Earth answered by Examples of the like Motions in other Celestial Bodies 236 A fourth Argument of Claramontius against the Copernican Hypothesis of the Earths Mobility 239 From the Earths obscurity and the splendor of the fixed Stars it is argued that it is moveable and they immoveable 239 A fifth Argument of Claramontius against the Copernican Hypothesis of the Earths Mobility 240 Another difference between the Earth and Celestial Bodies taken from Purity and impurity 240 It seems a Solecisme to affirme that the Earth is not in Heaven 241 Granting to the Earth the Annual it must of necessity also have the Diurnal Motion assigned to it 300 Discourses more than childish that serve to keep Fools in the Opinion of the Earths Stability 301 The Difficulties removed that arise from the Earths moving about the Sun not solitarily but in consort with the Moon 307 The Axis of the Earth continueth alwayes parallel to it self and describeth a Cylindraical Superficies inclining to the Orb. 344 The Orb of the Earth never inclineth but is immutably the same 345 The Earth approacheth or recedeth from the fixed Stars of the Ecliptick the quantity of the Grand Orb. 349 If in the fixed Stars one should discover any Mutation the Motion of the Earth would be undeniable 351 Necessary Propositions for the better conceiving of the Consequences of the Earths Motion 354 An admirable Accident depending on the not-inclining of the Earths Axis 358 Four several Motions assigned to the Earth 362 The third Motion ascribed to the Earth is rather a resting immoveable 363 An admirable interne vertue or faculty of the Earths Globe to behold alwayes the same part of Heaven 363 Nature as iâ— sport maketh the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea to prove the Earths Mobility 379 All Terrene Effects indifferently confirm the Motion or Rest of the Earth except the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea 380 The Cavities of the Earth cannot approach or recede from the Centre of the same 387 The Hypothesis of the Earths Mobility taken in favour of the Ebbing and Flowing opposed 399 The Answers to those Objections made against the Earths Motion 399 The Revolution of the Earth confirmed by a new Argument taken from the Aire 400 The vaporous parts of the Earth partake of its Motions 400 Another observation taken from the Ayr in confirmation of the motion of the Earth 402 A Reason of the continual Motion of the Air and Water may be given by making the Earth moveable rather then by making it immoveable 405 The Earths Mobility held by sundry great Philosophers amongst the Antients 437 468 The Fathers agree not in expounding the Texts of Scripture that are alledged against the Earths Mobility 450 The Earth Mobility defended by many amongst the Modern Writers 478 The Earth shall stand still after the Day of Judgement 480 The Earth is another Moon or Star 486 The Earths several Motions according to Copernicus 491 The Earth secundum totum is Immutable though not Immoveable 491 The Earths Natural Place 492 The Earths Centre keepeth her in her Natural Place 493 The Earth in what Sense it may absolutely be said to be in the lowest part of the World 496 EBBING and Ebbings The first general Conclusion of the impossibility of Ebbing and Flowing the Immobility of the Terrestrial Globe being granted 380 The Periods of Ebbings and Flowings Diurnal Monethly and Annual 381 Varieties that happen in the Diurnal Period of the Ebbings and Flowings 382 The Causes of Ebbings and Flowings alledged by a Modern Phylosopher 382 The Cause of the Ebbing and Flowing ascribed to the Moon by a certain Prelate 383 The Cause of the Ebbing c. referred by Hyeronimus Borrius and other Peripateticks to the temperate heat of the Moon 383 Answers to the Vanities alledged as Causes of the Ebbing and Flowing 383 It s proved impossible that there should naturally be any Ebbing and Flowing the Earth being immoveable 386 The most potent and primary Cause of the Ebbing and Flowing 390 Sundry accidents that happen in the Ebbings and Flowings 391 Reasons renewed of the particular Accidents observed in the Ebbings and Flowings 393 Second Causes why in several Seas and Lakes there are no Ebbings and Flowings 394 The Reason why the Ebbings and Flowings for the most part are every Six Hours 395 The Cause why some Seas though very long suffer no Ebbing and Flowing 395 Ebbings and Flowings why greatest in the Extremities of Gulphs and least in the middle parts 396 A Discussion of some more Abstruce Accidents observed in the Ebbing and Flowing 396 The Ebbing and Flowing may depend on the Diurnal Motion of Heaven 404 The Ebbing and Flowing cannot depend on the Motion of Heaven 405 The Causes of the Periods of the Ebbings and Flowings Monethly and Annual at large assigned 407 The Monethly and Annual alterations of the Ebbings and Flowings can depend on nothing save on the alteration of the Additions and Subtractions of the Diurnal Period from the Annual 408 Three wayes of altering the proportion of the Additions of the Diurnal Revolution to the Annual Motion of the Ebbing and Flowing 409 Ebbings and Flowings are petty things in comparison of the vastnesse of the Seas and the Velocity of the Motion of the Terrestrial Globe 417 EFFECT and Effects Of a new Effect its necessary that the Cause be likewise new 370 The Knowledge of the Effects contribute to the investigation of the Causes 380 True and Natural Effects follow without difficulty 387 Alterations in the Effects argue alteration in the Cause 407 ELEMENTS and their Motions Vide MOTION ENCYCLOPEDIA Subtilties sufficiently insipid ironically spoken and taken from a certain Encyclopedia 153 EXPERIMENTS Sensible Experiments are to be preferred before Humane Argumentations 21 33 42. It is good to be very cautious in admitting Experiments for true to those that never tryed them 162 Experiments and Arguments against the Earths Motion seem so far concluding as they lye under Equivokes 162 The Authority of Sensible Experiments and necessary Demonstrations in deciding of Physical Controversies 436 EYE The Circle of the Pupil of the Eye contracteth and enlargeth 329 How to finde the distance of the Rays Concourse from the Pupil of the Eye 329 F FAITH Faith more infallible than either Sense or Reason 475 FIRE Fire moveth directly upwards by Nature and round about by Participation according to Aristotle 122 It is improbable that the Element of Fire should be carried round by the Concave of the Moon 405 FIGURE and Figures Figure is not the Cause of Incorruptibility but of Longer Duration 66 The perfection of Figure appeareth in Corruptible Bodies but not in the Eternal 69 If the Spherical Figure conferred Eternity all things would be Eternal 69 It is more difficult to finde Figures that touch in a part of their Surface then in one sole point 185 The Circular Figure placed amongst the Postulata of Mathematicians 186 Irregular Figures and Formes difficult to be introduced 187 Superficial figures increase in proportion
the case is impossible it being clear by the Demonstrations of Aristotle that the coelestial Bodies are impassible impenetrable unpartable c. I answer that none of the conditions whereby Aristotle distinguisheth the Coelestial Bodies from Elementary hath other foundation than what he deduceth from the diversity of the natural motion of those and these insomuch that it being denied that the circular motion is peculiar to Coelestial Bodies and affirmed that it is agreeable to all Bodies naturally moveable it is behoofull upon necessary consequence to say either that the attributes of generable or ingenerable alterable or unalterable partable or unpartable c. equally and commonly agree with all worldly bodies namely as well to the Coelestial as to the Elementary or that Aristotle hath badly and erroneously deduced those from the circular motion which he hath assigned to Coelestial Bodies SIMPL. This manner of argumentation tends to the subversion of all Natural Philosophy and to the disorder and subversion of Heaven and Earth and the whole Universe but I believe the Fundamentals of the Peripateticks are such that we need not fear that new Sciences can be erected upon their ruines SALV Take no thought in this place for Heaven or the Earth neither fear their subversion or the ruine of Philosophy As to Heaven your fears are vain for that which you your self hold unalterable and impassible as for the Earth we strive to enoble and perfect it whilst we make it like to the Coelestial Bodies and as it were place it in Heaven whence your Philosophers have exiled it Philosophy it self cannot but receive benefit from our Disputes for if our conceptions prove true new Discoveries will be made if false the first Doctrine will be more confirmed Rather bestow your care upon some Philosophers and help and defend them for as to the Science it self it cannot but improve And that we may return to our purpose be pleased freely to produce what presents it self to you in confirmation of that great difference which Aristotle puts between the Coelestial Bodies and the Elementary parts of the World in making those ingenerable incorruptible unalterable c. and this corruptible alterable c. SIMPL. I see not yet any need that Aristotle hath of help standing as he doth stoutly and strongly on his feet yea not being yet assaulted much less foiled by you And what ward will you choose in this combate for this first blow Aristotle writeth that whatever is generated is made out of a contrary in some subject and likewise is corrupted in some certain subject from a contrary into a contrary so that observe corruption and generation is never but onely in contraries If therefore to a Coelestial Body no contrary can be assigned for that to the circular motion no other motion is contrary then Nature hath done very well to make that exempt from contraries which was to be ingenerable and incorruptible This fundamental first confirmed it immediately followeth of consequence that it is inaugmentable inalterable impassible and finally eternal and a proportionate habitation to the immortal Deities conformable to the opinion even of all men that have any conceit of the Gods He afterwards confirmeth the same by sense in regard that in all times past according to memory or tradition we see nothing removed according to the whole outward Heaven nor any of its proper parts Next as to the circular motion that no other is contrary to it Aristotle proveth many ways but without reciting them all it is sufficiently demonstrated since simple motions are but three to the medium from the medium and about the medium of which the two right sursum and deorsum are manifestly contrary and because one onely hath onely one for contrary therefore there rests no other motion which may be contrary to the circular You see the subtle and most concluding discourse of Aristotle whereby he proveth the incorruptibility of Heaven SALV This is nothing more save the pure progress of Aristotle by me hinted before wherein besides that I affirm that the motion which you attribute to the Coelestial Bodies agreeth also to the Earth its illation proves nothing I tell you therefore that that circular motion which you assign to Coelestial Bodies suiteth also to the Earth from which supposing that the rest of your discourse were concludent will follow one of these three things as I told you a little before and shall repeat namely either that the Earth it self is also ingenerable and incorruptible as the Coelestial bodies or that the Coelestial bodies are like as the Elementary generable alterable c. or that this difference of motion hath nothing to do with Generation and Corruption