Secret Sciences Of The Ancients.

flections lie had collected , lie became a convert to the Copernican system , and , in his old age , its most conspicuous martyr . In the year 1609 he perfected tlte construction of his telescope , and this laid the foundation of the brilliant discoveries

m the solar system which have rendered perfect that science of Avhich the objects are the most remote . The Jesuits , Avho entertained a most cordial hatred for Galilei , as he had joined a party by whom they had been expelled from Padua ,

reported to the Inquisition at Some his discoveries as dangerous to religion , and he was openly denounced from the pulpit , On his OAvn justification lie AA'rote letters in Avhich he repudiated any attack on religion , stating that the object of the

Scriptures was to teach men the way of salvation , and not to instruct them in astronomy , for the acquirement of which they Avere endowed with sufficient natural faculties . He appeared at Rome , and , by an able defence , silenced his persecutors for the

time . The Pope , Paul V ., assured him of his personal safety , but forbade him teaching the Copernican doctrine of the motion of the earth . The persecution of the detestable Inquisition AA as renewed , and , in his seventieth year , he Avas

again summoned to Rome . He appeared before the assembled Inquisitors in the convent of Minerva . A portion of his sentence is too curious to be omitted : —

"By the desire of his Holiness , and of this supremo and universal Inquisition , the tAVO propositions of the stability of the sun and tho motion of the earth were qualified by the theological qualifiers , as folloAVS : 1 st , the proposition

that the sun is the centre of the world and immovable from its place is absurd , philosophically false , and formally heretical , because it is expressly contrary to Holy Scripture ; 2 ndly , the proposition that the earth is not the centre of the

world , nor immoA able , but that it moves , and also with a diurnal motion , is absurd , philosophically false , and , theologically considered , at least erroneous in faith . "

After a long aud declamatory expose , from one passage in AA-hich it has been suspected that Galilei Avas put to tho torture , it concludes thus : — " Wo decree that tho book of the ' Dialogues '

of Galileo Galilei be prohibited by edict ; Ave condemn you to the prison of this office during pleasure ; we order you . for tho next three weeks , to

Secret Sciences Of The Ancients.

recite once a week the seven penitential psalms , " & c . To obtain so mild a sentence he was obliged to abjure on the Gospels his belief in the Copernican doctrine . Rising from his knees after this solemnity , he whispered to a friend , "E pur se muove" — " It moves for all that . "

During the darkness of the middle ages , the light of science Avas preserved by the learned ecclesiastics of Italy and the bordering countries . We think there is good reason to conclude that the much-misunderstood Rosicracians were the

chief depositories , and , combined with the pursuit of natural science , they endeavoured to preserve liberty of thought , to which the papacy was , and has been through all times , strenuously opposed . The only true records Ave have of the Rosicrucians

are their OAVII works , but being Avritten Avithin and without , they are caviare to the million . Beneath the blighting influence of the papal power on the continent of Europe , and the struggles for political freedom in our own islands , chemical science lay dormant until the present

century . The Romanists , hoAvever , although opposed to the promulgation of science , do not object to its practice to serve a miracle ; for still , at the present day , in a public ceremony at Naples , a few drops

of the blood of St . Januarius , collected and dried many years since , become spontaneously liquified every year , and rise , bubbling , to the top of the vessel which contains them . These illusions we are assured maybe effected by reddening sulphuric

ether with orchanet and saturating the tincture Avith spermaceti : this preparation is solid at ten degrees above the freezing point , and melts and boils at twenty degrees . To raise it to this temperature it is sufficient to hold in the hand for a few minutes the phial Avhich contains it . ( To be continued . )

Freemasonry In Chile, South America.

FREEMASONRY IN CHILE , SOUTH AMERICA .

( Communicated . ) The first Masonic Lodge in Chile was constituted about 1840 , under charter from the Grand Orient of France , and was Avorked in the Spanish language ; but little , however , is knoAvn of it , as it was closed during the political struggles of the

republic a short time after its opening . The second commenced its work with a charter , dated 12 oh November , 18-51 , under the name of Etoile du Pacifique , having its authority . from