approbata quae coelum pluribus realibus atque imperviis orbibus citra rem replevit That this opinion comes neerer to the truth than that common one of Aristotle which hath to no purpose filled the Heavens with such reall and impervious Orbs. 2. There is no element of fire which must be held with this opinion here delivered for if wee suppose a world in the Moone then it will follow that the sphere of fire either is not there where 't is usually placed in the concavity of his Orbe or else that there is no such thing at all which is most probable since there are not any such solid Orbs that by their swift motion might heat and enkindle the adjoyning ayre which is imagined to be the reason of that element The arguments that are commonly urged to this purpose are these 1 That which was before alledged concerning the refractions which will be caused by a different medium For if the matter of the heavens be of one thicknesse and the element of fire another and the upper Region of ayre distinct from both these and the lower Region severall from all the rest there will then be such a multiplicity of refractions as must necessarily destroy the certainty of all Astronomicall observations All which inconveniences might be avoyded by supposing as wee doe that there is onely one Orbe of vaporous ayre which encompasses our earth all the rest being Aethereall and of the same perspicuity 2 The situation of this element does no way agree with Aristotles own principles or that common providence of nature which wee may discerne in ordinary matters For if the heavens be without all elementary qualities as is usually supposed then it would be a very incongruous thing for the element of fire to be placed immediatly next unto it Since the heat of this is the most powerfull and vigorous quality that is amongst all the rest And Nature in her other works does not joyne extreames but by something of a middle disposition So in the very frame of our bodies the bones which are of a hard substance and the flesh of a soft are not joyned together but by the intercession of membranes and grissels such as being of a middle nature may fitly come betwixt 3 'T is not conceiveable for what use or benefit there should be any such element in that place and certaine it is that Nature does not doe any thing in vaine 4 Betwixt two extreams there can be but one Medium and therefore betweene those two opposite elements of earth and water it may seeme more convenient to place onely the ayre which shall partake of middle qualities different from both 5 Fire does not seeme so properly and directly to be opposed to any thing as Ice and if the one be not an element why should the other If you object that the fire which we commonly use does alwayes tend upwards I answer This cannot prove that there is a naturall place for such an element since our adversaries themselves doe grant that culinary and elementary fire are of different kinds The one does burne shine and corrupt its subject the other disagrees from it in all these respects And therefore from the ascent of the one wee cannot properly inferre the being or situation of the other But for your farther satisfaction herein you may peruse Cardan Iohannes Pena that learned Frenchman the noble Tycho with divers others who have purposely handled this proposition 3. I might adde a third viz. that there is no Musick of the spheares for if they be not solid how can their motion cause any such sound as is conceived I doe the rather meddle with this because Plutarch speakes as if a man might very conveniently heare that harmony if he were an inhabitant in the Moone But I guesse that hee said this out of incogitancy and did not well consider those necessary consequences which depended upon his opinion However the world would have no great losse in being deprived of this Musick unlesse at somtimes we had the priviledge to heare it Then indeed Philo the Jew thinks it would save us the charges of dyet and wee might live at an easie rate by feeding at the eare only and receiving no other nourishment and for this very reason sayes he was Moses enabled to tarry forty dayes and forty nights in the Mount without eating any thing because hee there heard the melody of the Heavens Risum teneatis I know this Musick hath had great Patrons both sacred prophane Authors such as Ambrose Bede Boetius Anselme Plato Cicero and others but because it is not now I think affirmed by any I shall not therefore bestow either paines or time in arguing against it It may suffice that I have onely named these three last and for the two more necessary have referred the Reader to others for satisfaction I shall in the next place proceed to the nature of the Moones body to know whether that be capable of any such conditions as may make it possible to be inhabited and what those qualities are wherein it more neerely agrees with our earth Proposition 4. That the Moone is a solid compacted opacous body I Shall not need to stand long in the proofe of this Proposition since it is a truth already agreed on by the generall consent of the most and the best Philosophers 1 It is solid in opposition to fluid as is the ayre for how otherwise could it beat back the light which it receives from the Sunne But here it may be questioned whether or no the Moone bestow her light upon us by the reflection of the Sun-beames from the superficies of her body or else by her owne illumination Some there are who affirme this latter part So Averroes Caelius Rhodiginus Iulius Caesar c. And their reason is because this light is discerned in many places whereas those bodies which give light by reflexion can there only be perceived where the angle of reflexion is equall to the angle of incidence and this is only in one place as in a looking-glasse those beams which are reflected from it cannot be perceived in every place where you may see the glasse but onely there where your eye is placed on the same line whereon the beames are reflected But to this I answer That the argument will not hold of such bodies whose superficies is full of unequall parts and gibbosities as the Moone is Wherfore it is as wel the more probable as the more common opinion that her light proceeds frō both these causes from reflexion illumination nor doth it herein differ from our earth since that also hath some light by illumination for how otherwise would the parts about us in a Sunne-shine day appeare so bright when as the rayes of reflexion cannot enter into our eye For the better illustration of this we may consider the several wayes wherby divers bodies are enlightned Either as water by admitting the beams into its
Vnto these agreed Pythagoras who thought that our earth was but one of the Planets which moved round about the Sun as Aristotle relates it of him and the Pythagoreans in generall did affirme that the Moone also was terrestriall that she was inhabited as this lower world That those living creatures and plants which are in her exceed any of the like kind with us in the same proportion as their dayes are longer than ours viz. by 15 times This Pythagoras was esteemed by all of a most divine wit as appeares especially by his valuation amongst the Romans who being commanded by the Oracle to erect a statue to the wisest Graecian the Senate determined Pythagoras to be meant preferring him in their judgements before the divine Socrates whom their Gods pronounc'd the wisest Some think him a Iew by birth but most agree that hee was much conversant amongst the learneder sort and Priests of that Nation by whom hee was informed of many secrets and perhaps this opinion which he vented afterwards in Greece where he was much opposed by Aristotle in some worded disputations but never confuted by any solid reason To this opinion of Pythagoras did Plato also assent when he considered that there was the like eclipse made by the earth and this that it had no light of its owne that it was so full of spots And therefore wee may often reade in him and his followers of an aetherea terra and lunares populi An aethereall earth inhabiters in the Moon but afterwards this was mixed with many ridiculous fancies For some of them considering the mysteries implied in the number 3 concluded that there must necessarily be a Trinity of worlds whereof the first is this of ours the second in the Moon whose element of water is represented by the spheare of Mercury the ayre by Venus and the fire by the Sunne And that the whole Vniverse might the better end in earth as it began they have contrived it that Mars shall be a spheare of the fire Iupiter of ayre Saturne of water and above all these the Elysian fields spacious and pleasant places appointed for the habitation of those unspotted soules that either never were imprisoned in or else now have freed themselves from any commerce with the body Scaliger speaking of this Platonick fancy quae in tres trientes mundum quasi assem divisit thinks 't is confutation enough to say 't is Plato's However for the first part of this assertion it was assented unto by many others and by reason of the grosnesse and inequality of this planet 't was frequently called quasi terra coelestis as being esteemed the sediment and more imperfect part of those purer bodies you may see this proved by Plutarch in that delightfull work which he properly made for the confirmation of this particular With him agreed Alcinous and Plotinus later Writers Thus Lucian also in his discourse of a journey to the Moon where though hee does speake many things out of mirth in a jesting manner yet in the beginning of it he does intimate that it did contain some serious truths concerning the real frame of the Vniverse The Cardinall Cusanus and Iornandus Brunus held a particular world in every Starre and therefore one of them defining our earth he sayes it is stella quaedam nobilis quae lunam calorem influentiam habet aliam diversam ab omnibus aliis stellis A noble Starre having a distinct light heat influence frō all the rest Vnto this Nichol. Hill a Country man of ours was enclined whē he said Astrea terrae natura probabilis est That 't is probable the earth hath a starry nature But the opinion which I have here delivered was more directly proved by Maeslin Keplar and Galilaeus each of them late Writers and famous men for their singular skill in Astronomy Keplar calls this World by the name of Levania from the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies the Moon and our earth by the name of Volva à volvendo because it does by reason of its diurnall revolution appeare unto them constantly to turne round and therefore hee stiles those who live in that Hemisphere which is towards us by the title of Subvolvani because they enjoy the sight of this earth and the others Privolvani quia sunt privati conspectu volvae because they are deprived of this priviledge But Iulius Caesar whom I have above quoted speaking of their testimony whom I cite for this opinion viz. Keplar and Galilaeus affirmes that to his knowledge they did but jest in those things which they write concerning this and as for any such world he assuredly knowes they never so much as dreamt of it But I had rather beleeve their owne words than his pretended knowledge 'T is true indeed in some things they doe but trifle but for the maine scope of those discourses 't is as manifest they seriously meant it as any indifferent Reader may easily discerne As for Galilaeus 't is evident that hee did set downe his owne judgement and opinion in these things otherwise sure Campanella a man as well acquainted with his opinion and perhaps his person as Caesar was would never have writ an Apologie for him And besides 't is very likely if it had beene but a jest Galilaeus would never have suffered so much for it as report saith afterwards he did And as for Keplar I will onely referre the Reader to his owne words as they are set downe in the Preface to the fourth book of his Epitome where his purpose is to make an Apologie for the strangenesse of those truths that he was there to deliver amongst which there are divers things to this purpose concerning the nature of the Moone Hee professes that he did not publish them either out of a humor of contradiction or a desire of vaine-glory or in a jesting way to make himselfe or others merry but after a considerate and solemne manner for the discovery of the truth Now as for the knowledge which Caesar pretends to the contrary you may guesse what it was by his strange confidence in other assertions and his boldnesse in them may well derogate from his credit in this For speaking of Ptolome's Hypothesis hee pronounces this verdict Impossibile est excentricorum epicyclorum positio nec aliquis est ex Mathematicis adeo stultus qui veram illam existimet The position of Excentrickes and Epicycles is altogether impossible nor is there any Mathematician such a foole as to think it true I should guesse hee could not have knowledge enough to maintaine any other Hypothesis who was so ignorant in Mathematicks as to deny that any good Author held this For I would faine know whether there were never any that thought the Heavens to be solid bodies and that there were such kindes of motion as is by those fained
it We may conceive that in every rough body there are as it were innumerable superficies disposed unto an innumerable diversitie of inclinations Ita ut nullus sit locus ad quem non pertingant plurimi radii reflexi a plurimis superficieculis per omnem corporis scabri radiis luminosis percussi superficiem dispersis So that there is not any place unto which there are not some beams reflected from these diverse superficies in the severall parts of such a rugged body But yet as I said before the earth dos receive a great part of its light by illumination as wel as by reflexion So that notwithstanding those doubts yet this proposition may remaine true that the spots may be the Sea and the brighter parts the Land Of this opinion was Plutarch unto him assented Keplar and Galilaeus whose words are these Si quis veterum Pythagoreorum sententiam exuscitare velit lunam scilicet esse quasi tellurem alteram ejus pars lucidior terrenam superficiem obscurior verò aqueam magis congruè repraesentet Mihi autem dubium fuit nunquam terrestris globi à longè conspecti atque a radiis solaribus perfusi terream superficiem clariorem obscuriorem vero aqueam sese in conspectum daturam If any man have a mind to renue the opinion of the Phythagoreans that the Moone is another earth then her brighter parts may fitly represent the earths superficies and the darker part the water and for my part I never doubted but that our earthly globe being shined upon by the Sunne and beheld at a great distance the Land would appeare brightest and the Sea more obscurely The reasons may be 1. That which I urged about the foregoing chapter because the water is the thinner part and therefore must give lesse light Since the Starres and Planets by reason of their brightnesse are usually concluded to bee the thicker parts of their orbe 2. Water is in it selfe of a blacker colour saith Aristotle and therefore more remote from light than the earth Any parts of the ground being moistned with raine dos looke much more darkely than when it is dry 3. 'T is observed that the secondary light of the Moone which afterwards is proved to proceede from our earth is sensibly brighter unto us for two or three dayes before the conjunjunction in the morning when she appeares Eastward than about the same time after the conjunction when shee is seene in the West The reason of which must be this because that part of the earth which is opposite to the Moone in the East has more land in it than Sea Whereas on the contrary the Moone when she is in the West is shined upon by that part of our earth where there is more Sea than Land from whence it will follow with good probabilitie that the earth dos cast a greater light than the water 4. Because observation tels us that the spotted parts are alwayes smooth and equall having every where an equality of light when once they are enlightned by the Sunne whereas the brighter parts are full of rugged gibbosities and mountaines having many shades in them as I shall shew more at large afterwards That in this Planet there must bee Seas Campanella indeavours to prove out of Scripture interpreting the waters above the Firmament spoken in Genesis to bee meant of the Sea in this world For saith he 't is not likely that there are any such waters above the Orbes to moderate that heate which they receive from their swift motion as some of the Fathers think Nor did Moses meane the Angels which may be called spirituall waters as Origen and Austin would have it for both these are rejected by the generall consent Nor could he meane any waters in the second region as most Commentators interpret it For first there is nothing but vapours which though they are afterwards turned into water yet while they remayne there they are onely the matter of that element which may as well bee fire or earth or ayre 2 Those vapours are not above the expansum but in it So that hee thinkes there is no other way to salve all but by making the Planets severall worlds with Sea and Land with such Rivers Springs as we have here below Especially since Esdras speakes of the springs above the Firmament But I cannot agree with him in this nor doe I thinke that any such thing can bee proved out of Scripture Before I proceede to the next position I shall first answer some doubts which might be made against the generalitie of this truth whereby it may seeme impossible that there should be either Sea or Land in the Moone for since she moves so swiftly as Astronomers observe why then does there nothing fall from her or why doth she not shake something out by the celerity of her revolution I answer you must know that the inclination of every heavy body to its proper Center doth sufficiently tie it unto its place so that suppose any thing were separated yet must it necessarily returne againe And there is no more danger of their falling into our world than there is feare of our falling into the Moone But yet there are many fabulous relations of such things as have dropped thence There is a tale of the Nemean Lyon that Hercules slew which first rushing among the heards out of his unknowne den in the Mountaine of Cytheron in Boeotia the credulous people thought hee was sent from their Goddesse the Moone And if a whirlewinde did chance to snatch any thing up and afterwards raine it downe againe the ignorant multitude were apt to believe that it dropt from Heaven Thus Avicenna relates the story of a Calfe which fell downe in a storme the beholders thinking it a Moone-calfe and that it fell thence So Cardan travelling upon the Apennine Moūtaines a sudden blast tooke off his hat which if it had been carryed farre he thinks the peasants who had perceived it to fall would have sworne it had rained hats After some such manner many of our prodigies come to passe and the people are willing to believe any thing which they may relate to others as a very strange and wonderfull event I doubt not but the Trojan Palladium the Romane Minerva and our Ladies Church at Loretto with many sacred reliques preserved by the Papists might drop from the Moone as well as any of these But it may be againe objected suppose there were a bullet shot up in that world would not the Moone runne away from it before it could fall downe since the motion of her body being every day round our earth is farre swifter than the other and so the bullet must be left behind and at length fall downe to us To this I answer 1. If a bullet could bee shot so far till it came to the circumference of those things which belong to our center then it would fall downe to us 2. Though there
bee probably concluded that the Earth is rather the subject of this motion than the other To this it may be added that the Sun and Stars seem to be of a more excellent Nature than the other parts of the World and therfore should in reason be indowed with the best qualifications But now motion is not so noble a condition as rest That is but a kind of wearisome and servile thing wheras this is usually ascribed to God himself Of whom 't is said Immotus stabilisque manens dans cuncta moveri Aristotle tells us 't is very agreeable to reason that the time appointed for the revolution of each Orbe should be proportionable to it's bignesse But now this can onely be by making the Earth a Planet and the subiect of the annuall and diurnall motions Wherefore 't is probable that this do's rather move than the Heavens According to the common Hypothesis the primum mobile will move round in a day Saturne in thirty yeares Iupiter in twelve Mars in two The Sunne Venus and Mercury which have severall Orbes yet will agree in their revolutions being each of them about a yeare in finishing their courses Whereas by making the Earth a Planet there will be a just proportion betwixt the bignesse of the Orbes and the time of their motions For then next to the Sunne or Centre there will be the Sphaere of Mercury which as it is but narrow in it's diameter so likewise is it quick in it's motion running it's course in eighty eight days Venus that is next unto it in 224 dayes The Earth in 365 daies or a yeare Mars in 687 dayes Iupiter in 4332 dayes Saturne in 10759 dayes Thus likewise is it with those Medicean Starres that encompasse Iupiter That which is lowest amongst them finishes his course in two and twenty houres the next in three dayes and a half the third in seven dayes and the farthest in seventeen days Now as it is according to Aristotles confession more likely that Nature should observe such a due proportion betwixt the Heavenly Orbes so is it more probable that the Earth should move rather than the Heavens This may likewise be confirmed from the appearance of Comets Concerning which there are three things commonly granted or if they were not might be easily proved namely 1 That there are divers Comets in the Aire betwixt the Moone and our Earth 2 That many of these Comets do seeme to rise and set as the Stars 3 That this appearing motion is not properly their owne but communicated unto them from somewhat else But now this motion of theirs cannot be caused by the Heavens and therefore it must necessarily proceed from the revolution of our Earth That the Moones Orbe cannot carry along with it the greater part of the aire wherein these Comets are placed might easily be proved from the common grounds For the concave Superficies of that Sphaere is usually supposed to bee exactly terse and smooth so that the meer touch of it cannot turne about the whole Element of Fire with a motion that is not naturall unto it Nor could this Elementarie Fire which they imagine to be of a more rarified and subtle Nature communicate the same motion to the thicker Aire and that to the waters as some affirme For by what meanes could that smooth Orbe take hold of the adjoyning Aire To this Sarsius answers that there are great gibbosities and mountainous inequalities in the concavitie of the lowest Sphaere and by these is it inabled to carry along with it the Fire and Aire But Fromondus tels him Fictitiaista ad fugam reperta sunt And yet his owne Conjecture is scarse so good when hee affirmes that this motion of the aetheriall Aire as also of that elementary Aire hard by us is caused by that ruggednesse which there is in the Bodies of the Planets of which opinion wee may with as good reason say as hee sayes to Sarsius Fictitia ista ad fugam reperta These things are meere fictions invented for shifts and without any probable ground But now this appearance of the Comets may easily be resolved if wee suppose the earth to move For then though they did still remaine in their wonted places yet this by it's diurnall revolution successively with drawing it self from them they wil appear to rise set And therefore according to this common naturall experiment it is more probable that the Earth should move than the Heavens Another Argument urged by some to prove that this Globe of Earth is easily movable is taken from the opinion of those who affirme that the accesse of any weight unto a new place as suppose an army do's make the Earth poise it selfe afresh and change the centre of gravitie that it had before but this is not generally granted and therefore not to bee insisted on as a common ground To this purpose likewise is that inference of Lansbergius who from Archimedes his saying that hee could move the Earth if he knew where to stand and fasten his instrument concludes that the Earth is easily movable whereas 't was the intent of Archimedes in that speech to shew the infinit power of Engines there being no weight so great but that an instrument might be invented to move it Before we finish this Chapter t is requisite that we enquire what kind of facultie that is from which those motions that Copernicus ascribes unto the Earth do's proceed Whether or no it be some Animall Power that do's assist as Aristotle or informe as Keplar thinks or else some other naturall motive qualitie which is intrinsicall unto it Wee may observe That when the proper genuine cause of any motion is not obvious men are very prone to attribute unto that which they discerne to be the most frequent Originall of it in other things Life Thus the Stoicks affirme the Soule of the Water to bee the cause of the ebbing and flowing of the Sea Thus others thinke the Winde to proceed from the Life of the Aire whereby it is able to move it selfe severall waies as other living creatures And upon the same grounds doe the Platonicks Stoicks and some of the Peripateticks affirme the Heavens to bee animated From hence likewise it is that so many do maintaine Aristotle his opinion concerning Intelligences which some of his followers the Schoole-men doe confirme out of Scripture From that place in Mat. 24. 29. where 't is said The Powers of the Heaven shall bee shaken In which words by Powers say they are meant the Angels by whose power it is that the Heavens are moved And so likewise in that Iob 9. 13. Where the vulgar ha's it Sub quo curvantur qui portant orbem that is the Intelligences Which Text might serve altogether as well to prove the Fable of Atlas and Hercules Thus Cajetan concludes from that place in the Psalme 136. 5. Where 't is said God by wisdome made the heavens or according to the
their right places and t is proper for the man being the more condensed body to be lower than the waters Or rather thus Because the body of the man dos more nearely agree with the earth in this affection which is the ground of its attraction and therefore doth that more strongly attract it than the waters that are over it Now as in such a case a body may lose the operation of its gravity which is to move or to presse downewards So may it likewise when it is so far out of its place that this attractive power cannot reach unto it T is a pretty notion to this purpose mentioned by Albertus de Saxonia and out of him by Francis Mendoca That the aire is in some part of it navigable And that upon this Staticke principle any brasse or iron vessell suppose a kettle whose substance is much heavier than that of the water yet being filled with the lighter aire it will swimme upon it and not sinke So suppose a cup or wooden vessel upon the outward borders of this elementary aire the cavity of it being filled with fire or rather aethereall aire it must necessarily upon the same ground remaine swimming there and of it selfe can no more fall than an empty ship can sinke T is commonly granted that if there were a hole quite through the center of the earth though any heavy body as suppose a milstone were let fall into it yet when it came unto the place of the center it would there rest immoveable in the aire Now as in this case it s owne condensity cannot hinder but that it may rest in the open aire when there is no other place to which it should be attracted So neither could it be any impediment unto it if it were placed without the sphere of the earths magneticall vigor where there should be no attraction at all From hence then I say you may conceive that if a man were beyond this sphere hee might there stand as firmely in the open aire as now upon the earth And if he might stand there why might hee not also goe there And if so then there is a possibility likewise of having other conveniences for travelling And here t is considerable that since our bodies will then bee devoide of gravity and other impediments of motion wee shall not at all spend our selves in any labour and so consequently not much need the reparation of diet But may perhaps live altogether without it as those creatures have done who by reason of their sleeping for many dayes together have not spent any spirits and so not wanted any foode which is commonly related of Serpents Crocodiles Beares Cuckoes Swallowes and such like To this purpose Mendoca reckons up divers strange relations As that of Epimenides who is storied to have slept 75 yeeares And another of a rusticke in Germany who being accidentally covered with a hay-ricke slept there for all autumne and the winter following without any nourishment Or if this will not serve yet why may not a Papist fast so long as well as Ignatius or Xaverius Or if there be such a strange efficacy in the bread of the Eucharist as their miraculous relations doe attribute to it why then that may serve well enough for their viaticum Or if wee must needs feed upon something else why may not smells nourish us Plutrach and Pliny and divers other ancients tell us of a nation in India that lived only upon pleasing odors And t is the common opinion of Physitians that these doe strangely both strengthen and repaire the spirits Hence was it that Democritus was able for divers dayes together to feede himselfe with the meere smel of hot bread Or if it bee necessary that our stomacks must receive the food why then t is not impossible that the purity of the aethereall aire being not mixed with any improper vapors may be so agreeable to our bodies as to yeeld us sufficient nourishment According to that of the Poet Vescitur aurâ Aethereâ T was an old Platonicke principle that there is in some part of the world such a place where men might be plentifully nourished by the aire they breath Which cannot more properly be assigned to any one particular than to the aethereall aire above this I know t is the common opinion that no Element can prove Aliment because t is not proportionate to the bodies of living creatures which are compounded But 1. This aethereall aire is not an element and though it be purer yet t is perhaps of a greater agreeablenesse to mans nature and constitution 2. If we consult experience and the credible relations of others wee shall finde it probable enough that many things receive nourishment from meer elements First for the earth Aristotle and Pliny those two great naturalists tell us of some creatures that are fed only with this And it was the curse of the serpent Gen. 3. 14. Vpon thy belly shalt thou goe and dust shalt thou eate all the dayes of thy life So likewise for the water Albertus Magnus speaks of a man who lived seven weeks together by the meere drinking of water Rondoletius to whose diligence these later times are much beholding for sundry observations concerning the nature of Aquatils affirmes that his wife did keep a fish in a glasse of water without any other food for three yeares In which space it was constantly augmented till at first it could not come out of the place at which it was put in and at length was too big for the glasse it selfe though that were of a large capacity Cardan tells us of some wormes that are bred nourished by the snow from which being once separated they dye Thus also is it with the aire which wee may well conceive dos chiefly concurre to the nourishing of all vegetables For if their food were all sucked out from the earth there must needs be then some sensible decay in the ground by them especially since they do every yeare renew their leaves and fruits which being so many and so often could not be produced without abundance of nourishment To this purpose is the experimēt of trees cut down which will of themselves put forth sproutes As also that of Onyons the Semper-vive which will strangely shoot forth and grow as they hang in the open aire Thus likewise is it with some sensible creatures the Camelion saith Pliny and Solinus is meerely nourished by this And so are the birds of Paradise treated of by * many which reside constantly in the aire Nature having not bestowed upon them any legs and therefore they are never seene upon the ground but being dead If you aske how they multiply T is answered they lay their egges on the backes of one another upon which they sit til their young ones be fledg'd Rondoletius from the history of Hermolaus Barbarus tels us of
her to produce this variety and this in all probability was her intent to make it a fit body for habitation with the same conveniences of sea and land as this inferiour world doth partake of For since the Moone is such a vast such a solid and opacous body like our earth as was above proved why may it not be probable that those thinner and thicker parts appearing in her doe shew the difference betwixt the sea and land in that other world and Galilaeus doubts not but that if our earth were visible at the same distance there would be the like appearance of it If wee consider the Moone as another habitable earth then the appearances of it will be altogether exact and beautifull and may argue unto us that it is fully accomplished for all those ends to which Providence did appoint it But consider it barely as a starre or light and then there will appeare in it much imperfection and deformitie as being of an impure darke substance and so unfit for the office of that nature As for the forme of those spots some of the vulgar thinke they represent a man and the Poëts guesse t is the boy Endymion whose company shee loves so well that shee carries him with her others will have it onely to be the face of a man as the Moone is usually pictured but Albertus thinkes rather that it represents a Lyon with his taile towards the East and his head the West and some others have thought it to be very much like a Fox and certainly 't is as much like a Lyon as that in the Zodiake or as Vrsa major is like a Beare I should guesse that it represents one of these as well as another and any thing else as well as any of these since 't is but a strong imagination which fancies such images as schoole-boyes usually doe in the markes of a wall whereas there is not any such similitude in the spots themselves which rather like our Sea in respect of the land appeares under a rugged and confused figure and doth not represent any distinct image so that both in respect of the matter and the forme it may be probable enough that those spots and brighter parts may shew the the distinction betwixt the Sea and Land in that other world Proposition 8. The spots represent the Sea and the brighter parts the Land WHen I first compared the nature of our earth and water with those appearances in the Moone I concluded contrary to the proposition that the brighter parts represented the water and the spots the land of this opinion likewise was Keplar at the first But my second thoughts and the reading of others have now convinced me as after he was of the truth of that proposition which I have now set downe Before I come to the confirmation of it I shall mention those scruples which at first made mee doubt the truth of this opinion 1. It may be objected 't is probable if there bee any such sea and land as ours that it beares some proportion and similitude with ours but now this proposition takes away all likenesse betwixt them For whereas the superficies of our earth is but the third part of the whole surface in the globe two parts being overspread with the water as Scaliger observes yet here according to this opinion the Sea should be lesse than the land since there is not so much of the bespotted as there is of the enlightened parts wherefore 't is probable that there is no such thing at all or else that the brighter parts are the Sea 2. The water by reason of the smoothnesse of its superficies seemes better able to reflect the Sun-beames than the earth which in most places is so full of ruggednesse of grasse and trees and such like impediments of reflexion and besides common experience shewes that the water shines with a greater more glorious brightnesse than the earth therfore it should seeme that the spots are the earth and the brighter parts the water But to the first it may be answered 1. There is no great probability in this consequence that because 't is so with us therefore it must be so with the parts of the Moone for since there is such a difference betwixt them in divers other respects they may not perhaps agree in this 2. That assertion of Scaliger is not by all granted for a truth Fromondus with others thinke that the superficies of the Sea and Land in so much of the world as is already discovered is equall and of the same extension 3. The Orbe of thicke and vaporous aire which incōpasses the Moone makes the brighter parts of that Planet appeare bigger than in themselves they are as I shall shew afterwards To the second it may be answered that that though the water be of a smooth superficies and so may seeme most fit to reverberate the light yet because 't is of a perspicuous nature therefore the beames must sinke into it and cannot so strongly and clearely be reflected Sicut in speculo ubi plumbum abrasum fuerit saith Cardan as in Looking-glasses where part of the lead is razed off and nothing left behind to reverberate the image the species must there passe through and not back againe so it is where the beames penetrate and sinke into the substance of the body there cannot be such an immediate and strong reflexion as when they are beate back from the superficies and therefore the Sunne causes a greater heate by farre upon the Land than upon the water Now as for that experiment where it is sayd that the waters have a greater brightnesse than the Land I answer 't is true onely there where they represent the image of the Sunne or some bright cloud and not in other places especially if wee looke upon them at any great distance as is very plaine by common observation And 't is certaine that from any high mountaine the land dos appeare a great deale brighter than any lake or river This may yet be farther illustrated by the similitude of a looking glasse hanging upon a wall in the Sun-shine where if the eye be not placed in the just line of reflexion from the glasse t is manifest that the wall will bee of a brighter appearance than the glasse True indeed in the line of reflexion the light of the glasse is equall almost unto that which comes immediately from the Sunne it selfe but now this is onely in one particular place and so is not like that brightnesse which wee discerne in the Moone because this dos appeare equally in severall situations like that of the wall which doe seeme bright as well from every place as from any one And therefore the ruffnesse of the wall or as it is in the objection the ruggednesse of our earth is so farre from being an hinderance of such a reflexion as there is from the Moone that it is rather required as a necessary condition unto
another kind of affection which causes the union betwixt the Iron and Loadstone from that which makes bodies move unto the earth The former is some kind of neerenesse and similitude in their natures for which Philosophie as yet has not found a particular name The latter dos arise from that peculiar qualitie whereby the earth is properly distinguished from the other elements which is its Condensitie Of which the more any thing dos participate by so much the stronger will bee the desire of union to it So gold and others metalls which are most close in their composition are likewise most swift in their motion of discent And though this may seeme to bee contradicted by the instance of metalls which are of the same weight when they are melted and when they are hard As also of water which dos not differ in respect of gravitie when it is frozen and when it is fluid yet we must know that metalls are not rarified by melting but mollified And so too for frozen waters they are not properly condensed but congealed into a harder substance the parts being not contracted closer together but still possessing the same extension But yet I say t is very probable that there is such a spheare about the earth which dos terminate its power of attracting other things unto it So that suppose a body to bee placed within the limits of this sphere and then it must needs tend downewards towards the center of it But on the contrary if it be beyond this compasse then there can bee no such mutuall attraction so consequently it must rest immoveable from any such motion For the farther confirmation of this I shall propose two pertinent observations The first taken in the presence of many Physitians and related by an eminent man in that profession Hieron Fracastorius There being divers needles provided of severall kindes like those in a Mariners Chart they found that there was an attractive power not only in the magnet But that iron also and steele and silver did each of them draw its owne mettle Whence hee concludes Omne trahit quod sibi simile est And as these peculiar likenesses have such a mutuall efficacy so t is probable that this more generall qualification of condensitie may bee the cause why things so affected desire union to the earth And though 't is likely that this would appeare betwixt two lesser condensed bodies as suppose two peeces of earth if they were both placed at libertie in the aethereall ayre yet being neere the earth the stronger species of this great globe dos as it were drownd the lesse 'T is a common experiment that such a lump of ore or stone as being on the ground cannot be moved by lesse than six men being in the bottom of a deep mine may be stirred by two The reason is because then t is compassed with attractive beams there being many above it as well as below it Whence we may probably inferre saith the learned Verulam that the nature of gravitie dos worke but weakly also far from the earth Because the appetite of union in dense bodies must bee more dull in respect of distance As we may also conclude from the motion of birds which rise from the ground but heavily though with much labor Whereas being on high they can keep themselves up and soare about by the meere extension of their wings Now the reason of this difference is not as some falsly conceive the depth of ayre under them For a bird is not heavier when there is but a foote of ayre under him than when there is a furlong As appeares by a ship in the water an instance of the same nature which dos not sinke deeper and so consequently is not heavier when it has but five fatham depth than when it has fifty But the true reason is the weaknesse of the desire of union in dense bodies at a distance So that from hence there might be just occasion to taxe Aristotle and his followers for teaching that heavines is an absolute qualitie of it selfe and really distinct from condensitie whereas it is onely a modification of it or rather another name given to a condensed body in reference to its motion For if it were absolute then it should alwayes be inherent in its subject and not have its essence depend upon the bodies being here or there But it is not so For 1. Nothing is heavy in its proper place according to his owne principle Nihil grave est in suo loco And then 2. Nothing is heavy which is so farre distant from that proper orbe to which it dos belong that it is not within the reach of its vertue As was before confirmed But unto this it may be objected Though a body being so placed be not heavy in actu secundo yet it is in actu primo because it retaines in it an inward proness to move downewards being once severed from its proper place And this were reason enough why the quality of heavinesse should have an absolute being I answer this distinction is only appliable to such naturall powers as can suspend their acts and will not hold in Elementary qualities whose very essence dos necessarily require an exercise of the second act as you may easily discerne by an induction of all the rest I cannot say that body has in it the quality of heate coldnesse drinesse moisture hardnesse softnesse c. which for the present has not the second act of these qualities And if you meane by the essence of them a power unto them why there is not any naturall body but has a power to them all From that which hath beene said concerning the nature of gravity it will follow That if a man were above the sphere of this magneticall vertue which proceeds from the earth hee might there stand as firmely as in the open aire as he can now upon the ground And not only so but he may also move with a farre greater swiftnesse than any living creatures here below because then hee is without all gravity being not attracted any way and so consequently will not be liable to such impediments as may in the least manner resist that kinde of motion which hee shall apply himselfe unto If you yet enquire how wee may conceive it possible that a condensed body should not be heavy in such a place I answer by the same reason as a body is not heavy in its proper place Of this I will set down two instances When a man is in the bottome of a deepe river though hee have over him a multitude of heavy waters yet he is not burdened with the weight of them And though another body that should be but of an equall gravity with these waters when they are taken out would be heavy enough to presse him to death yet notwithstanding whilst they are in the channell they doe not in the least manner crush him with their load The reason is because they are both in
it which is not appointed for the like purpose should partake of the same condition But it may seeme more probable that this aethereal aire is freed from having any quality in the extremes And this may be confirmed from those common arguments which are usually brought to prove the warmnesse of the third region As you may see in Fromundus and others who treate of that subject T is the assertion of Pererius that the second region is not cold meerly for this reason because it is distant from the ordinary causes of heat but because it was actually made so at the first for the condensing of the clouds and the production of other meteors that were there to be generated which as I conceive might bee sufficiently confirmed from that order of the creation observed by Moses who tells us that the waters above the firmament by which in the greatest probability we are to understand the clouds in the second region were made the second day Gen. 1. 7 8. whereas the Sunne itselfe whose reflection is the cause of heate was not created till the fourth day ver 16. 19. To the other objection I answer that though the aire in the second region where by reason of its coldnesse there are many thicke vapors doe cause a great refraction yet t is probable that the aire which is next the earth is sometimes in some places of a farre greater thinnesse nay as thin as the aethereall aire it selfe since sometimes there is such a speciall heat of the Sun as may rarifie it in an eminent degree And in some dry places there are no grosse impure exhalations to mixe with it But here it may be objected If the aire in the second region were more condensed and heavy than this wherein wee breath then that must necessarily tend downewards and possesse the lower place To this some answer that the hanging of the clouds in the open aire is no lesse than a miracle They are the words of Pliny Quid mirabilius aquis in caelo stantibus what more wonderfull thing is there than that the waters should stand in the heavens Others prove this from the derivation of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stupescere and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aquae Because the waters do hang there after such a stupendous inconceivable manner Which seems likewise to bee favoured by Scripture where t is mentioned as a great argument of Gods omnipotency that hee holds up the clouds from falling He binds up the waters in his thicke clouds and the cloud is not rent under them But that which unto me seemes full satisfaction against this doubt is this consideration that the naturall vigor whereby the earth dos attract dense bodies unto it is lesse efficacious at a distance and therefore a body of lesse density which is neare unto it as suppose this thin aire wherein we breath may naturally bee lower in its situation than another of a greater condensity that is farther of as suppose the clouds in the second region And though the one bee absolutely and in it selfe more fit for this motion of descent yet by reason of its distance the earths magneticall vertue cannot so powerfully worke upon it As for that relation of Aristotle If it were true yet it dos not prove this aire to be altogether impassible since moistned spunges might helpe us against its thinnesse But t is more likely that hee tooke it upon trust as hee did some other relations concerning the height of the mountaines wherein t is evident that he was grossely mistaken As where he tells us of Caucasus that it casts its shadow 560 miles And this relation being of the same nature wee cannot safely trust unto him for the truth of it If it be here enquired what meanes there may bee conjectured for our ascending beyond the sphere of the earths magneticall vigor I answer 1. T is not perhaps impossible that a man may be able to flye by the application of wings to his owne body As Angels are pictured as Mercury and Daedaelus are fained and as hath bin attempted by divers particulary by a Turke in Constantinople as Busbequius relates 2. If there bee such a great Ruck in Madagascar as Marcus Polus the Venetian mentions the feathers in whose wings are twelve foot long which can soope up a horse and his rider or an elephant as our kites doe a mouse why then t is but teaching one of these to carry a man and he may ride up thither as Ganymed dos upon an eagle 3. Or if neither of these wayes will serve Yet I doe seriously and upon good grounds affirme it possible to make a flying Chariot In which a man may sit and give such a motion unto it as shall convey him through the aire And this perhaps might bee made large enough to carry divers men at the same time together with foode for their viaticum and commodities for traffique It is not the bignesse of any thing in this kind that can hinder its motion if the motive faculty be answerable thereunto We see a great ship swimmes as well as a small corke and an Eagle flies in the aire as well as a little gnat This engine may be contrived from the same principles by which Archytas made a wooden dove and Regiomontanus a wooden eagle I conceive it were no difficult matter if a man had leisure to shew more particularly the meanes of composing it The perfecting of such an invention would be of such excellent use that it were enough not only to make a man famous but the age also wherein hee lives For besides the strange discoveries that it might occasion in this other world it would be also of inconceiveable advantage for travelling above any other conveiance that is now in use So that notwithstanding all these seeming impossibilities t is likely enough that there may be a meanes invented of journying to the Moone And how happy shall they be that are first successefull in this attempt Faelicesque animae quas nubila supra Et turpes fumos plenumque vaporibus orbem Inseruit caelo sancti scintilla Promethei Having thus finished this discourse I chanced upon a late fancy to this purpose under the fained name of Domingo Gonsales written by a late reverend and learned Bishop In which besides sundry particulars wherein this later Chapter did unwittingly agree with it there is delivered a very pleasant and well contrived fancy concerning a voyage to this other world Hee supposeth that there is a naturall and usuall passage for many creatures betwixt our earth and this planet Thus hee saies those great multitudes of locusts wherewith diverse countries have bin destroyed do proceed from thence And if we peruse the authors who treat of them wee shall finde that many times they fly in numberlesse troopes or swarmes and for sundry dayes together before they fall are seene over those places in great high clouds
therefore if hee should onely open his hand and let fall any thing it would not descend in a strait Line but must necessarily be driven forward by reason of that force impressed in it by the swiftnesse of the Horse which is also communicated to the arme it being all one in effect whether or no the arme be moved by a particular motion of it's owne as it is in casting of things from us or by the common motion of the Body as it is in dropping of any thing from us either when wee are on the toppe of some sayling Shippe as in the Former or on some running Horse as in this Later instance What hath been said concerning the motion of descent is likewise applyable both to that which is upward and that which is transversall So that when 't is objected if the Earth did move then a Bullet that were shot up perpendicularly would bee forsaken by it and not descend to the place from whence it arose Wee answer that the Cannon which is upon the Earth together with the Bullet in it doe partake of the same circular motion with the Earth and this perhaps our adversaries will grant whilest wee suppose the Bullet to remaine still in the Cannon all the difficultie will bee to shew how it must necessarily observe the same motion when it is shot out into the open Aire For the better explication of this you may note this following Figure Where wee suppose A. C. to bee a Cannon perpendicularly erected with a Bullet in it at B. which if it were immovable wee grant that the Bullet being discharged must ascend in a just perpendicular But now conceive this Cannon to move along with the Earth then in that space of time while the Bullet by the force of the pouder is ascending to the top of the Bore the Cannon will be transferred to the scituation D. E. so that the Bullet must bee moved according to the Line F. G. which is not directly upright but somewhat declining Now the motion of the Bullet in the Aire must necessarily be conformed unto that direction that is impressed in it by the Cannon from whence it is shot and so consequently it must bee continued according to the Line F. G. and therefore will alwayes keep perpendicularly over the point from which it did ascend If you reply that the motion of the Bullet in the Cannon must needs bee so so swift that the Earth cannot carry the Cannon from C. to E. in the same space of time wherein the Bullet do's move from B. to A. I answer 't is not materiall whether the Earth bee of a greater or lesser swiftnesse than the Bullet because the declination must alwayes bee proportionable to the motion of the Earth and if wee suppose this to bee slower than the Bullet then the declination of the Line F. G. will bee so much the lesse This truth may yet farther bee illustrated by the practise of those Fowlers who use to kill Birds as they are flying Concerning which Art t is commonly thought that these men direct their aimes to some certaine space in the Aire just before the Birds where they conceive the Bullet wil meet with them in their flight whereas the truth is they proceed in this case the very same way as if the Birds did stand still by a direct aiming at their bodies and following of their flight by the motion of the piece till at length having got a perfect aime they discharge and do hit altogether as surely as if the Birds were sitting upon a Tree From whence wee may observe that the motion of the piece as in our aiming it is made to follow the Birds in their flight though it be but slow yet is communicated to the Bullet in the Aire But here it may seeme very difficult to give any reason according to those grounds concerning the flight of birds which being animated have a liberty to fly here or there to tarry for a good space of time in the open Aire and so 't is not easie to conceive what meanes there is by which they should participate of the Earth's diurnall revolution To this Gallilaeus answers that the motion of the Aire as it do's turne about the Clouds so doth it also carry with it the Birds together with such other like things that are in it For if some violent winde bee able to drive with such swiftnesse a full laden Ship to throw downe Towers to turne up Trees and the like much more then may the diurnall motion of the Aire which do's so farre exceed in swiftnesse the most tempestuous winde be able to carry with it the bodies of Birds But if all things bee turned about by this revolution then it should seeme there is no such thing as a right motion whether of ascent or descent in a strait Line I answer The moving of heavy or light bodies may bee considered in a double relation 1 According to the space wherein they move and then we grant their motions not to bee simple but mixed of a direct and circular 2 According to the body or medium wherein they move and then they may properly be said to have right motions because they passe through the medium in a strait Line and therefore it is that unto us they seeme directly to ascend or descend Aristotle himselfe would not deny but that Fire may ascend in a strait Line unto it's Sphaere and yet participate also of that circular motion which hee supposes to bee communicated from the Heavens unto the upper part of the Aire and it 's owne Region So likewise must it bee for the descent of any thing Suppose a Ship in it's swiftest motion and a man in it having some vessell filled with water should let fall into it a little Ball of Waxe or some other matter which may be slow in it's sinking so that in one minute it should scarse descend the space of a cubit though the Ship it may be in the same time may passe at least a hundred cubits yet would this still seeme unto the eye to descend in a strait Line and the other motion which is communicated unto it by the Shippe would not at all bee discernable in it And though in this case the motion were in it selfe composed of a circular and direct yet in respect of us it would appeare and so might be stiled exactly strait Now if it be thus in those which are generally granted to be praeternaturall motions wee need not doubt then the possibilitie of the like effect in that motion which wee conceive to be proper and naturall both to the Earth and the things that belong unto it There is yet another Objection to this purpose urged by Malapertius a late Iesuite who though hee doe with much eagernesse presse this Argument concerning a Bullet or Stone against the opinion of Copernicus yet he grants that it might easily be resolved if the defenders of it would affirme that
the Aire did move round with the earth But this saith he they dare not avouch for then the Comets would always seem to stand stil being carried about with the revolution of this aire and then they could not rise or set as experience shews they doe To this it may be answered that most Comets are above that Sphaere of Aire which is turned round with our Earth as is manifest by their height The motion that appeares in them is caused by the revolution of our Earth whereby we are turned from them As for those which are within the Orbe of our Aire these do seem to stand still Such a one was that mentioned by Iosephus which did constantly hang over Ierusalem and that likewise which appeared about the time of Agrippa's death and for many dayes together did hang over the City of Rome Wherefore Seneca do's well distinguish out of Epigenes betwixt two sorts of Comets the one being low and such as seeme immovable the other higher and such as did constantly observe their risings and settings as the Starres I have done with all the Arguments of any note or difficultie that are urged against this diurnall motion of the Earth Many other cavils there are not worth the naming which discover themselves to be rather the Objections of a captious than a doubtfull minde Amongst which I might justly passe over those that are set down by Alex. Rosse But because this Author do's proceed in his whole discourse with so much scorne and triumph it will not be amisse therefore to examine what infallible evidence there is in those Arguments upon which hee grounds his boastings We have in one chapter no lesse than these nine 1 If the Earth did move then would it bee hotter than the Water because motion do's produce heate and for this reason likewise the Water would be so hot and rarified that it could not bee congealed since that also do's partake of the same motion with the Earth 2 The Aire which is next the Earth would be purer as being rarified with motion 3 If the Earth did move the Aire it would cause some sound but this is no more audible than Pythagoras his Harmony of the Heavens 4 'T would have been in vaine for Nature to have endowed the Heavens with all conditions requisite for motion if they had been to stand still As first they have a round Figure Secondly they have neither gravitie nor levity Thirdly they are incorruptible Fourthly they have no contrary 5 All similarie parts are of the same nature with the whole But each part of the Earth do's rest in it's place therfore also doth the whole 6 The Sun in the World is as the Heart in a mans Body But the motion of the Heart ceasing none of the members do stir therefore also if the Sunne should stand still the other parts of the World would be without motion 7 The Sun and Heavens do worke upon these inferior Bodies by their light and motion So the Moone do's operate upon the Sea 8 The Earth is the Foundation of Buildings and therefore must be firme and stable 9 'T is the constant opinion of Divines that the Heavens shall rest after the day of Iudgement which they prove from Isa. 60. 20. They Sun shall no more goe downe neither shall thy Moone withdraw it selfe So likewise Rev. 10. 6. The Angell sweares that there shall be time no longer and therefore the Heavens must rest since by their motion it is that time is measured And S. Paul sayes Rom. 8. 20. That all the Creatures are made subject to vanity Now this can be no other in the Heavens than the Vanitie of Motion which the Wise man speaks of Eccles 1. 4. The Sunne riseth and the Sunne goeth downe c. To these it may be answered In the first you may note a manifest contradiction when hee will have the Earth to bee hotter than the Water by reason of this motion when as notwithstanding he acknowledges the Water to move along with it and therefore too in the next Line he infers that the Water because of that heate and rare faction which it receives from this motion with the earth must be incapable of so much cold as to be congealed into Ice But unto that which may be conceived to bee his meaning in this and the next Argument I answer if he had fully understood this opinion which hee opposes he would easily have apprehended that it could not be prejudiced by either of these consequences For we suppose that not only this Globe of Earth and Water but also all the vaporous Aire which invirons it are carried along by the same motion And therfore though what hee sayes concerning the heate which would bee produced by such a motion were true yet it would not bee pertinent since our Earth and Water and the Aire next unto them are not by this meanes severed from one another and so doe not come within the compasse of this Argument If any reply That this will notwithstanding hold true concerning the upper part of the Aire where there is such a separation of one body from another and so consequently an answerable heate I answer 1 'T is not generally granted That motion in all kind of bodies do's produce heate some restraine it onely to follid bodies affirming That in those which are fluid it is rather the cause of coldnesse This is the reason say they why running Waters are ever to our sence the coolest and why amongst those Winds which proceed from the same coasts of Heaven about the same time of the yeare the strongest alwaies is the coldest If you object that running Waters are not so soone frozen as others They answer this is not because they are thereby heated but because unto congellation it is requisite that a Body should settle and rest as well as be cold 2 If wee should grant a moderate heate in those parts of the Aire we have not any experiment to the contrary nor would it prejudice the present opinion or common Principles As the sound of this motion is not more heard than the Harmony of the Heavens so neither is there any reason why this motion should cause a sound more than the supposed motion of the Heavens which is likewise thought to be continued unto the Aire hard by us This will prove the Earth to move as well as the Heavens For that ha's first a round Figure as is generally granted Secondly being considered as whole and in it's ptoper place it is not heavy as was proved before and as for the two other conditions neither are they true of the Heavens nor if they were would they at all conduce to their motion 1 This Argument would prove that the Sea did not ebbe and flow because there is not the same kind of motion in euery drop of Water or that the whole Earth is not sphaericall because every little