capacity he must be placed alongside of Archimedes, and it
is pretty certain that between the two there was no man of magnitude
equal to either in experimental philosophy. It is perhaps too bold a
speculation, but I venture to doubt whether in succeeding generations we
find his equal in the domain of purely experimental science until we
come to Faraday. Faraday was no doubt his superior, but I know of no
other of whom the like can unhesitatingly be said. In mathematical and
deductive science, of course, it is quite otherwise. Kepler, for
instance, and many men before and since, have far excelled Galileo in
mathematical skill and power, though at the same time his achievements
in this department are by no means to be despised.

Born at Pisa three centuries ago, on the very day that Michael Angelo
lay dying in Rome, he inherited from his father a noble name, cultivated
tastes, a keen love of truth, and an impoverished patrimony. Vincenzo de
Galilei, a descendant of the important Bonajuti family, was himself a
mathematician and a musician, and in a book of his still extant he
declares himself in favour of free and open inquiry into scientific
matters, unrestrained by the weight of authority and tradition.

In all probability the son imbibed these precepts: certainly he acted on
them.

Vincenzo, having himself experienced the unremunerative character of
scientific work, had a horror of his son's taking to it, especially as
in his boyhood he was always constructing ingenious mechanical toys, and
exhibiting other marks of precocity. So the son was destined for
business--to be, in fact, a cloth-dealer. But he was to receive a good
education first, and was sent to an excellent convent school.

Here he made rapid progress, and soon excelled in all branches of
classics and literature. He delighted in poetry, and in later years
wrote several essays on Dante, Tasso, and Ariosto, besides composing
some tolerable poems himself. He played skilfully on several musical
instruments, especially on the lute, of which indeed he became a master,
and on which he solaced himself when quite an old man. Besides this he
seems to have had some skill as an artist, which was useful afterwards
in illustrating his discoveries, and to have had a fine sensibility as
an art critic, for we find several eminent painters of that day
acknowledging the value of the opinion of the young Galileo.

Perceiving all this display of ability, the father wisely c