82 PIONEERS OF EVOLUTION PART 



condition of intellectual advance. Little wonder is 

 it, then, that Copernicus hesitated to broach a theory 

 thus supported, or that, when published, it was put 

 forth in tentative form as a possible explanation 

 more in accord with the phenomena. A preface, 

 presumably by a friendly hand, commended the 

 Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies to Pope Paul III. 

 It urged that ' as in previous times others had been 

 allowed the privilege of feigning what circles they 

 chose in order to explain the phenomena, 1 Coper- 

 nicus 'had conceived that he might take the liberty 

 of trying whether, on the supposition of the earth's 

 motion, it was possible to find better explanations 

 than the ancient ones of the revolutions of the 

 celestial orbs. 1 A copy of the book was placed in 

 the hands of its author only a few hours before his 

 death on 23rd May 1543. 



This f upstart astrologer ' ; this ' fool who wishes 

 to reverse the entire science of astronomy/ for 

 'sacred Scripture tells us that Joshua commanded 

 the sun to stand still, and not the earth ' these are 

 Luther's words was, therefore, beyond the grip 

 of the Holy Inquisition. But a substitute was 

 forthcoming. Giordano Bruno, a Dominican monk, 

 had added to certain heterodox beliefs the heresy of 

 Copernicanism, which he publicly taught from Oxford 

 to Venice. For these cumulative crimes he was 

 imprisoned 'and, after seven years, condemned to be 

 put to death ' as mercifully as possible and without 

 the shedding of his blood,' a Catholic euphemism 

 for burning a man alive. The murder was com- 

 mitted in Rome on i^th February 1600. 



The year 1543 marks an epoch in biology as in 