The discourse of Aristotle and yours also contain many Propositions not to be lightly admitted and the better to examine them it will be convenient to reduce them to the most abstracted and distinct that can be possible and excuse me Sagredus if haply with some tediousness you hear me oft repeat the same things and fancie that you see me reassume my argument in the publick circle of Disputations You say Generation and Corruption are onely made where there are contraries contraries are onely amongst simple natural bodies moveable with contrary motions contrary motions are onely those which are made by a right line between contrary terms and these are onely two that is to say from the medium and towards the medium and such motions belong to no other natural bodies but to the Earth the Fire and the other two Elements therefore Generation and Corruption is onely amongst the Elements And because the third simple motion namely the circular about the medium hath no contrary for that the other two are contraries and one onely hath but onely one contrary therefore that natural body with which such motion agreeth wants a contrary and having no contrary is ingenerable and incorruptible c. Because where there is no contrariety there is no generation or corruption c. But such motion agreeth onely with the Coelestial bodies therefore onely these are ingenerable incorruptible c. And to begin I think it a more easie thing and sooner done to resolve whether the Earth a most vast Body and for its vicinity to us most tractable moveth with a speedy motion such as its revolution about its own axis in twenty four hours would be than it is to understand and resolve whether Generation and Corruption ariseth from contrariety or else whether there be such things as generation corruption and contrariety in nature And if you Simplicius can tell me what method Nature observes in working when she in a very short time begets an infinite number of flies from a little vapour of the Must of wine and can shew me which are there the contraries you speak of what it is that corrupteth and how I should think you would do more than I can for I profess I cannot comprehend these things Besides
for a long tract or distance from West to East that is according to the course of the fluxes and refluxes therefore in this the agitations are very great and would be much more violent between Hercules Pillars in case the Straight of Gibraltar did open lesse and those of the Straight of Magellanes are reported to be extraordinary violent This is what for the present cometh into my mind to say unto you about the causes of this first period diurnal of the Tide and its various accidents touching which if you have any thing to offer you may let us hear it that so we may afterwards proceed to the other two periods monethly and annual SIMP In my opinion it cannot be denied but that your discourse carrieth with it much of probability arguing as we say ex suppositione namely granting that the Earth moveth with the two motions assigned it by Copernicus but if that motion be disproved all that you have said is vain and insignificant and for the disproval of that Hypothesis it is very manifestly hinted by your Discourse it self You with the supposition of the two Terrestrial motions give a reason of the ebbing and flowing and then again arguing circularly from the ebbing and flowing draw the reason and confirmation of those very motions and so proceeding to a more specious Discourse you say that the Water as being a fluid body and not tenaciously annexed to the Earth is not constrained punctually to obey every of its motions from which you afterwards infer its ebbing and flowing Now I according to your own method argue the quite contrary and say the Air is much more tenuous and fluid than the Water and lesse annexed to the Earths superficies to which the Water if it be for nothing else yet by reason of its gravity that presseth down upon the same more than the light Air adhereth therefore the Air is much obliged to follow the motions of the Earth and therefore were it so that the Earth did move in that manner we the inhabitants of it and carried round with like velocity by it ought perpetually to feel a Winde from the East that beateth upon us with intolerable force And that so it ought to fall out quotidian experience assureth us for if with onely riding post at the speed of eight or ten miles an hour in the tranquil Air the incountering of it with our face seemeth to us a Winde that doth not lightly blow upon us what should we expect from our rapid course of 800. or a thousand miles an hour against the Air that is free from that motion And yet notwithstanding we cannot perceive any thing of that nature SALV To this objection that hath much of likelihood in it I reply that its true the Air is of greater tenuity and levity and by reason of its levity lesse adherent to the Earth than Water so much more grave and bulky but yet the consequence is false that you infer from these qualities namely that upon account of that its levity tenuity and lesse adherence to the Earth it should be more exempt than the Water from following the Terrestrial Motions so as that to us who absolutely pertake of of them the said exemption should be sensible and manifest nay it happeneth quite contrary for if you well remember the cause of the ebbing and flowing of the Water assigned by us consisteth in the Waters not following the unevennesse of the motion of its Vessel but retaining the impetus conceived before without diminishing or increasing it according to the precise rate of its diminishing or increasing in its Vessel Because therefore that in the conservation and retention of the impetus before conceived the disobedience to a new augmentation or diminution of motion consisteth that moveable that shall be most apt for such a retention shall be also most commodious to demonstrate the effect that followeth in consequence of that retention Now how much the Water is disposed to maintain such a conceived agitation though the causes cease that impress the same the experience of the Seas extreamly disturbed by impetuous Winds sheweth us the Billows of which though the Air be grown calm and the Wind laid for a long time after continue in motion As the Sacred Poet pleasantly sings Qual l'alto Egeo c. And that long continuing rough after a storm dependeth on the gravity of the water For as I have elsewhere said light bodies are much easier to be moved than the more grave but yet are so much the less apt to conserve the motion imparted when once the moving cause ceaseth Whence it comes that the Aire as being of it self very light and thin is easily mov'd by any very small force yet it is withall very unable to hold on its motion the Mover once ceasing Therefore as to the Aire which environs the Terrestrial Globe I would fay that by reason of its adherence it is no lesse carried about therewith then the Water and especially that part which is contained in its vessels which vessels are the valleys enclosed with Mountains And we may with much more reason affirm that this same part of the Air is carried round and born forwards by the rugged parts of the Earth than that the higher is whirl'd about by the motion of the Heavens as ye Peripateticks maintain What hath been hitherto spoken seems to me a sufficient answer to the allegation of Simplitius yet nevertheless with a new instance and solution founded upon an admirable experiment I will superabundantly satisfie him and confirm to Sagredus the mobility of the Earth I have told you that the Air and in particular that part of it which ascendeth not above the tops of the highest Mountains is carried round by the uneven parts of the Earths surface from whence it should seem that it must of consequence come to passe that in case the superficies of the Earth were not uneven but smooth and plain no cause would remain for drawing the Air along with it or at least for revolving it with so much uniformity Now the surface of this our Globe is not all craggy and rugged but there are exceeding great tracts very even to wit the surfaces of very vast Seas which being also far remote from the continuate ledges of Mountains which environ it seem to have no faculty of carrying the super-ambient Air along therewith and not carrying it about we may perceive what will of consequence ensue in those places SIMP I was about to propose the very same difficulty which I think is of great validity SALV You say very well Simplicius for from the not finding in the Air that which of consequence would follow did this our Globe move round you argue its immoveablenesse But in case that this which you think ought of necessary consequence to be found be indeed by experience proved to be so will you accept it for a sufficient testimony and an argument for the mobility of
ascribes to the Earth Ends and Foundations which yet it hath not to the Sea a Depth not to be fathomed to Death which is a Privation and consequently a Non-entity it appropriates Actions Motion Passions and other such like Accidents of all which it is deprived as also Epithites and Adjuncts which really cannot suit with it Is not the bitternesse of Death past 1 Sam. 15. 32. Let death come upon them Psal 6. He hath prepared the Instruments of Death Psal. 7. 14. Thou raisest me from the gates of Death Psal. 84. In the midst of the shadow of Death Psal. 23. Love is strong as Death Cant. 8. 9. The First-Born of Death Job 18. 13. Destruction and Death say c. Job 28. 22. And who knows not that the whole History of the rich Glutton doth consist of the like phrases of Vulgar Speech So Ecclesiasticus Chap. 27. vers 11. The godly man abideth in wisdome as the Sun but a fool changeth as the Moon and yet the Moon according to the real truth of the matter no wayes changeth but abides the same for ever as Astronomers demonstrate one half thereof remaining alwayes lucid and the other alwayes opacous Not at any time doth this state vary in it unlesse in respect of us and according to the opinion of the Vulgar Hence it is cleer that the holy Scripture speaks according to the common form of speech used amongst the unlearned and according to the appearance of things and not according to their true Existence In like manner Genes 1. in the description of the Creation of all things the Light is said to be made first of all and yet it followeth in the Text And the Evening and the Morning made the first day and a little after the several Acts of the Creation are distinguished and assigned to several days and concerning each of them it is said in the Text And the Evening and the Morning made the second day and then the third day the fourth day c. Hence many doubts arise all which I shall propound according to the common Systeme that it may appear even from the Hypothesis of that Systeme that the sacred Scripture sometimes for the avoyding of emergent difficulties is to be understood in a vulgar sense and meaning and in respect of us and not according to the nature of things Which distinction even Aristotle himself seemeth to have hinted when he saith * Some things are more intelligible to us others by nature or secundum se. First therefore If the light were made before heaven then it rolled about without heaven to the making of the distinction of Day and Night Now this is contrary to the very doctrine of these men who affirm that no Coelestial Body can be moved unlesse per accidens and by the motion of Heaven and as a knot in a board at the motion of the board Again if it be said that the Light was created at the same time with Heaven and began to be moved with Heaven another doubt ariseth that likewise opposeth