Galileo's disposition was truly genial; he en joyed with keenness the social wit and banter of his friends, and the pleasures of the banquet; and the readiness with which he offered or accepted atonement modified a somewhat irascible disposi tion. The great deficiencies in his Character were a want, of tact to keep out of difficulties, and a want of moral courage to defend himself when in volved in them. His biting, satirical turn, more than his scientific tenets, Was the cause of his misfortunes. Galileo was of small stature, but of a robust and healthy frame; his countenance was attractive, and his conversation cheerful. He loved art, and cultivated especially music and poetry. His style is nervous, flowing, and elegant.
We may briefly recapitulate Galileo's most important contributions to physical science under the following heads: (1) The relation be tween space and time in the ease of falling bodies; (2) the path of projectiles is a parabola; (3) the isochronism of the pendulum; (4) the partial discovery that suction is owing to the pressure of the atmosphere; (5) the re-invention of Aristotle's theory respecting sound; (6) the invention of the telescope; (7) the discovery of the satellites of Jupiter, phases of Venus, and spots on the sun. For the nature of these dis
coveries, see PENDULUM; FALLING BODIES; PRO JECTILES; etc.
The best edition of Galileo's collected works is that by Alberi (16 vols., Florence. 1842-56). Consult: Viviani, Life of Galited (Lausanne, 1793) ; Brewster, The Martyrs of Science, or the Lives of Galileo, Tycho Brahe, and Kepler (Lon don, 1846) ; Chasles, Galileo Galilci (Paris, 1862) ; Cebler, Galileo and die romische Curie ( Stuttgart, 1876) ; Berti, Copernico e it viccnde del sistcma Copernican°, and Il processo origi nate di Galileo (Rome, 1876) ; Rossi, Del metodo Gatileiano (Bologna, 1817) ; Favaro. Galileo Galilei (Florence, 1882) ; Scartazzini, Galileo Gatilei (Milan, 1883) ; Wegg-Prosser, Galileo and His Judges (Eng. trans. London, 1889) ; Gunther, Geisteshelden, vol. xxii. (Berlin, 1896).