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

Table of handwritten notes

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            <s xml:id="echoid-s2336" xml:space="preserve">
              <pb o="157" file="0169" n="169" rhead="That the Moon may be a World."/>
            production of other Meteors that were there
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            to be generated; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2337" xml:space="preserve">which (as I conceive) might
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            be ſufficiently confirmed from that Order of
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            the Creation obſerved by Moſes, who tells us
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            that the Waters above the Firmament (by
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            which, in the greateſt probability, we are to
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            underſtand the Clouds in the ſecond Region)
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            were made the ſecond day, Gen. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2338" xml:space="preserve">1. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2339" xml:space="preserve">7, 8. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2340" xml:space="preserve">Whereas
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            the Sun it ſelf, whoſe Reflection is the cauſe
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            of Heat, was not created till the fourth day,
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            ver. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2341" xml:space="preserve">16. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2342" xml:space="preserve">19.</s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2343" xml:space="preserve"/>
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            <s xml:id="echoid-s2344" xml:space="preserve">To the other Objection, I anſwer, that tho’
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            the Air in the ſecond Region, where by reaſon
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            of its coldneſs there are many thick Vapours,
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            do cauſe a great Refraction; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2345" xml:space="preserve">yet ’tis probable
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            that the Air which is next the Earth, is ſome-
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            times, and in ſome places, of a far greater
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            thinneſs, nay, as thin as the Æthereal Air it
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            ſelf; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2346" xml:space="preserve">ſince ſometimes there is ſuch a ſpecial
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            Heat of the Sun, as may rarifie it in an emi-
              <lb/>
            nent degree; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2347" xml:space="preserve">and in ſome dry places, there are
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            no groſs impure Exhalations to mix with it.</s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2348" xml:space="preserve"/>
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            <s xml:id="echoid-s2349" xml:space="preserve">But here it may be objected. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2350" xml:space="preserve">If the Air in
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            the ſecond Region were more Condenſed and
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            heavy than this wherein we breath, then that
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            muſt neceſſarily tend downwards and poſſeſs the
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            lower place.</s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2351" xml:space="preserve"/>
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            <s xml:id="echoid-s2352" xml:space="preserve">To this ſome Anſwer, That the hanging of
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            the Clouds in the open Air, is no leſs than a
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            Miracle. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2353" xml:space="preserve">They are the Words of Pliny. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2354" xml:space="preserve">Quid
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            mirabilius aquis in cælo ſtantibus? </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2355" xml:space="preserve">what more
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              <note position="right" xlink:label="note-0169-01" xlink:href="note-0169-01a" xml:space="preserve">Hiſt. l. 31.
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              cap. 1.</note>
            wonderful thing is there, than that the Waters
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            ſhould ſtand in the Heavens? </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2356" xml:space="preserve">Others prove this
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            from the Derivation of the word םומש from
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            תאש ſtupeſcere and םומ aquæ: </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s2357" xml:space="preserve">Becauſe the </s>
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