In consequence of complaints laid before the Holy Inquisition, Galileo was summoned to appear at Rome in 1615, to answer for the heretical opinions which he had promulgated. He was charged with “maintaining as true the false doctrine held by many, that the sun was immoveable in the centre of the world, and that the earth revolved with a diurnal motion;—with having certain disciples to whom he taught the same doctrine;—with keeping up a correspondence on the subject with several German mathematicians;—with having published letters on the solar spots, in which he explained the same doctrine as true;—and with having glossed over with a false interpretation the passages of Scripture which were urged against it.” The consideration of these charges came before a meeting of the Inquisition, which assembled on the 25th February, 1616; and the court, declaring their disposition to deal gently with the prisoner, pronounced the following decree:—“That Cardinal Bellarmine should enjoin Galileo to renounce entirely the above-recited false opinions; that, on his refusal to do so, he should be commanded by the commissary of the Inquisition to abandon the said doctrine, and to cease to teach and defend it; and that, if he did not obey this command, he should be thrown into prison.” On the 26th of February Galileo appeared before Cardinal Bellarmine, and, after receiving from him a gentle admonition, he was commanded by the commissary, in the presence of a notary and witnesses, to desist altogether from his erroneous opinions; and it was declared to be unlawful for him in future to teach them in any way whatever, either orally or in his writings. To these commands Galileo promised obedience, and was dismissed from the Inquisition. The mildness of this sentence was no doubt partly owing to the influence of the Grand-duke of Tuscany, and other persons of rank and influence at the papal court, who took a deep interest in the issue of the trial. Dreading, however, that so slight a punishment might not have the effect of putting down the obnoxious doctrines, the Inquisition issued a decree denouncing the new opinions as false and contrary to the sacred writings, and prohibiting the sale of every book in which they should be maintained.