Wilkins, John - A discovery of a new world : or a discourse tending to prove, that 'tis probable there may be another Habitable World in the Moon ; with a discourse concerning the Probability of a Passage thither; unto which is added, a discourse concerning a New Planet, tending to prove, that 'tis probable our earth is one of the Planets

113101That the Moon may be a World. Heat cauſed by Reflection begins to Languiſh,
whereas the Beams themſelves do paſs a great
way farther. The chief Argument which doth
moſt plainly maniſeſt this Truth, is taken from
a common Obſervation which may be eaſily
Tryed.

If you behold the Moon a little before or
after the Conjunction, when ſhe is in a Sextile
with the Sun, you may diſcern not only the
part which is enlightned, but the reſt alſo to
have in it a kind of a duskiſh Light; but if
you chuſe out ſuch a Situation, where ſome
Houſe or Chimney (being ſome 70 or 80 pa-
ces diſtant from you) may hide from your Eye
the enlightned Horns, you may then diſcern a
greater and more remarkable ſhining in thoſe
parts unto which the Sun-Beams cannot reach;
may there is ſo great a Light, that by the help
of a good Perſpective you may diſcern its ſpots.
In ſo much that Blancanus the Jeſuit ſpeaking
of it, ſays, Hæc experientia ita me aliquando
11De mundi
fab. p. 3.
c. 3. fefellit, ut in hunc fulgorem caſu ac repente inci-
dens, exiftimarim novo quodam miraculo tempore
adoleſcentis lunæ factum eſſe plenilunium. ‘This
‘Experiment did once ſo deceive me, that hap-
‘pening upon the ſight of this brightneſs upon
‘a ſudden, I thought that by ſome new miracle
‘the Moon had been got into her Full a little
‘after her Change.

But now this Light is not proper to the
Moon; it doth not proceed from the Rays of
the Sun which doth penetrate her Body, nor
is it caus'd by any other of the Planets and Stars.
Therefore it muſt neceſſarily follow, that it
comes from the Earth. The two firſt of

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1. Page 90, Sentence 4:Over the Seas he might have Ships, and over //the Land Horſes, but he muſt have Wings be-//fore he could get up thither.

2. Page 141, Sentence 1:The Prieſt of Saturn relating to Plutarch //(as he feigns it) the nature of theſe Selenites, //told him, they were of divers diſpoſitions, //ſome deſiring to live in the lower parts of the //Moon, where they might look downwards //upon us, while others were more ſurely moun-//ted aloft, all of them ſhining like the Rays of //the Sun, and as being Victorious, are Crow-//ned with Garlands made with the Wings of //Euſtathia or Gonſtancie.

3. Page 156, Sentence 15:whereas being /// high, they can keep themſelves up, and ſoar a-//bout by the meer extenſion of their Wings. //

4. Page 171, Sentence 2:’Tis not perhaps impoſſible, that a man //may be able to Fly, by the application of Wings to his //own body;

5. Page 171, Sentence 6:If there be ſuch a great Ruck in Madagaſcar, as 11Mr. Bur. //ton. cus Polus the Venetian mentions, the Feathers in whoſe //Wings are twelve Foot long, which can ſoop up a Horle //22Melanch. //pa. 2. ſect. 2 //mem. 3. and his Rider, or an Elephant, as our Kites do a Mouſe; //

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