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Galileo Among the Giants

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Collected Wisdom of the Early Modern Scholar

Part of the book series: Archimedes ((ARIM,volume 64))

Abstract

The second day of Galileo’s Discourses concerning Two New Sciences (1638) discusses size, shape, and scale. He argues that there are physical limits to the size and shape of an object, beyond which it must collapse of its own weight. In nature, an enormous giant – human or animal – would require bones that were so large and heavy that it would be crushed by their weight. Galileo illustrated two bones: one a normal human femur, the other three times longer and proportionately broader and thicker. Galileo did not choose either the example or the image by chance. Giants, particularly giant fossil bones, were a topic of discussion among the Academy of the Lynx (Lincei), and Galileo’s image resembles a giant bone found in the south of France 20 years earlier. This paper explores these discussions in the 1620s and 30s and Galileo’s continued communication with members of the Lincei.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For an introduction to the literature, Galileo 1974, Introduction; see also Westfall 1971; Bertoloni Meli 2006; Raphael 2017. All translations below are mine unless otherwise indicated.

  2. 2.

    Galileo 1974, 124–28.

  3. 3.

    Gonzalez 2002.

  4. 4.

    Galileo 1974, 127.

  5. 5.

    Galileo 1974, 127–28.

  6. 6.

    Freedberg 2002; Godard 1996, 2005, 2009, 2011.

  7. 7.

    For an overview of recent work, with a focus on Britain and the eighteenth century, see Roos 2020.

  8. 8.

    Mayor 2011; the term was coined in Vitaliano 1968.

  9. 9.

    Raphael 2012, 2017.

  10. 10.

    Findlen and Marcus 2017; see also Westfall 1984.

  11. 11.

    Mason 2013.

  12. 12.

    Brockstieger 2018; his skeleton is in the Anatomy Museum in Marburg, Germany.

  13. 13.

    Annius 1498, Stephens 1989.

  14. 14.

    Mayor 2011.

  15. 15.

    Furrer et al. 2007.

  16. 16.

    Goropius 1569.

  17. 17.

    Rice 2017.

  18. 18.

    Paré 1982.

  19. 19.

    Daston and Park 1998, 14.

  20. 20.

    Paré 1982, 23–26.

  21. 21.

    Habicot 1613, 27.

  22. 22.

    Liceti 1634, part 2 pp. 92–93.

  23. 23.

    Aldrovandi 1642, 161–62.

  24. 24.

    Riolan 1626, 44–45; Siraisi 2007, 26–30.

  25. 25.

    Riolan 1613, Guerrini forthcoming.

  26. 26.

    Riolan 1613, 26–28.

  27. 27.

    Riolan 1613, 28; 1618, 110.

  28. 28.

    Aristotle 1957, 409b–410a.

  29. 29.

    Riolan 1618, 72–73.

  30. 30.

    Della Porta 1586.

  31. 31.

    Stelluti 1637a; Cheng 2012.

  32. 32.

    Riolan 1618, 86.

  33. 33.

    Ginsburg 1984; Blainville 1835.

  34. 34.

    Miller 2000; Gassendi 1657.

  35. 35.

    Miller 2015, chapter 9.

  36. 36.

    Rizza 1961; see for example, Peiresc to Barbarini, 5 December 1635, Cibrario 1825, 83–87.

  37. 37.

    Fumaroli 1992.

  38. 38.

    Cabinet de Peiresc (n.d.); Miller 2000, 2015.

  39. 39.

    On the characterization of Peiresc as primarily an antiquarian, see Miller 2000.

  40. 40.

    Daston 2012, 162–64.

  41. 41.

    Rizza 1961, 449.

  42. 42.

    Daston 2012.

  43. 43.

    Moser 2014.

  44. 44.

    Rizza 1961, 448.

  45. 45.

    See Peiresc (n.d.) MS M 815(838) (not foliated), “A Amiens,” ca. 1609, Bibliothèque Méjanes, Aix-en-Provence. These travel instructions, probably for his brother Valadez, include a list of contacts in England and the Low Countries, many of them Protestant. For an account of this manuscript, see https://anitaguerrini.com/2019/05/26/instructions-for-a-voyage-1609/

  46. 46.

    Peiresc 1888–1898, V:503n.

  47. 47.

    Menestrier to Peiresc, 26 July 1624, Peiresc 1888–1898, V:496.

  48. 48.

    Menestrier to Peiresc, 30 December 1624, Peiresc 1888–1898, V:498.

  49. 49.

    On early modern discussions of fossil origins, see especially Rudwick 1976, Rossi 1984, Poole 2010.

  50. 50.

    Gessner 1565, Rudwick 1976.

  51. 51.

    Godard 2005.

  52. 52.

    Freedberg 2002.

