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 contents

< >
< >
page |< < (91) of 370 > >|
27191That the Earth may be a Planet. ſine accidente augere, (ſaith Kepler.) His
meaning is, that ’tis leſs abſurd to imagine
the eighth Sphere of ſo vaſt a bigneſs, as
long as ’tis without motion, or at leaſt,
has but a very ſlow one;
than to attribute
unto it ſuch an incredible celerity, as is
altogether diſproportionable to its big-
neſs.
2. ’Tis the acknowledgment of Clavius,
11Comment.
in sphær.
cap. 1.
and might eaſily be demonſtrated, That if
the Centre were faſtned upon the Pole of
the World, the Orb wherein he ſuppoſes
the Sun to move, would not be able to reach
ſo far in the eighth Sphere, (being conſi-
dered according to Ptolomy's Hypotheſis) as
to touch the Pole-ſtar:
which notwith-
ſtanding (ſaith he) is ſo near the Pole it
ſelf, that we can ſcarce diſcern it to move:
Nay, that Circle which the Pole-ſtar makes
about the Pole, is above four times bigger
than the Orb of the Sun.
So that according
to the opinion of our Adverſaries, though
our Earth were at that diſtance from the
Centre, as they ſuppoſe the Sun to be, yet
would not this Excentricity make it nearer to
any one part of the Firmament, than the
Pole-ſtar is to the Pole, which according to
his confeſſion, is ſcarce ſenſible.
And there-
fore according to their opinion, it would
cauſe very little difference in the appearance
of thoſe Stars, the biggeſt of which does
not ſeem to be of above five Seconds in its
Diameter.

Text layer

  • Dictionary

Text normalization

  • Original
  • Regularized
  • Normalized

Search


  • Exact
  • All forms
  • Fulltext index
  • Morphological index