Address Of The Hon Philip A Roach On The Three Hundred And Eighty Fifth Anniversary Of The Discovery Of America By Columbus October 12 1492

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Excerpt from Address of the Hon. Philip A. Roach, on the Three Hundred and Eighty-Fifth Anniversary of the Discovery of America by Columbus, October 12, 1492: Delivered at South San Francisco Park, October 14, 1877, by Invitation of the Italian Population of San Francisco Columbus was born in Genoa in 1436, of parents of the indus trial class. At the age of 10 he commenced his studies at the University of Pav1a, then one of the most renowned in Europe for the learning and ability of its professors and for the number of its students. At that period Italy stood pre-eminent in letters, in the arts, and sciences. Her poets and philosophers had opened new fields to thought and speculation. The art of printing, dis covered in 1430, had made giant strides in diffusing knowledge by the publication of works of great merit, which had remained almost unknown in the cloisters. The downfall of the Greek empire, on the capture of Constantinople in 1453, forced many of the learned men of the empire of Constantine, to seek refuge in Italy. Their presence gave a powerful impetus to literature, and led to that era which has been called La Renaissance, or the revival of learning. A spirit of enthusiasm was awakened in Italy for the acquisition of knowledge, and the writings of poets and philosophers inspired the youth of that land With the most lofty ideas and undaunted courage to follow their suggestions. The dreams of poets have often been proved correct, realized by scientific discovery. Dante, born in 1265, promulgated in his almost heaven-inspired work, with the tongue of a prophet, the theory of the rotundity of the earth. Nor is that the only sug gestion that science has received from poets to secure the attain ment of what seemed the impossible. Later, but not less mem orable, was the declaration of Shakspeare, in 40 minutes will I put a girdle round the earth, now realized by the fiashings of thought even through ocean's depths, from one continent to the other. The influx of the learned Greeks into Italv spread a knowledge of the cosmography of the world, and was educating in Italy the race of navigators who formed that brilliant galaxy in the history of maritime discovery, among whom were the brothers Cabot and Amerigo Vespucci. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.