4 GALILEO GALILEI. 



After four years' residence at Pisa, Vincenzo 

 Galilei appealed to the reigning Grand Duke, Fer- 

 dinand de Medici, to grant to his son one of the 

 forty free places founded for poor students, but 

 the request was denied, and Galileo, unable to pay 

 for his doctor's degree, was obliged to leave the 

 university without it. Already he had learned 

 bitter lessons of privation and disappointment, but 

 youth has a brave heart, and looks ever toward the 

 sunlight. 



He went back to his home in Florence to study 

 the works of Archimedes, whom he called his 

 "master," to write his first essay on his Hydro- 

 static Balance, and to earn the reputation of a bold 

 inquirer in geometrical and mechanical specula- 

 tions. The father had now given up all hope 

 of a fortune coming through medicine ! Hence- 

 forward, the genius which was to shed lustre on 

 his own name, otherwise buried in obscurity, 

 was to have its own bent, and work out its own 

 destiny. 



If we are in earnest, a door opens sooner or 

 later; but our own hands usually open it. At 

 twenty-four a door opened to Galileo. Marquis 

 Guidubaldo, a celebrated mathematician, apprecia- 

 ting what the young scientist had done, began a 

 correspondence with him, and a valuable friendship 

 resulted. The marquis asked him to study the 

 position of the centre of gravity in solid bodies. 

 Galileo applied himself to it, and wrote a valuable 

 essay, which waited fifty years for publication. 



