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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309129That the Earth may be a Planet. non will be transferred to the ſcituation D
E, ſo that the Bullet muſt be moved ac-
cording to the Line FG, which is not di-
rectly upright, but ſomewhat declining.
Now, the motion of the Bullet in the Air,
muſt neceſſarily be conformed unto that di-
rection that is impreſſed in it by the Cannon
from whence it is ſhot, and ſo conſequently
it muſt be continued, according to the Line
F G, and therefore will always keep per-
pendicularly over the Point from which it
did aſcend.
If you reply, That the motion of the
Bullet in the Cannon, muſt needs be ſo
ſwift, that the Earth cannot carry the Can-
non from C to E, in the ſame ſpace of time
wherein the Bullet does move from B to A.
I anſwer: ’Tis not material whether the
Earth be of a greater or le@er ſwiftneſs than
the Bullet, becauſe the Declination muſt al-
ways be proportionable to the motion of
the Earth;
and if we ſuppoſe this to be
ſlower than the Bullet, then the Declina-
tion of the Line F G, will be ſo much the
leſs.
This Truth may yet further be illuſtrated
by the practice of thoſe Fowlers, who uſe
to kill Birds as they are flying:
Concerning
which Art, ’tis commonly thought, that theſe
Men direct their Aims to ſome certain ſpace
in the Air, juſt before the Birds, where they
conceive the Shot will meet with them in their
flight;
whereas, the truth is, they proceed
in this caſe, the very ſame way as if

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