On the 10th of May, 1859, Alexander von Humboldt was buried. His labors bad been among the glories of the century, and his funeral was one of the most imposing that Berlin had ever seen: among those who honored themselves by their presence was the prince regent, afterward the Emperor William I; but of the clergy it was observed that none were present save the officiating clergyman and a few regarded as unorthodox.[1]
We return now to the sequel 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—René Descartes.[2] Mistaken though many of his theories were, they bore a rich fruitage of truth. 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.
But ere long it was seen that the triumph was really a prodigious defeat. From all sides came proofs that Copernicus and Galileo were right; and although Pope Urban and the Inquisition held Galileo in strict seclusion, forbidding him even to speak regarding the double motion of the earth; and although this condemnation of "all books which affirm the motion of the earth"
- ↑ See Bruhns and Lassell, Life of Humboldt, London, 1873, vol. ii, p. 411.
- ↑ For Descartes's discouragement, see Humboldt, Cosmos, London, 1851, vol. iii, p. 21; also, Lange, Geschichte des Materialismus, vol. i, p. 222, 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 Précurseurs, pp. 100 et seq.; also, Jolly, Histoire du Mouvement intellectuel au XVIe Siècle, vol. i, p. 390.
