ure of his
greatness.

[Signature of the author.]

GALILEO-GALILEI

(1564-1642)

[Illustration: Galileo-Galilei. [TN]]

The great Tuscan astronomer is best known as the first telescopic
observer, the fortunate discoverer of the Medicean stars (so Jupiter's
satellites were first named); and what discovery more fitted to
immortalize its author than one which revealed new worlds and thus gave
additional force to the lesson, that the universe, of which we form so
small a part, was not created only for our use or pleasure? Those,
however, who consider Galileo only as a fortunate observer, form a very
inadequate estimate of one of the most meritorious and successful of
those great men who have bestowed their time for the advantage of
mankind in tracing out the hidden things of nature. Galileo-Galilei was
born at Pisa, February 15, 1564. In childhood he displayed considerable
mechanical ingenuity, with a decided taste for the accomplishments of
music and painting. His father formed a just estimate of his talents,
and at some inconvenience entered him, when nineteen years old, at the
university of his native town, intending that he should pursue the
medical profession. Galileo was then entirely ignorant of mathematics;
and he was led to the study of geometry by a desire thoroughly to
understand the principles of his favorite arts. This new pursuit proved
so congenial to his taste, that from thenceforward his medical books
were entirely neglected. The elder Galilei, a man of liberal
acquirements and enlarged mind, did not require the devotion of his
son's life to a distasteful pursuit. Fortunately the young man's talents
attracted notice, and in 1589 he was appointed mathematical lecturer in
the University of Pisa. There is reason to believe that, at an early
period of his studentship, he embraced, upon inquiry and conviction, the
doctrines of Copernicus, of which through life he was an ardent
supporter.

Galileo and his colleagues did not long remain on good terms. The latter
were content with the superstructure which _a priori_ reasoners had
raised upon Aristotle, and were by no means desirous of the trouble of
learning more. Galileo chose to investigate physical truths for himself;
he engaged in experiments to determine the truth of some of Aristotle's
positions, and when he found him in the wrong, he said so, and so taught
his pupils. This made the "paper philosophers," as he calls them, very
angry. He repea