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discovery that was made in this direction appears to have been
connected with the number of the stars. Galileo saw to his
amazement that through his little tube he could count ten
times as many stars in the sky as his unaided eye could detect.
Here was, indeed, a surprise. We are now so familiar with the
elementary facts of astronomy that it is not always easy to
realise how the heavens were interpreted by the observers in
those ages prior to the invention of the telescope. We can
hardly, indeed, suppose that Galileo, like the majority of those
who ever thought of such matters, entertained the erroneous
belief that the stars were on the surface of a sphere at equal
distances from the observer. No one would be likely to have
retained his belief in such a doctrine when he saw how the number
of visible stars could be increased tenfold by means of Galileo’s
telescope. It would have been almost impossible to refuse to
draw the inference that the stars thus brought into view were
still more remote objects which the telescope was able to reveal,
just in the same way as it showed certain ships to the astonished
Venetians, when at the time these ships were beyond the reach of
unaided vision.
Galileo’s celestial discoveries now succeeded each other rapidly.
That beautiful Milky Way, which has for ages been the object of
admiration to all lovers of nature, never disclosed its true
nature to the eye of man till the astronomer of Padua turned on it
his magic tube. The splendid zone of silvery light was then
displayed as star-dust scattered over the black background of
the sky. It was observed that though the individual stars were
too small to be seen severally without optical aid, yet such was
their incredible number that the celestial radiance produced that
luminosity with which every stargazer was so familiar.
But the greatest discovery made by the telescope in these early
days, perhaps, indeed, the greatest discovery that the telescope
has ever accomplished, was the detection of the system of four
satellites revolving around the great planet Jupiter. This
phenomenon was so wholly unexpected by Galileo that, at first,
he could hardly believe his eyes. However, the reality of the
existence of a system of four moons attending the great planet
was soon established beyond all question. Numbers of great
personages crowded to Galileo to see for themselves this beautiful
miniature representing the sun with its system of revolving
planets.
Of course there were, as usual, a few incredulous people who
refused to believe the assertion that four more moving bodies
had to be added to the planetary system. They scoffed at the
notion; they said the satellites may have been in the telescope,
but that they were not in the sky. One sceptical philosopher is
reported to have affirmed, that even if he saw the moons of
Jupiter
himself he would not believe in them, as their existence was
contrary to the principles of common-sense!
There can be no doubt that a special significance attached to
the new discovery at this particular epoch in the history of
science. It must be remembered that in those days the doctrine
of Copernicus, declaring that the sun, and not the earth, was
the centre of the system, that the earth revolved on its axis
once a day, and that it described a mighty circle round the sun
once a year, had only recently been promulgated. This new view
of the scheme of nature had been encountered with the most
furious opposition. It may possibly have been that Galileo
himself had not felt quite confident in the soundness of the
Copernican theory, prior to the discovery of the satellites of
Jupiter. But when a picture was there exhibited in which a
number of relatively small globes were shown to be revolving
around a single large globe in the centre, it seemed impossible
not to feel that the beautiful spectacle so displayed was an
emblem of the relations of the planets to the sun. It was
thus made manifest to Galileo that the Copernican theory of
the planetary system must be the true one. The momentous import
of this opinion upon the future welfare of the great philosopher
will presently appear.
It would seem that Galileo regarded his residence at Padua as a
state of undesirable exile from his beloved Tuscany. He had
always a yearning to go back to his own country and at last the
desired opportunity presented itself. For now that Galileo’s
fame had become so great, the Grand Duke of Tuscany desired to
have the philosopher resident at Florence, in the belief that he
would shed lustre on the Duke’s dominions. Overtures were
accordingly made to Galileo, and the consequence was that in 1616
we find him residing at Florence, bearing the title of
Mathematician and Philosopher to the Grand Duke.
Two daughters, Polissena and Virginia, and one son, Vincenzo,
had been born to Galileo in Padua. It was the custom in those
days that as soon as the daughter of an Italian gentleman had
grown up, her future career was somewhat summarily decided.
Either a husband was to be forthwith sought out, or she was to
enter the convent with the object of taking the veil as a
professed nun. It was arranged that the two daughters of
Galileo, while still scarcely more than children, should both
enter the Franciscan convent of St. Matthew, at Arcetri. The
elder daughter Polissena, took the name of Sister Maria Celeste,
while Virginia became Sister Arcangela. The latter seems to
have been always delicate and subject to prolonged melancholy,
and she is of but little account in the narrative of the life of
Galileo. But Sister Maria Celeste, though never leaving the
convent, managed to preserve a close intimacy with her beloved
father. This was maintained only partly by Galileo’s visits,
which were very irregular and were, indeed, often suspended for
long intervals. But his letters to this daughter were evidently
frequent and affectionate, especially in the latter part of his
life. Most unfortunately, however, all his letters have been
lost. There are grounds for believing that they were deliberately
destroyed when Galileo was seized by the Inquisition, lest they
should have been used as evidence against him, or lest they
should have compromised the convent where they were received.
