not backt with any necessary demonstration For it proues not thing else but the Earth to bee the Center of all earthie and heauy bodies and not to bee absolutely placed in the exact middle of the world Another reason not much vnlike the former is drawne by some from a finall cause and the naturall harmony of the parts of the world one with the other The Earth say they is of all other bodyes the most vile and sordid Therefore it is agreeable to nature that it should be placed in the middle equally distant from each part of the Heauens that one part might not seeme to complaine of this vnpleasing vicinity more then another But this reason takes as granted to matters as yet not decided First that the Earth amongst all other bodyes is most vile and sordid depending on the ground of Peripateticks that the heauenly bodies suffer no corruption a thing sooner spoken then proued Secondly that pure and impure bodies the most excellent and most vile in nature are alwayes most distant as in nature so in place which is a peremptory assertion without ground A third reason more probable then the former is drawne from the apparences of Starres aboue the Horizon It is manifest that the Starres aboue the Horizon appeare alwayes to bee of one and the selfe-same magnitude and quantity whether in the verticall point or in the East or the West or any other place whence we may collect that they differ equally in distance from the Earth and by consequence the Earth is seated in the middle of the world for if it were otherwise that the Starres in some place should bee neerer in other farther ofâ they would some-where seeme greater otherwhere lesser according to the grounds of the Opticks This reason howsoeuer popular seemes to admit a two-fold exception First because it implies that a man standing on the superficies of the Earth is equally distant from all places and parts of the Heauens whereas the heauens in the Horizon are farther distant by reason of a whole semidiameter of the earth interposed Secondly all Starres arising in the East or setting in the West ordinarily seeme greater then in the Verticall point by reason of vapours ascending and interposed Whence wee cannot well gather the Earth to bee seated in the middest from the like apparence of the Starres when experience teacheth the coÌtrary that they seeme not alwayes of the like magnitude Concerning the first we answer that the Semidiameter of the earth interposed betwixt the Superficies and Center is in it selfe greater But this as wee shall proue in respect of the Heauens is so little that the sense cannot gather any difference in obseruation of the Starres but that they should alwayes appeare of the like magnitude Concerning the second wee must needs acknowledge that vapours ascending about the Horizon by an Opticall Refraction make the Starres seeme greater then other wise they would doe But the reason may bee vnderstood in this sort that whether a âan be placed in the same Horizon where the Sunne is when hee riseth or vnder that Horizon where the Sunne is now vnder his Meridian or vnder that horizon where hee is setting hee will appeare to bee of one and the selfe-same greatnesse without any sensible difference Whereas therefore they speake of the appearance of Starres they would haue them taken as abstracted from all impediments of sight or interposed vapours and so the reason may obtaine her force The fourth reason why the earth should bee seated in the midst alleaged by Ptolomie and others is this wheresoeuer any man stands on the Surface of the Earth six signes of the Zodiacke will shew themselues and the other six signes will lye hid and by consequence halfe the heauens will appeare the other halfe will bee vnder which is an euident reason that the Earth is in the midst for otherwise it could not so happen The former is confirmed by Ptolomie Alphraganus and the best Astronomers the consequence may bee inferred out of naturall reason This argument will sufficiently hold vpon this supposition mentioned before and to bee proued hereafter That the Earth hauing no sensible magnitude in respect of the Firmament no sensible difference can shew it selfe betwixt the Sensible and the Rationall Horizon Besides these reasons which make the matter more then probable others are produced by Ptolomie demonstratiue âot admitting any euident or probable exception or euasion The first is this If the Earth bee placed out of the Center of the world it must haue of necessity one of these three Sites or positions Either it must be in the plaine of the Equinoctiall or at least it must bee placed not onely without the plaine of the Equinoctiall but without the Axell-tree That is to expresse it plainer It must either bee placed beside the Axell-tree yet equally distant from both the Poles or else it must bee on the Axell-tree and so consequently neerer to one Pole then the other or thirdly it must needs be beside the Axell-tree yet neerer to one Pole then another If the first position were admitted these absurdities would of necessity follow First that in a right Spheare there would happen no Equinoctiall but onely in that Horizon which passeth by the Center of the world for example sake âet there be imagined a Spheare BDCE whose Center is A let the Equator bee DE the Axel-tree of the world BC and let the Earth bee in F the right Horizon HG not passing by the Center of the world A which shall bee parallell to the Axis BC since the Equator cuts the Horizon in right angles It is most manifest that not only the equatour but other parallells of the same will bee vnequally diuided of the Horizon for as much as it passeth not by the Center or the Poles of the world wherefore it must needs follow that the dayes must continually be vnequall to the nights which contradicts all experience because in a right Spheare the dayes are alwayes found to bee equall to the nights Secondly out of this position it would follow that no man in a right Spheare should behold the halfe or hemispheare of the heauens but either a greater or lesser part as may be demonstrated out of the same Diagramme whereas sense can testifie that six signes of the Zodiacke are alwayes conspicuous aboue our Horizon and the other six alwayes hid only excepting that Horâzon which passeth by the Center of the Earth wherein the Mediety of Heauen is conspicuous Thirdly the same Starres in a cleere aire should not alwaies seeme of the same magnitude for if the earth be placed in the Equinoctiall plaine and beside the Axis of the world toward the Zenith or Meridian the Starres which are in the Meridian will appeare greater then in the East or West because they are neerer But if it bee placed neere the Nadir or midnight point they will appeare greater in the East or West then in the Meridian if it should bee placed towards
the last of the parallells there will be one only equinoxe that in the Solstice in an oblique spheare in all other parts of the yeere the dayes would either be longer or else shorter then the nights But if the Globe of the Earth bee seated within the parallells in the point N there would be two Equinoxes in a yeere wherein the spaces of dayes and nights should increase and decrease Neuerthelesse these increments decrements should neither in number nor in greatnesse be equal to the increments and decrements of the nights as may be gathered very easily by sense comparing the two Triangles DNG and QNK because that more and greater segments of parallels are comprehended in the Triangle LNK then in the Triangle PNG. Fourthly if the Earth should vnequally respect the Poles and were not placed in the Center the shadowes of Gnomons erected which make right angles with the Horizon should not bee cast directly forward in one right line in the time of the Equinoxes the Sunne exactly placed in the East or West as for example let the earth be A seated in the plaine of the Equinoctiall circle BC and let there bee a Gnomon erected on the plaine of the Horizon which is represented by the circle BC It is manifest to sense that the sun setting in C the shaddowes will be cast in the opposite part towards B. Likewise the Sunne rising in B will cast his shadow towards C. But AC and AB concurre in one right line which plainely demonstrats vnto vs that the earth is seated in the plaine of the Equinoctiall But if it were placed out of it towards either side as in E if a Gnomon be set vp on the Horizon as EF wee shall see that the Sunne rising in B in the time of the Equinoctiall the shaddow will bee directed by the line EG likewise the Sun setting in C the shaddow will make the right line EH But these two right lines being produced will cut one the other in the point E and therefore cannot concurre in the same right line whereof ordinary experience witnesseth the contrary Fifthly if the Earth were thus placed it would follow by necessary consequence that two signes of the Zodiacke diametrally opposite should not be seene by a Dioptricke instrument which is against experience which witnesseth that the rising and setting of the Sunne may be seene by one right line also the rising in the Summer Solstice and the setting in the Winter Solstice to answer to each other in one right line in euery Horizon which could not bee performed vnlesse the Earth were in the Equinoctiall plaine and the Center Let there bee aâ Horizon BDCE the Equator BC the Axel-tree of the world DE the Tropicke of Cancer FG of Capricorne HI Let the Earth first bee placed in the Center A here may plainely bee perceaued that the Equinoctiall East B and the Equinoctiall West C answer and concurre in the right line BC also that the East point of the Summer Solstice F and the West of the Winter Solstice I to concurre in the same right line FI also the Winter East point H and the Summer Westerne point G to answer mutually one to the other by the same line GH Which Apparence is confirmed of all Astronomers Now let the Earth be set in the Axis out of the Equatour in K It is manifest to sense that the contrary will alwayes happen For the Winter point of the Sunne setting I by a right line drawn from the Earth will not directly answer to the Summer point of rising F but to the point L. Likewise the Winter point of Sunne-setting G will answer to the point M and not to the Winter rising H. Whence wee haue sufficiently demonstrated this second position of the Earth beside the Center of the World to be inconuenient and no wayes to bee defended For the third position that the earth should be so remoued out of the Center as that it should neither be in the Equinoctiall plaine nor yet in the Axell-tree Wee need produce no other confutation then what wee haue said before of the other two positions Because out of this the same or greater absurdities would follow then of the other as any man may easily vnderstand out of these demonstrations wee haue before recited The second demonstratiue reason wherewith Ptolomy would confirme the Earth to be in the Center is drawne from the Ecclipse of the Moone in this manner If the Earth were not in the Center of the World there would not alwayes happen Eclipses of the Moone when the two greater lights are diametrally opposed but sometime they would happen when these great lights are not residing in opposite places of the Zodiack which is false and against experience for all Astronomers haue witnessed that eclipses of the Moone then only are seene when the Sunne the Moone stand directly opposite the one to the other because then is the earth directly interposed Now let the Center of the world be A in which if the Earth bee placed it is manifest that it then happens when the Sunne and the Moone are exactly opposed and the earth interposed directly which in this case cannot otherwise happen But if the Earth bee placed beside the Center of the world as in B. These things may fall out that the two Luminaries may reside in two opposite points of the Zodiack and yet cause no eclipse because the Earth is not in the same Diameter by the which they ââe opposed Also the Moone will sometimes suffer an Eclipse when shee is lesse distant from the Sunne then a semicircle In a word this eclypse is in places opposite A semicircle will then only be seene when the Diameter of opposition shall passe by the Center of the Earth and the world all which are manifestly repugnant to experience and obseruation Out of this demonstration of Ptolomy Clauius a later Astronomer in this sort drawes the like conclusion Let there be obserued two diuers eclipses of the Moon in diuerse places of the Zodiack Now because each Eclipse hapened when the Sun and the Moone were opposed the one to the other in one Diameter as Experience Astronomicall supputations warrant it must necessarily bee concluded that the earth should bee in each of those Diameters and so by consequence in the common section of them both Sith then all the Diameters of the world concurre and cut one the other in the Center it must needs follow that the Earth should bee in the Center and midst of the World Diuerse reasons there may bee drawne to proue this assertion But these demonstrations of Ptolomy as I haue set them downe enlarged and explained by our later writers may seeme sufficient especially in a matter of few called in question 2 The Position of the Earth in the Center of the World may be reconciled as well with the Diurnall motion of the Earth forementioned as the Apparences of the Heauens That this proposition may the better bee
meaning is not in this Treatise to handle the nature and propieties of these two Elements Water Earth farther then may seeme necessary for the Geographicall constitution of the Terrestriall Spheare leauing the rest to the Naturall Philosopher because it is supposed that few men vndertake the study of this Science without some insight in the other And to speake truth this begins where the Naturall Philosopher ends Yet because some light in each learning is necessarily required ând all men are not willing to seeke farther into the grounds of Naturall Philosophie it will not seeme altogether impertinent to lay the foundation farther off that the building thereon erected may stand surer and stronger Wherefore taking some beginning from the matter of the Earthly Globe wee haue distinguished it into Earth and Water as those parts whereof the whole Globe is not essentially compounded as one intire body in it selfe but rather coâceruated and compacted together each part retaining its owne nature and proprieties without any proper mixture To expresse more fully the constitution of this Spheare we are here to distinguish betwixt the first and second matter The first matter was that vniuersall chaos or masse out of which all bodies both Celestiall and Elementary were made and formed as wee read in the first of Genesis Which whether it be the same with Aristotle's Materia prima as some haue imagined I leaue to others to dispute The second matter of the Globe is either Proper or Accidentall The proper we call that whereof the Globe of the Earth most properly consists such as are the two Elements of Earth and Water The Accidentall matter is vnderstood of all other bodies contained in the superficies of the said Spheare as Stones Mettals Minerals and such like materials made of a Terrestriall substance and engendred in the wombe of the Earth Concerning the Earth and Water which we make the most proper and essentiall parts of the Spheare we will set downe these two Theoremes 1 In the Terrestriall Spheare is more Earth then Water The Theoreme may bee proued by sundry reasons drawne from Nature and Experience Whereof the first may bee taken from the depth of the waters compared with the whole thicknes of the Earth For the ordinary depth of the Sea is seldome found to be aboue 2 or 3 miles and in few places 10 furlongs which make a mile and a quarter And albeit some late Writers haue imagined the obseruation to be vnderstood only of straight and narrow Seas and not of the maine Ocean yet granting it to amount ãâã 10 20 or 30 miles it cannot reach to so great a quantity as to come neere the greatnes of the Earth For the whole circle of the Terrestriall Spheare being 21600 English miles allowing 60 English miles to a degree of a greater circle wee shall find the Diameter to bee about 7200 miles Whose semi-diameter measuring the distance betweene the center and the superficies of the Earth will be 3600 miles And if any man suppose some of the quantity to be abated because of the Sphericall swelling of the Water aboue the Earth whose Circle must be greater than that of the Earth We answer first that this may challenge some abatement but not come neere any equality of the Water with the Earth Secondly it is to bee imagined that the surface of the Sea howsoeuer as it is painted in Globes and Charts it seeme for a great part empty and vnfurnished of Ilands yet this for the greatest part seeme rather to bee ascribed to mans ignorance and want of true discouery because many quillets and parcels of land lye yet vnknowne to our Christian World and therefore omitted and not figured in ouâ ordinary Mappes So wee find a great quantity of Earth which lay hid and vnknowne without discouery in the dayeâ of Ptolomy which caused him to contract curtaile the Earth in his Geographicall descriptions Which defect hath been since that time supplyed by the industrious trauailes and Nauigations of later time such as were of Portugals English and Hollanders especially of Columbus the Italian who as one wittily alluding to his name like Noah's Doue plucking an oliue branch from this Land gaue testimony of a portion of Land as yet vnknowne and left naked vnto discouery And no question can be made but a great quantity of land not yet detected by our European Nauigators awaites the industry of this age To which alludes the Poët in these Verses Venient annis secula seris Quibus Oceanus vincula rerum Laxet ingens pateat tellus Typhiâque nouos detegat orbes Nec sit terris vltima Thule In after-yeeres shall Ages come When th'Oecean shall vnloose the bands Of things and shew vast ample lands New Worlds by Sea-men shall be found Nor Thule be the vtmost bound Another reason to proue the Earth to be greater in quantity may bee drawne from the mixture of Earth and Water for if these two Elements should meet in the same quantity challenge an equality questionlesse the whole Earth would proue ouer-moist âlymie and vnapt for habitation Which any man may easily obserue by his owne experience For let a portion of Earth another of Water be mixt together in the same quantity the whole masse will seeme no other than a heap of mire or slime without any solid or consisting substance Moreouer the Water being no other than a thin and fluid body hardly containing it selfe within its own bounds or limits as Aristotle teacheth vs must needs require a hard and solid body whereon to support it selfe which body must of necessity bee greater in quantity 2 The Earth and Water together make one Spheare It may bee probably collected from sundry places of holy Scripture that in the first Creation the surface of the Earth being round and vniforme was ouerwhelmed and compassed round with Waters as yet vnfurnished of liuing Creatures Secondly it appeares that Almighty GOD afterwards made a separation betwixt the Waters and Dry-Land This separation aâ farre as reason may bee admitted as Iudge seemes to bee effected one of these two wayes Either by giuing super-naturall bounds and limits vnto the Waters not suffering them to inuade the Dry-land or els by altering the superficies of the Earth casting it into inequall parts so that some-where some parts of it being taken away empty channels or concauities might be left to receiue the Waters other-where by heaping vp the parts so taken away whence were caused Mountaines and eminent places on the earth The former of these wayes seemes altogether improbable forasmuch as it is very vnlikely to imagine that God in the first institution of Nature should impose a perpetuall violence vpon Nature as hereafter in place more conuenient shall bee demonstrated Wherefore taking the later as more consonant to reason we shall find that the Water the Earth separated and diuided make not two separate and distinct ãâã Globes but one and the same Spheare forasmuch as
the Persians was there obserued an Ecclipse at the fifth houre of the night which selfe-same Ecclipse was seene in Carthage at the second which to any man appeares plainly in this figure here inserted In like manner an Ecclipse of the Sunne at Campania which was obserued betwixt 8 and 9. was as Pliny reports seene in Armenia betwixt 10 and 11 of the clocke Whence may be gathered that this difference of appearance arose from the roundnesse of the Earth interposing it selfe betwixt these two places Another reason to proue the Spericall figure of the Earth is drawne from the Ecclipse of the Moone wherein the obscured point is described by a Sphericall figure which must needs argue that the body which causeth the shadow is also round For as the Optickes teach vs the shadow is wont to follow and imitate the opacous body whence it proceedes and all men confesse that the Ecclipse of the Moone is made by the interposition of the Spheare of the Earth betwixt the Sun Moone intercepting the beames of the Sun which should illustrate lighten the Moone The third reason may be taken from the absurdities which would follow should we admit any other figure besides For granting it to be plaine as some of the Platonists haue imagined it would necessarily follow in reason 1 That the Eleuation of the Pole would bee the same in all the parts of the Earth 2 That there Would bee the same face and appearance of the Heauens in all places 3 That the Sunne and Moone with other starres would in all places arise alike at the same houres 4 That all Ecclipses would appeare to all places at the same houres 5 That the same quantity of dayes nights would bee at all places 6 That the shadowes would bee euery where alike and one Region would not bee hotter or colder then another all which would plainly stand opposite to reason and experience As many or more would proue the absurdities of those that ascribe to the Earth any other figure then Sphericall Which I willingly passe ouer as not willing to fight with shadowes and faigne an opposition where I scarce finde an aduersary These reasons are sufficient to proue that the whole masse of the Earth is Sphericall Diuers other popular arguments may be drawne from the finall cause to countenance this Assertion For no other figure can bee assigned to the Earth which can more vphold the order of Nature or speake the wisdome of the Omnipotent Creator 1 Because such a Figure would best beseeme the Earth the seate and dwelling-place of all liuing Creatures which is most capable because otherwise the God of Nature would seeme to doe something in vaine and without cause Forasmuch as the same capacity might bee confined within stricter bounds Now it is apparant to all Mathematicians that amongst all those figures which they call Isoperââetrall a Circle is the most capable and amongst the rest those which approâch neerest vnto a circle And as wee esteeme of a circle described in a plaine surfâce so must we iudge in solides of a Spheare Which profitable Geometry of Nature wee shall finde instilled into most liuing Creatures who by a certaine Naturall Instinct without the vse of Reason make their Nests and resting-places of a Sphericall Figure as most conuenient and of greatest capacity as experience shewes vs in the Nests of Birds and Bee-Hiues wherein the cells are fashioned round Sphericall 2 We shall find the holy Scriptures consonant to this opinion in diuers places but that it might seeme impiety to vse those sacred helpes in a matter out of controuersie and needing no such Demonstration 2 The rugged and vnequall parts of the Earth hinder not the Sphericall roundnesse of it It is thought by ignorant people that the Earth is not round because of the rugged and vneuen parts of the superficies of it For some-where it swells with great and high mountaines rocks and hills Other-where it seemes indented and as it were trenched into valleyes concauities all which seeme to detract from a true Sphericall superficies because in such a one euery line drawne from the Center to it should bee equall one to the other Indeed that the Globe of the Earth is not Absolutely and Geometrically round as an Artificiall Spheare is confessed by Eratosthenes cited by Strabo in his 1 booke of Geographie whence Pliny in his â booke cap. 21. saith that the Earth Water make one Globe not so absolutely round as the Heauens but much different ãâã also Strabo confirmes This proposition depending on these 3 reasons which follow will shew that this Inequality how great soeuer it seeme to the sight is altogether insensible and bearing no proportion with the huge vastnesse of the whole Earth The first is taken from the perpendicular hight of the greatest and highest mountaine which is seldome or neuer found to exceed 10 miles although few Mathematicians will grant so much whereas the whole Diameter of the Earth containes no lesse thân 7200 English miles so that these hils compared to the thicknes of the Earth are but âs 10 to 7200 which indeed hath no sensible proportion The second is taken from the Ecclipse of the Moone which being caused by the shadow of the interposed Earth is described by a Sphericall figure without any vnequall or rugged parts which no doubt would appeare if these parts challenge any due proportion or sensible quantity in respect of the whole Earth Thirdly some haue illustrated this by a round bowle or ball whose externall surface although vnequall and indented here there with scotches other-where swelling with knobs will notwithstanding being interposed betwixt the Sun-beame and a wall or such place giue a round or Sphericall shadow in the same wall or plaine in regard of the little quantity of these small parts in respect of the whole Body In like sort must wee imagine the mountaines and vnequall parts in the face of the Earth to bee no otherwise then as so many warts or pimples in the face of man which cannot alter his duâ proportion or symmetry of the parts 3 The Water concurring with the Earth in the Globe is also Sphericall It is a proposition agreed on by Archimedes and almost all the ancient Mathematicians of any note that the superficies of the Water or any other liquor standing and subsisting quietly of it seâfe is Sphericall whose center will bee the same with the center of the whole Earth which we are here to handle because it appertaines to the making vp of the Terrestriall Globe although wee shall haue occasion hereafter to speake specially concerning the Water in Hydrographie in the second part of this Treatise The reasons to confirme this assertion beside those that in generall proue the Sphericity of the Terrene globe are diuers 1 It is obserue that Passengers in a Ship lanching out into the deepe from some Hauen will first perceiue the Towers Buildings Castles Promontories and Trees standing
as a giant to runne his course 6 His going forth is from the end of the Heauens and his circuite vnto the ends of it and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof Out of which words the Heauens should seeme to challenge the motion which wee haue giuen vnto the Earth To this we answer two wayes First that although this may oppugne Copernicus his opinion that the Sunne standeth still in the middest as the center of the World yet may it well stand with our Assertion who allow the Sunne his seuerall motion in the Eclipticke whether those words of the Psalme bee to bee vnderstood of the Sunnes Diurnall or Periodicke Motion is not so soone decided the Scripture not specifying expressely either 2 we may answer with the Copernicâns That the Holy Ghost in these or the like places speakes ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã being willing to descend to the weakest of mens capacity and not to trouble mens conceits with such matters as to vulgar iudgements might seeme vnlikely or improbable The like Analogie of speech may wee finde in the first of Genesis where the Moone is called one of the greater lights in regard of her appearance being notwithstanding one of the least These may suffice to shew the opinion of the earths circular motion to bee probable I promised no more I hope I haue performed no lesse I neuer held it an article of my faith to defend the one or oppugne the other and therefore leaue euery man to his owne free iudgement to embrace or reiect what he please CHAP. V. Of the Site Stability and Proportion of the Earth 1 OF Terrestriall affections which agree in respect of the Earth it selfe wee haue hitherto spoken We are now to treate of such as agree to it in respect of the Heauens These are chiefly three 1 The Site 2 The Stability 3 The Proportion 2 The Site is the locall position of the Earth in respect of the Celestiall Bodyes It might seeme a hard and almost impossible taske for any man to reconcile that which hath beene spoken in the former Chapter concerning the Earths circular Reuolution with the grounds of common Geographers which hold the Terrestriall Globe to bee setled and fixed in the Center of the world The reason is because such as hold the circular motion of the Earth whereof the chiefe is Copernicus would haue the Sun to stand still as the fixt Center of the Vniuerse and the Earth to moue round about him betwixt Mars and Venus which seemes cleane opposite to the former opinion I must confesse that Copernicus his opinion entirely taken and vnderstood standeth altogether opposite to these our grounds yet may that motion of the Earth which we haue established in the former Chapter for ought I yet know bee well reconciled with their opinion which hold the Earth to bee the Center of the world For the circular Reuolution wee gaue to the Terrestriall Globe was not a motion of the Center of it from one place to another as that of the Starres which moue round about the Earth but rather a turning of it selfe in its owne place vpon her owne Poles and Axell-tree in such sort as the wheele of a mill or such a like engin fixt in one place is turned vpon his owne Axell So that the motion wee there vnderstood was only the Diurnall motion of 24 houres making the Day and Night The other two motions mentioned by Copernicus may be found out in the Heauens and left to Astronomers The reasons why I entirely embrace not Copernicus his opinion are chiefely two First because it seemes too harsh and dissonant in nature to make one and the selfe-same body subiect to so many motions especially such as by common Philosophers is denied all motion Secondly because the other motions granted to the Earth must needs suppose it to bee placed out of the Center of the world the contrary of which we shall in this Chapter God willing sufficiently demonstrate The motion therefore most called in question and most likely to bee found in the Earth rather then in the Heauen is the Diurnall Reuolution performed in 24 houres from the West to East which as we haue proued being giuen to the Heauens would be farre swifter then nature can well suffer wherefore with more probability may this motion bee taken from the heauens and giuen vnto the Earth The other without any absurdity at all may be granted in the Heauens Sith no repugnancy is found in nature but that euery heauenly body may be furnished with some motion and therefore Copernicus might haue granted the Sun and fixed Starres their seuerall motions as well as the rest which would haue seemed farre more probable then to haue endowed the Earth with a Triplicity of motion These things being thus opened I will set downe their Theoremes 1 The Terrestriall Globe is the Center of the whole world To vnderstand aright this proposition wee must consider that a Center may be taken two manner of wayes either Geometrically or Optically In Geometry it is taken for an imaginary point conceiued in a magnitude deuoyde of all quantity yet bounding and termining all Magnitudes Optically it is vsually taken for a small and insensible Magnitude because to the fight it may seeme no other then a Point In which last sense we may call the Earth the Center For although the Earthly Spheare is endowed with a great and massie substance yet as we shall hereafter demonstrate in respect of the Firmament this greatnesse would vanish into nothing For if a man standing in the Firmament should behold it it would seeme no other then as a small point This being declared wee will produce these reasons to proue the Earth to be the Center of the Vniuerse The Center I say not of all heauenly motions for some Starres are moued vpon their own Center but of the whole heauenly machine being collectiuely taken as one Body The first argument is of Aristotle taken from the grauity or naturall inclination of all heauy bodies to the Center The Earth saith he being a heauy massie body must needs seeke the lowest place which is farthest off from the Heauens But this can be no other then the Center or middest point of the whole world Which argument by others is more subtily vrged in this manner Suppose the whole masse of the Earth were cut and diuided into many parts equall the one to the other of the same waight and figure which parts so diuided were placed in diuers places vnder the concaue Superficies of the Moone that they might be freely left to themselues to moue according to their naturall inclinations It is most certaine that all their parts being of the same nature waight quantity and figure would descend with the same motion in the same equall time to the same place which could in no wise happen except they should concurre in the Center of the world But this reason for ought I vnderstand is only probable and
giuen of them both For as much as if the Pole-starre in Eudozus time moued in a Parallell Equidistant from the Pole of the Equatour which he seemes to contend then must also the stars of Aries which were found once to bee in the point of the vernall Equinoxe moue alwayes in the Equinoctiall circle and neuer vary from it which is contrary to all the Testimonies before alleadged Secondly where he saith that Copernicus perceiuing this error left a base discouery without any Demonstration except onely ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã I would know how Ioseph Scaliger by any other meanes came to know it I alwayes supposed it a principle amongst Mathematicians that the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã had beene the surest ground of Mathematicall Demonstration for euery reason which can be alleadged must of necessity bee grounded on meere coniecture as forged in a mans braine without any obseruation of Nature or else suggested vnto vs from the things themselues How little dependency is on the Former let euery man iudge where it is as easie for euery man to deny as affirme and such fancies are better reserued in the braine wherein they were first hatched then bee suffered to proceed further If wee deriue our Argument as we ought to doe from the footsteppes of Nature wee must draw it either from the Forme it selfe or from some effect or propriety arising from it The former is vnpossible I may well say in any thing because the first forme and nature no wayes discouers it selfe to our vnderstanding but by the apparent Accidents much lesse can this bee hoped for in the Heauens being as far distant from vs in space as Nature If then we are left only to the later what other ground can we haue of our Argumentation then the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Apparences which kind of way Scaliger in Copernicus striues to sleight or reiect as weake or deficient taking then this to bee the onely way to search as neere as wee can into the truth of their matters wee will in the third place shew how far it may oppose Scaliger and fauour our Assertion That the first Star of Aries is more distant from the Equinoctiall point is a matter which seemes to bee agreed on by all sides This Apparence must necessarily arise out of some Motion This Motion must bee sought either in the Earth as Copernicus would haue or in the Heauens That it cannot with any great probability bee in the Earth wee haue shewed in the third Chapter where wee haue proued it to haue a Magneticall verticity whereby it continually respects the same Poles The Arguments I confesse are only probable but this is an opinion which Scaliger defendeth not If wee seeke this effect in the Heauens it must of necessity which Scaliger confesseth happen one of these 2 wayes For either the stars standing vnmoueable the Equinoctiall Solstitiall points must bee moued or els the stars themselues should moue as Ptolomy defends Here I cannot but remember a merry answer of that great Atlas of Arts Sir Henry Sauile in the like question Being once inuited vnto his Table and hauing entred into some familiar discourses concerning Astronomicall suppositions I asked him what he thought of the Hypothesis of Copernicus who held the Sunne to stand fixt and the Earth to bee subiect to a Triple Motion His answer was hee cared not which were true so the Apparences were solued and the accompt exact sith each way either the old of Ptolomy or the new of Copernicus would indifferently serue an Astronomer Is it not all one saith he sitting at Dinner whether my Table be brought to mee or I goe to my Table so I eat my meat Such an answer would aswell befit this question whether the first star of Aries should bee moued from the Equinoctiall point or the point from it 't is a matter should little trouble a Cosmographer so either way might indifferently serue to salue the apparent obseruations But how Scaliger vpon this granted supposition would make all whole without disturbing the order and forme of Nature in the celestiall Machine what Regular motion he would giue the Sunne whose period describes the Equinoctiall points which he makes moueable what other Poles he would assigne to the world besides that of the Equator is a matter of a more curious search and besides the limits of my subiect The full discussion of which points as most of the rest Illis relinquo quorum imagines lambunt Hederae sequaces 17 The lesser Parallels are equidistant lines answering to the Equator which diuide the Globe of the Earth into two vnequall parts 18 These lesser Parallels are againe of two sorts either Named or Namelesse Named are such as are called by speciall names and haue more speciall vse in Geographie such as are the two Tropicks and the two Polar circles 19 The Tropicks are Parallels bounding the Suns greatest declination which is either to the North and is called the Tropicke of Cancer or towards the South and is called the Tropicke of Capricorne The Tropickes haue taken their names from the conuersion or turning backe of the Sunne because the Sunne declining from the Equinoctiall circle either North or South proceedeth in his course no further then this circle and so turneth backe so that in the heauens they are as limits and bounds comprehending within them that space without the which the Sunne neuer moues Consonant to these Celestiall Tropicks are there imagined in the earth the like immediately placed vnder them which are apparent not onely by Application of the Celestiall Globe and his parts to the Terrestriall but also out of the Magneticall disposition of the earth as wee haue already shewed The Tropicke bounding the Suns greatest declination towards the North is called the Tropicke of Cancer because the Sunne arriuing at that Tropicke is lodged in the signe of Cancer The other is termed the Tropicke of Capricorne because the Sunne touching that Tropicke is in that signe The distance of these Tropickes from the Equatour is ordinarily put 23 Degrees and 30 Minutes which is also the distance of the Poles of the Eclipticke from the Poles of the world The Tropick of Cancer as it is conceiued in the Earth passeth by the greater Asia by the Red-Sea or Sinus Arabicus and China and India But the Tropicke of Capricorne situate on the Southerne side runneth along by the most Southerne coast of Africke and that part of America which is called Brasilia Besides many Ilands in the Indian Sea 2 The Polar circles are Parallels answering to the Polar circles of the Heauens drawne by the Poles of the Eclipticke These are of two sorts either the Articke compassing round the North-Pole or the Antarticke compassing round the Antarticke or South Pole The Polar Circles as they are conceiued in the heauens by Astronomers are described by the Poles of the Eclipticke carried by the diurnall motion about the Poles of the world Correspondent to these circles in the heauens
the foure first qualities of Heate Cold Drouth and Moisture whereon depends a great part of the disposition not only of the soyle but also of mans body for as much as the one ordinarily borrowes his fruitfulnesse or barrennesse of these first qualities and the other hath his vitall Organes which are the ministers of the Soule much affected with them in so much as some Philosophers haue vndertaken to define all the differences of mens wits and intellectuall faculties out of the Temperament of the braine according to these foure accidents And what Physitian will not acknowledge all these Qualities and their mixture to challenge an extraordinary preheminence in the disposition and constitution of mans body whose mixture is the first ground of health or sicknesse The second meanes whereby the Heauens may cause a diuersity of temper in diuerse places is from the speciall Influences of some particular Starres and constellations incident to particular places for it were blockish to imagine that so many various Starres of diuerse colours and magnitudes should bee set in the Firmament to no other vse then to giue light to the world and distinguish the times sith the ordinary Physitian can easily discouer the Moones influence by the increase of humours in mans body and the experience of Astrologers will warrant much more by their obseruation as assigning to each particular aspect of the Heauens a particular and speciall influence and operation Now it is euident that all aspects of the Heauens cannot point out and designe all places alike for as much as the beames wherein it is conueyed are somewhere perpendicularly other where obliquely darted and that more or lesse according to the place whence it commeth to passe that neither all places can enioy the same Temperament nor the same measure and proportion Yet wee say not that the heauenly bodyes haue any power to impose a Necessitie vpon the wills and dispositions of men but onely an inclination For the Starres worke not Immediatly on the intellectuall part or minde of man but Mediatly so farre forth as it depends on the Temperament and materiall organes of the body But of this wee shall especially speake hereafter Where God willing shall bee opened the manner of this celestiall operation By this wee may vnderstand how farre the Heauens haue power to cause a diuersity in Places and Nations The second reason may bee the Imbred Quality Figure and Site of the Places themselues For that there is another cause of diuersity besides the situation of places in respect of the Heauens may easily bee proued out of experience for wee finde that places situate vnder the same Latitude partake of a diuerse and opposite Temper and disposition as the middle of Spayne about Toledo which is very hot and the Southermost bound of Virginia which is found to bee Temperate betwixt both All which notwithstanding are vnder the selfe-same Latitude or very neere without any sensible degree of difference also we sometimes finde places more Southward toward the Equatour to partake more of cold then such as are more Notherne as the Toppes of the Alps being perpetually couered with Snow are without question colder then England although they lye neerer to the equinoctiall Likewise Aluares reporteth that hee saw Ice vpon the water in the Abyssines Countrey in the month of Iuly which notwithstanding is neere or vnder the Line And Martin Frobisher relates that he found the ayre about Friezland more cold stormy about 61 degrees then in other places neere 70 degrees Wherefore we must needs ascribe some effect and operation to the soyle it selfe first in respect of the Superficies which is diuersly varied with Woods Riuers Marishes Rockes Mountaines Valleyes Plaines whence a double variety ariseth first of the foure first Qualities which is caused by the Sunne-beames being diuersly proiected according to the conformity of the place Secondly of Meteors and Exhalations drawne vp from the Earth into the Aire both which concurring must needs cause a great variety in mans disposition according to that prouerbe Athenis tenâe coelum Thebis crassum or that bitter taunt of the Poet on Boeotians Boeotum in crasso iurares aëre natum For ordinary experience will often shew that a thinne and sharp ayre vsually produceth the best witts as contrariwise grosse and thicke vapours drawne from muddie and marish grounds thicken and stupifie the spirits and produce men commonly of blockish and hoggish dispositions and natures vnapt for learning and vnfit for ciuill conuersation Secondly there must needs be granted to speciall Countreyes certaine Specificall qualities which produce a certaine Sympathie or Antipathie in respect of some things or others whence it commeth to passe that some plants and hearbs which of their owne accord spring out of the Earth in some Countreyes are found to pine wither in others some Beasts and Serpents are in some places seldome knowne to breed or liue wherewith notwithstanding other Regions swarme in abundance as for example Ireland wherein no Serpent or venomous worme hath beene knowne to liue whereby Africa and many other Countreyes finde no small molestation Neither is this variety onely shewne in the diuersity of the kindes but also in the variation of things in the same kinde whereof we might produce infinite examples For who knowes not which is a Physition that many simples apt for medicine growing in our land come farre short in vertue of those which are gathered in other countreyes I need amongst many ordinary instances giue no other then in our Rubarb and Tobacco whereof the former growing in our Countrey except in case of extremity is of no vse with our Physitians the other as much scorned of our ordinary Tobacconists yet both generally deriued from the true mother the Indies in great vse and request But of this last Instances are most common and yet for their ignorance of the true cause most admirable The causes of the former might in some sort bee found out either in the Heauens or in the Elementary nâture of the Earth But some speciall proprieties haue discouered themselues which cannot be imagined to owe their cause to either but to some third originall which the Physicians in their Simples more properly tearme virtus specifica If any man should demand why countreyes farther from the course of the Sunne should be found hotter then some which are neerer Why the Rhenish wine Grape transported from Germany into Spaine should yeeld vs the Sherry Sacke Euery ordinary Phylosopher which hath trauelled little beyond Aristotles Materia Prima will bee ready to hammer out a cause as ascribing the former to the Heigth or Depression of the soyle the latter to the excesse of heat in Spaine aboue that of Germany But should wee farther demand 1 why Ireland with some other Regions indure no venemous thing 2 Why Wheat in S. Thomas Iland should shut vp all into the Blade and neuer beare graine 3 Why in the same Iland no fruit which hath any stone in
the Scripture especially in the 8 of the Prouerbs and the 103 Psalme where God is said to haue set a bound vpon the seas which they should not passe But this reason seemes not warrantable That the great Creator of all things should in the first institution of Nature impose a perpetuall violence vpon Nature Moreouer all miracles are temporary and not perpetuall for then were it ordinary and so scarce a miracle others vpon lesse ground haue imagined that there are certaine Northerne starres in Vrsa maior and Draco of so great vertue that they can draw the Ocean from this habitable part of the earth toward the North and so constraine the waters that they cannot ouerwhelme the earth but this opinion is ridiculous and deserues no solide refutation being a meere coniecture without ground or probability others vpon the like reason haue dreamed that there is more Water then Earth in the Globe and that the water by his extraordinary masse occupying the center of the world turnes the earth on one side making it to swimme as a ship vpon the sea But this assertion wee haue refuted in our first Chapter of the first booke All these Authors suppose that the earth is vncouered toward the North-Pole but ouerflowne with waters towards the South which the experience of Nauigatours at this day hath sufficiently disanulled Others againe affirming out of a Peripateticall dreame that the water is ten times greater then the earth suppose the earth to bee like a sponge to drinke vp the water to proue which assertion they produce an experiment that the earth being digged any thing deepe in most places there will appeare water whence they collect that the water is mixt with the whole earth and receiued into it'â concauities But howsoeuer wee may graunt that there are many and vast concauities in the Earth capable of Waters yet it is impossible that the Water should bee ten times as great as the Earth for by this reason although all the Terrestriall Globe were Water it could not bee but that a greater portion of Water then that in the Earth should arise aboue the Earth because according to their owne Supposition 9 partes should bee aboue the Earth Neither can Aristotles words bee well wrested to this interpretation For as much as hee vnderstood this ten-fold proportion of the Water to the Earth not of the spaces which they replenished measured by their Circles and Diameters but of the proportion they beare one to the other in their transmutation as that one measure of Earth turned into Water should bee as much as 10. All these opinions seeming so absurd it seemeth more probable to imagine that either the Waters are condensated and thickned which were in the beginning created thinne whence will follow that they should occupy a lesse place and by consequence leaue the dry-land in many places habitable or which is more probable that God in the first Creation made certaine hollow concauities and channels in the Earth which was before plaine and vniforme into which the waters were receiued and bounded in so much that they could not flow abroad This seemes enough to satisfy the search of such as are not too curious to search into his secrets whose power and omnipotence transcends the capacity of the wisest In this diuision of a place into Water and Land wee will first treat of the Sea and the accidents belonging thereunto Not that the water is worthier or greater then the Earth The contrary whereof wee haue proued heretofore but because the consideration of it is more simple as that wherein fewer matters are to bee handled then in the land For Riuers and Lakes although consisting of this watery element wee thought fit to handle apart as adiuncts belonging to the land 4 In the Sea are considered two things 1 The Adiuncts 2 The Diuision The Accidents of the sea whereof we are to treat are either Internall or Eâternall 5 The Internall are such as are inbâed in the Sea These againe are either Absolute or Relatiue 6 The Absolute are such as agree to the Sea without any comparison with the land such are either Figure Quality or Motion 7 The figure is the conformity of the externall superficies of the Sea whereof obserue this Theoremâ 1 Although the whole body of the water be Sphericall yet it is probable that the parts of it incline to a Conicall figure That the whole Water according to it's outward superficies iâ Sphericall and round is sufficiently demonstrated before in the first booke But notwithstanding this roundnesse of the whole the parts of it may for ought I see admit of a Conicall figure for as much as this hath little or no proportion to the vast Spheracity of the Water no more then little hils to the greatnesse of the Earth For the prosecution of which point I will first shew the reason of this my coniecture grounded on experience and afterwards out of the ground and demonstration of the principles of Mathematicall Philosophie endeauour to make it more manifest First therefore by a Conicall line wee vnderstand a crooked line which differs from a Periphery or circle in as much as it keeps not alwayes an equall distance from the center but is higher in the midst then on either side Now if the parts of the water standing still were in their higher superficies exactly sphericall they should by the same grounds bee concentricall or haue the same center with the whole Earth But that it hath not the same center will appeare by little dropps of Water falling on the ground which incline as wee see to a round figure yet were it more then ridiculous to say that this round conuexity of a droppe could bee concentricall with the whole Earth sith in so great a masse it is hardly sensible But here our ordinary Philosophers are ready to answer that this conformity of the water dropps in a round figure is rather Violent then Naturall because the Water being by nature moist is ready to fly and auoid the touch or drouth or any dry thing And because the Water thus auoiding the drouth cannot of necessity but some way touch it it is imagined to conforme it selfe to that figure whereit it may least of all touch This is the round or Sphericall figure wherein any body contained cannot touch a plaine otherwise then in one onely point But against this coniecture of moisture flying drouth strong enough is the experiment of Scaliger in his 105 exercitation that quick-siluer a moist substance being cast either into Water or Iron-Oare will gather it selfe to a round body notwithstanding it is manifest that quick-siluer naturally neither auoides the touch of Water or Iron for as much as the one is very mââst the other of great affinity as our Chimicks teach with quick-siluer the parent of all Mettals Moreouer it is manifest that this conformity to roundnesse is in dropps of raine falling to the Earth through the Aire yet will not our
of the Earth but should in part bee driuen backe and in part flow besides for since it is of a moist nature while the Earth is carried from the Aire about it the Water iâ somewhat left behind as wee may see in a small vessell which is moâe laâge then deep for if it be moued forward the Water will leape back to the opposite part will oftentimes poize it selfe hither thither seeking an aequilibration when therefore the Earth is a litle caried forward the water as it were left behind being out of his Aequilibrium or aquall poize it will runne to the other part but beyond the true poize forthe violence of the motion oppressed into it in the beginning from thence for the same cause it will tend againe to the opposite part doing this oftentimes seeking an equall weight wherein it may rest so that if the Earth should at any times rest from her naturall motion the Water would also leaue off the Libration to and fro But because the circumvolution of the Earth is imagined to be perpetuall the libration of the sea is also per petuall so farre forth then that this motion is of the continent or Earth it is onely accidentall in the Water neither besides his proper nature neither according to nature But so farre forth as the Water is in some sort moued in the Earth it may be said to be according to nature for it alwaies seekes the lower place because it cannot aequally follow the motion of the Earth Hence they giue the reason why this motion is not perceiued in Lakes and Riuers as well as in the maine Ocean for sith the motion of the Earth is not very sensible it cannot be perceiued but in a great masse of waters The reasons to confirme this opinion besides the refutation of other opinions are chiefly these two If the Water by it selfe should be mou'd without the motion of the Earth it must needs be moued either according to or against his nature But neither of them can be graunted First if according to Nature there would not be one only motion of one body according to nature but many which is denyed by Arâstotle If besides or against Nature some violent motion would bee perpetuall which also seemes absurd wherefore it must needs follow that the sea should moue accidentally For sith the Water is conteined outwardly of the Aire internally of the Earth And that part of the Aire which toucheth the Water is of Aristotle called Stagnans or standing still not flowing as that which is aboue the Earth but is onely troubled variously with windes This libration or motion of the Water cannot bee caused by the wind or Aire wherefore it must proceed from the motion of the Earth The second reason may be drawne from the quantity of tides in diuers places of the Earth for it is âound by experience that the Water swels higher greater in the maine Ocean then in other lesser Seas For it is obserued that about great Brittaine it mounts sometimes aboue 80 cubits also it oftner ebbes and flowes in lesser currents because the spaces of this libration are shorter and straâghter or because besides the motion of ebbing and flowing which the Mediterranean seas partake from the Ocean at Hercules Pillars they haue a proper libration in their owne channels whence it comes to passe that in some narrow seas as in the Euripus besides Euboia the sea seauen times a day ebbs and flowes whereof there can no sufficient reason be giuen from the motion of the Moone or other cause whereto other Philosophers ascribe this effect This opinion of Caesalpinus seemes to carry great likelyhood of reason and congruity with experience yet because it is grounded on the circular motion of the Earth which seemes a paradox to most men I dare not warrant it otherwise then probable neither can it well stand with the grounds of our Magneticall Philosophers because they affirme the whole spheare of the Earth and Water together with the Aire to moue round with one Vniforme revolution in such sort as one should not moue to the opposite part or stay behind the other as they would haue it here to doe There is yet another opinion more commonly defended in the schooles of naturall Philosopherâ that this motion of the sea is to bee ascribed to the Moone as the principall cause others againe as they admit the Moone to haue her operation in this effect ioyne other causes to it and indeed this seemes more probable for there want not arguments in Patricius and other later writers to shew that the Moone cannot be the sole cause of this motion First because this motion is not obserued in all seas Lakes and Riuers wheâeupon neuerthelesse the Moone hath the like dominion But experience shewes the contrary for besides fresh Riuers it is manifest by obseruation of trauailers that this ebbing and flowing is not to be found in the Hircââ Mantian and Dead sea also in Maotis Palus in the Pontick Propontiâke Ligurian and Narbon streytes neither in the Tyrrhene sea Moreouer it is not obserued in a great part of the Red sea Neither can the Narrownesse of the channell excuse it because these seas are great and also for the most part within the Tropicke of Cancer and therefore exposed sometimes to the perpendicular beames of the Moone Secondly If the Moone should by her owne âorce excite and moue these waterâ then would it moue those seas which it doth moue Altogether and not only in parts The contrary whereof we may find First in the Red Sea which in the beginning and end Ebbes and flowes but in the middle not at all moreouer the Mediterranean sea ebbes flowes as one sea on all the coasts of Africa wherein it is in a sort diuided and yet those seas with which it is ioyned as the Tyrrhene Ligurian and Gallican Seas feele not any such motion Thirdly it is obiected that if the Moone were the only cause of this Flâx and Reflux of the sea then those seas which are said in whole to moue should aequally flow in hight but this is contradicted by experience because some flow higher and some lower As for example The Adriatick sea in the inmost creeke neere Venice swels neere foure foote in hight but the rest of it not aboue two âoote which increase is likewise obserued in the Aegean Cretian Ionian and Cyprian Seas also the Syrian and Aegyptian euen to Portus Ferinae But from mons pulcher to the Herculean streytes it increaseth aboue two foot in length But without these straights the same Ocean by the coasts of Portugall and Biscay and France the Sea riseth vsually to 15 foot in hight and neere the coasts of Belgia and Brittaine 18 foot At the confines of Bristoll to 60 and thence to the borders of S. Michael to 60 But at the coasts of Aethiopia neere the Atlantick shores it riseth not higher then in the Adriatick Sea But neere the Ilands
but also themselues practised such commerce as well for the benefit of their Common-wealth as the increase of their particular estate Two memorable examples we haue in Henry the third King of England and Laurence de Medices Duke of Florence whereof the former gaue many and large priuiledges to all the Hance Townes in his Kingdomes which were in Number about 27 The other himselfe for his owne priuate commodity exercised the Trade of Merchandize yet was this man most ingenious and a great louer of learned Men. CHAP. IX Of Pedography Riuers Lakes and Fountaines in the Earth 1 WE haue formerly treated of Hydrographie or the description of the Water now are we by Gods assistance to proceede on to Pedographie which is a description of the Firme Earth or Dry-Land 2 The Land is a space contained in the superficies of Earth distinguished from the Water The Earth in this place is not taken as in the former part of Geographie for the whole Terrestriall Spheare composed of Earth and Water Neither yet as it is vsually taken in Naturall Philosophy for an Absolute Elementary body whose causes and affections are to bee searched out but Topographically for a place or habitable space on the dry-land This dry-land distinguished from the Water by its Firmenesse and Constancy being noâ subiect as the Water to motion and inconstancy was therefore if we belieue the Poet called Vestâ according to that verse Stat viterra suâ vi stando Vesta vocatur Neither wants this fable of Vesta a sufficient morall First because Vesta was faigned to bee a keeper and protectour of their houses which may very well agree to the Earth which not only sustaines and beares vp all buildings and houses but also affords all commodities and fruits wherewith housholds are maintained Secondly Vesta was fained to be the Goddesse to whom the first fruits were offered in sacrifice which may well square with the nature of the Earth from which all fruits are originally deriued and therefore as it were of due ought all first fruits to bee consecrated to her altar Two other Parallels betwixt the Goddesse Vesta are added by Natalis Comes First because Plutarch sheweth in his Symposiacks that the Tables of the Ancients dedicated to Vesta were made round in forme and fashion of the Earth Secondly because the seat of Vesta was imagined to bee in the liquid Aire immoueable and not subiect to motion which well agrees with the common conceiued opinion of the Earth But these two rather expresse the nature of the whole Terrestriall Spheare then of the land diuided from the Waters This description of the dry-land separated from the Waters we haue termed Pedographieâ because the Greeke ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã commonly deriued from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a foote signifies as much as a firme place whereon men may haue sure footing to which is consonant the Hebrew word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which seemes most probably deriued from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which signifies as much as Terere to weare out or waste because the Earth is dayly troden and worne with our feet The proprieties of the Earth appertaining to a Cosmographer are many and various wherefore to auoid confusion wee haue diuided them into these heads 3 The Adiuncts of a Place in the Land are either Naturall or Ciuill The Naturall are such as are in bred in the Earth 4 The Naturall may bee againe diuided into Perpetuall or Casuall Perpetuall are such as alwayes or most ordinarily continue the same 5 The Perpetuall proprieties are againe twofold either Absolute or Comparatiue The Absolute I call such as agree to the Land without any respect to the Sea 6 Of the former sort are such as belong to the Figurature of the Soile wherin three things are most remarkeable 1 Riuers Fountaines and Lakes 2 Mountaines Valleyes and plaines 3 Woods and Champian Countreyes 7 A Riuer is a perpetuall course of water from a certaine head or fountaine running from an higher to a lower place on the earth Riuers are by some Geographers more curiously distinguished into 2 sorts whereof the first are setled or stayed Riuers which slide away with a more equall and vniforme course The later are called Torrents or stickle waters which are carried with a far greater violence In a Riuer three things are chiefly remarkeable First the Fountaine or Spring secondly Whirle-pooles Thirdly the Mouth of it The spring is the place where at first the water sensibly breakes out of the Earth As Nilus in Africke is thought to haue his first head at the mountaines of the Moone A Whirlepoole is a place in a Riuer where the water falling into a Deep trench is whirled teurned round The Mouth is the place where any Riuer finds a passage our either into the sea or into another greater Riuer which in latine is tearmed ostium or a gate Whence they call Septem ostia Nili which are seuen mouths by which it fals into the Mediterranean This gaue the name to many Citties and Townes in England as Plimmouth Darâmouth Portsmouth Axmouth with many others Now for as much as all water is by nature heauy and therefore couets the lowest place The course of all Riuers must needes bee from a higher to a lower place whence we may guesse the hight of lands For it is necessary that for euery mile wherein the water glides forward on the earth there be made an allowance of 2 foote at least in the decliuity of the ground For although water will slide away at any inequality yet could not the water bee wholesome and retaine any reasonable swiftnesse of motion without this allowance Hence we may probably find out the huge hight of the Alpes about all the places in Europe because out of them spring foure great Riuers which runne foure wayes whereof the two greatest are the Danow which receiues into it 60 Nauigable riuers and so disburthens it selfe into the Euxine Sea far remote and the Rhene Of Lakes and Riuers many memorable matters may be spoken all which we will reduce to these heads 1 Their Generation and first originall 2 Their Appearance 3 Their Place in the earth 4 Their Vertues and effects all which we will comprehend in these Theoremes following 1 All Riuers haue their first originall from the sea the mother of Riuers The originall of fountaines and Riuers on the earth is a matter of great difficulty and for ought I know not yet found out of our greatest Philosophers yet being willing to goe as farre as I can I will glaunce at probabilities and first set downe other mens opinions Some haue beene of opinion that in the bowels of the earth are hid certaine vast concauities and cauernes which receiuing into them a great quantity of raine-Water haue giuen originall to Lakes and Fountaines Hence they giue the reason why these fountaines are perpetuall Because the raine-water receiued into these cauernes being extraordinary great is sufficient to nourish such springs of water vntill the
