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which he had now for some years been the head. His brother was continually sponging on him, and even when Galileo succeeded in getting him established in good positions as Court Musician, first in Poland and afterwards in Bavaria, it was Galileo who had to advance the money for an expensive outfit, hardly any of which did Michelangelo ever repay. Virginia's husband caused fresh trouble by threatening to bring an action against Galileo for the unpaid balance of his wife's dowry, and another sister Livia was married in 1601, her brothers guaranteeing her dowry, which meant that the whole responsibility for this also fell upon Galileo. It may be urged in palliation of the irregular nature of Galileo's private household that no wife would have ​allowed so much to be spent in such ways, but that he felt bound to take his father's place, whatever the cost. It was in 1601 that he began to earn additional fees by undertaking the tuition during the holidays, which he usually spent at Florence, of the Grand Duke's son, Cosmo, both of whose parents held Galileo in high esteem, the Grand Duke regarding him as the greatest mathematician in Christendom, while the Grand Duchess Cristina believed him the greatest of astrologers. In spite of the vogue of this pseudo-science, it is difficult to suppose that Galileo had any real faith in astrology, though he did not refuse to cast horoscopes, just as he lectured on Ptolemy's system after he became a convinced Copernican.

      In 1602 Galileo invented his air-thermometer which was not perfected until some years after his death. Two years later the sudden appearance of a bright new star in Ophiuchus provided him with a new interest, and he lectured on it in the great hall of the University. The ordinary lecture rooms were frequently unable to hold the large numbers of students who flocked to hear the new ideas propounded by Galileo, and it is said that sometimes even the great hall was insufficient, so that he had to lecture in the open air. Galileo's conclusions about the new star, though not now acceptable, included at any rate the fact that it was as distant as other stars and not an atmospheric phenomenon. The suggestion that it belonged to the region regarded by the Aristotelians as perfect and unchangeable led to direct conflict, and Galileo openly argued in favour of the theory of Copernicus against that of Ptolemy, who had followed Aristotle. His third term of six years began in 1604, but there was as before delay on the part of the Venetian Council. Once more, in spite of the objections urged by some, among which his irregular household was not forgotten, ​a fresh increase of salary was voted, partly on the very ground of his increasing family. On the whole he was very well treated by the republic, his salary, which now amounted to about £115, being higher than that of any previous mathematical professor, and his new doctrines being permitted without any protest from the Council.

      The next new subject attacked was magnetism. Galileo admired the work of Gilbert of Colchester, the famous author of "De Magnete," whose habit of mind was very similar to that of Galileo in its reliance upon experiment and its bold speculations. Galileo invented an armature for increasing the lifting power of a "loadstone," finding that small magnets were more efficient than large ones, and that when shaped specially they could be made to support a mass of iron weighing some forty times their own weight.

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