1 6 GALILEO AND HIS JUDGES. 



cannot help doubting), we may well say that amongst 

 all the perversions of ' Scripture in which human 

 fancy has indulged, there is scarcely any one more 

 monstrous ; and we must not imagine that all the 

 Biblical arguments used against Galileo and Coper- 

 nicus were so unreasonable and exaggerated. 



It was in 1613 that our philosopher published at 

 Rome another work, entitled " L'Istoria e Dimostra- 

 zione Intorno alle Macchie Solari." It was, generally 

 speaking, well received, though he drew a conclusion 

 in favour of the Earth's rotation on its axis. 



The controversy, however, became still keener on 

 the all-important point of the interpretation of Scrip- 

 ture. Now that we can look back on the events of 

 that day with all judicious calmness, we may well 

 blame Galileo for having let himself fall into so dan- 

 gerous a snare ; but there was some excuse for him, 

 attacked as he was on this very ground of the sup- 

 posed incompatibility of his hypothesis with the 

 teaching of Scripture ; and so he unfortunately 

 committed a grave error of judgment in grappling 

 himself with a religious difficulty which, if wise, he 

 would have left entirely to theologians. It may be 

 said that this is not what we should naturally expect. 

 "We should suppose that the ecclesiastical authorities 

 would welcome any attempt to prove that new 

 scientific theories were not irreconcilable with the 

 Scriptural narrative, and possibly such would be the 

 case at the present day ; but in those times it was 

 certainly otherwise, and I am not quite sure whether 



