CHAPTER IX 



THE OBSERVATIONS OF NATURE AND NATURAL 

 PHENOMENA GALILEO GALILEI HIS LIFE AND 

 DISCOVERIES. 



GALILEO GALILEI (Galileo), born at Pisa, 1564, 

 died near Florence, January 9, 1642, was the son of 

 a gentleman of noble family, though impoverished. 

 Being one of a number of children, his father could 

 give him but poor teachers ; but his desire to learn 

 made him apply himself with such assiduity to his 

 classical studies that he acquired the knowledge of a 

 solid and extensive literature, to which he owed the 

 lucidity of his discourse and the elegance of his writ- 

 ings. He early showed a strong liking and aptitude for 

 mechanical inventions, also much taste and facility in 

 drawing; he was fond of music, and was well versed in 

 its theory and practice. When he was eighteen he com- 

 menced the study of medicine, which his father thought 

 would procure for him an easy and honorable livelihood. 

 He also then studied the Aristotelian philosophy. In 

 the latter he could not accept on the faith of another 



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