that a man who could make a telescope to study
the heavenly bodies and carry on experiments with such skill that he
has been called the founder of experimental science could be forced to
recant the things which he was convinced by experiment and observation
to be true. However, it must be remembered that the mediaeval doctrine
of authority had taken possession of the minds of the world of thinkers
to such an extent that to oppose it openly seemed not only sacrilege
but the tearing down of the walls of faith and destroying the permanent
structure of society. Moreover, the minds of all thinkers were trying
to hold on to the old while they developed the new, and not one could
think of destroying the faith of the church. But the church did not so
view this, and took every opportunity to suppress everything new as
being destructive of the church.

No one could contemplate the tremendous changes that might have been
made in the history of the world if the church could have abandoned its
theological dogmas far enough to welcome all new truth that was
discovered in God's workshop. To us in the twentieth century who have
such freedom of expressing both truth and untruth, it is difficult to
realize to what extent the authorities of the Middle Ages tried to seal
the fountains of truth. Picture a man kneeling before the authorities
at Rome and stating: "With a sincere heart and unfeigned faith I
abjure, curse, and detest the said errors and heresies. I swear that
for the future I will never say nor assert anything verbally or in
writing which may give rise to a {463} similar suspicion against
me."[3] Thus he was compelled to recant and deny his theory that the
earth moves around the sun.

_Measurement in Scientific Research_.--All scientific research involves
the recounting of recurring phenomena within a given time and within a
given space. In order, therefore, to carry on systematic research,
methods of measuring are necessary. We can thus see how mathematics,
although developed largely through the study of astronomy, has been
necessary to all investigation. Ticho Brahe and Kepler may be said to
have accentuated the phase of accurate measurement in investigation.
They specialized in chemistry and astronomy, all measurements being
applied to the heavenly bodies. Their main service was found in
accurate records of data. Kepler maintained "that every planet moved
in an ellipse of which the sun occupied one focus." He a