shall also be diminished of the North part 50 11 The Magneticall variation hath no certaine Poles in the terrestriall Globe 63 12 The point of Variation as of Direction is onely Respectiue not attractiue 65 13. The variation of euery place is constant not variable 66 14 The variation is greater in places neere the poles ibid. 15 The magneticall Declination is answereable to the Latitude not in equality of degrees but in proportion 69 16 The magneticall declination is caused not of the attractiue but of the Disponent and Conuersiue vertue of the Earth 70 17 The Magneticall Declination hath a variation 71 CHAP. IV. Of the totall Motions Magneticall 1 The spheare of the Earth by her magneticall vigour is most firmely seated on her Axell whose ends or poles respect alwayes the same points in the Heauens without alteration 72 2 It is probable that the terrestriall Globe hath a circular Motion 76 CHAP. V. Of the site Stability and Proportion of the Earth in respect of the Heauens 1 The terrestriall Globe is the center of the whole world 99 2 The position of the Earth in the center of the world may bee reconciled as well with the diurnall motion of the Earth as the Apparences of the Heauens 110 3 The Earth is firmely seated and setled in her proper place 115 4 The Earthly Globe compared in quantity with the Firmament supreme orbes of the Planets hath no sensible magnitude 118 5 The terrestriall Globe compared with the inferiour Orbes hath a sensible magnitude 121 CHAP. VI. Of the circles of the Terrestriall Spheare· 1 A circle though imaginary in it selfe hath his ground in the nature of the terrestriall spheare 123 2 The distinction of a circle into a certaine number of parts hath no certaine ground in the nature of the terrestriall spheare but onely in conueniency 124 3 By Astronomicall obseruation to find out the Meridian 127 4 To find out the Meridian magnetically 129 5 By the Incision of a tree the Meridian may be found out 131 6 The Meridian being found to find out the Equatour 137 7 Without the helpe of the Meridian to find out the Equatour 138 8 To find out the Equatour magnetically 138 9 The Equatour is an vnmoueable circle whose Poles neuer vary from the Fixt-Poles of the Earth 140 10 How to know the number of degrees in a lesser circle answerable to the greater 147 11 The sensible and Rationall Horizon in the Earth are much different in respect of the Firmament all one 151 12 The sensible Horizon may be greater or lesse according to the Nature and Disposition of the place 153 13 the Eye may be so placed on the Earth as it may behold the whole Hemispheare of the Heauens and yet no part of the terrestriall spheare 154 14 From the Horizontall circle is reckoned the Eleuation of the Pole in any place assigned 155 15 How to finde out the Horizon for any place assigned 156 16 How to finde out the Horizontall plaine 157 17 The distinction of Horizons ibid. CHAP. VII Of the Artificiall Representation of the Terrestriall spheare 1 Of the parts whereof the Globe is Geographically compounded 163 2 The vse of the Artificiall Globe is to expresse the parts of the Earth so farre forth as they haue a diuerse situation as well one in respect of the other as the Heauens 166 3 Of the direction of the artificiall Globe ibid. 4 Of the ground and fabricke of the Artificiall plaine Chart. 168 5 Of the ground and fabricke of the Geographicall Planispheares with their seuerall distinctions 175 6 Of the magneticall Terrella 182 CHAP. VIII Of the measure of the Earth 1 The common measures by which the quantity of the Earth is knowne are miles and furlongs 187 2 Of the inuention of the circumference of the Earth 188 3 By the eleuation of the Pole or obseruation of an Eclipse or some knowne starre the circuite of the Earth may be knowne 189 4 By obseruation of the noone-shadowes the measure of the earth may be found out 190 5 The opinions of Cosmographers concerning the measure of the Earth are diuerse which is chiefly to bee imputed to their errour in obseruing the distances of places experimentally according to Miles Furlongs and such like measures 192 6 How by the knowne height of some mountaine the diameter of the Earth may be found out 197 7 How to finde out the plaine and conuey superficies of the Earth 198 8 Of the number of square miles contained in the Earth 200 CHAP. IX Of the Zones Climates and Parallels 1 Of the temperate and vntemperate Zones 204 2 The târride Zone is the greatest of all next are the two temperate the cold Zones are the least of all 207 3 The Zone wherein any place is seated may be knowne either by the Globe or Geographicall table or else by the tables of Latitude 208 4 The Zones and Climates agree in forme but differ in greatnesse Number and Office 211 5 The Iââention compared one with the other are not all of the same greatnes 212 6 The inclination of the Climates ibid. 7 The distinction of the Climates 213 8 Of the diuersity betwixt the Ancient and moderne Geographers concerning the placing and number of the Climates 214 9 How to find out the Parallell for each place 217 CHAP. X. Of the distinction of the Inhabitants of the Terrestriall spheare 1 Of the inhabiâantâ of a right oblique and Parallell spheare with their properties and distinctions 220 2 Of the Amphiâcij Heteroâcij Periscij with their properperties 226 3 Of the Perioecj Antoeâj and Antipodes with their Accidents 228 4 How the Perioecj Antecj and Antipodes are distinguished in respect of the celestiall Apparences 231 CHAP. XI Of the Longitudes and Latitudes 1 Places enioying the same longitude are not alwayes equally distant from the first Meridian and contrariwise 235 2 The difference of Longitudes begetts the difference of times 235 3 Of the loosing or getting of a day in the whole yeere in a voyage about the earthly Globe 236 4 Of the Inuention of the Longitude by an Eclipse of the Moone 240 5 Of the Inuention of the Longitude by a Clocke watch or Houre-glasse 242 6 By the distance betwixt the Moone and some knowne starre to find out the Longitude 243 7 By the difference of the Sunnes and Moones motion to find out the Longitude of places 246 8 The expression of the longiââde by the Globe or Mappe 247 9 The Inuention of the Latitude 249 10 By the Meridian height of the Sunne to find out the Latitude 249 11 By the Meridian height of a knowne starre to know the Latitude 250 12 The expression of the Latitude on the Globe or Mappe 252 13 Of the Magneticall expression of the Latitude 252 CHAP. XII Of distances of places compared one with the other 1 Of the Inuention of the distances in longitude of two places vnder the Equatour in the same Hemispheare 254 2 Of the Inuention of
the distance of two places in the same Hemispheare without the Equatour 255 3 Of the distance of places differing only in longitude in diuerse Hemispheares 260 4 Of the inuention of places differing onely in Latitude either in the same or diuerse kindes of Latitude 261 5 To find out the distance of places differing in Longitude and Latitude by the square roote 262 6 How to performe the same by the tables of Signes Tangents and Secants 264 7 To find out the distances of places by resolution of the sphericall Triangle 266 8 Of the Inuention of the distance by the Semicircle 271 9 Of the expression of the distance on the Globe or Mappe 273 To my Booke PArue nec inuideo sine me Liber ibis in Aulam Hei mihi quòd Domino non licetire tuo Goe forth thou haplesse Embrion of my Braine Vnfashion'd as thou art expresse the straine And language of thy discontented Sire Who hardly ransom'd his poore Babe from fire To offer to the world and carelesse men The timelesse fruits of his officious pen. Thou art no louely Darling stampt to please The lookes of Greatnesse no delight to ease Their melancholy temper who reiect As idle toyes but what themselues affect No lucky Planet darted forth his Rayes To promise loue vnto thy infant-dayes Thou maist perhaps be marchandize for slaues Who sell their Authors wits and buy their graues Thou maist be censur'd guilty of that blame Which is the Midwifes fault the Parent 's shame Thou maist be talke for Tables vs'd for sport At Tauerne-meetings pastime for the Court Thou maist be torne by their malicious phangs Who nere were taught to know a Parents pangs How eas'ly caââroud Ignorance out-stare The coâeliest weeds thy pouerty can weare When all the Sisters on our Isis side Are ofâ sworne seruants to aspiring pride And our rââowned Mother Athens groanes To see her garden set with Cadmus sonnes Whose birth is muâuall strife whose destiny Is onlâ to be borne to fight and dy Prometheus is chain'd fast and cannot moue To steale a little fire from mighty Ioue To people new the world that we may see Our Mother teeme with a new progenie And therefore with thy haplesse Father proue To place thy duty where thou findest loue When thou arriu'st at Court thou long may'st stay Some Friends assistance to prepare thee way As in a clowdy morning I haue done When enuious Vapours shut me from the Sunne When all else enter see thou humbly stand To begge a kisse from thy Moecenas hand If he vouchsafe a looke to guild thy state Proclayme him Noble thy selfe fortunate GEOGRAPHIE THE FIRST BOOKE CHAP. I. Of the Terrestriall Globe the matter and forme 1 GEOGRAPHIE is a science which teacheth the description of the whole Earth The Nature of Geographie is well expressed in the name For Geographie resolued according to the Greeke Etymologie signifieth as much as a description of the Earth so that it differs froÌ Cosmographie âs a part from the whole Forasmuch as Cosmographie according to the name is a description of the wholâ world coÌprehending vnder it as well Geographie as Astronomie Howbeit I confesse that amongst the ancient Writers Cosmographie hath been taken for one the selfe-same science with Geographie as may appeare by sundry treatises meerely Geographicall yet intituled by the name of Cosmographie This Science according to our approued Ptolomie is distinguished from Chorographie foure wayes First because Geographie describeth the whole Spheare of the Earth according to its iust quantity proportion figure and dispositions which the principall parts of it haue as well in respect of one another as of the whole Terrestriall Globe so that it only vndertakes the chiefe and most noted parts such as are sines creekes nations cities promontories riuers and famous mountaines But the Chorographer separatly handleth the lesser parts and matters of smaller moment such as are hillocks brooks lakes townes villages and Parishes without any respect at all to the places adioyning as conferring them with the Sphaericall fabricke of the whole Earth Which by the same Author is well illustrated by an example drawne from the Painters Art For wee see that a Painter desirous to draw out and represent the head of any liuing creature will first draw out the lineaments of the first and greatest parts as the eyes eares nose mouth forehead and such like only caring that they may challenge a due and iust proportion and symmetrie one with the other not regarding the lesser particles and ornaments in each of these wanting perhaps space competent to accomplish it But if the same Painter would striue to expresse only an eye or an eare he might take space enough to designe out euery smaller lineament colour shadow or marke as if it were naturall for in this he cares not to make it correspondent to the whole head other parts of the body So happens it to the Geographer who willing to delineate out any part of the Earth as for example our Realme of England he would describe it as an Iland encompassed round with the sea figured in a triangular forme only expressing the principall and greater parts of it But the Chorographer vndertaking the description of some speciall and smaller part of England as for example the City of Oxford descends much more particularly to matters of small quantity and note such as are the Churches Colledges Halls Streets Springs giuing to each of them their due accidents colours lineaments and proportion as farre forth as Art can imitate Nature Neither in this kind of description needs there any consideration of the places adioyning or the generall draught of the whole Iland The second difference betweene Geographie and Chorographie assigned by Ptolomie consists in this that Chorographie is commonly conuersant in the accidentall qualities of each place particularly noting vnto vs which places are barren fruitfull sandy stony moist dry hot cold plain or mountainous and such like proprieties But Geographie lesse regarding their qualities inquires rather of the Quantities measures distances which places haue aswell in regard one of the other as of the whole Globe of the Earth assigning to each region its true longitude latitude clime parallell and Meridian 3ly Geographie and Chorographie are said to differ because Geographie stands in little need of the Art of Painting for as much as it is conuersant the most part about the Geometricall lineaments of the Terrestriall Globe clayming great affinity with the Art called of the Greekes Ichnographie whose office is to expresse the figure and proportion of bodies set forth in a plain superficies But contrariwise Corographie requires as a help necessary the Art of Painting forasmuch as no man can fully and perfectly expresse to the eye the true portraict of cities townes castels promontories and such other things in their true colours liuelyhood and proportion except they bee skilled in the Art of Painting So that this part is by some likened to that Art which the
Greekes call Sciographie or Sâenographie Fourthly and lastly Geographie is distinguished from Chorographie in that the former considering chiefly the quantity measure figure site proportion of places as well in respect one of the other as of the Heauens requires necessary helps of the Sciences Mathematicall chiefly of Arithmeticke Geometrie and Astronomie without which a Geographer would shew himselfe euery-where lame impotent being not able to wade thorough the least part of his profession whereas a man altogether vnpractised in those faculties might obtaine a competent knowledge in Chorography As we find by experience some altogether ignorant in the Mathematicks who can to some content of their hearers Topographically and Historically discourse of Countries as they haue read of in books or obserued in their trauaile Notwithstanding all these differences assigned by Ptolomie I see no great reason why Chorography should not bee referred to Geography as a part to the whole forasmuch as the obiects on which hee hath grounded his distinction differ only as a generall and a speciall which being not opposite but subordinate as the Logicians vse to speake cânnot make two distinct Sciences but are reduced to one and the selfe-same at least the differences thus assigned will not be Essentiall but Accidentall Wherfore my scope in this Treatise shall bee to ioyne them both together in the same so far forth as my Art and leisure shall be able to descend to particulars which being in Chorographie almost infinite wil not all seeme alike necessary in the description of the vniuersall Globe of the Earth The name of Geographie thus distinguished wee define it to be a Science which teacheth the Measure and Description of the whole Earth It is properly tearmed a Science because it proposeth to it selfe no other end but knowledge whereas those faculties are commonly tearmed Arts which are not contented with a bare knowledge or speculation but are directed to some farther worke or action But here a doubt seemes to arise whether this Science be to be esteemed Physicall or Mathematicall Wee answer that in a Science two things are to bee considered first the matter or obiect whereabout it is conuersant secondly the manner of handling and explication For the former no doubt can bee made but that the obiect in Geographie is for the most part Physicall consisting of the parts whereof the Spheare is composed but for the manner of Explication it is not pure but mixt as in the former part Mathematicall in the second rather Historicall whence the whole Science may be alike tearmed Mathematical Historicall not in respect of the Subiect which we haue said to be Physicall but in the manner of Explication For the obiect of Geographie as we haue intimated is the whole Globe of the Earth where we are to obserue that the Earth may bee considered 3 manner of wayes First as it is an Element out of which mixt Bodies are in part compounded In which sense it appertaines to Naturall Philosophie whose office is to treat of all naturall bodies their principles and proprieties Secondly as it is supposed to be the center of heauenly motions and so it is vndertaken by Astronomers Thirdly according to its Sphaericall superficies as it is proposed to bee measured or described in which manner it is the subiect of Geographie so far forth as the parts of it haue a diuerse situation as well in regard one of another as in respect of the Heauens Which restriction although agreeing well to some part of it will hardly square with all the rest because many things herein are handled besides the Earths naturall site or position as hereafter shall be taught For which cause wee haue rather defined the subiect of Geographie to bee the Earth so far as it is to bee measured and described as wanting one word to expresse the whole manner of consideration 2 Geographie consists of 2 parts the Sphericall and Topicall The Sphericall part is that which teacheth the naturall constitution of the Terrestriall Spheare The common and receiued diuision of this Science amongst Geographers is into the Generall or vniuersall part and the speciall Which diuision I dare not vtterly reiect being strengthened with the authority of ancient and approued Authors Yet seems it more aptly to be applyed to the Historicall part then to the whole Science as we shall after make apparant In the mean time the diuision of it into Sphericall Topicall parts seemes to be preferred in reason Forasmuch as the Terrestriall Globe which we suppose to be the subiect of the Science is proposed to vs vnder a twofold consideration first in regard of the Mathematicall lineaments and circles whereof the Spheare is imagined to consist out of which wee collect the figure quantity site and due proportion of the Earth and its parts Secondly of the places Historically noted and designed out vnto vs by certaine names markes and characters The former receiueth greatest light from Astronomie whence some haue called it the Astronomicall part The later from Philosophie and Historicall obseruation being as we haue said a mixt Science taking part of diuers faculties 3 The Terrestriall Spheare is a globous or round Body comprehended within the superficies of the Earth and Wateâ Some haue nicely distinguished betwixt a Spheare an Orbe that a Spheare is a round massie body contained in one surface which is conuexe or outward as a Bowle The other concaue or hollow in manner of an Egge-shell emptyed But this distinction seemes too curious as sauouring to much of Scholasticall subtility because the name of Orbe and Spheare are many times promiscuously vsed without difference amongst good Writers This Spheare which wee make the subiect of our Science wee call Terrestriall not because it consists meerely of Earth the contrary of which wee shall hereafter shew but because the Earth is the chiefest in the composition whence by a tropicall kind of speech the whole Globe may bee called Terrestriall 4 The handling of the Terrestriall Spheare is is either Primary or Secundary The Primary consists in such affections as primarily agree to the Earth The Geographicall Affection may be considered two wayes either simply and absolutely in themselues or eomparatiuely as they are conferred and compared the one with the other As for example the circles of the Spheare such as are the Parallels and Meridians may be considered either absolutely in themselues or comparatiuely as they concurre to the longitude latitude distance or such like accidents which arise out of the comparison of one Circle with another 5 The Terrestriall Spheare primarily considered is either Naturall or Artificiall The Naturall is the true Globe in it selfe without image or representation 6 Herein againe are to be considered two things First the Principles and constitution of the Spheare Secondly the Accidents and proprieties The principles whereof the Spheare is composed are two viz Matter and Forme 7 The Matter is the substance whereof the Spheare is made viz Earth and Water My
the concauities and hollowgapings of the Earth are euery-where choaked and filled vp with Water whose superficies is Sphaericall and therefore helpes together with the Earth to accomplish perfect this Terrestriall Spheare To confirme which opinion these reasons out of common experience may be alleadged The first is drawn-from the parts of Earth and Water For we may euery-where obserue that a portion of Earth and another of Water being let fall will descend in the same right line toward the same center whence we may euidently conclude that the Eearth Water haue one and the selfe-same center of their motion and by a consequence conspire to the composition of one and the selfe-same Spheare Secondly to a like Arch or space in the Heauens is found answerable alike Arch in the Terrestriall Globe whether it bee measured by the Earth or Water which could not happen were they not accounted parts of the same Spheare The third reason may bee drawne from the Ecclipse of the Moone wherein the part of the Moone shadowed obscured is obserued to be one Sphaericall or round-figure This shadow by the consent of all Astronomer's is caused by the Terrestriall Spheare interposed betwixt the Sun and the Moone intercepting the Sun-beames which should illuminate the Moone and the shadowes imitate the opacous bodies whence they arise But in the Ecclipse we find only the shadow of one body or Spheare and therefore according to the ground of the Opticks we may conclude the body whereof such a shadow proceedeth to be but one and the selfe-same Spheare 8 The Forme of the Terrestriall Spheare is the naturall Harmony or order arising from the parts working together We ought here to remember what we said before that the Earth and the Water concurre together to make one Terrestriall Spheare wherefore the whole being accounted one coacernated and collected Body made of two other we are not to expect an Internall Essentiall and Specificall Forme such as Aristotle recounts amongst the principles of a Naturall Body but only such a one as in it self is Externall and Accidentall yet concurring as it were Essentially to the constitution of the Terrestriall Spheare whose Fabricke and first composition cannot well be vnderstood without it Some haue imagined the whole Globe of the Earth to bee informed with one Internall and Essentiall Forme which opinion seemes to haue much affinity with that of Plato's concerning the Soule of the World Not that Plato and his followers were so absurd to defend that the World with all his parts was animated with a true vitall Soule in the nature of a liuing Creature but that all the members of it were vnited together quickned and disposed by a certaine Energeticall power or vertue which had great resemblance and representation of the Soule of man Which assertion seemes to be restored and embraced by our late Magneticall Philosophers whose opinion we shall discusse and examine hereafter in place conuenient In the meane time grounding our discourse on knowne principles we can admit no other Forme in the Spheare of the Earth then the mutuall Harmony order and concent of the parts concurring together and working the perfection perpetuation of the whole A fit resemblance whereof we may obserue in an artificiall Clock Mill or such like great Engine wherein euery part duly performing its owne office there will arise and result a naturall Harmony whch not vnaptly may bee termed the Forme of the whole Engine Why the World should not consist of an Internall and Essentiall Forme sundry reasons haue been alleadged by our common Philosophers First because Nature neuer attempteth any thing in vaine or without a determinate end But the particular Formes of speciall Bodies say these Philosophers are sufficient for the vnity and conformation of this Terrestriall Globe so that to grant an vniuersall Forme of the whole were to multiply causes without any necessity make Nature the Mother of superfluity which to all Philosophers seemes most absurd Secondly if this were admitted the whole Spheare of the Earth would bee as one continuate Body whose parts should as it were suffer a fellow-feeling one of the other Thirdly it were a difficult matter to assigne to what kind such a Forme might be reduced whether Animate or Inanimate If Inanimate whether it were simple or compound If Animate whether Vegetatiue Sensitiue or Rationall vnder the which are couched many great difficulties as yet vndisclosed Whether these reasons bee of any great force to ouerthrow the aduerse opinion I leaue it to further inquiry intending here a Geographicall not a Physicall Discourse CHAP. II. Of the conformity of parts in the constitution of the Terrestriall Spheare 1 IN the former we haue treated of the Naturall constitution of the Terrestriall Spheare aswell in Matter as Forme It is needfull in the next place to treat of such Affections and proprieties as neceâsarily arise out of such a Constitution 2. Those Affections or Proprieties are of two sorts Reall or Imaginarie Reall I call such as agree to the Terrestriall Globe by Nature Imaginary such as agree to it by vertue of our vnderstanding 3 Againe the Affections Really or Naturally agreeing to the Terrene Spheare are assigned either in respect of the Earth it selfe or in respect of the Heauens 4 These Affections are said to agree to the Earth in respect of it selfe which may be expressed and vnderstood without any comparing of it with the celestiall Bodies 5 These againe are twofold either Elementarie or Magneticall Elementary I terme such as haue commonly been knowne or obserued by ordinary Philosophers Here is chiefly to bee considered the conformity of the Terrestriall parts in the making and constitution of the whole Spheare In the former Chapter we haue shewed that the Forme of the Terrestriall Spheare is nothing els but the concinnity and apt conspiration of the parts whereof the whole is compounded This conformity being diuers and manifold as well in regard of the parts conforming themselues as the manner of the conformity we shall particularly and distinctly treat of so far as appertaines to a Cosmographer Here by the way I cannot but taxe some defect in most of our common Cosmographers who taking the Sphaericall roundnes of the Earth for a granted supposition are nothing curious to search into the first grounds and causes of this rotundity whereby it first became a globous Body and afterwards retaines in it selfe a Naturall vigour or power if any violence should be offered to restore her selfe to her former right and perfection All which are very pleasant profitable to giue an industrious Learner some satisfaction To explaine this before we descend to particulars we will lay this ground and Theoreme 1 The parts of the Terrestriall Spheare doe naturally conforme and dispose themselues aswell to the production and generation as to the continuance and preseruation of it The forme of the Terrestriall Spheare albeit as wee haue shewed it be Externall in respect of the whole Globe yet may
grant a naturall motion and so consequently yeeld to our assertion A third reason may here bee drawne from the condensation of the Aire It is a receiued opinion amongst most Philosophers that the thinne and subtile parts of the Aire will naturally mount vpward but the thicker and condensated parts pitch and settle themselues downeward Which obseruation if it bee true will yeeld vs this conclusion That the Aire is by nature heauy and therefore moueth downeward toward the center of the Sphericall Globe of the Earth Which I will demonstrate out of these Principles 1 That that body which by addition of parts or condensation is made more heauy or ponderous must needs haue some weight in it selfe This may easily appeare because the mixture of lightnesse with heauinesse will not intend and encrease the ponderosity but slacke and diminish it For the chiefest thing which remits or diminisheth any quality is the mixture of his contrary as wee see the quality of cold to be abated and weakened if it entertaine any mixture of heat 2 The thickning or condensation of any body is made by addition and coaction of more parts into the same space or compasse As if the Aire or any such like body were thickned it would confine it selfe to a more narrow roome then before and so consequenly the narrow roome would containe more parts then before Out of which wee conclude that forasmuch as many parts pressed together in the same space make the whole masse more ponderous these parts so pressed together must needes haue some waight in themselues Which may further be illustrated because the intention of the quality commonly followes the condensation of the subiect Which may easily appeare in red-hot-iron which burnes and scorcheth more than flame or coales because euery part hath more degrees or heat Now where more parts are closely pressed together the heat must needs bee more feruent I haue dwelt longer on this subiect because I would not seeme to broach a new opinion without sufficient reason To conclude all and come as neere the receiued opinion as I can I will say that the Aire may bee considered two wayes first absolutely in it selfe secondly in comparison of heauier bodies to wit the Earth and Water In the first sense I grant no absolute lightnesse in the Aire because out of his naturall inclination it tends as neere as it can to the center as all other lower bodies But if we consider it comparatiuely in respect of other heauier bodies we may call it light that is lesse heauy or ponderous So that by lightnesse we vnderstand no absolute lightnesse but a priuation The summe of all wee haue hitherto proued is this That all terrene bodies as Earth Water Aire and other mixt bodies which concurre to the composition of the Earthly Spheare as neere as they can settle and conforme themselues to the center of the Earth which site or position of them to the center is their true and naturall place wherein they seeke their preseruation 2 Of two heauy Bodies striuing for the same place that alwaies preuaileth which is heauiest 3 Hence it comes to passe that the Earth enioyes the lowest place the next the Water and the last the Aire The increment or increase of any effect must necessarily arise from the greater vigour or efficacy of the efficient cause as both Reason and Philosophie well teach Now as wee haue shewed all heauy bodyes naturally do descend downeward out of a naturall inclination they haue to attaine the center but where there is a greater weight or constipation of ponderous parts in the same masse there must needs proceede a greater inclination Supposing then the Earth Water and Aire being three waighty bodies to incline and dispose themselues to their vttermost force to inclose and engirt the center of the Terrestriall Spheare it must needes bee that the Earth beeing the most compact and ponderous must obtaine the preheminence next to which succeedes the Water then the Aire being of all other the least ponderous Yet wee deny not but the Water and Aire being setled in this wise are in their naturall places which to vnderstand wee must repeate what we said before that Nature hath a twofold intention the one primary the other secondary Indeed if we consider Natures primary or speciall inclination in the bodies themselues we shall finde them as wee said immediatly directed to the center as neere as might bee but the secondary intent of Nature was that the bodies should so settle and conforme themselues as that each of them should obtaine a place according to his degree of massinesse and waight Out of this may bee answered a certaine obiection which some haue produced to proue the Aire to bee absolutely light in his owne nature Experience teacheth vs say these men that a bladder blowne vp with winde or an empty barrell being by force kept vnder water the force and obstacle omitted will suddenly ascend to the top and that a man ready to sinke in the Water will not so easily sinke downe while hee can hold his breath all which effects they ascribe to no other cause than to inclination of the Aire to moue vpwards from the center But indeed this motion howbeit agreeable to the vniuersall nature and consistency of the Spheare is notwithstanding in respect of the Aire it selfe vnnaturall and violent because this ascent of it is not caused by the forme of the Aire but the interposition of a heauier body striuing for the same place and so reuerberating it backe from the place whereunto it tended For here is to bee imagined that the bladder or empty barrell drowned in the water claimes and inioyes for the time that place or distance which otherwise so much water should occupie to wit so many inches of feete from one side to the other No maruell then that obstacles remoued the Water being most ponderous and waighty receiues his owne right and as it were shoulders out the Aire and violently driues it off to his owne habitation Whence many haue imagined that this motion is proper and naturall to the Aire when of it selfe it is meerely violent and enforced by the interiection of another body more waighty and ponderous than it selfe 7 this conformity of the Terrestriall parts two things are to bee obserued 1 The center it selfe 2 The parts which conforme themselues vnto it The Center is an imaginary point in the midst of the Terrestriall Globe to which all the parts are conformed The Fathers of the Mathematicall Sciences haue laboured to deriue all their doctrine from a point as the first and most simple principle whereon all the rest depend Not that they imagine a point to bee any positiue entity in it selfe but because it is the first bound of magnitude whence all terminated quantities take their originall The first princââle wee may call it not of naturall constitution because a thousand points collected could not be so compounded as out of it should arise the least
first a sepaparation from the place to which it is moued is more quicke expedient by a right line forasmuch as crooked and circular lines turne backe as it were into themselues againe Also the vnion and coniunction of a part with the Spheare of the Earth is most indebted to a right motion because as wee haue declared the way is shorter Secondly it may bee alleaged that Nature is an vniforme and necessary Agent restrained to one only bound or end and therefore can neither strengthen weaken remit or suspend the action but workes alwayes by the same meanes the same effects whence it is that she chuseth a right line being but one betwixt two points whereas crooked lines may bee drawne infinite and the motion directed by crooked lines would proue various and opposite to the prescript of Nature Moreouer should wee imagine that nature at any time wrought by a crooked or circular line it might be demanded from what Agent this obliquity should arise not from Nature it selfe because as wee said shee worketh alwayes to the vtmost of her strength hauing no power to remit or suspend her actioâs But a crooked motion ariseth from the remission or slacking of the Agents force and turning it away from the intended end which only findes place in Free and voluntary Agents Neither comes this Deflexion from the medium or Aire because it can haue no such power to resist Thirdly if the motion were not performed in a right line it could haue no opposite or contrary because as Aristotle teacheth To a circular or crooked motion no other motion can bee opposite or contrary in respect of the whole circle but only in regard of the Diameter which is alwayes a right line By this it is plaine that a waighty point considered in it selfe abstractly cannot but be carried to the center in a right line which right line really and Physically points out vnto vs a Radius or Beame drawne from the center to the circumference to shew that the God of Nature in composing the earthly globe both obserued and taught vs the vse of Geometrie 2 A point mouing toward the Center will moue swifter in the end then in the beginning This hath been plainely obserued by experience that a stone let fall from a towre or high place will in motion grow swifter and swifter till it approach the ground or place whereon it falls The reason may bee giuen from the Aire which resist so much the lesse by how much the body descendeth lower toward the Earth or center because when it is higher the distance being greater the parts of the Aire will make more Resistance The reason rendred by Aristotle of this Resistance is because in the beginning of the motion the stone or heauy body findes the Aire quiet and fixed but being once set on motion the higher parts of the Aire successiuely moue those which are vnder being driuen by the violence of the stone so falling and prepare as it were the way for his comming This reason may in some sort content an ingenious wit till a better bee found out 10 So much for the motion of a heauy point or center it remaines that we treate next of the motions and conformity of Magnitudes to the center of the Earth wherein we consider not only the Center or middle point but the whole masse of the magnitude whose motion and conformity shall bee expressed in this Theoreme 1 The motion of a magnitude toward the center is not meerely naturall but mixt with a violent motion This may easily bee demonstrated because no point of any magnitude is moued to the Center naturally but the middle point or center of the magnitude For although the Center bee moued in a perpendicular line which makes right angles with the Horizon yet the extreme parts are moued in lines parallell which cannot possibly make right angles with the Horizon or meet in the Center which may bee showne in this Figure Let there bee a Circle as ABL This done wee will imagine a certaine magnitude hanging in the Aire and tending to the Center C which is signified by the line PEN It is certaine that the Center of the magnitude E will moue and conforme it selfe downeward toward the center of the Earth by the line EC which motion will bee naturall as that which is deriued to a center from a circumference by the direct Radius which is the Rule of all naturall motions But the other parts without the center of this magnitude cannot moue but in so many lines which shall bee parallell the one to the other as for example the point N must needs moue in the line NG and the point P in the line PF which being of equall distance will neuer concurre in the Center and therefore cannot bee esteemed naturall rayes of the circle whence wee may collect that the motion of these parts is not naturall but violent for if any should imagine the motion of these parts to be naturall then should the point N moue to the center of the Earth by the line NC and the point P. by the line PC and so by how much the more any waighty body should approach the Center of the Earth by so much it should bee diminished and curtailed in his quantity so that in the Center it selfe all the parts should concurre in an Indiuisible point which is absurd contradicts all reason 11 Hitherto haue we spoken of the conformity of all Earthly and waighty bodies to the Terrene center as they are taken Absolutely It now remaines that we speake of these bodies as they are taken comparatiuely being compared one with the other This discourse properly belongs to an art which is called Staticke and Mathematicall whose office is to demonstrate the affections of Heauinesse and Lightnesse of all Bodies out of their causes The chiefe sensible Instrument whereon these properties are demonstrated and shewne is the Bilanz or Ballance But these specialties wee leaue to such as haue purposely written of this subiect amongst which the most ancient and chiefe is Archimedes whose heauenly wit ouertooke all such as went before him and out-went all such as followed Enough it will seeme in this Treatise to insert a proposition or two Staticall to shew the Conformity of two magnitudes and their proper Center mouing downeward toward the Globe of the Earth and it's Center 1 The lines wherein the centers of two heauy bodies are moued downeward being continued will meet in the Center of the Earth A heauy point or Center as wee haue demonstrated heretofore in this Chapter is moued toward the Center of the world in a right line which is imagined to bee a Ray of the whole Spheare deriued from the circumference to the Center therfore it is impossible they should bee parallell or Equidistant but concurrent lines But because the whole distance betwixt vs and the Center is very great it must needs happen that in a small space the concurse of
perpendicular lines is altogether insensible For if two perpendicular or heauy points moued in a line should be distant one from the other the space of 10 a 100 or more feet because this distance is very little in respect of the semidiameter of the Earth the angle of concurse must needs be very little and by consequence those two rayes or lines measuring the descent of two heauy Bodies will seeme altogether Equidistant Yet that there is such a concurrence Nature and Reason will easily consent Hence wee may detect a popular errour beleeued of the vulgar that the walls of houses standing vpright are parallell and of equall distance when contrariwise it is plaine that such walls are erected by a perpendicular and measured by perpendicular lines which being drawne out in length will meet in the Center of the Earth The like may we pronounce of a deep Well whose sides or wall are erected perpendicularly and therefore should it reach as farre as the Center it must needs follow that the sides growing neerer and neerer as they approach the Center would in the end close or shut vp into a Pyramide whose Base should bee the mouth of the Well Likewise if a Tower should bee erected to the Heauens it would be strange to imagine how great and broad the vpper part of it would bee in respect of the bottome Hence againe it may be inferred that any pâuement leuelled by a perpendicular is not an absolute plain but rather the portion or Arch of a sphericall superficies whose Center is the same with the Center of the whole Eârth But this roundnesse in a small distance is no way sensible but in a great pauement of foure or fiue hundred paces leuelled perpendicularly it will make some shew of roundnesse whence it must needs follow that an extraordinary great pauement measured ouer by a right line cannot be called leuell or equally poized forasmuch as it is not euery where equally distant from the Center of the Earthly Globe 2 Two heauy bodies of the same figure and matter whether Equall or Vnequall will in equall time moue an equall space This proposition being inuented by one Iohannes Baptist de Benedictis is cited and confirmed by Iohn Dee in his Mathematicall Preface to Billing slie's Geometry Which corrects a common errour of those men which suppose the lighter bodies generally not to moue so fast downeward to the Center as the heauy The demonstration of this Theoreme being drawne from many Staticall principles which we cannot here conueniently insert wee are enforced to omit as intending not the search of these matters any farther than they direct vnto the knowledge of Geographie Yet were it no hard matter to giue â more popular expression of this reason out of the proportion betwixt this weight of the heauy Body and the Resistance of the Medium Because the Greater Body as it is carryed down-ward by a greater force and violence so on the other side it meets a greater impediment being not able so soone to diuide the Aire as the Lesser Likewise the Lesser body falling with lesse force yet is more apt to diuide it then the other Whence both set the one against the other there will be no disparity in the time and motion 12 Of the primary conformity of the Terrestriall bodyes in the constitution of the Terrestriall Spheare wee haue treated It now seemes needfull that we descend to the secondary which is the inclination of all the parts to make a round Spheare or Globe 1 The Terrestriall Globe is round and Sphericall This Proposition is of great vse and one of the chiefâââ grounds in Geographie The ground of the Sphericall figure of the Earth is the right motion of heauy bodies to the center For this right motion as wee haue shewed doth expresse one Beame of the circle by whose circumuolution is proâuced the circumference of iâ which we call Secundary conformity of the parts of the Earth in so much as it growes Mathematically as it were out of the first For this Sphericall figure of the Earth sundry sound reasons are vrged by Geographers First that the Earth is round according to its Latitude that is from North to South Secondly according to its Longitude that is from East to West and therefore must it needes bee absoâutely Sphericall The first part is shewed that it is round from Nârth to South for if a man trauell from North to South or contrariwise from South to North hee shall perceiue nâw starres in the Heauens to appeare and shew themselues which before hâe could not see which can be referred to no other cause then the Sphericall conuexity or swelling of the Earth As for example The starre which is called Canopus which is a notable starre in the ship appeares not at Rhodes or at least from high places But if you trauell forth Southward from Italy into Egypt to Alexandria the same starre Proclus obserues will manifest it selfe to your sight the fourth part of a signe aboue the Horizon From whence wee may draw a sound proofe that there is a Sphericall and gibbous conuexitie which interposeth it selfe betwixt Rhodes and Egypt In which place the people who inhabite that part of Egypt which borders vpon Arabia which are called Trogloâites of their dwelling in caues cannot see any Starre of the Great Beare Whence wee may concluâe that the Earth from the North to the South is round and Sphericall For if otherwise the Earth were plaine all the Northerne starres would appeare to the inhabitants of the Southerne Regions and on the other side all the other Southerne constellations would bee seene of the Northerne inhabitants which sense and reason altogether contradict Secondly that the Earth is round according to its Longitude betwixt East and West may bee proued by two reasons The first is taken from the rising and setting of the Sunne Moone and other Starres for as much as all they doe not arise or set with all Nations at the same houres For with the inhabitants of the East the Sun-rising is sooner with the Westerne inhabitants later and that in such proportion that euery 15 degrees measured out by the Sunnes diurnall motion adds or subtracts one whole houre in the length of the day This is found by experience and testimony of Cosmographers that the Sunne riseth with the Persian inhabiting toward the East foure houres sooner then to the Spaniard in the West Sundry other the like examples may bee alleaged all which we must needes impute to the Sphericall roundnesse of the Earth proportionally increasing betwixt East and West The other reason to confirme this last point is drawne from the Ecclipses of the Sunne and Moone which would not appeare in diuers places at diuers houres if the Earth were plaine or square We see plainly that Ecclipses of the Moone appeare sooner to the Westerne people but later to the Easterne As according to Ptolomie in Arbela a towne of Assyria where Alexander ouercame Darius the last King of
retaine in it selfe the vertue of the Load-stone yet by reason of the liquefaction is altogether languishing and as it were buried but vpon touch of a Load-stone is stirred vp to his former vigour for the magnet insinuats his Incorporeall influence into the iron and so rectifies and animates that force which was almost dead 2 The magneticall Coiton is strongest of all in the Poles This may easily bee demonstrated by an experiment for if the iron needle which is proposed to bee Attracted and the Poles and Center be placed in the same right line then this Coition will be to a perpendicular as in A and B to wit the Poles in the Diagramme but in the middle space they will obliquely respect and point and by how much farther off from the Pole it is by so much is this vertue weaker but in the Equator it selfe it becomes meerely parallell without any inclination at all To know in what proportion this force is increased or weakened we must put another ground That the force of this coition is increased proportionally as the chords of a circle for by how much the least chorde in a circle differs from the Diameter so much the forces Attractiue differ from themselues For sith the Attraction is a Coition of one body with another and magneticall bodies are carried by a conuertible nature it comes to passe that a line drawne from one Pole to another in the diameter directly meetes with the body but in other places lesse so that the lesse it is conuerted to the body the lesse and weaker will bee the coition 3 So much bee spoken of the magneticall Coition It followes that wee speake of Magneticall Direction which is a naturall conuersion and conformity of the magneticall bodies to the Poles of the Earth It is manifest that a magneticall body so seated that it can moue without any impediment will turne it selfe in such wise that the one Pole of it will respect the North Pole of the Earth the other the South which motion wee call Direction This we may plainely see in a Marriners compasse whose Lilly alwayes respects the North point If a compasse bee wanting the same may bee shewed in a little corken-boate which being put in the water with a load-stone in it will so turne and conuert it selfe that the Poles of the Load-stone will at length point out the Poles of the Terrestriall Globe The manner how shall be disclosed in these Theoremes 1 The South part of the Load-stone turnes to the North and the North part to the South To confirme this assertion some haue produced this experiment Let there bee cut out of a rocke of Load-stone a Magnet of reasonable quantity Let the two poles both North and South bee marked out in the Load-stone the manner of which wee shall perhaps teach hereafter then let it be put in a corken little boat on the water so that it may freely float hither thither It will be euident that that part which in the rocke or Mine pointed Northward will respect the South and contrarywise the South part will respect the North as wee may see in this figure Let the Magnet as it is continuated with the Mine or Globe of the Earth be AB so that A shall be in the North pole B the South-Pole Let this Load-stone be cut out of this rocke or Mine placed on the water in a little timber boat which shall be CD we shall find that this little dish or boat will turne it selfe so long vntill the Northpart A be turned to the Southpart B and on the other part the Southpart B be conuerted to the Northpart A and this coÌformity would the whole rock of Load-stone claime if it were diuided and separated from the Globe of the Earth The reason why the magnet in the boat on the water turneth windeth and seateth it selfe to a contrary motion to that it primarily receiued whiles it was ioyned to the bowels of the Earth and vnited to the body of the great Magnet is because euery part of a Load-stone being separated from the whole whereof it is a part becomes of it selfe a perfect compleat magneticall body as we may say a little Earth hauing all the properties of the great Globe as Poles Meridians Aequators c. And therefore according to the nature of magneticall vnion spoken of in our next Theoreme will in no wise endure to settle it selfe as it did before but deemes it a thing more naturall and of more perfection to turne his aspect a contrary way to that which he inioyed at his first constitution Here may we note a great errour of Gemma Frisius who in his corollary vpon the 15 Chap. of his Cosmographicall Comment on P. Appian affirmes that the Needle magnetically effected would on this side the Aequator respect the North-pole but being past the Line would straight-way turne about and point to the Southpole An errour as Mr Hues saith vnworthy so great a Mathematician But Gemma Frisius in some âort may be excused for as much as the grounds of magneticall Philosophy were in his time either not discouered or most vnperfectly knowne and the vncertaine relations of Nauigators were reputed the best Arguments and how easie a matter it is for a Trauailer in this sort to deceiue a Scholler who out of his reading and experience can shew nothing to the contrary let euery man iudge 2 This contrary motion here spoken of is the iust confluxe and conformity of such bodies to magneticall vnion This is demonstrated by Gilbert in this manner Let the whole magneticall body be CD then C will turne to the North of the Earth B and D vnto the South part A. Let this magnet bee cut in twaine by the middle line or Aequator and the point E will tend to A and the part F will direct it selfe to B for as in the whole so in the parts diuided nature desires the vnion of these bodies The end E willingly accords with F but E will not willingly ioyne it selfe with D nor F with C for then it would haue C against its nature to moue toward A the South or D in B which is the South Separate the stone in the place of diuision and turne C to D and they will conueniently agree and accord For D will turne it selfe to the South as before and C to the North and E and F ioynt parts in the minerall or rocke will now bee most sundred For these magneticall parts concurre and meet together not by any affinity of matter but receiue all their motion and inclination from the forme so that the limits whether ioynt or diuided are directed magnetically to the Poles of the Earth in the same manner as in the diuided body 3 If any part Southward of the magneticall body bee torne away or diminished so much shall bee also diminished of the North-part and contrariwise if any part bee taken away in the North-part so much shall the vertue of the
South-part be diminished The reason is because the Magnet hauing eminently in it the circles which are in the Earth is separated or diuided by a middle line or Aequator from which middle space the vertues are conueyed toward either Pole as we haue before shewed Now any part being taken away from the North or South part this Aequator or middle line is remoued from his former place into the midst of the portion which is left and so consequently both parts are lesse then before For although these two ends seeme opposite yet is one comforted and increased by the other 9 Of the motions of Coition and Direction wee haue handled It followes that we speake of the motions of the second order to wit Variation and Declination 10 Variation is the deuiation or turning aside of the directory Magneticall needle from the true point of North or the true Meridian towards East or West In the discourse immediatly going before hauing treated of the magneticall body wee haue imagined it to bee true and pointing out the true North and South points of the Terrestriall Globe which certainely would bee so if the substance of the Earthly Globe were in all parts and places alike equally partaking the Magneticall vertue as some round Load-stone neither should wee find any variation or deuiation at all from the true Meridian of the Earth But because the Terrestriall Globe is found by Nauigatours to bee vnequally mixed with many materialls which differ from the magneticall substance as furnished with rockie hills or large valleyes continents Ilands some places adorned with store of iron Mimes rocks of Load-stone some altogether naked and destitute of these implements it must needs fall out that the magneticall needle and compasse directed and conformed by the Magneticall nature of the Eârth cannot alwayes set themselues vpon the true Meridian that passeth right along to the Poles of the Terrestriall Globe but is forced and diuerted toward some eminent and vigorous magneticall part whereby the Meridian pointed out by the magnet must needes varie and decline from the true Meridian of the Earth certaine parts or degrees in the Horizontall circle which diuersion wee call the Variation of the compasse so thaâ variation so far as it is obserued by the compasse is defined to bee an Arch of the Horizon intercepted betwixt the common intersection with the true Meridian and his deuiation This effect proceeding from the Inequality of magneticall vertue scattered in the Earth some haue ascribed to certaine Rockes or mountaines of Loadstone distant some degrees from the true Pole of the World which rockes they haue termed the Pole of the Loadstone as that whereunto the magnet should dispose and conforme it selfe which conceite long agoe inuented was afterward inlarged and trimmed ouer by Fracastorius But this opinion is a meere coniecture without ground for what Nauigatours could hee euer produce that were eye-witnesses of this mysterie or how can he induce any iudicious man to beleeue that which himselfe nor any to his knowledge euer saw The relation that the Frier of Noruegia makes of the Frier of Oxfords discouery recorded by Iames Cnoien in the booke of his Trauels where he speaks of these matters is commonly reiected as fabulous and ridiculous for had there beene any such matter it is likely he would haue left some monuments of it in the records of his owne Vniuersity rather then to haue communicated it to a friend as farre off as Noruegia Moreouer the disproportion in the degrees of variation in places of equall distance will easily correct this errour as we shall shew in due place More vaine and friuolous are all the opinions of others concerning this magneticall variation as that of Cortesius of a certaine motiue vertue or power without the Heauen that of Marsilius Ficiâus of a starre in the Beare that of Petrus Peregrinus of the Pole of the world that of Cardan of the rising of a starre in the taile of the Beare that of Bestardus Gallus of the Pole of the Zodiacke that of Liuius Sanutus of a certaine magneticall Meridian of Francis Maurolycus of a magneticall Iland of Scaliger of the heâuen and mountaines of Robert Norman of a respectiue point or place All which Writers seeking the cause of this variation haue found it no further off then their owne fancies More probable by farre and consonant to experience shall wee finde their opinion which would haue the cause of this variation be in the Inequality of the magneticall Eminencies scattered in the Earth This Inequality may bee perceiued to bee twofold 1 in that some parts of the Earth haue the magneticall minerals more then other parts for as much as the Superficies of some parts is solid Earth as in great Continents 2 Because although the whole Globe of the Earth is supposed to be magneticall especially in the Internall and profound parts yet the magneticall vertue belonging to those parts is not alwayes so vigorous and eminent as in some other parts as wee see one Load-stone to be stronger or weaker then another in vertue and power but of those two the former is more remarkable which may bee shewed by experience of such as haue sailed along many seacoa-stes for if a sea-iourney bee made from the shore of Guinea by Cape Verde by the Canarie Ilands the bounds of the Kingdome of Morocco from thence by the confines of Spaine France England Belgia Germany Denmarke Noruegia we shall find toward the East great and ample Continents but contrarywise in the West a huge vast Ocean which is a reason that the magneticall needle will vary from the true point of the North and inclines rather to the East because it is more probable that these Continents and Lands should partake more of this magneticall minerall then the parts couered with the Sea in which these magneticall bodies may bee scarcer or at the least deeper buried and not so forceable On the contrary part if wee saile by the American coasts we shall rather find the variation to be Westward as for example if a voyage be made from the confines of Terra Florida by Virginia Norumbega and so Northward because the land butteth on the West but in the middle spaces neere the Canary Ilands the directory needle respects the true Poles of the Terrestriall Globe or at least shewes very little variation Not for the agreement of the Magneticall Meridian of that place with the true by reason of the Rocke of Load-stone as some haue imagined because in the same Meridian passing by Brasile it fals out farre otherwise but rather because of the Terrestriall Continents on both sides which almost diuide the Magneticall vigour so that the Magneticall needle is not forced one way more then another the manner whereof wee shall finde in D. Gilbert expressed in an apt figure to whom for further satisfaction I referre the Reader 1 The Magneticall variation hath no certaine Poles in the Terrestriall Globe It is but a common