But Sister Maria Celeste’s letters to her father have happily
been preserved, and most touching these letters are. We can
hardly read them without thinking how the sweet and gentle nun
would have shrunk from the idea of their publication.
Her loving little notes to her “dearest lord and father,” as she
used affectionately to call Galileo, were almost invariably
accompanied by some gift, trifling it may be, but always the best
the poor nun had to bestow. The tender grace of these endearing
communications was all the more precious to him from the fact that
the rest of Galileo’s relatives were of quite a worthless
description. He always acknowledged the ties of his kindred in the
most generous way, but their follies and their vices, their
selfishness and their importunities, were an incessant source of
annoyance to him, almost to the last day of his life.
On 19th December, 1625, Sister Maria Celeste writes:—
“I send two baked pears for these days of vigil. But as the
greatest treat of all, I send you a rose, which ought to please
you extremely, seeing what a rarity it is at this season; and with
the rose you must accept its thorns, which represent the bitter
passion of our Lord, whilst the green leaves represent the hope we
may entertain that through the same sacred passion we, having
passed through the darkness of the short winter of our mortal
life, may attain to the brightness and felicity of an eternal
spring in heaven.”
When the wife and children of Galileo’s shiftless brother came to
take up their abode in the philosopher’s home, Sister Maria
Celeste feels glad to think that her father has now some one who,
however imperfectly may fulfil the duty of looking after him. A
graceful note on Christmas Eve accompanies her little gifts. She
hopes that—
“In these holy days the peace of God may rest on him and all the
house. The largest collar and sleeves I mean for Albertino, the
other two for the two younger boys, the little dog for baby, and
the cakes for everybody, except the spice-cakes, which are for
you. Accept the good-will which would readily do much more.”
The extraordinary forbearance with which Galileo continually
placed his time, his purse, and his influence at the service of
those who had repeatedly proved themselves utterly unworthy of his
countenance, is thus commented on by the good nun.—
“Now it seems to me, dearest lord and father, that your lordship
is walking in the right path, since you take hold of every
occasion that presents itself to shower continual benefits on
those who only repay you with ingratitude. This is an action
which is all the more virtuous and perfect as it is the more
difficult.”
When the plague was raging in the neighbourhood, the loving
daughter’s solicitude is thus shown:—
“I send you two pots of electuary as a preventive against the
plague. The one without the label consists of dried figs,
walnuts, rue, and salt, mixed together with honey. A piece of the
size of a walnut to be taken in the morning, fasting, with a
little Greek wine.”
The plague increasing still more, Sister Maria Celeste obtained
with much difficulty, a small quantity of a renowned liqueur, made
by Abbess Ursula, an exceptionally saintly nun. This she sends to
her father with the words:—
“I pray your lordship to have faith in this remedy.
For if you have so much faith in my poor miserable prayers, much
more may you have in those of such a holy person; indeed, through
her merits you may feel sure of escaping all danger from the
plague.”
Whether Galileo took the remedy we do not know, but at all events
he escaped the plague.
[PLATE: THE VILLA ARCETRI.
Galileo’s residence, where Milton visited him.]
From Galileo’s new home in Florence the telescope was again
directed to the skies, and again did astounding discoveries reward
the atronomer’s labours. The great success which he had met with
in studying Jupiter naturally led Galileo to look at Saturn. Here
he saw a spectacle which was sufficiently amazing, though he
failed to interpret it accurately. It was quite manifest that
Saturn did not exhibit a simple circular disc like Jupiter, or
like Mars. It seemed to Galileo as if the planet consisted of
three bodies, a large globe in the centre, and a smaller one on
each side. The enigmatical nature of the discovery led Galileo
to announce it in an enigmatical manner. He published a string
of letters which, when duly transposed, made up a sentence which
affirmed that the planet Saturn was threefold. Of course we now
know that this remarkable appearance of the planet was due to the
two projecting portions of the ring. With the feeble power of
Galileo’s telescope, these seemed merely like small globes or
appendages to the large central body.
The last Of Galileo’s great astronomical discoveries related to
the libration of the moon. I think that the detection of this
phenomenon shows his acuteness of observation more remarkably than
does any one of his other achievements with the telescope. It is
well known that the moon constantly keeps the same face turned
towards the earth. When, however, careful measurements have been
made with regard to the spots and marks on the lunar surface, it
is found that there is a slight periodic variation which permits
us to see
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