Jumbo's Hide, Elvis's Ride, and the Tooth of Buddha

by Harvey Rachlin

  An artist's rendition of Galileo in prison.

  For the scientist who endeavored to tear down the musty curtains of antiquated beliefs and let in the light of solid mathematical reasoning, Galileo’s condemnation was a fall from grace. But the great Renaissance man was a hapless victim of his times and locale; to publicly promote a scientific understanding of nature that was deemed contrary to the Bible could only invite the wrath of the Inquisition.

  Galileo Galilei, the Italian astronomer, physicist, philosopher, and mathematician, was born on February 15, 1564. In 1588, at the age of twenty-four, he was appointed a professor of mathematics at the University of Pisa, then in 1592 received the same appointment at the University of Padua, where he remained until 1610. During the time he held chairs in mathematics, Galileo carried out pioneering work in mechanics, magnetism, thermometry, and astronomy. He devised the fundamental law of falling bodies, fabricated a compass, mathematically accounted for tides by applying certain concepts of Copernicus, and used a telescope he built to probe the heavens and make numerous discoveries about the planets, the Milky Way, and the moon. But around 1612, with his affirmation of Copernicus’s sun-centered universe, he began to stir the anger of philosophers and theologians and provoke a response that would culminate in a personal crisis.

  Galileo lived during an era when reasoning and independent inquiry were beginning to supplant traditional religious dogma and superstition. With humanists, inventors, writers, artists, explorers, and scientists of the likes of Erasmus, Gutenberg, Shakespeare, da Vinci, Michelangelo, Columbus, and Copernicus carrying out important and revolutionary work, the Western world was aflame with invigorating ideas, exciting discoveries, and pioneering achievements. During this time of reawakening, known as the Renaissance, which began in Florence at the start of the fourteenth century and lasted through the end of the seventeenth century, people began to look at life in different ways, to question old sacrosanct doctrines of faith and attempt to comprehend nature in ways that seemed to blaspheme the Bible. Whereas the teachings of the Church had previously been accepted without question, the rebirth of free inquiry led people to question the Church’s teachings and search instead for truths based on empirical observation. After the long intellectual and creative dormancy that had characterized the Dark Ages, the free-thinking spirit that had animated ancient Rome and Greece was reinvigorated.

  As a free-thinking and autonomous scientist, Galileo ran into problems through his investigations. He contradicted conventions such as the Aristotelian notion that bodies of different weights fall at a speed in proportion to their weight in favor of the conclusion that all bodies, no matter what their weight, fall to the ground at the same speed. His probing of the heavens—in which he observed sunspots, noted that the planets showed phases, and found that moonlight was not emitted by the heavenly body itself but was the reflection from its surface of the sun’s light—led him to affirm Copernicus’s heliocentric hypothesis.

  The idea of a sun-centered world in which the planets revolve around the bright celestial body was actually a Pythagorean doctrine that the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus had taken up in his posthumously published De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (Concerning the Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies). After Galileo embraced the sun-centered hypothesis, it spread through the Western world. Proponents of the Aristotelian system, in which a fixed earth stood as the center of the universe, were now in danger of being discredited, and they conspired to condemn Galileo as a promulgator of blasphemy. Galileo warned that if people were made to feel that belief in the laws revealed by science was sinful, it would ultimately be harmful, and he zealously attempted to convince Church authorities that his theories did not endanger ecclesiastical beliefs because they were only theories. Acting in his own best interests, however, he denounced Copernicus’s writings, which the Holy Office put on the list of prohibited material until its “errors” could be removed. Galileo continued to devote himself to further scientific study though, and in 1632, his Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems was published, which was in effect a renewed argument for the Copernican heliocentric system. Although the Roman Catholic censors gave Galileo their consent to publish the book, its support of the Copernican system caused an uproar. The Pope charged that he had been deceived into allowing its publication, and this accusation ultimately led to Galileo’s prosecution by the Inquisition. The Inquisition held that a 1616 decree forbade Galileo from expounding on the theories of Copernicus, and it produced a document (whose authenticity has been the subject of debate) stating the proscription. The Inquisition banned all Galileo’s works and ordered him imprisoned. Forced to betray his own knowledge and acknowledge a false truth, Galileo formally recanted:

  I, Galileo, son of the late Vincenzo Galilei of Florence, being seventy years old … swear that I have always believed, believe now, and with God’s help, will in the future believe all that the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church doth hold, preach, and teach. But since, after having been admonished by this Holy Office entirely to abandon the false opinion that the Sun is the center of the universe and immovable, and that the Earth is not the center of the same and that it moves, and that I was neither to hold, defend, nor teach in any manner whatsoever, either orally or in writing, the said false doctrine; and after having received a notification that the said doctrine is contrary to Holy Writ, I wrote and published a book in which I treat this condemned doctrine and bring forth very persuasive arguments in its favor without answering them. I have been judged vehemently suspected of heresy, that is of having held and believed that the Sun is at the center of the universe and immovable, and that the Earth is not at the center and that it moves. Therefore, wishing to remove from the minds of your Eminences and all faithful Christians this vehement suspicion reasonably conceived against me, I abjure with a sincere heart and unfeigned faith all these errors and heresies, and I curse and detest them as well as any other error, heresy, or sect contrary to the Holy Catholic Church. And I swear that for the future I shall neither say nor assert orally or in writing such things as may bring upon me similar suspicions; and if I know any heretic, or one suspected of heresy, I will denounce him to this Holy Office, or to the Inquisitor or Ordinary of the place in which I may be.

  The middle finger of Galileo's right hand set in a glass bowl mounted on an alabaster stand.

  Although his voice in scientific matters continued through his writing—his treatise on solid bodies and accelerated motion, Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations Concerning Two New Sciences, was published in Holland in 1638—Galileo Galilei was physically set apart from the world, symbolically banished from civilization in the commutation of his prison sentence to house arrest. After eight long years of confinement at his Arcetri villa, Galileo died on January 8, 1642, at the age of seventy-seven. For a scientist who was instrumental in vanquishing antiquated ideas about the world and supporting scientifically based theories that attempted to explain the world rationally, Galileo’s last years were a sad chapter in a great life. His body was placed in a small room in the Chapel of Saints Cosmas and Damian, but a quirky fate awaited the corpse.

  The ecclesiastical condemnation precluded Galileo from having a proper funeral in the main chapel of the church where he was buried, and this later, evidently, caused some of his compatriots to feel remorseful. Vincenzo Viviani, who as a teenager attended Galileo in the last few years of his life and went on to become an engineer, provided in his will for a tomb to be built in the main chapel as a fitting sanctuary for the ostracized scientist, and on March 12, 1737, Galileo’s remains were moved to the more appropriate spot for re-interment. During the transport a scholar, Anton Francesco Gori, severed the right middle finger of Galileo. The corporeal relic, which became an object of veneration, was later displayed at the Laurenziana Library, then, for a period of time beginning in 1842, in a Galilean rotunda inside the Museum of Physics and Natural History along with other artifacts related to Galileo’s life and work.
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  Galileo had led a very distinguished and troubled life. He made numerous extraordinary scientific contributions, among them discovering four of the satellites of Jupiter and improving the telescope. But for defying convention, for favoring science over Scripture, he was persecuted and made to suffer, isolated from society in his advanced years when he was debilitated and blind.

  That Galileo did not see justice served upon him in his own lifetime is historically moot. A papal apology for the Holy Office’s condemnation of the scientist was offered in 1992. Although official vindication for the brilliant Renaissance physicist did not come until three centuries after his death, he didn’t have to wait so long for payback.

