ii4 GALILEO AND HIS JUDGES. 



phenomenon as the harvest moon ? though that 

 has nothing to do with the Copernican theory. How 

 many could explain the precession of the equinoxes ? 

 Suppose yourself in a room full of educated persons, 

 but not specially instructed in science, how many 

 could state correctly the first law of motion ? * 



It is unnecessary to multiply instances ; astronomy 

 is obviously a science adapted not to the multitude 

 of mankind, but to the comparatively few, who reflect 

 and think. If, then, some check were given in the 

 seventeenth century, by the action of the ecclesiastical 

 authorities in Kome, to the progress of physical 

 astronomy, we must surely allow that the injury 

 to human welfare and human happiness was so small 

 that we need not dwell upon it. 



Mr. Mivart tells us that Descartes was deterred for 

 some time from publishing his work. Now Descartes, 

 as a pure mathematician, stands in the highest rank. 

 The method which he invented of applying algebraical 



* A curious instance of popular unacquaintance with astronomy- 

 was afforded some months ago, when the planet Yenus, which one 

 would think was a well-known object to most people, was mistaken 

 for " the Star of Bethlehem ; " and this mistake was by no means 

 confined to the ignorant, but was shared by persons of education. 



The planet was at the time a brilliant "morning star;" and the 

 effect on the eye is more striking in these circumstances than when 

 it is seen, as is very commonly the case, in the evening, shortly 

 after sunset. I suppose this would account in some measure for 

 the delusion. 



In clearer and finer skies than those of England, Venus is 

 sometimes so brilliant in the early morning as to startle an un- 

 accustomed observer. 



