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
page |< < (151) of 370 > >|
163151That the Moon may be a World. worms that are bred & nouriſh’d by the Snow,
11Subtil. l. 9. from which being once ſeparated, they dye.
Thus alſo is it with the Air, which we may
well conceive does chiefly concur to the nou-
22The Air. riſhing of all Vegitables.
For if their Food
were all ſucked out from the Earth, there
muſt needs be then ſome ſenſible decay in the
ground by them;
eſpecially, ſince they do eve-
ry year renew their Leaves and Fruits:
which
being ſo many, and ſo often, could not be produ-
ced without abundance of nouriſhment.
To
this purpoſe is the experiment of Trees cut
down, which will of themſelves put forth
Sprouts.
As alſo that of Onyons, and the Sem-
per-vive, which will ſtrangely ſhoot forth,
and grow as they hang in the open Air.
Thus
likewiſe is it with ſome Senſible Creatures;
the Camelion (ſaith Pliny and Solinus) 33Hiſt. li. 8
cap. 33.
Polyhiſter.
cap. 53.
meerly nouriſhed by this:
And ſo are the
Birds of Paradiſe, Treated of by many;
which reſide conſtantly in the Air, Nature
44Lop. hiſt.
Ind. Occid.
cap. 96.
Majolus
Colleq. 3.
baving not beſtowed upon them any Legs, and
therefore they are never ſeen upon the ground,
but being dead.
If you ask, how they multi-
ply?
’tis anſwer’d, they lay their Eggs on the
55’Tis likely
that theſe
Birds do
chiefly re-
ſide in the
Æthereal
Air, where
they are
nouriſhed
and up-
held.
backs of one anather, upon which they ſit till
their Young Ones be fledg’d.
Rondoletius from the Hiſtory of Hermolaus Barbarus tells
us of a Prieſt (of whom one of the Popes had
the cuſtody) that lived Forty years upon meer
Air.
As alſo of a Maid in France, and another
in Germany, that for divers years together did
feed on nothing but this:
Nay, he affirms, that
he himſelf had ſeen one, who lived till Ten
66De Piſ-
cibus. lib. 1.
cap. 13.
years of Age without any nouriſhment.

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