el of the Galileo case.

Having gained their victory over Galileo, living and dead, having used
it to scare into submission the professors of astronomy throughout
Europe, conscientious churchmen exulted. Loud was their rejoicing that
the "heresy," the "infidelity" the "atheism" involved in believing that
the earth revolves about its axis and moves around the sun had been
crushed by the great tribunal of the Church, acting in strict obedience
to the expressed will of one Pope and the written order of another. As
we have seen, all books teaching this hated belief were put upon the
Index of books forbidden to Christians, and that Index was prefaced by
a bull enforcing this condemnation upon the consciences of the faithful
throughout the world, and signed by the reigning Pope.

The losses to the world during this complete triumph of theology
were even more serious than at first appears: one must especially be
mentioned. There was then in Europe one of the greatest thinkers ever
given to mankind--Rene Descartes. Mistaken though many of his reasonings
were, they bore a rich fruitage of truth. He had already done a vast
work. His theory of vortices--assuming a uniform material regulated by
physical laws--as the beginning of the visible universe, though it was
but a provisional hypothesis, had ended the whole old theory of the
heavens with the vaulted firmament and the direction of the planetary
movements by angels, which even Kepler had allowed. The scientific
warriors had stirred new life in him, and he was working over and
summing up in his mighty mind all the researches of his time. The
result would have made an epoch in history. His aim was to combine all
knowledge and thought into a Treatise on the World, and in view of this
he gave eleven years to the study of anatomy alone. But the fate of
Galileo robbed him of all hope, of all courage; the battle seemed lost;
he gave up his great plan forever.(72)

(72) For Descartes's discouragement, see Humboldt, Cosmos, London,
1851, vol iii, p. 21; also Lange, Geschichte des Materialismus, English
translation, vol. i, pp. 248, 249, where the letters of Descartes are
given, showing his despair, and the relinquishment of his best thoughts
and works in order to preserve peace with the Church; also Saisset,
Descartes et ses Precurseurs, pp. 100 et seq.; also Jolly, Histoire du
Mouvement intellectuel au XVI Siecle, vol. i, p. 390.

But ere long it was seen that this triumph