approbata quae coelum pluribus realibus atque imperviis orbibus citra rem replevit That this opinion comes neerer to the truth than that common one of Aristotle which hath to no purpose filled the Heavens with such reall and impervious Orbs. 2. There is no element of fire which must be held with this opinion here delivered for if wee suppose a world in the Moone then it will follow that the sphere of fire either is not there where 't is usually placed in the concavity of his Orbe or else that there is no such thing at all which is most probable since there are not any such solid Orbs that by their swift motion might heat and enkindle the adjoyning ayre which is imagined to be the reason of that element The arguments that are commonly urged to this purpose are these 1 That which was before alledged concerning the refractions which will be caused by a different medium For if the matter of the heavens be of one thicknesse and the element of fire another and the upper Region of ayre distinct from both these and the lower Region severall from all the rest there will then be such a multiplicity of refractions as must necessarily destroy the certainty of all Astronomicall observations All which inconveniences might be avoyded by supposing as wee doe that there is onely one Orbe of vaporous ayre which encompasses our earth all the rest being Aethereall and of the same perspicuity 2 The situation of this element does no way agree with Aristotles own principles or that common providence of nature which wee may discerne in ordinary matters For if the heavens be without all elementary qualities as is usually supposed then it would be a very incongruous thing for the element of fire to be placed immediatly next unto it Since the heat of this is the most powerfull and vigorous quality that is amongst all the rest And Nature in her other works does not joyne extreames but by something of a middle disposition So in the very frame of our bodies the bones which are of a hard substance and the flesh of a soft are not joyned together but by the intercession of membranes and grissels such as being of a middle nature may fitly come betwixt 3 'T is not conceiveable for what use or benefit there should be any such element in that place and certaine it is that Nature does not doe any thing in vaine 4 Betwixt two extreams there can be but one Medium and therefore betweene those two opposite elements of earth and water it may seeme more convenient to place onely the ayre which shall partake of middle qualities different from both 5 Fire does not seeme so properly and directly to be opposed to any thing as Ice and if the one be not an element why should the other If you object that the fire which we commonly use does alwayes tend upwards I answer This cannot prove that there is a naturall place for such an element since our adversaries themselves doe grant that culinary and elementary fire are of different kinds The one does burne shine and corrupt its subject the other disagrees from it in all these respects And therefore from the ascent of the one wee cannot properly inferre the being or situation of the other But for your farther satisfaction herein you may peruse Cardan Iohannes Pena that learned Frenchman the noble Tycho with divers others who have purposely handled this proposition 3. I might adde a third viz. that there is no Musick of the spheares for if they be not solid how can their motion cause any such sound as is conceived I doe the rather meddle with this because Plutarch speakes as if a man might very conveniently heare that harmony if he were an inhabitant in the Moone But I guesse that hee said this out of incogitancy and did not well consider those necessary consequences which depended upon his opinion However the world would have no great losse in being deprived of this Musick unlesse at somtimes we had the priviledge to heare it Then indeed Philo the Jew thinks it would save us the charges of dyet and wee might live at an easie rate by feeding at the eare only and receiving no other nourishment and for this very reason sayes he was Moses enabled to tarry forty dayes and forty nights in the Mount without eating any thing because hee there heard the melody of the Heavens Risum teneatis I know this Musick hath had great Patrons both sacred prophane Authors such as Ambrose Bede Boetius Anselme Plato Cicero and others but because it is not now I think affirmed by any I shall not therefore bestow either paines or time in arguing against it It may suffice that I have onely named these three last and for the two more necessary have referred the Reader to others for satisfaction I shall in the next place proceed to the nature of the Moones body to know whether that be capable of any such conditions as may make it possible to be inhabited and what those qualities are wherein it more neerely agrees with our earth Proposition 4. That the Moone is a solid compacted opacous body I Shall not need to stand long in the proofe of this Proposition since it is a truth already agreed on by the generall consent of the most and the best Philosophers 1 It is solid in opposition to fluid as is the ayre for how otherwise could it beat back the light which it receives from the Sunne But here it may be questioned whether or no the Moone bestow her light upon us by the reflection of the Sun-beames from the superficies of her body or else by her owne illumination Some there are who affirme this latter part So Averroes Caelius Rhodiginus Iulius Caesar c. And their reason is because this light is discerned in many places whereas those bodies which give light by reflexion can there only be perceived where the angle of reflexion is equall to the angle of incidence and this is only in one place as in a looking-glasse those beams which are reflected from it cannot be perceived in every place where you may see the glasse but onely there where your eye is placed on the same line whereon the beames are reflected But to this I answer That the argument will not hold of such bodies whose superficies is full of unequall parts and gibbosities as the Moone is Wherfore it is as wel the more probable as the more common opinion that her light proceeds frō both these causes from reflexion illumination nor doth it herein differ from our earth since that also hath some light by illumination for how otherwise would the parts about us in a Sunne-shine day appeare so bright when as the rayes of reflexion cannot enter into our eye For the better illustration of this we may consider the several wayes wherby divers bodies are enlightned Either as water by admitting the beams into its
