f philosophy at Padua
resisted Galileo's repeated and urgent entreaties to look at the moon
and planets through his telescope; and he even laboured to convince the
Grand Duke that the satellites of Jupiter could not possibly exist.
Sizzi, an astronomer of Florence, maintained that as there were only
_seven_ apertures in the head--_two_ eyes, _two_ ears, _two_ nostrils,
and _one_ mouth--and as there were only _seven_ metals, and _seven_ days
in the week, so there could be only _seven_ planets. He seems, however,
to have admitted the visibility of the four satellites through the
telescope; but he argues, that as they are invisible to the naked eye,
they can exercise no influence on the earth; and being useless, they do
not therefore exist.

A _protege_ of Kepler's, of the name of Horky, wrote a volume against
Galileo's discovery, after having declared, "that he would never concede
his four new planets to that Italian from Padua, even if he should die
for it." This resolute Aristotelian was at no loss for arguments. He
asserted that he had examined the heavens _through Galileo's own glass_,
and that no such thing as a satellite existed round Jupiter. He
affirmed, that he did not more surely know that he had a soul in his
body, than that reflected rays are the sole cause of Galileo's erroneous
observations; and that the only use of the new planets was to gratify
Galileo's thirst for gold, and afford to himself a subject of
discussion.

When Horky first presented himself to Kepler, after the publication of
this work, the opinion of his patron was announced to him by a burst of
indignation which overwhelmed the astonished author. Horky supplicated
mercy for his offence; and, as Kepler himself informed Galileo, he took
him again into favour, on the condition that Kepler was to show him
Jupiter's satellites, and that Horky was not only to see them, but to
admit their existence.

When the spirit of philosophy had thus left the individuals who bore so
unworthily her sacred name, it was fortunate for science that it found a
refuge among princes. Notwithstanding the reiterated logic of his
philosophical professor at Padua, Cosmo de Medici preferred the
testimony of his senses to the syllogisms of his instructor. He observed
the new planets several times, along with Galileo, at Pisa; and when he
parted with him, he gave him a present worth more than 1000 florins, and
concluded that liberal arrangement to which we have already ref