truth to seek in Nature, but 

 only in the comparison of texts." They held that the 

 moon was perfectly spherical and absolutely smooth, 

 and it was in vain that Galileo appealed to the evidence 

 of observation to the contrary : the sun was supposed 

 to be immaculate, therefore Galileo's observations of 

 spots upon it were illusions : two unequal masses 

 dropped from the leaning tower of Pisa reached the 

 base together, " Yet," he says, " the Aristotelians, 

 who with their own eyes saw the unequal weights 

 strike the ground at the same instant, ascribed the 

 effect to some unknown cause, and preferred the 

 decision of their master to that of Nature herself." 



The principles of self-determination and self- 

 government have been responsible since the Armistice 

 NO. 2747, VOL. 109] 



for many political changes, but these are as nothing 

 compared with the social effects of the independence 

 of scientific inquiry typified by Galileo's life and work. 

 The right of a man to think for himself was established, 

 and personal observation and experiment took the 

 place of metaphysical and philosophic speculation and 

 dogmatic assertion. The freedom of thought and 

 action now possessed by progressive peoples are direct 

 consequences of the work of Galileo and other scientific 

 pioneers. 



Consider the tremendous revolution involved in 

 the substitution of permanent natural law for the 

 conception of a world in which all events were believed 

 to be reflections of the moods of a benign or angry 

 God. The doctrine of daily supernatural intervention 

 meant that men regarded themselves merely as clay 

 in the hands of the potter and did nothing to shape 

 their own natural destiny. They accepted disease as 

 an act of God instead of cleansing their houses, and 

 believed that all the qualities they possessed, as well 

 as the actions they took, were determined by the posi- 

 tions of the planets and other celestial bodies. Every 

 organ of the human body was supposed to have its 

 counterpart in the sky ; and when Vesalius by his 

 dissections and Copernicus by his doctrine showed that 

 there was no relationship between the human frame 

 and the order of the universe, the ponderous super- 

 structure of faith and pseudo-philosophy which had 

 been built upon it fell to pieces, and a new mental 

 world had to be reconstructed. Instead of a few 

 thousand stars supposed to exist to influence the earth 

 and affect the purposes of man, we now know there are 

 millions which can never be seen without telescopic 

 aid and milHons more that are not visible with any 

 optical means. The universe has been increased ten- 

 thousandfold, and the puerile ideas of three centuries 

 ago have given place to a far nobler conception of the 

 majesty of the universe and the power of the Creator. 



The intellectual expansion thus brought about, 

 together with the sense of justice which resulted from 

 the knowledge of the existence and permanence of 

 law in Nature, profoundly influenced human thought 

 and resulted in social changes which had the greatest 

 civilising effects. This end was not attained, however, 

 without sacrifice. The medieval lover of science was 

 obliged to pursue his researches in secret cells and 

 hide his discoveries from all eyes. He was for ever 

 haunted by the maddening vision of the stake. Human 

 nature does not encourage ideas which shatter cherished 

 convictions ; and it is usually suspicious of all new 

 knowledge.' To probe into truth or try to lift the veil 

 and expose eternal verities was, therefore, regarded as 

 sacrilege by guardians of traditional faith or learning. 

 Our first parents lost Eden because they partook of 



