Brunelleschi's mirror, Alberti's window, and Galileo's' perspective tube'

SAMUEL Y. EDGERTONFigure 14What Galileo’s version of ‘Alberti’s window’ revealed was that theearth was not necessarily a pale reflection of the immaculate heavensas ‘Brunelleschi’s mirror’ proclaimed, but in the case of the moonjust the other way around. Beyond any Jesuit doubt, that is, if oneof them dared to look through his ‘perspective tube,’ Galileo provedthat the first ‘planet’ in Dante’s magnificent ascent to the heavenlyEmpyrion was hardly the ‘eternal pearl’ described by the poet, butrather a most imperfect sphere, marred and crinkled just like thelowly earth.Why did Thomas Harriot miss what Galileo saw so preciselyjust a few months later? Was it only because his telescope was less168 História, Ciências, Saúde – Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro