[23]Printed in the Opere di Galileo, vol. VI. pp. 117-191.
[24]Printed in the Opere di Galileo, vol. VI. pp. 191-571.
[25]This work is said to have been dedicated to Urban VIII. himself (Lib. U. Knowledge, Life of Galileo, chap, VII.), but there is no dedication prefixed to the edition we have referred to; and it is, besides, unusual to dedicate a volume to any person when that volume has the form of a letter to another.
[26]A fine painting in gold, and a silver medal, and "a good quantity of agnus dei."
[27]Library of Useful Knowledge, Life of Galileo, chap. VIII.
[28]The communication between Florence and Rome was at this time interrupted by a contagious disease which had broken out in Tuscany.
[29]It has been said, but upon what authority we cannot find, that when Galileo rose from his knees, he stamped on the ground, and said in a whisper to one of his friends, "E pur si muove." "It does move, though."—Life of Galileo, Lib. Use. Knowledge, part II. p. 63.
[30]These phenomena are explained in the volume on "Astronomy."
[31]It is a curious fact, that Morin had about this time proposed to determine the longitude by the moon's distance from a fixed star, and that the commissioners assembled in Paris to examine it, requested Galileo's opinion of its value and practicability. Galileo's opinion was highly unfavourable. He saw clearly, and explained distinctly, the objection to Morin's method, arising from the imperfection of the lunar tables, and the inadequacy of astronomical instruments; but he seemed not to be conscious that the very same objections applied, with even greater force, to his own method, which has since been supplanted by that of the French savant. See life of Galileo, Library of Useful Knowledge, p. 94.