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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126114That the Moon may be a World. mentum deſumptum ex paralaxi, non eſt efficax,
aut ſi eſt efficax, eorum inſtrumentorum uſum de-
cipere, vel ratione aſtri, vel medii, vel diſtantiæ,
aut ergo erat in ſuprema parte aeris, aut ſi in cælo,
tum forſan factum erat ex reflectione radiorum Sa-
turni &
Foves, qui tunc in conjunctione fuerant.
‘ Either the Argument from the Paralax is
‘ not efficacious, or if it be, yet the uſe of the
‘ Inſtruments might deceive, either in regard
‘ of the Star, or the Medium, or the diſtance,
‘ and ſo this Comet might be in the upper Re-
‘ gions of the Air;
or if it were in the Hea-
‘ vens, there it might be produc’d by the Re-
‘ flection of the Rays from Saturn and Fupiter,
‘ who were then in Conjunction.
You ſee
what ſhifts he is driven to, how he runs up
and down to many ſtartling Holes, that he may
find ſome ſhelter, and inſtead of the ſtrength
of reaſon, he anſwers with a multitude of
Words, thinking (as the Proverb is) that he
may uſe Hail, when he hath no Thunder.
Ni-
hil turpius (ſaith Seneca) dubio &
incerto, pedem
11Epiſt. 95. modo referente, modo producente.
‘What can
‘ there be more unſeemly in one that ſhould
‘ be a fair diſputant, than to be now here, now
‘ there, and ſo uncertain, that one cannot tell
‘ where to find him?
He thinks there are not Cc-
mets in the Heavens, becauſe there may be
many other reaſons of ſuch appearances;
but
what he knows not;
perhaps, he ſays, that Ar-
gument from the Paralax is not ſufficient, or if
it be, then there may be ſome deceit in the
22Vide Gali-
læum. Syſt.
muudi col-
loq. 3.
Obſervation.
To this I may ſafely ſay, that he
may juſtly be accounted a weak Methematician
who miſtruſts the ſtrength of this Argument;

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