now, owing to having been attacked by sudden illness, he was not in a condition to set out. He has sent me the enclosed medical certificate. So that I have not failed to do my duty."[1]
The medical certificate, dated 17th December, gives a clear idea of the physical condition of this much-tried man, and we therefore give it in full, It is signed by the doctors Vettorio de Rossi, Giovanni Ronconi, and Pietro Cervieri, and is as follows:—
"We, the undersigned physicians, certify that we have examined Signor Galileo Galilei, and find that his pulse intermits every three or four beats, from which we conclude that his vital powers are affected, and at his great age much weakened. To the above are to be ascribed frequent attacks of giddiness, hypochondriacal melancholy, weakness of the stomach, sleeplessness, and flying pains about the body, to which others also can testify. We have also observed a serious hernia with rupture of the peritoneum. All these symptoms are worthy of notice, as under the least aggravation they might evidently become dangerous to life."[2]
But much importance does not seem to have been attached to this certificate at Rome; and in a despatch of 26th December, Niccolini expressed his fears to Cioli lest the ecclesiastical authorities at Florence should receive extreme orders.[3] Castelli also, in a letter of 25th December, urged his old master to set out.[4] But in this, as in all his letters of this period, he shows that he had no idea of the real moment to Galileo of the proceedings going on at Rome, and he was altogether ill informed about the course things were taking.[5] Probably great reserve was maintained towards this faithful adherent of Galileo, who was also to be his advocate. Castelli always consoled him with the assurance that, to the best of his belief, the final decision of the holy tribunal would never be against him.[6] Even in his letter of 25th December, Castelli says that