the foresaid common Hypothesis For it being said that Day and Night Morning and Evening were made that same is either in respect of the Universe or onely in respect of the Earth and us If so be that the Sun turning round according to the Hypothesis of the Common Systeme doth not cause the Night and Day but only to opacous Bodies which are destitute of all other light but that of the Sun whilst in their half part which is their Hemisphaere and no more for that the Suns light passeth over but one half of an opacous Body unless a very small matter more in those of lesser bulk they are illuminated by the Suns aspect the other half remaining dark and tenebrose by reason of a shadow proceeding from its own Body Therefore the distinction of dayes by the light of heaven according to the description of them in the sacred Scriptures must not be understood absolutely and secundum se and Nature her self but in respect of the Earth and of us its inhabitants and consequently secundum nos 'T is not therefore new nor unusual in sacred Scripture to speak of things secundum nos and only in respect of us and secundum apparentiam but not secundum se and rei naturam or Absolutely and Simply And if any one would understand these Days of sacred Scripture not only secundum nos but also secundum naturam as circulations of Coelestial Light returning to the self same point from whence it did at first proceed so as that there needs no respect to be had to Night or to Darknesse for which sole reason we are fain to imbrace the Interpretation of sacred Scripture secundum nos In opposition to this we may thus argue If the sacred Scripture be understood to speak absolutely of iterated and successive circulations of light and not respectu nostri as if these words Evening and Morning had never been inserted which in their natural acceptation denote the Suns habitude to us and to the Earth For that the Morning is that time when the Sun begins to wax light and to rise above the Horizon in the East and become visible in our Hemisphaere and Evening is the time in which the Sun declines in the West and approacheth with its light neerer to the other opposite Horizon and Hemisphaere which is contiguous to this of ours But the word Day is a Co-relative to the word Night From hence therefore it evidently appeareth that these three words Evening Morning and Day cannot be understood of a Circulation of Light secundum se and absolutè but only secundum nos and respectu nostri and in that sense indeed the Morning and Evening do make the Night and Day In like manner Gen. 1. 16. it is said God made two great Lights the greater Light to rule the Day and the lesser Light to rule the Night and the Stars Where both in the Proposition and in the specification of it things are spoken which are very disagreeing with Coelestial Bodies Therefore those words are in that place to be interpreted according to the foresaid Rules namely according to the third and fourth so that they may be said to be understood according to the sense of the vulgar and the common way of speaking which is all one as if we should say secundum apparentiam and secundum nos vel respectu nostri For first it is said in the Proposition And God made two great Lights meaning by them the Sun and Moon whereas according to the truth of the matter these are not the Greater Lights For although the Sun may be reckoned amongst the Greater the Moon may not be so unless in respect of us Because amongst those that are absolutely the Greater and a little lesser than the Sun nay in a manner equal to it and far bigger than the Moon we may with great reason enumerate Saturn or some of the Fixed Stars of the first
of Tycho made with great expence What Instruments are apt for most exact observation * Italian braces An exquisite observation of the approach and departure of the Sun from the Summer Solstice A place accommodated for the observation of the fixed stars as to what concers the annual motion of the Earth The Copernican Systeme difficult to be understood but easie to be effected Necessary prepositions for the better conceiving of the consequences of the Earths motion A plain Scheme representing the Copernican Hypothesis and its consequences Axiomes commonly admitted by all Philosophers Aristotle taxeth Plato for being too studious of Geometry Peripatetick Philosophers condemn the Study of Geometry and why Four several motions assigned to the Earth The motion of descent belongs not to the terrestrial Globe but to its parts The annual and diurnal motion are compatible in the Earth Every pensil and librated body carryed round in the circumference of a circle acquireth of it self a motion in it self contrary to that An Experiment which sensibly shews that two contrary motions may naturally agree in the same moveable The third motion ascribed to the Earth is rather a resting immoveable An admirable intern vertue of the terrestrial Globe of alwayes beholding the same part of Heaven The terrestrial Globe made of Loade-stone * An eminent Doctor of Physick our Countreyman born at Colchester and famous for this his learned Treatise published about 60 years since at London The Magnetick Philosophy of William Gilbert The Pusillanimity of Popular Wits The Terrestrial Globe composed of sundry matters The interne parts of the terrestrial Globe must of necessity be solid * Or MOULD * Of which with the Latin translatour I must once more professe my self ignorant Our Globe would have been called stone in stead of Earth of that name had been giuen it in the beginning The method of Gilbert in his Philosophy Many properties in the Magnet 〈…〉 The Magnet armed takes up much more Iron than when armed * Or Closet of rarities The first observers and inventers of things ought to be admired The true cause of the multiplication of vertue in the Magnet by means of the arming Of a new effect its necessary that the cause be likewise new It is proved that Iron consists of parts more subtil pure and compact than the magnet A sensible proof of the impurity of the Magnet * The Author hereby meaneth that the stone doth not all consist of magnetick matter but that the whiter specks being weak those other parts of the Loadstone of a more dark constant colour contain all that vertue wherewith bodies are attracted * A common sewing needle Sympathy and Antipathy terms used by Philosophers to give a reason easily of many natural effests A pleasant example declaring the invalidity of some Phylosophical argumentations The several natural motions of the Magnet Aristole grants a compound motion to mixt bodies The motion of mixt bodies ought to be such as may result from the composition of the motions of the simple bodies compounding With two right motions one cannot compose circular motions Philosophers are forced to confesse that the Magnet is compounded of coelestial substances and of elementary The errour of those who call the Magnet a mixt body and the terrestrial Globe a simble body * Ogliopotrida a Spanish dish of many ingredients boild together The Discourses of Peripateticks full of errours and contradictions An improbable effect admired by Gilbertus in the Loadstone The vain argumentation of some to prove the Element of Water to be of a Spherical superficies Nature in sport maketh the ebbing and flowing of the Sea to approve the Earthâ— mobility The tide and mobility of the Earth mutually confirm each other All terrene effects indifferently confirm the motion or rest of the Earth except the ebbing and flowing of the Sea The first general conclusion of the impossibility of the ebbing and flowing the immobility of the terrestrial Globe being granted The knowledge of the effests contributes to the investigation of the causes Three Periods of ebbings and flowings diurnal monethly and annual Varieties that â—appen in the diurâ—â—â— period * A Strair so called * Or Ilva * Or Crets The cause of the ebbing and flowing alledged by a certain modern Philosopher The cause of the ebbing and flowing ascribed to the Moon by a certain Prelate Hieronymus Borrius and other Peripateticks refer it to the temperate heat of the Moon Answers to the vanities alledged as causes of the ebbing and flowing * Or rather smooth The Isles are tokens of the unevennesse of the bottomes of Seas Poetick wits of two kinds Truth hath not so little light as not to be discovered amidst the umbrages of falshoods Aristotle holdeth those effects to be miraculous of which the causes are unknown It is proved impossible that there should naturally be any ebbing and flowing the Earth being immoveable * Palms †Lio is a fair Port in the Venetian Gulph lying N. E. from the City True and natural effects follow without difficulty Two sorts of motions of the containing Vessel may make the contained water to rise and fall The Cavities of the Earth cannot approach or go farther from the centre of the same The progpessive and uneven motion may make the water contained in a Vessel to run to and fro * A Town lying S. E. of Venice The parts of the terrestrial Globe accelerate and regard in their motion Demonstrations how the parts of the terrestriall Globe accelerate and retard The parts of a Circle regularly moved about its own centre move in divers times with contrary motions The mixture of the two motions annnal and diurnal causeth the inequality in the motion of the parts of the terrestrial Globe The most potent and primary cause of the ebbing and flowing Sundry accidents that happen in the ebbings flowings The first accident The Water raised in one end of the Vessel returneth of its self to Aequilibrium In the shorter Vessels the undulations of waters are more frequent The greater profundity maketh the undulations of waters more frequent Water riseth falleth in the extream parts of the Vessel and runneth to and fro in the midst An accident of the Earths motions impossible to be reduced to practice by art Reasons renewed of the particnlar accidents observed in the ebbings and flowings Second causes why in small Seas and in Lakes there are no ebbings and flowings The reason given why the ebbings and flowings for the most part are every six hours The cause why some Seas though very long suffer no ebbing and flowing Ebbings and flowings why greatest in the extremities of Gulphs and least in the middle parts Why in narrow places the course of the waters is more swift than in larger A discussion of 〈…〉 â—abstruce 〈…〉 obseâ—ved 〈…〉 ebbing and â—â—â—wing The cause why in some narrow Channels we see the Sea-waters run alwayes one way * Or current The Hypothesis of the Earths mobility taken in favour of the