receiued errour as we haue mentioned that there is a certaine Rocke or Pole of Load-stone some degrees distant from the true Pole of the world which the Magneticall needle in it's variation should respect This Pole they haue imagined to be in the same Meridian with that which passeth by the Azores whence they haue laboured to shew the reason why the Compasse should not vary in that place which they explaine by this Figure Let there be a circle describing the Spheare E AF the Horizon EF the Articke Pole A the Antarticke â The Pole or Rocke of Loadstone placed out of the Pole of the Earth B. Let there bee placed a magneticall directory needle in H it will according to their assertion tend to the point B by the magneticall Meridian H B which because it concurres with the true Meridian B A or H A there will be no variation at all but a true direction to the North Pole of the Earth But let this magneticall needle be placed in the point D it is certaine according to this opinion that it will tend to the Pole of the Loadstone B by the magneticall Meridian D B. Wherefore it will not point out the Pole of the Earth A but rather the point C because these two Meridians come not into one and the selfe-same Hence they haue laboured with more hope then successe âo find out the longitude of any part of the Earth without any obseruation of the Heauens which I confesse might easily be effected if this coniecture might stand with true obseruation But how farre this conceit swarues from the experience of Nauigatours one or two instances will serue to demonstrate For if the variation had any such certaine poles as they imagine then would the Arch of variation bee increased or diminished proportionally according to the distance of the places As for example If in the compasse of an hundred miles the Compasse were varied one degree then in the next hundred miles it would vary another degree which would make two degrees But this hath often been proued otherwise by diuerse experiments of Nauigations mentioned by Gilbert and F. Wright I will only produce one or two If a ship saile from the Sorlinges to New-found-land they haue obserued that when they come so farre as to finde the Compasse to point directly North without any variation at all then passing onward there will bee a variation toward the North-East but obscure and little then afterward will the Arch of this variation increase with like space in a greater proportion vntill they approach neere the âontinent where they shall find a very great variation Yet before they come a shoare this variation will decrease againe From which one instance if there were no other we might conclude That the Arch of variation is not alwaies proportionable to the distance which granted quite ouerthrowes that conceit of the Poles of variation Beside this if there were two such magneticall Poles there can be but one common Meridian passing by them and the Poles of the Earthly Globe But by many obseruations collected and obserued by Ed. Wright and others there should be many magneticall Meridians passing by the Poles of the world as in the Meridian about Trinidado and Barmudas the Meridian about the Westermost of the Azores lastly the Meridian running amongst the East Indian Ilands a little beyond Iaua Maior the magneticall and true Meridian must needs agree in one Now for as much as all these magneticall Meridians passe by the Poles of the earth there can no cause be assigned why the magneticall Poles should bee said to bee in one rather then another and if in any then in all Whence it must needes follow that as many magneticall Meridians as you haue to passe by the true Poles of the world so many paire of magneticall Poles must you haue which will be opposite to all reason and experience 1 The point of Variation as of Direction is only Respectiue not Attractiue It was supposed by the Ancients that the Direction and Variation of the Loadstone was caused by an Attractiue point which drew and enforced the lilly of the Compasse that way which errour tooke place from another common-receiued opinion that all the other motions of the magnet were reduced to the Attractiue operation but the errour was corrected by one Robert Norman an English-man who found this point to bee Respectiue and no way Attractiue Whose reason or demonstration is not disapproued by Dr Gilbert although in other matters hee sharply taxeth him His experiment is thus Let there be a round vessell as we haue described ful of water in the midle of this water-place an iron-wier in a conuenient round corke or boat that it may swimme vpon the water euen poyzed let this iron-wire be first touched with the load-stone that it may more strongly shew the point of variation let this point of variation be D let this iron-wire rest vpon the water in the corke for a certaine time It is certainly true that this iron-wire in the cork will not moue it selfe to the margent or brinke of the vessell D which certainly it would doe if the point D were an attractiue point 3 The variation of euery place is constant and not variable This hath beene ratified by the experience of Nauigatours which in the selfe-same Regions haue neuer missed the true variation which they haue assigned them before If any difference bee assigned in variation to the same Region wee may impute it to their errour which obserued it arising either from want of skill or conuenient instruments Neither can this euer be changed except some great deluge or dissolution happen of a great part of land as Plato records of his Atlanticke Ilands 4 The variation is greater in places neere the poles of the Earth This proportion is not to be taken vniuersally but commonly for the most part yet would it haue truth in all places if all other things were correspondent It is obserued that the variation is greater on the coasts of Norway and the Low-countries then at Morocco or Guinea For at Guinea the magneticall needle inclines to the East a third part of one Rumbe of the Compasse In the Ilands of Cape-Verde halfe in the coasts of Morocco two third parts In England at the mouth of Thames according to the obseruation of D. Gilbert and Ed. Wright though some deny it one whole Rumbe in London the chiefe city of it eleuen degrees and more which we also find or thereabout in Oxford The reason is because the magneticall motiue vertue is stronger in the greater latitude increasing towards the pole and the large Regions of land lying toward the Pole preuaile more then those which are situate farther off 12 Thus much for the Variation The Declination is a magneticall motion whereby the magneticall needle conuerts it selfe vnder the Horizontall plaine toward the Axis of the Earth What wee haue hitherto spoken of Direction and Variation magneticall was such as might be
expressed and shewed in the plaine of the Horizon by the Directory needle equally poyzed when it is set in any point of the Horizon But this Declination whereof wee are now to speake is the motion of an iron-wire or needle first equilibrated and then stirred vp by the loadstone vpon his owne Axis from that point of the Horizon the other end of it tending toward the center of the Earth where wee may for the better expressing of the motion note two things 1 That the magneticall wier set in a conuenient instrument if it bee carried from the Aequator to the Pole or from one Pole to another will by little and little turne it selfe round and make a circumuolution about his owne Axell 2 That by this conuersion and circumuolution about his axell it will according to diuers places and latitudes make diuers Angles in diuers places both which are included in this motion of Declination and are warranted by experience made by an Inclinatory needle applyed to a Terrella or round Loadstone as also by the experience of Nauigations on the great Spheare of the Earth To explaine which motion there are curious instruments formed and inuented by Dr Gilbert and Dr Ridley which the curious in this kinde to their greater satisfaction may peruse In the meane time wee will here content our selues with one figure following borrowed from their more copious inuention wherein we shall find enough to expresse the manner of this motion In this Figure let ABCD be the Terrella or round magnet representing the Spheare of the Earth A the North-pole B the South AâB the Axell CED the Aequator AKB and ALB the Meridian circles meeting in the Pole AC and BD the Meridian or right Horizon hauing in it the two Poles FG and HI two parallels The Loadstone being thus designed in his outward Poles as it is according to his naturall eminency stored inwardly Let the Needles bee placed being before touched on the Limbe ouer-against the Poles AB and we shall obserue them to respect them directly coÌcurring in one straight line with the Axell of the Earth Then set the same Needles in the Limbe ouer against the Aequator CD and they will dispose settle themselues in a parallell site to the Axell of the Earth and incline neither to one Pole or other Hence may bee collected by plaine consequence that there is a semi-circle betwixt each of these foure needles Now to finde the quadrants of these apply Needles in the Limbeat 33 degrees distant from the Aequator on each side of him and they will make right angles with the axell of the same where these eight needles haue 8 quadrants between them that is foure semi-circles which will make two whole circles one on each side of the Aequator But if you place the needles in the midst betweene the Aequator and the Poles they will respect the axell but obliquely as in all other parts except in the eight places before-mentioned From hence may we learne what we proposed first that the Declination is a conuersion of the magneticall wire or needle vpon its owne axell secondly that this wire by this motion so excited if it bee moued on any Meridian North or South will apply and conforme it selfe according to certaine angles to the Axell of the Earth Thirdly there will arise this corollary that the magneticall needle about the round Magnet maketh two circles Concerning this declination wee will insert two especiall Theoremes 1 The Declination is answerable to the latitude not in Equality of degrees but in proportion It is manifest out of that which wee haue spoken that this motion of Declination supposeth two motions The one of Conuersion whereby the needle is turned round on his owne Axis The other a Progressiue motion whereby the center it selfe of the Inclinatory Needle is carryed forward vpon a Meridian from North to South or contrarywise These two motions supposed to proceed and beginne together cannot possibly meet in such Equality as that the degrees of Declination directly answer in Equality to the degrees of latitude which is demonstrated by this Figure here inserted Let the magneticall body bee A this body while it shall bee moued aboue the Earth from GD the Equinoctiall toward the Pole B will bee turned vpon his owne Center and in the middle of the progresse of the center from the Equator to the Pole B it will be directed to the Equator D in the middle betweene the two Poles Therefore the middle must needes turne faster on his owne center then the center it selfe turned forward that by this conuersion it should directly respect the point D wherefore this motion will bee swifter in the first degrees to wit from A to L but in the latter it will be slower from L to B in respect of the Aequator from D to C. Now if the Declination were equall to the latitude then the magneticall wier should obserue and follow the facultie and peculiar vertue of the center of an operatiue and attractiue point But reason experience teacheth that it obserueth the whole body and masse with all the externall limits of the Earth and Load-stone the whole vertues and forces of both concurring aswell of the conuertible wier as of the whole Earth Neuerthelesse from this experiment the skilfull in Magneticall Philosophie haue found out a proportion whereby the latitude of places may instrumentally bee found out by the degrees of Declination 2 The Magneticall Declination is caused not of the Attractiue but of the Disponent and Conuersiue vertue of the Earth There is nothing more admirable in Nature then the order and situation of all bodies in their places most conuenient for each ones conseruation For the obtaining of which harmony as wee haue taught in our second Chapter it is endowed with a proper motion conuenient to place and seat it selfe both for the preseruation of it selfe and the whole Vniuerse This naturall Inclination is no-where more eminent and cospicuous then in the harmony of magneticall bodies which are as it were the sinewes of the Terrestriall Globe These motions some haue imputed to the Attractiue force but very erroneously as wee haue proued already of Direction and Variation and shall here demonstrate concerning the Magneticall Declination for first if it were caused by any Attractiue force approching it would follow of necessity that a Terrella or round Spheare made of a solide or perfect loadstone would more turne and wrest the magneticall needle then if it were made of a weaker and more imperfect substance also that a needle touched with a stronger stone should shew a greater Declination then that touched with a weaker But experience hath found the contrary because the Declination will bee all one bee the stone stronger or weaker Moreouer a Loadstone armed with an Iron-Nose as they tearme it put vpon the Meridian in any latitude will not lift vp a piece of iron more perpendicularly then if it were naked and vncouered although
it will lift vp much greater and heauier waights which experiments are sufficient to confirme our assertion that this Declination is caused only by the disponent and conuersiue vertue of this Terrestriall Globe 3 The magneticall Declination hath a variation That in the magneticall Direction there is found an Irregularity or variation hath beene sufficiently warranted by Artificers Instruments The like Irregularity is in the motion of Declination which makes magneticall Instruments and experiments more subiect to errour and imperfection The variation of Declination is defined to bee an Arch of the Magneticall meridian betwixt the true and apparent Declination The cause hereof is onely to bee sought in the vnequall temper of magneticall parts in the Earth For as in the Direction magneticall bodies are drawne and wrested from the true meridian by the eminent and more vigorous force of the Earth one side ouer-ruling the other so the magneticall needle the conuersion somewhat increased declines sometimes beyond his naturall site and conformity This may cause an errour but not of any great moment sometimes when there is no variation or Direction at all in the Horizon there may bee a Variation or Declination to wit either when the more eminent and stronger parts of the Earth are placed iust vnder the Meridian or when these parts are more impotent then the generall nature requireth or els when the Magneticall vigour is too much increased on one side and diminished on the other as wee may behold in the vast Ocean CHAP. IIII. Of the Totall motions Magneticall 1 HAuing passed the Partiall motions magneticall wee are next to speake of the Totall motions which more neerely agree to the whole Earth such as are the Verticitie and Reuolution 2 The Verticity is that whereby the Poles of the earthly Spheare conforme and settle themselues vnto the Poles of the Heauen 1 The Spheare of the Earth by her Magneticall vigour is most firmely seated on her Axell whose Ends or Poles respect alwayes the same points in the Heauens without Alteration That which in a little Magnet or Load-stone is called Direction in the vast Globe of the Earth is called Verticity To vnderstand which wee must conceite that the Earth hath naturally two Poles vnto which the meridionall parts doe direct not only magneticall bodies neere the Earth but her owne massie situation and firmenesse and settles her selfe so strongly by her magneticall vertue passing through the Meridionall parts to the Poles as if shee were tied by many strong cables to two Herculean pillars not subiect to alteration And if it should happen by any supernaturall power that the situation could bee changed shee would no doubt by her magneticall vigour and verticity returne and restore her selfe to her former position as all magneticall needles will doe to their proper site and conformity Of this Verticity needes no more to bee spoken then hath been already said in the point of Direction because the former is a representation of the latter and depends on the same demonstration Out of which ground wee may euidently conclude that the Axell of the Terrestriall Globe remaynes alwayes inuariable By which we may refute the opinion of Dominicus Maria who was Master to Copernicuâ who out of certaine vnperfect obseruations was induced to beleeue that the Poles of the World were changed from their true and naturall situation I haue obserued saith hee looking on Ptolomies Geographie that the eleuation of the Pole Articke almost in all Regions as it is put downe in Ptolomie differs and failes in one degree and ten minutes from that which wee finde in our time which cannot bee ascribed to the errour of the table because it is not probable that the whole series should bee depraued according to this equality of number Wherefore it must follow of necessity that the North pole should bee moued toward the verticall circle which mystery not knowne of the Ancients for want of former obseruations hath shewed it selfe to our times being inriched not only with their but our owne experiments According to this opinion of Dominicus Maria the North pole should bee eleuated higher then it was and the Latitudes of Regions should bee greater then they were But to this opinion we will oppose the opinion of Stadius which holdeth that the latitudes of Regions haue beene decreased and diminished from that they haue had in Ptolomie without any such regular Increment or Decrement which hee labours to confirme by many obseruations as for example the latitude of Rome as it is set downe by Ptolomie is 41 degrees â
parts but by newer obseruation it is found to be 41 degrees ½ parts out of which wee may well coniecture that Ptolomies obseruations were not alwayes exactly true being for a great part such as hee had receaued from Hipparchus and not examined himselfe as may bee seene in the latitude of many Citties in Europe where hee missed sometimes 2 sometimes 3 degrees Wherefore no iudicious Geographer would vpon such imperfect obseruations and vncertaine coniectures bring in a new motion of the earth to ouerthrow that magneticall Harmony and consistency corroborated with so many and sure demonâtrations This may serue to answer a certaine Tenânt of Vasquez the Iesuite and some others who imagine the Center and by consequence the Pole of the Earth to bee moued vp and downe by a certaine motion of Liberation The argument on which they would ground their assertion is taken from the Center of Grauity in this manner The whole masse of the earth say they is so setled about the Center that it is equally poized that is as much as to say that the parts are indowed with an equall waight Now such Bodies as are so equally poized by the addition or diminution of any part on either âide will bee straight-way târned from that âiâe which they had before in Aequîlibrio as is dayly confirmed by experience of a Ballance and other such mechanicke instruments Wherefore in the Terrestriall spheare the Center and Poles should in this wise bee changed and altered and the whole suffer a kinde of starting or Libration For it is manifest by dayly obseruation that some things in the superficies of the earth are fallen off and carried into another place as Men Beasts and Birds which moue from one place vnto another Nothing is here of more moment then the motion of the Sea by which the parts of the water by continuall ebbing and flowing suffer such a sensible change of Addition and Diminution that no man can imagine how the parts of the Earth about the Center should alwayes bee equally counterpoyzed but the waight on one side should bee predominant vnto the other and so driue the Center from his former place This Argument Blancanus another late Iesuite leaues altogether vnanswered either imagining it too strong or out of a combined faction of their owne society vnwilling to contradict his fellow And indeed should wee consider the spheare of the earth no otherwise then according to
his Elementary constitution this reason would hardly admit of a solid answer For howsoeuer in the vast frame of the Earth the addition or subtraction of some parts would make but an insensible difference yet can it not bee denied but the least waight whatsoeuer added or subtracted would turne it from its Equall-poyze Neuerthelesse this I hold too absurd for a Christian to beleeue for as much as it contradicts the sense of holy Scriptures which auerre the earth to bee so setled on her foundation that shee should not at any time bee remoued or shaken which motion as shall bee proued in the second Theoreme I take to bee vnderstood of such a Trepidation of the Center and the Poles which by a metaphor are tearmed the foundation of the earth and not of the circular motion as some haue laboured to wrest it Wherefore nothing is here left vs to satisfie this doubt but to haue recourse to his magneticall verticity whereby the poles of the Earth endowed with a magneticall vigor and ouerswaying the elementary ponderosity of the earthly parts are as it were so fast bound to respect the same points or poles in the Heauens that the Center can no wayes bee shaken or moued out of his place 3 The Magneticall Reuolution is a motion by which the whole globe of the Earth is moued round Aristotle in his 1 booke de coelo makes 3 kindes of simple motions out of which hee labours to deduce the number of simple bodies The first is the motion from the center such as is of Fire and Ayre and all light bodies the second to the center such as is of Earth and Water the third is round about the center or middle which hee ascribes to the Heauens so that if this ground were true the Earth could challenge to it selfe no other then the right motion whereby the parts of it being separated from the whole returne to it againe But this opinion although popular and plausible hath beene contradicted as well by ancient Philosophers as moderne for by long experience and diligent obseruation they haue found the earth to bee endowed with a star-like vigour whereby shee may hauing all her parts vnited together by reason of her grauity vnto the Center and her place made sure by her magneticall poles moue naturally vpon her owne poles at least if so bee shee claime no other motion This opinion first blosomed as farre as I can gather in the Schoole of Pythagoras was cherished by Heraclides Ponticus and Ecphantus two famous Pythagoreans to which afterward ioyned themselues Nicetus Syracusanus and Aristarchus Samius all which haue vndertaken to defend that the Earth moues circularly and that this circumgyration of the Earth causeth the rising and setting of the Sunne as well as of other starres although in the manner they haue not expressed themselues alike hauing inioyed as yet scarce the first dawn of knowledge But all this while Philosophie contented her selfe with the acquaintance of a few choice friends not daring to prostitute her treasures to popularity But when it hapned in after times that shee was taught the language of the vulgar and spake to the vnderstanding of each mechanicke shee soone contracted some staines and squared her selfe rather to please the most then the best Thus the multitude as a vast torrent preuailed against the learned and cast into exile the inuentions of the Ancients which their ignorance was readier to censure then vnderstand Yet were not the seeds of this Philosophy quite extinct but as forgotten for a time vntill there arose Copernicus a man of incomparable wit who quickned and reuiued it to his euerlasting prayse and our profit I would not here be mistaken as though I strongly apprehend these grounds and reiect all the principles of our Peripateticke Philosophie I only inueigh against their preiudicate ignorance which ready to licke vp the dust vnder Aristotles feet with a supercilious looke contemne all other learning as though no flowers of science could grow in another garden I confesse this opinion of the Earths circular motion to bee subiect to many and great exceptions and opposed by strong and waighty arguments drawn probably from the booke of God the touch-stone of sincere verity yet I hold it too strongly fortified to be inuaded by popular arguments drawn from seeming sense and bolstered vp with names and authorities For mine owne part I confesse not absolute subscription to this opinion yet could I not conueniently leaue it out because hauing vndertaken to insert this Magneticall Tract I would not willingly mangle it in any part but shew it whole and intire to the view of the iudicious who herein may vse their Philosophicall liberty to imbrace or reiect what they please If these grounds seeme true they will finde acceptance if otherwise it cannot indamage Truth to know her aduersary Wherefore I thinke no man will take it amisse that I insert this following Theoreme 1 It is probable that the terrestriall Globe hath a circular motion Copernicus ascribes three motions to the spheare of the Earth whereof the first is in the space of 24 houres about her owne axell making the day and night and is therefore called the Diurnall The second is yeerely wherein the Center it selfe of the Earth is moued from West to East describing the circle of the Signes The third is a motion of Declination performed in an annuall reuolution reflecting against the motion of the Center for the Axis of the Earth is supposed to haue a conuertible nature whereas if it should remaine fixt there would appeare no inequality of day and night Spring Autumne Summer or Winter I will not here curiously distinguish the differences limits and periods of these three motions but leaue it to the skilfull Astronomer to whom properly it appertaines it is enough for mee to shew it probable that the Earth should challenge to it selfe a circular motion in prosecution of which I shall labour chiefly to establish that first motion which is of the Terrestriall globe about her owne axis which is the easiest both to beleeue and vnderstand That I may the better expresse the grounds of this opinion I will labour to proue these two points 1 That this opinion is consonant to reason 2 That it no way contradicts the sense of the Holy Scripture The former assertion wee will againe diuide into 3 articles 1 That the motion which wee seeke to establish in the Earth cannot without much absurdity bee granted to the heauens Secondly that it no way contradicts to nature of the Earth it selfe Thirdly that the arguments produced against this opinion are not so strong but may bee answered with probability First therefore finding the dayly rising and setting of the Sunne Moone and other Starres to arise from some motion wee are to seeke out the true subiect of this motion It is agreed vpon by all that this subiect must bee the Heauens which are carryed in 24 houres from East to West or the
Earth which must moue in the same time from West to East For the first wee must take aâ granted of those which defend the opposite opinion these two grounds 1 That the subiect of this motion if it bee a heauenly body is the first moueable and supreame spheare of all the celestiall machine because all the rest haue assigned them their seuerall motions 2 That of two bodies circularly mouing vpon the same Center in the same space of time that which is greater in quantity must needs haue the swifter motion as wee see the spokes of a wheele to moue faster neere the circumference but slower in those parts which are ioyned to the Center This granted wee shall find the greatest of the first and supremest orbs to bee so incomparably vast in proportion to the Earth and the motion of it according to this magnitude to bee increased to such a swiftnesse as must needes transcend all fiction and imagination For besides the two Elements placed by the Peripaâetickes betwixt the Earth and the Celestiall bodies to wit Aire and Fire which challenge no meane distance betwixt their concaue and conuexe superficies who knowes not how many distinct and strange concamerations of Orbes and circles are placed and signed ouâ betwixt the Moone and the first Moueable Aristotle hath reduced all the Orbes to eight whereof seuen were allotted to the seuen Planets but the eight to the fixt Starres which hee supposed to bee fastned as so many nailes in the same wheele But Ptolomie perceiuing this number to bee insufficient to satisfie his obseruations was inforced to adde a ninth to encrease the number Yet this contented not Alphonsus but hee must make vp tenne And although this opinion preuailed a long time in the Schooles of Philosophers as most exact and absolute yet came it farre short to satisfie the search of two latter Astronomers Clauius and Maginus who to adde something to Antiquity haue found out another orbe and so the whole tale is become eleuen and much it is to bee feared that the big-swolne belly of this learned Ignorance will beget more children to help the Mother because all the former haue proued lame and impotent God send her a safe deliuery To returne to my purpose all these orbs thus ranged and concamerated in order cannot but haue each of them a great and extraordinary thicknesse and profundity being to carry in them such huge and vast bodyes as the Sunne and Starres which are of themselues mighty Globes for the most part greater then the Earth as Philosophers haue found out by diuers Mathematicall instruments and expressed in Tables Also because amongst the Planetary Orbes wee shall finde them clouen into many partiall and lesser Orbes as Epicycles and Excentrickes the first of which must in reason surpasse the thicknesse of the Diameter of the Planet The profundity of all these Orbes is measured by their Diameters which wee shall find to surmount each other in extraordinary proportion For the Diameter of the Earth is 1718 German miles The greatest distance or elongation of the Moone being new 65 semi-diameters of the Earth the least is 55 semi-diameters The greater elongation of the Moone in the middle space is 68 the least 52 semi-diameters of the Earth Notwithstanding it is very probable that the Orbe of the Moone is yet of more thicknesse and profundity To passe ouer Venus and Mercurie and come to the Sunne wee shall find his distances from the Earth in his greatest Excentricity to bee 1142 semi-diameters of the Earth Mars Iupiter and Saturne are yet farther off from the Earth and their Orbes endowed with a greater treasure of thicknesse The distance of the Firmament wherein are placed the fixt Starres is by the best Mathematicians thought incomprehensible and not measurable by mans industrie in so much that Aristotle holds the Earth no other then as a point if it bee compared with the eighth Spheare which hee supposed to bee the highest and first Moueable To let passe the ninth Spheare the tenth which was vulgarly thought the first Moueable if it bee valued according to the proportion of the rest would haue his conuexe superficies moued so fast in one houre that it would ouercome so much space as 3000 greater circles of the Terrestriall Globe for as much as in the conuexe superficies of the starry Firmament it would containe more then 1800. And who can bee so sharpe sighted to see the profundity and thicknes of this orbe containing in it starres innumerable whereof some are apparent to each mans eyes others lying hid by reason of the distance whereof many haue lately beene discouered by reason of the Trunk-spectacle lately found out so that it may bee a probable coniecture that all these starres are not placed in the same Orbe or at least that this Orbe is farre greater and deeper then the ordinary current of Astronomers haue imagined it to bee To these eight Orbes here deciphered should wee adde the Caelum Chrystallinum the Primum Mobile the Idol of our common Astrologers and another which Clauius and Maginus haue inuented what bound should wee set to the greatneâ of the Heauens or the swiftnesse of their motions how farre beyond all rouing imagination or Poeticall fictions should it transcend as thatwhich neither Nature could euer suffer or the wit of man vnderstand a motion a thousand-fold swifter then the flight of a bullet from a peece of ordinance I had almost said then thought it selfe For if a man cast his imagination on some marke or degree in the Sunnes parallell on theTerrestriall Globe and so instantly transferre it to another and so to a third passing ouer at each time the distance of 100 miles hee would find the Sunne to bee farre swifter in his motion and to haue ouer-passed him incomparably in his course were the Sunne placed in the superficies of the Earth and his course no greater then one of the greater circles of the Terrene Globe hee should by their owne computation finish his course in 24 houres and so runne 21600 miles in that time which maketh 900 miles in one houre And if this motion seeme so swift that it could hardly haue credit among ordinary capacities what should wee thinke of this motion which is imagined infinitely swifter If Ptolomie feared lest the Globe of the Earth should be dissolued and shattered in pieces by a far slower motion of what should wee imagine the heauens to be made which can suffer so portentous and incogitable a whirling Here the common Philosopher stands astonished and rather then hee will be thought to know nothing hee will say any thing why saith he should wee not beleeue it sith the Heauens in their motion find no Resistance whereas all other bodies are slacked by the medium or Aire by which they are to moue If in the Heauens were any such let or hinderance it would bee either in the Agent or Mouer or in the Patient or body moued Not in the mouer because as Aristotle
hath taught the Heauens are moued or turned round by an Angell or Intelligence fixed to his Orbe of a spirituall and immateriall substance which in a body meetes no opposition Not in the body moued because of it's owne Nature it is prone and inclinable to this motion But this reason is like a reed that hurts his hand that leanes on it for first what indigence or necessity in Nature is obserued so great to bee the father of such Intelligences What serious iudgment can euer imagine the Angels to bee like gally-slaues chained fast to their gallies or turne-spit-dogs labouring in their wheeles To what vse shall they serue not to stirre vp and beginne the motion for why should we debarre the Heauens from the priuiledge ofall other Bodies farre lesse excellent whose motions challenge no other cause or beginning then their owne forme and nature Not to Regulate and confine this motion for Nature which beginnes any action or motion is able of her selfe to set limits and bounds vnto it without the helpe of any externall agent Finally not to continue this motion for as wee are taught in our Philosophie Euery Naturall Agent if it bee not hindered still acts to the vttermost of his power and therefore needes no externall coadiutor to continue his action for otherwise we might suppose the Heauens to grow weary and faint in their intended course Secondly whereas they say there can bee no Resistence in the body moued they contradict their owne grounds for it is agreed by all that the higher Orbs doe turne and wrest about the lower I would willingly aske by what kinde of action either by a vertuall influence or emanation or els by a corporall touch and application The former is improbable and as farre as I can gather not auuouched by any and were it so it would seeme ridiculous for why should wee rather ascribe this effect to an vnknowne influence of an externall body then to the vigour of his owne forme and nature For if one orbe in this sort can moue another why could it not moue it selfe being more present to it selfe then any other If they say by a corporall application of bodies and their parts I see not how they can auoid this Renitencie and reaction which alwayes doth suppose some resistence for how can one solide and hard body bee imagined to heaue and push another forward without some reluctancy in the patient because the inferiour Orbe hauing of it selfe a proper motion this must needes be violent as supposing a forcing wresting of Nature from her proper course whereof it is not hard to shew a sensible demonstration because the Orbe naturally directed one way is turned and directed another way at the same time which both motions concurring in the same body must needes offer violence one to the other Moreouer the immunity from corruptible qualities granted to the Heauens which is the ground of this opinion hath beene muh talked of amongst the Aristoteleans but neuer warranted by any certaine demonstration wee see say these Philosophers the Heauens to haue remained since the beginning of the World without any sensible alteration and change and therefore must all the Elementary and corruptible qualities bee excluded To disproue this I need goe no farther then the last Comet which Mathematicians by the parallax found to bee in the heauens And whereas otherwise they seeke a sensible alteration in other parts they deceiue themselues for as in the earth whereon wee dwell howeuer the parts interchangeably corrupt and ingender dayly yet the whole Globe will apparantly remaine the same keeping it's integrity so may it happen to many of the superiour Globes whose parts dayly corrupted and renewed againe although for the great distance to vs insensible the whole Globe remaineth still perfect in his perfect Sphericity I cease any further to inuade anothers Prouince and therefore descend to a second argument to proue this extraordinary violent and swift motion in the heauens to bee improbable It is ordinarily obserued in other Orbes of the heauens that the higher the Orbe is placed the motion is slower as for example the Spheare of the Moone which is next the Earth is carried about in 27 dayes Mercury and Venus are slow enough in their course as the former in 80 dayes the latter in 9 moneths the Sunne in a yeere Mars in 2 yeeres Iupiter in 12 Saturne in 30. Also those Astronomers which giue the fixt starres a motion would haue them to finish their course according to Ptolomie in 36000 but if wee will beleeue Copernicus in 25816 yeeres so that the higher and greater the circles be so much slower will be the motion what iniury were it then to the concord and harmony of Nature to impose vpon the highest Orbe of all such an vnmeasurable strange motion which might strike the most Sâraphickâ Angell into admiration To these may bee added other Arguments in Copernicus which albeit they be not demonstratiue will make the matter more probable First that Nature in all things is a compendious and short worker and vseth not many helpes for such thinges as may bee performed by fewer and therefore need wee not to vse the helpe of so many Orbes and concamerations to square our obseruations which will find more steady footing in this one ground once granted of the Earth's circular motion Secondly it will seeme more consonant and agreeable to Nature that the highest and vttermost Spheare of all which bounds and engirts in all the World besides should rest quiet and vnmoueable then to suffer such an intollerable motion as might endanger the whole Fabricke Lastly I may adde this one that this diurnall motion granted to the first Moueable can in my iudgement hardly stand with the regularity of heauenly Bodies if wee expresse it no otherwise then the ordinary sort of Astronomers For a regular motion is defined to bee that whereby in equall times a body is moued through equall places But this Diurnall motion receiued from the first Moueable concurring with the Sunnes annuall motion will exclude this equality For first it is granted that the Sunne in his motion from the Aequator to the Tropicke according to sense runnes âuery day in a distinct parallell for although euery minute hee declines somewhat from the Aequator toward the Tropicke yet the difference is not sensible so that wee may well euery day assigne a parallelll-inâ to the Sun's motion Secondly they must grant that these parallells are diminished and grow lesse and lesse toward the Tropicke from the Aequator Thirdly that as wee haue foreshewed of two bodies mouing in the same time on the same center that should moue faster which is greater so one body mouing in diuerse vnequall circles in equall time it must of necessity follow that it must needes moue faster in that which is greater here wee may conclude he moues faster in the Aequator then in the Tropicke because in the one hee is carryed in a greater parallell in the
other a lesse and yet in the same period of time as wee may see in this Figure following Let the Sunne bee in the point of the Eclipticke A it is manifest that he will sensibly moue for that day in the parallell AP. Then let him bee moued by his periodicke motion into the point of the Eclipticke B it will for that moment moue in the parallell IBO. Last of all let it bee in the point of the Aequator C. his parallell will bee HCL. It is manifest out of our former grounds that he will be moued slowest in AP. Faster in IO. Fastest of all in HCL. Which swiftnesse and slownesse in the Suns motion makes it irregular Some haue thought to salue this by saying that this motion is Regular because in equall time the Sunne goes proportionall not equall spaces which Aguillonius holds in his Optiâks But this shift is friuolous because it takes not away the obiection why the Sunne should moue faster and slower For the Heauens being a naturall not a voluntary agent and according to these grounds finding no hinderance or impediment must alwayes worke to his vtmost power and so cannot slacke or increase his action or motion that it should moue faster or slower Hitherto haue wee shewed that this Diurnall motion cannot without some absurdity bee granted to the heauens in the next place we are to shew that it no way can crosse the Naturall disposition of the Earth it selfe which wee shall demonstrate in this manner If this circular motion should crosse the disposition of the Earthly Globe it would happen either immediatly in respect of the meere Nature which the Logicians call à priore or els in regard of certaine properties which follow necessarily the Nature of it which they terme à posteriori If they say it happens à priori in regard of the meere Nature they must necessarily haue recourse to the proprieties and accidents for a demonstration For the Internall formes of all things being in themselues insensible cannot be discouered vnto vs but by their externall proprieties But if probable coniecture may here find any place I see no reason why the earth being found to bee of a magneticall temper should not challenge the same which other magneticall Globes farre greater then the Earth possesse to wit a circular reuolution about her owne Poles which Kepler and Galileus haue obserued aswell in the Sunne as Iupiter and in like matters to iudge alike seemes more warrantable then to faigne a dispaâity which Nature neuer grounded or obseruation found But this as a matter of small note I easily passe ouer following the foot-steps of our Aduersaries which seeke to demonstrate the Earth's stability out of the externall effects and proprieties If then this Reuolution contradict any proprietie it must bee of necessity either in regard of the Quantity and Magnitude or els in respect of the figure and quality or of some Motion or of the siâe and position for I find no other propriety of any moment which can enter into this consideration First that the Quantiây can no way thwart this circular Reuolution is manifest because it would happen either in that it were too Great or too Little It cannot be by reason of the greatnes because the great globes of the Sunne and Iupiter manifold greater then the Globe of the Earth are by late experiments of the Trunk-spectacle found to moue about their owne Axell in a small portion of time the like haue others deliâered of the Moânâ and Venus It is not then the Masse or quantity which can hinder it in the Earth neither on the other side can it bee the smalnesse for bodies smaller are found as apt or rather apter to receiue a circular motion which they will not deny mee and therefore cannot this be preiudiciall to the motion of the Earth In the next place the figure of the Earthly Globe cannot hinder this motion because by all sound Philosophers being acknowledged to bee Sphericall it cannot but bee deemed most apt to receiue Reuolution in so much as some haue hence laboured to draw an argument for the Earths circular motion as deeming this Figure to bee giuen to the Earth for no other end or vse Thirdly no Quality in the Earth can resist this circular motion for this quality by the consent of all would bee the naturall heauines or waight of the Earth But this heauines takes not away the naturall Reuolution 1 Because Grauity or heauinesse is nothing els but the inclination of the parts of the Earth returning to their naturall place hauing beene sequestred from it but these parts hauing once regained their proper places moue no farther nor are in those places esteemed heauy or waighty whence it is commonly said amongst the Peripatetickes Nihil grauitat in suo loco nothing is heauy in his owne place which may easily bee demonstrated out of Staticke principles whereby we finde heauinesse and lightnesse to bee giuen to the bodies according to the medium and their massinesse and solidity in respect of one to the other 2 If this heauinesse bee opposed to the circular motion then either immediatly by it selfe or secondarily by some concomitant accident It cannot bee the first because grauity is a quality but motion an action which for ought my Philosophy hath taught mee are not opposite If by reason of some accident then no question because it is contrary to lightnesse or leuity which seemes requisite to such a motion We willingly yeeld this naturall grauity of the parts of the Earth to stand opposite to the motion of Ascent or mouing vpward from the Center but neuerthelesse it is not any way contrary to the circular motion 1 Because contraries are alwayes supposed to be in eodem genere in the same kind but the motion of heauy bodies to the Center and of the Earth about the Center are not in the same kinde the one being a right motion the other circular neither can the waight of the Terrestriall masse adde or diminish any thing in regard of the circular motion because a Sphericall and a right motion cannot either directly concurre or directly oppose one the other 2 Wee may vrge out of the 4 Chap. of Aristotles 1 booke De Calo That no ciâcular motion can admit of contrariety which hee confirmes by a demonstration which wee forbeare here to insert being loath to roue too farre from our present matter At length wee will proue that this orbicular motion giuen vnto the Earth cannot ouerthrow or thwart any other motion of the Earth for if this were so it would happen for one of these two respects Either because the Earth hath some motion or other contrary to this or els because diuers motions cannot bee in the Earth The first cannot be true for that wee haue spoken before because the right motion they finde in the Earth cannot bee iudged contrary to the Sphericall neither can the later bee admitted as an vndoubted truth for howsoeuer Aristotle sets it
The parts whereof this Terrestriall Spheare consists may bee considered two wayes either as they are vnited in the whole by a Magneticall forme or disioyned and taken by themselues In the former the parts of the Earth are supposed to moue in the same motion by which the whole Spheare of the Earth is moued because the whole and all the parts taken together are the same and subiect to the same circular reuolution Notwithstanding this any part seuerall and disioyned from the whole hath a right motion downeward toward the Center by which it returnes to its true naturall vnion This inclination of the parts agrees not with the whole Earth neither vnto any part vnited and conglobated to the whole but onely to a part separated from his place so that the whole may notwithstanding in his place inioy a circular motion Now to come more neerely home vnto their Arguments drawne from the Homogeneity of the Earth wee answer as before that there is a twofold Homogeneity The one of the matter and quantity the other of the Magneticall forme and Nature of the former wee may conclude out of the right motion of all the parts the disposition of the whole so wee vnderstand it in a good sense first that euery part is here to bee vnderstood not in but out of his proper place Secondly that by the whole wee ought not to vnderstand the whole Globe with all his parts conformed in one Sphericall frame but all the parts indefinitely taken for if wee should vnderstand of the whole Globe their Argument will in no way hold true If according to the later wee might well grant them their Conclusion yet can it not oppugne our Assertion Because it will follow out of the Naturall inclination of euery part that all the parts seuerally taken haue such a disposition of returning to the Earth being separated there from Yet will not this by any necessary inference bee proued to agree to the whole Globe of the Earth but rather will it follow contrarywise that the whole Spheare of the Earth is moued circularly and therefore euery part with and in it is moued with the whole in the same motion A third argument which is thought greater then all the other is drawne from two experiments The first is that a stone or Bullet let fall from a higher place to the ground will perpendicularly descend to the point of the Earth right vnder Secondly that two Bullets imagined to bee of equall weight and matter being discharged from equall pieces of ordinance with the like quantity of powder the one towards the East the other towards the West will reach an equall distance in the Earth both which would seeme impossible if wee grant this supposition of the Earths circular reuolution For in the former case the Earth sliding away swiftly during the fall of the stone would change the point marked out for another And in the second for the like cause the Bullet shot towards the East being preuented by the swiftnesse of the Earth's motion carrying along with it the Ordinance out of which it proceeded should returne backe ouer the shooters-head and contrarywise that Bullet shot towards the West besides his owne motion by the motion of the Earth the other way should bee carryed so much farther as the Earth is remoued from the place where it was first discharged Both which experiments seeme to crosse this circumgyration of the Terrestriall Globe which our magneticall Cosmographers labour to confirme But with them to giue an answer to these and the like experiments wee must distinguish the parts of the Earth into three sorts some are hard and solide parts adioyned to the Globe as stones mineralls what else in the bowels of the Earth is vnited to it or at least necessarily adherent to the outward face of it Some other parts there are of a thinne and fluid substance as the Aire and other vapours in it deriued from the Earth A third sort there are of such parts as being in themselues solide are notwithstanding by some violence separated from the solide globe as stones cast into the Aire Arrowes Bullets and such like discharged from the hand or Engine For the two former wee may easily imagine them carried with the same circular motion which we assigne vnto the whole being no other then the parts of it depending from the whole masse For the third sort whereof consists the difficulty wee cannot imagine them so moued round as if they were wholly separated from the Communion of the Earthly Spheare for howsoeuer there seemes a separation according to matter and quantity yet retaine they the same magneticall inclination to the whole masse as if they were vnited to it and therefore such solide parts are moued with the same vniforme and naturall motion wherewith the Earth it selfe is turned so that in solide bodyes so separated from the superficies of the Earth of an Arrow or Bullets shot wee must imagine a twofold motion The one Naturall vniforme whereby they are moued as homogeneall parts according to the reuolution of the whole Spheare The other violent by force impressed from the Agent The right motion proceeding from the strength of the shooter cannot crosse or hinder the Naturall because the one being right and the other circular admit no such proportion as that one should hinder or further the other Neither can these motions well be tearmed contrary or opposite which are in diuers kindes To explaine this matter farther we will adde this Diagramme Lât the whole orbe of the earth bee imagined to bee LQM whose center is A the thicknesse of the Aire ascending from the Earth O Q. Now as the orbe of this fluid substance of the aire asceÌding vniformely is moued round with the Globe of the earth so must wee imagine the part of it marked out by the right line OQ to bee carried round with an vnalterable Reuolution Wherefore if any heauy body should bee placed in the Line OQ as for example P it will fall downe toward the center by the shortest way in the same line OQ which motion downewards towards the center can neither bee hindered by the circular motion of the Earth nor yet Mixt or compounded with it It cannot bee hindred because as wee haue shewed a Right motion and a circular being not in the same kind cannot properly bee reputed contrary Neither for the same cause can they bee mixt or compounded Wherefore this motion will be no other then one simple and Right motion neuer varying from the Line OQ which being once vnderstood it is no hard thing to imagine a Bullet or stone forced by equall strength from Q towards L and from Q. towards the point M to obserue alwayes a like distance notwithstanding the Earth's cirâular Reuolution Hauing hitherto shewed this Sphericall motion of the Earth to bee possible and no way to contradict Nature wee are in the next place to shew it to bee no way opposite to the sense of
vnderstood wee are first to set downe in a Scheme or Diagram both the number and order of all the heauenly Orbs conceiued according to our grounds Secondly we must shew in particular how this ranging of the heauenly bodies is capable of all the motions and apt to satisfy the apparences In which parts I wil not too nicely descend to Astronomicall curiosities being too many and subtile for a Geographer to discusse Only I will giue a tast to satisfie such as suppose no middle way can bee troden out betwixt Ptolomies stability of the Earth and Copernicus his three Motions I might seeme perhaps presumptuous beyond my knowledge to reiect and passe by the draughts and delineations of Ptolomy Alphonsus and their followers which are commonly defended and in vse or that other of Copernicus supported with the authority and credit of so great an Astronomer or that of Tichobrahe more corrected then either and to preferre my own being an Embrion or halfe fashioned To this I answer First that I only expose this Scheme following to the view of the iudicious iustifying it no farther then will stand with Astronomicall obseruation Secondly I herein arrogate little or nothing to my selfe for as much as I haue digested and compounded it out of the obseruations and experiments of late Astronomers and only collected together what they scattered The Scheme it selfe is expressed in this manner wherein to beginne from the lowest The Center is the Globe of the Earth to which wee haue giuen a Diurnall motion from the West to the East vpon her owne Poles whose Reuolution is made in 24 houres About the Earth as the Center of the whole world the Moone is carried in her circle which amongst all the Planets is found more neerely to respect the Earth as well in place as nature Next succeeds the Sunne as the leader of all the Planets which carried round about the earth in an Annuall circuit describes the Ecliptick circle about the Sun as the proper Center are all the Planets moued except the Moon The two immediate coÌpanions of the Sun are Venus Mercurie which so coÌpasse him about that the Earth neuer comes betwixt them and the Sunne The other three Planets as Mars Iupiter and Saturne howsoeuer they enuiron the Sunne as their proper Center yet so as within their circles they comprehend the body of the Earth The Planet Mars because hee is found by Astronomers to moue sometimes aboue sometimes vnder the Sunne is vnderstood to moue in such a circle which on the opposite side shall cut the circle of the Sunne yet so as Mars and the Sunne can neuer meet in one point Forasmuch as Mars as well as the other Planets is supposed to be carryed in an Epicycle about the Sunne and to keepe an equall distance from him howsoeuer moued Neither is he euer found vnder the Sunne but about the time of the opposition as Astronomers obserue whence a cause hath beene giuen why Mars should appeare greatest at the time of Opposition These fiue Planets to wit Saturne Iupiter Mars Venus and Mercury may bee considered according to a double motion The one is proper and naturall wherein they are moued about the Sunne as their proper Center The other Accidentall and as it were by a consequence of Nature whereby in their circuit mouing about the Sunne as their Center they must of necessity by a consequent site of the place be carryed about the Earth For the Sunne placed in his Eclipticke line so compasseth round the Earth that with him hee is supposed to carry the Epicyâles wherein these Planets are moued round a-about him Whence wee finde the motion of these Planets about the Sunne as their owne Center to bee regular but about the Earth irregular which proceeds from their Excentricity in respect of the Earth Aboue all the Planets wee place the Firmament or Starry Heauen hauing a very slow motion not to bee finished in many thousand yeeres and this motion is on other Poles then the Poles of the world to bee sought out in or neere the Poles of the Eclipticke This Heauen would Aristotle haue to bee the first moueable and therefore gaue it a very swift motion which is the same which wee call Diurnall and haue giuen to the Earth But it seemes more consonant to nature that the slower motions should agree to the higher bodies and the swifter to the lower that there might be a proportion betwixt the time and the space of motion It remaines that wee probably shew that out of their suppositions the Celestiall Apparences may bee as well or better salued then by the ordinary grounds The Apparences which are most called in question concerne either the Motion or the Places and Positions All the rest are either of lesse moment or at least are thereunto reduced Euery motion which is found or thought to bee found in the Heauens is either the Diurnall or Periodicke The Diurnall Motion as wee haue already shewed belongs to the Earth which according to our grounds is supposed to moue from the West vnto the East in 24 houres Which may answer to the Motion of the first moueable Spheare which according to Aristotle is the Starry Firmament and thought to moue from the East to the West The Periodicke Motion is either a slower Motion to be finished not vnder many thousand yeeres or else a swifter Reuolution of the Planets This slow motion the common Astronomers would haue towfold The one from the West to the East on the Poles of the Eclipticke the other a Motion as they call it of Trepidation from the South point to the North and backward againe but one slow Motion of the sixt Starres vpon the Poles of the Eclipticke granted to the Firmament will for ought I see satisfy both The reason why they put two distinct Motions is 1 Because they haue obserued the Starres of Aries Taurus and the rest of the Zodiacke not to be seated in the same place wherein they were anciently found but to be moued certaine degrees from the West towards the East Whence they would conclude a Motion to bee from the West vnto the East 2. It will stand with no lesse experience that the foresaid Starres of the Firmament haue moued themselues from the South towards the North. To passe ouer the râst the Pole-star which in Hipparchus time was distant from the Pole about 12 Degrees is now obserued to approach almost three degrees These two Motions should they bee esteemed in the account of Astronomers might seeme deficient Notwithstanding wee may probably coniecture this to bee no other then one and the selfe-same Motion vpon the Poles of the Eclipticke Whence it may come to passe that the fixt Starres are not only carryed from West to East but also by reason of the obliquity of the Eclipticke line encline more and more dayly to the Pole of the World whence they may againe returne For this motion from the West to the East is of the primary intent of
nature wherein the Starres moue in circles parallell to the Eclipticke But from the North to the South as by the necessary consequence of the position and obliquity of the Zodiacke because it cannot bee auoided but that it should either incline to or decline from the Pole If they should obiect as many doe that this progresse is not proportionall in respect of the time according to the calculation of the Astronomers Wee answer 1. That this difference is so small that it should rather seeme to bee imputed to the negligence or ignorance of such as tooke these obseruations then to any diuersity of motion For who knowes not in these dayes of ours wherein this art is arriued at a farre greater perfection diuerse Astronomers in obseruing the same Star at the same time to differ much the one from the other Whose knowledge notwithstanding is fortified with the experience of the Ancients and inuention of new Instruments What then shall wee thinke of those which distant so many ages in time and vsing diuerse vnlike Instruments in their obseruations haue differed in matters of so small moment chiefly in seeking out the period of this long and slow motion which by reason of his slownes since the time it was known to man hath not ranne the fifteenth part of his circle For my part I shall rather ascribe it to the errour of their obseruations then multiply Orbs without a greater cause First because as wee haue said the difference is so small and almost insensible 2. Because wee haue beene taught by our Astronomicall histories what kinde of Instruments were then in vse which to later Astronomers haue beene thought too rude and vnfit to make such subtile obseruations Lastly concerning the Site and Position no lesse reason may bee giuen out of our Hypothesis then the common way For by placing the fiue Planets to runne in their Epicycles about the Sunne may we giue a reason of the inequality of their distance from the Earth wherein an ingenious minde in our common grounds can hardly giue himselfe sufficient satisfaction 3 The stability is an affection whereby the Terrestriall Spheare is firmely setled in his proper place The Stability or firmenesse of the Earth which we here vnderstand 1. No way denyes or contradicts the motion of the parts of the Earth whereby being separated they returne to their proper place 2. Neither the circular Reuolution of it on her owne Poles and Axell whereof wee haue formerly spoken But either such a motion whereby the parts of it may bee seuered one from the other and so the whole Masse dissolued or whereby the Center of the Earth may be moued out of his proper place or at least such as might mooue the Poles of the earth from their true verticity whereby they should not respect alwayes in the Heauens the same points or poles Which kinde of stability from motion we will establish in this Theoreme 1 The Earth is firmely seated and setled in her proper place This Theoreme may bee proued as well by reason as authority of holy Scripture From reason it is demonstrated in this manner If the Earth should not be setled in her proper place this would of necessity happen either by dissolution and separation of the parts one from the other or by remouing the poles out of their fixt places or else by motion of the Center from one place to the other The first cannot be admitted because as we haue before taught in the second Chapter of this booke All Terrestriall Bodies are endowed with an inclination or ponderosity to approach as neere as they can to the center of the Earth so that by this coherency and conformity the whole earth is ransom'd from any such mutability Neither can the whole Spheare bee dissolued without an especiall miracle And if so it should happen the parts would returne againe and conforme themselues to compose the same Spheare Likewise the second way The earth cannot loose her stability because as wee haue shewne in our former Chapter the earth hath her two Poles magneticall made fast vnto the Poles of the world as if they were bound firmely to two great pillers neuer to bee shaken Finally The Center of the Earth cannot be moued out of his place any wise because as we haue demonstrated in the Chapter before without the disturbance and inuersion of the whole frame of Nature the Earth can haue no other place then the Center or middest of the whole world Some haue alleaged as an argument that principle of Aristotle That one simple Body can haue but one simple Motion and therefore the earth challenging to it selfe a right motion to the Center cannot also haue a circular or round motion and so of necessity must rest vnmoued in her proper place But this reason as I haue shewed is weake to proue this assertion First because this principle of Aristotle is not grounded on certainty but contradicts experience as I haue elsewhere shewed 2. This right motion to the Center is not to bee ascribed to the whole as the immediate subiect but to the parts of it separated from the whole so that nothing will hinder but that the whole Globe may haue a motion proper to it selfe on his owne Poles But to let this reason passe as weake all those arguments alleaged by the common Astronomers and Philosophers against the circular motion of the Earth proue indeed no other matter then this stability which we establish but if racked any farther come short to satisfie For authority of Scripture many places are vrged to proue this stability whereof wee haue a pregnant place in 104 Psalme wherein Dauid magnifying the Creator saith That hee laid the foundation of the Earth so sure that it should not be moued at any time To which may be added many other Texts but that I hold this one sufficient in a matter which few men call in question Wee are in the third place to treate of the proportion of the Earth with the heauenly bodies 4 The Proportion is that wherein the quantity of the Terrestriall Globe is compared with the quantity of the Heauens We must here remember a distinction before touched that the Globe of the Earth may bee considered two wayes either Absolutely in it selfe or Comparatiuely in respect of the heauenly Bodyes If we consider it absolutely in it selfe wee shall finde that the Earth hath a vast and huge magnitude and not any wayes to bee compared to a point because it is a body and therefore subiect to diuision whereas a point is conceaued as an indiuisible signeadmitting no parts at all Sâcondly because the magnitude of the Earth many times taken will measure the greatnesse of the Heauens as wee may obserue by Astronomers who measure the magnitude of the greatest Stars by Diameters and Semidiameters of the Earth whereas a point of it being a thousand times multiplied will neuer beget a magnitude or measure of the quantity of any Body Thirdly the Starres are not
