tion of Pure Mathematics and Astronomy. Dogmatism was attacked; there arose a long struggle with the authority of the Church and the established schools of philosophy. The Copernican System was set up in opposition to the time-honoured Ptolemaic System. The long and eager contest between the two culminated in a crisis at the time of Galileo, and resulted in the victory of the new system. Thus, by slow degrees, the minds of men were cut adrift from their old scholastic moorings and sent forth on the wide sea of scientific inquiry, to discover new islands and continents of truth.
THE RENAISSANCE.
With the sixteenth century began a period of increased intellectual activity. The human mind made a vast effort to achieve its freedom. Attempts at its emancipation from Church authority had been made before, but they were stifled and rendered abortive. The first great and successful revolt against ecclesiastical authority was made in Germany. The new desire for judging freely and independently in matters of religion was preceded and accompanied by a growing spirit of scientific inquiry. Thus it was that, for a time, Germany led the van in science. She produced Regiomontanus, Copernicus, Rhœticus, Kepler, and Tycho Brahe, at a period when France and England had, as yet, brought forth hardly any great scientific thinkers. This remarkable scientific productiveness was no doubt due, to a great extent, to the commercial prosperity of Germany. Material prosperity is an essential condition for the progress of knowledge. As long as every individual is obliged to collect the necessaries for his subsistence, there can be no leisure for higher pursuits. At this time, Germany had accumulated considerable wealth. The
