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

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        <div xml:id="echoid-div107" type="section" level="1" n="36">
          <pb o="74" file="0086" n="86" rhead="That the Moon may be a World."/>
          <p>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s1110" xml:space="preserve">Before I proceed to the next Poſition, I ſhall
              <lb/>
            firſt anſwer ſome Doubts which might be
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            made againſt the generality of this Truth,
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            whereby it may ſeem impoſſible that there
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            ſhould be either Sea or Land in the Moon;
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            </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s1111" xml:space="preserve">for ſince ſhe moves ſo ſwiftly as Aſtronomers
              <lb/>
            obſerve, why then does their nothing fall from
              <lb/>
            her, or why doth ſhe not ſhake ſomething out
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            by the celerity of her Revolution; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s1112" xml:space="preserve">I anſwer,
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            you muſt know that the Inclination of every
              <lb/>
            heavy Body to its proper Centre, doth ſuffici-
              <lb/>
            ently tye it unto its place; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s1113" xml:space="preserve">ſo that ſuppoſe any
              <lb/>
            thing were ſeparated, yet muſt it neceſlarily
              <lb/>
            return again. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s1114" xml:space="preserve">And there is no more danger of
              <lb/>
            their Falling into our World, than there is
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            Fear our falling into the Moon.</s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s1115" xml:space="preserve"/>
          </p>
          <p>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s1116" xml:space="preserve">But there are many Fabulous Relations of
              <lb/>
            ſuch things as have dropped thence. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s1117" xml:space="preserve">There is
              <lb/>
            a Tale of the Nemean Lyon that Hercules ſlew,
              <lb/>
              <note position="left" xlink:label="note-0086-01" xlink:href="note-0086-01a" xml:space="preserve">Vide Guli.
                <lb/>
              Nubrigenſ.
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              de rebus.
                <lb/>
              Anglicæ.
                <lb/>
              lib. 1.</note>
            which firſt ruſhing among the Herds out of
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            his unknown Den in the Mountain of Gytheron
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            in Bæotia, the credulous People thought he was
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            ſent from the Goddeſs the Moon. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s1118" xml:space="preserve">And if a
              <lb/>
            Whirlwind did chance to ſnatch any thing up,
              <lb/>
            and afterwards Rain it down again, the igno-
              <lb/>
            rant multitude were apt to believe that it
              <lb/>
            dropt from Heaven. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s1119" xml:space="preserve">Thus Avicenna relates
              <lb/>
            a Story of a Calf which fell down in a Storm,
              <lb/>
            the Beholders thinking it a Moon-Calf, and
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            that it fell thence. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s1120" xml:space="preserve">So Gardan Travelling up-
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            on the Apennine Mountains, a ſudden Blaſt
              <lb/>
            took off his Hat, which if it had been car-
              <lb/>
            ryed far, he thinks the Peaſants, who had per-
              <lb/>
            ceiv'd it to fall, would have ſworn it had
              <lb/>
            Rained Hats. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s1121" xml:space="preserve">After ſome ſuch manner, </s>
          </p>
        </div>
      </text>
    </echo>
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