as meere points in respect of their Orbs because they sensibly are seene as parts of these Orbs. But the Earth is greater then some of the lower Starres as the Moone Whence we may with good grounds auerre that if a man were placed in the Moone hee might behold the Earth far greater then the Moone being obserued by vs in the Earth Wherefore no man can deny but the Earth in it selfe hath a great vastnesse But if wee consider this greatnesse in respect of the Heauens we shall find this vast greatnesse to shrinke almost into nothing and become as a meere point without sensible magnitude But this is not altogether generall without limitation because the heauenly bodies are distinguished into the higher and greater such as are the Firmament with the foure higher Planets such as are Saturne Iupiter Mars and the Sunne or the lower and lesser such as are Venus Mercurius and the Moone which difference in place and greatnesse admits a great diuersity in this proportion as wee shall shew in these two Theoremes 1. The Earthly Globe compared in quantity with the Firmament and superiour Orbes of the planets hath no sensible magnitude This Proposition is supported not only by the authority of many and graue Authors as Aristotle Ptolomy Pliny Alphragan and others but by diuers strong reasons drawne from experience and obseruation of Astronomers The first argument shall be this which is most popular The Sunne and many other Starres in the Firmament are found out by Astronomicall Instruments to bee manifold greater then the Globe of the Earth yet appeare they in respect of the heauens but as a little point or portion Then must the Earth being in comparison far lesser be deuoyd of all sensible magnitude or proportion Secondly if the Earth had any notable quantity in respect of the Heauen then must the Diameter of the earth haue as great a quantity in respect of the Diameter of the Sky for there is the same proportion of the Diameters which the circumferences haue one to the other as is demonstrated in Geometry Now if the Diameter of the Earth hath any notable magnitude in coÌparison of the Diameter of the Skye then the Starres which be ouer our heads be neerer vnto vs by a notable quantity then when they bee either in the East or West For it must needs follow that the Starres placed in the verticall point are neerer by the Semidiameter of the Earth then when they are either in the Easterne or Westerne point as we see in âhis figure here set downe ACDB wherein I make E to be the Center of the Earth AEB the true Horizon and EF the Semidiameter of the earth Now if the Semidiameter FE haue any sensible proportion then must G the verticall point be neerer to F. then either A or B. supposed to bee the East west points because EA or EB are the whole Semidiameter of the Celestiall circle whereof FG is only a part But contrarywise there is no such diuersity perceiued in the magnitude of the Starres but that they appeare still to bee of one and the same greatnesse except by accidentall interposition of vapours and grosse bodies wherefore it must of necessity follow that their distance is all one in all parts of the Skye and by consequence the Semidiameter of the earth hath no sensible diuersity in distance Thirdly hence would arise another reason no lesse forcible then this that if the Semidiameter of the Earth had any comparison or proportion to the Semidiameter of the Skye the Horizon that we haue on the vpper part of the earth should not diuide the Skye into two equall parts for as much as the part which is couched vnder the Horizon would alwayes be greater and the other lesser as in our former Diagramme if EF haue a notable quantity in compaâison of EA then will the line CFD being the Horizon on the top of the earth differ notably from the line AEB being the Diameter of the World and the Horizon to the Center of the Earth and so shall not the Horizon CFD diuide the world into two equall parts but the vpper part shall alwayes be lesser then the lower which crosses ordinary experience for we may see in long winter nights that those Starres which are in the East Horizon in the beginning of the night will be in the West at the end of twelue houres and contrarywise those Stars which did set in the West when those others did rise in the East shall rise agayne when the other shall set Fourthly if the earth had any sensible greatnesse in respect of the Heauens then were it vnpossible for any Sunne Diall to bee regular and obserue due proportion For we see the shaddowes to moue as duely and orderly about the Center of Dials and such instruments as if their Center were the very Center of the world which could neuer happen if these two Centers should differ notably in respect of the Spheare of the Sunne to expresse it the better we will set this Figure which represents the three notable circles in a Diall which are described by the course of the Sunne in three notable places of the Zodiacke to wit the two Tropicks and the Equinoctiall Herein the vttermost arch BLC represents the Tropicke of Capricorne and is described no greater then the quarter of a circle because the Sun placed in the Signe shines vnto vs but six houres The Equinoctiall is set as halfe a circle because the Sun being in it appeares vnto vs 12 houres is here noted out by EIF The Tropicke of Cancer containes 3 quarters of a Circle because when the Sun is in it there are eighteen houres from Sun-rising to Sun-set and that circle is GHK The Center of the Diall is A and the Style which giues the shadow DA whose top being D doth describe those portions of circles with such exactnesse as if the Diall were set in the very Center of the Earth and the distinction of the houres shewes it selfe no otherwise then if the Center of the Diall were the same with the Center of the world To these arguments I may adde that if there should bee a sensible greatnesse of the earth in respect of these superiour Orbes either all or most of these absurdities would arise which follow their opinions who place the Earth out of the CeÌter of the World which we haue before treated of 2 The Terrestriall Globe compared with the inferiour Orbs hath a sensible magnitude Although the whole Earth compared with the Firmament and superiour Orbs of the Planets seeme no otherwise then a point yet from this wee must except the Orbes of the lower Planets Venus Mercury but especially the Moone Who are found by obseruations of diuerse skilfull Astronomers to haue a sensible and notable greatnesse in respect of the earth whereof a manifest argument may bee drawne from the Parallax or variation of the sight wherein our obseruations of the same Starre at diuerse places are
yet may the rest compared amongst themselues be ranged in a certaine order as the Second Third Fourth Fifth and so along till we come againe to the First being in all reduced to the number of 180 answering to 360 Degrees as wee haue taught So much for the Meridians 11 The Parallels are equidistant Circles passing from the East to the West directly I haue defined the Parallell Circles in a larger sense then former Geographers vsually haue taken it in as willing vnder this generall name not onely to include the Parallels commonly so called but also the Equatour because I see no reason why the Equatour being euery where equidistant from each other Circle should not suffer this acception The common sort of Cosmographers vnder this name would onely comprize the minor Circles which are conceiued to bee equally distant and correspondent to the Equinoctiall Circle so that all should bee so called in respect of the Equatour to whom they are said to answer not in site and position for as much as they decline from the middle of the Earth to the North and South but in Comparison and Proportion for as the Equatour is drawne from East to West and diuides the whole Spheare of the Earth into the North and South Hemispheares So the other also diuide the Globe of the Earth though not into two equall parts as the Equatour but vnequall These Parallels many wayes are distingushed from the Meridians first because the Meridians are drawne directly from North to South but the Parallels from East to West Secondly the Meridians how many soeuer they are imagined to bee concurre and meete all in the Poles of the Earth whereas the Parallels howsoeuer drawne out at length will neuer concurre or meete in any point Whence it must needes follow that all Parallels and Meridians in the Globe must cut one the other and make right angles These Parallels although infinite in number may bee in the Spheare reduced to the number of the Meridians because they are drawne through the opposite points and degrees of the Meridian Semi-circle which would make vp the number of 180 but yet for Conueniency they haue not painted so many in the face of the Artificiall Spheare for as much as so many lines and circles might beget Confusion Wherefore Ptolomy and the Ancients haue distinguished the Parallels on both sides the Equator North and South with such a Distance that where the day should increase one quarter of an houre a new Parallel should be placed So that the longest day of one Parallell should surpasse the longest day of another for one quarter of an houre By which appeares that the Parallels are not of one greatnesse but by how much neerer the Pole they are placed so much lesse are they and so much greater by how much farther off from the Poles and neerest the Equatour These Circles are of great vse in Geographie as to distinguish the Zone Climats and Latitudes of Regions to shew the Eleuation of the Pole and to designe out the length and shortnesse of the day in any part of the Earth 12 A Parallell Circle is of two sorts either greater or lesser The greater is the Equatour or equinoctiall Circle 13 The Equatour is the greatest of the Parallels passing through the middest of the Earth and exactly diuiding them from the Poles into two equall halfes or Hemispheares whereof the one is North the other South This Circle is called the Equatour or Equinoctiall of Astronomers because that when the Sunne passeth vnder it as vpon the 11 of March and the 13 of September it makes the Day and Night equall This Circle of Astronomers is esteemed the most notable being the measure of the Diurnall and most regular Motions The Laâines haue taken the name and appellation of this Circle from the Day as the Greeks from the Night Wherein the Sense is no way varyed because the equality of the Day argues the like equality of the Night The two Poles of the Circle are the same with the Poles of the Vniuersall Earth to wit the Articke or North-Pole and the Antarticke and Southerne Pole whereof the former is alwayes conspicuous in our Horizon the other lies couched and hidde from our Sight It is called the Articke-pole from the Constellation of the little Beare in the Heauens neere to the which it is situated in opposition to the which the other is called Antarticke It hath manifold vse in Astronomy copiously by Astronomers And no lesse in Geography for without this Equinoctiall Circle no Description of the Earth can be absolute perfect neither any Citie or Place in the Terrestriall Globe or Mappe set in his due and proper place This Equinoctiall Circle in regard of the Earth passeth through the middle-most part almost of Africa by Ethiopia America and Taprobana So that it exactly diuideth the Globe of the Earth into two halfes the Northerne and Southerne Hemispheares so that these people which dwell vnder the Equatour are said to inhabite the middle of the world because they incline neither to the North nor to the South hauing so much distance from the Articke Antarticke-Pole of the Earth Moreouer by this Circle as wee will declare hereafter are noted out vnto vs the East and West part of the Spheare no way to be neglected of Geographers 1 Concerning the Equatour two things are to be obserued either the Inuention or the Site and Position The Inuention is either Astronomicall or Magneticall The Astronomicall according to these Rules 1 The Meridian being found out to find the Equator This is easily performed by the helpe of the former Figure for therein the Meridian line being found out as we haue shewed let there bee drawne by the Center E of that Circle the line AC making right Angles with the said Meridian which line AC will bee the true Equatour and will point out vnto vs the true East and West as A the East and C the West Whence it appeares that the two lines to wit of the Equatour and the Meridian doe diuide and cut the whole Horizon into two equall Quadrants 2 Without the helpe of the Meridian to find out the Equatour In the time of either Equinoctiall in some Horizontall plaine in the Sunne-shine let there bee erected a Gnomon then in the day time let there bee noted all the points by which the end or top of the shadow hath passed for all those points in the time of Equinoctiall are in a right line because then the end of the shadow is carried in a line in the time of the Equinox in a Herizontall plaine This line will bee the true Equinoctiall-line the cause is giuen by Clauius in Gnomonicis lib. 1. prop. 1. Corollar 2. which depending on many Geometricall and Astronomicall principles as too far from my purpose I omit 15 The Magneticall inuention of the Equatour is wrought by the Magneticall Inclinatory Needle according to this Proposition 1 Wheresoeuer at any place of the Terrestriall
Spheare the Inclinatory Needle shall conforme it selfe in a Parallell-wise to the Axell of the Earth through that place passeth the Equinoctiall Line As to finde out the Meridian of any place wee are to vse the helpe of the Directory Needle so to the finding out of the Equatour and Parallels the Inclinatory Needle is most necessary because the former respects the Magneticall Motion of Direction the latter of Declination Now wheresoeuer wee shall see the Needle to conforme it selfe in such sort as it may lie Parallell with the Axell of the Earth we may assure our selues that such a place is vnder the Equinoctiall Circle The reason whereof wee haue giuen in our 3 Chapter out of the CoÌuertible nature of the Magnet and here needs no repetition only wee will insert this one figure wherein the line CD drawne through the Centers of two Inclinatory Needles lying Parallell to the Axell of the Earth A. B. will expresse this Equinoctiall line which wee here seeke For the Magneticall Inclinatory Needle being set in a Frame or Ring made for such a purpose will vnder the Equator respect one Pole no more then another but lie leuell with the Plaine of the Horizon as vnder the Poles it will make right Angles with the Plaine of the Horizon In the middle spaces betwitxt the Equatour and the Poles it will conforme it selfe in such sort as it makes certaine Angles with the Axell of the Earth though not equall yet proportionall to the Latitude out of which an ingenious Artificer may deduce the Parallels of any place without any obseruations of the Heauens as is taught by Instruments inuented by Gilbert Ridley and diuers others which haue vndertaken this subiect 16 Of the Inuention of the Equatour wee haue spoken In the site we ought to consider the placing of the Equator in respect of the world 1 The Equatour is an vnmoueable Circle whose Poles neuer vary from the âixt Poles of the world Whether the Poles of the Equator haue been any times varied from the Poles of the world is a controuersie which hath exercised the greatest wits Ioseph Scaliger trusting as it seemes more to ancient History then Moderne experiment seemes in two Epistles not only to make a doubt whether the Poles of the Equatour haue continued the same with the Poles of the world but superâiliously as the manner of most criticks is rather out of coniecture then Reason to taxe the common opinion of manifest errour and absurdity The ground and originall of this doubt growes out of the obseruation of the fixt Stars which haue since the Times of the Ancients beene found to bee moued out of their places or at least not to retaine the same points in the Period of the Sunnes Motion The chiefest Instances are taken from the stars in the Hornes of Aries which in Hyparchus time which liued aboue 60 yeeres before Ptolomy were obserued to bee not much distant from the Equinoxe and before him in the very point it selfe but in our time remoued about 28 Degrees off Also it is obserued in the Cynosure or Pole-star that in Hyparchus time it was distant from the Pole about 12 Degrees which wee finde in our time to bee scarce 3 Degrees distant To salue this Apparence Ptolomy inuented a slow motion of the Starry Heauen or Firmament whereby the Fixt stars might bee remoued farther off from the Equinoctiall points in the Eclipticke whence of a consequence the Pole-starre should not keep the same position in respect of the Pole it selfe but vary his site according to the Motion which opinion hath a long time passed without contradiction till Copernicus out of new grounds sought for this Motion in the Earth to which hee assigned no lesse then three Motions Since Copernicus arose Ioseph Scaliger who contradicting the common receiued grounds and yet for ought I see not trusting to the suppositions of Copernicus would bring in another opinion to wit that the Stars of the Firmâment are not moued from the point of the Equinoxe but rather that the point is carryed away from the stars The decision of this point I dare not vndertake better becomming the learned and industrious endeauours of our worthy Professours M. Doctour Bainbrigge and M. Henry Brigges as best suiting with their Learning and Profession Ipse semipaganus ad sacra vatum carmen offero nostrum Neuerthelesse as a Learner for mine owne satisfaction I would willingly enter a little into conference with this great and admired Oracle Ioseph Scaliger to sound the certainty of his grounds That the Pole-starre saith hee was so far distant from the Pole as 12 Degrees was no true obseruation but the errour of Hyparchus who afterwards by his authority deceiued Ptolomy and He Posterity The Reasons hee alleadged are 1 Because Eudoxus which was more ancient then Hyparchus obserued the same star to bee in no other place then where now it is 2 Because that greater light of Astronomy Copernicus perceiuing the Equinoxes and Solstitiall points to be moued was enforced to inuent other grounds but because his demonstrations depended only on the Apparences hee sought out this effect in the motion of the Earth If it were manners to oppose so great a Scholler as Ioseph Scaliger I would aske a few questions why we should not credite the obseruations of Hyparchus Ptolomy and all posterity as well as of Eudoxus sith Antiquity without consent approbation is no great argument of truth Neuerthelesse if the matter be well examined we shall perhaps find Antiquity to be more firme on our side The same reason as I take it may be giuen for the stars in the Hornes of Aries as of the Pole-starre because all the fixt-starres by the consent of all are imagined to keep the same vniforme site among themselues in such sort as the varying of some would disorder all the rest at least argue the like variety or change of all Now to proue the stars of Aries to haue beene varyed many of the Ancients as Master Hues hath obserued liuing in diuers times haue confirmed The first star of Aries which in the time of Meto Atticus was obserued in the Vernall Intersection in the time of Thales Milesius was before it 2 Degrees in Tymocharis age it was after it 2 Degrees 24 Minutes In Hipparchus time 4 Degrees 40 Minutes in Abbumazars 17 Degrees 50 Minutes in Albarens 18 Degrees 10 Minutes in Arzachels 19 Deg. 37 Min. in Alphonsus his time 23 Deg. 48 Min In the time of Copernicus and Rheticus 27 Degrees 21. Min. In our time about 28. Against all these Testimonies if we should oppose the Testimony of Eudoxus and Scaâiger wee should bee thought very partiall to preferre them before the consent of Antiquity Eudoxus though very Antient being but one and the other one of the last If any should obiect that Eudoxus spake onely of the Pole-starre and not of the stars in the hornes of Aries I answere as before that the same reason is to bee
seene in this Figure wherein the Line CD represents vnto vs the sensible Horizon the Line AB the rationall The former is called Naturall or Physicall because it comes vnder the measure and apprehension of the sense the other Astronomicall because it is of great vse in Astronomy in the resolution of the Horizon into his parts wee ought to consider two things first the Poles of the Horizon Secondly his Periphery or circumference The Poles are commonly called Zenith or Nadir The Zenith is the Verticall point directly placed ouer our Head whereunto is opposite on the other side the Nadir directly vnder our foote and therefore may bee called the Pedall point The parts or intersections in the circumferences are designed out vnto vs by certaine lines discouering the coasts in the Terrestriall Globe These lines are called either windes or Rhumbes The windes with the Grecians were onely 8. But the latter Nauigators haue increased them to the number of 32 whereof foure were called Cardinall to wit such as are directed to the foure coastes of East West North and South The other are Collaterall being placed on each side of the Cardinall windes The Rhumbes are Lines passing by the Verticall point of any place as you may see in the Compasse going before Now because one Rhumbe answers to two coasts or windes the number of the Rhumbes is but halfe the number of the windes to wit 16. Here it is to bee noted that a Rhumbe differs from a Winde whereas a Rhumber is one line pointing out vnto vs two windes or coasts These Rhumbes as they are conceiued in the Globe were thought by Nonnus to bee the portions of greater Circles But learned Mr Hues in his booke out of vndoubted principles strongly confutes him The grounds which hee takes are these First that all Meridians of all places passe the Pole and cut the Equatour and all his parallels at right Angles Secondly If our course should bee directly any way else then towards one of the poles a new Meridian must succeed and a new Horizon Thirdly that the Iron Needle being touched with the Load-stone shewes the common section of the Meridian and the Horizon and on one side perpetually respects the North on the other the South Fourthly the same Rhumbe cuts all the Meridians atall places at equall Angles and euery where respects the like coasts in the world Fiftly that a greater circle drawne by the Verticall points if remoued from the Equatour cannot cut diuers Meridians at equall Angles Sixtly a greater circle drawne by the Verticall point of any place makes greater Angles with all other Meridians then with that from which it was first drawne whence it is necessary that the line which shall bee supposed to make Angles with diuers Meridians as the Rhumbes should bee bowed toward the Meridian I know not what would bee more said against the opinion of P. Nonnus who would haue all the Rhumbes to bee portions of greater circles To illustrate further the nature and vse of the Horizon wee will insert these Theoremes 2 The Sensible and Rationall Horizon in the Earth are much different in respect of the Firmament all one It may bee gathered out of the suppositions of Ptolomy and Alphraganus and almost all other Astronomers that no man being placed on the surface of the earth can precisely see the halfe of it For that Horizon which terminates our sight as we haue shewed is a plaine superficies euery way circularly extended in the Earth in such sort as men placed either in the Sea in a ship or in a great field or Countrey would thinke the visible part of the earth to bee plaine whose ends would seeme to touch the Heauens Whence must needs come to passe that such an Horizon cannot diuide the Spheare of the âarth into two equall parts For so much will be found wanting as is measured betwixt that superficies which toucheth the earth and that which passeth by the Center of it equidistant from the other for this later only can diuide the earth into 2 equall parts according to Theodosius and may well bee seene in the former figure wherein are expressed both Horizons as well the visible as inuisible touching the Spheare in a point on the superficies as the Rationall passing by the Center Neuerthelesse wee must consider that the quantity intercepted betwixt these two Horizons in the Terrestriall Spheare is of little or no moment compared with the whole frame of the Heauens For sith the Heauens are so farre distant from vs it will come to passe that if two equidistant lines should bee drawne the one from the Eye the other from the Center of the Earth to the Firmament they would according to sense appeare one and the selfe-same by reason of the wonderfull distance as wee see in a long Gallery whose walls haue an equall distance the one from the other the walls will notwithstanding according to Opticall principles seeme widest where they are neerest and to close and shut vp at the ends or at least to concurre neerer much more must wee imagine this to happen in the sight if we compare the greatnesse of the Firmament with the Spheare of the Earth in whose magnitudes wee shall finde a incomparable disparity This will appeare by the Apparences for wee shall see the six signes of the Zodiacke conspicuous aboue our Horizon and the other six vnder it hid from our sight Also the Sunne and Moone when they are diametrally opposed almost at the same moment will appeare the one in the East the other in the West at least the one will rise soone vpon the setting of the other And if we beleeue Pliny the Moone was obserued to bee eclipsed in the East point the Sunne at the same time being in a sort aboue the Horizon in the West Such an Eclipse could not happen without a diametrall opposition of the two lights and therefore can the Sensible and the Rationall Horizon haue no sensible difference in respect of the Firmament 2 The sensible Horizon may be greater or lesser according to the nature and disposition of the place In this consideration wee take no notice of the difference of sights whether they be weaker or sharper but suppose an eye sufficient to kenne so farre in the Earth as the place will permit The difference then betwixt diuerse Horizons must bee sought out in the condition of the place A Sight placed on the top of a high mountaine may see much farther then one in a low valley compassed about with hills for as much as the Semidiameter of the sensible Horizon which is equall to the Rayes or Lines drawne from the extreame parts of the visible Earth are much greater The most indifferent iudgement of this Horizon may bee taken from the superficies of the Sea beyond sight of land for a man thereon sayling in a ship may perceaue the surface of the Sea as a plaine on euery side to bound the sight in a round circle
seeming together to terminate the end of the Earth and protension of the sight What the Semidiameter of this Horizon should bee hath not beene yet agreed vpon by all Erastothenes would haue it to bee 44 miles Macrobius 23. Proclus 250. Albertus Magnus 125. These differences seeme too great to admit of reconcilement yet taking into our consideration the disparity in account of miles betwixt the Moderne and Ancient Cosmographers as also betwixt the Greekes and Latines 2 the diuerse placing of the sightâ the various disposition of the places wherein they tooke their obseruations with other circumstances wee should diminish much of admiration But diuerse others whose opinion is more approued by moderne Cosmographers haue defined it to be about 63 miles The cause why this Horizon should bee so little in respect of the Rationall which passeth by the Center is the roundnesse of the earth interposed betwixt the sight and the farther parts which we haue formerly proued 3 The eye may be so placed on the Earth as it may behold the whole Hemispheare of the heauens and yet no part of the Terrestriall Spheare This may seeme a paradoxe with vulgar iudgement but it wants not a demonstration drawne from Astronomicall and Opticke principles To explaine which we must suppose out of the grounds already granted 1 That the Sensible and Rationall Horizon in respect of the Heauens ought to bee esteemed one and the selfe same by reason of the great distance and disproportion betwixt the Earth and the Firmament 2 That the eye of the beholder is in this sort supposed to bee in the Center because in this consideration the distance betwixt the superficies of the Earth and her Center is insensible 3 That the visuall Ray wherein the sight is carried is alwayes a right line Now suppose according to our former figure the Center of the eye wherein consists the sight to be in the point of the Terrestriall surface F the distance as wee said betwixt F and E the Center being insensible the eye is imagined in the center likewise the Horizons CFD and AEB for the same cause in respect of the Heauens are to bee esteemed one and the same because CA and DB haue no sensible difference It is then manifest that the eye so placed will behold in the heauenly Spheare all which is included betwixt A and B to wit the Hemispheare AGB bounded by the Rationall Horizon AEB Neuerthelesse in the Terrene Globe it can see nothing at all For either it should see onely the point F wherein it is seated or else some other point or part distant from it the former cannot bee admitted because the eye being there supposed to bee placed should according to this supposition behold it selfe which is against philosophy For granting the sense only a direct and not a reflexe operation it cannot bee imagined how it should perceiue it selfe Finally it cannot see any point in the Earth besides for then this point would either bee placed aboue the point F but this cannot bee because F being supposed in the superficies admits of no point higher in the Spheare or else vnder it but this cannot bee because CFD being a tangent line and touching the Spheare in F only there cannot according to Geometricall principles bee drawne any right line from the point F which can touch any point in the said Spheare but all will cut it and so the section cause impediment to the sight the Earth being an opacous and round body 4 From the Horizontall circle is reckoned the eleuation of the Pole in any place assigned The finding out of the eleuation of the Pole is a matter most necessary for a Cosmographer as shall appeare after where we shall speake of the Latitudes and Climates It is defined to bee an arch of the Meridian betwixt the Horizon and the Pole For the finding out of which many wayes haue beene deuised by Artificers The first is taken from the Sunne the second from the Pole-starre From the Sun it may bee performed two wayes 1 At the time of the Equinoxe 2 At any other time of the yeere At the time of the Equinoxe it may be found out by the obseruation of the Sunnes shadow at Noone-tide in this manner Let the Meridian height of the Sunne bee subtracted from the whole quadrant which is 90 degrees there will remaine the distance of the Zenith to the Equator which is equall to the eleuation of the Pole In the second place at any time of the yeere to know the eleuation of the Pole out of the Meridian height of the Sunne it is necessary out of an Ephimerides or any other way accurately to finde out the place of the Sunne in his Eclipticke for the day proposed together with his declination for the declination of the Sunne the Sunne being in the six Northerne signes subtracted from the Meridian altitude or added the Sunne being in the six Southerne signes will precisely giue the height of the Equator or which is the same the Meridian heigth of the Sun in the Equinoctiall which being once found we may worke as in the former By the Pole-starre wee may likewise find it out if wee obserue it three distinct times in the same night for three points being giuen euery Geometrician will finde out the Center which in this case must bee the Pole Many other wayes haue beene inuented by skilfull Astronomers which appertaining rather to Astronomy then Cosmography I purposely omit 24 Concerning the Horizon two things are chiefly to bee noted the Inuention and the Distinction The Inuention is considered either as it concernes the Zenith or Pole or the Plaine of the Horizon For both which we will set downe these Rules 1 The height of the Pole subtracted from the quadrant of 90 Degrees the residue will shew the Zenith or distance of the Zenith from the Pole The reason is euident because the height of the Pole together with the distance of the Pole and the Zenith make an arch which is a whole quadrant so that the height of the Pole subducted the distance will remaine as for example if wee put the eleuation of the Pole here in Oxford to be 51 ½ degrees or thereabout as hath been formerly taught Let these 51 ½ degrees bee subtracted from 90 then will remaine 38 ½ which is the true Zenith for that place 2 A line which makes right angles with a plummet perpendicularly falling on it will designe the Horizontall plaine The practise of the proposition is vsually shewed by Artificers by a certaine instrument called a Leuell which is made in a triangle forme from the vertex or head of which a line with a plummet fals on the Basis. Now when it shall bee found to be so placed that the line and plummet falling on the Basis shall make right Angles with it and cut the whole Triangle into two equall halfes wee may account the Base-line to bee the plaine of the Horizon For of this plaine such is the position
of the Centers where the stedfast foot of the compasse ought to bee fixed in drawing of each circle is a matter appertaining to Geometricians who haue taught a way to bring any three points giuen into a circle and to finde the Center from which it is described Hauing thus described the Parallels wee must proceed on to draw the Meridians in this manuer let the one foot of the compasse bee placed in the line AB from which as the Center by euery Intersection of the rule and the Equatour forenoted let there bee drawne so many circles as intersections which circles so drawne will be the Meridians If any man desire more curiously to bee informed in the Geometricall Demonstrations whereon this Fabricke of the Planispheare is grounded let him read Gemma Frisius de Astrolabio Stifelius but especially Guido Vbaldus who hath copiously and accuratly handled this subiect Enough it may seeme for a Cosmographer to shew the vse of it as wee shall hereafter in Geographicall conclusions supposing the Fabricke sufficiently demonstrated by Geometricians to whom it of right belongs 10 The ground and Fabricke of the Polar Planispheare is taught in these Propositions 1 The Eye conceiued to be fixed on the Pole will expresse in the plaine of the Equinoctiall a Planispheare wherein all the Parallels are described by circles and Meridians by right lines This may likewise be optically demonstrated For the Eye being supposed to bee fixed on the Pole the sight will forme to it selfe so many visuall Cones as there are Parallels described in the Spheare These cones being supposed equally to be cut by the plaine of the Equatour will haue for their Bases the said Parallell circles represented in the plaine of the Equatour as so many absolute circles whereof the Equatour will be the greatest and comprehending within it all the rest Likewise the Meridians in this kinde of sight are supposed to terminate the sides of these Cones and therefore according to the Opticks ought to be right lines 2 How to describe the Parallels and Meridians in the Polar Planispheare This proiection is easiest of all as shall appeare by this Diagram Let there be described a circle from the Center E which shall be ACBD Let the circle be by two Diameters AB and BC diuided into foure quadrants each of which may againe bee diuided into 90 parts euery fift or tenth of these 90 parts being first marked out so many Diameters may bee drawne from either side to the opposite part by the Center E which Diameters so drawne will serue for the Meridians Then let any one of these lines bee diuided into 9 parts and diligently marked out as the Semidiameter ED by FGHIKLMN by all which marks from the Center E let there be drawne so many circles These circles so described will be the true Parallels This kinde of proiection though more vnusuall yet wants not his speciall vse in describing the parts of the earth neere the Pole which in our ordinary kinde of Tables proiected after the other manner cannot suffer so large and proportionall a Description 11 Hauing hitherto treated of the Common representation of the Terrestriall Globe we are in the next place to speake something of the Magneticall The Magneticall is a round Magnet called a Terrella This kind of spheare hath been by Gilbert aptly termed a Terrella or little Earth being the modell and representation of the great and massie Spheare of the earth whereon wee dwell Betwixt this kind of representation the former great difference may bee obserued First because the former is grounded merely on Artificiall Imitation implying nothing else but a Respect or application whereas this magneticall Terrella not only represents externally the Earth but Internally out of its owne Magneticall nature and vigour eminently containes and expresses all those motions and magneticall vertues which we haue formerly shewed to bee in the Earth 2 It skills not in the former of what Materiall substance the Spheare consists so the parts of it answer in due symmetry and proportion to the parts of the Earth but this represents the whole as a Homogeneall part communicating the same nature substance with the whole spheare of the earth In the Fabricke of this instrument wee must consider 1 the Matter 2 the Forme The matter as wee haue already intimated is a Magneticall substance which ought to be chosen out of a most eminent Mine hauing all his parts pure and vnmixt as possible wee can finde in any Magnet For though all Loadstones haue the same inclination yet in many the vigour is so weake or at least so hindered by the mixture of some Heterogeneall matter that they will not so well and sensibly performe their office The forme of it is the roundnesse politure wherin Art should shew as much exactnesse as shee can such a Spheare may well be expressed in this Figure whereof we had formerly occasion to make vse wherein the footsteps of this Magneticall vigour are sensibly expressed no otherwise then in the great Body of the Earth 12 In this Magneticall Terrella two things are chiefly to bee noted 1 the inuention of the Poles 2 of the Parallels Meridians both which shall be taught in these Propositions 1 To finde out the Poles in the Magneticall Terrella To performe this conclusion many artificiall wayes haue been inuented 1 By the Inclinatory Needle for being euenly hung in such sort vpon the Terrella as may be seene in the former figure it will according to diuers points diuersly respect the Terrella in his site wheresoeuer then wee shall finde it to fall perpendicularly as right angles wee may assure our selues that that very point is the Pole which being once knowne it will be easie to finde the opposite Pole either the same way or by measuring 2 By the Veyne or Mine of the Loadstone for as wee haue shewed in our fourth Chapter of this Treatise that part which was situated towards the North will afterwards direct it selfe Southward and contrariwise the South point will respect the North whence the Poles may be discouered 3 By a little boat wherein the Loadstone being placed on the water will moue round till such time as with one Pole hee may point out the North with the other the South Many other wayes may be inuented by Mechanicians perhaps more curious to whose industry I referre my ingenious Reader 2 The circles in the Terrella are found out by the Magneticall Needle This needs no other ocular demonstration then we haue taught in the fourth Chapter and may be conceaued in the former Diagramme First wee see the magneticall needle according to diuerse points diuersly to conforme it selfe which hath giuen way to ingenious artificers to finde out the Parallels and Meridians The Parallels are found out by obseruing the Angles of declination of the Needle hung ouer the Terrella which are found in proportion to answer to the degrees of Latitude which Dr Ridley in his Magneticall Treatise hath
industriously calculated as I haue here inserted to saue others a new labour of calculation The Meridians are more easily found by hanging any directory wier or needle ouer the Terrella one end of which pointing towards the North and the other towards the South will discouer the Meridian line CHAP. VIII Of the measure of the Terrestriall Globe 1 HItherto haue we handled the Terrestriall Globe primarily in such proprieties as absolutely agree vnto its nature In the second place we are to handle such as secondarily arise out of the former Here wee are to handle two chiefe points 1 The Measure 2 The Distinction 2 The measure is that by which we find out the quantity of the whole Earth Good reason haue we to cal this the Secondary part of Geography for as much as these accidents and proprieties we here consider arise altogether out of the former In the former Treatise wee haue diuided the Naturall Spheare of the Earth from the Artificiall But in this part for auoiding of tedious repetitions of the same things wee haue ioyned them together For howsoeuer the measuring and dictinctions of the Earth bee truely grounded on the nature of the earth it selfe yet can it not be well expressed and taught without the materiall Instrument we haue therefore thought good to consider the measure of the earth before wee come vnto the Distinction because it is more simple and vncompound depending on the lineaments and measure of one circle whereas the Distinction necessarily requires the coniunction and combination of diuerse circles as Meridians and Parallels compared one with the other as shall bee taught hereafter Whether the great masse of the earth can bee measured or no seemes a matter not agreed on by all Some haue held an opinion that it cannot bee measured in regard of the infinite magnitude wherewith they thought it endowed which opinion seemes deriued from some of the Platonicks who ascribing to the Earth another figure besides the Sphericall haue cast themselues vpon vncertainties and being notable to reduce the Quantity of the Earth according to their owne grounds to any certaine measure haue denied it to bee measurable But the ground of this opinion wee haue taken away before in prouing the earth to be of a true Sphericall nature and therefore circumscribed in certaine bounds apt to be measured Another conceit more absurd then the former is not only the common people whose condition might excuse their ignorance but of such as would bee esteemed learned who contend that the greatnesse of the earth cannot bee measured the onely reasons they can alleadge for themselues are 1 That a great part of the earth is vnaccessible by reason of steepe rocks high mountaines spacious and thicke woods moorish fogges and such like impediments 2 That the parts of it are for the most part vneuen and subiect to no regular figure without the which no measure can bee exact The first cauill is of no moment because whereas wee affirme that the Earth by man may be measured we hold it not necessary that it should be trauersed ouer by iourneyes or voyages For as much as to the finding out of the Quantity of the whole Terrestriall Spheare it may seeme sufficient to know the measure and proportion of any little part in respect of the Heauens As for example what number of Miles Leagues or Furlongs answer to any degree or degrees in the Heauens wherfore we suppose the Earth to be measured ouer not with our feet but with our wits which may by Mathematicall rules be taught to march forward where our legges fayle vs The second obiection only proues thus much that the Earth partaking of so many vnequall parts and irregular formes cannot in the measuring admit of so much exactnesse as if it were endowed with one vniforme face yet it is exact enough to contenta Cosmographer who measureth not by feet and inches but by leagues and miles in which wee little regard such a needlesse curiosity 1 The common measure by which the quantity of the Earth is knowne are Miles and Furlongs Here is to be noted that such instruments as serue for measuring are of two sorts either greater or lesser the smaller are of diuerse sorts as a Graine Inch Foot Pearch Pole and such like Some of these howsoeuer sometime vsefull in Topographie can haue little or no vse at all in the vast greatnesse of the whole Earth Wherefore the Geographer seldome descends so low but takes notice of greater measures such as are Miles Furlongs where we may obserue by the way that the vsuall measuring amongst the Grecians was by Stadia or furlongs amongst many of the Latines by miles vnder which we also coÌprehend Leagues these miles are diuersly varied according to the diuersity of Countries so that in some places they are esteemed longer in other shorter which differences may be learned out of this ensuing Table The instruments of measuring the Earth are 1 Furlong containing 125 Geometicall paces or 625 feet 2 Mile which is either 1 Proper containing 8 Furlongs or 1000 paces 2 Improper which is either 1 League which is either 2 German mile which is either the 1 Old containing 12 Furlongs 2 Newer containing 16 Furlongs 3 Common of 24 Furlongs 1 Common which is 32 Furlongs or foure Italian miles 2 Greatest containing 5000 paces which is called the Suenian or Heluetian mile Howsoeuer this Distinction of miles may be many wayes profitable especially in the Topographicall part yet shall wee seldome make vse of any other then the common Germane mile or the common Italian mile To which as the most knowne the rest may easily be reduced 3 The obiect here proposed to bee measured is the Spheare of the Earth The Dimensions according to which it is measured are either Simple or Compound 4 The simple is twofold either the Perimeter or the Diameter The Perimeter otherwise called the circumference is a great circle measuring the Earth round about 5 The Inuention of the Perimeter of the Earth depends on these following Propositions 1 If two or more circles bee drawne about the same Center and from the Center to the Circumference be drawne two right lines The Arches of all the Circles comprehended within the said right lines will bee like and proportionall one to the other This Proposition being meerely Geometricall is taken here as a ground without farther demonstration whereof if any man doubt hee may haue recourse to Clauius Commentaries vpon Iohannes de Sacrobosco This principle granted will beget these two Consectaries 1 As one degree is to the number of correspondent miles or furlongs so all degrees of the circles to the number of miles or Furlongs measuring the quantity of the Perimeter of the Earth 2 Wherefore one degree or portion of the Circle being knowne by his number of miles or furlongs the whole Circumference may be found out The reason of this consequence euery Arithmetician can easily shew out of the Golden Rule The chiefe point then
experimentally according to Miles Furlongs or such like measures How many Authors of great name and estimation haue differed amongst themselues euery man may enforme himselfe out of this Table here inserted These differences wee finde diuersly related but of all others which Authors haue set forth  Authors Furlongs Miles  Strabo and Hipparchus 252000 31500  Eratosthenes 250000 31250 The circuit of the whole earth containes according to Possidonius the ancieÌt Arabians 240000 30000 Ptolomie 180000 22500  The later Arabians 204000 25500  Italians and Germans 172800 21600 I preferre the iudgements of Mr Robert Hues For as much as it is not grounded on common tradition but industriously by himselfe deriued out of the Ancients by diligent search and examination as by one whose iudgement being armed as well with skill in the language as the knowledge of antiquity scornes to be iniured by translation What should bee the cause of these differences is a matter which hath staggered curious searchers into Antiquities more then the former Euery opinion being supported with the names and authorities of such renowned Authors might challenge a pitch aboue the measure of my Decision only I may not bee thought ouer presumptuous to coniecture where I cannot define especially hauing so good a guide as my forenamed Author to tread out the way before mee Wherefore supposing as a ground these Authors so much differing about the measure of the earth to haue beene in some sort led by reason The differences must needs arise out of one of these causes either the errour or negligence of the obseruers in trusting too much to others relations without any farther search or else the defect in the Mathematicall grounds out of which they deriued their demonstration or the diuersity of measures vsed in this worke or finally from the misapplication of these measures to the distances whence may arise some errour out of the experimentall measuring of places in the earth In the first place it may perhaps be doubted whether Aristotle defining the measure of the Earth to bee 400000 furlongs were not deceaued by relations for as much as hee auoucheth it from the Mathematicians of his times whose authority and credit for ought wee know deserues as well to bee forgotten as their names But this answer might seeme too sharp in the other for as much as wee find them registred for Masters in their science and such as could not easily bee cosened by others impostures Neither can wee imagine the second to bee any cause of their errour for the same reason because the wayes these Mathematicians vsed in finding out the circuit of the earth are by writers of good credit commended to posterity as warrantably grounded on certaine demonstrations being no other then what wee haue shewed before which admit of no Parallogisme In the third place wee ought to examin whether the diuersity of opinion concerning this matter proceeded from diuersity of the measures which were vsed in this worke Nonnius and Pââceruâ would needs perswade that the Furlongs whereby they measured the earth were not the same Maurolycus and Xilander talke of diuerse kindes of paces Maurolycus labours to reconcile both but without effect First whereas they would haue diuerse kânde of paces it cannot be denied but in the meane time we cannot learne that the Grecians euer measured their Furlongs by Paces but either by Feet or Faddomes A Faddome which the Greeks call ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is the measure of the extension of the hands together with the breast betwixt containing six feet which is a kinde of measuring well knowne vnto our Mariners in sounding the depth of the Sea This measure notwithstanding is by many translated a Pace by what reason let any man iudge Xilander in translating Strabo renders it an Ell Secondly for a Furlong it containes according to Herodoiuâ an ancient Grecian writer 600 Feet which is also testified by Suidas being much later A Furlong containes 100 Faddomes euery Faddome foure Cubits A Cubit according to Heron a Foot and halfe or 24 Digits Now for the variety of Furlongs it is true that Censorinus makes three kindes For either it is called the Italian consisting of 625 Feet which is of most regard in measuring the Earth or the Olympian of 600 Feet or the Pythian containing 1000 Feet But to let passe this latter we shall finde by serious consideration that the Italian and Olympian Furlongs differ only in name and are indeed the same For the Italian containing 625 Roman Feet according to Pliny in his second booke is âquall to the Olympian hauing 600 Grecian Feet For a Foot with the Grecians exceeds the Roman Foot by a twenty fourth part as much as is the difference betwixt 600 and 625. Hence wee see how little certainty can bee expected of such as goe about to reconcile these opinions out of the various vse and acception of the measures The most probable assertion then is that the errour was grounded on this that the distances of places mentioned by the foresaid Authors were not by themselues exactly measured but taken vp vpon trust on the relation of trauellers wherein they might easily bee mistaken For instance wee will take Eratosthenes and Possidonius as of greatest credit who are notwithstanding taxed for many errours in their experimentall obseruations whereas it is cleere that Ptolomy grounded his opinion on the distances of the places exactly measured as is witnessed by his designation of the Latitude of the earth so farre as it was discouered and knowne Eratosthenes for mistaking in the measure of distances is much taxed by Hyparchus as we find in Strabo For betwixt Alexandria and Carthage hee reckons aboue 13 thousand furlongs whereas by a more diligent enquiry there are found to bee but 9 thousand Likewise Possidoniuâ is knowne to bee mistaken in that hee made the Distance betwixt Rhodes and Alexandria to bee 5000 Furlongs whereas out of the relation of Marriners some haue made it 4000 some 5000 as it is witnessed by Eratosthenes in Strabo who notwithstanding sayes that hee found by Instruments that it was not aboue 3750 and Strabo wouâd haue it somewhat lesse as 2640. Maurolycus going about to defend Possidonius against Ptolomy brings nothing but friuoâous reasons vnworthy so good an author Out of all which hath beene spoken our former Corollary will bee manifest that the diuersity of opinions concerning the circumference of the Earth arose from the experimentall mistake in the distances of places where they trusted to other mens relations rather then their owne knowledge 6 The Diameter is a right line passing by the Center of the Earth from one side to the other and measuring the thicknesse of it the inuention of which depends on these Rules 1 As 22 is to 7 so is the circumference of a circle to the Diameter wherefore the circumference of the Earth multiplied by 7 and diuided by 22 will produce the Diameter The exact proportion betwixt the Circumferences of a
circle the Diameter being the ground of the Quadrature of a circle is a matter which hath set a work the greatest wits of the world hauing notwithstanding as yet by no man been brought to discouery in so much as Pitiscus and other good Mathematicians might well doubt whether euer it would come to light Nâuerthelesse where exactnesse cannot bee found wee must come as neere as we can The neerest proportion in numbers which any could yet light on is as 22 to 7 which in so great and massie a body as the Earth may passe without any sensible or explicable errour Supposing then out of our precedent Suppositions the whole circuit of the earth to bee 21600 Italian-miles which is the common opinion now receaued I multiply according to the golden Rule 21600 by 7 whence will arise 151200 which being diuided by 22 the Quotient will render 6872 11 8 which is the Diameter or thicknesse of the Earth some lesse curious are content to take only the third part of the circumference for the Diameter which will be 7200 which account is lesse exact yet sufficient for an ordinary Cosmographer for as much as 328 miles which is the difference is of no great moment in the measure of the whole Earth 2 By the knowne height of some mountaine without the knowledge of the circumference of the Earth the Diameter may be found out This is a way inuented by Maurolycus which proceeds in a contrary manner to the former because the former by the circumference first supposed to be known shewes vs a way to find out a Diameter but this first seeks out the Diameter by which wee may finde out the circumference the practise is in this manner Let the circuit of the Earth be conceaued to be BCD as we see in this Figure in which let there be chosen an high Mountain whose Altitude AB may bee knowne by the rules of measuring altitudes then from the Mountaines top A by the rules of measuring longitudes must the whole space of Sea or Land bee measured so far as it can be seene so that the visuall Beame AC may touch the Superficies of the Earth in C let the space theÌ which is seene in the Earth be BC which although in it selfe it bee crooked and not plaine yet can it not sensibly differ from a Plaine for as much as the Arch BC is extraordinarily little if compared with the whole Earth These grounds thus laid we must proceed by a Geometricall manner of argumentation in this sort Here are to bee obserued foure right lines whereof the first is AB the heigth of the mountaine obserued the second is the visuall Ray AC the third AD consisting of the height of the mountaine and the Diameter of the Earth The fourth BC the distance which is seene for as wee haue shewed it may without sensible errour bee taken for a right line Now for as much as AB BC are knowne their Quadrates by the 47 proposition of the first of Euclide will also bee knowne which being equall to the square of AC the square of the right line AC will likewise bee knowne But the square of the right line AC sith it toucheth the circle will be equall to a Right Angle Figure contained vnder DA AB wherefore the right angle so conceaued will be knowne But AB is the knowne heigth of the mountaine wherefore the right line AD will easily be knowne if wee diuide the knowne right Angle contained vnder AB AD by the right line AB for the Quotient will giue the right line AD from which if wee subduct AB the knowne height of the mountaine then will remaine the Diameter of the Earth BD which was here to be performed from this inuention will arise this Corollary 1 The Diameter of the Earth first supposed to be knowne the circumference may be found out in this manner as 7 is in proportion to 22 so is the Diameter to the Circumference 2 Wherefore let the knowne number of the Diameter be multiplied by 22 and the Product be diuided by 7 the quotient will giue the Circumference As for example according to our former instance Let vs suppose the Diameter of the Earth to bee 6872 8 11 this number being multiplied by 22 will produce 15120 which product diuided by 7 wee shall finde in the Quotient 21600 which is the circumference of the Earth 7 The compound dimensions according to which the Spheare of the Earth is proposed to bee measured are either the Superficies or the Solidity 8 The Superficies is againe twofold either Plaine or Conuexe the Plaine is the space included in the Perimeter 9 The plaine Superficies may be found out two wayes either by the Circumference or the Diameter both which wayes taught in these Rules 1 If the whole circumference bee multiplied in it selfe and the product bee diuided by 12 4 7 the quotient will shew the Superficies included in the circle As in the former example wee will take the Circumference of the Earth to be 21600 Italian-miles let this number be multiplied in it selfe and the product thereof diuided by 12 4 7 the Quotient will amount vnto 9278180 which is the plaine superficies of the Earth 2 If the Semi-Diameter of a circle be multiplied by the halfe part of the Circumference there will arise the measure of the Plaine Superficies contained in the Circumference The reason hereof is shewed by Clauius in his Tract de Isoperimetris Proposit. 4. where is demonstrated that a Right Angle figure comprehended of the Semi-Diameter of any circle and the halfe of the Circumference will be equall to the Circle it selfe of whose parts it is comprehended 10 So much concerning the Plaine Superficies the knowledge and inuention of the Conuexe may bee performed two wayes either by the Diameter and Circumference or else by the Space contained within the Circumference according to these Propositions 1 If the Circumference and Diameter be multiplied the one into the other the product will shew the number of square miles in the face of the Terrestriall Globe As for example let the Diameter of the Earth containing according to the common account 80111 9 12 furlongs bee multiplied by the whole circumference which is 252000 there will arise the Conuexe Superficies of the whole earthly Spheare which is 20205818181 9 11. 2 If the space contained in the greatest circle in the Spheare bee multiplied by 4 there will bee produced the whole conuexe Superficies of the Spheare How to finde out the space or plaine Superficies is a matter taught before which being once found is easily multiplied by 4 and so will giue vs the number sought 11 The last and greatest compound Dimension according to which the Earth is measured is the Solidity consisting of Length Bredth and Height or Thicknesse This may bee found out two wayes either by the Diameter and Conuexe Superficies first supposed to be known or by the knowledge of a great circle without supposing
the Supperficies to be first knowne both wayes shall bee expressed in these Propositions 1 If the Semidiameter of the Spheare be multiplied into the third part of the Conuex Superficies of the said Spheare there will arise the whole Solidity of the Earth This is demonstrated by Geometricians For a solide Rectangle compreheÌded of the Semidiameter of the Spheare and the third of the CoÌuex Superficies of it will be equall to the Spheare it selfe As for example if the Semidiameter of the earth containing 40090 10 11 Furlongs bee multiplied by the third part of the Conuex Superficies containing to wit 67352727 3 11 there will arise the solidity of the earth which will containe 27002-3 06611570 3 11 Cubicke Furlongs That is the solidity of the earth will comprehend so many Cubes cantaining euery side so many Furlongs as there are vnities in the said number For the Areae or spaces comprehended of Solide figures are measured by the Cubes of those lines by whose squares the Conuexe Superficies of those lines are measured 2 If the greatest circle bee multiplied by â