sit ratio totius partium those Countreys being a part of the Earth as well as ours they must of necessity be alterable as these are SALV And why have you not without being put to believe other mens relations examined and observed those alterations with your own eyes SIMPL. Because those places besides that they are not exposed to our eyes are so remote that our sight cannot reach to comprehend therein such like mutations SALV See now how you have unawares discovered the fallacy of your Argument for if you say that the alterations that are seen on the Earth neer at hand cannot by reason of the too great distance be seen in America much lesse can you see them in the Moon which is so many hundred times more remote And if you believe the alterations in Mexico upon the report of those that come from thence what intelligence have you from the Moon to assure you that there is no such alterations in it Therefore from your not seeing any alterations in Heaven whereas if there were any such you could not see them by reason of their too great distance and from your not having intelligence thereof in regard that it cannot be had you ought not to argue that there are no such alterations howbeit from the seeing and observing of them on Earth you well argue that therein such there are SIMPL. I will shew so great mutations that have befaln on the Earth that if any such had happened in the Moon they might very well have been observed here below We find in very antient records that heretofore at the Streights of Gibraltar the two great Mountains Abila and Calpen were continued together by certain other lesse Mountains which there gave check to the Ocean but those Hills being by some cause or other separated and a way being opened for the Sea to break in it made such an inundation that it gave occasion to the calling of it since the Mid-land Sea the greatness whereof considered and the divers aspects the surfaces of the Water and Earth then made had it been beheld afar off there is no doubt but so great a change might have been discerned by one that was then in the Moon as also to us inhabitants of the Earth the like alterations would be perceived in the Moon but we find not in antiquity that ever there was such a thing seen therefore we have no cause to say that any of the Coelestial bodies are alterable c. SALV That so great alterations have hapned in the Moon I dare not say but for all that I am not yet certain but that such changes might occur and because such a mutation could onely represent unto us some kind of variation between the more clear and more obscure parts of the Moon I know not whether we have had on Earth observant Selenographers who have for any considerable number of years instructed us with so exact Selenography as that we should confidently conclude that there hath no such change hapned in the face of the Moon of the figuration of which I find no more particular description than the saying of some that it represents an humane face of others that it is like the muzle of a Lyon and of others that it is Cain with a bundle of thorns on his back therefore to say Heaven is unalterable because that in the Moon or other Coelestial bodies no such alterations are seen as discover themselves on Earth is a bad illation and concludeth nothing SAGR. And there is another odd kind of scruple in this Argument of Simplicius running in my mind which I would gladly have answered therefore I demand of him whether the Earth before the Mediterranian inundation was generable and corruptible or else began then so to be SIMPL. It was doubtless generable and corruptible also before that time but that was so vast a mutation that it might have been observed as far as the Moon SAGR. Go to if the Earth was generable and corruptible before that Inundation why may not the Moon be so likewise without such a change Or why should that be necessary in the Moon which importeth nothing on Earth SALV It is a shrewd question But I am doubtfull that Simplicius a little altereth the Text of Aristotle and the other Peripateticks who say they hold the Heavens unalterable for that they see therein no one star generate or corrupt which is probably a less part of Heaven than a City is of the Earth and yet innumerable of these have been destroyed so as that no mark of them hath remain'd SAGR. I verily believed otherwise and conceited that Simplicius dissembled this exposition of the Text that he might not charge his Master and Consectators with a notion more absurd than the former And what a folly it is to say the Coelestial part is unalterable because no stars do generate or corrupt therein What then hath any one seen a Terrestrial Globe corrupt and another regenerate in its place And yet is it not on all hands granted by Philosophers that there are very few stars in Heaven less than the Earth but very many that are much bigger So that for a star in Heaven to corrupt would be no less than if the whole Terrestrial Globe should be destroy'd Therefore if for the true proof of generation and corruption in the Universe it be necessary that so vast bodies as a star must corrupt and regenerate you may satisfie your self and cease your opinion for I assure you that you shall never see the Terrestrial Globe or any other integral body of the World to corrupt or decay so that having been beheld by us for so many years past they should so dissolve as not to leave any footsteps of them SALV But to give Simplicius yet fuller satisfaction and to reclaim him if possible from his error I affirm that we have in our age new accidents and observations and such that I question not in the least but if Aristotle were now alive they would make him change his opinion which may be easily collected from the very manner of his discoursing For when he writeth that he esteemeth the Heavens inalterable c. because no new thing was seen to be begot therein or any old to be dissolved he seems implicitely to hint unto us that when he should see any such accident he would hold the contrary and 〈◊〉 as indeed it is meet sensible experiments to natural reason for had he not made any reckoning of the senses he would not then from the not seeing of any sensible mutation have argued immutability SIMPL. Aristotle deduceth his principal Argument à priori shewing the necessity of the inalterability of Heaven by natural manifest and clear principles and then stablisheth the same à posteriori by sense and the traditions of the antients SALV This you speak of is the Method he hath observed in delivering his Doctrine but I do not bethink it yet to be that wherewith he
invented it for I do believe for certain that he first procured by help of the senses such experiments and observations as he could to assure him as much as it was possible of the conclusion and that he afterwards sought out the means how to demonstrate it For this is the usual course in demonstrative Sciences and the reason thereof is because when the conclusion is true by help of resolutive Method one may hit upon some proposition before demonstrated or come to some principle known per se but if the conclusion be false a man may proceed in infinitum and never meet with any truth already known but very oft he shall meet with some impossibility or manifest absurdity Nor need you question but that Pythagoras along time before he found the demonstration for which he offered the Hecatomb had been certain that the square of the side subtending the right angle in a rectangle triangle was equal to the square of the other two sides and the certainty of the conclusion conduced not a little to the investigating of the demonstration understanding me alwayes to mean in demonstrative Sciences But what ever was the method of Aristotle and whether his arguing à priori preceded sense à posteriori or the contrary it sufficeth that the same Aristotle preferreth as hath been oft said sensible experiments before all discourses besides as to the Arguments à priori their force hath been already examined Now returning to my purposed matter I say that the things in our times discovered in the Heavens are and have been such that they may give absolute satisfaction to all Philosophers forasmuch as in the particular bodies and in the universal expansion of Heaven there have been and are continually seen just such accidents as we call generations and corruptions being that excellent Astronomers have observed many Comets generated and dissolved in parts higher than the Lunar Orb besides the two new Stars Anno 1572 and Anno 1604 without contradiction much higher than all the Planets and in the face of the Sun it self by help of the Telescope certain dense and obscure substances in semblance very like to the foggs about the Earth are seen to be produced and dissolved and many of these are so vast that they far exceed not only the Mediterranian Streight but all Affrica and Asia also Now if Aristotle had seen these things what think you he would have said and done Simplicius SIMPL. I know not what Aristotle would have done or said that was the great Master of all the Sciences but yet I know in part what his Sectators do and say and ought to do and say unlesse they would deprive themselves of their guide leader and Prince in Philosophy As to the Comets are not those Modern Astronomers who would make them Coelestial convinced by the Anti-Tycho yea and overcome with their own weapons I mean by way of Paralaxes and Calculations every way tryed concluding at the last in favour of Aristotle that they are all Elementary And this being overthrown which was as it were their foundation have these Novellists any thing more wherewith to maintain their assertion SALV Hold a little good Simplicius this modern Author what saith he to the new Stars Anno 1572 and 1604 and to the Solar spots for as to the Comets I for my own particular little care to make them generated under or above the Moon nor did I ever put much stresse on the loquacity of Tycho nor am I hard to believe that their matter is Elementary and that they may elevate sublimate themselves at their pleasure without meeting with any obstacle from the impenetrability of the Peripatetick Heaven which I hold to be far more thin yielding and subtil than our Air and as to the calculations of the Parallaxes first the uncertainty whether Comets are subject to such accidents and next the inconstancy of the observations upon which the computations are made make me equally suspect both those opinions and the rather for that I see him you call Anti-Tycho sometimes stretch to his purpose or else reject those observations which interfere with his design SIMPL. As to the new Stars Anti-Tycho extricates himself finely in three or four words saying That those modern new Stars are no certain parts of the Coelestial bodies and that the adversaries if they will prove alteration and generation in those superior bodies must shew some mutations that have been made in the Stars described so many ages past of which there is no doubt but that they be Coelestial bodies which they can never be able to do Next as to those matters which some affirm to generate and dissipate in the face of the Sun he makes no mention thereof wherefore I conclude that he believed them fictious or the illusions of the Tube or at most some petty effects caused by the Air and in brief any thing rather than matters Coelestial SALV But you Simplicius what answer could you give to the opposition of these importunate spots which are started up to disturb the Heavens and more than that the Peripatetick Philosophy It cannot be but that you who are so resolute a Champion of it have found some reply or solution for the same of which you ought not to deprive us SIMPL. I have heard sundry opinions about this particular One saith They are Stars which in their proper Orbs like as Venus and Mercury revolve about the Sun and in passing under it represent themselves to us obscure and for that they are many they oft happen to aggregate their parts together and afterwards seperate again Others believe them to be äerial impressions others the illusions of the chrystals and others other things But I incline to think yea am verily perswaded That they are an aggregate of many several opacous bodies as it were casually concurrent among themselves And therefore we often see that in one of those spots one may number ten or more such small bodies which are of irregular figures and seem to us like flakes of snow or flocks of wooll or moaths flying they vary fire amongst themselves and one while sever another while meet and most of all beneath the Sun about which as about their Centre they continually move But yet must we not therefore grant that they are generated or dissolved but that at sometimes they are hid behind the body of the Sun and at other times though remote from it yet are they not seen for the vicinity of the immeasurable light of the Sun in regard that in the eccentrick Orb of the Sun there is constituted as it were an Onion composed of many folds one within another each of which being studded with certain small spots doth move and albeit their motion at first seemeth inconstant and irregular yet neverthelesse it is said at last to be observed that the very same spots as before do within a determinate time return again This seemeth to me the fittest answer