substance or as ayre and thin clouds by transmitting the rayes quite thorow their bodies or as those things that are of an opacous nature and smooth superficies which reflect the light only in one place or else as those things which are of an opacous nature and rugged superficies which by a kind of circumfluous reflexion are at the same time discernable in many places as our Earth and the Moone 2. It is compact and not a spungie and porous substance But this is denied by Diogenes Vitellio and Reinoldus and some others who held the Moone to be of the same kind of nature as a Pumice stone this say they is the reason why in the Suns eclipses there appeares within her a duskish ruddy colour because the Sun beames being refracted in passing through the pores of her body must necessarily be represented under such a colour But I reply if this be the cause of her rednesse then why doth shee not appeare under the same forme when shee is about a Sextile Aspect and the darkned part of her body is discernable for then also doe the same rayes passe through her and therefore in all likelyhood should produce the same effect and notwithstanding those beames are then diverted from us that they cannot enter into our eyes by a straight line yet must the colour still remaine visible in her body And besides according to this opinion the spots would not alwayes be the same but divers as the various distance of the Sunne requires Againe if the Sun beames did passe through her why then hath she not a taile saith Scaliger as the Comets why doth she appeare in such an exact round and not rather attended with a long flame since it is meerely this penetration of the Sunne beames that is usually attributed to be the cause of beards in blazing starres 3. It is opacous transparent or diaphanous like Crystall or glasse as Empedocles thought who held the Moon to be a globe of pure congealed ayre like haile inclosed in a spheare of fire for then 1. Why does shee not alwayes appeare in the full since the light is dispersed through all her body 2. How can the interposition of her body so darken the Sunne or cause such great eclipses as have turned day into night that have discovered the starres and frighted the birds with such a suddaine darknesse that they fell downe upon the earth as it is related in divers Histories And therefore Herodotus telling of an eclipse which fell in Xerxes time describes it thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Sun leaving his wonted seat in the heavens vanished away all which argues such a great darknesse as could not have beene if her body had beene perspicuous Yet some there are who interpret all these relations to be hyberbolicall expressions and the noble Tycho thinks it naturally impossible that any eclipse should cause such darknesse because the body of the Moone can never totally cover the Sunne However in this he is singular all other Astronomers if I may beleeve Keplar being on the contrarie opinion by reason the Diameter of the Moone does for the most part appeare bigger to us than the Diameter of the Sunne But here Iulius Caesar once more puts in to hinder our passage The Moone saith he is not altogether opacous because 't is still of the same nature with the heavens which are incapable of totall opacity and his reason is because perspicuity is an inseparable accident of those purer bodies and this hee thinks must necessarily be granted for he stops there and proves no further but to this I shall deferre an answer till hee hath made up his argument Wee may frequently see that her body does so eclipse the Sunne as our Earth doth the Moone And besides the mountains that are observed there doe cast a dark shadow behind them as shall be shewed afterwards Since then the like interposition of them both doth produce the like effect they must necessarily be of the like natures that is alike opacous which is the thing to be shewed and this was the reason as the Interpreters guesse why Aristotle affirmed the Moone to be of the Earths nature because of their agreement in opacity whereas all the other elements save that are in some measure perspicuous But the greatest difference which may seeme to make our Earth altogether unlike the Moone is because the one is a bright body and hath light of its owne and the other a grosse dark body which cannot shine at all 'T is requisite therefore that in the next place I cleare this doubt and shew that the Moone hath no more light of her owne than our Earth Proposition 5. That the Moone hath not any light of her owne T Was the fancie of some of the Jewes and more especially of Rabbi Simeon that the Moone was nothing else but a contracted Sunne and that both those planets at their first creation were equall both in light and quantity For because God did then call them both great lights therefore they inferred that they must be both equall in bignesse But a while after as the tradition goes the ambitious Moone