afterwards stay on the top of the water, if you carefully part
the glass and water without too much disturbing it."[3]

It will be seen that Galileo, while holding in the main to a
correct thesis, yet mingles with it some false ideas. At the very
outset, of course, it is not true that water has no resistance to
penetration; it is true, however, in the sense in which Galileo
uses the term--that is to say, the resistance of the water to
penetration is not the determining factor ordinarily in deciding
whether a body sinks or floats. Yet in the case of the flat body
it is not altogether inappropriate to say that the water resists
penetration and thus supports the body. The modern physicist
explains the phenomenon as due to surface-tension of the fluid.
Of course, Galileo's disquisition on the mixing of air with the
floating body is utterly fanciful. His experiments were
beautifully exact; his theorizing from them was, in this
instance, altogether fallacious. Thus, as already intimated, his
paper is admirably adapted to convey a double lesson to the
student of science.


WILLIAM GILBERT AND THE STUDY OF MAGNETISM

It will be observed that the studies of Galileo and Stevinus were
chiefly concerned with the force of gravitation. Meanwhile, there
was an English philosopher of corresponding genius, whose
attention was directed towards investigation of the equally
mysterious force of terrestrial magnetism. With the doubtful
exception of Bacon, Gilbert was the most distinguished man of
science in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. He was