368 WOMAN IN SCIENCE 



They would also show more clearly than any facts now 

 available what an unbounded influence the gentle nun had 

 over the greatest intellect of his time, and would, more 

 clearly than anything in her correspondence, exhibit Sister 

 Celeste as the efficient co-worker and the abiding inspirer 

 of the father of modern physics and astronomy. 



But, although we have no record of this soul-communion 

 between father and daughter on the occasion in question; 

 although we are deprived of the invaluable letters which 

 he wrote in reply to hers, we are, nevertheless, from the 

 evidence at hand, justified in regarding this unique pair 

 as being ever one in heart, aspirations and ideals, and 

 comparable in their mutual influence on each other with 

 any of those famous men and women who, through achieve- 

 ment on the one side and inspiration and collaboration on 

 the other, have ever been recognized as the greatest bene- 

 factors of their race. 



One of Galileo's countrymen, G. B. Clemente de Nelli, 

 was right when he declared that, had it not been for the 

 assistance and consolation which he received from Sister 

 Celeste, Galileo would have succumbed to the blows that 

 were showered upon him during the most trying part of 

 his career. An indication of this is given in one of the 

 letters written by Sister Celeste in the last year of her 

 life. 



traict&es en son dernier livre." This shows that Sister Celeste waa 

 kept fully informed by her father respecting the nature and con- 

 tents of his various works while he was preparing them for the 

 press. It implies, likewise, that she was not only interested in them 

 in a general way, but that she was able to read them intelligently 

 and appreciate them as well. 



How fondly Galileo treasured the letters written him by this 

 daughter of predilection is made known to us by Sister Celeste her- 

 self, when she tells him in one of her letters ' ' Kesto conf usa sentendo 

 ch'ella conservi le mie lettere, e dubito ehe il grande affeto que mi 

 porta gliele dimonstri piu compita di quello che sono." Op. cit., 

 p. 317. 



