its motion in 24. houres be alienated from it It 's also objected That the Towers would fall and that the Clouds and Rivers would all follow the course of the Earth But I answer That the Clowds are agitated by the winds and therefore cannot follow the course of the earth and as for the Towers they cannot fall considering that the Earth's motion is not violent and that the Towers by reason of their ponderosity bend still towards the Center of the earth and are not removed from their situation And as touching the Rivers the earth being as a gall-nut a River may run towards the East by the bending of its Seats towards the center of the earth although the Earth tends towards the West which may easily be apprehended if we conceive that a man walking in a Ship directs his steps towards the East whilest that the Ship sayles to the West Many severall other Reasons are objected which are but weak but because there are divers Discourses touching the Earth's motion which resolve them and reconcile the places of the holy Scripture upon this subject matter amongst whom are Foscarinus and Barantzanus I shall desire the curious Readers to read them and shall content my self with what I have said Chap. XIII Proving the Plurality of the Worlds by the variety of all natural things NAture is various in all its operations and God hath put such variety in all his Works that we can find nothing uniform in this world all things in it are various and different and this great diversity causes us the more to admire the Creator of this whole Fabrick If it be so concerning the earth which is near-upon the smallest of all the Globes what will it not be of the heavenly which are incomparably greater For this cause did Campanella say That though God and Nature do nothing in vain yet such a great number of Stars greater then the earth would be in vain if there was not in them divers demonstrations of the Idea's of God It 's then consonant to reason that not only the four Elements be in every one of the Starres but also that Men Bsasts and Plants and all whatsoever is seen amongst us be in them And thus did this famous Person of our time speak Chap. XIV Of the measures and dimensions of the Stars and their distance from the Earth and proportions with it with an argument taken from those distances for to prove the multiplicity of Worlds BUt because we have often mentioned the bignesse of the Stars and how they exceed the Earth in extension and also spoken of their infinite distances It will not be out of purpose and beyond our present Discourse to insert them in this Chapter These distances are somewhat variously given by divers Authors but the difference being but small is not of great concernment to us Charles Rapineus gives these distances in his book called Nucleus Philosophiae The Moon is lesser then the Earth 39 times and according to Cardan thirty nine times and a half Mercury is lesser then the Earth by 1100 times Venus by 37 times The Sun is greater then the Earth by 166 times Mars by 1 time Jupiter by 95 times Saturn by 91 times The fixt Stars are innumerable but those that are observed by the Astrologians are 1022 and are of proportions of bignesse Those of the first magnitude are 15 in number and are bigger then the Earth by 117 times Those of the second magnitude are 45 and are bigger then the Earth by 90 times Those of the third are 208 and are bigger then the earth by 70 times Those of the fourth are 472 and are bigger then the Earth by 54 times Those of the fifth are 17 and are bigger then the Earth by 37 times Those of the sixth are 49 and 5 dark and 9 bright ones and are all bigger then the Earth by 18 times The concavity of the Moon is distant from the Center of the Earth 14291 leagues which are 28541 miles From the Center of the Earth to Venus there is 542749 miles To the Sun 3640000 miles To Mars 3965000 miles To Jupiter 28845000 miles To Saturn 46816250 miles To the Concavity of the Firmament 65357500 miles The thicknesse of the Moons round is of 99504 miles Mercury's round is of 334208 miles That of Venus of 3097251 miles That of the Sun 32500 miles That of Mars 248820000 miles That of Jupiter 17969250 miles That of Saturn 18541250 miles That of the Firmament 55357500 miles The diameter of the Earth is of ten thousand and eight hundred miles But Cardanus saith of 10000 miles It s circumference is of 32400 miles and according to Cardanus of 31000 miles and a half It s semidiameter or half diameter is of 5000 miles These things being thus is it not very like that so huge and vaste bodies so distant one from the other should hide and contain in themselves something as well as the Earth at least those that move and are Planets as It is and that turn round the bright body of the Sun which communicates his light to them all Chap. XV Wherein the plurality of Worlds is proved by a Reason drawn from the colour of the Stars IF we see and punctually discern not onely with Jacob's staffe but also with our own sight without the help of any instrument a great diversity in the Stars in their bignesse colour light and other circumstances Shall we not say That those various colours do testifie their various nature and their bodily mixtures and that they may consequently be bodies as well as the Earth Chap. XVI Proving the same because that there is nothing empty nor vain in nature WE cannot remark any