Galileo and His Judges

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GALILEO AND HIS JUDGES
BY F. R. WEGG-PROSSER.
CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS, CRYSTAL PALACE PRESS.
There is no name in the annals of science which has been the occasion of so long and fierce a controversy as that of Galileo. The historian, the astronomer, and the theologian have all had a share in it. Sometimes there has been a pause in the strife, and the question has been allowed to rest; but after a while another disputant has rekindled the embers, and the struggle has recommenced. This has been the case within the last few years, some writers of considerable ability having appealed to the history of Galileo in order to give point to opinions that they wished to advance. During all this time, if there has been unfairness on one side, there have been injudicious zeal and inaccuracy on the other.
These circumstances must form my apology for interfering in a dispute already so prolonged and so envenomed; and it has appeared to me that I may without presumption hope to amend the errors to which I have just alluded, if in no other way, at least by stating correctly the facts of the case. I do not, however, undertake to write a full biography of the great philosopher, or to give a detailed account of his numerous contributions to the scientific literature of his day; I confine myself principally to those great crises in his life which have given rise to so much discussion, and which have chiefly contributed to make him a name in history.
Before entering on any details relating to Galileo’s life and works, I propose to give a brief sketch of the progress of astronomical knowledge up to his time; for without this, one cannot appreciate correctly the value of his contributions to science, a value exaggerated or underrated by different writers, each according to his respective bias.
The primitive conception of the Earth as a vast plain with the ocean flowing round it, and the solid firmament in the sky above it, with the Sun, Moon, and Stars driven across by some mysterious agency, need not be noticed from an astronomical point of view; it appeared naturally in ancient poetry and in the forms of speech adopted and continued by popular usage; but it is not necessary to dwell upon it.