An ornamental headpiece features symmetrical foliate scrolls, acanthus leaves, and two human figures in the center.

BOOK ONE.

THE NEW THOUGHTS OF GALILEO,

touching Mechanics and Physics.

I divide this book into 24 Articles, based on the 24 principal things explained within, and I take the liberty of noting what I have recognized to be contrary to experience, so that no one may be preoccupied by any error.

ARTICLE I.

That large machines are not as strong as small ones, in proportion to their size.

Galileo takes the subject of machines by considering that large sea vessels, such as the galleasses of the Arsenale shipyard of Venice, do not resist as much, in proportion to their size, as small vessels do; and he maintains that what is ordinarily said, that machines succeed better on a small scale than on a large one, is not always true, since large clocks mark the hours more precisely than small ones.