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ART. IX.-1. Une Conversation au Vatican. Par J. B. BIOT, Lu á L'Académie Française dans sa séance particuliére du 3 Février 1858. Journal des Savants, Mars 1858, pp. 137-142.

2. La Vérité sur le Procés de Galilée. Par J. B. BIOT. Journal des Savants, Juillet 1858, pp. 397-406; Aug. 1858, pp. 461-471; Septembre 1858, pp. 543-551; Octobre 1858, pp. 607–615.

3 Galileo e Inquisizione, da M. MARINO MARINI.

1850.

Roma,

4. Opere Complete di Galileo Galilei. M. EUGENIO ALBERI, 16 vol., 8vo Firenze 1842-1856.

5. Vie de Galilée. Par J. B. BIOT. Biog. Universelle.

6. Life of Galileo. By the late Mr DRINKWATER BETHUNE. In the Library of Useful Knowledge.

7. Martyrs of Science, containing the Lives of Galileo, Kepler, and Tycho Brahe. By SIR DAVID BREWSTER, F.R.S. 4th Edition. London, 1859.

8. Note sur le Proces de Galilée. Par JEAN PLANA. Lu dans la Seance de L'Academie de Sciences de Turin du 9 Novembre 1858. Pp. 12. Turin, 1858.

9. Reflexions sur les Objections soulevées par Arago contre la Priorité de Galilée pour la double decouverte des taches Solaires noire, et de la Rotation uniforme du Globe du Soleil. Par JEAN PLANA. Turin, 1860.

THE romance of "the Starry Galileo and his Woes" has been so often written by the philosopher, and by the historian of science, that nothing but the discovery of new incidents in his life, or the circulation of fresh calumnies against his name, could justify us in now calling to it the attention of the public. The imprisonment and moral torture of the greatest philosopher of his age, for publishing truths which the Almighty had revealed to human reason, might have excited little notice if inflicted by the civil magistrate, or even by an ecclesiastical tribunal, in the exercise of their ordinary powers; but when the successor of St Peterthe Infallible Pontiff-God's Vicar upon earth, who held in his hand the reason and the conscience of the Catholic world,-when he pronounced the motion of the earth and the stability of the sun to be a lie and a heresy, and threatened with the torture the sage who taught it, the attention of the civilised world was riveted on the daring and hazardous decree. Philosophers were struck dumb by the presumptuous verdict, and humanity

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wept over the Martyr of Science. Even Catholics of high intellect and generous hearts shuddered at the deed, and contemplated with fear an act of inquisitorial law which threatened with subversion the moral as well as the ecclesiastical power of the Church which they loved.

In spite of the pontifical decree, the earth continued to perform its annual round, and year after year contributed new proofs of the great truths for which Galileo had been condemned. The Jesuits themselves were at length compelled to illustrate them in their writings, and even instil them into their youth; and the story of Galileo, and the controversy of the earth and sun, were topics of painful recollection among the educated supporters of the Catholic faith. The successors of Urban VIII. ceased to defend, and doubtless to believe, the dogmas which he promulgated. The very cardinals, whose predecessors sat in judgment on the philosopher, have renounced the infallible decree, and, as a dogma less amenable to science, and more germane to the Catholic mind, the Immaculate Conception has replaced, in the pontifical creed, the Ptolemaic System of the Universe.

This change of feeling has been nowhere more strongly exhibited than in the city of Florence, when subject to the most Catholic of sovereigns. In a former age Galileo was an exile from its walls-chained to his own roof-tree, and, as a convict, chanting the penitential psalms in his solitary home. He was prohibited from seeking medical advice, and associating with his friends in the city which he honoured. He durst not inhale the salutary breeze on the banks of the lovely Arno, nor bathe his aching limbs in its crystal stream. When those eyes which had descried new worlds in the bosom of space were closed in darkness, he was not allowed to grope his way among the scenes which he had hallowed and immortalized. When his powerful intellect could no longer cope with error, the hatred of the priest pursued him beyond the tomb. His mortal remains were denied Christian burial, and for a century they lay in a dishonoured grave. Even his right to make a will, the last and the holiest privilege of our frail humanity, was denied to him as a prisoner of the Inquisition; and when the friends whom he loved had provided a monument to his memory, the Pope would not allow it to be reared.

Time, however, which changes everything, has changed even

The Tribune of Galileo, in the Museum of Natural History at Florence, is one of the noblest monuments that a sovereign ever raised to a subject. It was erected at great expense by the liberality of the ex-Grand Duke of Tuscany. It is a richly decorated apartment, in which are preserved all the telescopes and other instruments of Galileo, together with the astrolabes of Alphonso, and the instruments which belonged to the celebrated Academy del Cimento.

M. Biot's Reception at Rome.

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the faith which professes never to change. The fame of the martyr had achieved a lofty place in the Temple of Science, and the cities of his birth and his labours have striven to do him honour. In Florence, the scene of his deepest sorrow, his memory has been most affectionately cherished. In the very Church of Sta. Croce, where his sentence and abjuration were ignominiously and insultingly published, and in which his bones were denied a place, a magnificent monument now rises over his exhumed remains. The youth of Padua venerate his solitary vertebra, and those of Florence his purloined finger, with a more affectionate admiration than the scented relics of their saints and their sovereigns; while, what would be to him a nobler triumph, the great truth for which he suffered-the daily revolution of the earth has been exhibited to the eye by a Catholic philosopher as an indisputable fact which even Cardinals and Pontiffs could hardly venture to gainsay.1

It would have been well for the Catholic faith, and well also for the interests of truth, had the trial of Galileo ceased to be the subject of controversy, and been permitted to take its destined place in the page of history. But error never dies; and the infallible Church has reappeared in the person of a functionary of the Inquisition, with an eminent philosopher as his interpreter, to give a new aspect to the story of Galileo, and to fix a calumny on his name. As the history of this attempt is little known in this country, and possesses the highest interest in its relation to scientific history, as well as to the character and claims of the Catholic Church, we shall present it to our readers in its fullest details.

