Salusbury, Thomas, Mathematical collections and translations (Tome I), 1667

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              <s>
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              ed, and as ſuch to be refuſed; but the buſineſſe doth not ſucceed
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              in that manner, my
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              Simplicius,
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              and I excuſe you for not having
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              comprehended the matter as it is, in regard of your ſmall
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              ence in ſuch affairs; but yet cannot I under that cloak palliate the
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              error of the Author, who diſſembling the knowledge of this which
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              he did perſwade himſelf that we in good earneſt did not
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              ſtand, hath hoped to make uſe of our ignorance, to gain the
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              ter credit to his Doctrine, among the multitude of illiterate men.
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              </s>
              <s>Therefore for an advertiſement to thoſe who are more credulous
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              then intelligent, and to recover you from error, know that its
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              ſible (and that for the moſt part it will come to paſſe) that an
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              obſervation, that giveth you the ſtar
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              v. </s>
              <s>gr.
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              at the diſtance of
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              turn,
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              by the adition or ſubſtraction of but one ſole minute from
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              the elevation taken with the inſtrument, ſhall make it to become
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              infinitely diſtant; and therefore of poſſible, impoſſible, and by
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              converſion, thoſe calculations which being grounded upon thoſe
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              obſervations, make the ſtar infinitely remote, may poſſibly
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              times with the addition or ſubduction of one ſole minute, reduce it
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              to a poſſible ſcituation: and this which I ſay of a minute, may
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              ſo happen in the correction of half a minute, a ſixth part, and leſs.
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              </s>
              <s>Now fix it well in your mind, that in the higheſt diſtances, that is
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              v. </s>
              <s>g.
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              the height of
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              Saturn,
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              or that of the fixed Stars, very ſmall
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              errors made by the Obſervator, with the inſtrument, render the
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              ſcituation determinate and poſſible, infinite & impoſſible. </s>
              <s>This doth
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              not ſo evene in the ſublunary diſtances, and near the earth, where
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              it may happen that the obſervation by which the Star is collected to
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              be remote
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              v. </s>
              <s>g.
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              4. Semidiameters terreſtrial, may encreaſe or
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              niſh, not onely one minute but ten, and an hundred, and many
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              more, without being rendred by the calculation either infinitely
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              remote, or ſo much as ſuperior to the Moon. </s>
              <s>You may hence
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              comprehend that the greatneſſe of the error (to ſo ſpeak)
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              mental, are not to be valued by the event of the calculation, but
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              by the quantity it ſelf of degrees and minutes numbred upon the
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              inſtrument, and theſe obſervations are to be called more juſt or
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              leſs erroneous, which with the addition or ſubſtraction of fewer
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              minutes, reſtore the ſtar to a poſſible ſituation; and amongſt the
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              poſſible places, the true one may be believed to have been that,
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              bout which a greater number of diſtances concurre upon
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              ting the more exact obſervations.</s>
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            <p type="main">
              <s>SIMP. </s>
              <s>I do not very well apprehend this which you ſay: nor
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              can I of my ſelf conceive how it can be, that in greater diſtances,
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              greater exorbitancies can ariſe from the errour of one minute only,
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              than in the ſmaller from ten or an hundred; and therefore would
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              gladly underſtand the ſame.</s>
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            <p type="main">
              <s>SALV. </s>
              <s>You ſhall ſee it, if not Theorically, yet at leaſt </s>
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          </chap>
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