invisible therefore we may discourse of the Heavens and Sun with more certainty than Aristolte SAGR. I see into the heart of Simplicius and know that he is much moved at the strength of these so convincing Arguments but on the other side when he considereth the great authority which Aristotle hath won with all men and remembreth the great number of famous Interpreters which have made it their business to explain his sense and seeth other Sciences so necessary and profitable to the publick to build a great part of their esteem and reputation on the credit of Aristotle he is much puzzled and perplexed and methinks I hear him say To whom then should we repair for the decision of our controversies if Aristotle were removed from the chair What other Author should we follow in the Schools Academies and Studies What Philosopher hath writ all the parts of Natural Philosophy and that so methodically without omitting so much as one single conclusion Shall we then overthrow that Fabrick under which so many passengers find shelter Shall we destroy that Asylum that Prytaneum wherein so many Students meet with commodious harbour where without exposing themselves to the injuries of the air with the onely turning over of a few leaves one may learn all the secrets of Nature Shall we dismantle that fort in which we are safe from all hostile assaults But I pitie him no more than I do that Gentleman who with great expence of time and treasure and the help of many hundred artists erects a very sumptuous Pallace and afterwards beholds it ready to fall by reason of the bad foundation but being extremely unwilling to see the Walls stript which are adorned with so many beautifull Pictures or to suffer the columns to fall that uphold the stately Galleries or the gilded roofs chimney-pieces the freizes the cornishes of marble with so much cost erected to be ruined goeth about with girders props shoars butterasses to prevent their subversion SALV But alass Simplicius as yet fears no such fall and I would undertake to secure him from that mischief at a far less charge There is no danger that so great a multitude of subtle and wise Philosophers should suffer themselves to be Hector'd by one or two who make a little blustering nay they will rather without ever turning the points of their pens against them by their silence onely render them the object of universal scorn and contempt It is a fond conceit for any one to think to introduce new Philosophy by reproving this or that Author it will be first necessary to new-mold the brains of men and make them apt to distinguish truth from falshood A thing which onely God can do But from one discourse to another whither are we stray'd your memory must help to guide me into the way again SIMPL. I remember very well where we left We were upon the answer of Anti-Tycho to the objections against the immutability of the Heavens among which you inserted this of the Solar spots not spoke of by him and I believe you intended to examine his answer to the instance of the New Stars SALV Now I remember the rest and to proceed Methinks there are some things in the answer to Anti-Tycho worthy of reprehension And first if the two New Stars which he can do no less than place in the uppermost parts of the Heavens and which were of a long duration but finally vanished give him no obstruction in maintaining the inalterability of Heaven in that they were not certain parts thereof nor mutations made in the antient Stars why doth he set himself so vigorously and earnestly against the Comets to banish them by all ways from the Coelestial Regions Was it not enough that he could say of them the same which he spoke of the New stars to wit that in regard they were no certain parts of Heaven nor mutations made in any of the Stars they could no wise prejudice either Heaven or the Doctrine of Aristotle Secondly I am not very well satisfied of his meaning when he saith that the alterations that should be granted to be made in the Stars would be destructive to the prerogative of Heaven namely its incorruptibility c. and this because the Stars are Coelestial substances as is manifest by the consent of every one and yet is nothing troubled that the same alterations should be made without the Stars in the rest of the Coelestial expansion Doth he think that Heaven is no Coelestial substance I for my part did believe that the Stars were called Coelestial bodies by reason that they were in Heaven or for that they were made of the substance of Heaven and yet I thought that Heaven was more Coelestial than they in like sort as nothing can be said to be more Terrestrial or more fiery than the Earth or Fire themselves And again in that he never made any mention of the Solar spots which have been evidently demonstrated to be produced and dissolved and to be neer the Sun and to turn either with or about the same I have reason to think that this Author probably did write more for others pleasure than for his own satisfaction and this I affirm forasmuch as he having shewn himself to be skilful in the Mathematicks it is impossible but that he should have been convinced by Demonstrations that those substances are of necessity contiguous with the body of the Sun and are so great generations and corruptions that none comparable to them ever happen in the Earth And if such so many and so frequent be made in the very Globe of the Sun which may with reason be held one of the noblest parts of Heaven what should make us think that others may not happen in the other Orbs. SAGR. I cannot without great admiration nay more denial of my understanding hear it to be attributed to natural bodies for a great honour and perfection that they are impassible immutable inalterable c. And on the contrary to hear it to be esteemed a great imperfection to be alterable generable mutable c. It is my opinion that the Earth is very noble and admirable by reason of so many and so different alterations mutations generations c. which are incessantly made therein and if without being subject to any alteration it had been all one vast heap of sand or a masse of Jasper or that in the time of the Deluge the waters freezing which covered it it had continued an immense Globe of Christal wherein nothing had ever grown altered or changed I should have esteemed it a lump of no benefit to the World full of idlenesse and in a word superfluous and as if it had never been in nature and should make the same difference in it as between a living and dead creature The like I say of the Moon Jupiter and all the other Globes of the World But the more I dive into the consideration of the vanity
my self SALV Well I will make you believe the same presently Tell me a little when the Moon is near the Full so that it may be seen by day and also at midnight at what do you think it more splendid by day or by night SIMPL. By night without all comparison And methinks the Moon resembleth that pillar of Clouds and pillar of Fire which guided the Israelites which at the presence of the Sun appeared like a Cloud but in the night was very glorious Thus I have by day observed the Moon amidst certain small Clouds just as if one of them had been coloured white but by night it shines with much splendor SALV So that if you had never happened to see the Moon save onely in the day time you would not have thought it more shining than one of those Clouds SIMPL. I verily believe I should not SALV Tell me now do you believe that the Moon is really more shining in the night than day or that by some accident it seemeth so SIMPL. I am of opinion that it resplends in it self as much in the day as night but that its light appears greater by night because we behold it in the dark mantle of Heaven and in the day time the whole Atmosphere being very clear so that she little exceedeth it in lustre she seems to us much less bright SALV Now tell me have you ever at midnight seen the Terrestrial Globe illuminated by the Sun SIMPL. This seemeth to me a question not to be ask'd unless in jest or of some person known to be altogether void of sense SALV No no I esteem you to be a very rational man and do ask the question seriously and therefore answer me and if afterwards you shall think that I speak impertinently I will be content to be the senseless man for he is much more a fool who interrogates simply than he to whom the question is put SIMPL. If then you do not think me altogether simple take it for granted that I have answered you already and said that it is impossible that one that is upon the Earth as we are should see by night that part of the Earth where it is day namely that is illuminated by the Sun SALV Therefore you have never seen the Earth enlightned save onely by day but you see the Moon to shine also in the dead of night And this is the cause Simplicius which makes you believe that the Earth doth not shine like the Moon but if you could see the Earth illuminated whilst you were in some dark place like our night you would see it shine brighter than the Moon Now if you desire that the comparison may proceed well you must compare the light of the Earth with that of the Moon seen in the day time and not with the same by night for it is not in our power to see the Earth illuminated save onely in the day Is it not so SIMPL. So it ought to be SALV And forasmuch as you your self have already confessed to have seen the Moon by day among some little white Clouds and very nearly as to its aspect resembling one of them you did thereby grant that those Clouds which yet are Elementary matters are as apt to receive illumination as the Moon yea more if you will but call to mind that you have sometimes seen some Clouds of vast greatness and as perfect white as the Snow and there is no question but that if such a Cloud could be continued so luminous in the deep of night it would illuminate the places near about it more than an hundred Moons If therefore we were assured that the Earth is illuminated by the Sun like one of those Clouds it would be undubitable but that it would be no less shining than the Moon But of this there is no question to be made in regard we see those very Clouds in the absence of the Sun to remain by night as obscure as the Earth and that which is more there is not any one of us but hath seen many times some such Clouds low and far off and questioned whether they were Clouds or Mountains an evident sign that the Mountains are no less luminous than those Clouds SAGR. But what needs more discourse See yonder the Moon is risen and more than half of it illuminated see there that wall on which the Sun shineth retire a little this way so that you see the Moon sideways with the wall look now which of them shews more lucid Do not you see that if there is any advantage the wall hath it The Sun shineth on that wall from thence it is reverberated upon the wall of the Hall from thence it 's reflected upon that chamber so that it falls on it at the third reflection and I am very certain that there is in that place more light than if the Moons light had directly faln upon it SIMPL. But this I cannot believe for the illumination of the Moon