Karl von Gebler

“ Medicine was decided on as the most likely to be lucrative, although it may not seem the one most suited to his abilities.
On 5th November, 1581, Galileo, then just seventeen, entered the University of Pisa. [7] Even here the young medical student's independent ideas and aims made way for themselves. At that time any original ideas and philosophical views not derived from the dogmas of Aristotle were unheard of. All the theories of natural science and philosophy had hitherto been referred to theology. It had been held to be the Alpha and Omega of all human knowledge. ”

“ But if we consider the existing state of science, which condemned the Copernican system as an unheard of and fantastic hypothesis, and the religious incubus which weighed down all knowledge of nature irrespective of religious belief, and if, besides all this, we remember the entire revolution in the sphere both of religion and science involved in the reception of the Copernican system, we shall be more ready to admit that Galileo had good reason to be cautious. ”

“ During the time of his professorship at Pisa he made his grand researches into the laws of gravitation, now known under the name of "Galileo's Laws," and wrote as the result of them his great treatise "De Motu Gravium." It then had but a limited circulation in copies, and did not appear in print until two hundred years after his death, in Albèri's "Opere complete di Galileo Galilei." Aristotle, nearly two thousand years before, had raised the statement to the rank of a proposition, that the rate at which a body falls depends on its weight. ”

“ It is really pitiful that there are so few who seek truth, and who do not pursue a perverse method of philosophising. But this is not the place to mourn over the miseries of our times, but to congratulate you on your splendid discoveries in confirmation of truth. ”

“ I shall do so with the more pleasure, because I have been for many years an adherent of the Copernican system, and it explains to me the causes of many of the appearances of nature which are quite unintelligible on the commonly accepted hypothesis. I have collected many arguments for the purpose of refuting the latter; but I do not venture to bring them to the light of publicity, for fear of sharing the fate of our master, Copernicus, who, although he has earned immortal fame with some, yet with very many (so great is the number of fools) has become an object of ridicule and scorn. ”

“ It was not merely that to his encouragement he owed the origin of his excellent treatise on the doctrine of centres of gravity, which materially contributed to establish his fame, and even gained for him from Del Monte the name of an "Archimedes of his time," but he first helped him to secure a settled and honourable position in life. By his opportune recommendation in 1589, the professorship of mathematics at the University of Pisa, just become vacant, was conferred on Galileo, with an income of sixty scudi. ”

“ But now the period was far advanced in which it was felt to be necessary to cast off the narrow garments fashioned by religion, though at first the will to do so exceeded the power. A stir and ferment agitated men's minds. ”

“ From a letter of his to Mazzoni, of 30th May, 1597, [24] it is clear that he considered the opinions of Pythagoras and Copernicus on the position and motion of the earth to be far more correct than those of Aristotle and Ptolemy. In another letter of 4th August of the same year to Kepler, he thanks him for his work, which he had sent him, on the Mysteries of the Universe, [25] and writes as follows about the Copernican system:—
"I count myself happy, in the search after truth, to have so great an ally as yourself, and one who is so great a friend of the truth itself. ”

“ The discovery of the movement of the pendulum as a measurement of time, the importance of which was increasingly recognised, combined with his novel and intellectual treatment of physics, by which the phenomena of nature were submitted, as far as possible, to direct proof instead of to the a priori reasoning of the Aristotelians, excited much attention in all scientific circles. ”

“ And this indefinite number of bodies, equally favoured by nature, were they also the abodes of men? The bare possibility of a number of inhabited worlds could but imperil the first principles of Christian philosophy. ”

“ Men did not as yet possess energy and ability for direct advance, so they turned with real fanaticism to ancient learning, which, being independent, and not based on religious notions, afforded them satisfaction. ”

“ But even then there were many who were envious of Galileo in consequence of his unusual abilities and his rejection of the traditional authority of Aristotle. They succeeded in inducing the Grand Duke to refuse poor Vincenzo's petition, in consequence of which the young student had to leave the University, after four years' residence, without taking the doctor's degree. ”