of the whole Diameter the product will shew the solidity of the Spheare This way is also demonstrated by Clauius in the same tract of measuring Magnitudes It may Arithmetically bee deduced in this sort If any Spheare whatsoeuer hath a Diameter of 14 Palmes and should bee multiplied by 3 1 7 the circumference of the greatest circle containing it will be found to be 44 whose halfe being 22 if it be multiplied into the Semidiameter 7 there will arise the Superficies of the greatest circle 154 which number if wee multiply by two third parts of the Diameter that is by 9â
there will bee produced the solidity of the said Spheare to wit consisting of 1437 â
Cubicke palmes In the like sort may wee worke by miles or furlongs in measuring the whole terrestriall Globe which is a more conuenient measure for the massie Globe of the Earth CHAP. IX Of the Zones Climates and Parallels 1 OF the Measure of the Earth we haue treated in our former Chapter In the next place wee must speake of the Distinction of the Terrestriall Spheare which is either in regard of Spaces or Distances 2 Spaces are portions in the Spheare bounded by the Parallell circles such as are the Zones Climats and Parallels 3 These are againe considered two wayes either in themselues or else in their Adiuncts or Inhabitants belonging to them 4 A Zone is a space included betwixt two lesser and named circles or else betwixt a lesser circle and the Pole of the world The spaces into which the Terrestriall Spheare is diuided are either Greater or Lesser The Greater is a Hemispheare which ariseth out of one only circle by it selfe without the Combination of more Such are chiefly of three sorts The first is made by the Equatour which diuides the whole Globe into the north and the South Hemispheare The second is of the Meridian whose office it is to part the Earth into the Easterne and Westerne Hemispheares The third of the Horizon which diuides the Spheare into the vpper and lower halfes But these parts arising as I said out of one only circle are handled before with the circles themselues In this place wee are to speake of such parts as arise out of the Combination and respect of circles one with another Such as are the Zones Climats and Parallels A Zone signifies as much as a girdle or band because by it the spaces in the Earth are as it were with larger bands compassed about The Grecians haue sometimes giuen this name Zone to the Orbs of the Planets as Theon Alexandrinus in his Comment on Aratus in these words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã There are saith he in the Heauens seauen Zones not contorminate with the Zodiacke whereof the first is possessed by Saturne the second by Iupiter c. But this acception of the name is far off from our purpose The name Zone as it is with vs in vse is by the Latine Poëts rendred sometimes Facia sometimes Plaga both signifying one and the selfe-same thing which is as much as a space comprehended within two Named and lesser Parallels or at least betwixt such a Parallell and the Pole it selfe because as wee shall shew hereafter Zones are of two sorts These Zones are in number fiue which diuision hath beene familiar with our Latine Poëts as may appeare by these verses of Virgil. Quinque tenent coelum Zonae quarum vna corusco Semper Sole rubens torrida semper ab Igne Quam circum extremae dextrâ laeuáque trahuntur Caerule â glacie concretae atque imbribus atris Has inter Mediamque duae Mortalibus aegris Munere concessae Diuûm c. Fiue Zones ingirt the Skies whereof one fries With fiery Sun-beames and all scorched lies 'Bout which the farthest off on either hand The blew-eyed Ice and brackish showres command 'Twixt these two and the midst the Gods doe giue A wholsome place for wretched man to liue Which description of Virgil little differs from that wee finde in Ouid in these Verses Duae dextrâ coelum totidemque sinistrâ Parte secant Zonae quinta est ardentior illis Sic onus inclusum numero distinxit eodem Cura Dei totidemque Plagae tellure premuntur Quarum quae Media est non est habitabilis aestu Nix âegit alta duas totidem inter vtramque locauit Temperiemque dedit mista cum Frigore Flamma Two Girdles on the right hand on the left As many cut the Skies more hot's the fift So God diuiding with an equall hand Into so many parcels cuts the land The midst through heat affords no dwellers Ease The deepe snow wraps vp two but betwixt these And the other Regions are two places set Where frosts are mixt with fires and cold with heat But because this enumeration and description of the Zones set downe by the Poëts seemes too popular and generall wee will more specially diuide them according to the methode of our times in this manner 5 The Zones are either Vntemperate or Temperate the Vntemperate are againe twofold either cold or hot 6 The Intemperate hot Zone is the space contained betwixt the two Tropicke circles of Cancer and Capricorne How vnaptly these names of Temperate Vntemperate agree to the Zones considered in their owne nature wee shall speake in our second part yet because I thought it vnfit to vse other tearmes then the Ancients I will not coine new names This Zone or space included betwixt the two Tropicks circumscribes within it two great circles whereof the one is the Equatour running iust in the midst neither inclining to the North or South The other is the Eclipticke obliquely crossing it and meeting the two Tropicks twice in a yeere in the Spring and Autumne The extent or breadth of this Zone then is equall to the distance betwixt these two Tropicks to wit 47 degrees which make 2820 miles because from the Equatour to either
Tropicke we account 23 degrees which added and resolued into miles will make the said summe within the compasse of this Zone is situate the greatest part of Africke especially that of the Abyssines which common opinion with little probability would haue to bee the Empire of Prester Iohn also many Ilands as Iaua Summatra Taprobana besides a great part of the South of America called Peruana It was imagined by the Ancients as Aristotle Pliny Ptolomy and many other Philosophers Poëts and Diuines that this Zone through extreame heat was altogether vnhabitable for which cause they called it Intemperate The reason of this coniecture was drawne from the situation of this part in regard of that of the heauens For lying in the middle part of the world the Sunne must of necessity cast his rayes perpendicular that is to say at Right Angles Now according to the grounds of Peripateticke Philosophy the Idol of this age the heat deriued from the Sunne ariseth from the reflexion of the Sunne-beames against the surface of the Earth Wherefore the heat was there coniectured to bee greatest where the reflexion was found to bee greatest But the greatest reflexion according to all Mathematicians must be in this Torrid Zone where the Sunne darts forth his Rayes at right Angles which reflect backe vpon themselues Which false coniecture was a long time continued by the exuberant descriptions of Poëts and defect of Nauigation hauing as yet scarce passed her infancy But how farre these surmises come short of truth wee shall declare in our second part to which wee haue reserued those Physicall and Historicall discourses concerning the qualities and properties of the Earth 7 The Intemperat cold Zones are those which are included betwixt the Polar circles and the Poles whereof the one is Northerne contained in the Arcticke circle the other Southerne in the Antarcticke These two Zones are not made out of the combination of two circles as the former but by one circle with relation to the Pole The greatnesse and extent of this Zone is about 23 degrees and a halfe which resolued into Italian-miles will produce 1380. The Northerne cold Zone containes in it Groenland Fineland and diuerse other Northerne Regions whereof some are partly discouered and set out in our ordinary Maps other some not yet detected For the other Zone vnder the Antarticke Pole it consists of the same greatnesse as wee know by the constitution of the Globe hauing other such accidents correspondent as the Northerne so farre forth as they respect the Heauens For other matters they lye hid in the vast Gulph of obscurity this port hauing neuer yet for ought I know exposed her selfe to the discouery of the Christian world Whether these two Zones be without habitation by reason of intemperate cold as the other hath been thought by reason of too much heat wee shall in due place examine 8 The Temperate Zone is the space contained betwixt the Tropicke the Polar circle whereof the one is Northerne contained betwixt the Tropicke of Cancer and the Articke circle the other Southerne comprehended betwixt the Tropicke of Capricorne and the Antarcticke circle Why these Zones are tearmed Temperate diuerse reasons are alleaged 1 Because the Sun-beames here are cast obliquely on the surface of the earth and by consequence cannot produce so much heat as in those places where they are darted perpendicularly if wee only consider the constitution and site of the heauens For as we shall hereafter proue this may sometimes be altered by the disposition of some particular place 2 It may be called the Temperate Zone because it seemes mixt of both extreames partaking in some measure the both qualities of heat and cold the one from the Torrid the other from the Frigid Zones 3 Because in these Zones the distances betwixt Summer and Winter are very remarkable hauing a middle difference of time betwixt them as compounded of both extreames These temperate Zones included betwixt the Tropicks and the Polar circles are twofold as the circles The northerne temperate Zone comprehended of the Tropicke of Cancer and the Articke circle containes in it the vpper and higher part of Africke stretching euen to the mountaine Atlas Moreouer in it is placed all Europe euen to the Northerne Ilands in the Articke Zone and a great part also of Asia the other temperate Zone lying towards the South is not so well knowne being farre distant from our habitation and awaiting as yet the farther industry of our English and Dutch Nauigators The bredth of this Zone as the other containes about 43 degrees which is the distance betwixt the Tropicke and the Polar circle which multiplied by 60 will be resolued into 2580 Italian-miles 1 The Torrid Zone is the greatest of all next are the two Temperate Zones the cold Zones the least of all The Torrid Zone is found to be greatest as well in regard of longitude as latitude and is diuided by the Equatour into two halfes the next are the Temperate but the two cold Zones howsoeuer equall in Diameter to the Torrid are notwithstanding least of all where is to bee noted that euery Zone is of the same latitude from North to South beginne where we will because it is contained betwixt two equidistant circles but all inioy not the same longitude from East to West For the parts of euery Zone by how much neerer they are to the Equatour so much greater longitude will they haue by how much neerer the Poles they are so much the lesse longitude for as much as the Parallels towards the Poles grow alwayes lesser and lesser The inuention of the quantity of the Zones before mentioned may briefly thus bee performed The latitude of the torrid Zone is so much as the distance betwixt the Tropickes which is Astronomically grounded on the greatest declination of the Sunne being doubled This declination being by Clauius and others found to be 23 degrees 30 scrup which being doubled will produce 47 which againe multiplied by 60 and resolued into miles will amount to 2820 though the odde scruples of many Authors are neglected The latitude of the cold Zones is also drawne from the greatest declination of the Sunne For the distance of the Pole circles from the Pole it selfe is iust so much as the declination of the Eclipticke from the Equatour to wit of 23 degrees 30 scrup to which answer according to the former Rule 1420 Italian-miles The inuention of the latitude of the temperate Zones depends from the subtraction of the distance of the Poles of the Eclipticke from the Equatour that is from the greatest declination of the Sunne being doubled from the whole quadrant in which subduction the residue will be 43 to which will answer 2580 Italian-miles 1 The Zone wherein any place is seated may bee knowne either by the Globe or Geographicall Table or else by the Tables of Latitude By the Globe or vniuersall Mappe wee may know it by the diligent obseruation of the foure equidistant circles For if wee
find it betwixt the two Tropicks we may without doubt thinke it to be in the Torrid Zone If betwixt the Tropicke circle and the Polar it will be in the Temperate If betwixt the Polar circle and the Pole it selfe it must bee in the cold Zone By the Tables of Latitude it may be found this way Seeke the latitude of the places giuen in the Table which if it bee lesse then 23 degrees 30 scruples the place is in the Torrid Zone If precisely it bee so much in the Northerne Hemispheare the place assigned is vnder the Tropicke of Cancer which is the bound betwixt the Torrid and the beginning of the Northerne Temperate Zone But if it be in the Southerne Hemispheare it will be vnder the Tropicke of Capricorne which ends the Torrid Zone and beginnes the South Temperate Zone Euery place hauing more Latitude then 23 degrees 30 scruples yet lesse then 66 degrees 30 Minutes is seated in the Temperate Zone either Northerne or Southerne as the places are in the Hemispheare If the place be precisely of 66 Degrees 30 minutes it will be iustly found to be vnder the Polar circle either Arcticke or Antarcticke Finally euery place whose Latitude exceeds the number of 66 degrees 30 minutes is seated in the cold Zone either Southerne or Northerne If it reach iust to 90 degrees it will bee iust vnder the Pole it selfe 9 Of the distinction of the Terrestriall Spheare by Zones we haue spoken we must in the next place deliuer the Distinction of the earth according to Climates 10 A Climate is a space of the Earth contained betwixt two Parallels distant from the Equatour towards either Pole Climates are so called because of their Declaration from Equatour for as much as they are to bee accounted as so many scales of ascents to or from the Equatour Some haue defined it from the vse which is chiefly to distinguish the longest time of the Artificiall day because at the point of euery climate truely taken the longest day is varied halfe an houre although this account agree not altogether with Ptolomie and the ancient Geographers before him as wee shall shew hereafter This distinction of the Terrestriall Spheare into Climates is somewhat a more subtile distinction then the former by Zones for as much as that is made by the combination of such Parallels as are principally named and of chiefe note as the Tropicks and Polar circles But this indifferently respects all without difference This first beginning and measure as well of this as all other measures of the earth is the Equatour for that which is most perfect and absolute in euery kinde ought to be the measure of all other But yet wee must vnderstand that although wee beginne our account of the Climats from the Equatour yet the Equatour it selfe makes no Climate but only the Parallels which are thereunto correspondent For as it is before shewed vnder the Equatour it selfe the artificiall dayes are all equall in length containing only twelue houres wherefore beginning from the Equatour betwixt that and the third Parallell wee count the first climate from the third to the sixt the second Climate and so all the rest making the number of the Climates double to the number of the Parallels so that one and the selfe same Parallell which is the end and bound of one Climate is the beginning of the next whence wee see that to the constitution of euery Climate three Parallels concurre whereof two are extreame comprehending the bredth of the said Climate and one diuiding it iust in the midst A Parallell therefore differs from a Climate as a part from the whole being one circle correspondent to the Equatour whereas a Climate is a space contained in three Parallels Secondly as a Parallell is conceaued to adde to the artificiall day one quarter or fourth part of an houre so a Climate makes halfe an houre so that by how much any Climate is distant from the Equatour by so many halfe houres the longest day of that Climate goes beyond the longest day of the place vnder the Equatour These Climates therefore cannot bee all of one equall quantity because the Equatour is a greater circle and comprehends the greatest space in the Earth so that it must needs follow that these Climates neere the Equatour being made by the combination of greater circles are greater then those neerer the Poles But because all Climates are made by the combination of Parallels wee are to vnderstand that there are three sort of Parallels to bee knowne in Cosmographie The first are those which doe distinguish the latitude of places taking their beginning from the Equatour and are in an ordinary Globe of Mappe distinguished sometimes by 10 sometimes by 15 degrees The second kinde of Parallels are those that make the Zones which are indeed some speciall named Parallels as the Tropicks and the Polar circles The third sort are called Artificiall Parallels because they shew the distances of artificiall dayes and nights which are commonly noted in the margent of a Geographicall Mappe which last sort of Parallels are here chiefly to be vnderstood 1 The Zones and Climates agree in forme but differ in greatnesse number and office The Climates are so called as we haue said because they decline from the Equatour and are spaces of the Earth containing two Parallells in which the longest day is varied by halfe an houre These agree with the Zones in some sort for both of them are spread by the latitude of the Earth and by Parallell circles compasse it about as so many girdles Neuerthelesse they differ one from the other 1. In Greatnesse because the Zones are greater the Climates lesser spaces in the Earth 2. In Number because there are only fiue Zones but many more climates 3. In Office vse and effect because the Zones are to distinguish the mutation of the quality of the aire and shaddowes according to diuerse Regions of the Earth but the Climates are vsed to shew the greatest differences of houres in the day to shew the variation of the rising and setting of the starres for places vnder the same Climate haue the same quantity of dayes and nights the same rising and setting of the starres whereas places seated vnder diuerse climats haue a great variation in the dayes and nights and a diuerse rising and setting of the stars for as often as the longest or Solsticiall day of one place differs from the longest day of another by the space of halfe an houre a new Climate is placed wherefore vnder the Equatour or middle part of the earth the dayes are alwayes equall to wit of 12 houres which beginning from the Equatour if wee approach towards either Pole so far as the greatest artificiall day amounts to 12 ½ we may assure our selues that wee are come to the first Climate and so forward still the greatest day of our Climate will by so much exceed the greatest day of the other As the Climates differ one from the other
by halfe houres so the Parallels by quarters as we haue shewed and shall more fully explaine in this Chapter 2 The Climates compared one with the other are not all of the same greatnesse Although the Climates are placed according to equall increase of dayes and nights yet suffer they a great inequality For no clime is equall to another in the same Hemispheare but are still greater then other by how much neerer they are to the Equinoctiall circle for the latitude of the first Climate is reckned to be about 8 degrees which make 480 Italian-miles but of the last not so many minutes as quarters of miles 11 In Terrestriall Climates two things are to be vnderstood 1 The Inuention 2 The Distinction The Inuention teacheth the manner how to find out in what Climate any place lieth The finding out of any climate depends vpon the obseruation of the length of the day for the length of the day being once known the Climate will also bee found out by this Rule 1 Double the houres aboue 12 and the Product will shew the Climate The reason of this rule is intimated before to wit that the climates are distinguished the one from the other by the space of halfe an houre of the longest day Now the dayes vnder the equatour are alwayes equall containing 12 houres in length from which towards the Pole they are increased by degrees wherefore the number of the Climates must needs bee double to the number of houres aboue 12 as for example if I should find out in what Climate England is situated I find the length of the longest day to be about 18 houres which is six houres more then 12 this I double and it will be 12 whence I collect that England is situated vnder the 12 Climate A more compendious way of finding out the Climate of any place is by a certaine Table wherein against euery Eleuation of the Pole is set the iust Climate which Table we shall insert hereafter Here must bee noted that this rule which wee haue taught is to bee vnderstood of the Climates as they are absolute in nature and not of Ptolomies Climates If any man would finde out the Climates of Ptolomie hee must first cast away three quarters of an houre which is 45 minutes because his Climates as wee shall shew beginne not immediatly from the Equatour but from the latitude of 12 degrees 12 Thus much for the Inuention the Distinction of Climates in Northerne and Southerne Climates both these againe are of two sorts either proper or improper 13 The proper Climates are those which are placed between the Equatour and the point neere the Polar circle The improper are those from the Polar circle to the Pole it selfe Wee must vnderstand that the climates are considered two manner of wayes 1 Absolutely in respect of the whole Terrestriall Spheare 2 Comparatiuely in respect of the knowne habitable part of the Earth According to the latter consideration the ancient Geographers haue otherwise distinguished the Climates then the new writers whence ariseth a great difference and confusion amongst them in defining the number of the climates For sometime they will haue a new climat put whensoeuer the day increaseth a quarter of an houre sometimes at halfe an houre sometimes at difference of an whole houre or day But the doubt is easily answered and reconciled by our former distinction for whereas they put the difference of climates to be halfe an houre it is to be vnderstood of these which are proper climates betwixt the Equatour and the Polar circle for it is certaine that beyond this circle the artificiall day increaseth not only by houres but by dayes weeks months so that another account must bee made of such climats then of the former But it hath been generally taken for those climates of the Ancients now the distinction of climates amongst the Ancients is of two sorts The first was of the Geographers before Ptolomy who placed the vttermost bound Northward in the 25th degree of Latitude or Eleuation and so made only seuen climates These 7 climates were all vnderstood to bee in the habitable parts wherein they were marked and designed out vnto vs by names taken from Citties Mountaines Regions and such like remarkable places where we are to conceaue that climate as neere as may bee guessed to runne through the middle of any such Region whereof it taketh its name But the better to vnderstand the Distinction of the climates as well with the Ancient as Moderne Cosmographers we will insert this following Theorem 1 In the placing and Number of the Climates and Parallels there is a great diuersity betwixt the Ancient and Moderne Geographers This hath been before mentioned but for better distinction we haue reserued the handling of these differences to this proposition which may serue as a Carollary to the rest First wee take it as granted that Ptolomy so appointed the Parallells out of which the climates must arise that he numbred 38 both wayes from the Equatour to wit 38 towards the South and so many towards the North. These Parallels he so distinguished that 24 he numbred by quarters of houres foure by halfe houres foure by whole houres and six by whole months Hence is it that Geographers say that a new Parallell is to be placed sometimes whereas the longest day increaseth by a quarter of an houre sometimes where it increaseth by a halfe sometimes by a whole houre sometimes by a whole moneth The first is to be vnderstood of those 24 Parallels which were deliuered by the Ancients before Ptolomy The second third and fourth of such as were vnknowne vnto those Ancients before Ptolomy To reduce all into order we will set downe this distinction The distinction of the Climats is either ancient or new The Ancient was againe twofold either former or latter The former was that which was set downe before Ptolomies times wherein there were assigned seuen Climates according to the common opinion though Mercator grants but 5 These Authours placed their Northerne bound in the 25 degrees or eleuation The later distinction was almost the same but somewhat corrected by Ptolomy who placed 9 Climates towards the North. The first passed by Meroe a Citty of Ethiopia where the longest or Solstitiall day is 13 houres The second by Siene in Egypt where the longest day is 13 ½ The third by Alexandria in Egypt where the longest day is 14 houres the 4th by the Iland of Rhodes where the longest day is of 14 ½ The fift by Rome where they haue the length of the longest day 15 houres The sixt by Pontus where the longest day is 15 ½ houres The seauenth by the mouth of Boristhenes where the longest day is of 16 houres Neuerthelesse some haue drawne the 6 Climate by Boristhenes in Sarmatia and the seauenth by the Riphaean mountaines Ptolomy to this number addes two more and so reckons them that the 8 should passe by the Riphaean mountaines and the 9 by Denmarke where
part of the Earth because such as dwell directly vnder the Equatour or either of the Poles although they may bee Antipodes agree not to that definition by reason the former are Antipodes only in opposite points of the Equatour the other of the Meridian Whether there were any Antipodes or no was made a question amongst the Ancients in so much that Saint Augustine in his booke de ciuitate Dei and Lactantius in his third booke of Institutions seemes stiffely to defend the contrary which opinion is supposed to grow out of their contempt or neglect of Mathematicall studies in those ages wherein the zeale to religion was most vnnecessarily opposed to Philosophie and the mistresse forsaken of her best hand-maides which ignorance of the Ancients was so farre deriued to posterity that in the yeere of our Sauiour 745 one Boniface Bishop of Mens was accused before the Pope Zachary Virgilius Bishop of Salisburg for heresy in that hee auerred there were Antipodes The matter being first preferred to the King of Bohemia and an appeale made vnto the Pope it happened that the honest Bishop for this assertion was flatly condemned for hereticall doctrine and inforced to recant his opinion yet is it wonderfull how such matters were thus decided for granting these two easie grounds First that the earth is Sphericall a proposition proued in their time 2 That euery place or at least two opposite places in the Terrestriall Spheare may bee habitable it must of necessity follow that such Antipodes must bee granted which makes me to imagine that Saint Augustine absolutely and grossely denied not the Antipodes because in setting downe the premises and grounds of our opinion hee seemed to vnderstand them too well to deny a necessary induction being a man of so great a wit and apprehension but questionlesse he thought that the Torrid Zone which by most of the Ancients in his time was reputed vnhabitable and vnpassable no man had yet set his foot in those remote parts beyond the line so that it seemed in him not to arise out of ignorance of the constitution of the earthly Globe but out of the receaued opinion of the Torrid Zone and the vast Ocean the one of which hee held vnhabitable the other vnpassable from whence also sprang vp an argument or rather an idle fancie that the Antipodes could not be admitted without granting another Sauiour and another kinde of men besides Adams posterity for if this coniecture had not taken place the Pope I suppose would neuer haue proued himselfe so ridiculous a Iudge as to haue condemned Virgilius for heresie As for Lactantius howsoeuer otherwise a pious eloquent Father the weakenesse and childishnesse of his arguments will to any indifferent reader discouer his ignorance in the very first rudiments of Cosmographie Here we may learne how farre religion it selfe is wronged by such who set her opposite to all her seruants But whatsoeuer the Ancients out of their glimring reason haue coniectured our times haue sufficiently decided this controuersie wherin such Antipodes are established both by reason and experience which matâer wee shall reserue to our second booke wherein we shall declare how farre and in what sense the Earth may bee tearmed habitable 1 Those which are to vs Perioeci are the Antoeci to our Antipodes our Antoeci the Periaeci to our Antipodes likewise our Perioeci are the Antipodes to our Antaeci This Proposition as a Corollary may by necessary consequence be deduced out of the precedent definition and be well expressed out of the constitution of the artificiall Globe and needs no farther demonstration 2 The Perioeci Antoeci and Antipodes are diuersly distinguished in respect of the celestiall apparences The proprieties of the Perioeci are chiefly foure 1 They haue the same eleuation of the Pole and therefore the same temper of the yeere and the same length of dayes and nights 2 They dwell East and West in regard one of the other 3 They haue contrary times of dayes and nights for when the one hath his Noone the other inioyes his mid-night likewise when the Sun with the one riseth it setteth with the other 4 They haue the same Zone Climate and Parallell but differ by a semicircle to wit 180 degrees To the Antoeci they haue likewise assigned 5 proprieties viz. 1 They inhabite the like Zones but in diuerse Hemispheares 2 They haue the same eleuation of the pole but not of the same pole because the one sees the pole Arcticke the other the pole Antarcticke equally raised aboue his Horizon 3 They haue Noone and Mid-night iust at the same times 4 They inioy the same temper of the Heauens 5 They haue the seasons of the yeere contrary For when the Southerne Antoeci haue their Summer the Northerne haue their Winter and contrariwise when the Northerne haue their spring these haue their Autumne To the Antipodes they haue allotted 3 Proprieties 1 That they haue the same eleuation of the pole though not of the same pole 2 They haue the same temper of the yeere and the same quantity of dayes and nights 3 They haue all the other accidents contrary For when the one hath Night the other hath Day when one Winter the other Summer when the one the Spring the other Autumne and contrariwise These accidents and proprieties here mentioned must be vnderstood in respect of the Heauens only The qualities arising from diuerse other Accidentall and particular causes in diuerse places of the Earth we shall differre vnto our second part CHAP. XI Of the Longitudes and Latitudes 1 THe distinction of the Terrestriall Globe according to certaine Spaces being formerly explaned we are now to treat of the Distinction of the said Spheare according to certaine Distances 2 A Distance here we vnderstand to be a direct line drawne betwixt two points in the Earth such a Distance is twofold either Simple or Comparatiue 3 The Simple Distance is taken from the two great circles to wit the Meridian or the Equatour which is either the Longitude or Latitude The diuision of Distances into the Simple or Comparatiue is most necessary for it is one thing for a place absolutely taken in it selfe to be distant from some fixt point or other in the Globe Another for two places to be compared betwixt themselues in regard of such a fixt point for as much as the former implies only the distance betwixt two points the other the distance of two such points or places in respect of the third These points from which such points are said to be distant are either found in the Meridian Circle from which the Distance is called Longitude or else in the Equatour whence we call it Latitude 4 The Longitude is the distance of any place Eastward from the first Meridian To vnderstand the better the Longitude we must consider that it may be taken two wayes either Generally or Specially In the former sense it is taken for the Distance of the whole Earth stretched from the West vnto the East
92 3 It is probable that the sea is carried some-where from East to West and some-where from North to South contrariwise 98 4 Of the violent motion of the sea caused by windes 101 5 To some certaine places at certaine times belong certaine winds 102 6 The violence of the winds makes the sea sometimes in some places transcend his ordinary bounds 103 CHAP. VII Of the Depth Situation and Termination of the sea 1 The ordinary depth of the sea is commonly answerable to the ordinary height of the maine land aboue the water and the Whirlepooles extraordinary depths answer to the height of the mountaines aboue the ordinary height of the Earth 104 2 The superficies of the sea is some-where higher then the superficies of the Earth some-where lower 109 3 The sea in respect of the Earth is higher in one place then another 111 4 The Water is so diuided from the dry-land that the quantity of water is greater in the Southerne Hemispheare of land in the Northerne 115 5 The whole Globe of the Earth is enuironed round with sea betwixt East and West 116 6 It is probable that the Earth is enuirnoed round with water from North to South Of the North-west passage 117 CHAP. VIII OfSea Trafficke and Merchandice 1 Nauigation first taught by Almighty God was afterwards seconded by the industrie of famous men in all ages 132 2 Nauigation is very necessary as well for the increase of knowledge as riches 135 CHAP. IX Of Pedography Riuers Lakes and Fountaines in the Earth 1 All Riuers haue their originall from the sea the mother of riuers 142 2 All Riuers and Fountaines were not from the beginning 155 3 Many riuers are for a great space of land swallowed vp of the Earth whereof some after a certaine distance rise againe 156 4 Riuers for the most part rise out of great mountaines and at last by diuerse or one Inlet are disburthened into the sea 157 5 Diuerse Fountaines are endowed with diuerse admirable vertues and operations 159 6 Places neere great Riuers and Lakes are most commodious for Habitation 162 7 Of Lakes and their causes 162 8 It is probable that some Lakes haue some secret intercourse with the sea vnder ground 163 CHAP. X. Of Mountaines Vallyes plaine-Regions woody and champion Countreyes 1 Mountaines Vallyes and Plaines were created in the beginning and few made by the violence of the Deluge 165 2 The perpendicular height of the highest mountaines seldome exceeds 10 furlongs 169 3 The ordinary height of the land aboue the sea in diuerse places is more then the hight of the highest mountaines aboue the ordinary face of the Earth 171 4 Mountaines Countreyes are commonly colder then plaine 172 5 Mountaines since the beginning of the world haue still decreased in their quantity and so will vnto the end 174 6 Of Woods and their nature 178 7 Woods are not so frequent or great as in ancient times 179 8 Places moderately situate towards the North or South-pole abound more in woods then neere the Equatour 180 CHAP. XI Of Ilands and Continents 1 It is probable that Ilands were not from the first beginning but were afterwards made by violence of the water 184 2 Peninsula's by violence of the sea fretting through the Istmus haue oftentimes turned into Ilands and contrariwise Peninsalas by diminution of the sea made of Ilands 189 CHAP. XII Of Inundations and Earth-quakes 1 No vniuersall Inundation of the Earth can be naturall the other may depend from naturall causes 193 2 Particular alterations haue happened to the bonds of Countries by particular Inundations 195 3 Certaine Regions by reason of great Riuers are subiect to certaine anniuersary Inundations 197 4 Regions extreame cold or extreame hot are not so subiect to Earth-quakes as places of a middle temper 201 5 Hollow and spongie places are more subiect to Earthquakes then solide and compacted Soiles 202 6 Ilands are more often troubled with earth-quakes then the continent 203 CHAP. XIII Of the Originall of Inhabitants 1 All Nations had their first originall from one stocke whence afterwards they became diuided 206 2 The first inhabitants of the Earth were planted in Paradise and thence translated to the places adioyning 208 3 The first plantation of Inhabitants immediately after the Deluge beganne in the East 213 CHAP. XIV Of the disposition of Inhabitants in respect of the site 1 The people of the Northerne Hemispheare as well in Riches and Magnificence as valour science and ciuill gouernment far surpasse the people of the south Hemispheare 221 2 The extreame Inhabitants toward the pole are in complexion hot and moist Those towards the Equatour cold and drye those of the middle partaking of a middle temper 226 3 The extreame Inhabitants towards the poles are naturally enclined to Mechanicall works and martiall endeuours the extreame towards the Equatour to workes of Religion and Contemplation The middle to lawes and ciuility 232 4 The people of the extreame Regions towards the poles in Martiall prowesse haue commonly proued stronger then those neerer the Equatour but the middle people more prouident then either in the establishment and preseruation of commonwealths 236 5 The extreame Regions in Manners Actions and Customes are cleane opposite the one to the other The middle partake a mixture of both 239 6 The people of the Easterne Hemispheare in science Religion Ciuility and Magnificence and almost in euery thing els are farre superiour to the Inhabitants of the Westerne 250 7 The Westerne people haue beene obserued to be more happy and able in Martiall discipline the Easterne in witty contemplation and contemplatiue sciences 252 8 The Easterne part of the Westerne Hemispheare was peopled before the Westerne 255 CHAP. XV. Of the Diuersity of dispositions in regard of the Soile 1 Mountaine-people are for the most part more stout warlike and generous then those of plaine Countries yet lesse tractable to gouernment 256 2 Windy Regions produce men of wild and instable dispositions But quiet Regions more constant and curteous 273 CHAP. XVI Of the dispositions of Inhabitants according to their originall and education 1 Colonies translated from one Region into another farre remote retaine a long time their first disposition though by little little they decline and suffer alteration 278 2 The mixture of Colonies begets the same Nation a greater disparity and variety of the Nations amongst themselues 278 3 Education hath a great force in the alteration of Naturall dispositions yet so as by accident remitted they soone returne to their proper Temper  4 By Discipline Nations become more Wise and Politicke in the preseruation of states yet lesse stout and couragious 283 The Analysis of the second Booke Generall which of a place generally taken without any speciall diuision handles the Adiuncts and proprieties these agree to a place in respect of the Earth it selfe which are Internall or Externall Common or Magneticall whereof Chapter 2. Heauens which are Generall or Speciall Chapt. 3.
consider the naturall changes of Countries sithence the first creation wee shall finde them to haue suffered as well in the naturall accidents and disposition of the soile as the temper of the Inhabitants concerning the former wee may note a twofold alteration whereof the one is a progresse from Imperfection to Perfection the other contrariwise from Perfection to Imperfection The first groweth out of the generall Industrie of mankinde which is wont to worke euery thing as neere as it can to his best ends and vse for his owne good and propagation of his kinde which wee may best finde in the first originall of the world the first ground-worke of ciuill society for man being once expelled out of Paradise for his owne transgression had left him notwithstanding for his lot the whole world besides which no question hee found as in the cradle of Nature a poore infant as yet altogether vnfashioned and vnshaped for humane habitation For who can imagine the earth at that time to bee any otherwise then as a vast Wildernesse all ouergrowne with briers and bushes growing of their owne accord out of the Earth Moreouer what Fennes Bogges Marishes and other such incombrances could there bee wanting to those places which neuer yet felt the chastising hand of husbandrie All these incommodities as mankind began to multiplie and propagate it selfe on the face of the Earth were by little and little remoued and the Earth reduced into a better forme for humane dwelling because euery man choosing out his owne possession began presently to till and manure the soyle with all heedfull industrie For if our first Parents being placed in Paradise it selfe the most pleasant and fertile portion of the whole world were neuerthelesse enioyned to dresse and manure the Garden for their better vse and profit what shall wee imagine of the other parts of the Earth which no doubt a thousand degrees come short of this perfection especially knowing this curse to bee laid on man by our Creatour That he should eat his bread in the sweat of his browes as though the earth were bound to open her treasures onely to mans paines and labour And howsoeuer the diligence of mankinde hath gone very farre in adorning and fashioning the vpper face of the earth yet hath it not waded so farre but that many places in our times are left altogether rude and vncultered groaning vnder vast Wildernesses and vnprofitable desarts For times past wee might haue for instance gone no farther then Britanie and Germanie both which Countryes we shall finde in these dayes to differ as much from the dayes of Caesar as Caesar iudged them to differ from the Roman Territory which no doubt hee preferred before all parts of Europe Notwithstanding this generall inclination of mankinde to perfect their dwelling places for their better ease and comfort wee shall finde many wayes whereby the parts of the Earth haue degenerated and proued more vnfit for humane habitation then in former times The first which is the greatest and cause of all the rest is that Curse which our Almighty Creatour cast on the whole earth for Adams sake which afterward seemes renued and increased in the generall deluge wherein all mankinde suffered for their sinnes a plague of waters For as the estate of mankind immediatly before the Flood was farre better then that afterwards so was the estate of Paradice farre better then that So as wee may note from the beginning of the world a generall defect and weakenesse of the Creatures still more and more declining from their originall perfection granted in the first creation So that many great Philosophers haue coniectured not without ground that the world from the first creation hath suffered the change of ages sensibly and this wherein wee liue to bee the last and decrepite age wherein Nature lyeth languishing as ready to breath out her last But this opinion seemes to bee controled by reason for as much as wee finde not a proportionall decrement and defect of naturall vigour in things as well in man as other creatures For if wee compare the estate of a man before the Flood with the age of Dauid long after wee shall finde a great disparity in the proportionall decrement of the Yeeres and Ages of men for as much as many before the Flood attained to 800 and some as Methusalem to 900 yeeres But in Dauid time the dayes of mans life as he himselfe testifieth are threescore and ten and admit wee vnderstand this speech of Dauid to bee meant only of his chiefest strength and liuelyhood wee shall yet finde a great diuersity because man is vnderstood to bee in his greatest strength and vigour in his middle age so that the whole age of man by this account surmounts not 140 yeeres To which proportion of defect or decrement our times can no way agree because many men in our dayes come neere the same age as wee see by experience which may bee confirmed by diuerse instances whereof wee will produce only two the one of a certaine Indian presented to Soliman the Turke being of the age of 200 yeeres the other of the Countresse of Desmond in Ireland which Sr Walter Rauleigh mentions to this purpose who was married in Edward the fourth's time yet was aliue very lately But to this doubt I might answer that this extraordinary difference betwixt the ages of men betweene the Patriarches and Dauids time compared with men ages betwixt Dauids and our dayes came from two especiall causes First by the vniuersall Deluge which caused a generall defect and decay of nature in the whole earth the like whereof hath not since beene found Secondly it was as it seemes much impaired by the Intemperance and luxurious diet of those times which added much to this generall weaknesse of nature for as much as the children can haue little or no naturall perfection in themselues more then is deriued vnto them by their parents For nothing can giue that to others which it neuer had it selfe whence it must needs come to passe that the posterity deriued from luxurious and distempered bodyes should proue as weake and impotent generally if not more then their Parents Now why the people soone vpon the Flood should finde their distemperature more noxious and preiudiciall to long life then the men of our age a good reason may bee giuen because the Earth long after the Flood had not fully receaued that naturall heat and spirit which it lost in the Deluge So that all things arising out of it as Plants Hearbs Fruits and liuing creatures feeding thereon proued for a while more vnwholsome and vnnaturall then in some yeeres after when it had somewhat reuiued it selfe by the heat of the Sunne and the Starre and by little and little returned to his owne nature The other cause of deficiencie is more speciall as not happening to all but to diuerse parts of the Earth and that more at one time then another as the neglect of due manuring many places
caused commonly two wayes either by contagion naturally incident to diuerse places or by hostile Inuasion and deuastation of this latter arise two maine effects The first is the want and scarcity of Inhabitants which should dresse and manure the ground to make it more fruitfull and accommodate to mans vse The second is their pouerty and captiuity whereof the one makes them vnable the second vnwilling to effect any great matter for the benefit of the Land A good instance whereof wee may finde in the land of Palestine which in times past by God himselfe was called A land flowing with milke and hony for the admirable pleasantnesse and fertility of the Soile yet at this day if wee will credit trauellers report a most barren Region deuoid almost of all good commodity fit for the vse of man in the ruines of which sometimes famous kingdome euery bleere-eyed iudgement may easily read Gods curse long since denounced Which strange alteration next vnto Gods anger wee can ascribe to no other cause then the hostile inuasion of forraine enemies which hath almost lâft the land waste without the natiue Inhabitants whence it could not chuse in a short time but degenerate from the ancient fruitfulnesse The like may we finde in all those miserable Regions which groane at this day vnder the tyranny of the vsurping Turke whence a prouerbe runnes currant amongst them That where the Turkes horse hath once grazed no grasse will euer aftâr grow which signifies no other then the barbarous manner of the Turkes hauing once conquered a land to lay it open euer after to deuastation for being for the most part warlike men trained vp in martiall discipline they little or nothing at all regard the vse of husbandry whence in short time a Countrey must needs âurne wild and vnfruitfull To these causes we may adde the influence of heauenly constellations which being varied according to the times produce no small effects in the changes and alterations of the earth The diuerse alteration in the disposition of the Inhabitants which was our second point we haue referââed to another place neere the end of this tract to which is properly appertaines 3 Plâces hauing long continued without habitation are seldome so healthy and fit for dwelling as those which haue beene inhabited This Proposition I haue knowne to bee warranted by the Testimonie of many experienced Nauigators in so much as I presume few men can doubt of the truth of it who hath either beene a Traualler himselfe into farre Countreyes or at least hath read other mens discoueries The onely matter therefore wee here intend is to produce certaine causes of this effect to giue satisfaction to such as make a distinction betwixt the knowledge of the effect and inquiry of the cause The first cause which I can alleage is the industrie of mankinde inhabiting any Countrey mentioned in the former Theoreme out of which ariseth a twofold effect 1 The improuing of the Soyle by remouing all such impediments as otherwise would proue noysome to mankinde for whereas all things growing of their owne accord are suffered to rot into the ground in like manner what other can wee expect but Fennes Fogges and noisome vapours altogether hurtfull to the welfare and life of man 2 The profit of mans industrie is no lesse apparent in manuring the ground and opening the vpper face of the Earth which being composed of diuerse substances sendeth forth many times certaine hot fumes and vapours which in many cold Countreyes mollify the vsuall rigour of the Aire which most offends the Inhabitants This reason is giuen by my Countrey-man Captaine Whitborne for the extreame cold which some men professe themselues to haue tried in New-found-land which neuerthelesse according to many mens description is knowne to lye farre more South then England for the natiues of the Countrey being for the most part driuen into the North part by the Europeans who vsually trade there for fish and they themselues liuing altogether on Fish from the Sea or some wild beasts on the land as Beares Deare and such like without any manuring of the ground for herbage The Soyle by them is in a manner left altogether vnmanured so that neither the soyle can bee well cleansed from noisome vapours arising from the putrefaction of herbage rotting as I said into the ground or left free to send out such wholsome fumes and vapours from its interiour parts which may warme the Ayre and preserue mankind 3 A third reason drawne from mens Industries that those Countreyes which haue inioyed Inhabitants by the continuall vse of Fires haue their Aire more purged and refined from drossie and noisome vapours which vsually arise out of a contagious soyle daily infected by putrefaction for scarce any nation hath beene knowne so barbarous and ignorant which hath not the inuention and vse of Fire neither is any infection of the aire so pestilent and opposite to humane constitution which the breath of fire will not in some sort dispell If any man obiect the distance of houses and villages wherein fire is vsed which seeme to claime a small interest in the change of the ayre hanging ouer a whole Countrey let him well consider the quicknesse of motion and fluidity of the Ayre passing as it were in a moment from one place to the other and hee may soone answer his owne obiection All those reasons hitherto mentioned an inhabited Region owes to mans industrie which wee generally touched in the precedent Theoreme The second cause which is as a consequent of habitation is the necessity of breathing of people liuing in any Region of the earth whereby may follow two effects 1 A certaine measure of heat impressed into the aire as wee see in any roome in a great throng of people by reason of their breathing together in one place 2 The assimilation of the Aire to humane bodies by a continuall respiration These alterations of the aire might perhaps to common apprehensions seeme small and insensible But hee that considers how great a quantity of aire is requisite for a mans respiration and the space and extent of motion together with the multitude of Inhabitants in a populous Countrey would hold it no strange matter that the breathing of men should breed such an alteration of the aire wee finde by experience that strong built houses being left tenantlesse will soone fall into decay not so much for want of reparation as the foggy vapours and moisture caused by want of Respiration The like whereof in some proportion may we imagine to be in a region wanting Inhabitants and depriued of this benefit of nature CHAP. II. Of the Generall Adiuncts of Places 1 IN a place Topographically taken two things are to bee considered 1. The Adiuncts 2 The Description The Adiuncts are such proprieties as agree to speciall places 2 Such Adiuncts agree to a place either in respect of the Earth it selfe or in respect of the Heauens Those which agree to a place in respect of
Trauellers report or some small obseruation of heauenly bodies or sounding the bottome of the Sea settle our opinion and make a plaine distinction 2 The Declination of any place being knowne the Latitude may also bee found out although not without some errour The ground of this Assertion we haue formerly handled in the Treatise of the Magneticall Affections of the Earth where wee haue shewed that the Declination of the Magneticall needle is alwayes answerable in some proportion to the Latitude of the place whence it must needs follow that the declination any where being found out together with the proportion the Latititude must needs be knowne In this point I referre my Reader to D. Ridleye's late Treatise of Magneticall bodies and Motions wherein hee by the helpe of M. Briges hath calculated a certaine briefe table for this purpose But that this manner of Inuention of the Latitude of a place must needs admit of some errour cannot well be denied for as much as Gilbert Ridley and others which haue written of this subiect haue acknowledged this motion of Declination to bee in many places irregular and not answerable in due proportion to the Degrees of Latitude which diuerse friends of mine well experienced in magneticall experiments haue to their great wonder confessed 12 This much for the Internall Adiuncts The Externall I call such as are not imprest into the Earth but externally adjacent or adioyning vnto it Here ought wee to consider the Aire adioyning to any place with his Qualities and Proprieties 13 The Ayrie properties of a place consist in such matters wherewith the Ayre according to diuerse places is diuersly affected and disposed In the Ayre we ought to note a twofold temper and quality the one Inbred and Essentiall the other Externall and Accidentall âhe former whether it bee heat ioyned with moisture as Aristotle aââirmes or cold ioyned with moisture as some others I leaue it to the Naturall Philosopher to dispute The latter being that to which our purpose is chiefly ingaged and that no farther then may appertaine to the Topicall description of a speciall Countrey These accidents being so various and many we are inforced to reduce them to a few generall heads which we will couch in this our Theoreme 1 The disposition of the Ayre adjacent to a place depends chiefely on the Temperament of the Soyle Those things wherewith the Aëriâll Region is affected are of two sorts to wit either the Temperament consisting in the mixture of the foure first Qualities or else the bodies themselues as Meteors drawne vp into the Aire whereof these accidentall dispositions arise That both these chiefly depend from the Tempârament of the Earthly Soyle of a certaine place many reasons will demonstrate first that Meteors whatsoeuer they are take their originall from the Earth is plaine 1 Out of the name which signifies things lifted vp to shew that a Meteor is lifted and drawne out of the Earth 2 Out of the materiall composition which can no where else take this composition For either wee should deriue it from the Heauens or from the Ayre it selfe or from the Fire From the Heauens it cannot take originall because it is corruptible and therefore of no heauenly substance according to Peripateticke Philosophie Not from it selfe because the aire being supposed a simple and vncompounded body cannot admit of such mixture Not from the Fire first because all Meteors partake not of fierie nature Secondly because fire cannot well subsist but of some matter whereon it may worke and conserue it selfe which can bee no other then that which is of a glutinous substance which wee no where finde but in the earthly Globe consisting of Earth and Water out of whose store-houses the matter of all such pendulous substances in the aire is deriued These Meteors may bee deriued from the Earth into the Aire two manner of wayes First Directly and immediatly by an immediate ascent or rising of exhalations from some one particular place into the Ayrie space right ouer it Secondly Obliquely to wit when Vapours or other such exhalations are by some violence or other carried from one place into another as winde which being ingendred in one place continually bloweth into another Againe the former may happen two wayes for either this rising of Exhalations out of the Earth is Ordinary or Extraordinary Ordinary I call that whereby the thinne parts of the water or Earth are continually spread and diffused through the whole Region of the Ayre for wee cannot imagine otherwise then that at all times and places the Terrestriall Globe composed of Earth and Water continually sends and euaporates out some thinne or rarified parts wherewith the earth is affected Whether this Rarefaction or Euaporation of the water bee the true substance of the Aire it selfe as some haue probably coniectured or else sâme other body different from it I will not here dispute This much will necessarily follow that it proceeds originally from the Earth right vnder it This vapour being ingendred from the water or moister parts of the Earth is much varied and temper'd according to the place from which it ariseth For the matter of the Earth being various and diuerse in disposition as well in regard of various veines of minerall substances whereof it consists as of the first and second qualities thereof arising must of necessity cause the Aire about each Region to bee of the same quality Whence a probable reason may bee shewne why of two places although both like in respect of the Heauens and other circumstances one should bee hot the other cold one healthie another contagious the one of a sharpe and thinne aire the other of a foggy dull temper For no question but the minerall matter whereof the soile of the Earth consists being not euery where Solid and hard but euery where intermedled with a vaporous and fluide substance must needs challenge a great interest in the temperament of the Ayre aâ that which is the first mother if not of the Aire it selfe yet at least of the accidentall dispositions thereof The Extraordinary euaporations I call such as arise out of the Earth by some extraordinary concurse of the Sunne with some other Starres These are many times subiect to sense which happen not at all times and places such as are clowdes windes and such like which arise not naturally by their owne accord by a perpetuall emanation but are by some greater strength of the Sunne or Starres ratifying the parts of the earth or water drawne vp to the Aire about it Now for the Meteors Indirectly and obliquely belonging to any place amongst many other instances we may bring the winde which bloweth from one Region to another which according to ordinary experience partaketh of a twofold quality the one deriued from the place whence it is ingendred the other from the Region through which it passeth Which may appeare by our foure Cardinall windes as they are with vs in England Belgia and higher Germany For first
our Easterne winde is found to bee driest of all others whereof no other cause can bee giuen then that it comes ouer a great Continent of land lying towards the East out of which many drie and earthly exhalations are drawn so the Westerne winde is obserued to be very moist because it passeth ouer the hugie Atlanticke Ocean which must needs cast forth many watrie and moist vapours which beget raine and showres from the moisture of which Westerne winde some haue sought out an answer to that Probleme why hunting hounds should not sent nor hunt so well the winde being in the West as at other times For say they it is caused by the moisture of it either in making hinderance to their legges in running or at least to their smell being very thicke and foggy In this Westerne winde we may also perceiue much cold which is caused by the quality of those watrie vapours through which it passeth which being drawne from the water are naturally cold In our South wind wee shall finde both heat and moisture whereof the former ariseth from the Sunne which in those Southerne Regions neere the Equatour is most predominant The latter from the naturall disposition of the places because before it approacheth our coasts it passes ouer the Mediterranean Sea out of which the Sunne begets abundance of watry vapours which mixt themselues with the windes Finally the North-winde is obserued to bee cold and drye It must of necessity bee cold because it is carried ouer diuerse cold and snowy places most remote from the heat of the Sunne It is drie because it passeth ouer many Ilands and dry places sending out store of dry exhalations as also because the Sunne being very remote from those Regions fewer exhalations are drawne vp which might infect it by impressions of their watrie quality These instances may serue to proue our assertion That Meteors wherewith the Aire is vsually charged and by consequence their qualitâes imprest into the Aire are depending from the Earth out of which they are drawne either Directly from the same Region which they affect or Obliquely from some other Region remote from it Howsoeuer wee obserue that the disposition of the Ayre depends from the Soile wee cannot altogether exclude the Heauens as shall bee taught hereafter in place conuenient CHAP. III. Of the Adiuncts of a place in respect of Heauens 1 WE haue in the former Chapter spoken of the Adiuncts of a place in respect of it Selfe We are now to proceed to such Accidents as agree to a place in respect of the Heauens 2 The Adiuncts of the Earth in respect of the Heauens are of two sorts either Generall or Speciall Generall I call such as are abstracted from any speciall quality or condition of the Earth or any place in the Earth These accidents concerne either the Situation of the Inhabitants or the Diuision of the places both which we haue handled in our Sphericall part of Geographie The Speciall are such as concerne the nature of the place in respect of the Heauens not Absolutely but Respecting some speciall qualities or properties depending on such situation which more properly belongs to this part For the vnfolding of which before we descend to particularities we will premise this one generall Theoreme 1 Places according to their diuerse situation in regard of the Heauens are diuersly affected in quality and constitution This Proposition needs no proofe as being grounded on ordinary experience for who findes not betwixt the North and the South a manifest difference of heat and cold moisture and drouth with other qualities thereon depending as well in the temper of the soyle it selfe as the naturall disposition of the inhabitants Only three points will here require an exposition First by what Meanes and instruments the Heauens may bee said to worke on the Earth Secondly how farre this operation of the Heauen on the Earth may extend and what limits it may suffer Thirdly how these operations are distinguished one from the other Concerning the first wee are taught by our ordinary Philosophers that the Heauens worke on inferiour bodies by three instruments to wit Light Motion and Influence By Light as by an instrumentall agent it ingendreth heat in the Aire and Earth not that the light being in a sort an Immateriall quality can immediatly of it selfe produce heat being materiall and elementary But by attrition and rarefaction whereby the parts of the aire being made thinner approach neerer to the nature of fire and so conceaue heat This is againe performed two wayes either by a simple or compo unded beame The simple Ray is weaker The compounded inferring a doubling of the Ray by Reflection is stronger and of more validity in the operation and by consequence so much the more copious in the production of heat by how much more the reflection is greater if wee meerely consider it in regard of the Heauens without any consideration of the quality of the Earth By motion the heauens may exercise their operation on the Earth two wayes First by attenuating and rarefying the vpper part of the Aire next adioyning turning it into Fire as some Philosophers would haue it whence the inferiour parts of the ayre communicating in this affection must needs partake some degrees of heat But this I hold to bee a conceit grounded onely vpon Aristotles authority who supposed the heauens to bee a solide compact body which will not so soone bee granted of many more moderne Mathematicians Secondly the heauenly bodyes may bee said to worke on inferiour things by motion in that by motion they are diuersly disposed and ordered to diuerse Aspects and configurations of the Starres and Planets whereby they may produce diuerse effects so that in this sense the heauens are imagined as a disponent cause which doth not so much produce the effects themselues as vary the operation Hereon is grounded all Astrologie as that which out of diuerse aspects and combinations of the Planets and Signes foresheweth diuerse euents The third Instrument by which the Heauens are said to worke is the heauenly influence which is a hidden and secret quality not subiect to sense but only knowne and found out by the effects This third agent being by some questioned would hardly bee beleeued but that a necessity in nature constraines it For many effects are found in inferiour bodies caused by the heauens which can no way bee ascribed to the Light or Motion As for example the production of Mettals in the bowels of the earth the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea whereof neither the one or the other can challenge any great interest in the Light For as much as the former is farre remote from the Sunne-beames the other ceaseth not to moue in his channell when the Sunne and Moone are both vnder the Earth Besides who can giue a reason of the excesse of heat in the Canicular or Dog-dayes if hee exclude this influence For if wee consider the Light of the Sunne wee shall finde