put up her complaint to God against the Sunne shewing that it was not fit there should be two such great lights in the heavens a Monarchie would best become the place of order and harmony Vpon this God commanded her to contract her selfe into a narrower compasse but shee being much discontented hereat replies What! because I have spoken that which is reason and equity must I therefore be diminished This sentence could not chuse but much trouble her and for this reason was shee in great distresse and griefe for a long space but that her sorrow might be some way pacified God bid her be of good cheere because her priviledges and Charter should be greater than the Sunnes he should appeare in the day time onely shee both in the day and night but her melancholy being not satisfied with this shee replied againe That that alas was no benefit for in the day time shee should be either not seene or not noted Wherefore God to comfort her up promised that his people the Israelites should celebrate all their feasts and holy dayes by a computation of her moneths but this being not able to content her shee has looked very melancholy ever since however she hath still reserved much light of her owne Others there were that did think the Moone to be a round globe the one halfe of whose body was of a bright substance the other halfe being dark and the divers conversions of those sides towards our eyes caused the variety of her appearances of this opinion was Berosus as hee is cited by Vitruvius and St. Austin thought it was probable enough But this fancie is almost equally absurd with the former and both of them sound rather like fables than Philosophicall truths You may commonly see
would quickly have renounced his owne Principles and have come over to this side for in one place having proposed some questions about the heavens which were not easie to bee resolved He sets downe this rule That in difficulties a man may take a liberty to speake that which seems most likely to him and in such cases an aptnesse to guesse at some resolution for the satisfying of our Philosophicall thirst do's deserve rather to bestiled by the name of Modestie than Boldnes And in another place he referres the Reader to the different opinions of Astronomers advising him to examine their severall tenents as well Eudoxus as Calippus and to entertaine that not which is most antient but which is most exact and agreeable to reason And as for Ptolomy 't is his counsell that wee should endeavour to frame such suppositions of the Heavens as might be more simple being void of all superfluities and he confesses that his Hypothesis had many implications in it together with sundry intricate and unlikely turnings and therefore in the same place hee seems to admonish us that wee should not bee too confident the Heavens were really in the same Forme wherein Astronomers did supposethem So that 't is likely 't was his chief intent to propose unto us such a frame of the coelestiall bodies from which wee might in some measure conceive of their different appearances and according to which wee might be able to calculate their motions But now 't is Copernicus his endeavour to propound unto us the true naturall Causes of these severall Motions and Appearances It was the intent of the one to settle the Imagination and of the other to satisfie the judgement So that wee have no reason to doubt of his assent unto this Opinion if hee had but clearely understood all the grounds of it 'T is reported of Clavius that when lying upon his Death-bed he heard the first Newes of those Discoveries which were made by Gallilaeus his Glasse he brake forth into these words Videre Astronomos quo pacto constituendi sunt orbes Coelestes ut haec Phaenomena salvari possint That it did behoove Astronomers to consider of some other Hypothesis beside that of Ptolomy whereby they might salve all those new appearances Intimating that this old one which formerly he had defended would not now serve the turne and doubtlesse if it had been informed how congruous all these might have been unto the opinion of Copernicus hee would quickly have turned on that side 'T is considerable that amongst the followers of Copernicus there are scarce any who were not formerly against him and such as at first had been throughly seasoned with the Principles of Aristotle in which for the most part they have no lesse skil than those who are so violent in the defence of them Whereas on the contrary there are very few to bee found amongst the followers of Aristotle and Ptolomy that have read any thing in Copernicus or doe fully understand the Grounds of his opinion and I thinke not any who having been once setled with any strong assent on this side that have afterwards revolted from it Now if we do but seriously weigh with our selves that so many ingenious considering men should reject that opinion which they were nursed up in and which is generally approved as the truth and that for the embracing of such a Paradox as is condemned in Schooles and commonly cryed downe as being absurd and ridiculous I say if a man doe but well consider all this he must needs conclude that there is some strong evidence for it to bee found out by examination and that in all probabilitie this is the righter side 'T is probable that most of those Authors who have opposed this opinion since it hath bin confirmed by new discoveries were stirred up thereunto by some of these 3 insufficient grounds 1 An over-fond and partial conceit of their proper inventions Every man is naturally more affected to his owne brood than to that of which another is the Author though perhaps it may bee more agreeable to reason 'T is very difficult for any one in the search of Truth to find in himselfe such an indifferencie as that his judgement is not at all