ch passages have a
particularly lamentable effect upon young minds. For them ridicule
means much more than argument. For a young man to be ridiculous seems
the worst thing that can possibly happen and when anything is made
ridiculous for him he loses his respect for it. Ridicule is, as is
well known, an extremely dangerous argument, however. Professor Draper
and, indeed, many another teacher of history and, above all, lecturer
and writer on the history of science, have made themselves supremely
ridiculous by their ready acceptance of a legend for which there is
not the slightest authority. It was made up to serve the purpose of
exhibiting Papal ignorance and superstition, but it so happens that in
serious history the Popes of the time when this is supposed to have
occurred are among the most intelligent and scholarly men of history.

It seems worth while to go over the list of Popes who came during the
twenty years just before and after the date given for the issuance of
this supposed bull. Eugene IV, elected Pope in 1431, {512} whatever
may have been his faults of lack of tact, was scholarly and unselfish.
At an early age he distributed what was really an immense fortune in
his time to the poor, and entered the monastery. When political
troubles drove him from Rome he resided at Florence and the presence
of the Papal Court there did much to foster the humanistic movement
which was just then beginning. It was he who consecrated the beautiful
church just finished by Brunelleschi. His successor in 1447 was Pope
Nicholas V, a man of wide education and deep interest in the revival
of classical literature and Christian antiquities. He was the founder
of the Vatican Library and brought Fra Angelico to Rome for the great
decorative work at the Vatican. Pope Calixtus III, who succeeded
Nicholas in 1455, was a man of cultivated mind, scholarly tastes and
shared with his predecessor the honor of having founded the Vatican
Library. He encouraged the Greek scholars in Italy and added greatly
to the collections of precious manuscripts. His desire to prevent the
further destruction of Greek culture by the Turks who had just
captured Constantinople, led him to devote himself mainly to the
fulfilment of a vow that he had made to wrest Constantinople from the
Moslem. To his influence is largely due the victory gained by the
Christians at Belgrade at this time which prevented the further spread
of Mohammedan power. Pope Calixtus had the