The New Thoughts of Galileo

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.

He says next, that even though machines do not follow the idea of the mind, by reason of the different alterations to which matter is subject, the same thing would happen even if their matter were not subject to any alteration, because they become weaker, and resist less, in proportion as they are increased; so that one can demonstrate geometrically that all sorts of instruments, both artificial and natural, have limits they cannot surpass, even if one strictly observes all proportions, and even if their matter is very uniform. For example, when the length of a column or a stick, set into a wall and extending horizontally, is a hundred times its thickness, if one adds ever so little to this length, the column will break of its own accord: