13
been done, to remove the occasion of scandal. I do not affirm that the new Index solely or principally originated in such a view; but certainly no measure could be better adapted to attain a plain object of desire, than the publication of a fresh Index with the omission which has been stated.
True it is, that the public heard very little about the occasional and frequent lists of condemned books issuing from the highest authority in the Latin Church, and declaring most formally and solemnly her judgments respecting the various points brought under criticism. The public, even the reading and apparently informed public, were almost completely ignorant, as they are now, upon that subject; and there was not much disposition in the parties most concerned to rouse or enlighten them; they were, with very good will, left to sleep. However, Rome knew well enough how things stood; and although, in consequence of popular ignorance and indifference, the charge of hostility to science against the Roman Church was made to rest almost exclusively upon the actual persecution of Galileo, for his anti-orthodox doctrine respecting the solar system; and this charge was almost exclusively re-