swayd by an overweening affection unto that which is proper unto himselfe And this perhaps might bee the first reason that moved the noble Tycho with so much heat to oppose Copernicus that so hee might the better make way for the spreding of that Hypothesis which was of his owne invention To this I might likewise refer that opinion of Origanus and Mr. Carpenter who attribute to the earth only a diurnall revolution It do's more especially concerne those men that are Leaders of severall sides to beat downe any that should oppose them 2 A servile and superstitious feare of derogating from the authoritie of the antients or opposing that meaning of Scripture phrases wherein the supposed infallible Church hath for a long time understood them 'T is made part of the new Creed set forth by Pius the fourth 1564 That no man should assent unto any interpretation of Scripture which is not approved of by the authoritie of the Fathers And this is the reason why the Iesuites who are otherwise the greatest affectors of those opinions which seeme to be new and subtill doe yet forbeare to say any thing in defence of this but rather take all occasions to inveigh against it One of them do's expressely condemn it for a heresie And since him it hath bin called in by two Sessions of the Cardinals as being an opinion both absurd and dangerous And therefore likewise doe they punish it by casting the Defenders of it into the Popes truest Purgatorie the Inquisition but yet neither these Councels nor any that I know of since them have proceeded to such a peremptorie censure of it as to conclude it a heresie fearing perhaps lest a more exact examinanation and the discoverie of future times finding it to bee an undeniable Truth it might redound to the prejudice of their Church and it's infallibilitie And therefore he that is most bitter against it in the heat and violence of opposition will not call it a heresie the worst that he dares say of it is That it is opinio temeraria quae altero saltem pede intravit haeresios limen A rash opinion and bordering upon heresie Though unto this likewise he was incited by the eagernesse of disputation and a desire of victorie for it seemes many eminent men of that Church before him were a great deale more milde and moderate in their censures of it Paul the third was not so much offended at Copernicus when he dedicated his Worke unto him The Cardinall of Cusa do's expresly maintaine this opinion Scombergius the Cardinall of Capua did with much importunitie and great approbation beg of Copernicus the commentaries that he writ in this kind And it seems the Fathers of the Councell of
the Aire did move round with the earth But this saith he they dare not avouch for then the Comets would always seem to stand stil being carried about with the revolution of this aire and then they could not rise or set as experience shews they doe To this it may be answered that most Comets are above that Sphaere of Aire which is turned round with our Earth as is manifest by their height The motion that appeares in them is caused by the revolution of our Earth whereby we are turned from them As for those which are within the Orbe of our Aire these do seem to stand still Such a one was that mentioned by Iosephus which did constantly hang over Ierusalem and that likewise which appeared about the time of Agrippa's death and for many dayes together did hang over the City of Rome Wherefore Seneca do's well distinguish out of Epigenes betwixt two sorts of Comets the one being low and such as seeme immovable the other higher and such as did constantly observe their risings and settings as the Starres I have done with all the Arguments of any note or difficultie that are urged against this diurnall motion of the Earth Many other cavils there are not worth the naming which discover themselves to be rather the Objections of a captious than a doubtfull minde Amongst which I might justly passe over those that are set down by Alex. Rosse But because this Author do's proceed in his whole discourse with so much scorne and triumph it will not be amisse therefore to examine what infallible evidence there is in those Arguments upon which hee grounds his boastings We have in one chapter no lesse than these nine 1 If the Earth did move then would it bee hotter than the Water because motion do's produce heate and for this reason likewise the Water would be so hot and rarified that it could not bee congealed since that also do's partake of the same motion with the Earth 2 The Aire which is next the Earth would be purer as being rarified with motion 3 If the Earth did move the Aire it would cause some sound but this is no more audible than Pythagoras his Harmony of the Heavens 4 'T would have been in vaine for Nature to have endowed the Heavens with all conditions requisite for motion if they had been to stand still As first they have a round Figure Secondly they have neither gravitie nor levity Thirdly they are incorruptible Fourthly they have no contrary 5 All similarie parts are of the same nature with the whole But each part of the Earth do's rest in it's place therfore also doth the whole 6 The Sun in the World is as the Heart in a mans Body But the motion of the Heart ceasing none of the members do stir therefore also if the Sunne should stand still the other parts of the World would be without motion 7 The Sun and Heavens do worke upon these inferior Bodies by their light and motion So the Moone do's operate upon the Sea 8 The Earth is the Foundation of Buildings and therefore must be firme and stable 9 'T is the constant opinion of Divines that the Heavens shall rest after the day of Iudgement which they prove from Isa. 60. 20. They Sun shall no more goe downe neither shall thy Moone withdraw it selfe So likewise Rev. 10. 