euery Region or Countrey a speciall quality or temper although lying or situate vnder the same Latitude But here excluding all concurrent causes which may vary the temper of the Soile wee consider the disposition of a place so farre forth as it depends on the Heauenly Influence oâ operation In which sense we cannot deny to a place of like ãâã a like nature for as Philosophers vse to speake Simile qua simile semper aptum natum est simile producere Like causes alwayes produce like effects so the Heauens in like distance being disposed alike as well in regard of Light as Influence cannot but affect âhose parts of the Earth in the selfe-same manner For the Instruments by which the heauens worke on inferiour bodies as we haue shewed are Light and Influenceâ For both the Light and Influânce it is certaine that in places of equall Latitude and respect to the Equatour it is cast equally both the one and âhe other being imagined to bee carried in direct lââes of ãâã which with the Horizon makes like Angles Now that the validity or weaknesse of the operatiue Rayes is to bee iudged according to the Right or Oblique incidency making right or oblique Angles no Mathematician will gaine say But here we must note by the way that wee only consider the Heauen aââording to his generall Infââence or operation depending chiefly on the Sunne not of the speciall operation of speciall Starres for it may be some particular constellations in the Northerne Hemispheare may bee indowed with some speciall influence which is not found in the Southerne or the South in this kinde goe beyond the North. But this kinde of Influence is rare and hard to fânde by reason of the various mixture of diuerse constellations in their operation in the same subiect and howsoeuer it were well knowne yet it is not so notable to take place before this comâon Rule which wee shall finde to take place if not exactly yet commonly throughout the whole Terrestriall Spheare Thus Bodin shewes a great likenesse betwixt the higher Germany and the kingdome of the Pantagones in the South part of America out of the great Stature of the Inhabitants which must needs proceed out of the nature of the places which are found to be situate very neere vnder the same Parallell The like correspondency haue wee noted betwixt Guinea in Africke and that part as it is thought of the South Continent which they haue for this cause tearmed Noua Guinea many more Parallells in this kinde might be found out but these may suffice in so euident a matter 2 The Northerne Hemispheare is the Masculine the Southerne the Feminine part of the Earth It hath beene a vsuall kinde of speech amongst men to tearme such things as are stronger worthier or greater Masculine on the contrary side such things Feminine as are found deficient and wanting in these perfections by which kinde of Metaphor taken from the Sexes in liuing creatures they haue ascribed to the Northerne Hemispheare a Masculine Temper in respect of the Southerne which comes faâre short of it for howsoeuer no cause can bee shewed in regard of the Heauens as is taught in our former propositions except by some speciall constellations of the South which is full of vncertainty and as soone denied as affirmed yet comes it to passe by some hidden propertie of the places themselues or at least some casuall Acâident or other thaâ these two Hemispheares suffer a great and notable disparity For against the large and fertill Territories of the Northerne Hemispheâre containing in it wholy Europe and Asia with the greatest part of America and Africa wee shall finde besides some few scattered Ilands only three continents to oppose to wit a small part of Africke the greatest part of America Perâana containing in it Peru Brasile and the Region of the Pântagânâs aâd the South contânent called Târra Australiâ Incâgnita and by some others the South Indies For the former lying neere the Cape of good hope if we will credit the relations of our owne Merchants we shall finde the aire by reason of ãâã very diâââmpârated situat betwixt the Equatour and the Tropicke of Capricârââ The land very barren the Inhabitants of a brâtish dâââosition wanting aâ it were all sense of science or religion bearing heauy as yet the curse of Noah the first Father of that African Nation For America Peruana wee shall finde it perhaps more happy in respect of the Soyle although little better in respect of the Inhabitants Yet for the plentie of Gold-mines whâreof they can chiefly vaunt wee shall finde it farre surmounted by the East Indies or at least paralelled by America Mexicana lying on this side the Equiâoâtiall âârclâ For other commodities as Cattle Fruitâ Herbagâ Spiâeâ Gummââ and other medicinable roots and minerâlls lesse question can be made as being farre inferiour to Europe Asia Mexicana and other Regions included within ouâ Northerne partition Of the third and greatest which is the South continent no coniecture can be well grounded being in â manner all vndiscouered except some small quillets on the borders of it by which if wee may iudge of all the rest wee shall almost giue the same iudgement as of the other The want of discouery in this age of ours wherein Nauigation ââth beene perfected and cherished is no small arguâent ãâ¦ã inferiour in commodities to other places Neithââ had âhe âlacknesse of the Spaniard giueâ that occasâon of complaint to Ferdinand de Quiâ the late discouerer of some of these parts had not the Spanish King thought such an expedition eitheâ altogether fruiâlesse or to little purpose For who kâowes not the Spâniard to bee â Nâtion âs couetous of richesse as ambitious to pursue ãâã âoueraignty as such who will more wâllingly expoââ the liues of their owne subâects then loose the least title ouer other Countreyes This may bee a probable argument that thâs Continent hath not as yet so well smiled on the ambition of this prowd Nation as some other conqââsts For Politicall and Martiall affaires how farre short iâ conââs of our Northerne Hemiâpheare I shall speake in due place where I shall handle the ãâã disposition of diuerse inhabitants according to their situation To finde out the true causes of this diuersity is very diffâcult To seekâ a reason in some particular consteââation and ãâã in the Heauens or some spâciall disposition of the soyââ is too generall to giue satisfaction and too vncârtaine to iââorce crâdulity Yet putting these aside I can only guesse at two reasons which are accidentall yet strengthned with good probability The first and greatest is that bitter curse casâ on Chaâ and his postârity by his father Noah which no doubt was seconded by Gods dipleasure taking place in his habitation Thââ all these Nations sprung from Cham â dare not confidently auouch Yet for the most part it is probable they were of this Race For the Africans it is out of questionâ as warranted by the
blacke Lions which we can ascribe to no other cause then the excesse of heat and not to any quality of the Seed or any curse inflicted on the place Moreouer it is reported by Ferdinando de Quir in his late discouery of the South Continent that hee there also found some blacke people yet can wee not imagine this Land though stretching very farre in quantity toward the Equinoctiall to come so farre or much farther then the Tropicke of Capricorne These arguments make it the more probable that the Regions situate vnder the Tropicks generally exceed more in heat then those placed in the middle of the Earth vnder the Line 2 In the other extreame Section from 60 Degrees towards the Pole the first 15 Degrees towards the Equatour are more moderately cold the other towards the Pole most immoderately cold and vnapt for conuenient Habitation That this Section of 30 Degrees comprehended betwixt the 60 Degree and the Pole is in a sort habitable is confirmed by the testimony of many Nauigatours especially the English and Hollanders who haue aduentured very farre Northward and haue there found the Earth though not so fruitfull yet furnished with some commodities and peopled with Inhabitants The first 15 Degrees towards the Equatour admit of no great exception containing in their extent Finmarke Bodia in Scandia Noua Zembla Auian Groenland with many other places indifferently discouered where they haue indeed found the aire very cold in regard of this of ours Yet not so Immoderate but that it can at all times agree with the naturall temper of the natiue Inhabitants and at least at some times of the yeere admit a passage for forraigne Nations But the other Region stretching Northward from 75 Degrees to the Pole it selfe howsoeuer it may bee probably thought habitable yet affords it no conuenient meanes and sustenance for mans life in respect of other places neither can the people of this climate inioy any good complection or Temperament of the foure qualities for as much as the cold with them is so predominant that it choaketh and almost extinguisheth the naturall hâat whence Hypocrates saith that they are dryed vp which is a cause of their swarty colour and dwarfish stature which assertion of his can obtaine no credit but of such Northerne people as liue neere the Pole Neuerthelesse wee shall not finde these poore Northerne Nations so destitute altogether of vitall aides but that their wants are in some sort recompensed by the benefit of nature The chiefest comforts in this kinde which wee inioy and they seeme to want are Heat and Light The defect of heat is somewhat mollified 1 By the Sunne staying so long aboue their Horizon as 6 months and by consequence impressing into the Aire a greater degree of heat 2 By the naturall custome of the Inhabitants neuer acquainted with any other temperature both which reasons wee haue formerly alleaged 3 By the industrie of the Inhabitants being taught by necessity to preserue themselues during the Winter-time in Caues Stoues and such like places heated with continuall fires the defect of which prouidence was thought to bee the ruine of Sr Hugh Willoughby intending a search of the North-east passage on the North of Lapland and Russia To recompense the defect of Light Nature hath prouided two wayes 1 In that the Sunne in his Parallell comming neerer and neerer to the Horizon giues them a long time of glimmering light both before his rising and after his setting which may serue them insteed of day 2 For that the Sunne and Starres by reason of a refraâtion in a vaporouâ and foggy Horizon appeâreââo theâ sometime before hee is truly risen which caused the Hollanders Noua Zombla to wonder why they should see the Sunne diuerse dayes before according to their account hee was to rise aboue their Horizon according to Astronomicall grounds which probleme had staggered all the Mathematicians of the world had not the Perspectiue science stept in to giue an answer 3 In the middle Section betwixt 30 and 60 Degrees of Latitude the first 15 are Temperately Hot the other 15 more inclined to Cold. The middle Region partakes a mixture of both extreames towit of the cold Region towards the Pole and the hot towards the Equatour whence it must needs follow that the more any parts of this Tract approach the hot Region vnder the Tropicke and Equatour the more it must partake of Heat yet this heat being mittigated by some cold by reason of the fite of the Sunne it must of necessity bee Temperate and very apt for humane habitation Also this mixture of the cold quality being more extended and increased on the other moity towards the Pole through the vicinity of the cold Region must loose much of the former heat which shall hereafter bee more confirmed out of the naturall constitution and complection of the Inhabitants bearing the true markes of externall cold and internall Heat whereof the one is strengthened by the other For the externall cold if it be not ouer predominant and too much for the internall Heat will by an Antiperistasis keepe in and condensate this heat making it more feruent and vigorous 6 The East and West Hemispheares are bounded and diuided by the Meridian passing by the Canaries and the Molucco Ilands 7 The East Hemispheare reacheth from the Canaries the Moluccoes on this side as the other on the opposite part of the Spheare Wee may here note a great difference betwixt this diuision and the former Foâ the North and South Hemispheares being diuided by the Equatour are parted as it were by Nature it selfe and the Sunnes motion But the diuision of the Globe into East and West wee can ascribe to no other cause then mans Institution yet are the Easterne and the Westerne found to differ many wayes the discouery of which may giue great light to obseruation 1 The Easterne Hemispheare wherein we liue is euery way happier and worthier then the other Westward How farre short the Westerne Hemispheare comes of this of ours many circumstances may declare For first if we compare the Quantity of Land wee shall finde a great disparity For the Westerne Hemispheare containes in it besides the Southerne Continent wherein ourâ also claimes a moity onely America with the Ilands thereunto adioyning whereas the other within this large circuit containes all the other parts of the Earth knowne vnto the Ancients as Europe Asia and Africke with many Ilands to them annexed Moreouer it is probably conjectured by some that America is vsually on our Mappes and Globes especially the more ancient painted and delineated out greater then indeed it is which hath beene ascribed to the fraudulent deceit of the Portugalls heretofore who to the end they might reduce the Molucco Ilands to the East Indies then their owne possession sought as well in their Mapps as relations to curtaile Asia and inlarge America in such sort as the Molucâo Ilands might seeme to fall within the 180 Degrees Eastward wherein they
fed themselues with vnknowne substance and the Castilians with painted shadowes But to let passe the quantity as a matter of lesse moment and lesse questioned a great disparity will bee found in the Quality and Dâsposition For what one commodity almost was euer found in this Continent which is not onely parallelled but surmounted by this our Hemispheare If we compare the Mines of Gold and Siluer wherein consists the wealth and riches of both places our East Indies will easily challenge the superiority If Trees Plants Herbage and Graines let our Physicians and Apothecaries iudge who owe most of the medicinable drugges to India Let our Merchants answer which owe their Spices to Arabia their Wine to Spaine Italy the Mediterranean Graecian and Indian Ilands their Silkes Linnen Cloathing and their furniture almost wholly to Europe If wee compare the multitude and various kindes of Beasts bred and nourished in either place no question but Europe Asia and Africa can shew farre greater Heads of Sheepe Cattle and such like with farre greater variety of kindes then euer were found in this new found Continent If all these failed yet the well tempered disposition of the Europaeans and Asians in respect of this barbarous and vnnurtured place disdaines all comparison where wee shall obserue on the one side a people long since reduced to ciuility instructed as well in liberall sciences as handy-crafts armed with martiall discipline ordered by Lawes and ciuill gouernment bound with a conscience and sense of Religion on the other side a multitude of miserable and wretched nations as farre distant from vs inciuility as place wanting not only Gouernment Arts Religion and such helps but also the desire being senselesse of their owne misery 2 The difference of East and West cannot worke a diuersitie in two places by any diuersity of the Heauens East and West places compared together are either of equall or vnequall Latitude For places of vnequall Latitude no question can bee made but they receaue a greater variety of Temper from the Heauens as wee haue formerly proued but this disparity growes not out of the diuersity of East and West but the distance of North and South But that places alike situate in Latitude cannot vary by any diuersity of the heauens is plaine for as much as all things to them rise and set alike without any diuersity wherefore if any such diuersity bee at any place found we ought not to seeke the cause thereof in the heauens but rather in the condition of the Earth it selfe which no question suffers in diuerse places of the same Latitude a great variety 8 Either Hemispheare may againe Respectiuely be subdiuided into the West or East The West in this our Hemispheare I call that which is neerer the Canary Ilands the East that which lieth towards the Molucco Ilands to which points there are others correspondent in the other Hemispheare 1 Places situate towards the East in the same Latitude are hotter then those which are placed towards the West For the explanation of this Theoreme we are to examine two matters First what probability may induce vs to beleeue the East to bee hotter temper then the West Secondly what should bee the cause of this diuersity in both places being supposed equally affected in respect of the Heauens for confirmation of the former many reasons haue beene alleaged of old and late writers It is agreed on saith Bodin with a ioint consent of the Hebrewes Greeks and Latines that the East is better tempered then the West which hee labours to confirme First out of many speeches of âzekiel Esay and the other Prophetâ where the East seemes to challenge a dignity and prerogatiue aboue the West which betokeneth as he imagines a blessing of the one aboue the other But I dare not venter on this Interpretation without a farther warrant Secondly wee may here produce the testimony of Pliny in his seuenth booke where hee affirmes that by ordinary obseruation it is found that the pestilence commonly is carried from the East into the West which Bodin testifies himselfe to haue found by experience in Galia Narbonensis and many other history seemes to iustifie Amianus a Greeke Author obserues that Seleucia being taken and a certaine porch of the Temple being opened wherein were shut certaine secret mysteries of the Chaldeans that a suddaine contagion arose of incurable diseases which in the time of Marcus and Verus from the farthermost ends of Persia spread it selfe as farre as the Rhâââ and France and filled all the way with heapes of carkasses If at any time the contagion bee obserued to bee carried another way an vniuersall pestilence is feared as according to the histories there happened not long after from Ethiopia towards the North which infested the greatest part of the world A third proofe may bee drawne from the testimony of Aristotle Hippocrates Gallen Ctâsias and other graue Autâors who affirme that all things are bred better and fairer in Asia then in Europe which must needs argue a better temperature To backe which Testimonies we need goe no farther then moderne obseruation Euery Geographer will tell you how farre in fertility Natolia in Asia surmounts Spaine and China vnder the same Latitude exceeds both who knowes not how farre Fez and Morocco on the Westerne Verge of Africa stand inferiour to Egypt a most fruitfull and happy Region And how farre short both these come of India situate in the same Climate An argument of greater heat in the Easterne places may bee the multitude of Gold and Siluer-mines Spices and other such like commodities wherein Asia excells Europe whereas such mettals and commodities as require not so great a measure of heat in their conâoction are rather found in Europe then in Asia whence there seemes to arise a certaine correspondency of the East with the South and the West with the North. The greatest reason of all is taken from the Temper and naturall disposition of the Inhabitants for as much as the European resembling the Northerne men shewes all the Symptomes of inward heat strengthned with externall cold The Asiaticke followes the disposition of the Southerne man whose inward heat is exhausted by externall scorching of the Sunne-beames and therefore partakes more of Chollâr-adust or melancholy But this point wee shall more fully prosecute in due place To shew a cause of this variety is very difficult Those which in wit and learning haue farre exceeded my poore scantling haue herein rather confessed their owne ignorance then aduentured their iudgement It were enough to satisfie an ingenuous minde to beleeue that Almighty God was pleased in the first creation of the world to endow the Easterne part of the Earth with a better temper of the Soyle from whence all the rest deriue their originall which seemes not improbable in that he made Asia the first resting place of man after the Creation the second Seminary of mankinde after the Deluge the onely place of our Sauiours Incarnation In this matter I
wherein euery Body seekes it's owne safety the other Generall wherein all Bodies concurre to the preseruation of the whole The former proceeds from the speciall Forme and Nature of euery Body which is performed by the vnion of all his parts to it selfe this vnion is greatest of all in a Sphericall figure wherein all the extreme parts are equally distant from the Center admitting no Equality of dimension The Generall depends from the Resultancy and Harmony of all the parts whereby is caused an vnion of all the parts with the whole to whose preseruation they are secondarily directed whence ariseth a double figurature of the water the one of a Spheare excentricall with the Earth the other also of a Spheare but concentricke with the Earth whereof this Conicall figure is compounded Why this figure should be more sensible in a small drop or quantity then in the Ocean may bee declared from the same ground well vnderstood because the conuexity of the lesser Spheare excentricke with the Earth is more and the greater is lesse for by how much the lesser is the Spheare the greater will be the conuexity and by how much greater the Spheare the lesser will the bee conuexity or crookednesse Wherefore this crookednesse being in a small measure of water very sensible in a maine Ocean will by sense be hardly distinguished from a right line 8 Of the Figure of the Water wee haue spoken Wee must now speake of the Quality which is two-fold Saltnesse and Thicknesse 1 The Water of the Sea is salt not by Nature but by Accident That the Sea is of a saltish Quality no man hath euer doubted at least in most parts But whether this saltish Quality essentially agrees to the center of the Sea as therein created or else Accidentally brought in I finde no small difference among Philosophers Those which defend the saltishnesse to bee Accidentall are diuided into diuers sorts for some of the old Philosophers imagined that the Earth chased and Heat with the Sunne continually sweats out water whence is made the Sea and therefore should haue a saltish taste because all sweat is of this Quality But this opinion I take to bee no other then a pleasant Allegory of the old Greeke writers who wrote their Philosophy in verse and therefore vsed such allusions as wee shall perhaps find in many other matters poëtically deuised of them yet refuted of Aristotle in good earnest others haue more probably coniectur'd that this saltishnesse was first deriued from the Earth through whose parts the Water being strained is apt to receiue this Quality being primarily in the Earth it selfe as wee see water being wrung through ashes to grow salt but this opinion seemeth of no great soundnesse because the first Riuers and Lakes being drawne out of the Earth altogether and in regard of their small quantity more apt to yeeld and receiue this tincture are notwithstanding deuoide of all such Quality Besides this wee rather find the contrary by experiment That Sea-Water strained through clay will turne fresh as likewise powdred flesh being layed to soake ân salt water will soone turne sweet The former is verified by Baptista Porta of the other euery kitchin-maide on the Sea-side will informe vs. The third opinion is of Aristotle who referres the saltish quality of the Sea-water to the Sunne as the chiefe cause drawing and lifting vp out of the Sea store of exhalations which afterwards mixt with vapours fall downe againe by drops for the Sunne drawes vp the thinner and fresher parts of the water leauing the thicker and lower water to suffer adustion of the Sunne-beames and so consequently to become salt so that the matter of this saltishnesse in the Sea is by an exhalation the Sunne drawing vp to the middle Region of the Aire the fresher parts where thickned they descend in raine leauing the residue of the Sea salt The forme is the straining and concoction which is made by the Sun for the saltishnes is said to arise out of the commixtion of Terrestriall drynesse concurring with moisture ioin'd with adustion of Heat so that two things are chiefly concurring to the Generation of saltishnesse to wit Drouth and Adustion This seemes to bee prooued by instance of Fresh-waters in the kitchin which turne salt being much boyled because the thinner and sweeter vapours of it are drawne vp and dissipated leauing that behind which is thicker and saltish The same would some haue in the Sea seethed as it were and burnt with the Heate which we experimentally find in hot water on the fire But this is excepted against by some because wee find by experience that many salt wells and fountaines arise in diuers places of the Earth which are ingendred in the bowels of the Earth farre remote and separate from this extreame heate and adustion of the Sunne-beames But to this wee may easily answer that such salt springs are either by some violence enforced from the sea by certaine secret cauernes and hollow places of the Earth or else that they receiue their tincture of saltnesse from some salt minerals of the Earth through which they passe Wherefore this opinion of Aristotle I see not yet sufficiently refuted The other opinion concerning this quality of such which would haue it essentiall to the sea water and inbred in the first creation is grounded on two small causes First they say that the sea is salt for the preseruation of the Fishes who would otherwise rot because experience shewes that Fish will soone putrifie without salt but this is thwarted by three reasons First because if fish were in this sort salted in the sea Water the cooke might saue himselfe a labour in salting them againe in his kitchin Also Fishes caught in the sea are oftentimes preserued longer and sweeter lesse needing salt then those which are found in fresh Ponds and Riuers Secondly if this reason should hold currant why should not the Fishes also rot and putâify in fresh Water Thirdly why should fishes couet the fresh Water as wee see by experience in many fishes if in it they should suffer putrefaction which is a great enemy to nature Aboue all what need wee feare this putrefaction of fishes while they are endowed with a liuing soule which is a greater preseruatiue then all the salt in the world or why should wee not doubt the same calamity in all liuing creatures in the land which are as subiect to rottenesse in the Aire as the other on the land The second cause say they Why the sea should bee created salt is Because the sea it selfe should not putrify for as much as wee find by experience that salt is the only thing to resist Putrefaction But here wee may demaund why these Authors should feare Putrefaction in the vast body of the sea rather then in other Waters and Riuers which are neither salt nor come neere the greatnesse of the Ocean whereas Aristotle affirmes in the fift chapter of the 4 booke of his Meteors that if
Scaliger who would not haue a ship to passe it under three moneths out of which he laboured to proue this motion of the sea because the shippe was longer a going then returning The second experiment hee takes from the obseruation of one Iohn Eupolius who willing to passe from the port of S. Blasiââ which is beyond the Cape of good hope in Africke to Melinde towards the Indies could not goe forward by reason that the currents as they call them droue them backe from Melinde to Pate a towne by this side of the Indyes whence hee would conclude that the Water should in this place rather runne from West to East towards the Indies The third experiment is drawne from the testimony of Thomas Lope who when he was to passe from the Cape of good hope towards the Indies testifies that the current of the Water was so violent that it oftentimes leapt into the forepart of the shippe The fourth is from the testimony of Iohannes Guietanus who putting forth from Tidor came into Spaine before the sixteenth moneth This iourney from Tidor to the Cape of good hope containes 55 leagues which makes 1650 miles from this to the Iland of S. Helena by the relation of another pilot are 1400 miles from whence to the Equinoctiall circle are 1600 miles from hence to Spaine by the computation of degrees are not aboue 1520 miles of all which the summe is 7114. Now if wee take out of sixteene moneths 49 dayes wherein the ship against Cape of good hope was carried hither and thither which the marriners call Voltegiairâ and 70 other dayes wherein it stood still in the coasts of Guinea in Melacia there will remaine a whole yeere spent in this iourney which dayes if we diuide by those 7114 miles there will be allotted to euery day no more then 19 miles which euidently shewes that this iourney was most short in respect of the swiftnesse of the Nauigations For if the Ocean should driue his currents to St Hâlâna euen to the west they had ended their iourney in a farre lesser time because those currents as they say carry the ship But this iourney was accomplished very slowly wherefore the currents were not carried from East to West aâ Sâaliger relates Likewise from sundry other experiments hee goes about to proue that it constantly cannot bee obserued to flow from North to South as the said Scaliger affirmes but that it is various according to diuers places Neuerthelesse that the Sea should haue a perpetuall current from the Poles towards the Equatouâ seemes to stand as well with Reason as Experience For all men must needs confesse that the motion of the Heauens vnder the Equatour must bee much swifter then neerer the Poles because the circles of it are greater neere the Equatour Now by how much swifter the motion of the Heauen is by so much more is the Rarefaction of the Aire or other Elementary bodies right vnder it whether it be Aire as it is most probable or Fire as Peripatetickâ imagine But howsoeuer we determine that controuersie it must needs be that the Aire must suffer Rarefaction answerable to the swiftnesse of the motion if not immediatly by the swift motion of the Heauens yet by a consequent by the greater feruour of the Fire which vnder the Equatour must needs be greater and of more force then about the Poles whence the parts of the Aire vnder it must partake more degrees of Heat and by necessary consequence suffer a greater Attenuation 2 The Sun-beames being darted perpendicularly cannot choose but attenuate and rarifie the Aire more vnder the Line then in places more declining to the Poles This ground thus laide these two consectaries will follow 1 That the Aire thus attenuated must needes take vp a largeâ place then it before possessed which cannot be but by inlarging it selfe towards either Pole either North or South whence the parts of the Aire in those places must bee more thickned and condensated 2 That these parts of the Aire carried towards the Poles and meeting with the cold Regions of the North and South must by condensation turne into water and so fall downe in Raine or Snowes whence the Water encreasing neere the Poles perpetually must haue a perpetuall current towards the Equatour where they are againe exhausted in vapours by the Heat of the Sunne in such sort that as well the parts of the Sea betwixt themselues as the waters in regard of the Aire may proportionally maintaine themselues by the mutuall transmutation To this reason some haue added another that the Sunne soiourning in the Southerne Signes is neerer to the Earth then when hee is in the North by the whole Latitude of his excentrice and therefore of greater force to draw the water toward the South But whether this Reason be of any great force I will not spent time to dispute let euery man vse his own iudgment It seemes to me a coniecture not improbable that these currents may bee also varied according to diuers reasons of the yeere as also according to diuers channels by diuers crossings and doublings of the Tides as wee find in diuers places but I will not be too bold in this opinion because I loue not to walke without a guide in these vncertainties 4 Of the Naturall motion of the Sea we haue spoken It remaines we speake somewhat of the Violent The Violent motion is that which is stirred vp by windes The consideration of windes is either absolute or respectiue Absolute I call that wherein the Naturall effects and properties of the winds are handled which properties belong to the naturall Philosopher they being according to Aristotle a Naturall body vnperfectly mixt The Respeâtiue consideration is that wherein the windes are considered in respect to the âerrestriall Globe This Respect againe twofold either in regard of the whole Spheare of the Earth whereof they designe out the points of the Horizon by certaine lines called Rhumbas or else in respect of the Sea to which they giue a motion The former respect we haue handled in our first booke of Geography The later is more proper to this place howsoeuer the wind is an exhalation common as well to the Earth as to the Sea affecting both with some alteration yet because it more neerely affecteth the Sea as his proper Prouince and Dominion and hath for the most part beene most obserued of Sea men and Marriners Wee thought fit to treat of it in this place Of windes some are vncertaine and various which in all places interchangeably supply their turnes keeping no certainty or regularity in times or places others are called set or standing windes because they are obserued to blow at certaine time and places of both which as much as concernes our purpose we shall speake in these two Theoremeâ 1 To some certaine places at certaine times belong certaine windes These windes are by some called Anniuersary because they blow at a certaine season euery yeere of these there
are many kindes mentioned by Nauigatours The first and chiefest is that which they call the Etesian winde which is obserued to blow euery yeere from the Northeast about the rising of Dog-starre and oftentimes continues about 40 dayes This wind driues the Seas from Pontus into the Egean Sea euen so farre as Egypt In the second place may wee range such windes as are called Chelidonian because they arise at the first comming of the Swallowes It blowes sometimes from the Direct-west so that of some it is taken to be the same Sometimes from the North-west so that with others it is accounted among the North windes These Chelidonian winds driuing from the North or North-west still fill all the Mediterranean euen to the coasts of Syria and Palestine and continue in the summer time for many dayes together In the third place may we accompt that winde which Columbus perceiued on the coast of Portugall comming ouer the Atlanticke Ocean which at some times of the yeere was carried higher at other times cleauing as it were to the bosome of the Sea whence hee probably coniectured that it was deriued from some moist land whereon hee aduentured on the first search of America and layed the first worke of that discouery Fourthly to these windes may be reduced those yeerely flowings of the Persian and Indian Seas which the Portugall marriners call Motions The Persian Sea suffers such a kind of motion euery yeere while the Sunne runnes through the Southerne degrees and when he arriues at the end of Sagittarius it is shaken with an extraordinary great tempest On the contrary side the Indian Sea while the Persian is moued is obserued to rest without any great motion and when the Persian is still it suffers great motion especially when the Sunne first enters into Cancer This last motion seemes to be not only deriued from the Prouinciall windes but some other concurrent causes whether these winds are the cause of the currents before spoken of is a very disputable point which I leaue to others to search out Of euery set winde blowing a part of the yeere on the coast of America Acosta treats at large to which hee ascribes the currents forespoken of in this chapter 2 The violence of windes makes the Sea sometimes in some places transcend his ordinary bounds How far the Sea by violence of windes hath trespassed on the land many haue learned to their great losse and calamity It is obserued sometimes in the Venetian shores that the Sea driuen with winds swels so high that ouerflowing all the banks and channels the Inhabitants are enforced to row in boates from house to house Their cesternes are infected with Salt-water and their precious waters in vaults and cellars spoyled The like hath heretofore beene found if we will credit Histories in the Belgicke Sea on which the Northwest windes blow with such vehemency and so long that it brake downe the ordinary banks and in Zeland and Holland swallowed vp many townes with infinite multitudes of people Which seemes to be warranted by a report I haue heard of many trauaylers that in a calme tide the topps of towres and steeples haue beene seene aboue the water Besides these instances we may adde the testimony of Strabo and Aristotle in his booke de munda with diuers other relations of strange inundations whereof wee shall haue more occasion to speake hereafter CHAP. VII Of the Depth Situatio and Termination of the Sea 1 THe Absolute proprieties of the Sea being hitherto passed ouer we will consider next the comparatiue which agree to the Sea no otherwise then in respect or comparison with the Earth which are chiefly threâ 1 Depth 2 Situation 3 Termination 2 The Depth or Profundity is the distance betwixt the Bottome and the Superficies of the Water To find out the Absolute depth of the Sea is a matter of the greatest difficulty and by many thought impossible in respect as well of the immensity of it in many places where no line could as of the various places too many to bee serched out by mans industry yet where absolute science failes there probable coniecture takes place and is best accepted which wee will venture to propose in this oâr Theoreme 1 The ordinary depth of the Sea is commonly answerable to the ordinary hight of the maine land aboue the water and the whirle-pooles and extraordinary depths answer to the hight of the mountaines aboue the ordinary hight of the Earth It hath been a common receiued opinion among ancient Cosmographers that the depth of the Sea being measured by a line and plummet seldome exceeds two or three miles except in some few places neere Sueuian shores and some places about Pontus obserued by Pliny But as Breedwood a worthy late writer obserues this position is not to be vnderstood generally but only of the depth of the Streits or Narrow Seas which were perhaps onely searched by then ancients who dwelt far from the maine Ocean But another accompt is necessarily to be giuen of the maine Ocean This being a matter of great vncertainty wee will follow the conceit of the forenamed Author It hath been shewed in the former Chapter that the most probable opinion concerning the manner of the first separation of the dry land from the waâers would haue the Earth by the Creation to be cut into diuers sluces channels apt to receiue Water Now these materiall pârts of the Earth being taken out to giue way to hollownesse were not vtterly annihilated but by an almighty hand in some other places making by their addition the superficies of the Earth in such places higher then before whence by reason it seemes to bee collecâed that the ordinary Eminency of the hight of the Earth at oâe the Waters should bee answerable to the ordinâry depth of the Sea And if Hills and Mountaines be compared wee may sât them against the Deepes and extraordinary While-pooles and Gulâes And so betwixt the Sea and Land and the parts of the one and the other we may settle a kind of agreement and proportion In a matter of so great vncertainty no man will eâpect an euident domonstraâion 3 The Site is the position of the Sea in respect oâ the Earth Concerning the site of the Sea in respect of the Earth wee must consider the Water and Earth two wayes First Absolutely as they are Elements and solide Bodyes Secondly in respeât of the superfââies of either if we consider the whole solide Body of the Water as that of the Earth we must confesse without all doubt that the Water hath the higher place being lighter then the Earth of which situation wee haue spoken in the first booke for although some parts of the Earth are thought by most as we shall proue to be aboue some parts of the Water yet is this of no sensible proportion in respect of that vast Masse of Earth couched vnder the Waters betwixt them and the Center of the World But the question is here
of the superficies of the Water compared to the superficies the Earth vncouered which should be higher in place of which shall be this Theoreme 1 The superficies of the Sea is some-where higher then the superficies of the Earth some-where lower There hath beene a great dispute among Phylosophers concerning the poâition of the Sea in respect of the Land whether it bee higher or lower some haue beene of an opinion that the Water is higher which opinion was defended by Tully in his Booke De Natura Deorum where hee saith that the Sea being placed aboue the Earth yet couering the place of the Earth is congregated and collected neither redounding nor flowing abroad which afterwards seemes to be seconded by diuers learned Diuines who reducing most things to the supernaturall and first cause diuers times neglected and ouer-slipt the second Hence Saint Basil in his 4 Homily on the Hexameron lest the water saith hee should ouerflow and sâred it selfe out of the place it hath occupied it is commanded to gather it selfe together otherwise what should hinder the Red Sea to ouerâflow all Egypt being lower then it âelfe vnlesse it were manicled with the Creatours power as it were with setters to which also afterwards seeme to subscribe Aquinââ Dionisius and Catharinus with diuers other Diuines who held that the first discouery of the Earth and the gathering together of the Waters in the first Creation was made not by any mutation in the Earth but by a violent accuâulation of the Waters being as it were restrained and bridled supernaturally that they could not transcend certain limits and bounds To confirme this opinion some reasons are alleaged by moderne Philosophers first because it is the ordeâ of all the Elements amongst themselues that the Earth as the heauiest should take the lower place and the water should ascend aboue Secondly because Marriners comming from the maine Ocean to the Land seeme to see the land farre lower then the Water Thirdly they alleage thaâ place of Iâb wheâe God himselfâ professeth that he hath bounded the Waterâ in these words Hitherto shalâ thou come and no farther here shall thy proud waues be stayed But this opinion seemeth very improbable that God in the first institution of Nature should impose a perpâtuall violence vpon Nature sith wââee the Creator in other maâters to vse Nature as his ordinary âeruant and to administer the Regiment of things by âecond causes Neither were the authority of these Diuines so great in thâse Cosmoârâphicall conceipts to ouersway these of the same profession who could more exactly iudge of these matters Neither are these reasons of so greaâ validity as to enforce assent For first whereas St Basill seemes to wonder why the Red Sea should not ouerâlowe all Aegypt if it were not supernâturally bounded he takes that as granted which is the question in controversie that the Water is higher for which he can produce no other reason thân the Testimony of the sense but this is very weak forasmuch as in such matters the sense is oftentimes deceiued as stands well with the grounds of the perspectiues for as weare there taught two Parallels will in the end seeme to concurre so far as the sight can iudge Now the Spheare of the Heauens and the Sphericall segment of the Waters being parallell the one to the other will necessarily seeme to concurre to the end whence it must needs come to passe that that part of the Sea must seeme âo lift it selfe higher ând contrarywise the Heâuens will seeme somewhat lower then indeed they are and this I take to be the true cause why the Sea being seene a great way off may appeare raised aboue the land whereon we stand Another reason may bee giuen from the perpetuall Refraction of the vsuall Lines comming from the Sea to our sight For the Aire neere the Sea being alwayes intermixed with thicke watrish vapours rising vp the Seâ must of necessity be presented in a thicker Medium by a refracted sight whence coÌsequently it must seeme greater higher then indeed it is for as the Opticks teach all things seeme greater higher in a thicker Medium To the other three Reasons brought to coÌfirme this assertion it is no hard thing to answer To the first which would out of the order of the Elements inforce that the Water is higher âhen the Earth I answer as before that if we intirely consider these Elements amongât themselues we must giue the hight to the Water for as much as the greatest part of the Eârth lies ârowned for that aboue beaâes no sensible proportion in respect of the parts of the Earth vncouered But here we compare not the 2 Elements intirely betwixt themselues but the superficies of the Water with the parts of the Earth vncouered habitable which superficies of the earth notwithstanding this reason may bee higher then the Water Secondly where they produce the testimony of the sight for my own part I can warrant no such experience hauing neuer launced far into the deep yet if any such experiment be auouched it may easily bee answered out of opticall Principles that comming out of the maine Ocean towards the land by reason of the sphericall conueâity of the water interposed betweene our sight and the lower part of the land those land parcels must needs seeme lesse as hauing some parts shadowed from our fight whence it must consequently appeare lower as couched almost vnder water From the 3d reason grounded on Scripture whereon our diuines seeme most to depend nothing else is concluded but that Almighty God hath set certaine bounds limits which the Waters should not passe These bounds limits I take not to be supernatural as if the water restrained by such a power should containe it selfe within its own circuit But naturall as clifâs âils within which the waters seems intrenced This opinion therefore being disliked others haue laboured to defend an opposite position that the water is lower then the Earth altogether which opinion beares more constancy with the doctrine of Arist. most of our modern Philosophers The reason wheron this assertion is grounded be chiefly these 1 If the sea were higher then the Earth what should hinder the water of it froÌ flowing âbroad ouerwhelming the Earth sith all men will confesse that the water is by nature disposed to moue downwards to the lower place If they haue recourse to supernatural âouÌds besides that we haue spoken coÌcerning the interpretatioÌâ of such places of Scripture as seeme to fauour this opinioÌ we ânswere as before that it is very improbable that God in the first creation should impose such a perpetuall violence secondly we read that in the vniuersalâ deluge wherein all the world was drowned God brake open the springs of the deep opened the Cataracts of heauen to powre down raine continually many daies together vpon the Earth Of which there had beene no necessity at all had the sea beene heaâed vp in such
sort as they imagine For the only withdrawing of that hand and letting goe of that bridle which gaue the water that restraint would haue beene âufficient to haue ouerwhelmed the whole Earth The second reason is taken from Ilands in the sea which are nothing else but parts of the land raised vp aboue the water Thirdly we find by experience that a ship carried with the like wind is driuen so swiftly from the port into the open sea as from the sea into the port which could not be done if the sea were higher then the land for it must needs be that a ship if it were to be carried to a higher place should be moued slower then if it came from an higher to a lower Fourthly all Riuers runne into the sea from the inner parts of the land which is a most euident signe that the land is higher then the sea for it is agreeable to the nature of the water to flow alwaies to the lower place whence we gather that the sea shore to which the Water is brought froÌ the land must needs be lower otherwise the water in ruÌning thither should not descend but ascend This opinion I hold farr more probable as being backt by reason and the Authority of our best Philosophers yet not altogether exactly true as we shall shew hereafter But Bartholomew KeckermaÌ in a late German writer holding these 2 former opposite opinioÌs as it were in one equall Ballance labours a reconciliation In a diuerse respect saith he it is true that the sea is higher and that it is lower then the Earth It is higher in respect of the shores and borders to which it so comes that sensibly it swells to a Globe or a circumference and so at length in the middle raiseth vp it selfe and obtaines a greater hight then in those parts where in the middle of the sea it declines towards the shore Of which parts the hight sufferâ such a decrease that by how much neerer the shore they shall approach by so much the lower they are in respect of the shore in somuch that touching the shore it selfe it is much lower then the Earth For this opinion our Author pretends a demonstration which hee grounds on the 4 chapter of Aristotle de Caelo in his second booke where hee puts downe these two positions which he calls Hypotheses or suppositions First that the Water no lesse concurrs to the making of a Globe or circle then the Earth for it so descends naturally that it doth sensibly gather it selfe together and makes a swelling as wee see in small dropps cast on the ground Secondly the Water makes a circle which hath the same center with the center of the Earth Out of these grounds would our Keckerman conclude the water in some places to bee higher in other places to bee lower then the Earth And hence proceeds he to giue an answer to their reasons who haue affirmed the Earth to bee higher then the sea What to thinke of the proposition or conclusion we will shew hereafter but in the meane space I hold this conclusion not rightly inferred out of these premises For first whereas he sayth that the water by nature is apt to gaher it selfe round into an orbe or spheare I would demaund whether such a roud body hath the same center with the world or a diuerse center he cannot say that it hath a diuerse center from the center of the Earth First because as we haue demonstrated in our first part the Earth and the Water haue but one center and that the Water is concentricall with the Earth Secondly from the second proposition or ground of his out of Aristotle if he meanes such a sphaericity as hath the same center with the center of the Earth I answer first that he contradicts himselfe because he giues an instance in small dropps cast on the ground whose quantity being so small and conuexity sensible can in no mans iudgment be concentrick to the Earth Secondly out of this ground that the Spheare of the water is concentrick to the Earth hee confutes himselfe for according to the principles of Geometry in a Spheare or circle all the lines drawne from the center to the circumference must be equall Then must all places in the circumference or superficies of a sphericall body be of equall hight from the center and by consequence the sea being such a Sphericall body cannot haue that inequality which Keckerman imagines it to haue wherefore some other demonstation must be sought for this conclusion I will goe no further then that I haue spoken in the former chapter concerning the figure of the Water Where I haue probably shewed it to be conicall and out of this may be easily gathered how it may be higher then the land in some places as of the middle of greater seas where the head of the Cone is lifted higher in other lower as in the narrow streits where the increase of the eminencie is also lesse The grounds and principles of which we haue laied before 1 The sea in respect of the Earth is higher in one place then another Besides the naturall conformity of the Water to a conicall figure as we haue fore-shewed whence one part of the superficies must be graunted to be higher then another wee must needs in the sea acknowledge other accidentall causes which produce an inequality in the parts of the sea The chiefest whereoâ are the Equality of inclination in all parts of the water to motion And the inequality of the channells and shores whence it commeth to passe that the Water of the sea being euery whereof it selfe equally inclined to motion is notwithstanding vnequally receiued into channels so that in some place hauing as it were a large dominion to inuade as in the maine Ocean it falls lower and euener In some other places as streites or narrow seas the water hauing a large entrance from the Ocean but litle or no passage through it must needes swell higher and so one place by accident becomes higher or lower then another Which farther to confirme diuerse instances may be alleaged out of moderne and ancient obseruations For diuerse histories giue testimony that sundry Kings of Aegipt by cutting the Isthmus or narrow neck of land lying betwixt the red sea the Mediterranean laboured to make Africk an Iland open passage from one sea to the other but afterwards they were perswaded to desisâ from their enterprise Some say because they saw the red sea to bee higher then many parts of Aegipt and hereupon feared a generall inundation of all Aegipt if the pâssage were broken open Others haue deliuered that they feared that if the passage from one vnto another were broke open and the red sea hauing a vent that way the red sea would become so shallow that men might wade ouer it and so insteed of making Africk an Iland it would haue been more ioyned to the Continent then before Both opinions consent in this that the waters
carrying the name of the Master of the ship in his discouerie Neither is it much to be doubted but that in that large tract delineated out in the Globe for the South-Indies are coÌtained many Ilands diâided one from the other by streites and narrow Seas which must subtract much from the quantity of the dry land so that of necessity it must be granted that the Northerne Hemispheare takes vp the greatest part of the dry land as the other of the Water Wherefore that place of Esdras where he saith That Almighty God allotted ãâã paris to the Eââth and the ãâ¦ã Water must râther seeme improbable or suffer anotâer interpretation then that of the anciânts For out of credible coniecture drawne ârom the view of the ãâã of the Terrestriââl Globe we shall hardly collect sucâ a propârtâon In this compârison of the Nârthârne Hâmispheâââ with the Southerne we shall find â kind of Harmony betwixt the Heauens and the Earth For as Trauailers report thâ Northerne parts abound with more starres and of greater magnitude then the other toward the South so the Terrestriall Spheare discoâers vnto vs more conâinent greater Ilânds and of more noââ in the North then ân the South 2 The whole Globe of the Earth is inviâoned round from the East and the west with sea dividing âhe North from the South To proue this Theoreme we need goe no farther then the famous voyages of Magellane Drake Candish and Schoâten Whereof the first attempted the first passage through Fretum Magelâanicum and gaue it the name though he could not out-âiue his intended iourny The two next followed the same way and the last found out a new passage through Fretum de Mayre as we haue formerly mentioned Whence we may eaââly deduce this Corollary that the Southerne continent not yet perfectly discouered is either One or which is most probable âany Ilands forasmuch as by sailing round about ât they haue found it euery where compassed round with Sea The like may be coniectured of the other parts of the world on the Northern side whereof we shal speak in this next TheoreÌ 3 It is probable that the Earth is compassed round with the water from North to South I know nothing which hath exercised the witts and induâtrie of the Nauigatours of our age more then the finding out of a passage Northward to Cathay and so to the East-Indies which controuersie as yet remaines altogether vnanswered and awaites the happinesse of some new discouery In which difficult passage wherein many haue spent both their liues and hopes it may seeme enough for me to goe with their Relations suffering my coniecture to flye no farther then their sailes The reasons which I meet with in my sleÌder reading I will examine as I can without partiality and so leaue euery man to bee his owne Iudge First then wee must coÌsider that the voyage to the Indies must be effected by either of these two waies to wit Northward or Southward To beginne with the South it must be performed two waies either by some vnknowne passage through the South-Continent neare the Antartick Pole or neare the Magellane-straits The former is most vncertaine for want of discoueries in those vnknowne and remote parts and if any such passage were found out it were litle aduantage to our Countreymen who haue already a shorter and nearer way yet no instance can bee giuen to the contrary but that this part being clouen as it seemes most probable into many lesser lands may admit of such a passage But in such vncertainties it is as easy to deny as to affirme The second South-passage is found out by Nauigatours which is either by the strait of Magellane it selfe or else through the Straights of Mayre before-mentioned which this Age of ours hath put out of doubt The third passage is South-east by the âape of good hope knowne vnto our East-Indian Merchants and therefore as a matter vnquestioned needs no further examination The onely matter which troubles men in this Agâ is the finding out of a passage Northward to Cathay either by the North-east or North-west wherein we will consider two things 1 Whether it be likely that any such passage should be at all 2 whether this passage should be performed by the North-East or North-West For the former many arguments are vrged which seeme to crosse this opinion of a way to the Indies toward the North-parts For The manifold attempts of the English and Hollanders both towards the North-East and North-West either altogether spent in paine or failing of their ends seemes to giue large testimonie if not of absolute impossibility yet at least of the vnlikely-hoâd of any such discouery as is hoped For what cost or dangers would not almost all the Marriners of our Northerne world vndergoe to find so neare a cut to their golden Indies and if by chance many of them mistooke the right way yet would it seeme improbable that latter Nauigatours corrected by the former errours should not after so many trialls and attempts at length hit the marke This reason sauours of some probability yet comparing this with diuerse matters of the same kinde would seeme to be of no great force For the truth and right being onely one and the same is oppoâed by infinite errours so that it may seeme easier to commit a thousand errours then once to hit the truth Time and long triall beget many Inuentions which afterward seeme most easy insomuch that many men haue afterward laught at their owne mistakes Moreouer for ought I can find in the Relations of most mens discoueries the passage which they sought was too farre Northward towards the Pole where being infesâed with cold Ice and other inconueniences they were enforced to returne thence againe hauing seldome had any oportunity to winter in those parts for want of victualls or extremity of cold A second reason against this North-passage may bee drawne from the innumerable sorts of beasts wherewith America is stored for admitting this passage we must needs grant America to bee an Iland Now it is âertaine that Noah's Arke was the store-house and Seminary not only of mankinde but of all other perfect liuing Creatures Againe it is euident out of the Holy Scriptures that the first Region whereon the Arke was deliuered of her burthen was Asia These grounds layed I would demaund how such a multitude of beasts of all sorts should be transported from Asia to America being supposed to bee an Iland and euery where diuided by the Sea from other parts of the Earth could these silly creatures of their owne accord swimme from one shore to another but alasse the Sea was too large and these beasts too fearefull to aduenture on such a voyage And admit some by Nature had bin fitted to such an action yet were it very strange to imagine the same effect of all being of many kinds What then were they transported in ships But Nauigation in those daies being an infant vnfurnished of the Chart