thing empty in the whole Nature this passes for a sure Maxim therefore did Hermes in his Asclepe say That all the parts of the World are very full the whole World is full of Globes or Stars these Stars and especially the Earth which we inhabit is filled with Seas Rivers four-footed Beasts Men Birds Minerals the waters are filled with Fishes these things have yet in themselves and unto their very Center so great a variety that their anatomy drawes us to admiration In a word we may lose our selves in the subdividing of them And why may not the Stars be so too seeing that as it hath already been proved in the foregoing Chapter we may see and observe in them some certain variety especially in the Moon where Mountains and Waters evidently appear and may very well be discerned with a good Prospective glasse with which Instrument is a notable Mountain discerned in Mars Chap. XVII Proving the plurality of Worlds by the plurality of Men and because things above are as things below GReat Mercurius Trismegistus who for his eximious Learning hath obtained the name of Thrice most Great hath left us this notable Aphorism That things below are as things above and vice versa those above as them below the meaning is That this World is an example to
A NEW TREATISE PROVING A Multiplicity OF WORLDS That the Planets are Regions Inhabited and the Earth a Star and that it is out of the Center of the World in the third Heaven and turns round before the Sun which is fixed And other most Rare and Curious Things By PETER BORELL Counsellor and Physitian to the King of France London Printed by John Streater 1658. TO The Vertuous AND Most Renowned Gentleman Mr. Frederick Clodius Doctor in Physick His truly honoured Friend Worthy SIR THree considerations have induced me to offer these rude and unpolished lines to your Patronage and favourable acceptance The first is the Learning and fame of the Author of this Treatise who carrieth the same Title as Your Self The second is the worthinesse and great esteem and acuity of spirit of that Person of Honour Sir Kenelm Digby to whom it was offered by the Author The third is the worthiness wisdom and deep Learning wherewith You are indued adorned which that Noble Knight well knowing for an acknowledgment thereof hath presented this Book to your view as a piece of great novelty I shall not presume to implore your Protection for the subject but onely for this my rash attempt in the translating of it which if it may auspiciously be admitted into Your friendly estimation doubtlesse 't will find an universall acceptance amongst Persons of greatest Eminency All I humbly crave for the present is my boldnesse might be favourably excused since 't was my lawfull Ambition thereby to avoid Ingratitude However this Work be esteemed may your deserved good name and honor encrease more and more which is and shall be the constant Vote of Sir Your humbly devoted Servant D. Sashott A NEW TREATISE PROVING A Multiplicity OF WORLDS CHAP. I. Of the Plurality of Worlds in general being as a Preface to the following Chapters WE may truly say that Preoccupation is an horrid Monster which makes a strange havock in the spirits of Men hinders the progress of Sciences and causes Men to droop in a constant ignorance for they who by it are once prepossessed can judge of nothing by themselves censure the best opinions that are assert those of their Masters whether good or bad and having conceived a distaste of whatsoever checks what is contrary to their belief though grosse and ignorant bring forth nothing but contempts and blames against those who endeavour to open their eyes and root them out of the darknesse of their ignorance to draw them to the enjoyment of the true light and knowledg of things The which is more particularly practised now in this Age wherein we live wherein Men live but by imitation wherein learned Men are despised wherein they who have some particular and rare notions upon subject matters of great moment and concernment to mens knowledge are esteemed extravagant and ridiculous wherein no new proposition can be admitted But alas what may I hope seeing this evill is like a gangrene and hath taken so deep root that it hath robb'd men of their senses and feeling who by it are infected Considering that those who are most possess'd with it do not think so themselves to be What then may I expect who am going to propose some Novelties not of things that are in the Earth but even in the Heavens and not onely in the Heavens but also in the bodies of the Stars As soon as the Title of this Discourse shall appear to the eyes of Men they will condemn me before they hear me neither will they so much as read my Reasons and will rather live in ignorance then change their opinion and be as beasts in the World than know the secrets thereof Most men think it a shame to confesse that they are ignorant of some thing and that they are in the wrong for on the contrary it 's the way to find out the truth considering that new reasons are alwayes sought for what we esteem our selves ignorant of Mens ignorance is so great that the holy Scriptures have declared Mens knowledg to be nothing else but vanity and if we do not flatter our selves we shall find that we know nothing but is or may be controverted Divinity it self is not exempted from it and as for the other Sciences and Arts those great many Volumes