6. The Angell sweares that there shall be time no longer and therefore the Heavens must rest since by their motion it is that time is measured And S. Paul sayes Rom. 8. 20. That all the Creatures are made subject to vanity Now this can be no other in the Heavens than the Vanitie of Motion which the Wise man speaks of Eccles 1. 4. The Sunne riseth and the Sunne goeth downe c. To these it may be answered In the first you may note a manifest contradiction when hee will have the Earth to bee hotter than the Water by reason of this motion when as notwithstanding he acknowledges the Water to move along with it and therefore too in the next Line he infers that the Water because of that heate and rare faction which it receives from this motion with the earth must be incapable of so much cold as to be congealed into Ice But unto that which may be conceived to bee his meaning in this and the next Argument I answer if he had fully understood this opinion which hee opposes he would easily have apprehended that it could not be prejudiced by either of these consequences For we suppose that not only this Globe of Earth and Water but also all the vaporous Aire which invirons it are carried along by the same motion And therfore though what hee sayes concerning the heate which would bee produced by such a motion were true yet it would not bee pertinent since our Earth and Water and the Aire next unto them are not by this meanes severed from one another and so doe not come within the compasse of this Argument If any reply That this will notwithstanding hold true concerning the upper part of the Aire where there is such a separation of one body from another and so consequently an answerable heate I answer 1 'T is not generally granted That motion in all kind of bodies do's produce heate some restraine it onely to follid bodies affirming That in those which are fluid it is rather the cause of coldnesse This is the reason say they why running Waters are ever to our sence the coolest and why amongst those Winds which proceed from the same coasts of Heaven about the same time of the yeare the strongest alwaies is the coldest If you object that running Waters are not so soone frozen as others They answer this is not because they are thereby heated but because unto congellation it is requisite that a Body should settle and rest as well as be cold 2 If wee should grant a moderate heate in those parts of the Aire we have not any experiment to the contrary nor would it prejudice the present opinion or common Principles As the sound of this motion is not more heard than the Harmony of the Heavens so neither is there any reason why this motion should cause a sound more than the supposed motion of the Heavens which is likewise thought to be continued unto the Aire hard by us This will prove the Earth to move as well as the Heavens For that ha's first a round Figure as is generally granted Secondly being considered as whole and in it's ptoper place it is not heavy as was proved before and as for the two other conditions neither are they true of the Heavens nor if they were would they at all conduce to their motion 1 This Argument would prove that the Sea did not ebbe and flow because there is not the same kind of motion in euery drop of Water or that the whole Earth is not sphaericall because every little
A Discourse concerning A NEW world Another Planet In 2 Bookes Printed for Iohn Maynard are to be sold at the George in Fleetstreet neare St. Dunstans Church 1640. THE FIRST BOOK THE DISCOVERY OF A NEW WORLD OR A Discourse tending to prove that 't is probable there may be another habitable World in the Moone With a Discourse concerning the possibility of a Passage thither The third impression Corrected and enlarged Quid tibi inquis ista proderunt Si nihil aliud hoc certè sciam omnia hic angusta esse Seneca praef ad I lib. Nat. Quest. LONDON Printed by IOHN NORTON for IOHN MAYNARD and are to be sold at the George in Fleetstreet neere St. Dunstons Church 1640. To the Reader IF amongst thy leisure houres thou canst spare any for the perusal of this discourse and dost looke to find somewhat in it which may serve for thy information and benefit let me then advise thee to come unto it with an equall minde not swayed by prejudice but indifferently resolved to assent unto that truth which upon deliberation shall seeme most probable unto thy reason and then I doubt not but either thou wilt agree with mee in this assertion or at least not think it to be as farre from truth as it is from common opinion Two cautions there are which I would willingly admonish thee of in the beginning 1. That thou shouldst not here looke to find any exact accurate Treatise since this discourse was but the fruit of some lighter studies and those too hudled up in a short time being first thought of and finished in the space of some few weekes and therefore you cannot in reason expect that it should be so polished as perhaps the subject would require or the leisure of the Author might have done it 2. To remember that I promise only probable arguments for the proofe of this opinion and therefore you must not looke that every consequence should be of an undeniable dependance or that the truth of each argument should bee measured by its necessity I grant that some Astronomical appearances may possibly be solved otherwise than here they are But the thing I aime at is this that probably they may so be solved as I have here set them downe Which if it be granted as I think it must then I doubt not but the indifferent Reader will find some satisfaction in the maine thing that is to be proved Many ancient Philosophers of the better note have formerly defended this assertion which I have here laid downe and it were to be wished that some of us would more apply our