next winter whence comes a new supply of more raine These Riuers say they in the summer decrease and sometime are dry because of the defect of wâter when the place is not great enough to receiue sufficient water for the whole yeere This opinion seemeth grounded on these reasons First because wee find by experience that Riuers and fountâines are greater and larger in Summer then in Winter Secondly because where there is lesse Raine fewer or no Riuers are seene As in the Desarts of Ethiopia and Africke few or no Riuers are found But in Germany France Brittany and Italy many Riuers shew themselues because they abound in the moisture of the Aire and much fall of Raine Thirdly amongst vs wee see by experience in a hot and dry Summer they are much decreased from their ordinary greatnesse or altogether dryed vp which is a great probability that their originall is from raine This opinion if it bee onely vnderstood of some Riuers may be probable because some currents out of doubt take their originall from great showers or snowes as at the foot of the Alpes and other such places where the snow daily melts and feeds them but if it be generally vnderstood of all Riuers it is manifestly false as may appeare by these reasons First because the Earth no where drinkes vp the raine farther then ten foot deep in the soile for the higher superficies of the earth is either dry and so easily drinkes vp and consumes the Water within that space or else being already moist it receiues it not at all but expells it by Riuers and channells Secondly some mountaines not couered with earth but consisting of hard rocke notwithstanding send forth great store of springs and fountaines which water could not bee receiued in through a hard rocky substance Thirdly because in very dry places certaine pits being digged downe into the ground 2 hundred or three hundred foot deep will discouer many great streames of Water which could not be from the receite of Raine Fourthly it cannot be imagined that so much raine could in a winter fall into one place besides that which the drouth of the earth consumes to nourish so mighty and great Riuers in the Earth as are Riuers running in a perpetuall course Fiftly all Riuers almost take their originall from some mountaines or other as Danubius from the Alpes and Nilus from the mountaines of the Moone in Africke Which places being extraordinary high are more vnapt to receiue water then lower places of the earth To the reasons that they alleadge for their opinions it is not hard to answer That riuers should be greater in winter thâ in the summer the cause may be better giuen Because more moisture of the Aire falls into the brinke from externall Râine or snow in winter then in summer and the ground being moister is able to drinke lesse then at other times which is also the reason why in hotter and dry Countreyes there is not such plenty of Riuers for we deny not but fountaines may sometimes be increased and sometimes diminished by addition of raine-water but that any such vast conâauity should be vnder ground as the receptacle of so much raine and should nourish so many and so great currents The second opinion is of those who thinke that the originall of all riuers and fountaines is from the Sea Which conceit hath beene strongly fortified by many Fathers of the Church and graue Diuines of later time which opinion is chiefly grounded vpon these reasons First because it seemes a most incredible matter that so much vaporous matter should be engendred vnder the earth to feed such a perpetuall course of water Secondly if all Riuers should not be deriued from the sea no reason could bee giuen why so many riuers dayly emptying themselues into the sea the sea should not encrease but continue in the same quantity Thirdly to this purpose they vrge the place of Eccles. 1. All riuers runne into the sea and yet the sea is not full To the place whence they came they returne that they may flow againe But this opinion seemes to bee shaken with a great difficulty For it is a hard matter to conceiue how the water of the sea being by nature heauy lower then the superficies of the earth as we haue demonstrated should ascend into high mountaines out of which we find springs of water oftentimes to arise for either it must ascend Naturally or by Violence not naturally for the foresaid cause because it is a heauy body If violently they must assigne some externall Agent which enforceth it to this violence This difficulty diuerse Authors haue laboured diuerse waies to salue Some amongst whom the chiefe was Theoderet haue fled to a supernaturall cause in Gods providence as though the water in it's own nature heauy should be notwithstanding enforced to the topps of the mountaines But this opinion seemes very improbable because although we cannot deny Gods miraculous and extraordinary working in some things yet all men haue supposed this to be confin'd within the bounds of nature And very strange it were to imagine that almighty God in the first institution of nature should impose a perpetuall violence vpon nature Others as Basill haue thought that the sea-water was driuen vpwards towards the tops of mountaines by reason of certaine spârits enclosed in it Mare as he saith fluitans permeans per cuniculos fistularet angustos âox vbi obliquis aut certe recta in sublime surrectis excursibus se occupatum deprehenderit ab agitante compulsum spiritu superficie terrâ vi disrupta erumpit atque for as emicat The same opinion almost in euery respect is ascribed to Plato in Phedone and Pliny 2 booke .65 chap. Quo inquit spiritu actu terrâ pondere expressa siphonum modo eââcat tantâque a periculo decidendi abest vt in summa quoque et ââtissima exiliat Qua ratione manifestum est quare tot fâuâinum quotidiânâ accessu maria non crescant But this exposition will hardly satisfy him who desires to search farther then obscurity of words For first by admitting spirits as mouers of the waters they seeme to fall into a Platonick opinion before examined of vs concerning the heat of the sea-water Secondly I would demaund whether such spirits in the water to which they ascribe this motion be Naturall Agents or Supernaturall or Violent They cannot be naturall Agents For asmuch as they are supposed to driue and enforce the water against his owne nature For by nature as all men know it is apt to descend whereas here it is supposed to ascend by reason of such spirits They cannot bee violent agents because they bee perpetuall whereas no violent thing can be perpetuall Thomas Aquinas being desirous to shew how much fountaines could ascend out of the sea-water varies in opinion from the former and imagines that the fountaines and Riuer-water is drawne vpwards through the force of Celestiall bodies for the common good
to wit that it might water aswell the mettalls in the bowells of the earth as giue moisture and nourishment to Plants and liuing creatures dwelling thereon And this motion saith he although it be against the particular nature of the water is not altogether violent because elementary bodyes are bound by a certaine law to obey and subiect themselues to the heauenly so that motions impressed by them are not enforced on them by violence For albeit in some sort it thwart the phisicall disposition yet haue all creatures an obâdientiall aptnesse as they terme it to submit themselues to the superiour But this opinion of Thomas Aquinas in my conceit seemes lesse sound then the former For first Thomas had no need at all of these shifts holding some of his other grounds For in another place comparing the hight of the sâa and land one with the other he firmely maintaines that the sea is aboue the land and that it is bounded and restrayned from ouerflowing the dry land by the immediate power of the Creator If this be graunted what need there any ascent or drawing vp of the water by any externall power of the heauenly bodyes sith the remitting of this restraint of waterâ in some places were sufficient to cause such springs and riuers in the earth Secondly his opinion cannot stand without manifest contradiction of himselfe for how can the water being of his owne nature heauy be drawne vpward without violence and thwarting of nature And whereas he alleadges for himselfe an obedientiall aptnesse in the elementary bodies to obey the superiour he shall find very little helpe to maintaine his part For this obedientiall inclination must be either according to the nature of the water or opposite vnto it or at least the one must be sudordinate vnto the other That it is according to the nature of the water he himselfe disclaimes and experience refutes because it naturally descends not ascends if it be opposite as indeed it must needes be he contradicts himselfe If the Physicall and obedientiall inclination be subordinate the one to the other I vrge that subordinate causes can produce no other then subordinate effects for asmuch as the causes and the effects are measured and proportioned the one by the other But wee plainly see that the motions of ascent or descent are diametrally opposed and contrary the one to the other so that they cannot otherwise proceed then from opposite and contrary causes Secondly this obedientiall aptnesse is commonly vnderstood of a creature in respect of his Creator in whose hand it is as to create all things of nothing so to reduce all things againe into nothing But this although it be aboue nature yet no way contradicts nature and easier it is to be imagined that the Creator should annihilate any Creature then letting it remaine in his own Nature giue it a motion against nature Moreouer ãâã we duly coÌsider nature in her course we shall find that the lower elementall Bodies onely concurre to the conseruation of the whole and of one another by following their own priuate inclination for the whole is nothing else then an orderly concent and harmony of all the parts from whose mutuall cooperation it receiues his perfection so that where any part failes in his owne office the whole must needs sustain dammage Thirdly it will hardly be resolued by any of this opinion by what meanes or instruments the heauenly or superiour Bodies can haue such an operatiue power ouer the water as to lift it vpward from his owne Center for neither can this thing be performed by motion hight or any InflueÌce which are the three meanes of operation of celestiall Bodies on elementary I will not stand to proue every particular in this matter But onely would haue my aduersary to answere and giue an instance and speciality Another opinion there is of Aristotle followed by all Peripaâeticks who in his first booke of Meteors and 13 Chapter goes about to proue and maintaine that all Springs and Wells in the land are produced and generated in the bowells of the Earth by any vapours resolued into water which opinion he labours âo strengthen in this manner It is certain saith he that the Earth hath within it much aire because Nature will no-where admit a vacuity But the Earth hath not onely many open but a great many secret holes and conâauities which cannot otherwise be filled then with aire Moreouer a great part of the Earth and other vapours therein contained and stirred vp by the force of the Starres are conuerted into Aire and that aswell the Aire included in the bowells of the Earth as vapours there also bred are perpetually conuerted into water This reason may seeme to perswade because it followes of necessity that the coldnesse of the Earth expelling their heat they should harden condensate be disposed at last to the generation of water whence also the cause ãâã giuen of the generation of water in the middle Region of the Aire although it be not alwaies thence bred aswell for other causes as for that the Aire by the heat of the Sunne is sometimes too hot and the vapours are too much attenuated and ratified so that the matter of Raine cannot be alwaies supplyed This would Aristotle haue to bee the originall of all Springs and Fountaines So that the water should first distill as it were drop by drop out of this vapourous matter and this moist matter so collected and drawne together should afterwardâ breake forth out of the ground and so cause such fountaines Some reasons are also produced to proue this assertion for say the Authors of this opinion If the Springs and Riuerâ should proceed from any other cause then they should take their beginning from Raine-water which is before refuted or from the Sea by certain secreâ passages which opinion seemes too weake to endure examination First this seemes an argument that the Sea-water is commonly Salt but the water of Springs and Riuers is for the most sweet and fresh and therefore such Springs are not deriued from the Sea Secondly because we neuer find the Sea to be emptied which must needes be if it should giue beginnings to all such currents of water in the Earth Thirdly we haue already shewed that the superficies of the Earth is higher then the Water so that it cannot be conceiued how riuers should be deriued from the Sea To this opinion howsoeuer seeming probable and supported with the name and authority of so great a Philosopher I dare not wholly assent forasmuch as it thwarts the Testimony of holy Scripture and cannot otherwise stand with reason because it cannot well be imagined how so many vapours and so continually should be ingendred in the bowels of the earth to nourish so many and so great currents as we see springing out of the Earth for a very great quantity or portion of Aire being condensated and made Water will become but as a little drop The Aire according
to Aristotles grounds being by a Tenne-fold proportion thinner then the Water Moreouer the Aire in these places seated in the superficies of the Earth and higher then other places and by consequent neerer the Sun should rather be rarified and thickned because heat is the greatest cause of rarefaction as we shall shew hereafter for the reasons alleaged for these opinions they are drawne only from the weaknes of their assertion which hold that Fountaines are deriued either from Raine water or from the Sea both which wee haue examined briefly and whereof wee shall speake hereafter The Schoole of Conimbra not vtterly reiecting all the former opinions haue vndertakeÌ to forgoe an opinion as it were partaking of all pretending to say something more when indeed they produce nothing besides the former Their assertion they haue set downe in eight propositions which I will faithfully set downe and then censure The first is that in subterranean places vnder the superficies of the earth is hid a great quantity of water distinguished into Riuers Ponds and Lakes This they proue from the daily experiment of such as diggs diuerse wells and deâpe trenches in the Earth Who many times vnder the Earth find not only many riuers and ponds but many times happen vpon so great abundance of Water that they can neither find the bottome or bounds thereof To this they add an experiment of Philip and Macedon recorded by Asclepiadorââ who caused many men expert in digging of mettalls to be let downe into an old and forsaken mine to search out the veines of mettalls to see whether the couetousnesse of antiquity had left any thing to posterity These men vsing great lights are said to haue found nothing there but great and vast riuers and great receptacles of waters This they also labour to confirme by many and suddaine eruptions and breaking out of waters out of the earth whereof we shall haue occasion to speake more hereafter This first position howsoeuer in it selfe true enough seemes litle to the purpose but we will proceed to the second which is this That when God in the third day of the Creation seperated the waters into one place and hid it in the cauerns and secret receptacles of the earth at the same time dispersed into diuerse parts of the earth a great quantity of water by diuerse occult passages and channels whence comes that great masse of waters vnder the earth which is before mentioned This they seeme to perswade by reason for say they as the wise Architect of all for mans sake and the rest of liuing creatures for the vse of man hath discouered the dry land by restrayning all the waters into one place so it was most necessary that he should inwardly water the earth by which stones mettalls mineralls other such things in the bowells of the Earth should in time grow and increase Also that some water should from hence breake vp out of the Earth for diuerse causes hereafter specified Finally as Philo-Iudaeus affirmes for the continuation of the parts of the earth which otherwise might by drouth be seperated and diuided The third proposition grounded on the two former is this That many riuers and fountaines in diuerse places by Gods decree arise out of the earth by quantities of waters hid in the cauernes of the earth which they proue by reasons drawne from the vtility of such fountaines and riuers springing out of the earth Fourthly they defend that all fountaines and currents were not so made and appointed in the first Creation because Histories experience teach vs that many haue broken out of the ground afterwards whereof we shall haue occasion to speake hereafter Fiâtly they affirme that if the opinion of Aristotle be vnderstood of all fountaines and flouds it cannot be approued for asmuch as it seemes sufficiently declared in the third opinion how such riuers might be generated without such vapours as also because many arguments and places of holy Scriptures seeme to proue the contrary As also the foure Riuers of Paradice created in the beginning of the world cannot bee guessed to draw their originall from such vapours as Aristotle imagines to which accord many ancient Fathers vpon these places recited in that opinion whereas all riuers are thought to fetch their originall from the sea Sixtly for the credit of their master Aristotle they are constrained to auerre that although his opinion cannot be verified of all riuers and fountaines of the earth yet if it be restrayned to some such perpetuall currents it may haue probability For asmuch aswe are to beleeue that many such large cauerns and holes are hid vnder the earth in which no small quantity of vapours may be ingeÌdred This probability is greater in those riuers which are lesser in quantity then the greater for the reasons before shewed Seuenthly they affirme that it is absolutely to be beleeued that not only great riuers and currents are deriued from subterranean waters which haue originall from the sea but also lesse fountaines and springs for the most part challenge the same beginning whence they labour to proue by this reason that in very few places of the earth there is found so perpetuall and apt disposition of vapours vnder the ground as to nourish so many and so great currents of water Eightly say they it cannot be denied but that Waters aswell proceeding from raine as that which is generated of vapours in the cauerns of the earth sometimes may flow into fountaines and riuers What concernes Torrents bred of raine they haue recourse to the reasons of the first opinion for others they make it also probable because we see by experience that Vapours and Aire compassed about with earth are by reason of the cold enuironing it turned into water This is indeed the opinion of those subtill Iesuits of Conimbra wherein although they giue a flourish as if they would defend their master Aristotle on whom they comment yet meane they nothing lesse but indeed warily sticke to the other of the Diuines and ancient Fathers of the Church touching the deriuation of all ãâã from the sea Which opinion howsoeuer in it selfe most probable they know not how to manage and defend against opposition For whereas they suppose that in the first sepââtion of the sea from the dry-land a great quantity of water was dispersed into diuerse hollow places cauerns of the earth from whence Riuers are deriued and made they haue not in any probable manner expressed how this water should perpetually flow and feed so many great currents For first I would aske of these learned fathers whether the water inclosed in the bowells of the earth whence these springs are fed be higher or lower then the fountaines arising out of them If it be higher whether the Riuers are continually nourished on the old store or a new supply be daily made That so great riuers should bee maintained so many thousand yeares out of the old prouision is most improbable because the
mountaines out of which such springs arise cannot be capable of so great a concauity neither can it otherwise be imagined but that many great riuers since the beginning had either bin absolutely dried vp or at least diminished in their quantity their Cisterns being daily more and more emptied out into their channells If they graunt that of this water a fresh supply be made it must be either from the sea or from vapours in the earth It cannot bee from the sea because as wee haue proued before the sea is lower then the fountaines where springs breake out of the Earth forasmuch as we see them runne to the sea from their fountaines as from a higher to a lower place That this supply of water in the depth of the earth should bee made by vapours it is also improbable in their opinion who cannot imagine so many ingendred in one place as to feed so great currents as also because many riuers were apparant in the first creation as the foure great currents of Paradice This obiection hath so farre driuen the Iesuits to their shifts as that they haue bin enforced to haue recourse to the opinion of Thomas Aquinas who dreames that the waters are enforced vpwardâ by the influence of the heauens which they a litle before âast by and we haue before sufficiently refuted And whereas in the subsequent clause they labour to salue this place of Ecclesiastes That all Riuers come from the sea and returne thither againe They are constrained to leaue their old grounds and âunne backe to Aristotle who holds that all riuers had their originall from vapours drawne vp by the sunne whereof the sea is the chiefe mother It will bee expected at least that we should disclose our owne opinion hauing censured the former which we will briefly doe as neere as probability can lead vs submitting also to those which are more iudicious First therefore we will suppose as probable that the earth is in a manner compassed round about with water for howsoeuer the places more eminent and separated for our habitation be dry land yet not farre vnder the superficies of the earth whereon we tread is the earth sprinkled round with water for which we may draw an argument aswell froÌ the Porous and spongy nature of the Earth which is apt to drinke in the water of the sea in the same hight because it is the nature of the water to diffuse it selfe abroad as also from experience of Minors and such as digg deepe into the earth who in most parts find water 2ly this water so enuironing the earth were it left to it's own naturall situation without an externall Agent would lift his superficies no higher then the superficies of the sea because being as one with the sea it will challenge the same Sphericall superficies Now to know how the water thus naturally settled is notwihtstanding lifted vp higher to become the source of Springs we must vnderstand that it comes to passe not onely by the heat of the sunne and starres piercing farte vnder the superficies of the earth according to the circle we haue allotted to the water But also to subterranean fires hid in the bowells of the earth in many places which are caused by sulphurous matter set on fire by the sunne or some other accident whether this sulphurous matter be pure Brimstone or Bitumen or a mine of sea-coale as some haue thought of our Baâhâs in England I will not curiously here dispute being of it selfe too large a subiect for me in this place to handle This heat may be conceiued to concur to the production of fountaines 2 manner of waies First by drawing vp diuerse moist vapours which by reason of the thicknesse and solidity of the earth being not presently euaporated out of the superficies of the earth are enforced to disperse themselues through diuerse crooked passages where condensated by cold distilling againe into drops of water they breake out through some places of the earth and so become a fountaine A second way which may also seeme probable is that the Heat peircing the Subterranean Water though not able to dissolue much of it into vapours for the solidity of the earth may notwithstanding through his heat Rarifie and attenuate these waters These waters then rarified must needs seeke a greater place wherein they may be contained sith Rarefaction is nothing else but the extension of a body to a greater place then before it occupied Hence is the Water enforced to enlarge his limits This enlargement or the place cannot be downeward towards the Center because all that place was supposed to be filled vp as farre as the Earth could drinke it Wherefore it must needs extend it's limits sidewise or vpwards By the former of which it may find a passage to breake forth on the superficies of the ground By the latter it may be lifted high enough to runne from the side of a higher mountaine towards the Sea-shore If any man should aske why this Rarefaction swelling of the Water is not so sensible in the open Ocean I answere that the sea is also much rarified lifted vp by reason of the sunnes heate which whether it be the cause of ebbing and flowing of the sea in part we haue before disputed Secondly that the sea-water should not rise so high as other water vnder the ground these reasons may be giuen First that the Ocean hath a larger channell to runne abroad on either side and so this swelling must of necessity become more insensible whereas the Waters in cauerns concauities of the Earth being oftentimes straightly bounded on either side by the narrownesse of the channell must of necessity take vp the more in hight and eminency 2 the Sunne heauenly bodies and subterranean fires worke more strongly and effectually on the open nakednes of the sea then on the waters hid vnder the ground which are more shrowded from such an extreame heat Whence it comes to passe that many parts of the sea are dissolued into vapours and so consumed and dispelled by the same Whereas this heat in the Subterranean waters being more moderatly impressed doeth not dissolue into vapours and consume so great a quantity of water but being of a middle temper rather rarifies it to the vse forenamed This seemes the more probable because spring water rising commonly in the sides of mountaines is for the most part thinner then the Sea-water as experience dayly warrants Thirdly the subterranean vapours are sooner dissolued into dropps of water by reason of the cold they must necessarily meete within their passage through the Earth whereas the other from the Sea meet with no such encounter till they arriue at the Middle-Region of the Aire whence they returne againe in showres of Raine 2 All riuers and Fountaines were not from the beginning For the confirmation of this assertion many histories may be produced It is reported that in Caria neere about the city Lorus there arose out of the Earth
suddenly a great floud of Water bringing out with it a great quantity of creatures and fishes of which being fatted vnder the Earth whosoeuer chanced to eat dyed presently The like is reported that at the time of the Mithridatick warre at a certaine city of Phrygia named Apamea there sprang vp out of the ground many new Lakes Fountaines Brookes and that one riuer sprang vp very salt which brought vp with it a great quantity of Oisters and other Sea-fishes although the city Apamea bee very farre off from the Sea This is reported by Nicolaus Damascene Also Cardinall Contarenus testifies in the second booke of Elements that in a cleare day being in Valentia in Spaine there happened a very great inundation of water breaking out of the Earth which being carried towards the City had well neere turned it into the Sea had not the gates bin shut and dammes well ordered Why this sudden change should sometimes happen many reasons may be produced The first reason may be because of some sudaine ruine or falling downe of some parts of the Earth whereby the courses of the riuers being one way stopped must needs seeke out a passage some other way This sometimes happens in great Earth-quakes as we may reade in Theophrastus that in the mountaine Coricus after an Earth-quake many new springs and fountaines discouered themselues Another reason not much vnlike the former is giuen from the Hardnes of the Earth which oftentimes stopping and hindering the naturall course of the water enforceth it to seek a new passage Hence the foresaid Theophrastus was induced to belieue that in a City of Crete the fountaines were stopped vp because the Inhabitants betoke themselues to another place so that the soile was not so much shooke and moued as before A third reason may be the wasting or cutting downe of great woods on the Earth for it is the nature of the Trees and plants to suck to themselues the Moisture of the ground into one place But these trees cut downe or remoued the waters course must needes be altered 3 Many Riuers are for a great space of land swallowed vp of the Earth whereof some after a certaine distance rise againe This is confirmed by many Historicall instances as of the riuer Timanus in the prouince of Aquilia of Erasenus in Argolica Padus in the Alpes more remarkeable is that of the river Guadiaua in Spaine which runneth vnder the ground for the space of 13 leagues and neere to a towne called Villa Horta breakes vp againe the like is recorded of Eurotaâ in Arcadia which is said to breake forth of the ground in the Prouince of Lacedamon So Cadmus Asia is swallowed vp in a hole of the ground not farre from Laodicea So Piraââs in Catonia Licus in Libanon Orontes in Syria Other riuers are thought to haue found a secret passage vnder the sea from one Region to another As a riuer hauing his fountaine in the mountaine Meiaâes which being conuayed in a blind Channell vnder the middle of the sea comes forth againe at the port of Pânormus so others report of Alpheus which being drowned vnderground nere the Peloponnesian shore takes a large iourny vnder the Sea till it arriue at Syracuse where it ends in Arethuse which brings forth they say such things as are cast into Alpheus which is much like that which is spoken of the Well of Aesculapius in Athens wherein if any thing were cast they were rendred againe in Phalericus But this last I rather hold as a poeticall fiction then a true History Some riuers there are which are not wholly drowned in the earth but for some part aâ a part of the Rhânâ which is hid about foure thousand paces from the city Cauba and shewes it selfe again before it come to Bonna in like manner a part of Danuâius which hides it selfe about Greina a Towne of Panonia superiâr some riuers there are againe which are not drunke vp immediatly of the earth but of certaine great Lakes into which they fall as Iordan of the Lake Asphaltites some lakes againe hauing swallowed vp riuers as it were vomit them forth againe as Rubresius casts out Araâe in the Prouince of Narbon and so Lemanus the riuer Rhodanus in the same Prouince also in Italy Lorus cast out Abdua Eupilus Lambre Fucinus Marcia 4 Riuers for the most part rise out of great Mountaines and at last by diuerse or one Inlet are disburthened into the sea The first part of this proposition is manifest enough out of diuerse instances of the greatest riuers in the world for all Geographers will giue you to vnderstand that the riuer Indus in Iâdia is deriued from the mountaine Caâcasus Tanais from the Riphaean mountaines in Sarmaâia Araxis from Panardes in Armenia Po from the Vesusian Hills in Liguria Danubius from Arnobia in Germany Exesus in Norico from the mountaines Elachia Isara from the ridge of the Alpes toward France and Durias toward Italy from thence So from the Herminian mountâines in Portugall are deriued three great Riuers So Nilus in Africk from the mountaines of the Moone These riuers thus rising are of diuerse kinds for some haue visible apparant springs and fountaines others are deriued from Lakes out of which they runne As Alba in Prusia out of Elbinga Medoarus Oxus out of two lakes of the same names neere the Alpes Rindacus from Artinia a poole besides Melitopolis The reason why riuers should be ingendred in mountaines and such high places may be giuen because they are made as we shewed before by the heat of the sunne starres and subterranean fires rarifying and attenuating the Waters And this operation of the sunne in higher places must needes be more effectuall then in lower Now for the second part it is plaine to proue that all riuers runne into the sea either making a passage from their fountaines on the land toward the sea shore as Nilus and Danubius with other riuers or by disburthening themselues into greater riuers wherein they are conuaied into the sea as the 60 great Nauigable riuers which empty themselues into Danubius or at least are swallowed vp of the Earth and so reduced againe to their first mother which we may imagin of the riuers forespoken of drunk vp of the Earth Although all riuers as we shewed fall into the sea yet not all in one the selfesame fashion if we respect their passage on the laÌd For some are caried into the sea by one oâtiuÌ or mouth whereof we haue two notable examples the first of a great riuer in Brasill called Rio de La Plate which is caried into the sea by a mouth of 40 leagues with such violence that the Marriners may âhence draw fresh water before they come within sight of land The other not much vnlike is that which runnes by the kingdome of Congo Angolo which is six and thirty thousand paces broad where it enters into the sea and is caried with such a force that it seuers the
as often it doth to be set on fire for hauing water neare it it may soone be quenched whereas many little springs cannot afford so much water as would suffice for such a purpose Lastly amongst other reasons wee cannot forget the pleasantnes of faire riuers which are no small ornaments to a City and delights to the eye of the Inhabitants 8 Thus much for riuers A Lake is a collection of perpetuall waters nourished with fresh springs and hauing of it selfe no passage forth In this definition of a Lake wee haue comprized these three things First that it is a collection of constant and perpetuall waters Secondly that it is continually fed cherished with fresh springs rising vp from the bottome Thirdly that it finds no passage forth into the sea or otherwise By the two first it is distinguished from a great Pond or standing poole called in Latin Stagnum For asmuch as a standing poole being commonly âed with raine water and hauing no springs from the Earth whereby it may bee long nourished is often times by the heat of the sunne exhausting it out by vapours either extraordinarily diminished or altogether dried vp Whereas in a Lake by reason of fresh springs the Water is perpetuall and remaineth sweet and holsome except by some other accidents it change it's disposition For the latter clause that a lake finds no passage forth it may bee two waies vnderstood either of a visible or apparant passage outwardly through the superficies of the Earth to the sea or of a secret and subterranean passage vnder ground The former may againe be vnderstood of a passage forth immediatly by it selfe or mediatly by some riuer whereas wee haue said that it finds no entrance into the sea we ought to vnderstand it that immediately it is not to be accompted a continuate part conioyned with the sea neuerthelesse it may be disburthened into the sea by some riuers running out of it as some would haue the great riuer Tanais not to haue his head or fountaine in the Riphaean mountains as the ancients haue taught but in a certaine Lake not faâre from the city Tulla so Volga Edill draw their originall from a lake not farre from Moscow with many others of like nature What to thinke of the subterranean intercourse betwixt Lakes and the sea wee will shew in this Theoreme 1 It is probable that most Lakes haue some secret intercourse with the sea vnder ground For the confirmation of this point there want not reasons The first reason may be drawne from the quantity of Water in most Lakes which is found without any great sensible difference to remaine the same without any diminution or encrease whereas if the water bound in with these limits should haue no passage out any way it should encrease to such greatnes that it would easily ouerwhelme the bankes To giue a few instances we find that diuerse very vast riuers exhaust themselues into the Caspian Lake as Volga and Edill which receiuing into them many notable riuers are at last themselues swallowed vp in the said lake In like manner the Lake of Palestine called the dead sea is known to receiue into it besides diuerse lesser riuers the great and famous riuer Iordan Heere would I demaund whether these great riuers perpetually casting themselues into a Lake giue an encrease to the former quantity or not if they should augment the water they would by consequence alter the bounds But this is contradicted by experience If the quantity of the water suffers no encrease it must needs follow then that the water should some other way be diminished as it is heere encreased This must either be by the sunne drawing vp some parts of it by vapours or by some cauerns of the Earth drinking vp some parts of it Or lastly by a subterranean passage into the sea Concerning the former it cannot bee denied but much Water is drawne vp into vapours by the heat of the sun yet that these vapours counteruaile the water perpetually brought in is in my conceit very improbable for against this quantity of water extracted out this way of evaporation I will oppose these three things which shal perswade a reasonable man that the water receiued in shall farre surpasse the vapours exhaled from it First that the vapours are stirred vp in the day time when the sunne is lifted aboue the Horizon at such a height that his heat is somewhat strengthned wheras all these watry currents neuer intermitting their vsuall course neuer cease to runne by day or night wherein is seen a double aduantage of the riuers in respect of the watry exhalation Secondly of these watry vapours so drawne out a great part must at diuerse times returne back or at least so much otherwise by rayny showres dropped downe into this Lake Thirdly these watry parts thus rarified and attenuated in vapour should putting this supposition in equality diffuse themselues abroad in such extraordinary manner that all the Regions round about should in all likely-hood suffer a great inconueniency of foggy exhalations On the other side it is very vnlikely that it should bee receiued into empty caverns of the Earth without passage into the sea or some great riuer disburthening it selfe thereunto For I would demaund whether these cauerns were euer filled with water or not if they haue been filled how could they receiue more water sith the filling of any place supposeth it to be first empty That they were neuer yet filled with Water is farre more vnreasonable that any man should imagine any cauerne of the Earth to bee so vast with so great currents of Water perpetually running in almost six thousand yeares should not replenish especially considering the bowells of the Earth not farre from the vpper face to be every where spread with Water round which might also helpe to this purpose Wherefore it cannot well bee imagined but that euery such great lake hath some vent or passage vnto the sea either by some secret subterranean channell or at least by some great riuer issuing out of it and so running into the Ocean Another reason may be taken from the currents of some seas which are by good reason ascribed to this cause For it is obserued by skilfull Nauigatours that the Water is carried by a very stiffe course from Propontis and the black sea into the Aegaean and from thence into the Mediterranean The originall of which current mây with good coniecture be found out in the Caspian which by some secret passage vnder ground disburthening it selfe into the black sea causeth it to enforce his owne waters farther of for the receit of the other Thirdly that these subterranean passages are not vnlikely may be confirmed by many riuers which are swallowed vp some wholly some for âome place only of the Earth whereof we haue spoken before Also it may seeme likely by the Water spread round about the Earth which through the bowells of it find a passage from the sea bearing as
it seemes the same leuell This may for ought wee know be the originall of all Lakes and this also may bee a way or meanes whereby they empty and disburthen themselues being ouercharged with too much Water CHAP. X. Of Mountaines Valleyes Plaine Regions Woods and Champian Countryes 1 THe second variation in the figurature of the Earth is expressed in Mountaines Valleyes and Plaine Countreyes A Mountaine is a quantity of Earth heaped aboue the ordinary height of the land A Valley is the depth of the Earth between two Mountaines A plain is a space of Earth where there is found no notable rising or falling of the ground The distinction of the Earth according to it's externall figurature into Mountaines Valleyes and Plaines is very naturall because euery space or parcell of land in respect of the places neere or about it must either rise higher or fall lower or at least must beare an equality where the former is admitted there must needs be Mountaines swelling higher then the ordinary leuell of the Earth where the second is found the ground is indented with Valleyes and concauities where the third is to be seene there must be Plaines Here is to be noted that howsoeuer Plaines absolutely considered haue a sphericall surface for the most part especially if the Plaines be large because they concurre as circular segments to make vp the Spheare of the Earth yet they may be called Plaines because they so appeare to our sense which in so short a distance cannot perceiue the Sphericall figurature of the Earth Some Gramarians here curiously distinguish betweene mons or a Mountaine and Collis or a Hillock which is a little hill also betwixt Vallis which they would haue to be a low parcell of ground betwixt two mountaines and Conuallis which is a lower space only bounded on one part by a mountaine which Varro would haue to bee deriued from Cauata vallis but these Grammatical scruples are of small vse to such as spend themselues on greater matters because the ordinary vsual manner of speech euen amongst the vulgar will shut out all mistakes in this kind what deserues the study of â Topographer concerning this shall be expressed in these Theoremes 1 Mountaines Valleyes and Plaines were created in the Earth from the beginning and few made by the violence of the Deluge It hath bin the opinion of some aswell Diuines as Philosophers that the violence of the Deluge hath extraordinarily altered defaced the Earth being the chiefe cause of Mountaines Valleyes therein but this opinion is contradicted by many reasons first out of the Text it selfe of Genesis where it is said that the water of the flood ouer-flowed by 15 Cubits the highest Mountaines to which may be added the Testimony of Damascenus who reports that in the time of the Deluge many resorted to a high mountaine of Armenia called Baris where they saued themselues which last clause although it expresly contradicts the holy Scriptures which speake but of Eight Persons that were saued yet it is a sufficient testimony to proue that such Mountaines were before the Flood and therefore not made by it Secondly had there followed so great an alteration of the Earth to cause mountaines as some imagine then should not the same places after the flood retain their names bounds and descriptions which they did before the flood the contrary whereof we find in that Moses writing of Paradice other places about 850 yeares after the flood was most exact in setting down the Names Limits and whole description of them as though they had remained to be seene in his dayes Thirdly had the violence of the waters beene so great as to raise vp mountaines in the Earth it would without doubt haue bin forceable enough to haue turned Riuers and haue changed them from one place to another cast downe and demolished the greatest Cities and buildings throwne downe and ouer-whelmed all plants and vegetalls on the Earth and as it were haue buried from all succeeding time the memories of the former ages so that little or nothing should appeare but this may bee proued otherwiâe by sundry Instances First that the Riuers haue still remained the same may appeare out of the place alleaged of Genesis where Moses speaking of the site of Paradice sets downe all the riuers of it exactly especially Tigris Euphrates out of the which we may easily gather in what longitude and latitude it stood had any thing bin altered in the course of the riuers it is likely Moses would haue specified it in this Historie that after ages looking for these places might not mistake or suspect the truth of his Relations Secondly that it hath not extinguished all Buildings and ancient monuments of the fathers before the flood may probably be coniectured by the testimony of Iosephus a writer of good credit who affirmeth that he saw one of the pillars erected by Seth the second from Adam which pillars were set vp aboue 1426 yeares before the flood accompting Seth to bee a hundred yeares old at the erection of them and Iosephus himselfe to haue liued some 40 or 50 yeares after Christ Now although we are not bound to credit all thar he relates yet may we trust him concerning such matters as happened in his time and that this pillar was set vp by Seth was neuer yet called in question but warranted by antiquity the like is recorded by Berosus of the Citty of Enoch that it was not demolished by the flood but remained many yeares after the ruines whereof as Annius in his commentary reports were to be seene in his time who liued in the time of Ferdinand and Isabella of Castile It is also reported by Pomponius Mela that the Citty of Ioppa was built before the flood of which Cepha was King whose name with his brother Phineus together with the grounds and principles of their religion were found grauen vpon Altars of stone All which are sufficient to proue the violence of the Waters not to haue bin so great to demolish all mountaines and monuments Moreouer it may be plainly proued out of the text that the Waters suffered the plants and trees of the Earth to grow and remaine as they did before because it is said that when Noah the second time sent out the Doue she returned with an oliue branch in her mouth which no doubt she had plucked from the trees after the trees were vncouered for otherwise she might the first time haue found it floating on the Waters a manifest proof that the trees were not torne vp by the roots or turned topsy turuy but remained fixed in the Earth as they did before Fourthly had the water suffered this extreame violent motion as whereby it might make many mountaines I aske whence this motion should come it could not bee from the naturall motion of the water which is to moue downward for what descent of waters can bee in a Sphericall round body where no part is higher or lower That
there was any wind to driue and enrage the Waters is very vnlikely because it is said that God caused a wind to passe vpon the Earth and the Waters ceased so that there was no wind till the Waters sanke Lastly wee may argue from a finall cause that this inequality in the superficies of the Earth was before the flood because it is certaine that all things were in as good or better estate then now with vs and that the Earth was adorned with all varieties of creatures as well for profit as delectation Now it is found by experience that all commodities agree not to all places but some are found in the mountaines at all sorts of mettalls mineralls Plants Vegetalls for the most part prosper best in the vallies and plaines Also that the mountaines serue for a shelter to guard the vallies from the rigor of cold and wind both for the better conueniencie of mans life and encrease of fruits for the vse of man Whence we may conclude that it is farre more probable that the great Mountaines were so created in the beginning and not made by the flood yet can wee not deny but that some small Hillockes might be made by the flood and afterward by the industrie of man which haue raised great fortresses and bulworks which afterward decaied were made great heaps of Earth as we see many in this land but this is of small note not worthy consideration in comparison of the great mountaines of the Earth whereof we especially treat 2 The perpendicular height of the highest mountaines seldome exceeds 10 furlong This proposition depends on the authority of Eratosthenes a famous Mathematician who being employed by his King found out by Dioptrick Instruments the height of the highest mountaines not to exceed the quantity aboue specified Cleomedes extends this a little farther and would haue some mountaines to attaine the height of 15 furlongs of which height he would haue an high rock in Bactriana called by Strabo 11 libro Sisimitrae Petra But yet if we credit Pliny on Dicaearchââ who measured the Mountain Pelion accoÌpted the highest he found it not to exceed 1250 paces which make 10 furlongs and Solinus relates the mountaines of Thessaly to be higher then else-where are to bee found But this opinion howsoeuer supported by the authority of the ancient and famous Mathematicians hath been called in question as well by moderne as ancient writers Many matters are miraculously or rather fabulously spoken of the Mountaine Athos in Macedonia of Cassius in Syria and another of the same name in Arabia of the mountaine Caucasus and others which Histories notwithstanding are related by no meaner Authors then Aristotle Mela Pliny and Solinus yet it is not hard to imagine that these Authors might bee deceiued in those times either trusting to other mens relations or wanting Mathematicall instruments to search these matters Of the Mountaine Athos it is much wondred at that it should cast a shadow from Macedonia into the market-place of Myrhina a towne of the Iland Lemnos distant from Athos 86 miles But this as our learned Countriman Mr Hues well obserues can bee no great argument of such a miraculous height because the mountaine Athos situate East from Lemnos as may be gathered from Ptolomies Table may without any great wonder cast a very long shadow the Sunne either rising or setting Other matters are related of this mountaine Athos more strange then the former to wit that it should in hight transcend the Region of the raine and wind which they would striue to confirme out of an old tradition that the ashes heaped together on certaine Altars built on the top thereof were nener blowne away but remained in the same manner as they were left to which may be added out of Strabo that they who inhabit the top of this mountaine can see the Sunne 3 houres before those who inhabit neere the sea The like is reported by Aristotle of the Mountaine Caucasus that for the extreame height the top of it enioyes the Sun-beames a third part of the night Litle lesse is spoken by Pliny and Solinus of the mountaine Cassius in Syria and by Pomponius Mela of the mountaine Cassius in Arabia But how fabulous and incredulous these things are Petrus Nonius and other Mathematicians haue sufficiently demonstrated out of the grounds of Geometry more absurd by farre seemes that which Eustathius reports of Hercules pillars celebrated by Dionysius Perieges for their admirable height whereas they are found not to exceed 100 ells making one furlong a height according to Strabo not exceeding the Aegyptian Pyramides and comming short of certaine Indian trees neare the Riuer Hyarotes whose Meridian shadowes reach 5 furlongs These errours in the ancient might seeme veniall had they not bin seconded by latter writers Of the Mountaine Tenariffe in the Canaries Scaliger is bold to report out of other mens relations that it riseth in height aboue 15 leagues which make 60 miles but Petricius more bold then he would haue it 70 miles Litle lesse is spoken of Pico amongst the Azoris Inâulâ and the Mountaine Andi in Peru But to confute these relatioÌs we will vse this argument It is reported by the Spanish writers which haue spoken of this place that the topps of these Mountaines scarce any one or two moneths in the yeare are free from snow Now that snow should bee ingendred aboue 60 or 70 miles aboue the ordinary plaine of the Winter or Earth is against the iudgmeÌt of our best Astronomers because as they haue obserued out of Eratosthenes measure the highest vapors seldome reach so farre as 48 miles in height euery way from the Earth This argument may as well serue to confute these ancient opinions before mentioned had they not been so fabulous as scarce to deserue any solide confutation 3 The ordinary height of the Land aboue the Sea in diuerse places is more then the hight of the highest Mountaines aboue the ordinary face of the Earth We haue probably shewed out of former grounds that as the ordinary height of the Earth is answerable to the ordinary depth of the Sea so the hilles and mountaines in proportion answere to the whirle-pooles and extraordinary Gulphes of the Sea but it is to be imagined that the depth of the Sea in the maine Ocean is farre more below the superficies of the Earth then those other whirle-pooles and Holes extend themselues below that depth But to proue this by a more sensible argument we will compare the one with the other so farre forth as Mathematicians by experience haue guessed for it is found by Mathematick Instruments as wee haue proued in the precedent Theoreme that the highest Mountaines seldome or neuer mount vpward aboue ten furlongs which is an English mile and a quarter but the hight of the Land in some places where appeare no such hills is obserued to be much more to proue which assertion we can haue no fitter argument then the fresh Springs
of Riuers for it is manifest that all Riuers are higher at the Spring or fountaine then at the place where they disburtheÌ themselues into the sea Now although water is apt to slide away at any Inequality yet it is most probable that in greater riuers especially where the waters fall oftentimes with violence as at the Cataracts of Nile much inequality must bee granted in the Declivity of the ground supposing yet the water for euery mile to gaine two foot in the Declivity of the ground we shal find the hight very neere to equalize the hight of the highest mountaines although 2 foot in a mile is farre lesse then can be imagined in so great a Riuer The Riuer which I take for an example shall be Nilus which we shall obserue to runne about 50 Degrees from South to North which resolued into miles will make 3000 accompting for euery mile 2 foot we shall haue 6000 foot which will be neare these 10 furlongs being a mile and 5 parts then allowing for these mighty Cataracts where the water falls with so great a violence we must reckon a number of feet far greater then this measure for euery mile must the hight of land aboue the sea be much more then of the mountaines 4 Mountainous Regions are commonly colder then other plaine countries This proposition is not absolutely to bee vnderstood without a limitation for some plaine Countries neere the Articke Pole may be colder then some hilly Regions neere the Aequatour in regard of other concurrent causes but here we speake as the Logicians vse caeteris paribus comparing two places either together like or not much different or at least in our vnderstanding abstracting them from the mixture of all other considerations that this Theoreme is worthy credite diuerse reasons stand in readines to iustifie the first may bee drawne from the cause of heat in Inferiour Bodies which is the reflexion of the Sunne beames Now that this reflexion is of more strength and validity in plaine then in hilly and mountanous Countries is euident first because as the Optickes teach the rayes are more ioyned and combined in a plaine then in a conuex superficies for howsoeuer the whole Earth be of it selfe Sphericall yet the conuexity being not sensible by reason of the vastnes of the Circle whereby the conuexity is made lesse it may optically be called a plaine superficies Secondly it is taught in the Optickes that a reflexion is of more validity in an equall then in an vneuen and ragged superficies such as is found in Mountaines and vneuen places A second reason why mountanous Regions should exceed others in cold may be the vicinity of them to the middle Region of the Aire for of all the Regions if we beleiue Aristotle the middle is the coldest as being more seperate from the Sunne the fountaine of heat and the higher Region farther off from the reflexion of the Sunne-beames then the lower Now sith the parts of the Earth are affected with the quality of the Aire it must needs stand with reason that the more it shall approach to the middle Region the more it must partake of its quality Thirdly that this is consonant to obseruation reasons are vrged by experience of all Trauailers who report the topps of Mountaines euen in the midst of Summer to be couered ouer with snow although situaâe vnder or neare the Aequinoctiall Circle Of this nature are the Alpes in Italy the Mountaines of the Moone in Africke Andâ in Peru and Tenariffe in the Canaries That snow should be an effect of cold I need nor labour to confirme A fourth reason may bee drawne from other effects of cold or heat for it is daily proued by experience that such diseases as chiefly follow heat especially the Pestilence in Aegypt and such plaine Countries are wonderfull prevalent whereas hilly and rockic Countries by the benefit of Nature stand in little feare of such Inconueniences Lastly no greater argument can be drawne then from the disposition of such men as inhabite such hilly Regions who haue all the Symptomes of externall cold and internall heat Insomuch as âodin seemes to make a Harmony and âoâcent betwixt the Northerne man and the Mountanist ãâ¦ã Southerne man such as inhabite plaine countries ascribing to the former externall cold and internall heate to the latter externall heate and internall cold How farre this comparison will hold we shall haue more occasion to discusse here after when we come to the consideration of the Inhabitants â Mountaines since the beginning of the world haue still decreased in their quantity and so will continually decrease vntill the end This obseruation Blaucanus I know not how truly ascribes to his owne Inuention but to what Author soeuer we owe it we must needs acknowledge a pleasant speculation grounded on good reason This Theoreme to demonstrate the better we will first lay these grounds oftentimes before-mentioned First as appeares by testimony of holy Scripture the figure of the Earth was in the beginning more perfectly Sphericall ouer-whelmed euery-where with Waters 2ly That a seperation was made by translocation of the parts of the Earth in such manner as some places admitting of concauities became the receptacle of the waters other places wheron these parts of the Earth were heaped together were made mountanous 3. Hence will follow that the Earth thus swelling vp in high mountaines is out of his naturall site and position therefore according to the law of nature will endeuour by litle and litle to returne to her former state and condition Now that the Earth hath sensibly suffered such a change since the beginning it is easie to shew out of experiments the causes we shall find to be the water aswell of the Rain as Riuers which we shall demonstrate by these Reasons 1 We see Riuers by litle and litle continually to fret and eat out the feet of mountaines wheÌce the parts thus fretted through by coÌtinuall falling downe weare out the mountaines and fill vp the lower places in the valleyes making the one to encrease as the other to decrease the whole Earth to approach nearer to a Sphericall figure then before which seemes to be warranted by a place in Iob 14 where he saith to God The mountaine falling commeth to âought the rocke is remoued out of his place The waters weare the stones thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth From these Riuers in the valleyes continually eating through the parts of the Earth as the feete of mountaines are caused those slow but great Ruines called Labinae a lambendo by which sometimes whole Townes and Villages haue bin cast into the next great Riuer 2 To proue that Raine water challengeth a part in this diminution of mountains we may shew by the like experieÌce we see plainly that Raine-water daily washes downe from the Toppes of mountaines some parts of the Earth whence it comes to passe that the highest mountaines
are harder and more rocky then others as being more able to resist this violence of the water Hence also it happens that old buildings being erected in the sides of mountaines haue their foundations after a time vncouered and are much subiect to Ruines an instance whereof may bee giuen out of the Romane Capitoll whose foundation according to the relation of George Agricola appeares now plainly aboue the ground which without question was heretofore deepe rooted in the Earth In Plaines and valleyes we find all things to happen contrary wise to wit that all places in regard of their superficies are raised much higher then they were in times past The reason whereof may easily be giuen out of the great quantity of the Earth carried by the washing of the Raine from the Topps of mountaines into the valleyes whence we may perceiue old houses heretofore fairely built to be now almost buried vnder ground and their windowes heretofore set at a reasonable hight now growne euen with the pauement so some write of the Triumphall Arch of Septimius at the foot of the Capitoll Mountaine in Rome now almost couered with Earth insomuch as they are inforced to descend down into it by as many staires as formerly they were vsed to asceÌd In like sort we see in old Monasteries Religious houses their lower roomes windowes doores very far couched vnder grouÌd of which great incoÌuenience we cannot suspect the Architects iudgment but rather our fore-mentioned cause from this burying of parts of some houses vnder ground it may be gathered that the farther they are vnder ground so much ancienter they are as we may obserue heere with vs in Oxford that our most ancient Colledges haue the windowes of their lower roomes some-where altogether choaked vp with Earth without or at least halfe way in somuch as the flore within is found to bee farre inferiour in height to the street without This is also confirmed by Architects who in digging vp old foundations before they came to firme ground whereon to erect a building are enforced first to remoue away the Rubbish or as they terme it the Made-ground wherein oftentimes they find Wood Iron-Instruments old coine with diuers other Trash of this Nature An instance we haue in some of the lower places in Somersetshire where some vpon occasion digging the Earth somewhat deep haue found great Okes turned topsy turvy with their Roots vpwards To coniecture with some that this was caused by Noah's Floud seemes to be very improbable 1 because as we haue formerly shewed in this Chapter the Water in the Deluge could not haue so violent a motion to procure such an alteration in the parts of the Earth 2 It cannot so well be imagined how such Trees should remaine so long a time without putrefaction wherefore we cannot well cast it on any other cause then the addition of the earthly parts brought by raine from the mountaines into the valleyes and so by some Land-flood which partakes much of slimy and earthly matter dispersed abroad vpon the land about Now on the contrary part wee find in few places of mountaines such made-ground which hath before beene moued This will also appeare out of the industry of our Low-countreyman who by baying vp the Riuers into certaine Artificiall Channels the ground about hath been much raised where on the contrary side the forcing of the water into higher places oftentimes is found to fret through the Earth and make it lower What we haue spoken of the effects of Riuers and Raine in diminishing the greatnes of the mountaines and exalting of the vallyes we may in some sort find in the sea For the bottome of the Sea being lower then the Earth and many great Riuers continually running from the Earth into it it is manifest that there is carried in their current a great quantity of earth in so much as by the heaping of sand and earthly rubbish the mouthes of great Riuers are in time choaked vp and commodious hauens spoyled and remoued farther into the land of which alternall transmutation of the Sea and Land wâ shall speake hereafter for present instance need to goe no farther then diuerse Townes in Deuon which according to the Relation of ancient men haue heretofore been faire hauens able to receiue great ships to which notwithstanding at this time a small boat cannot arriue except in a full Tide The like whereof is reported by Aristotle 1 of a place in Egypt called Delta made by the heaping vp of sand and slime brought by Nilus from the Ethiopian mountaine 2 of Ammania Regio which in times past being Sea through the slime conuayed in the Riuers became afterwards as a standing poole which in processe of time waxed dry and ioyned it selfe to the Continent 3 Of Maeotis Palus that the dry land enuironing it round is so much encreased that ships of that burthen cannot arriue which could in times past within 60 yeeres before which is also in some sort testified by Polybius 4 The like is related of Bosphorus Thracius and many other places recorded by Pliny of which we shall speake hereafter From these obseruations Blancanus would inferre these consectaries 1 That the Earth was not from the beginning endowed with mountaines 2 That it should not so continue vntill the end of the world ând vnlesse the Fire whereof the Scripture speakes should preuent it the whole Earth should in the end be ouer-whelmed with waters as in the beginning and so be made void of habitation but on such coniectures I dare not too boldly venture being speculations built on no sufficient grounds All which can hence warrantably be collected is expressed in our former Theoreme 2 Of the Figurature of Countreyes in Mountaines Valleyes and Plaines we haue spoken It is requisite here wee speake somewhat of Woods and Champian Countreyes 3 A Wood is a Region or space of Land beset with trees A Champian Region is a space of Land either altogether voide or scarce furnished with trees Some Criticks here curiously distinguish in Latine betwixt Sylua Lucus and Nemus by Sylua vnderstanding a space beset with trees ordained to bee cut downe but Lucus was a place where trees were not ordained to bee cut downe but reserued sacred For in such groues they did anciently vse to offer sacrifice as may appeare by diuerse places out of the Old Testament where the Heathenish manner of worshipping was forbidden and sometimes reproued in the Kings of Iuda and Israel That which the Latines call Nemus is a Groue or Wood ordained onely for pleasure and recreation but the discussing of these businesses rather belong to a Grammarian then a Geographer who takes little notice but of those matters which most principally and remarkeably belong to any Region wherefore omitting other curiosities wee haue distinguished onely betweene a Woody and a Champian Countrey whereof as wee haue defined one is beset with a multitude of trees the other with few or none What concernes a
