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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125113That the Moon may be a World. way of producing Meteors, as ſhe doth with
us (and not by a Motion, as Plutarch ſuppoſes)
becauſe ſhe doth not love to vary from her
uſual Operations without ſome extraordinary
impediment, but ſtill keeps her beaten path,
unleſs ſhe be driven thence.
One Argument whereby I ſhall manifeſt
this Truth, may be taken from thoſe new
Stars which have appeared in divers Ages of
the World, and by their Paralax, have been
diſcern’d to have been above the Moon, ſuch
as was that in Gaſſiopeia, that in Sagitarius,
with many others betwixt the Planets.
Hipar-
chus in his time took ſpecial notice of ſuch as
11Plin. nat.
hiſt. l. 2. c.
26.
theſe, and therefore fancied out ſuch Conſtel-
lations, in which to place the Stars, ſhewing
how many there were in every Aſteriſm, that
ſo afterwards, Poſterity might know, whe-
ther there were any new Star produc’d, or
any old one miſſing.
Now the nature of theſe
Comets may probably manifeſt, that in this
other World there are other Meteors alſo;
for theſe in all likelyhood are nothing elſe, but
ſuch Evaporations cauſed by the Sun, from the
Bodies of the Planets.
I ſhall prove this, by
ſhewing the Improbabilities and Inconvenien-
ces of any other Opinion.
For the better purſuit of this, ’tis in the
firſt place requiſite, that I deal with our chief
Adverſary, Gæſar la Galla, who doth moſt
directly oppoſe that Truth which is here to be
prov’d.
He endeavouring to confirm the In-
corruptibility of the Heavens, and being there
to ſatisfie the Argument which is taken from
theſe Comets, he anſwers it thus:
Aut

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