especially when it is at the full is very great SAGR. It seemeth great by reason of the circumjacent dark places but absolutely it is not much and is less than that of the twilight half an hour after the Sun is set which is manifest because you see not the shadows of the bodies illuminated by the Moon till then to begin to be distinguished on the Earth Whether again that third reflection upon that chamber illuminates more than the first of the Moon may be known by going thether and reading a Book and afterwards standing there in the night by the Moons light which will shew by which of them lights one may read more or less plainly but I believe without further tryal that one should see less distinctly by this later SALV Now Simplicius if haply you be satisfied you may conceive as you your self know very well that the Earth doth shine no less than the Moon and the only remembring you of some things which you knew of your self and learn'd not of me hath assured you thereof for I taught you not that the Moon shews lighter by night than by day but you understood it of your self as also you could tell me that a little Cloud appeareth as lucid as the Moon you knew also that the illumination of the Earth cannot be seen by night and in a word you knew all this without knowing that you knew it So that you have no reason to be scrupulous of granting that the dark part of the Earth may illuminate the dark part of the Moon with no less a light than that wherewith the Moon illuminates the obscurities of the night yea rather so much the greater inasmuch as the Earth is forty times bigger than the Moon SIMPL. I must confess that I did believe that that secondary light had been the natural light of the Moon SALV And this also you know of your self and perceive not that you know it Tell me do not you know without teaching that the
from whence is taken the invention of the Crystals and see here lastly the sight fortified by the passage of the rays through a diaphanous but more dense and obscure medium SAGR. This is a way to comprehend all things knowable much like to that wherewith a piece of marble conteineth in it one yea a thousand very beautiful Statua's but the difficulty lieth in being able to discover them or we may say that it is like to the prophesies of Abbot Joachim or the answers of the Heathen Oracles which are not to be understood till after the things fore-told are come to passe SALV And why do you not adde the predictions of the Genethliacks which are with like cleernesse seen after the event in their Horoscopes or if you will Configurations of the Heavens SAGR. In this manner the Chymists find being led by their melancholly humour that all the sublimest wits of the World have writ of nothing else in reality than of the way to make Gold but that they might transmit the secret to posterity without discovering it to the vulgar they contrived some one way and some another how to conceal the same under several maskes and it would make one merry to hear their comments upon the ancient Poets finding out the important misteries which lie hid under their Fables and the signification of the Loves of the Moon and her descending to the Earth for Endimion her displeasure against Acteon and what was meant by Jupiters turning himself into a showre of Gold and into flames of fire and what great secrets of Art are conteined in that Mercury the Interpreter in those thefts of Pluto and in those Branches of Gold SIMPL. I believe and in part know that there want not in the World very extravagant heads the vanities of whom ought not to redound to the prejudice of Aristotle of whom my thinks you speak sometimes with too little respect and the onely antiquity and bare name that he hath acquired in the opinions of so many famous men should suffice to render him honourable with all that professe themselves learned SALV You state not the matter rightly Simplicius There are some of his followers that fear before they are in danger who give us occasion or to say better would give us cause to esteem him lesse should we consent to applaud their Capricio's And you pray you tell me are you for your part so simple as not to know that had Aristotle been present to have heard the Doctor that would have made him Author of the Telescope he would have been much more displeased with him than with those who laught at the Doctor and his Comments Do you question whether Aristotle had he but seen the novelties discovered in Heaven would not have changed his opinion amended his Books and embraced the more sensible Doctrine rejecting those silly Gulls which too scrupulously go about to defend what ever he hath said not considering that if Aristotle were such a one as they fancy him to themselves he would be a man of an untractable wit an obstinate mind a barbarous soul a stubborn will that accounting all men else but as silly sheep would have his Oracles preferred before the Senses Experience and Nature her self They are the Sectators of Aristotle that have given him this Authority and not he that hath usurped or taken it upon him and because it is more easie for a man to sculk under anothers shield than to shew himself openly they tremble and are affraid to stir one step from him and rather than they will admit some alterations in the Heaven of Aristotle they will impertinently deny those they behold in the Heaven of Nature SAGR. These kind of Drolleries put me in mind of that Statuary which having reduced a great piece of Marble to the Image of an Hercules or a thundring Jupiter I know not whether and given it with admirable Art such a vivacity and threatning fury that it moved terror in as many as beheld it he himself began also to be affraid thereof though all its sprightfulnesse and life was his own workmanship and his affrightment was such that he had no longer the courage to affront it with his Chizzels and Mallet SALV I have many times wondered how these nice maintainers of what ever fell from Aristotle are not aware how great a prejudice they are to his reputation and credit and how that the more they go about to encrease his Authority the more they diminish it for whilest I see them obstinate in their attempts to maintain those Propositions which I palpably discover to be manifestly false and in their desires to perswade me that so to do is the part of a Philosopher and that Aristotle himself would do the same it much abates in me of the opinion that he hath rightly philosophated about other conclusions to me more abstruse for if I could see them concede and change opinion in a manifest truth I would believe that in those in which they should persist they may have some solid demonstrations to me unknown and unheard of SAGR. Or when they should be made to see that they have hazarded too much of their own and Aristotle's repuatation in confessing that they had not understood this or that conclusion found out by some other man would it not be a less evil for them to seek for it amongst his Texts by laying many of them together according to the art intimated to us by Simplicius for if his works contain all things knowable it must follow also that they may be therein discovered SALV Good Sagredus make no jest of this advice which me thinks you rehearse in too Ironical a way for it is not long since that a very eminent Philosopher having composed a Book de animà wherein citing the opinion of Aristotle about its being or not being immortal he alledged many Texts not any of those heretofore quoted by Alexander ab Alexandro for in those he said that Aristotle had not so much as treated of that matter much less determined any thing pertaining to the same but others by himself found out in other more abstruse places which tended to an erroneous sense and being advised that he would find it an hard matter to get a Licence from the Inquisitors he writ back unto his friend that he would notwithstanding with all expedition procure the same for that if no other obstacle should interpose he would not much scruple to change the Doctrine of Aristotle and with other expositions and other Texts to maintain the contrary opinion which yet should be also agreeable to the sense of Aristotle SAGR. Oh most profound Doctor this that can command me that I stir not a step from Aristotle but will himself lead him by the nose and make him speak as he pleaseth See how much it importeth to learn to take Time by the Fore-top Nor is it seasonable to have to do with Hercules whil'st he is enraged and
of those that believe it is not so ridiculous and fond as the rout of vulgar Philosophers esteem it SIMP The answers hitherto produced against the arguments brought against this Diurnal Revolution of the Earth taken from grave bodies falling from the top of a Tower and from projections made perpendicularly upwards or according to any inclination sidewayes towards the East West North South c. have somewhat abated in me the antiquated incredulity I had conceived against that opinion but other greater doubts run in my mind at this very instant which I know not in the least how to free my self of and haply you your self will not be able to resolve them nay it s possible you may not have heard them for they are very modern And these are the objections of two Authours that ex professo write against Copernicus Some of which are read in a little Tract of natural conclusions The rest are by a great both Philosopher and Mathematician inserted in a Treatise which he hath written in favour of Aristotle and his opinion touching the inalterability of the Heavens where he proveth that not onely the Comets but also the new stars namely that anno 1572. in Cassiopeia and that anno 1604. in Sagittarius were not above the Spheres of the Planets but absolutely beneath the concave of the Moon in the Elementary Sphere and this he demonstrateth against Tycho Kepler and many other Astronomical Observators and beateth them at their own weapon to wit the Doctrine of Parallaxes If you like thereof I will give you the reasons of both these Authours for I have read them more than once with attention and you may examine their strength and give your opinion thereon SALV In regard that our principal end is to bring upon the stage and to consider what ever hath been said for or against the two Systemes Ptolomaick and Copernican it is not good to omit any thing that hath been written on this subject SIMP I will begin therefore with the objections which I finde in the Treatise of Conclusions and afterwards proceed to the rest In the first place then he bestoweth much paines in calculating exactly how many miles an hour a point of the terrestrial Globe situate under the Equinoctial goeth and how many miles are past by other points situate in other parallels and not being content with finding out such motions in horary times he findeth them also in a minute of an hour and not contenting himself with a minute he findes them also in a second minute yea more he goeth on to shew plainly how many miles a Cannon bullet would go in the same time being placed in the concave of the Lunar Orb supposing it also as big as Copernicus himself representeth it to take away all subterfuges from his adversary And having made this most ingenious and exquisite supputation he sheweth that a grave body falling from thence above would consume more than six dayes in attaining to the centre of the Earth to which all grave bodies naturally move Now if by the absolute Divine Power or by some Angel a very great Cannon bullet were carried up thither and placed in our Zenith or vertical point and from thence let go at liberty it is in his and also in my opinion a most incredible thing that it in descending downwards