ic6 SECTION PHYSICS. 



him a life lecturer of the Studio of Padua, at the same time granting 

 him a provision of 1000 florins per annum. 



As on several occasions Galileo was accused of passing himself off 

 as the inventor of the telescope, and at the same time the great merit 

 which is his due for having made it upon the very vague indications 

 which he possessed, ought not to be ignored, it will, I hope, not be irre- 

 levant if I quote a portion of what he wrote in answer to Padre Orazio 

 Grassi, a Jesuit. 



" What share of credit may be due to me in the invention of this 

 instrument (the telescope), and whether I can reasonably claim it as 

 my offspring, I expressed some time ago in my ' Avviso Sidereo/ which 

 I wrote in Venice. I happened to be there when the news reached 

 that a Dutchman had presented Count Maurice with a glass, by means 

 of which things far away appeared just as clearly as if they were quite 

 close at hand nor was any detail whatever added. Upon hearing 

 this I returned to Padua, where I was at that time living, and pondered 

 over this problem ; and the first night after my return I found it out. 

 The following day I made the instrument. After that I immediately set 

 to work to construct a more perfect one, which, when it was completed 

 six days afterwards, I took to Venice ; and there so great a marvel 

 attracted the attention of almost all the principal gentlemen of that 

 Republic. Finally, by the advice of one of my dearest patrons, I pre- 

 sented it to the Prince in full college. The gratitude with which it 

 was received and the esteem in which it was held are proved by 

 the ducal letters, which I have yet by me, since they contain 

 the expression if his Serene Highness's generosity in confirm- 

 ing me for life in my lectureship in the Studio of Padua, 

 with double the payment of that which I had previously received, 

 which, in its turn, was more than three times what any of my 

 predecessors had enjoyed. These facts, Signer Sarsi, did not take 

 place in a forest or desert, they occurred at Venice ; and if you had 

 then been there, you would not have simply put me down as a foster- 

 parent of the invention. But, perhaps, some one may tell me that it is 

 no small help towards the discovery or solution of any problem to be 

 first of all apprised, in one way or another, of the truth of its conclu- 

 sion, and to know for certain, that it is not an impossibility that is 

 being sought after ; and that, therefore, the information and the cer- 



