1ET. VI.

Kepler and Galileo.

99

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Thus

Thus was Galileo, and, by his means, thehuman species, in possession of two new organsof power and perception ; one, for measuringsmall, and almost imperceptible portions of time,with ease and exactness; and the other, for sub-jecting those things to our observation, which bytheir smallness or distance would otherwise haveescaped the senses. M. Montucla, who has ex-amined the subject with impartiality and judg-ment, has given the invention of the telescope tojansen ; and, from the strength of the evidence,it appears highly probable that he was the firstwho saw the effects that such an instrumentwould produce. But if he be the real authorof an invention, who, from a knowledge of thecause upon which it depends, deduces it from oneprinciple to another, till he arrives at the endproposed, the whole merit of the discovery isdue to Galileo; the telescope in the hands ofJansen, was a rude instrument of mere curiosity,pointed out to him by chance ; but Galileo wasthe first who constructed it upon principles ofscience, and strewed the practical uses to whichit might be applied.

The discoveries he made, by means of this in-strument, were as new as they were surprising.The face of the moon appeared full of cavitiesand asperities, resembling vallies and moun-tains : the fun, which had generally been con-sidered as a globe of pure fire, was observed toII L be