  It is crudely apropos that nearly a century after his death, when his writings were gaining credence and stirring the imaginations of other bright successors, he had plucked from him a particular anatomical vestige. For his allegedly radical ideas and discoveries, Galileo’s contemporaries gave him a hard time. In return, the esteemed and exonerated scientist gave history his middle finger.

  LOCATION: Institute and Museum of the History of Science, Florence, Italy.

  GEORGE WASHINGTON’S

  SCHOOLBOY COPYBOOKS

  DATE: 1744-1748.

  WHAT THEY ARE: Three bound journals containing learning exercises written by George Washington when he was between the ages of twelve and sixteen.

  WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE: The cover of the “School Copybook” is dark blue with gold tooling and measures 15⅛ inches long by 10⁵/₈ inches wide; its folios measure 14⁷/₈ inches long by 10 inches wide. The cover of George Washington’s “Second School Copy Book” is red and measures 12⅛ inches long by 9 inches wide; its folios measure 11⁹/₁₆ inches long by 7⁵/₁₆ inches wide. The front cover of the “Forms of Writing” copybook is black with gold tooling and measures 10³/₁₆ inches wide by 14¹³/₁₆ inches long; its folios measure 8³/₁₆ inches wide by 12½ inches long. The pages of the “School Copybook” and “Forms of Writing” copybook are inlaid (set inside cutout pages that are overlaid by sheer silk glued on both sides); those of the “Second School Copy Book” are hinged (attached with a folded piece of paper to a support sheet). Much of the print in the journals appears faded, and some of the words are no longer visible on the leaves.

  He trekked through the wilderness, braved the harsh elements, met nature head-on in carrying out missions of vital importance to his fledgling nation in the New World, the mostly uncharted land on which English settlers had first set foot little more than a century earlier. But before he thrashed through the frontier, trained soldiers in the art of warfare, led militias over mountains and across rivers, engaged in fierce battles, and took the reins of a newly independent nation—indeed, long before, as he was developing his emotional and intellectual character while a raw lad—George Washington set himself to becoming a colonial gentleman and wrote out exercises that addressed such vexing social issues as these:

  Is it proper to clean one’s teeth with a tablecloth? Speak out loud while yawning? Drum one’s fingers in the presence of others? Rinse one’s mouth in company? Point one’s finger when talking? Use reproachful language? Touch any part of one’s body that is not usually observed?

  Welcome to George Washington’s “Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior In Company and Conversation,” a fascinating, if sometimes amusing (at least by our modern frame of reference) guide to good manners, etiquette, and moral behavior. Occupying the last several pages in Washington’s “Forms of Writing” copybook, “The Rules of Civility” were derived from ethical precepts formulated by sixteenth-century French Jesuits. The influence of the rules on young George is apparent in the character of his later life.

  There are three surviving compilations of what are referred to as George Washington’s schoolboy copybooks. Many writings of the first U.S. president exist, such as letters, notes, instructions, and ledgers, but the schoolboy copybooks are special for various reasons: little is known about George Washington’s early years, so they shed light on his youth; they open a window on colonial education and social etiquette; and they show young Washington to be meticulous and hard-driven, traits evident in the man who led the American Army to victory over the British Redcoats in the Revolutionary War, presided over the Constitutional Convention, and was unanimously voted by electors to be the first president of the United States of America. In his adult years Washington was conscientious in his personal life and professional career, and consequently he was a prolific writer of letters, messages, accountings, and other items. He wrote lucidly and eloquently, and his schoolboy copybooks evince the man who would become such a fastidious, careful, and dignified individual.

  Like his “Forms of Writing,” George Washington’s “School Copybook” and “Second School Copy Book” contain a potpourri of writings, but these latter volumes concentrate more on learning exercises, particularly in the areas of mathematics and geography. The “School Copybook,” dated 1745, contains numerous exercises with titles such as “Geometrical Definitions,” “Geometrical Theorems,” “Surveying,” “Solid Measure,” “Gauging,” and “Geographical Definitions.” On one page of this volume young George wrote out the definitions of such geometric concepts as straight and obtuse angles, as well as drawing a variety of geometrical shapes to illustrate the definitions. On other pages he worked out geometrical problems such as “How to measure a piece of land on the form of a circle.”

