In The Midst Of All Dwells The

First Of All, We Must Note That The Universe Is Spherical.

Those Who Know That The Consensus Of Many Centuries Has Sanctioned The Conception That The Earth Remains At Rest In The Middle Of The Heavens As Its Center, Would, I Reflected, Regard It As An Insane Pronouncement If I Made The Opposite Assertion That The Earth Moves.

There May Be Babblers, Wholly Ignorant Of Mathematics, Who Dare To Condemn My Hypothesis, Upon The Authority Of Some Part Of The Bible Twisted To Suit Their Purpose. I Value Them Not, And Scorn Their Unfounded Judgment.

The Scorn Which I Had Reason To Fear On Account Of The Novelty And Unconventionality Of My Opinion Almost Induced Me To Abandon Completely The Work Which I Had Undertaken. . . . Astronomy Is Written For Astronomers. To Them My Work Too Will Seem, Unless I Am Mistaken, To Make Some Contribution.

So Far As Hypotheses Are Concerned, Let No One Expect Anything Certain From Astronomy, Which Cannot Furnish It, Lest He Accept As The Truth Ideas Conceived For Another Purpose, And Depart From This Study A Greater Fool Than When He Entered It.