| But astronomy is a very enervating
branch of science. Galileo frequently
came down to breakfast with red,
heavy eyes, eyes that were swollen
full of unshed tears. Still he persevered.
Day after day he worked and toiled.
Year after year he went on with
his task till he had worked out
in his own mind the satellites of
Jupiter and placed a small tin tag
on each one, so that he would know
it readily when he saw it again.
Then he began to look up Saturn's
rings and investigate the freckles
on the sun. He did not stop at trifles,
but went bravely on till everybody
came for miles to look at him and
get him to write something funny
in their autograph albums.
It was not an unusual thing for
Galileo to get up in the morning,
after a wearisome night with a
fretful, new-born star, to find
his front yard full of albums.
Some of them were little red albums
with floral decorations on them,
while others were the large plush
and alligator albums of the affluent.
Some were new and had the price-mark
still on them, while others were
old, foundered albums, with a
droop in the back and little flecks
of egg and gravy on the title-page.
All came with a request for Galileo
"to write a little, witty,
characteristic sentiment in them."
Galileo was the author of the
hydrostatic paradox and other
sketches. He was a great reader
and a fluent penman. One time
he was absent from home, lecturing
in Venice for the benefit of the
United Aggregation of Mutual Admirers,
and did not return for two weeks,
so that when he got back he found
the front room full of autograph
albums. It is said that he then
demonstrated his great fluency
and readiness as a thinker and
writer. He waded through the entire
lot in two days with only two
men from West Pisa to assist him.
Galileo came out of it fresh and
youthful, and all of the following
night he was closeted with another
inventor, a wicker-covered microscope,
and a bologna sausage. The investigations
were carried on for two weeks,
after which Galileo went out to
the inebriate asylum and discovered
some new styles of reptiles.
Galileo was the author of a little
work called "I Discarsi e
Dimas-Trazioni Matematiche Intorus
a Due Muove Scienze." It
was a neat little book, of about
the medium height, and sold well
on the trains, for the Pisan newsboys
on the cars were very affable,
as they are now, and when they
came and leaned an armful of these
books on a passenger's leg and
poured into his ear a long tale
about the wonderful beauty of
the work, and then pulled in the
name of the book from the rear
of the last car, where it had
been hanging on behind, the passenger
would most always buy it and enough
of the name to wrap it up in.
He also discovered the isochronism
of the pendulum. He saw that the
pendulum at certain seasons of
the year looked yellow under the
eyes, and that it drooped and
did not enter into its work with
the old zest. He began to study
the case with the aid of his new
bamboo telescope and a wicker-covered
microscope. As a result, in ten
days he had the pendulum on its
feet again.
Galileo was inclined to be liberal
in his religious views, more especially
in the matter of the Scriptures,
claiming that there were passages
in the Bible which did not literally
mean what the translator said
they did. This was where Galileo
missed it. So long as he discovered
stars and isochronisms and such
things as that, he succeeded,
but when he began to fool with
other people's religious beliefs
he got into trouble. He was forced
to fly from Pisa, we are told
by the historian, and we are assured
at the same time that Galileo,
who had always been far, far ahead
of all competitors in other things,
was equally successful as a fleer.
Galileo received but sixty scudi
per year as his salary while at
Pisa, and a part of that he took
in town orders, worth only sixty
cents on the scudi.
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