第 64 节
作者:乐乐陶陶      更新:2021-02-24 23:08      字数:9322
  invention of logarithms;was necessary to arrive at these truths!
  What fertility of invention was displayed in all his hypotheses;
  what patience in working them out; what magnanimity in discarding
  those which were not true!  What power of guessing; even to hit
  upon theories which could be established by elaborate
  calculations;all from the primary thought; the grand axiom; which
  Kepler was the first to propose; that there must be some numerical
  or geometrical relations among the times; distances; and velocities
  of the revolving bodies of the solar system!  It would seem that
  although his science was deductive; he invoked the aid of induction
  also: a great original genius; yet modest like Newton; a man who
  avoided hostilities; yet given to the most boundless enthusiasm on
  the subjects to which he devoted his life。  How intense his
  raptures!  〃Nothing holds me;〃 he writes; on discovering his great
  laws; 〃I will indulge in my sacred fury。  I will boast of the
  golden vessels I have stolen from the Egyptians。  If you forgive
  me; I rejoice。  If you are angry; it is all the same to me。  The
  die is cast; the book is written;to be read either now; or by
  posterity; I care not which。  It may well wait a century for a
  reader; as God has waited six thousand years for an observer。〃
  We do not see this sublime repose in the attitude of Galileo;this
  falling back on his own conscious greatness; willing to let things
  take their natural course; but rather; on the other hand; an
  impatience under contradiction; a vehement scorn of adversaries;
  and an intellectual arrogance that gave offence; and impeded his
  career; and injured his fame。  No matter how great a man may be;
  his intellectual pride is always offensive; and when united with
  sarcasm and mockery it will make bitter enemies; who will pull him
  down。
  Galileo; on his transfer to Padua; began to teach the doctrines of
  Copernicus;a much greater genius than he; and yet one who
  provoked no enmities; although he made the greatest revolution in
  astronomical knowledge that any man ever made; since he was in no
  haste to reveal his discoveries; and stated them in a calm and
  inoffensive way。  I doubt if new discoverers in science meet with
  serious opposition when men themselves are not attacked; and they
  are made to appeal to calm intelligence; and war is not made on
  those Scripture texts which seem to controvert them。  Even
  theologians receive science when science is not made to undermine
  theological declarations; and when the divorce of science from
  revelation; reason from faith; as two distinct realms; is
  vigorously insisted upon。  Pascal incurred no hostilities for his
  scientific investigations; nor Newton; nor Laplace。  It is only
  when scientific men sneer at the Bible because its declarations
  cannot always be harmonized with science that the hostilities of
  theologians are provoked。  And it is only when theologians deny
  scientific discoveries that seem to conflict with texts of
  Scripture; that opposition arises among scientific men。  It would
  seem that the doctrines of Copernicus were offensive to churchmen
  on this narrow ground。  It was hard to believe that the earth
  revolved around the sun; when the opinions of the learned for two
  thousand years were unanimous that the sun revolved around the
  earth。  Had both theologian and scientist let the Bible alone;
  there would not have been a bitter war between them。  But
  scientists were accused by theologians of undermining the Bible;
  and the theologians were accused of stupid obstinacy; and were
  mercilessly exposed to ridicule。
  That was the great error of Galileo。  He made fun and sport of the
  theologians; as Samson did of the Philistines; and the Philistines
  of Galileo's day cut off his locks and put out his eyes when the
  Pope put him into their power;those Dominican inquisitors who
  made a crusade against human thought。  If Galileo had shown more
  tact and less arrogance; possibly those Dominican doctors might
  have joined the chorus of universal praise; for they were learned
  men; although devoted to a bad system; and incapable of seeing
  truth when their old authorities were ridiculed and set at nought。
  Galileo did not deny the Scriptures; but his spirit was mocking;
  and he seemed to prejudiced people to undermine the truths which
  were felt to be vital for the preservation of faith in the world。
  And as some scientific truths seemed to be adverse to Scripture
  declarations; the transition was easy to a denial of the
  inspiration which was claimed by nearly all Christian sects; both
  Catholic and Protestant。
  The intolerance of the Church in every age has driven many
  scientists into infidelity; for it cannot be doubted that the
  tendency of scientific investigation has been to make scientific
  men incredulous of divine inspiration; and hence to undermine their
  faith in dogmas which good men have ever received; and which are
  supported by evidence that is not merely probable but almost
  certain。  And all now that seems wanting to harmonize science with
  revelation is; on the one hand; the re…examination of the Scripture
  texts on which are based the principia from which deductions are
  made; and which we call theology; and; on the other hand; the
  rejection of indefensible statements which are at war with both
  science and consciousness; except in those matters which claim
  special supernatural agency; which we can neither prove nor
  disprove by reason; for supernaturalism claims to transcend the
  realm of reason altogether in what relates to the government of
  God;ways that no searching will ever enable us to find out with
  our limited faculties and obscured understanding。  When the two
  realms of reason and faith are kept distinct; and neither
  encroaches on the other; then the discoveries and claims of science
  will meet with but little opposition from theologians; and they
  will be left to be sifted by men who alone are capable of the task。
  Thus far science; outside of pure mathematics; is made up of
  theories which are greatly modified by advancing knowledge; so that
  they cannot claim in all respects to be eternally established; like
  the laws of Kepler and the discoveries of Copernicus;the latter
  of which were only true in the main fact that the earth revolves
  around the sun。  But even he retained epicycles and excentrics; and
  could not explain the unequal orbits of planetary motion。  In fact
  he retained many of the errors of Hipparchus and Ptolemy。  Much;
  too; as we are inclined to ridicule the astronomy of the ancients
  because they made the earth the centre; we should remember that
  they also resolved the orbits of the heavenly bodies into circular
  motions; discovered the precession of the equinoxes; and knew also
  the apparent motions of the planets and their periods。  They could
  predict eclipses of the sun and moon; and knew that the orbit of
  the sun and planets was through a belt in the heavens; of a few
  degrees in width; which they called the Zodiac。  They did not know;
  indeed; the difference between real and apparent motion; nor the
  distance of the sun and stars; nor their relative size and weight;
  nor the laws of motion; nor the principles of gravitation; nor the
  nature of the Milky Way; nor the existence of nebulae; nor any of
  the wonders which the telescope reveals; but in the severity of
  their mathematical calculations they were quite equal to modern
  astronomers。
  If Copernicus revolutionized astronomy by proving the sun to be the
  centre of motion to our planetary system; Galileo gave it an
  immense impulse by his discoveries with the telescope。  These did
  not require such marvellous mathematical powers as made Kepler and
  Newton immortal;the equals of Ptolemy and Hipparchus in
  mathematical demonstrationbut only accuracy and perseverance in
  observations。  Doubtless he was a great mathematician; but his fame
  rests on his observations and the deductions he made from them。
  These were more easily comprehended; and had an objective value
  which made him popular: and for these discoveries he was indebted
  in a great measure to the labors of others;it was mechanical
  invention applied to the advancement of science。  The utilization
  of science was reserved to our times; and it is this utilization
  which makes science such a handmaid to the enrichment of its
  votaries; and holds it up to worship in our laboratories and
  schools of technology and mines; not merely for itself; but also
  for the substantial fruit it yields。
  It was when Galileo was writing treatises on the Structure of the
  Universe; on Local Motion; on Sound; on Continuous Quantity; on
  Light; on Colors; on the Tides; on Dialing;subjects that also
  interested Lord Bacon at the same period;and when he was giving
  lectures on these subjects with immense eclat; frequently to one
  thousand persons (scarcely less than what Abelard enjoyed when he
  made fun of the more conservative schoolmen with whom he wa