  53. 53.

    Freedberg 2002, 323.

  54. 54.

    Galileo 1623.

  55. 55.

    See Findlen et al. 2017 for reproductions of additional images.

  56. 56.

    Stelluti 1637b.

  57. 57.

    Freedberg 2002, 332–34.

  58. 58.

    Freedberg 2002, 152; Fournier 1996, 10.

  59. 59.

    Peiresc to Palamède, sieur de Valavez, 7 June 1622, Peiresc 1888–1898, VI: 28–30.

  60. 60.

    Godard 2005.

  61. 61.

    Peiresc to Menestrier, 29 June 1628, Peiresc 1888–1898, V:547–48.

  62. 62.

    Peiresc to Menestrier, 22 February 1629, Peiresc 1888–1898, V: 558–59.

  63. 63.

    Menestrier to Peiresc, 21 April 1629, Peiresc 1888–1898, V: 566; Peiresc to Menestrier, 25 April 1629, Lettres de Peiresc, V: 571–72.

  64. 64.

    Peiresc to Menestrier, 29 June 1628, Peiresc 1888–1898, V:547.

  65. 65.

    Roos 2020, 525.

  66. 66.

    For biographical details on d’Arcos, see Tamizey de Larroque 1888, Tolbert 2009.

  67. 67.

    D’Arcos to Honoré Aycard, 25 April 1630, Tamizey de Larroque 1888, 164–167.

  68. 68.

    Augustine 1984, 609–10.

  69. 69.

    D’Arcos to Aycard, 20 April 1630, Tamizey de Larroque 1888, 166.

  70. 70.

    D’Arcos to Aycard, 26 June 1630, Tamizey de Larroque 1888, 168.

  71. 71.

    D’Arcos to Peiresc, 15 March 1631, Tamizey de Larroque 1888, 168–69; Godard 2009.

  72. 72.

    Peiresc to Pierre Dupuy, 23 May 1631, Peiresc 1888–1898, II: 280–81. The sketch of the tooth is found in Dupuy (n.d.) MS 488, f. 171r, Bibliothèque nationale de France.

  73. 73.

    Peiresc to Pierre Dupuy, 26 December 1631, Peiresc 1888–1898, II: 293-94; Peiresc to Cassiano dal Pozzo, 2 August 1635, Peiresc 1989, 195–202, at 198; Godard 2009; on Don Diego, Rice 2017.

  74. 74.

    Godard 2009.

  75. 75.

    Nivolet to Peiresc, 30 August 1634, MS 1821, (not foliated) Bibliothèque Imguimbertine, Carpentras. Transcript with annotations, Tamizey de Larroque 1888a.

  76. 76.

    Peiresc to Nivolet, 18 September 1634, MS 1821, (not foliated) Bibliothèque Imguimbertine, Carpentras.

  77. 77.

    Peiresc to Menestrier, 1 February 1635, Peiresc 1888–1898, V: 756–59; Peiresc to Cassiano dal Pozzo, 2 August 1635, Peiresc 1989, 195–202. He also asked Cassiano about a skeleton found in Rome.

  78. 78.

    Stephens 1989, 157–58.

  79. 79.

    Peiresc to Bourdelot, 22 March 1635, Peiresc 1888–1898, VII: 726-29; Peiresc to Holstenius, 7 May 1637, Lettres de Peiresc, V: 476–82, at 477.

  80. 80.

    Kircher 1665, vol. 2: 56.

  81. 81.

    Peiresc to Galileo, 1 April 1635, Favaro 1890–1909, vol. XVI, 245–48.

  82. 82.

    Peiresc to Galileo, 17 April 1635, Favaro 1890–1909, vol. XVI, 259–62; Peiresc to Menestrier, 1 February 1635, Peiresc 1888–1898, V: 756–59, at 757. The notion of a “petrifying juice” was well known in alchemy: see Alfonso-Goldfarb and Ferraz, 2013.

  83. 83.

    Galileo 1974, xiii.

  84. 84.

    Galileo 1974, 128.

  85. 85.

    Egmond and Mason 1997, 31–33.

  86. 86.

    Rondelet 1554, 475–82.

  87. 87.

    Galileo 1974, 128–29.

  88. 88.

    Galileo 1974, 129. See Westfall 1971, 14–15 for a succinct account of Galileo’s explanation of specific gravity.

  89. 89.

    Johnson et al., 2009.

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  1. School of History, Philosophy, and Religion, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA

    Anita Guerrini

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    Anna Marie Roos

  2. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Gideon Manning

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Guerrini, A. (2023). Galileo Among the Giants. In: Roos, A.M., Manning, G. (eds) Collected Wisdom of the Early Modern Scholar. Archimedes, vol 64. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09722-5_8

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