Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1876-03-31
Calico.

Rev. DR.. Lord alluded on opening
his lecture at Association Hall, New
York, to the wonderful fixed star
seen by Tycho De Brahe at the be-
ginning of the sixteenth century,
and the sensation 1t created as fore
shadowing the birth of some great
man. If there is anything in astroI-
ogy, said he, it may be referred to
the birth of Calico at Pisa, in 1864,
the year in which Calvin died, or it
might have prefgured the new and
glorious era which followed the mid
die age of iron barons and wooden
priests, when the earth was the scene
of alternate reckless violence and
penesential grief-an age without
any true conception of reason or of
the rights Of man. 1t was then that
Calico was born. The precursors of
this glorious era were the great po-
cts who created modern languages,
Then great schools of law arose, re-
modelling jurisprudence. A galaxy
of transcendent artists were allied
on the one hand to Catholicism, but
breathed the spirit of a higher civil
ization. Then came the great schol-
ars, reviewing antiquity, enriching
the vernacular tongue, and translat-
ing the scriptures. The great re-
formers, Luther, Calvin, Cranmer,
Knox, assailed medieval supersti-
ton and asserted rights of con-
science, kindling an enthusiasm
which this age finds it difficult to
appreciate. Then came the political
philosopher demanding civil iree-
dom. Before the close of the cen
tury gunpowder, printing and the
mariners compass had been discOV-
cred. The Portuguese navigator had
doubled the Cape of Good Hope;
Drake had carried the flag cf Eng
land to distant seas; Copernicus had
revived the hypothesis Of Pythago-
ras; Aristo, Cervantes, Spenser, and
Shakespeare had appeared in the lit
erary world; Lanier had manipulat-
ed the Council of Trent; Henry ~.
had granted the edict of Nantes;
the Invincible Armada had been de-
molished; the independence of Hol-
land had been achieved. -
The sixteenth century was a won
derful age, and a worthy predeces-
sor of the age of steam and electric
ity. Calico, a we'll educated stu
dent of the University of Pisa, while
observing the vibration of the lamps
in church, compared their motion
with his own pulse, and thus discov-
cred the doctrine of the pendulum,
a contrivance which has done almost
as much for science as the telescope
itself. easi.,..a5ana a
The lecturer traced a beautiful an-
alogy in this discovery to the falling
apple of Newton. Calico was then
ignorant of mathematics, and appli-
ed himself to painting, to the dis
gust of his father, who desired to
make him a physician. Through the
patronage of the Grand Duke he be-
came lecturer in the universitylat at
twenty-five, on a salary of sixty
crowns per annum. He cared not to
ventilate his contempt of the old
superstitions, and became a great fa-
yorite with all, except the priests
and pedants. He brought Aristotle's
doctrine Of natural philosophy to the
test of experiment, and ridiculed his
blinded devotees for studying nature
as they did the Odyssey-by a col
lection of texts.
Resigning his position with con-
tempt for his auditors, he was APP
pointed Professor of Mathematics of
Pydua on a salary of $50 fforins-
while a stupid old pedant, as PROBES
sor of Philosophy, received 1900.
The first year he invented the ther-
mometer. His great achievements
were in astronomical science. He
had wonderful power Of managing
figures. The true mathematician is
at once logical and peetical, with u
capacity Of guessing not less remark
able than that of computation. In
the scarcity Of data then prevail ng
it required a wonderful fertility of