that we have of them sufficiently testifie the same And this hath moved the Pyrrhonians and Scepticks to doubt and question all things and hath brought forth severall Books of the vanity of Sciences the Astrology the Medicine the Jurisprudence and the naturall Physick are daily moved and shaken and see their foundations totter Ramus did overthrow Aristotle's Philosophy Copernicus Ptolomey's Astrologie Paracelsus Galen's Physick So that every one hath followers and disciples and all appearing plausible We have much ado whom to believe and thereby are constrained to confesse that what we know is much lesse then what we know not I greatly esteem Michael Mountanus's Judgment who is the honour of our Age upon this point for it is consonant to reason and my opinion hereupon is for the most part agreeing with his and especially with that is the subject matter of this Treatise Amongst a thousand rare thoughts that he hath upon it he alledges a most exquisite similitude by which he compares learned persons to the ears of corn which being well fill'd do bow down their heads for after they have learned all Sciences and have consumed themselves in them they are constrained to confesse that they know nothing by the acknowledgment of that great Philosopher in these words Hoc unum scio quòd nihil scio I know this one thing that I know nothing If then we be ignorant of all things may we not yield that we can be ignorant of heavenly things especially and that they are praise-worthy who have endeavoured to raise their contemplations and meditations up into Heaven and having as it were loosened their Souls from their bodies have made it to wander and run through the Vaults and concavities of Heaven there to observe those things which were above our reach Our understanding being heavenly and our Soul full of knowledg perfection is not ignorant of these things but the lump corpulency of the body which is its prison hinders it freely to perform its functions it would willingly rise up and at every moment lenche it self up towards the place of its original but the weight of its body keeps it low and under and the mixture of the Elements wherewith the body is composed makes its agility dull and heavy If before the Invention of Artillery of Printing of Prospect-glasses and of infinite number of other Inventions that in these times are practised their effects had been told to us we had never believed them for if it had been asserted That with the powder without stirring we might kill beasts distant from us and not onely the beasts on the earth but also the fowls and birds flying high through the ayr throw down walls of Cities
and batter and thunder down the strongest places and that in a moment those instruments should execute our will That by printing and the letters we might communicate our thoughts to another and write in a short time a number infinite of books and even write a thousand times faster then we speak transmit and leave to our posterity our exquisite conceptions and get an immortal name And that by the prospective glasses we might approach to objects far distant strengthen our sight and make us distinctly to see things sar remote If these things I say had been proposed to us in a time wherein farther speech and enquire had never more been made of it who had believed them but rather who had not laughed at them and derided the first motioner of them and yet experience daily sheweth the effects of these Inventions to be true So the former Ages did condemne as hereticks those who believed the Antipodes and this belief was a long time held for a false and ridiculous opinion Christophorus Columbus was rejected of divers Kings when he proposed to them the discovery of the West-Indies and yet his propositions have been found very true and have immortalised their Author So likewise do I hope that time will bring forth the truth of this my opinion which I do not produce to the light without many strong Reasons and the authority of the most learned men the holy Scripture it self is not repugnant and contradictory to it but rather leans much towards my opinion And as touching those Philosophers who grant it not some deny not but that this may be others dare not contradict it and others have so ridiculous reasons that I cannot imagine weaker can be found and considering all they no more then I have ascended into Heaven and therefore who ever hath the best Reasons ought to be believed which being doubtlesse on my side my opinion ought not at all to be esteemed ridiculous Democritus King of the Abderitanes constantly smiled because the World could not apprehend the multiplicity of Worlds I like him have also sufficient occasion to smile and laugh at those who are ignorant of the plurality of the Worlds and even to compare them to bruit beasts which eat the fruits of the Earth without considering whence they come to them for Man is lodged in this World to contemplate in it the wonders that God exposes to the sight of his eyes and to which end he hath given him a face looking upward for to look up to Heaven but he will not make use of his gifts nor enquire after the place of their habitation Why open ye not your eyes O ye learned and wise Men and why awake ye not out of your slumber and deep sleep Awake up the eyes of your Understanding and Reason towards the Heavens contemplating the wonderfull