Galileo published by degrees all the discoveries he had made at Padua, of which we have only noticed the most important, in the work before mentioned, the "Sidereus Nuncius"; it was dedicated to the Grand Duke, Cosmo II., and the first edition appeared at Venice, in March, 1610.
Although the unexpected discoveries which Galileo had made with his telescope had confirmed his opinion that the system of Copernicus was the only one consistent with the facts of nature, had indeed made it his absolute conviction, he had not yet ventured to defend it in his works. He contented himself with stating bare facts, without showing their relation to the ideas of Copernicus, leaving this to the learning and insight of the reader. Moreover, the logical inferences from Jupiter's moons must surely stare every thoughtful man in the face, and so indeed they did in a way very unwelcome to the scientific conservatives.
The storm raised by Galileo's latest announcements was tremendous. People heard with amazement the extraordinary things which the new invention had brought to light, and paid a just tribute of admiration to the man to whose labours it was due. But these discoveries were so directly opposed to the traditional natural philosophy, still regarded as the highest wisdom, that the "Sidereus Nuncius" had met with many opponents. It must however be borne in mind that at the time of its first publication very few of the learned were in a position to convince themselves with their own eyes of the correctness of the appearances seen with the telescope, simply because they had not the instrument at hand. From this cause, even Kepler did not see the satellites of Jupiter till 30th August, 1610. But men so free from jealousy and prejudice as Kepler (who, on reading the "Sidereus Nuncius," at once recognised the truth of the discoveries, and said with enthusiasm that "Galileo had in this book given evidence of the divinity of his genius"[1]), have at all times been rare.
- ↑ See the letter of Martin Hasdal from Prague, of 15th April, 1610, to
