Chapter III. Later Development and Scientific Defense of the Copernican Theory 33 PART II. THE RECEPTION OF THE COPERNICAN THEORY. Chapter I. Opinions and Arguments in the Sixteenth Century 39 Chapter II. Bruno and Galileo 49 Chapter III. The Opposition and their Arguments 71 Chapter IV. The Gradual Acceptance of the Copernican Theory 85 Chapter V. The Church and the New Astronomy: Conclusion 95 APPENDICES: TRANSLATIONS BY THE WRITER. A. Ptolemy: _Almagest_. Bk. I, chap. 7: That the earth has no movement of rotation 107 B. Copernicus: _De Revolutionibus_, Dedication to the Pope 109 C. Bodin: _Universæ Naturæ Theatrum_, Bk. V, sections 1 and 2 in part, and section 10 entire 115 D. Fienus: _Epistolica Quæstio_: Is it true that the heavens are moved and the earth is at rest? 124 BIBLIOGRAPHY 130 INDEX 145 ILLUSTRATIONS Facsimile of the frontispiece "The Systems of the World" in Riccioli: _Almagestum Novum_, 1651 _Frontispiece_ Photographic facsimile (reduced) of a page from a copy of Copernicus: _De Revolutionibus_, as "corrected" in the 17th century according to the directions of the Congregations of the Index in 1620 p. 61 Photographic facsimile (reduced) of another "corrected" page from the same copy p. 113 PREFACE This study does not belong in the field of astronomy, but in that of the history of thought; for it is an endeavor to trace the changes in people's beliefs and conceptions in regard to the universe as these were wrought by the dissolution of superstition resulting from the scientific and rationalist movements. The opening chapter is intended to do no more than to review briefly the astronomical theories up to the age of Copernicus, in order to provide a background for the better comprehension of the work of Copernicus and its effects.