things thereof despise the earthly things and as true Philosophers consider the rest of Men in a dunghill having their thoughts low and Earthly Souls which not being able to stretch themselves beyond the limit of their weak activity dare even accuse those who by noble projects desire to lend them their hands for to draw them out of their ignorance Having then so many and so good Reasons and authority on my behalf I shall not longer fear those who scarce can find any for the confirmation of their opinion or what they have is so weak that the building that the edifice is upon tottereth and leans on every side therefore will I not fear those backbiting tongues which envy anothers good repute and fame which I already foresee in great number opened against me but I shall justly say that they accuse God and Nature of weaknesse and insufficiency and their own proper reason of incapacity Can it be possible that so many rare and great persons who in former Ages did believe it and whose memory is by us honoured and reverenced had erroneous opinions and that so many pertinent reasons should have no solid ground Could it be possible that you would not willingly hearken to those who desire to free you from your mistakes nor suffer your eyes to be unfolded when they be folded with the vail of Preoccupation No I hope that some of the most reasonable at least will be found who will adhere to me and take my part against the assaults of the ignorants who endeavour to discredit me thinking to obtain great glory for the endeavouring the overthrow of so great a project for that is their ordinary scope Alta petit livor praestant altissima venti Alta petunt dextrâ fulmina miss a Jovis That is Envy nothing but high things emulates As by the whirlwinds shaken are high States And the thunders of great Jupiter the god of gods Fall upon the Steeples and not upon the Valleys But I shall smile at them in my heart and applaud my self if none can be found to second me hoping that the Ages to come will produce men more reasonable and who better esteeming my conceptions will accuse this present Age of great ingratitude Chap. II. Proving the plurality of the Worlds by a reason taken from the place wherein are ingendred the Comets PRoclus Cardanus Telessius and others have observed That most of the Comets are formed not onely out of the Region of the Meteors but even far above the Moon and Tycho Brabe that great Astrologian who by his exquisite and rare Observations hath gotten an everlasting name discoursing of it hath asserted That all the Comets are formed above the Moon even according to Kepler as high as the Sun Now it 's Impossible for the vapours to pierce and penetrate into the fiery Region there to be changed into Comets even far above it considering that according to all the Philosophers Judgment the fiery Region is under the concavity of the Moon and so these Comets are formed out of the exhalations of other Lands which are the Starres it 's so clear and perspicuous that I cannot believe that any Man is so void of Reason as to deny it If it be objected That it cannot positively and certainly be known that the Comets are above the region of the Moon I shall send them to the School of Astrologie which teaches by true Rules and Demonstrations the way to measure all the bodies and their far distances from the earth the which Galileus a Person of great fame and renown in this our Age hath confirmed by such like Observations Chap. III. Proving the same by another Argument taken from the bignesse and continuancy of the Comets THE same Astrologers have observed That some Comets have so vaste and great bodies that it 's impossible to believe that the exhalations of this Earth could furnish them sufficiently with matter but I shall dare to go beyond and shall say That though all the Earth should be dissolved into vapours and exhalations yet it could not form so great Comets and of such long continuancy as those which sometimes have been seen
such variety and diversity as the Earth viz. Men Beasts Plants and whatsoever is seen here amongst us and the Pythagorians did believe and to which Copernicus agreeth Chap. XXVI Proving the same because otherwise it were to make God to act by necessity IF there were not many Worlds in this whole Fabrick God could not act so powerfully and freely but that by some certain necessity and constraint which would be a great impiety and blasphemy even to imagine it for God could assuredly not onely have made other Worlds but also much more perfect then this for his power is neither shortened nor exhausted neither the matter which he could create of nothing as well as that of this our Earth therefore as he hath created this World could he not also have created others Chap. XXVII How could we see the Earth if we were far distant from it SOme may ask If the Planets are so many Earths and the Earth a Planet how could we see the Earth if we were far remote from it Clavius in his Commentary upon Sacroboscus hath endeavoured some suppositions upon this question and hath found that if any one were in the Globe of the Moon and should look towards the Earth it would appear to him three times bigger then the Moon appears to us and somewhat more and if a man were in the Globe of the Sun it would appear to him twice bigger then Venus seems to us and in the Globe of Mars thence it would appear