LITTLE 

 JOURNEYS 



"Magic," written by so-called scientific men, whose 

 standing in the world was quite as high as that of 

 Galileo jfc & 



In 1610 Galileo published his book entitled, " Sidera 

 Medicea," wherein he described the wonders that 

 could be seen in the heavens by the aid of the telescope. 

 Among other things he told how the Milky Way was 

 not a great streak of light, but was comprised of a mul- 

 titude of stars ; and he made a map of stars that could 

 not be seen, excepting by the aid of the telescope. 

 At this time there resided in Venice a scientific man, 

 much more popular than Galileo, by the name of Porta. 

 He was a priest, whose piety and learning was un- 

 impeached. The year after Galileo issued his book, 

 Porta put out a work much more pretentious, called 

 "Natural Magic." In this book Porta does not claim 

 that magicians all have supernatural powers ; but he 

 goes on to prove how they deceive the world by the 

 use of their peculiar apparatus, and intimates that they 

 sometimes sell their souls to the devil, and then are 

 positively dangerous. He dives deep into science, his- 

 tory, and his own imagination to prove things. The 

 man was no fool he constructed a kaleidoscope that 

 showed an absolute, geometrical symmetry, where in 

 fact there was only confusion. He showed how, by the 

 use of mirrors, things could be made big, small, tall, 

 short, wide, crooked, or distorted. He told of how 

 magicians, by the use of Galileo's tube, could show 

 seven stars where there was only one ; and he even 

 made such a tube of his own and called the priests to- 

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