GAL 



GAL 



GALEGA, in botany, a genus of the 

 Diadelphia Decandria class and order. 

 Natural order of Papilionacex, or Le- 

 guminosje. Essential character: calyx 

 with subulate teeth, nearly equal ; le- 

 gume with oblique streaks between the 

 seeds. There are nineteen species. 



GALENIA, in botany, a genus of the 

 Octandria Digynia class and order. Na- 

 tural order of Succulent*. Attriplices, 

 Jussieu. Essential character : calyx four- 

 cleft ; corolla none ; capsule roundish, 

 two-seeded. There are two species. 



GALEOPSIS, in botany, a genus of 

 the Didynamia Gymnospermia class and 

 order. Natural order of Verticillatx, or 

 Labiatse. Essential character: corolla 

 upper-lip notched a little, vaulted ; lower 

 has two teeth above. There are four 

 species, with several varieties. 



GALILEI, or GALILEO, in biography, 

 a most excellent philosopher, mathema- 

 tician and astronomer, was the son of a 

 Florentine nobleman, and born at Pisa, in 

 the year 1564. The earliest subjects of 

 his studies were, poetry, music, and draw- 

 ing -, but his genius soon led him to the 

 cultivation of sublimer sciences, by his 

 proficiency in which he has immortalized 

 his name. His father, though a noble, 

 possessed but a limited fortune, and was 

 therefore desirous of educating him a 

 physician, that he might secure greater 

 means of independence from the profits 

 of his profession, than he could derive 

 from his paternal estate. With this view 

 he entered him as a student in philosophy 

 and medicine at the university of Pisa ; 

 but Galileo became soon dissatisfied with 

 the obscurity of the Aristotelian system 

 then taught in the schools, and conceiv- 

 ed an unconquerable dislike to medical 

 Studies. 



He now betook himself to the study of 

 the mathematics, and, without the assist- 

 ance of a tutor, made a rapid progress in 

 those sciences, commencing with Euclid, 

 and afterwards making himself master of 

 the works of Archimedes, and of other 

 ancient mathematicians. When his father 

 perceived which way his inclination tend- 

 ed, and that his improvement indicated 

 uncommon talents for mathematical pur- 

 suits, he prudently suffered him to follow 

 the natural bias of his mind without any 

 restraint. So great was the reputation 

 he acquired as a mathematician, that, in 

 the year 1589, the Duke of Tuscany ap- 

 pointed him to the mathematical chair 

 in the University of Pisa. He discharg- 

 ed the duties of this appointment, for 

 about three years, with the applause and 



admiration of the liberal and more en- 

 lightened ; but not without exciting the 

 jealousy and opposition of the violent 

 Aristotelians, who, because he ventured 

 to question some of the hypothetical 

 maxims of their master, held him out in 

 the odious light of a visionary and dan- 

 gerous innovator. Becoming disgusted 

 with the obstructions which their igno- 

 rance and bigotry threw in the way of 

 his promoting- just principles of science, 

 in the year 1592 he resigned his profes- 

 sorship at Pisa, and accepted with plea- 

 sure of an invitation that was sent him to 

 fill the mathematical chair in the univer- 

 sity of Padua. In this seminary he con- 

 tinued for eighteen years, esteemed and 

 cherished by the Paduans and Vene- 

 tians, raising the credit of the university 

 as a school of sound philosophy, and 

 admired by all the learned, who had 

 sufficient liberality and spirit to emanci- 

 pate themselves from the fetters of an- 

 cient prejudices. 



By degrees Tuscany felt an increasing 

 ardour for improvement, and no sooner 

 was it known that Galileo's patriotism 

 inclined him to devote his services to his 

 native country, than Cosmo II. Grand 

 Duke, sent for him to Pisa in the year 

 1611, where he made him professor of 

 mathematics, with a very considerable 

 stipend. Afterwards he invited him to 

 Florence, and gave him the title of prin- 

 cipal mathematician and philosopher to 

 his highness, continuing to him the salary 

 annexed to his professorship, without any 

 obligation to a residence at Pisa. With 

 the study of mathematics, Galileo united 

 that of physics, particularly the doc- 

 trines of mechanics and optics. Before 

 he had settled at Padua, he had written 

 his " Mechanics," or treatise on the bene- 

 fits derived from that science, and its in- 

 struments ; and also his " Balance," for 

 finding the proportion of alloy or mixed 

 metals. These he had introduced into 

 his lectures at that university. 



Being informed at Venice, in the year 

 1609, that Jansen, a Dutchman, had in. 

 vented a glass, by means of which dis- 

 tant objects appeared as if they were 

 near, he turned his attention to this sub- 

 ject, and from the imperfect accounts he 

 had received, and his own reflections on 

 the nature of refraction, discovered the 

 construction of that instrument. The 

 next day after he had solved the pro- 

 blem of its construction, he made such 

 an instrument, and, by the attention which 

 he paid to its perfection and improve- 

 ment, may justly be considered as th 



