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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352172That the Earth may be a Planet.
Suppoſe the Sun to be ſcituated at A. Now
becauſe Mercury is found by experience to
be always very near the Sun, ſo that he does
for the moſt part lie hid under his Rays.
As
alſo becauſe this Planet hath a more lively
vigorous Light than any of the other;
there-
fore we may infer, that his Orb is placed
next unto the Sun, as that at B.
As for Venus, ’tis obſerved, That She
does always keep at a ſet diſtance from the
Sun, never going from him above forty de-
grees, or thereabouts;
that her Body ap-
pears, through the Perſpective, to be forty
times bigger at one time than at another;
that when ſhe ſeems biggeſt and neareſt un-
to us, we then diſcern her as being perfectly
round.
Therefore doth this Planet alſo
move in a Circle that incompaſſeth the Sun:

Which Circle does not contain the Earth
within it, becauſe then, Venus would ſome-
times be in oppoſition to the Sun;
whereas,
’tis generally granted, that ſhe never yet
came ſo far as to be in a Sextile.
Nor is this Circle below the Sun, (as Pto-
lomy ſuppoſeth) becauſe then this Planet, in
both its Conjunctions, would appear 11Matuti-
na, Veſper-
tina.
ned, which ſhe does not.
Nor is it above the Sun, becauſe then ſhe
would always appear in the Full, and never
horned.
From hence it will follow, that this Orb
muſt neceſſarily be betwixt the Earth and the
Sun, as that at C.
As for Mars, ’tis obſerved, That he

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