PREFACE
TO THE GERMAN EDITION.
While Italy and France possess an ample literature relating to Galileo, his oft-discussed fate and memorable achievements, very little has been written in Germany on this hero of science; and it would almost seem as if Copernicus and Kepler had cast the founder of mechanical physics into the shade. German literature does not possess one exhaustive work on Galileo. This is a great want, and to supply it would be a magnificent and thankworthy enterprise. It could only, however, be carried out by a comprehensive biography of the famous astronomer, which, together with a complete narrative of his life, should comprise a detailed description and estimate of his writings, inventions, and discoveries. We do not feel ourselves either called upon or competent to undertake so difficult a task. Our desire has been merely to fill up a portion of the gap in German literature by this contribution to the Life of Galileo, with a hope that it may be an incentive to some man of learning, whose studies qualify him for the task, to give our nation a complete description of the life and works of this great pioneer of the ideas of Copernicus.
