There is scarcely another incident that has been commented upon so variously.

Each succeeding generation has put its own interpretation on it.

The facts, however, have been but little questioned.

It appears that in the year 1616 the church became at last aroused to the implications of the heliocentric doctrine of the universe.

Apparently it seemed clear to the church authorities that the authors of the Bible believed the world to be immovably fixed at the centre of the universe.