Galilei, Galileo - The systems of the world

Scan	Original
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50

of natural bodies ſome are moveable by nature, and others immo
veable; eſpecially having before defined Nature, to be the prin
ciple of Motion and Reſt.

SIMPL. Ariſtotle, though of a very perſpicacious wit, would
not ſtrain it further than needed: holding in all his argumen

tations, that ſenſible experiments were to be preferred before
any reaſons founded upon ſtrength of wit, and ſaid thoſe which
ſhould deny the teſtimony of ſenſe deſerved to be puniſhed with

the loſs of that ſenſe; now who is ſo blind, that ſees not the
parts of the Earth and Water to move, as being grave, natural
ly downwards, namely, towards the centre of the Univerſe, aſ
ſigned by nature her ſelf for the end and term of right motion
deorſùm; and doth not likewiſe ſee the Fire and Air to move
right upwards towards the Concave of the Lunar Orb, as to the
natural end of motion ſurſùm? And this being ſo manifeſtly ſeen,
and we being certain, that eadem est ratio totius & partium, why
may we not aſſert it for a true and manifeſt propoſition, that the
natural motion of the Earth is the right motion ad medium, and
that of the Fire, the right à medio?

Senſible experi
ments are to be pre
ferred before hu
mane argument a
tions.

He who denies
ſenſe, deſerves to
be deprived of it.
Senſe ſheweth that
things grave move
to the medium, and
the light to the
concave.

SALV. The moſt that you can pretend from this your Diſ
courſe, were it granted to be true, is that, like as the parts of the
Earth removed from the whole, namely, from the place where
they naturally reſt, that is in ſhort reduced to a depraved and diſ
ordered diſpoſure, return to their place ſpontaneouſly, and there
fore naturally in a right motion, (it being granted, that eadem
ſit ratio totius & partium) ſo it may be inferred, that the
Terreſtrial Globe removed violently from the place aſſigned

it by nature, it would return by a right line. This, as I have
ſaid, is the moſt that can be granted you, and that onely for want
of examination; but he that ſhall with exactneſs reviſe theſe
things, will firſt deny, that the parts of the Earth, in returning to
its whole, move in a right line, and not by a circular or mixt; and
really you would have enough to do to demonſtrate the contra
ry, as you ſhall plainly ſee in the anſwers to the particular reaſons
and experiments alledged by Ptolomey and Ariſtotle. Secondly,
If another ſhould ſay that the parts of the Earth, go not in their
motion towards the Centre of the World, but to unite with its
Whole, and that for that reaſon they naturally incline towards the
centre of the Terreſtrial Globe, by which inclination they con
ſpire to form and preſerve it, what other All, or what other Centre
would you find for the World, to which the whole Terrene

Globe, being thence removed, would ſeek to return, that ſo the
reaſon of the Whole might be like to that of its parts? It may be
added, That neither Ariſtotle, nor you can ever prove, that the
Earth de facto is in the centre of the Univerſe; but if any Centre

Page concordance

Text layer

Text normalization

Search

Scan	Original
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50

Scan	Original
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50

Scan	Original
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50