should all the way maintain it self in our vertical line continuing to turn round with the Earth about its centre for so many dayes describing under the Equinoctial a Spiral line in the plain of the great circle it self and under other Parallels Spiral lines about Cones and under the Poles falling by a simple right line He in the next place stablisheth and confirmeth this great improbability by proving in the way of interrogations many difficulties impossible to be removed by the followers of Copernicus and they are if I do well remember SALV Take up a little good Simplicius and do not load me with so many novelties at once I have but a bad memory and therefore I must not go too fast And in regard it cometh into my minde that I once undertook to calculate how long time such a grave body falling from the concave of the Moon would be in passing to the centre of the Earth and that I think I remember that the time would not be so long it would be fit that you shew us by what rule this Author made his calculation SIMP He hath done it by proving his intent à fortiori a sufficient advantage for his adversaries supposing that the velocity of the body falling along the vertical line towards the centre of the Earth were equal to the velocity of its circular motion which it made in the grand circle of the concave of the Lunar Orb. Which by equation would come to passe in an hour twelve thousand six hundred German miles a thing which indeed savours of impossibility Yet neverthelesse to shew his abundant caution and to give all advantages to his adversaries he supposeth it for true and concludeth that the time of the fall ought however to be more than six dayes SALV And is this the sum of his method And doth he by this demonstration prove the time of the fall to be above six dayes SAGR. Me thinks that he hath behaved himself too modestly for that having it in the power of his will to give what velocity he pleased to such a descending body and might aswell have made it six moneths nay six years in falling to the Earth he is content with six dayes But good Salviatus sharpen my appetite a little by telling me in what manner you made your computation in regard you say that you have heretofore cast it up for I am confident that if the question had not required some ingenuity in working it you would never have applied your minde unto it SALV It is not enough Sagredus that the subjects be noble and great but the businesse consists in handling it nobly And who knoweth not that in the dissection of the members of a beast there may be discovered infinite wonders of provident and prudent Nature and yet for one that the Anatomist dissects the butcher cuts up a thousand Thus I who am now seeking how to satisfie your demand cannot tell with which of the two shapes I had best to appear on the Stage but yet taking heart from the example of Simplicius his Authour I will without more delays give you an account if I have not forgot how I proceeded But before I go any further I must not omit to tell you that I much fear that Simplicius hath not faithfully related the manner how this his Authour found that the Cannon bullet in coming from the concave of the Moon to the centre of the Earth would spend more than six dayes for if he had supposed that its velocity in descending was equal to that of the concave as Simplicius saith he doth suppose he would have shewn himself ignorant of
of the cheek nor of the whole body toucheth or stayeth it self upon the Instrument nor much lesse is the Instrument upheld or mounted in the armes especially if it be one of those great ones as is usual which weighing tens hundreds and also thousands of pounds are placed upon very strong feet or frames so that the whole objection vanisheth These are the subterfuges of this Authour which though they were all of steel would not secure him the hundredth part of a minute and with these he conceits to make us believe that he hath compensated that difference which importeth more than an hundred minutes I mean that of the not observing a notable difference in the distances between one of the fixed stars and the new star in in any of their circulations which had it been neer to the Moon it ought to have been very conspicuous to the meer sight without any Instrument especially comparing it with the eleventh of Cassiopeia its neighbour within 1 gr 30 m. which ought to have varied from it more than two diameters of the moon as the more intelligent Astronomers of those times do well note SAGR. Methinks I see that unfortunate Husbandman who after all his expected crops have been beaten down and destroyed by a storm goeth up and down with a languishing and down-cast look gleaning up every small ear that would not suffice to keep a chicken alive one sole day SALV Truly this Authour came out too slenderly provided with armes against the assailants of the Heavens inalterability and with too brittle a chain attempted to pull down the new star of Cassiopeia from the highest Regions to these so low and elementary And for that I think that we have sufficiently demonstrated the vast difference that is between the arguments of those Astronomers and of this their Antagonist it will be convenient that we leave this particular and return to our principal matter in which there presents it self to our consideration the annual motion commonly ascribed to the Sun but by Aristarchus Samius first of all and after by Copernicus taken from the Sun and transferred upon the Earth against which Hypothesis methinks I see Simplicius to come strongly provided and particularly with the sword and buckler of the little Treatise of Conclusions or Disquisitions Mathematical the oppugnations of which it would be good to begin to produce SIMP I will if you so please reserve them to the last as those that are of latest invention SALV It will therefore be necessary that in conformity to the method hitherto observed you do orderly one by one propound the arguments on the contrary aswell of Aristotle as of the other ancients which shall be my task also that so nothing may escape our strict consideration and examination and likewise Sagredus with the vivacity of his wit shall interpose his thoughts as he shall finde himself inclined SAGR. I will do it with my wonted freedome and your commands shall oblige you to excuse me in so doing SALV The favour will challenge thanks and not an excuse But now let Simplicius begin to propose those doubts which disswade him from believing that the Earth in like manner as the other planets may move round about a fixed centre SIMP The first and greatest difficulty is the repugnance and incompatibility that is between being in the centre and being far from it for if the Terrestrial Globe were to move in a year by the circumference of a circle that is under the Zodiack it is impossible that it should at the same time be in the centre of the Zodiack but that the Earth is in the said centre Aristotle Ptolomy and others have many wayes proved SALV You very well argue and there is no question but that one that would make the Earth to move in the circumference of a circle must first of necessity prove that it is not in the centre of that same circle it now followeth that we enquire whether the Earth be or be not in that centre about which I say that it turneth and you say that it is fixed and before we speak of this it is likewise necessary that we declare our selves whether you and I have both the same conceit of this centre or no. Therefore tell me what and where is this your intended centre SIMP When I speak of the centre I mean that of the Universe that of the World that of the Starry Sphere SALV Although I might very rationally put it in dispute whether there be any such centre in nature or no being that neither you nor any one else hath ever proved whether the World be finite and figurate or else infinite and interminate yet nevertheless granting you for the present that it is finite and of a terminate Spherical Figure and that thereupon it hath its centre it will be requisite to see how credible it is that the Earth and not rather some other body doth possesse the said centre SIMP That the world is finite terminate and spherical Aristotle proveth with an hundred demonstrations SALV All which in the end are reduced to one alone and that one to none at all for if I deny his assumption to wit that the Universe is moveable all his demonstrations come to nothing for he onely proveth the Universe to be finite and terminate for that it is moveable But that we may not multiply disputes let it be granted for once that the World is finite spherical and hath its centre And seeing that that centre and figure is argued from its mobility it will without doubt be very reasonable if from the circular motions of mundane bodies we proceed to the particular investigation of that centres proper place Nay Aristotle himself hath argued and determined in the same manner making that same to be the centre of the Universe about which all the Coelelestial Spheres revolve and in which he beleived the Terrestrial Globe to have been placed Now tell me Simplicius if Aristotle should be constrained by evident experience to alter in part this his disposure and order of the Universe and confesse himself to have been deceived in one of these two propositions namely either in placing the Earth in the centre or in saying that the Coelestial Spheres do move about that centre which of the two confessions think you would he choose SIMP I believe that if it should so fall out the Peripateticks SALV I do not ask the Peripateticks I demand of Aristotle for as to those I know very well what they would reply they as observant and humble vassals of Aristotle would deny all the experiments and all the observations in the World nay would also refuse to see them that they might not be forced to acknowledg them and would say that the World stands as Aristotle writeth and not as nature will have it for depriving them of the shield of his Authority with what do you think they would appear in the field Tell me therefore what you