endeavours unto the examination of these old opinions which though they have for a long time lien neglected by others yet in them may you find many truths well worthy your paines and observation T is a false conceit for us to thinke that amongst the ancient varietie and search of opinions the best hath still prevailed Time saith the learned Verulam seemes to be of the nature of a river or streame which carrieth down to us that which is light or blown up but sinketh that which is weighty and solid It is my desire that by the occasion of this discourse I may raise up some more active spirit to a search after other hidden and unknowne truths Since it must needes be a great impediment unto the growth of sciences for men still so to plod on upon beaten principles as to be afraid of entertaining any thing that may seeme to contradict them An unwillingnesse to take such things into examination is one of those errours of learning in these times observed by the judicious Verulam Questionlesse there are many secret truths which the ancients have passed over that are yet left to make some of our age famous for their discovery If by this occasion I may provoke any Reader to an attempt of this nature I shall think my selfe happy and this worke successefull Farewell The first Book That the Moone may be a World The first Proposition by way of Preface That the strangenesse of this opinion is no sufficient reason why it should be rejected because other certaine truths have beene formerly esteemed ridiculous and great absurdities entertained by common consent THere is an earnestnesse and hungering after noveltie which doth still adhere unto all our natures and it is part of that primitive image that wide extent and infinite capacity at first created in the heart of man For this since its depravation in Adam perceiving it felfe altogether emptied of any good doth now catch after every new thing conceiving that possibly it may finde satisfaction among some of its fellow creatures But our enemie the devill who strives still to pervert our gifts and beat us with our owne weapons hath so contriv'd it that any truth doth now seeme distastefull for that very reason for which errour is entertain'd Novelty For let but some upstart heresie be set abroach and presently there are some out of a curious humour others as if they watched an occasion of singularity will take it up for canonicall and make it part of their creede and profession whereas solitary truth cannot any where find so ready entertainment but the same Novelty which is esteemed the commendation of errour and makes that acceptable is counted the fault of truth and causes that to be rejected How did the incredulous World gaze at Columbus when hee promised to discover another part of the earth and he could not for a long time by his confidence or arguments induce any of the Christian Princes either to assent unto his opinion or goe to the charges of an experiment Now if he who had such good grounds for his assertion could finde no better entertainement among the wiser sort and upper end of the World 't is not likely then that this opinion which I now deliver shall receive any thing from the men of these dayes especially our vulgar wits but misbeliefe or derision It hath alwayes beene the unhappinesse of new truths in Philosophy to be derided by those that are ignorant of the causes of things and rejected by others whose perversenesse ties them to the contrary opinion men whose envious pride will not allow any new thing for truth which they themselves were not the first inventors of So that I may justly expect to be accused of a pragmaticall ignorance bold ostentation especially since for this opinion Xenophanes a man whose authority was able to adde some credit to his assertion could not escape the like censure from others For Natales Comes speaking of that Philosopher and this his opinion saith thus Nonulli ne nihil scisse videantur aliqua nova monstra in Philosophiam introducunt ut alicujus rei inventores fuisse appareant Some there are who lest they might seeme to know nothing will bring up monstrous absurdities in Philosophy that so afterward they may be famed for the invention of somewhat The same Author doth also in another place
sometimes a great trepidation about the body of the Moone from which wee may likewise argue an Atmo-sphaera since we cannot well conceive what so probable a cause there should be of such an appearance as this Quod radii Solares à vaporibus Lunam ambientibus fuerint intercis◠that the Sunne-beames were broken and refracted by the vapours that encompassed the Moone 6. I may adde the like argument taken from another observation which will be easily tried and granted When the Sunne is eclipsed we discerne the Moone as shee is in her owne naturall bignesse but then she appeares somewhat lesse than when she is in the full though she be in the same place of her supposed excentrick and epicycle and therfore Tycho hath calculated a Table for the Diameter of the divers new Moones But now there is no reason so probable to salve this appearance as to place an orbe of thicker aire neere the body of that Planet which may bee enlightned by the reflected beames and through which the direct rayes may easily penetrate But some may object that this will not consist with that which was before delivered where I said that the thinnest parts had least light If this were true how comes it to passe then that this aire should bee as right as any of the others parts when as t is the thinnest of all I answer if the light be received by reflection only then the thickest body hath most because it is best able to beate backe the rayes but if the light be received by illumination especially if there be an opacous body behinde which may double the beames by