Nor was there any considerable harm done to the development of the Copernican theory. Although after _Galileo_ the occasions were not lacking, still no further advocate of his theory was ever up for trial. Nor was any other book on the subject prohibited. Freedom was quietly granted more and more. In the edition of the Index of 1758, the general prohibition of 1616 of Copernican writings was withdrawn; it was an official withdrawal from the old position. But not until 1822 were the special prohibitions repealed, although they had long since lost their binding force. The occasion was given by an accidental occurrence. The Magister S. Palatii of the time intended to deny the Imprimatur to a book on the Copernican theory, on account of the obsolete prohibition. An appeal was made, which brought about the formal repeal of the prohibition. Of course there had been no hurry to revoke a decision once given. But according to the astronomer _Lalande’s_ report of his interview with the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation of the Index, in 1765, the removal from the Index of _Galileo’s_ Dialogue had been postponed only on account of extraneous difficulties. _Leibnitz_, while in Rome, worked for a repeal of the decree. According to Eméry, there are extant statements of _Leibnitz_ vouching for the fact that he very nearly succeeded (_Eméry_, Pensées de Leibnitz, 1, 275). The name of _Copernicus_, too, was omitted in the next edition of the Index, which appeared in 1835. But even while the prohibition was still in force, the works of _Galileo_ and _Copernicus_ were read everywhere. As early as 1619 _John Remus_ wrote from Vienna to _Kepler_ that the Copernican writings may be read by scientific men who had received special permission, and that this was done in all Italy and in Rome itself. Besides, it was allowed at any time to make use of the doctrine as an hypothesis. Thus it advanced continually nearer and nearer to the position of an established truth. Soon after the publication of the decree, according to the report of _Kepler_, it was the general conviction in ecclesiastical and civil circles of Austria “that the censure was no obstacle to the freedom of science in the investigation of God’s work.” In 1685 we are assured by the Jesuit _Kochansky_, that any Catholic was free to “look for an irrefutable, mathematical, and physical demonstration of the movement of the earth.” It was also known that the condemnation of the theory had been aided by the supposition that there were no valid arguments in support of the new theory. Hence the Congregation’s decree had in the eighteenth century for the most part lost its force. The Jesuit _Boscovich_, a celebrated physicist and astronomer, wrote in 1755: “In consequence of the extraordinary arguments offered by the consideration of _Kepler’s_ laws, astronomers no longer look upon his theory as a mere hypothesis, but as an established truth” (Grisar, 347, 350).