When engaged in an astronomical mission in 1824, M. Biot, one of the most distinguished members of the Imperial Institute of France, and known throughout the civilised world by his writings and his discoveries in physical optics, had occasion to visit Rome with his son on their way to Naples. The morning after his arrival, which was in the month of March 1825, M. Biot waited upon the Duke de Laval, the French ambassador, by whom he was received with the distinction due to his character and talents. Modern Rome thronged into the saloons of the ambassador, and through his means ancient Rome became more accessible to M. Biot than it could otherwise have been. having enjoyed for some days the courtesies of the Embassy, our traveller naturally desired to be presented to the Pope; and the Duke de Laval kindly promised to take the earliest opportunity of introducing him to Leo XII. An ambassador, however, as M. Biot observes, restrained by certain precautions, must follow

After

We refer to the beautiful experiment of M. Foucault of Paris with a pendulum suspended from a fixed point, which follows the earth in its daily motion.

certain rules in his official relations. The expected opportunity of being presented to his Holiness never arrived; and the most respectful attempts on M. Biot's part to bring it about seemed to place new difficulties in the way. The young attachés of the Embassy gave our philosopher the solution of this "enigma." When he arrived at Rome, he was anxious to write to Colonel Fallon, Director of the Topographical Bureau at Vienna, in order to give him an account of the operations which he proposed to make at Fiume, the eastern terminus of the portion of the 45th parallel of latitude which was measured by the Austrian engineers. In order to do this, he required certain numbers, which could only be obtained from the Observatory of the Collegio Romano, kept by the Jesuits, and under the direction of Father Dumouchel, who had been his friend and fellow-student in the Ecole Polytechnique. He had therefore to go frequently to the College of the Jesuits; and, his movements having been observed by the authorities, his visits were believed to conceal some mystery which it was necessary to clear up before any further communication was held with him. "In short," he says, "I had become a political character without knowing it. I conceived that it was not necessary for me, a simple savant, to remain any longer enveloped in the toils of diplomacy, and that the sincerity of my humble homage did not require so much arrangement. I resolved, therefore, to open some less embarrassing way out of the official world, of which I could sooner avail myself. But in order to exercise the sagacity of the watchmen of the Embassy, I purposely paid more frequent visits to Father Dumouchel."

M. Biot was acquainted with M. Testa, a prelate of literary tastes, who had published a learned dissertation on the zodiacal representations discovered in Egypt a few years before. Having been himself occupied with the same subject, he had paid a visit to the prelate a few days after his arrival in Rome. As he had been well received, he repeated his visit,-related to him his misadventure, and expressed the regret he should feel were he not admitted to an interview with his Holiness, along with his son, to whom, as well as to himself, such an event would be a source of pleasure during the rest of their lives. He had not known that the good Abbé Testa was, more than any other person, in a position to obtain for him this favour, to which he had attached so great a value. The Abbé held an office of trust in the pontifical court, and his excellent qualities had secured to him the esteem of Pope Leo XII. The favour of a presentation was asked and granted; and the Abbé and his friends repaired to the Vatican a little before the appointed hour. This was after the dinner of the Holy Father, who had just retired into an inner

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M. Biot's Introduction to Pope Leo XII.

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apartment; so that they remained in the waiting-room till they were summoned into the presence-chamber. At this time there entered into the salon a priest, who had come for an audience like themselves. He was clothed in a white robe, and was a tall man, with much dignity of manner. The Abbé presented to him M. Biot by his name, which was not unknown to him; and he immediately entered into conversation on the zodiacs of Egypt, a subject which he knew to be interesting both to the Abbé and his friend, who reviewed with much learning and critical acumen the numerous conjectures by which they had been explained. He then said to M. Biot, without any other transition, "We have read here your article Galilée' in the Biographie Universelle. You there condemn the judgment pronounced against him by the Holy Office. But, in fact, the tribunal had condemned only his errors, for he had committed very serious ones."

Embarrassed by this opinion, the philosopher could not decide whether he should, in such a locality, disown his scientific faith or oppose so severe a judgment. He determined, therefore, to veer between these two extremes. "It is possible," he said, "that Galileo has committed errors. Every man is fallible. But it required judges in advance of the age to perceive them; and, after all, they could not charge him with a great crime. The trial which he underwent does not seem to rest on the essence of his discoveries, but on their philosophical consequences. The teachers of the day, who were ecclesiastics, arrayed themselves with a furious unanimity against the reformer, who spared neither their refutations nor their sarcasms. They attacked him from their professorial chairs, and even in their religious services; being thus made his implacable enemies, they accused him of heresy at Rome, as the Protestants of Holland accused Descartes of atheism-religion becoming everywhere an arm, and a most terrible one when directed by the passions. Moreover, in deploring this trial, and exposing the interested motives which were the pretext for it, you may have noticed that I have not exaggerated the facts. I believe I have made it clear that the physical rigours (the application of torture) indicated by the terms of the sentence were only formal expressions, without any reality of application. Everything concurs to prove this. Galileo had from the first, for his prison, the house of the chief officer of the tribunal, with permission to walk in the palace. He was attended by his own domestic servant; and afterwards, when he was transferred to the palace of the Archbishop of Sienna, whose superb garden served him for a promenade, he was allowed to write freely every day to his friends; and he wrote to them very pleasant letters in the report of those who interrogated him.