reflexion as it is here then I deny not but a thinne body may retaine much light and perhaps some of those appearances which wee take for fiery comets are nothing else but a bright cloud enlightned So that probable it is there may be such aire without the Moone hence it comes to passe that the greater spots are only visible towards her middle parts and none neere the circumference not but that there are some as well in those parts as elsewhere but they are not there perceiveable by reason of those brighter vapours which hide them Proposition 11. That as their world is our Moone so our world is their Moone I Have already handled the first thing that I promised according to the Method which Aristotle uses in his Book de Mundo and shew'd you the necessary parts that belong to this world in the Moone In the next place 't is requisite that I proceed to those things which are extrinsecall unto it as the Seasons the Meteors and the Inhabitants 1. Of the Seasons And if there be such a world in the Moone 't is requisite then that their seasons should bee some way correspondent unto ours that they should have Winter and Summer night and day as we have Now that in this Planet there is some similitude of Winter and Summer is affirmed by Aristotle himselfe since there is one hemispheare that hath alwayes heate and light and the other that hath darknesse and cold True indeed their dayes and yeares are always of one and the same length unlesse we make one of their yeares to be 19 of ours in which space all the Starres doe arise after the same order But t is so with us also under the Poles and therefore that great difference is not sufficient to make it altogether unlike ours nor can we expect that every thing there should be in the same manner as it is here below as if nature had no way but one to bring about her purposes We have no reason then to thinke it necessary that both these worlds should be altogether alike but it may suffice if they be correspondent in something only However it may bee questioned whether it doth not seeme to bee against the wisedome of Providence to make the night of so great a length when they have such a long time unfit for worke I answer no since t is so and more with us also under the poles and besides the generall length of their night is somewhat abated in the bignesse of their Moone which is our earth For this returnes as great a light unto that Planet as it receives from it But for the better proofe of this I shall first free the way from such opinions as might otherwise hinder the speed of a clearer progresse Plutarch one of the chiefe patrons of this world in the Moone doth directly contradict this proposition affirming that those who live there may discerne our world as the dreggs and sediment of all other creatures appearing to them through clouds and foggy mists and that altogether devoid of light being base and unmoveable so that they might well imagine the darke place of damnation to bee here situate and that they onely were the inhabiters of the world as being in the midst betwixt Heaven and Hell To this I may answer 't is probable that Plutarch spake this inconsiderately and without a reason which makes him likewise fall into another absurditie when hee says our earth would appeare immoveable whereas questionlesse though it did not yet would it seeme to move and theirs to stand still as the Land doth to a man in a Shippe according to that of the Poët Provehimur portu terraeque urbesque recedunt And I doubt not but that ingenuous Author would easily have recanted if hee had beene but acquainted with those experiences which men of latter times have found out for the confirmation of this truth 2. Unto him assents Macrobius whose words are these Terra accepto solis lumine clarescit tantummodò non relucet The earth is by the Sunne-beames made bright but not able to enlighten any thing so farre And his reason is because this being of a thick and grosse matter the light is terminated in its superficies and cannot penetrate into the substance whereas the Moone doth therefore seeme so bright to us because it receives the beames within it selfe But the weaknesse of this assertion may bee easily manifest by a common experience for polished steele whose opacity will not give any admittance to the rayes reflects a stronger heate than glasse and so consequently a greater light 3. 'T is the generall consent of Philosophers that the reflection of the Sunne-beames from the earth doth not reach much above halfe a mile high where they terminate the first region so that to affirme they might ascend to the Moone were to say there were but one region of aire which contradicts the proved and received opinion Unto this it may be answered That it is indeed the common consent that the reflexion of the Sunne-beames reach onely to the second region but yet some there are and those too Philosophers of good note who thought otherwise Thus Plotinus is cited by Caelius Si concipias te in sublimi quopiam mundi loco unde oculis subjiciatur terrae moles aquis circumfusa solis syderumque