lightsome and would seem to be of the bignesse of one of the Stars of the sixth proportion and if he were in the highest heavens he could not see it at all And this is saith he the Astrologers common opinion Chap. XXVIII Of the number of the Worlds IT may also be asked What number of Worlds there is but though it is a thing not certainly known considering the infinite number of Stars to us perspicuous besides those that we cannot see by reason of our eyes weaknesse Yet I shall here alledge the Judgment of some Authors upon this question Baruck the Philosopher and Clemens a disciple of the Apostles as Origen saith do mention seven perhaps meaning the seven Planets An ancient Author according to Plutarch in his book touching the ceasing of miracles did believe that there were an hundred and eighty nine Worlds disposed in a triangle every side containing sixty three Petro of Sicily thought the same thing touching the plurality of Worlds But the Thalmudists going beyond say that there are nineteen thousand and Democritus did believe that they were infinite and innumerable Chap. XXIX Touching divers ancient Philosophers who have believed the plurality of Worlds Pythagoras who first called this Fabrick Worlds is also one of the chiefest who believed the plurality of them and hath had many disciples and Citators who have continued to establish and maintain this assertion for Socrates hath publickly asserted the Worlds to be infinite so did also his disciple Archelaus who perswaded it also to Xenophanes the Colophian who also did assert That there are many Moons and Suns in the world This same Axiome was believed by Melisseus of Samia Parmenides's disciple as also by his School-fellow Zeno of Elis and his disciple Lucippus of Elis also Item by Democritus of Miletum Pythagoras's hearer who saith That in these Worlds the Stars are more beautifull and bright which I think may be according to their proximity By reason of which opinion that King of the Abderitanes was esteemed by his ignorant people to be out of his wits and thereupon they sent for Hippocrates to cure him of his disease but Hippocrates found him very well in his mind and said nothing against his opinion which moved Democritus perpetually to laugh at them who were ignorant of the same Joubertus who hath composed a book concerning laughter in it hath set down Hippocrates's letter upon this subject Diogenes of Apollonia Anaximenes's disciple together with Seleucus hath also pronounced their assertion touching the plurality of the worlds Orpheus Origines and Baruck the Philosopher Anaxagoras and many Stoicks more do a vouch the same Plinius also seems to have been of this opinion but Anaximander Anaximenes Epicureus and others following Francis I. Picus Mirandulanus have fully asserted it Mahomet who though an Infidel wanted not wit and knowledg to establish his belief did believe the same thing and in his Alcoran mentions several Earths and Seas to be in Heaven and the four Elements and all that is amongst us to be in every one of the Stars Epicureus did say That these Worlds were some of them without Sun or Moon and some had greater then those that lighten us and that others had divers Suns and that some of them were without living creatures in them without Plants and without all moisture and that at the same that things are thus in our worlds as we see them so also are they in divers other worlds but had he seen how the Indians and we agree in severall things he would questionlesse have believed it more constantly Icetes the Pythagorian together with Philolaus did believe there were two Earths opposite one to the other and Picus Mirandula was forced to say That he thought that the Moon was an Earth like unto ours herein conforming himself to those Pythagorians who sometimes did call our Earth Moon and the Moon Earth Francastor Physitian at Zerona following Eudoxus and Calispus's Judgment together with divers others whom for brevity sake I shall omit did also believe the same But whereas so many Philosophers have asserted the Position of this opinion it will be answered That I am not the first author of 〈◊〉 To this I answer That it 's sufficient for me to renew it and plainly professe it the which hitherto was not yet publickly practised Chap. XXX Of those things that are in the Moon and other Planets THough the Ancients had not the help of Prospective-glasses as we have wherewith we see as new Linxes the Seas the Mountains and other things which are in the Moon yet they did inquire and speak of things more particular that are in the Stars as the Pythagorians and Orpheus who did believe that the Moon was not onely of the colour of the Earth but that it contained Men Beasts and Trees 15 times bigger then we or 50 times bigger as Herodotus who also asserts that in it are Towns and Cities Xenophanes did also think that there are men within the body of the Moon Anaxagoras and Democritus have also said That in it are contained Mountains Valleys and Fields Lucianus in his book of true history Aristoteles have both mentioned some particularities of what is in the Moon but we shall not take notice what the first saith because he relates it as a fable though for the composing of his work he hath made use of a great deal of those ancient Philosophers opinions Plutarch in his discourse of the Moon reasons pro and con whether the Moon is