THE SIDEREAL MESSENGER
RIVINGTONS
| London | Waterloo Place |
| Oxford | Magdalen Street |
| Cambridge | Trinity Street |
GALILEO’S BROKEN LENS.
EXHIBITED IN THE LOAN COLLECTION OF SCIENTIFIC APPARATUSAT THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM, 1876.
From a photographof the Science and Art Department, South Kensington.
THE SIDEREAL MESSENGER
OF
GALILEO GALILEI
AND A PART OF THE PREFACE TO KEPLER’S DIOPTRICS
CONTAINING THE ORIGINAL ACCOUNT OF GALILEO’S
ASTRONOMICAL DISCOVERIES.
A Translation with Introduction and Notes
BY
EDWARD STAFFORD CARLOS, M.A.
HEAD MATHEMATICAL MASTER IN CHRIST’S HOSPITAL.
RIVINGTONS
WATERLOO PLACE, LONDON
Oxford and Cambridge
MDCCCLXXX
PREFATORY NOTE.
About five years ago I was engaged in preparinga catalogue of the ancient books which belong toChrist’s Hospital. One portion of these booksconsisted of a collection of ancient mathematicalworks presented at various times for the use of thatpart of the school which is known as the RoyalMathematical Foundation of King Charles II.Amongst them were some well known by name toevery mathematical student, but which few haveever seen. Perhaps the most interesting of themall was a little volume, printed in London in 1653,containing Gassendi’s Explanation of the Ptolemaicand Copernican Systems of Astronomy, as well asthat of Tycho Brahe, Galileo’s Sidereus Nuncius,and Kepler’s Dioptrics. I found Galileo’s account[vi]of his astronomical discoveries so interesting, bothin matter and in style, that I translated it as arecreation from school-work. I venture to thinkthat others also will be interested in followingGalileo through the apprehension of his famousdiscoveries, and in reading the language in whichhe announced them.
INTRODUCTION.
In 1609, Galileo, then Professor of Mathematicsat Padua, in the service of the Venetian Republic,heard from a correspondent at Paris of the inventionof a telescope, and set to work to consider howsuch an instrument could be made. The result washis invention of the telescope known by his name,and identical in principle with the modern opera-glass.In a maritime and warlike State, the advantagesto be expected from such an invention wereimmediately recognised, and Galileo was rewardedwith a confirmation of his Professorship for life, anda handsome stipend, in recognition of his inventionand construction of the first telescope seen atVenice. In his pamphlet, The Sidereal Messenger,here translated, Galileo relates how he came tolearn the value of the telescope for astronomicalresearch; and how his observations were rewardedby numerous discoveries in rapid succession, and at[viii]length by that of Jupiter’s satellites. Galileo atonce saw the value of this discovery as bearingupon the establishmen