  There are pages headed “Memorial Verses” that are divided into several boxes with definitions and mathematical exercises related to the calendar. Mathematical exercises in the “Memorial Verses” pages include “What is the golden number for the present year 1746,” “What was the cycle of the sun for the year 1707,” and “What will be Easter Day Anno 1749.” On other pages of the “School Copybook,” Washington wrote out definitions of geographical terms such as island, peninsula, isthmus, promontory, sea, strait, creek, and bay, named the bodies of water surrounding Africa and America, and listed the provinces of North and South America.

  Much of Washington’s “Second School Copy Book” is devoted to mathematical exercises. For instance, the first entry is entitled “Multiplication of Feet, Inches & Parts.” Other entries include “Notation of Decimals,” “Addition of Decimals,” “Subtraction of Decimals,” “Multiplication of Decimals,” “Division of Decimals,” “Reduction of Decimals,” “Concerning Simple Interest,” “Plain Trigonometry Geometrical and Logarithmetical,” “Plain Trigonometry Oblique,” and “Surveying of Land.”

  Here are examples of actual entries:

  Notation of Decimals: Example: This decimal fraction 25/100 may be written thus .25; its denominator being known to be a unit with two cyphers [zeroes] because there are two figures in it. Numerator in … like manner 125/1000 may thus be written .125; and 3575/10000 thus .3575 and 75/1000 thus .075 and 65/10000 thus .0065.

  Another entry reads:

  Concerning Simple Interest: 1st. When money pertaining or belonging to the person is in the hands, possession or keeping, or is lent to another, & the debtor payeth or alloweth to the creditor, a certain sum in consideration for forbearance for certain time; such consideration for forbearance is called interest, loan, or use money; & the money so lent, & forborne … is called the principal. 2. Interest is either simple or compound. 3. When for a sum of money lent there is a loan or interest allowed. And the same is not paid, when it becomes due; & if such interest doth not then become a part of the principal it is called simple interest.

  There are also many mathematical computations the young Washington carried out, such as 3.1252 x 2.75, or the interest on a sum of money for one year at 6 pounds.

  The entries in the “Forms of Writing” copybook begin with a promissory note dated March 12, 1744/45, and a Bill of Exchange dated May 27, 1745, and end with “The Rules of Civility.” In between are entries with titles such as “An Arbitration Bond,” “Form of a Servants Indenture,” “A Bill of Sale,” “Deed or Conveyance for lan
d by a man and his wife,” “Lease of Land,” “Form of a Virginia Patent for land,” “Form of a Virginia warrant,” “To Keep Ink from Freezing or Moulding,” and “Christmas Day” (a poem).

  “The Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior In Company and Conversation,” the best-known entry in Washington’s school copybooks, consists of 110 numbered maxims written on ten pages. The handwriting is in the old style, in which the letter s looks like an f, so that the word presence seems to be spelled prefence, and discourse, difcourfe. Not all the rules concern manners; many concern religious and moral behavior. Here are some of the rules Washington wrote out (with their designated numbers):

  2. When in company put not your hands to any part of the body not usually discovered.

  4. In the presence of others sing not to yourself with a humming, noise, nor drum with your fingers or feet.

  5. If you cough, sneeze, sigh, or yawn, do it not loud but privately, and speak not in your yawning, but put your handkerchief or hand before your face and turn aside.

  7. Put not off your cloths in the presence of others, nor go out your chamber half dressed.

  58. Let your conversation be without malice or envy, for ’tis a sign of a tractable and commendable nature.

  76. While you are talking, point not with your finger at him of whom you discourse nor approach too near him to whom you talk especially to his face.

  100. Cleanse not your teeth with the table cloth, napkin, fork, or knife but if others do it let it be done with a pick tooth.