SCIENCE AND SCRIPTURE.
[To THZ EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR." 1
SIR,—Your correspondent, Professor Reichel, writes that " the only formal official notice the Papacy has ever taken" of the heliocentric theory is "its condemnation in the case of Galileo." This statement fails to notice the condemnation of the Copernican doctrine by a decree of the Congregation of the Index, which was issued on March 5th, 1616, some fifteen years before Galileo's book on the subject was published. There was thus a condemnation of Copernicanism by the Con- gregation of the Index, and a condemnation of Galileo for having taught it, by the Congregation of the Holy Office, commonly called "The Inquisition." In their judgment pro- nounced against Galileo, the acting Cardinals of the Inquisi- tion carefully set out the decree of the Index Congregation, and declared Galileo guilty of having violated it.
The Jesuit Professor Grisar, in his recently published " Gralileistudien," explicitly recognises that the Copernican doctrine itself was formally condemned at Rome, and he further maintains that the condemnation carried with it, while it remained operative, an obligation not merely of exterior compliance, but also of interior submission, though of a kind falling short of the absolute assent which is claimed for an es cathedrci pronouncement by the Pope himself. In spite of this, however, Grisar does not hesitate to describe as " unhappy " the decree of the Index Congregation by which Copernicanism was condemned.—I am, Sir, &c.,
SEDLEY TAYLOR.
Hotel d'Angleterre, Rouen, September 15th.
P.5.-1 have to explain that absence from England caused me to miss seeing the Spectator of September 5th, containing your statement, quoted by Professor Reichel, that " Coperni- canism was never condemned."
[Neither the Congregation of the Index nor the Inquisition are the Papacy. Does Mr. Taylor mean to say that the Papacy ever condemned Macaulay P—ED. Spectator.]
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