Curiosities of Science. 93 



pleasures of sight to the old ; that it would one day assist the 

 astronomer in penetrating the depths of the heavens, and in 

 numbering the stars of the Milky Way ; that it would lay open 

 to the naturalist a miniature world, as populous, as rich in 

 wonders as that which alone seemed to have been granted to 

 his senses and his contemplation : in fine, that the most simple 

 and direct use of it would enable the inhabitants of the coast 

 of the Baltic Sea to build palaces more magnificent than those 

 of Tyre and Memphis, and to cultivate, almost under the polar 

 circle, the most delicious fruit of the torrid zone." 



THE GALILEAN TELESCOPE. 



Galileo appears to be justly entitled to the honour of hav- 

 ing invented that form of Telescope which still bears his name ; 

 while we must accord to John Lippershey, the spectacle-maker 

 of Middleburg, the honour of having previously invented the 

 astronomical telescope. The interest excited at Venice by 

 Galileo's invention amounted almost to frenzy. On ascending 

 the tower of St. Mark, that he might use one of his telescopes 

 without molestation, Galileo was recognised by a crowd in the 

 street, who took possession of the wondrous tube, and detained 

 the impatient philosopher for several hours, till they had suc- 

 cessively witnessed its effects. These instruments were soon 

 manufactured in great numbers ; but were purchased merely as 

 philosophical toys, and were carried by travellers into every 

 corner of Europe. 



WHAT GALILEO FIRST SAW WITH HIS TELESCOPE. 



The moon displayed to him her mountain-ranges and her 

 glens, her continents and her highlands, now lying in dark- 

 ness, now brilliant with sunshine, and undergoing all those 

 variations of light and shadow which the surface of our own 

 globe presents to the alpine traveller or to the aeronaut. The 

 four satellites of Jupiter illuminating their planet, and suffer- 

 ing eclipses in his shadow, like our own moon ; the spots on 

 the sun's disc, proving his rotation round his axis in twenty- 

 five days ; the crescent phases of Venus, and the triple form 

 or the imperfectly developed ring of Saturn, were the other 

 discoveries in the solar system which rewarded the diligence of 

 Galileo. In the starry heavens, too, thousands of new worlds 

 were discovered by his telescope ; and the Pleiades alone, which 

 to the unassisted eye exhibit only seven stars, displayed to Gali- 

 leo no fewer than/o;t?/. North-British Review, No. 3. 



The first telescope " the starry Galileo" constructed with a leaden 

 tube a few inches long, with a spectacle-glass, one convex and one con- 

 cave, at each of its extremities. It magnified three times. Telescopes 

 were made in London in February 1610, a year after Galileo had com- 