radiis illustrata non aliam profecto visam iri probabile est quam qualis modo visatur lunaris globi species If you conceive your selfe to bee in some such high place where you might discerne the whole Globe of the earth and water when it was enlightned by the Sunnes rayes 't is probable it would then appeare to you in the same shape as the Moone doth now unto us So Paulus Foscarinus Terra nihil aliud est quà m altera Luna vel Stella talisque nobis appareret si ex convenienti elongatione eminus conspiciretur in ipsaque observari possent eaedem aspectuum varietates quae in Lunâ apparent The earth is nothing else but another Moone or Starre and would appeare so unto us if it were beheld at a convenient distance with the same changes and varieties as there are in the Moon Thus also Carolus Malapertius whose words are these Terra haec nostra si in luna constituti essemus splendida prorsus quasi non ignobilis planeta nobis appareret If wee were placed in the Moone and from thence beheld this our earth it would appeare unto us very bright like one of the nobler Planets Unto these doth Fromondus assent when he sayes Credo equidem quod si oculus quispiam in orbe lunari foret globum terrae aquae instar ingentis syderis à sole illustrem conspiceret I believe that this globe of earth and water would appeare like some great Star to any one who should looke upon it from the Moone Now this could not bee nor could it shine so remarkably unlesse the beames of light were reflected from it And therefore the same Fromondus expresly holds that the first region of ayre is there terminated where the heate caused by reflexion begins to languish whereas the beames themselves doe passe a great way further The chiefe argument which doth most plainely manifest this truth is taken from a common observation which may bee easily tryed If you behold the Moone a little before or after the conjunction when she is in a sextile with the Sunne you may discerne not onely the part which is enlightned but the rest also to have in it a kind of a duskish light but if you chuse out such a situation where some house or chimney being some 70 or 80 paces distant from you may hide from your eye the enlightned hornes you may then discerne a greater and more remarkable shining in those parts unto which the Sunne beames cannot reach nay there is so great a light that by the helpe of a good perspective you may discerne its spots In so much that Blancanus the Jesuite speaking of it sayes Haec experientia ita me aliquando fefellit ut in hunc fulgorem casu ac repente incidens existimarim novo quodam miraculo tempore adolescentis lunae factum esse plenilunium This experiment did once so deceive mee that happening upon the sight of this brightnesse upon a sudden I thought that by some new miracle the Moone had beene got into her full a little after her change But now this light is not proper to the Moone it doth not proceed from the rayes of the Sunne which doth penetrate her body nor is it caused by any other of the Planets and Starres Therefore it must necessarily follow that it comes from the earth The two first of these I have already proved and as for the last it is confidently affirmed by Caelius Quod si in disquisitionem evocet quis an lunari syderi lucem foenerent planetae item alii asseveranter astruendum non foenerare If any should aske whether the other Planets lend any light to the Moone I answer they doe not True indeed the noble Tycho discussing the reason of this light attributes it to the Planet Venus and I grant that this may convey some light to the Moone but that it is not the cause of this whereof wee now discourse is of it selfe sufficiently plaine because Venus is sometimes over the Moone when as shee cannot convey any light to that part which is turned from her It doth not proceed from the fixed starres for then it would retaine the same light in ecclipses whereas the light at such times is more ruddy and dull Then also the light of the Moone would not be greater or lesser according to its distance from the edge of the earths shadow since it did at all times equally participate this light of the starres In briefe this is neither proper to the Moone nor does it proceed from any penetration of the Suns rays or the shining of Venus or the other Planets or the fixed starrs Now because there is no other body in the whole Universe save the earth it remaines that this light must necessarily be caused by that which with a just gratitude repaies to the Moone such illumination as it receives from her And as loving friends equally participate of the same joy and griefe so doe these mutually partake of the same light from the Sunne and the same darkenesse from the eclipses being allo severally helped by one another in their greatest wants For when the Moone is in conjunction with the Sun her upper part receives all the light then her lower Hemispheare which would otherwise be altogether darke is enlightened by the reflexion of the Sunne-beames from the earth When these two Planets are in opposition then that part of the earth which could not receive any light from the Sunne-beames is most enlightened by the Moone being then in her full and as shee doth most illuminate the earth when the Sunne-beames cannot so the gratefull earth returnes to her as great nay greater light when shee most wants it so that alwayes that visible part of the Moone which receives nothing from the Sunne is enlightened by the earth as is proved by Galilaeus with many more arguments in that Treatise which he calls Systema mundi True indeed when the Moone comes to a quartile then you can neither discerne this light nor yet the darker part of her body and that for a double reason 1. Because the neerer it comes to the full the lesse light dos it receive from the earth whose illumination dos always decrease in the same proportion as the Moone dos increase 2. Because of the exuperancy of the light in the other parts Quippe illustratum medium speciem recipit valentiorem the clearer brightnesse involves the weaker it being with the species of sight as it is with those of sound and as the greater noise drowns the lesse so the brighter object hides that which is more obscure But as they do always in their mutuall vicissitudes participate of one anothers light so also doe they partake of the same defects and darknings for when our Moone is eclipsed then is their Sunne darkned and when our Sun is eclipsed thē is their Moon deprived of its light as you may see affirmed by Meslin Quod si