peculiar to the perfect Sphere onely but belongeth to all Curved Figures 185 In a Moveable Sphere it seemeth more reasonable that its Centre be stable than any of its parts 300 SPHERE of Activity The Sphere of Activity greater in Celestial Bodies than in Elimentary 59 STARRY SPHERE Wearinesse more to be feared in the Starry Sphere than in the Terrestrial Globe 245 By the proportion of Jupiter and of Mars the Starry Sphere is found to be yet more remote 331 Vanity of those mens discourse who argue the Starry Sphere to be too vast in the Copernican Hypothesis 335 The whole Starry Sphere beheld from a great distance might appear as small as one single Star 335 SPHERICAL The Spherical Figure is easier to be made than any other 186 Spherical Figures of sundry Magnitudes may be made with one sole Instrument 187 SPIRIT The Spirit had no intent to teach us whether the Earth moveth or standeth still as nothing concerning our Salvation 436 SOLAR SPOTS Spots generate and dissolve in the face of the Sun 38 Sundry Opinions touching the Solar Spots 39 An Argument that necessarily proveth the Solar Spots to generate and dissolve 40 A conclusive Demonstration to prove that the Spots are contiguous to the Body of the Sun 41 The Motion of the Spots towards the Circumcumference of the Sun appears slow 41 The Figure of the Spots towards the Circumference of the Suns Discus appear narrow and why 41 The Solar Spots are not Spherical but flat like thin plates 41 The History of the proceedings of the Academian for a long time about the Observation of the Solar Spots 312 A conceit that suddenly came into the mind of our Academian concerning the great consequence that followeth upon the Motion of the Solar Spots 314 Extravagant Mutations to be observed in the Motions of the Solar Spots foreseen by the Academick in case the Earth had the Annual Motion 314 The first Accident to be observed in the Motion of the Solar Spots and consequently all the rest explained 315 The events being observed were answerable to the Predictions touching these Spots 318 Though the Annual Motion assigned to the Earth answereth to the Phaenomena of the Solar Spots yet doth it not follow by conversion that from the Phaenomena of the Spots one may inferre the Annual Motion to belong to the Earth 319 The Pure Peripatetick Philosophers will laugh at the Spots and their Phaenomena as the Illusions of the Christals in the Telescope 319 The Solar Spots of Galileo 494 STAR and Stars The Stars infinitely surpasse the rest of Heaven in Density 30 It is no lesse impossible for a Star to corrupt than the whole Terrestrial Globe 37 New Stars discovered in Heaven 38 The small Body of a Star fringed about with Rays appeareth very much bigger than plain naked and in its native Clarity 61 An easie Experiment that sheweth the encrease in the Stars by means of the Adventitious Rays 305 A Star of the Sixth Magnitude supposed by Tycho and Scheiner an hundred and six Millions of times bigger than needs 326 A common errour of all Astronomers touching the Magnitude of the Stars 326 Venus rendereth the Errour of Astronomers in determining the Magnitudes of Stars inexcuseable 326 A way to measure the the apparent Diameter of a Star 327 By depriving Heaven of some Star one might come to know what influence it hath upon us 334 Enquiry is made what Mutations and in what Stars is to be made by means of the Annual Motion of the Earth 342 The Stars neerer to us make greater diversities than the more remote 349 FIXED STARS Great disparity amongst the Motions of the Particular Fixed Stars if their Sphere be moveable 102 The Motions of the Fixed Stars would accelerate and retard in several times if the Starry were moveable 102 The Probable Situation of the Fixed Stars 299 Supposing the Annual Motion of the Earth it followeth that one Fixed Star is bigger than the whole Grand Orbe 324 The apparent diversity of Motion in the Planets is insensible in the Fixed Stars 325 Supposing that a Fixed Star of the First Magnitude is no bigger than the Sun the diversity which is so great in the Planets is almost insensible in the Fixed Stars 325 The Diameter of a Fixed Star of the First Magnitude and one of the Sixth 325 The distance of a Fixed Star of the First Magnitude the Star being supposed to be equal to the Sun 326 In the Fixed Stars the diversity of Aspect caused by the Grand Orb is little more than that caused by the Earth in the Sun 326 The Computation of the Magnitude of the Fixed Stars in respect of the Grand Orbe 326 The Apparent Diameter of a Fixed Star of the First Magnitude not more than five Seconds 328 By another Supposition taken from Astronomers the distance of the Fixed Stars is calculated to be 10800 Semidiameters of the Great Orbe 331 The place assigned to a Fixed Star is much lesse than that of Planet 335 The Mutations of the Fixed Stars ought to be in some greater in others lesser and in others nothing at all 343 The grand Difficulty in Copernicus his Doctrine is that which concerns the Phaenomena of the Sun and Fixed Stars 343 The Fixed Stars in the Ecliptick never Elevate nor Descend on account of the Annual Motion but yet approach and recede 345 The Fixed Stars without the Ecliptick elevate more or lesse according to their distance from the Ecliptick 347 The Epilogue to the Phaenomena of the Fixed Stars caused by the Annual Motion of the Earth 349 A place accommodated for the Observation of the Fixed Stars as to what concerns the Annual Motion of the Earth 352 NEW STAR The greatest and least Elevation of the New Star differ not from each other more than the Polar Altitudes the said Star being in the Firmament 255 STEEL Steel Burnished beheld from one place appears very bright and from another very obscure 64 STONE The Stone falling from the Mast of a Ship lights in the same place whether the Ship move or stands still 126 STRENGTH The Strength diminisheth not were it not employed 244 SUN The Sun more probably in the Centre of the Universe than the Earth 21 Observations from whence it is collected that the Sun and not the Earth is in the Centre of the Celestial Revolutions 295 The Sun and Moon encrease little by Irradiation 305 The Sun it self testifieth the Annual Motion to belong to the Earth 312 If the Earth be immoveable in the Centre of the Zodiack there must be ascribed to the Sun four several Motions as is declared at length 320 The distance of the Sun conteineth twelve hundred and eight Semidiameters of the Earth 325 The Diameter of the Sun half a Degree 325 The Apparent Diameter of the Sun how much it is bigger than that of a Fixed Star 325 An Example of Gods care of Mankind taken from the Sun 333 An exquisite Observation of the approach and departure of
medium belongeth to Heaven which is neither Grave nor Light For all this Philosophy is now forsaken and of it self grown into dis-esteem for though it be received for an unquestionable truth in this new Opinion that to a simple body appertains one only simple Motion yet it granteth no Motion but what is Circular by which alone a simple body is conserved in its naturall Place and subsists in its Unity and is properly said to move in loco in a place whereby it comes to pass that a Body for this reason doth continue to move in it self or about its own axis and although it have a Motion yet it abideth still in the same place as if it were perpetually immoveable But right Motion which is properly ad locum to a place can be ascribed only to those things which are out of their naturall place being far from union with one another and from unity with their whole yea that are seperated and divided from it Which being that it is contrary to the Nature and forme of the Universe it necessarily followeth that right Motion doth in short sute with those things which are destitute of that perfection that according to their proper Nature belongeth to them and which by this same right Motion they labour to obtaine untill they are redintigrated with their Whole and with one another and restored to their Naturall place in which at the length having obtained their perfection they settle and remaine immoveable Therefore in right Motions there can be no Uniformity nor simplicity for that they vary by reason of the uncertaine Levity or Gravity of their respective Bodyes for which cause they do not persevere in the same Velocity or Tardity to the end which they had in the beginning Hence we see that those things whose weight maketh them tend downwards do descend at first with a slow Motion but afterwards as they approach neerer and neerer to the Centre they precipitate more and more swiftly And on the otherside those things which by reason of their lightness are carryed upwards as this our Terrestriall fire which is nothing else but a smoak that burneth and is inkindled into a flame are no sooner ascended on high but in almost the self-same moment they fly and vanish out of sight by reason of the rare-faction and extension that they as soon as they acquire are freed from those bonds which violently and against their own Nature kept them under and deteined them here below For which reason it is very apparent that no Right Motion can be called Simple not only in regard that as hath been said it is not even and uniforme but also because it is mixt with the Circular which lurketh in the Right by an occult consent scilicet by reason of the Natural affection of the Parts to conforme unto their Whole For when the Whole moveth Circularly it is requisite likewith that the Parts to the end that they may be united to their Whole howbeit per accidens they are sometimes moved with a Right Motion do move though not so apparently with a Circular Motion as doth their Whole And thus at length we have envinced that Circular Motion only is Simple Uniform and Aequable and of the same tenor or rate for that it is never destitute of its interne Cause whereas on the contrary Right Motion which pertains to things both Heavy and Light hath a Cause that is imperfect and deficient yea that ariseth from Defect it self and that tendeth to and seeketh after nothing else but the end and termination of it self in regard that Grave and Light Bodies when once they have attained their proper and Natural Place do desist from that Motion to which they were incited by Levity and Gravity Therefore since Circular Motion is proper to the Whole and Right Motion to the Parts these differences are not rightly referred to Motion so as to call one Motion Right another Circular as if they were not consistent with one another For they may be both together and that Naturally in the same Body no lesse than it is equally Natural for a Man to participate of Sense and Reason seeing that these differences are not directly opposite to one another Hereupon Rest and Immobility only are opposed to Motion and not one Species of Motion to another And for the other differences à medio ad medium and circa medium they are distinguished not really but only formally as the Point Line and Superficies none of which can be without the other two or without a Body Hence it appears that in as much as this Phylosophy differs from that of Aristotle so in like manner doth this New Cosmographical System vary from the Common one that hath been hitherto received But this by the way upon occasion of explaining the Fifth Maxim For as to the truth or falshood of these foregoing Positions although I conceive them very probable I am resolved to determine nothing at present neither shall I make any farther enquiry into them The Sixth and Last Maxim is this Every thing is Simply denominated such as it is in comparison of all things or of many things which make the greater number of that kinde but not in respect of a few which make but the lesser part of them As for instance a Vessel shall not be called absolutely Great because it is so whilst it is compared with two or three others but it shall be said to be great absolutely and will be so if it exceed in magnitude all indivials or the greater part of them Nor again shall a Man be said to be absolutely Big because he is bigger than a Pigmey nor yet absolutely Little because lesse than a Gyant but he shall be termed absolutely Big or Little in comparison of the ordinary Stature of the greater part of Men. Thus the Earth cannot absolutely be said to be High or Low for that it is found to be so in respect of some small part of the Universe nor again shall it be absolutely affirmed to be High being compared to the Centre of the World or some few parts of the Universe more near to the said Centre as is the Sun Mercury or Venus but it shall receive its absolute denomination according as it shall be found to be in comparison of the greater number of the Spheres and Bodies of the Universe The Earth therefore in comparison of the whole Circuit of the Eighth Sphaere which includeth all Corporeal Creatures and in comparison of Jupiter Mars and Saturn together with the Moon and much more in comparison of other Bodies if any such there be above the Eighth Sphere and especially the Empyrial Heaven may be truly said to be in the lowest place of the World and almost in the Centre of it nor can it he said to be above any of them except the Sun Mercury and Venus So that one may apply unto it the name of an Infime and Low but