Geographer to obserue in those matters shall generally be comprised in this Theoreme 1 Woods in these dayes are not so frequent nor so great as in ancient times We cannot imagine otherwise then that the Earth soone vpon the flood bearing in her wombe the seeds of all vegetals being inwardly moistned and outwardly comforted with Heat should presently abound with plants of all sorts in so much as in a short time each thing propagating it selfe by communication of his own seeds the whole Earth was ouergrown as one forrest but afterwards as man began to spread and multiply on the face of the Earth these Woods and Thickets began to suffer chastisement vnder the hand of laborious husbandry For first to open a passage from one place vnto another and that some parcels of ground should as pastures bee diuided from Woody acres it was necessary that this great plenty of trees should suffer a decrease yet little had this beene noted in so vast a store had not the inuention of building of houses by little and little turned great forrests into Cities which for the most part owed not only their first originall but also their daily reparation to Trees and Timber but aboue all the greatest deuourer of Woods and Forrests is Fire an element fed and nourished almost of no other matter For to let passe the ordinary vse of fire in euery house and family which in so infinite a multitude of people in so many yeeres since the Flood must require an extraordinary proportion of wood and fuell how many Arts haue beene since inuented depending onely vpon this Element we will goe no farther then the Art of Liquefaction fining of gold and other mettals found out in the bowels of the Earth wherein the couetousnesse of men hath been as vnsatiâble as the fire To this which wee haue said may probably be opposed two things first the power and inclination of euery Creature to multiply and propagate it selfe Secondly the industry of mankind in seconding that inclination Whence it may bee coniectured that great woods should by durance increase to a greater quantity for the former no man will deny but that plants and trees left to themselues will commonly propagate their kind neuerthelesse it cannot preuaile so much as the other which procure the decrease first because the Earth being dryer now then soone vpon the Flood cannot so much further the growth of vegetals as then it did Secondly because as wee haue said this growth in a populous Countrey cannot bee so great as the diminution since few or no houses can want so necessary an Element as fire To the second wee answer that mans industry hath done somewhat in plantation of groues and such like but how little is this in comparison of the huge and vast forrests in time by man wasted and consumed We shall read of Germany that in the time of Caesar it seemed a wilde Countrey hauing many great woods and forrests but few Cities but now the case being altered we shall find the Cities both in number and greatnes increased and the Woods diminished Two instances may suffice the one of the Forrest of Ardenna in Lutzemburg accompted in Caesars time 500 miles ouer now scarce 50. The other of Sylua Hyrcinia which heretofore if we beleeue Histories reached so far as a man could trauaile in 60 dayes but now is made the onely limit or bound diuiding Bohemia from the rest of Germany The like may bee obserued almost of euery other Countrey reduced to ciuility 2 Places moderatly situated towards the North or South Pole abound more in Woods then neere the Equatour This situation wee vnderstand to comprehend almost all the temperat Zone reaching either way so farre as 60 degrees or there about The demonstration of this Theoreme depends of these two foments of all plants Heat and Moisture both which concurre not only to the abundance and fertility but also to the greatnesse of all plants for it is most certaine that wheresoeuer these two vitall succours are wanting or deficient there must be a great scarcity of trees fruits herbage and such like This is the cause why the Regions far North neere about the Pole beyond 60 degrees haue not onely scarcity of trees but haue them such as are of a farre smaller quantity then other Regions lying more temperate For the internall and naturall heat is almost extinguished with the extremity of cold and the moisture as it were dried vp by the frosty disposition of the Region To this cause may wee ascribe that which Geographers haue deliuered concerning Island that for want of Timber they couer their houses with fish-bones digging out houses in the sides of Rockes and mountaines Moreouer that the meere defect of moisture may cause a scarcity of growth may bee proued by many places 1 because temperate Regions which are Mountainous and lying higher produce trees of small length Bodin testifies as a thing very remarkeable that hee hath obserued oakes in France not exceeding 3 or 4 feet But this is no great wonder with vs in England sith in the dry and barren plaines about Salisbury there are many examples not much different All which we can ascribe to no other cause then the want of moisture On the other side as great or greater a defect of heat moisture is found neere the Equatour by reason of the externall heat of the Sunne which in all plants and vegetalls not onely euaporates the moisture and by consequence causeth drowth but by the extraction of Internall heat leaueth a greater cold behind correspondent to that humour in a man which we call Melancholy and choler-adust But this extremity of heat causing this defect of internall heat moisture wee place not directly vnder the Equinoctiall because we haue shewed it to be more temperate but rather vnder the Tropicks which by experience are found scorched with great heat How subiect these places vnder the Tropickes are to this sterility we need goe no farther then Libia and Numidia to confirme Places by the report of trauailers indigent not onely of Woods and Trees but almost of all vitall succours Whereas the Woods Forrests dispersed almost in euery region of Europe and the more temperate parts of Asia are celebrated of all writers Yet whereas wee haue defined the chiefest places for the growth of Woods to be towards the North so farre as 60 degrees or there-abouts wee cannot warrant this as an absolute generall obseruation because some places lying very low and subiect to much moisture though situat more Southerly may enioy this proportion as we haue formerly shewed of trees neere the Riuer Hiarotis recorded by Strabo to haue their noone shadowes of 5 furlongs as also of certaine trees in America neere Riuo Negro wherein as Peter Martyr writes a King dwelt with all his family But these places howsoeuer situat towards the South are as Geographers deliuer vnto vs most times of the yeere ouerwhelmed with Water consisting all of marish
grounds yet these few instances drawne from the particular disposition of the Earth it selfe cannot much impeach our proposition which takes notice only of the situation of the Earth in respect of the cardinall points of North and South compared with the Heauens CHAP. XI 1 HItherto haue we treated of the Absolute adiuncts of the land we are now to speak of the Relatiue which imply a respect of the Land to the Sea 2 From this Termination of the land with the sea there ariseth a twofold distinction The first is of the land into Continent and Ilands 3 A Continent is a great quantity of land consisting of many Kingdomes and Regions not diuided by Water the one from the other An Iland is a parcell of land compassed round with the sea An Iland is called in Latin Insula quasi in salo because it stands in the Sea some would haue it in English termed an Iland as it were Eye of the land But this deriuation seemes affected and not naturall it might seeme more naturally to be deriued from the French L'Isle But wee will not dispute of the name It is enough to vnderstand that an Iland is a portion of the habitable Earth euery where enuironed with the sea orat least with some great Riuer but this last sense seemes more improper then the other yet oftentimes vsed as Meroe in Africa an Iland of Nilus and the Iland of Eely in England To this is opposed the Continent as that land which being not diuided and separated by the sea containes in it many Empires and Kingdomes as Europe Asia Africke America all which as farre as wee can yet gather are vnited and ioyned together in one continuate land Strabo affirmes out of this in his 1 Boooke and first Chapter of Geographie that the whole Earth is one Iland sith all these knowne parts of the Earth are compassed about with the sea on euery side But this opinion cannot stand with reason or moderne obseruation First because this acception is too large for as much as an Iland is properly taken for a smaller part diuided from the rest of the land and opposed to the Continent whereas if this sense were admitted the distinction of land into Continent and Iland would haue no place or at least the same in a diuerse respect might bee called a Continent and an Iland But it is plaine that Ilands were alwayes opposed to the continent to which although separate by Water they were supposed to belong as to Europe Asia Africke America or Magellanica or some other as Geographers haue reduced them Secondly because it was a bold coniecture to thinke the whole world to consist only of those parts found out in Strabos time For besides the two parts of America since that time discouered by Columbus another great portion is since that time found out in the South by the coniecture of Ferdinando de Quir comming neere the quantity of Europe Asia and Africa Which howsoeuer it be round enuironed with sea and thârefore might seeme an Iland yet in respect of the greatnes of it and the many regions and kingdomes it containes it may well bee reputed a continent To which many lesser Ilands belong 1 It is probable that Ilands were not from the first creation but were made afterwards either by the vniuersall deluge or some other violence of the Water It hath been the opinion of diuerse learned men that Ilands werâ not onely before the Flood but from the first creation of the world because they seeme no lesse to make for the ornament of the Earth then diuers Lakes and Riuers dispersed on the Land But this argument seemes very weake first because a greater ornament seemes to consist in vniformity then confusion besides the ornament must not bee measured by our phantasie but Gods Almighty pleasure and will expressed in his owne workmanship and that hee created Ilands in the beginning is the thing in question That Ilands were not from the Creation many probable reasons are alleaged First ârom the words in the 1 of Genesis Dixit verò Deus congregentur aequae quae sub coelo sunt in locum vnum appareat arida factum est ita vocauit Deus aridam terram congregationesque Aquarum appellauit maria By which may be collected that the waters were gathered together in their own place by themselues and therefore had no such intercourse betwixt Land and Land as now they haue admitting Ilands wherefore it is more probable that such Ilands as now appeare were either caused by that Vniuersall Deluge of Noah or by some other Accidents for it is most certaine that the Sea on the Land some-where gaines and other-where in recompence of it it looseth againe as may appeare by the 14 of Genesis where it is said of the comming together of certaine Kings Hi omnes conuenârunt in vallem Syluestrem quae nunc est mare salis out of which it is euident that that parcell of ground which was a woody place in the time of Abraham was before the time of Moses become the Salt Sea Many examples of the like are giuen vs by Pliny in his Naturall History which we shall haue occasion to vrge hereafter And therefore it is no hard thing to belieue that since the first beginning of the world all Ilands might bee produced in this sort Another argument by which they would âstablish this opinion is that wee see almost all Ilands of the Earth not onely inhabited of mankind but also furnished with diuerse kindes of Beasts some tame some wilde some wholesome some venomous some vsefull some altogether vnprofitable Now it seemes very vnlikely that men bâing in elder times and now also in most places of the Earth altogether vnskilfull in the Art of Nauigation should venture so farre on the maine Ocean to people Countreyes so far distant sith at this day wherein Nauigation is arriued at a great perfection hauing the helps both of the Chart and Compasse altogether vnknowne vnto the ancients wee see most Nations very scrupulous in searching out farre remote Countreyes But admit this were ouercome by mans Industrie which no doubt is much increased by Necessity yet cannot it bee very probable that so many sundry kindes of beasts should in this sort bee transported for howsoeuer wee coniecture concerning such beasts as necessarily serue for mans sustenance yet seemes it hard to thinke that man should bee so improuident and enuious to the place of his own Habitation as to transport rauenous venomous vnwholesome and vnprofitable creatures for by no other meânes but by transportation can such beasts bee imagined to bee brought into Ilands For the first originall of all creatures in the Creation was in or neere Paradice which wee shall proue to haue been ân the Continent of Asia the second Seminary was in the Arke which by the testimony of the Scriptures was first disburthened in the same Continent How from hence they should spread themselues into Ilands is the
Peninsula's the most famous are Africa Scandia Taurica Chersonesus Peloponnesus and America Peruana That little parcell of land which ioynes this Peninsula with the maine land we call an Istmus which is a narrow necke of land betwixt two seas ioyning two Continents such as are Istmus Corinthiacus and Istmus Cimbricus more famous are those two narrow lands whereof the one lyeth betwixt Peruana and Mexico in America the other diuiding Africke from Asia A Promontorie is a great mountaine stretching it selfe far into the sea whose extremity is called a Cape or Head of which the most remarkeable are the Cape of good hope in Africke 2. The Cape of S. Vincent in Portugall 3. The Cape of Comary in Asia 4. The Cape de la Victoria in America Our obseruation concerning this distinction shall bee comprised in this Theoreme 1 Peninsula's by the violence of the sea fretting through the Istmus haue oftentimes beene turned into Ilands and contrariwise sometimes Peninsula's by diminution of the sea made of Ilands This proposition is not hard to proue if any credit ought to bee gâuen to ancient writers for it is commonly related that Sicily was heretofore ioyned to Italy Cyprus to Syria Euboea with Boeotia Besbicum with Bythinia all which at this day are Ilands separated and diuided from the continent The like hath beene coniectured of our Brittany which some imagined heretofore to haue beene ioyned with the continent of France about Douer and Calais as may seeme probably to be gathered out of the correspondency of the Cliffs whereof we haue spoken in this chapter before the agreement of the soyle the smalnesse of the distance and many more arguments remembred by vs else-where Also it hath beene obserued on the other side that the sea in some places leauing his ancient bounds hath ioyned some Ilands to the land making Peninsulas of Ilands In this sort if wee belieue antiquity was Antissa ioyned to Lesbos Zephirium to Halicarnassus Ethusa to Mindus Promiscon to Miletum Narthucusa to the Promontory of Parthenius In these antiquities it behooues euery man to iudge without partiality according to reason not ascribing too much to fabulous narrations wherein those ages did abound neither yet shewing himselfe too incredulous For as much as we cannot charge these Authors with any manifest absurdity The speciall and particular arguments by which wee should establish our assertion wee must according to the rules of method reserue to the speciall part where we shall treat ofspeciall Countreyes CHAP. XII 1 OF the perpetuall Accidents of the land we haue spoken somewhat it remaines in this place wee treat of the Casuall 2 The casuall I call such as happen not ordinarily at all times such as are Inundations and Earth-quakes 3 An Inundation is an ouerwhelming of the land by Water Howsoeuer it bee certaine out of holy Scriptures that God hath set the sea his certaine bounds and limits which it cannot passe yet the same God sometimes to shew his speciall iudgement on some place or age hath extraordinarily permitted the sea sometimes to breake his appointed limits and inuade the Iurisdiction of the land This wee call a Deluge or Inundation The inundations which euer haue been obserued on the Earth are of two sorts either Vniuersall or particular An vniuersall is that whereby the whole face of the Earth is couered with water whereof we haue onely two examples The first was in the first creation of the world when as wee read in the Scriptures the whole face of the Earth was round inueloped with Water which couered the tops of the highest mountaines till such time as God by a supernaturall hand made a separation of the Waters from the dry land But this is improperly called an Inundation because the same properly taken implies as much as an ouer-flowing of that which was dry land before The second as we read in Genesis happened in the time of Noah when God for the sinne of man drowned the whole world breaking open the cataracts of Heauen and loosing the springs of the deepe Particular inundations are such as are not ouer the whole Earth but in some particular places or regions Such a deluge according to Genebrardus happened in the time of Enos wherein a third part of the Earth was drowned The like iâ spoken of Ogygeâ King of Athens that in his time happened a very great Inundation which drowned all the confines and coasts of Attica and Achaia euen to the Aegean sea In which time it was thought that Buras and Helice Cities of Achaia were swallowed vp whereof Ouid in his Metamorphosis speakes thus Si quaeras Helicen Buran Achaidos vrbes Inuenies sub aquis Buras and Helice on Achaiân ground Are sought in vaine but vnder seas are found As famous was the Inundation of Thessaly in Deucalions time mentioned not onely by profane writers and Poets but also by S. Augustin Ierom and Eusebius which would haue it to happen in the time of Cranaus who next after Cecrops gouerned Athens This inundation was exceeding great extending it selfe not onely ouer all Thessaly and the regions adioyning westward but ouerwhelmed the greatest part of Italy The same or other happening neere the same time oppressed Aegypt if Eusebius may obtaine credit Hence some would haue the people of Italy to haue been called Vmbrij as Pliny and Solinus report quia ab imbribus diluuij superfuissent But this Etymologie seemes too farre fetcht There are also two other notable Inundations meÌtioned by ancient writers which fell out in Aegypt from the Riuer of Nilus whereof the first couered all the neither Aegypt which was subiect to Prometheus and hence as Natalis Comes obserues was the fable drawne of the vulture lighting on Prometheus liuer afterwards slaine by Hercules For as Diodorus Siculus obserues the Riuer Nilus for the swiftnes of his course was in ancient time called an Eagle This Riuer afterwards did Hercules by his great âkill and iudgement streiten and bound reducing it into narrow channels whence some Greeke Poets turning Hercules labours into fables faigned that Hercules slew the Eagle which sed on Prometheus brest meaning that hee deliuered Prometheus out of that sorrow and losse which hee and his people sustained by that Inundation The second of these Egyptian flouds happened about Pharus in Egypt where Alexander the great built Alexandria To these may bee added many more of lesser moment as well in ancient times as in our dayes As that of Belgia in some parts mentioned before on another occasion and not many yeeres since in some parts of Somerset-shire with vs in Britanny 1 No vniuersall Inundation of the Earth can be Naturall The other may depend on some Naturall causes Of the causes of Inundations many disputes haue beene amongst Naturall Philosophers some haue trusted so farre to Nature that they haue ascribed not only particular Inundations but that vniuersall Deluge in the time of Noah to second causes of this opinion was Henricus Mecliensis a Schollar of
Albertus Magnus who in his Commentaries vpon the great Coniunctions of Albumazar obserued that before Noahs flood chanced a coniunction of Iupiter and Saturne in the last degree of Cancer against the constellation since termed Argo's ship out of which he would needs collect that the floud of Noah might haue beene fore-showne because Cancer is a watry signe and the house of the Moone being mistrisse of the Sea and all moist bodyes according to Astrologie which opinion was afterwards confirmed by Petrus de Alliaco who affirmes in his Comment vpon Genesis that although Noah did well know this flood by diuine Reuelation yet this coniunction being so notable hee could not bee ignorant of the causes thereof for those were not only signes but also apparant causes by vertue receiued from the first cause which is God himselfe Further to confirme this assertion hee would haue Moses by the cataracts of Heauen to haue meant the the great watry coniunction of the Planets A reason wherof hee seemes to alleage because it is likely that God would shew some signe in the Heauens by which all men might be warned to forsake their wicked courses But notwithstanding this curious opinion I rather cleaue to those which thinke this Deluge to be meerely Supernaturall which I am induced to belieue for diuers causes vrged by worthy writers First because this is set downe in Holy Scripture for a chiefe token or marke of Noahs extraordinary faith dependance vpon Gods promises which had been much diminished and of small moment had it any way been grounded on the fore-sight of second causes For this was no more then might haue beene discouered to the rest of the wicked worldlings who no doubt would in some sort haue prouided for their safety had they receiued any firme perswasion of this dreadfull Deluge To which others adde a second reason that second causes of themselues without any change or alteration are not able to produce such an admirable effect as the drowning of the whole World for it is not conuenient say they that God the Author of Nature should so dispose and direct the second causes that they might of themselues bee able to inuert the order of the Vniuerse and ouer-whelme the whole Earth which hee gaue man for his habitation But this reason is thought very weake for as much as it seemeth to imply a new creation The conceit of a new Creation is pronounced by a learned Countreyman of ours both vnlearned and foolish for whereas it is written saith hee that the fountaines of the deepe were broken open it cannot otherwise be vnderstood then that the waters forsooke the very bowels of the Earth and all whatsoeuer therein was dispersed made an eruption through the face of the Earth Now if wee compare the height of the waters in this deluge aboue the highest mountaines being onely 15 cubits with the depth of the semi-diameter of the Earth to the Center we shall not find it impossible answering reason with reason that all these waters dispersed vnder the Earth should so far extend as to drowne the whole Earth for the semi-diameter of the Earth as Astronomers teach is not aboue 35 â miles wherein the waters contained and dispersed may bee sufficient for the hight of the greatest mountaines which neuer attaine 30 miles vpright whereas this distance of 30 miles is found in the depth of the Earth 116 times Secondly the extension of the Ayre being exceeding great it might please God to condensate and thicken a great part thereof which might concurre to this Inundation We willingly assent to the worthy Authour that this Inundation might bee performed without any new creation Notwithstanding we cannot hence collect that it was Naturall But to compose the difference the better and to shew how far Nature had a hand in this admirable effect we will thus distinguish that an effect may be called Naturall two manner of wayes First in regard of the causes themselues Secondly in respect of the Direction and Application of the causes If we consider the meere secondary and instrumentall causes wee might call this effect Naturall because it was partly performed by their helpe and concurrence But if we consider the mutuall application and coniunction of these second causes together with the first cause which extraordinarily set them a worke we must needs acknowledge it to be supernaturall For other particular Inundations in particular Regions we may more safely terme them Naturall as directed and stirred vp by second causes working no otherwise then according to their owne naturall disposition Two causes concurring together are here most notable whereof the first is the great coniunction of watry Planets working on the water their proper subiect the other the weaknes of the bounds and banks restraining the water which by processe of time weare out and suffer breaches both these causes sometimes concurring together cause an Inundation which assertion wee may lawfully accept but with this caution that Almighty God working by second causes neuerthelesse directs them oftentimes to supernaturall and extraordinary ends 2 Particular alterations haue happened to Bounds of Regions by Particular Inundations Howsoeuer some inundation haue not continued long but after a small time leât the Earth to her owne possession yet others haue been of such violence as they haue beene found to haue fretted away or added and so altered the bounds and limits of places which besides diuerse examples produced by vs in our former chapter Aristotle seemes to acknowledge in the 1 booke ofhis Meteors the 14 Chapter where he saith that by such Accidents sometimes the Continent and firme land is turned into the Sea and other-where the Sea hath resigned places to the Land for sith the agitation or mouing of the water depends ordinarily vpon the vertue of Heauenly bodyes if it should happen that those Starres should meet in coniunction which are most forceable and effectuall for stirring vp of Tempests and Flouds the Sea is knowne to rage beyond measure either leauing her ancient bounds or else vsurping new By this meanes as we haue shewed in the former Chapter some Ilands haue been ioyned to the Land and some Peninsula's separated from the Land and made Ilands somewhere the Sea hath beene obserued for a great space to leaue the Land naked as Verstegan coniectures of the most part of Belgia which hee sayes was in ancient time couered with water which besides many other arguments hee labours to proue out of the multitude of fish-shells and fish-bones found euery-where farre vnder ground about Holland and the coasts thereabouts which being digged vp in such abundance and from such depthes could not saith hee proceed from any other cause then the Sea which couered the whole Countrey and strewed it with fishes Lastly that the Sea might seeme as well to get as lose shee hath shewed her power in taking away and swallowing vp some Regions and Cities which before were extant Such fortune had Pyrrha and Antisâa about Meotis
Helicâ and Bura before mentioned in the Corinthian straites some haue beene of opinion that the whole Mediterranean within Hercules pillars was in time past habitable land till it gaue way to the violency of the Seas inuasion But in this I credit nothing without farther ground The like vncertainties are also related of the Atlantick Ilands greater then all Africa swallowed vp of the Ocean which Columbus was said in a sort to haue discouered in the Sea finding a great shallow fraught with weedes where he supposed this great Iland to haue stood But I rather beleeue that this Atlanticke Iland spoken of by Plato was either a Poeticall fiction as Moores Vtopia with vs or at least the Continent of America perhaps in those dayes obscurely discouered but the discouery lost againe to after ages 3 Certaine Regions by reason of great Riuers are subiect to certaine Anniuersary Inundations which commonly happen betwixt the Tropicks in the Summer without the Tropicks in the Winter The former clause is proued by experience almost in all great Riuers in the world which at some times of the yeere swell higher ouerflowing their bankes and drowning a part of the land about them But this happens not alike in all places for in Riuers included within the Tropicks as Nilus Niger in Africa and Oregliana in America with others there-about this Anniuersary Inundation is in the SuÌmer else-where it is commonly in the Winter For the former these causes may be assigned 1 The melting of the snow on the tops of the great mouÌtaines in those parts which is greatest of all when the Sun is neerest or verticall vnto them which we are to accompt their Summer 2 The daily raines showres such Regions are subiect vnto These showres are much more frequent greater when the Sun is neerest their verticall point or in it The reason whereof we haue formerly shewed to bee this That the Sun daily in those parts drawes vp more vapours then he can dissipate consume Whence meeting with the cold of the middle Region of the Aire they are condensated into drops so turned into raine For the later case in riuers situat without the Tropicks coÌmonly happens the contrary to wit that such Inundations happen rather in the winter then in the Summer whereof these reasons may bee rendred 1 Because Raine and showres whereof such ouer-flowing are ingendred in those parts are more frequent in winter then in the Summer 2 whereas neere the Equatour the snow is known to melt with the Sunne from the tops of high Mountaines in other parts it seldome or neuer melts at all as may bee thought vnder the Pole or thereabouts or else if it melt it happens as in the temperat Zones we see it doth oftner by raine then the heat of the Sunne 4 Next are we to speake of Earthquakes An Earthquake is a sensible motion and shaking of the parts of the Earth Amongst other remarkeable affections of a place which are not so ordinary an Earthquake hath no small consideration being oftentimes a meanes which God vseth to shew some great and extraordinary iudgement But not to spend more on this subiect then may seeme meete for Geography wee will shew the causes and kindes of it by which we may the sooner come to learne what Regions and places of the Earth are most subiect to this affection which is necessary of a Cosmographer to bee knowne Concerning the cauâes of it much dispute hath been among Philosophers some haue ridiculously affirmed that the Earth is a liuing creature and suppose with no lesse if not greater abâurdity that the Earth being in good temper doth rest settle quietly according to her naturall disposition From which temper if she be any way remoued as if she were sicke or pain'd in some part she shakes and shiuers The relation of this opinion is a sufficient confutation Thales Milesius would haue the Earth as a shippe to swimme on the Waters which being sometimes as a vessell by tempests turned on one side too much it takes a great quantity of water which is the cause of Earthquakes But this opinion is a poeticall fiction Little more probable is the opinion of Democritus that the Earth drinking in raine water more then her cauernes can well containe the water reuerberated backe is cause of such a motion But who can imagine that drops of raine falling into the Earth can bee reuerberated backe with such violence to cause such an extraordinary motion of the Earth Anaximenes Milesius was of opinion that the Earth her selfe was cause of her own motion for the parts of it being taken out as it were and broken fall downe sometimes into a great depth causing the vpper face of it to shake and tremble to which opinion also Seneca seemes to subscribe in the sixt booke of his naturall questions the 10 chapter To which also accords the Philosophicall Poet Lucretius in these words Terra superna tremit magnis concussa ruinis Subter vbi ingentes speluncas subruit aetas Quippe cadunt toti montes magnoque repentè Concussu laâè dispergunt inde Tremores Et meritò quoniam plaustris concussu tremiscunt Tecta viam propter non magno pondere tota The vpper Earth seaz'd with great ruines shakes When surrowed age her vast ribbes ouertakes For mountaines great fall downe and with the blow The Tremblings are dispersed to and fro Not without reason when a small-siz'd waine Makes houses neere the way to shake amaine This last opinion seemes to carry more shew ofprobability then the former neither can any man deny that sometimes the Earth in some parts may shake by the breaking downe of some subterranean parts whose suddain and violent motion may cause the rest being continuate to entertaine the like conuulsion But yet more generall seemes the opinion of Aristotle who would haue Earthquakes to proceed from a spirit or vapour included in the bowells of the Earth as he testifies in the 2 of his Meteors the 7 chapter For this vapour finding no way to passe out is enforced to returne backe and batred any passage out seekes euery corner and while it labours to breake open some place for going forth it makes a tumultuous motion which is the Earth-quake Now least it should seeme improbable that so great a masse of Earth should bee moued and shaken by so thinne and rarefied a body as is a fume or vapour Aristotle in the same place shewes the admirable force of Winds as well vpon the Aire as on the bodies of liuing creatures In the Aire because experience shewes that being stirred vp by a Windy vapour it sometimes is knowne to moue rockes from one place to another to plucke vp trees and shrubbs by the rootes and sometimes to throw downe the strongest and most stately buildings In mans body because by the stirring vp and agitation of the spirits which are the Instruments of vitall and animall functions sometimes one sicke man can doe that which cannot
bee performed by many stronger and abler men as it hath beene tried sometimes that a Franticke man hath broken very strong chaines wherwith he hath been bound which many other men could not doe Neither on the other side can it seeme strange that many and great exhalations vapours and spirits should be ingendred vnder the Earth For as much as the Earth is heaâed many wayes Many wayes may bee specified whence such fumes should arise as first from the Sunne and Starres Secondly from the subterranean fires hid in the bowels of the Earth Thirdly in the winter-time by an Antiperistasis the heat collecting it selfe downeward to the inner parts of the Earth which was before in the outward parts of it The argument by which Aristotle would confirme this opinion is drawne as well from the time as from the places wherein Earthquakes vsually happen from the time because then most Earthquakes are obserued to bee when most exhalations are inclosed in the bowels of the Earth to wit in the Spring-time and the Autumne From the places because for the most part spongie and hollow Regions which may drinke in a greater quantity of exhalations are commonly most subiect vnto it for although many exhalations are dayly inclosed in the wombe of the Earth yet Earthquakes fall but seldome because the matter is seldome so strong and violent as to shake the Earth Wherefore some Philosophers haue expressed three principall wayes which make this Earth-quake first when a great quantity of exhalations is suddenly ingendred which for the greatnesse of it cannot be contained in so little a space for then being almost choked it seekes a way to fly forth Secondly when the Earth is condensated by cold and driues the exhalation from one place to another which flying hither and thither shakes and strikes the Earth Thirdly when the exhalation the cold compassing it round by an Antiperistasis begets heat within it and so is rarified for so being vnable any longer to confine it selfe to its former place it breakes forth and so shakes the Earth We must here note by the way that not onely exhalations are cause of the distemperature in the Earth but also subterranean fires and windes all which by some are iudged to bee of equall force in this action for the diuision of Earthquakes so farre forth as it concernes the difference of places we must vnderstand that it may be either Vniuersall or particular An Vniuersall Earth-quake is that which shakes all the whole Earth in euery part at least in the vpper face whereof I suppose no naturall cause can be giuen but the immediate and miraculous power of God such an Earth-quake happened at the time of our Sauiours Passion whereof Dydimus a graue and ancient Writer left record But that which is said to haue happened in the time of Valentinian mentioned by Orosius in his 7 booke of Histories 32 Chapter is thought by graue Authours to be no vniuersall Earth-quake howsoeuer for the large extent of it it was thought to be generall A particular Earth-quake is that which is bounded in some one or more particular places which for the causes before-alleaged cannot be so far extended because the cauernes and conuexities of the Earth where such vapours and exhalations are contained cannot bee ordinarily so great as to extend to many Kingdomes and Regions 1 Regions extreame cold or extreame hot are not so subiect to Earth-quakes as places of a Middle temper The reason is because in places extreame cold exhalations are not so soone ingendred and in so great a quantity as in other parts on the other side in places which are extreame hot the exhalations which are bred are soone consumed with excesse of heat both which may be confirmed by Instances It is obserued that in the cold Northerne parts as Olaus Magnus writes in his 10 booke and 13 Chapter Earthquakes are very seldome or neuer so it is obserued by Pliny in his 2 booke and 18 Chapter and Albertus Magnus in his 3 booke of Mâteours tract 2 That places which are very hot as Egypt are seldome troubled with this shaking of the Earth whereas places betwixt both which are seated in a more temperat climate find it not so strange 1 Hollow and spongie places are more subiect to Earth-quakes then solide and compacted soyles We must here vnderstand that hollow places are either such as lye open to the Aire or are hollow onely vnder and close vpward The former sort are not at all subiect to the molestation of Earth-quakes because the exhalations fly out without impediment but the latter being more apt to ingender and retaine such matter must of necessity bee more troubled This is most plainely obserued in Phrygia Italia Caria Lydia wherein such motions are more frequent To confirme this a little farther wee obserue that hilly and mountainous places suffer this violence oftner then other parts because there most commonly cauernes and concaâities are more frequent then in plaine countreyes But here by the way may bee obiected that sandy and slimy countryes are many times more free from Earth-quakes then other places an instance whereof was giuen before in Aegypt wherein neuer any Earth-quake as most Authours affirme or at least but one as Seneca hath beene obserued The reason may bee giuen that sandy places without any strife suffer the exhalatioÌs to disperse themselues that slimy places want sufficient receptacles to entertayne them 3 Ilands are more often troubled with Earth-quakes then the Continent This haue they found to be true in many Ilands of the Mediterranean Sea and others also chiefly in Cyprus Sicylia Euboea Tyrus Angria Lippora and the Molucco Ilands betwixt the East and West-Indies The cause some would haue to bee the Antiperistasis or circumstancy of the waters which is apt to engender greater store of exhalations in the Earth But neuerthelesse that Ilands are more subiect to Earth-quakes then Continents I dare affirme no otherwise then probable because some places in the Continent seeme very much affected especially in Europe aboue other places Constantinople and Basilaea if we credite authors which haue written of this matter in Asia China and other Regions adioyning thereunto CHAP. XIII 1 THe Naturall affections of the Land haue hitherto beene declared Wee are in the next place to treate of the Ciuill Those wee terme Ciuill which concerne the Inhabitants 2 An Inhabitant is a man dwelling in a certaine place The name of an Inhabitant as we haue before noted may be taken either generally for any liuing creature residing in a certaine place in which sense Brute beasts may be called Inhabitants which signification is only metaphoricall or else for a Reasonable liuing creature whose abode is setled in any place or Region in which sense we here take it The consideration of the Inhabitants we haue reserued for this last Treatise following as well the methode of the first creation as of Moses in the narration For God proceeding in the first Creation according to the
meant Heauen it selfe as many imagine But to confirme that this terrestriall Paradise is such a place some men produce these Arguments First that it is reported by Solinus that there is a place exceeding delightsome and healthsome on the top of Mount Athos called Acrothones which being seated about clouds or raine or such inconueniences the people by reason of their long liues are called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Secondly they alleage for the hight of this Paradise that Enoch was there preserued from the violence of the flood as Isidore and Peter Lombaard maintaine But this opinion was of the Diuines condemned in the Florentine counsell and first where as they say that such a pleasant place is in the top of the mountaine Athos this neither proues that this is Paradise neither is it so high as they would haue it For euery high and pleasant place is not Paradise Secondly whereas they would haue Enoch and Elias preserued in the place it is expressely against Holy Scripture which affirmes directly that the waters ouer-flowed all the mountaines making no such distinction Secondly should wee credit this we might as well beleiue that certaine Giants saued themselues in that high place as some haue beleiued Besides the answer of their friuolous arguments these reasons may bee brought against their assertion First that such a place cannot be commodious to liue in for being so neare the moon it had also bin too neare the sun Secondly because in this sort it had bin too neare a neighbour to the Element of fire Thirdly because as many hold the Aire in that Region by the motion of the heauens is carried about so violently as nothing there can well consist Fourthly because according to Ptolomy the place between the Earth and the Moone is seuenteene times the Diameter of the Earth which make by a grosse accompt about 120000 miles Hence it must needs follow that Paradise being lifted vp to this great hight must haue the compasse of the whole Earth for a basis or foundation But this cannot be imagined first because it would be subiect to the eyes and knowledge of men Secondly it would hide the light of the Sunne for the first part of the day being on the East side Thirdly it would ouer-poize the Earth and so make it to shrinke out of his place one side being farre greater and heauier then the other The fourth conceit is of Tertullian Bonauenture and Durandus who would haue Paradise to bee seated vnder the Aequatour because that contrary to the opinion of most of all the Ancients they thought this place to be most pleasant and commodious for habitation It is true that the places vnder the Aequinoctial are not so burnt with the Sunne as some thought but as we haue proued out of latter Nauigators very pleasant and fruitfull for the most part yet cannot this be the place of Paradise for asmuch as the Riuers of Paradise mentioned in holy Scripture are not found to meet there which argument might also confute them which thought it was seated vnder the North-pole The last opinion which I hold the truest is of some latter Writers that Paradise was seated in a Region South-east from Mesopotania which is most amply and copiously proued by Sr Walter Rawleigh to whom I referre my Reader only two reasons I will alleage The first from the name of Eden sith there is found an Iland of this name North-west from the place assigned very fruitfull pleasant in all commodities of the Earth and in later times knowne also by the name of Eden which is likely to haue been continued from the beginning Secondly from the Riuers of Paradise which cannot be imagined to meet in any part of the world for Tigris and Euphrates it is certaine that they are found in this very Region for the other Riuer Gihon that it is falsely vnderstood of a Riuer running through Aethiopia is also most certaine for such a Riuer could neuer meet with Euphrates which is out of question one of the Riuers of Paradise for asmuch as it is so farre distaÌt diuided from it by the Mediterranean Sea wherefore I am constrained rather to embrace their opinion which interpret Chut to be a part of Arabia where Chush the father of Noah seââled his first habitation which for this cause he called after his own name but afterward in processe of time his posterity growing exceeding large and populous they were enforced to passe ouer into Africa and so settle themselues in Aethiopia which place also they called after the same name as wee haue seene of later yeares the Spaniards at the first discouery of the West Indies called one place Hispaniola and another Hispania Noua in remembrance of their former habitation But howsoeuer it be certain it is that Paradise was seated in the East from whence mankind had it's first off-spring And probable it is that Adam being excluded out of Paradise was cast into some place neare adioyning thereunto which may also from our habitable place of the West be accounted Eastward 3 The first plantation of Inhabitants immediatly after the Deluge begunne in the East As Adam the father of all Nations before the flood began his ofspring in the East neere Paradise so the second father of Nations Noah in the East first beganne to repeople the world after the deluge Which besides the clearer testimony of holy Scripture may sundry waies be demonstrated First because it is most certaine that the Earth beganne first to bee peopled neere the place where the Arke rested which is the mountaine Ararat Whether this be a mountaine of Armenia as the coÌmon Interpreters imagine or the mountain Caucasus betwixt Scythia India as some later Writers with greater probabilities haue guessed hath suffered a great dispute all agree in this that it was Eastward I will not be here ouer curious but refer it to our historicall part where we shall particularly handle the memorable accidents of particular places Enough it is to proue that the first plantatioÌ after the flood was East-ward 2ly no small probability is drawne from the ciuility magnificence and populosity of these Easterne nations before others For it is certaine that many excellent Arts haue flourished amongst those Easterne people before euer our westerne climate dreamed of such matters AmoÌgst many other matters Artillery Printing was in vse amongst the Chinois East-Indies of ancient time long before this inuention was known to vs as the Portugalls who haue trauailed thither haue confirmed To the vse of gunnes and ordinance many suppose Philostratus to haue alluded speaking in the life of Apollonius Tiraneus lib 2. cap 14. Where he saith that the people dwelling betwixt Hyphasis and Ganges vse not to goe farre to warre but driue away their enemies with thunder and lightning sent downe from Iupiter By which meanes it is said that Hercules and Bacchus ioyning their forces were there defeated and that Hercules there cast away his golden shield
For the other Inuention of letters howsoeuer it were by the Graecians ascribed to Cadmus as the first Inuentour because he was the man that first discouered it to the Graecians it is most certaine that it was as ancient as Seth And that Printing first came to vs from this Easterne part appeares by Iohn Guttemberg who brought it first out of the Easterne world Which art Conradus being instructed in brought the practise thereof to Rome which afterward one Gesnerus a French-man much bettered and perfected For howsoeuer amongst the Europaeans this inuention seemed but newly borne yet the Chinois had it before either the Aegyptians or Phaenicians When the Graecians had neither knowledg nor ciuility which is witnessed aboue a hundred yeares gone by the Spaniards and Portugalls Farther for the magnificence of those nations an argument may bee drawne from the History of Alexander the great who found more stately buildings and Cities in the little kingdome of Porus which lay side by side against the East-Indies then in all his former trauailes for in Alexanders time learning ciuility were not spread so farre west as Rome Neither did he esteeme of Italy any otherwise then of a barbarous and vnciuill place which made him to turne his army rather against Babilon and the east which seemed a farre worthier prize Moreouer Paulus Venetus shewes that letters and discipline was first borrowed from the easterne people without any returne of interest A third reason may bee from the extraordinary strength of those easterne people in most ancient times For it is reported by Diodorus Siculus out of Clesias that Semiramis the wife of Ninus not many discents from Noah brought an army to inuade India of three millions besides horses and waggoners Neither had Staurobates her aduersary smaller multitudes to encounter her which extraordinary strength and multitude of men could not possibly issue out of any Colony sent thither from the westerne parts And therefore it must needs follow that they had their first ofspring and originall in those easterne parts neere India Sundrie other reasons might bee alleaged but these I suppose will suffice to fortifie this assertion Then it is manifest that the first Plantation of nations begunne in the easterne parts of the Earth But where we shall place and define this Easterne part seemes a matter of greater difficulty then the other Sr Walter Rawleigh out of the premised arguments would seeme to proue that this first plantation was farre âast as farre as India neere which he would haue the Arke to rest to wit on the mountaine Caucasus lying betwixt India Scythia Notwithstanding the authority of the learned Author I find that the most ancient writers haue drawne the original of all nations soone after the flood from the Caldaeans or at least amongst all made them the first For confirmation of which opinion they vrge many strong arguments In the first place they vrge the testimony of Moses in the 11 of Genesis where speaking of the first assembly of people after the flood he relates that they came from the East into the plains of Shinaar in which place stood Babilon the chiefe seat of the Caldaeans To this they adde the testimony of Metasthenes Herodotus Câesias Xenophon which haue afterwards bin seconded by Diogenes Laertius Philo Porphyry in a certaine epistle to Boethus Clemens Alexandrinus in Stromatis Eusebius de Euangelica demonstratione Theodoretus lib 1. de Graecarum affectionum ouratione Rabbi Moyses Maymonis filius lib 3. cap. 30. Perplexorum with almost all the Interpreters of the Hebrewes All which with vniforme consent haue affirmed that Ciuility Arts and sciences deriued their first descent from the Caldaeans Hence they faigne that Prometheus being a Caldaean for that he recalled men from a wilde life to a more ciuill conuersation and taught the regular motion of the starrs and planets before vnknowne stole fire from heauen and animated men formed out of clay with a caelestiall soule But aboue all which may be collected in this kind no small argument may bee drawne from the markes and footesteppes of the Hebrew and Chaldy tongues which in no mixture of tongues or processe of time could euer be abolished For this being the first of all other languages was preserued by Abraham and his posterity And challengeth antiquity before euer the Latin or Graecian tongues had any memory in so much as all the ancient nations of the world are found in most of their originall names of Gods peoples Princes and places to make vse of the Hebrew or Chaldey tongues differing onely in dialect which without manifest wresting and absurdity cannot well be deriued from other latter languages The first father of the people of Europe was Iaphet the sonne of Noah according to the ioynt consent of Hebrewes Graecians and Latines To which alludes the Poet where he saies Audax Iapetigenus This name ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Iaphet in Hebrew signifieth asmuch as Dilatation or enlargement Whereas the Greeke Etymologists ridiculously draw it from many other originalls in the like sort Tacitus ignorant of the Hebrew would haue the people of Palestine to be called Iudaei quasi Idaei from the mountaine Ida in Creete from which he dreames they were deriued whereas the word in the Chaldy signifies as much as Praysers In like manner Ion or according to Homer Iaon supposed the first Author of the Iones would the Graecians deriue from a flower whereas the word in Hebrew signifie as much as a deceiuer Whence Daniel prophecied of Alexander the great that the King of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that is Iaan or Iauan should raigne in Assiria Instances in this kind are infinite as of Danaus drawne from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Dan which signifies a Iudge whence comes Dardanus which is the seat of Iudges Of Ianus from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Iaijn signifying wine in which sense hee is by Halicharnisseus called Oenotrius Of Achaeis which signifies Greece Aegipt which is streight or narrow Nimrode Rebellous Ninus a sonne Niniue the house of Ninus Solon quasi Solam a peace-maker So Cadmus supposed to bee the father of letters and learning amongst the Graecians signifies in the originall so much as an Easterne man or an ancient man Should wee runne any further on this point wee should bee thought to write a dictionary for as much as all the ancient names amongst the Graecians spring from the same fountaine Whence that Aegyptian Priest had good reason to obiect to Solon That the Graecians seemed children because they had nothing ancient amongst them But to better purpose a Christian obiected to the Graecians that Moyses the Lawgiuer to the Christians was ancienter then all the Graecian Gods Other reasons are taken from the Religion of the Hebrewes out of which seeme to be deriued all the famous religions of the Earth For to let passe the Christian Iewish Mahometan Religions at this day flourishing all of them challenging great antiquity and taking a great
of the inuention consists in finding out the proportion of any proportion as a degree halfe degree or the like to the number of miles or Furlongs answerable thereunto for which purpose many skilfull Mathematicians haue inuented many excellent wayes of great vse and delight 1 By the eleuation of the Pole or obseruation of an Eclipse or some knowne Starre the circuit of the Earth may be found out By the Eleuation of the Pole it is performed after this manner let there be obserued two Cities or other notable Land-marks placed iust North and South vnder the same Meridian In these two Citties or markes let the Eleuation of the Pole be exactly noted Then substract the Eleuation of the Southerne Cittie which is lesser out of the Northerne which is greater the residue containes the distance of these places in degrees which being experimentally knowne by Miles Halfe-miles Furlongs or such like measures will shew the true proportion betwixt a degree and his number of miles which being againe multiplied by 360 will shew the whole circumference of the Earth For example sake wee will take two famous Cities of England Oxford and Yorke which are situated if not exactly yet very neere the same Meridian The eleuation of the Pole here with vs at Oxford is 51 degrees and 30 minutes at Yorke it is 54 degrees 30 minutes or neere there about subtract the lesser from the greater the distance betwixt Oxford and Yorke will bee three degrees which distance experimentally knowne in miles will shew the proportion which wee shall finde to bee abating somewhat in regard of the crookednesse of the way about 180 answering to three degrees of the Meridian wherefore to one degree will answer 60 Miles which being multiplied by 360 the whole circle will produce 21600 the measure of the whole Earth The like may bee performed by an Eclipse in two Citties lying vnder the Equinoctiall circle two land-markes being once noted out lying vnder the Equinoctiall let there bee obserued in both the same Eclipse of the Moone especially in the beginning Now it being certainely found out how many houres the Eclipse beganne in the one place before the other wee must resolue their houres into degrees which is easily done for as much as to euery houre answeres 15 degrees in the Sunne Diurnall motion according to Astronomers Now the distance betweene these two Citties or markes being supposed first experimentally to be knowne will easily shew the correspondency betwixt the Degrees and miles which is here sought Another way is taught by Possidonius as easie as the former which is performed by some noted fixt Starre as Oculus Tauri Arcturus Spica Virginis or any other let there bee obserued vnder the same Meridian in the Earth two places whose distance is experimentally knowne in both these places let the Meridian altitude of the Starre be fully and perfectly obserued The difference of these two Altitudes will bee the number of degrees betwixt these two places whence we may obserue how many miles or other partsanswer to the number of these degrees betwixt these two places This way by Clauius is preferred before the former for as much as it requires not in any place the knowledge of the Eleuation of the Pole which in any place cannot be certainely knowne without long and diligent search and obseruation As for Geographicall Tables they are not alwayes at all times to be had at least worthy credit 2 By the obseruation of the Noone-shadowes the measure of the Earth may be found out This way was inuented by Eratosthenes a famous Mathematician who by obseruation of the Noone-shadowes obserued at the same time at two diuerse places situate vnder the same Meridian found out the circumference of the Earth The places which he chose for this purpose were Siene and Alexandria situated vnder the same Meridian the one inclining to the South the other to the North. The Distance betwixt these two places is supposed to be knowne whence hee proceeded in this manner First he erected a Gnomon at right Angles on the plaine of the Horizon when the Sunne was in the beginning of Cancer called the Solstice from which he imagined two Rayes or Beames to be cast at Noone the one passing by Siene the most Southerne part the other by Alexandria the most Northerne so that at Siene the Sun being then in the Solstice passed into the Center of the world the place being supposed to haue beene situate vnder the Tropicke The other passed by the Vertex of the said Gnomon whence by proportion of the shadow to the Gnomon by a Geometricall kinde of working he found out the place betweene Alexandria and Siene which demonstration formoreeuidence wee will here set downe Let there bee in the Earth described a circle passing by Alexandria and Siene in which let A bee the place where Alexandria stands B the place of Siene the Gnomon or Style erected at Alexandria AD The Sun-beame carried to the Center of the world at Siena FBC The Sunne-beame passing by the Vertex or toppe of the Gnomon seated at Alexandria EDG casting his shadow AG toward the North let the Gnomon be conceaued to bee prolonged vnto the Center C Now for as much as in the Triangle ADG the Arch AG without any sensible difference may bee taken for a Right line hauing an insensible magnitude in regard of the whole Earth and the Angle A is a right angle and the two sides AD and AG knowne the former by supposition being a Gnomon taken at our pleasure the latter by any measure or at least by the knowne proportion of the shadow to the Gnomon according to the Doctrine of Triangles the Angle ADG will bee knowne For whereas the sides AD and AG are supposed to be knowne their Quadrants also will be knowne which being equall to the square made of DG by the 47 proposition of the 1 of Euclide the right side DG will easily be knowne out of these grounds by the doctrine of the Sines and Tangents is easily found out the Angle ADG and by consequence the alternate Angle ACB which by the 27 of the first of Euclide is equall vnto it for as much as the two Radii FBC and FDG may be supposed to bee Parallels in so small a distance as Alexandria Siene compared with the Sun the Angle being knowne the Arch AB subtended to the Angle C will also be knowne which is the space intercepted betwixt Siene and Alexandria and for example sake if Eratosthenes as some write found out the Arch AB to containe in degrees 85 and experience had taught the length of the Iourney betwixt these Citties to haue contained 6183 ½ Furlongs It would appeare by the Golden Rule that 360 degrees containing the whole circuit of the Earth must proportionally answer to 252000 Furlongs 1 The opinions of Cosmographers concerning the measure of the Earth are diuerse which is chiefely to be imputed to their errour in obseruing the distances of places
Expression and Manner of Description of Regions aswell in the finding out the Angle of position as Translation of places formerly found out into the Globe or Chart. Chap. 4. Speciall which contains the distinctioâ of a place into Sea whose description is called Hydrography in which we are to consider the Adiuncts of the Sea which are either Internall which are inbred in the Nature of the Sea which againe are either Absolute such as agree to the Sea without any comparison of it with the Land Here we obserue in the water of the Sea 1 The Figure and Quality Chap. 5. 2 The Motion Naturall and Violent Chap. 6. Comparatiue which concerne the Depth Situation and Termination of the Sea Chap. 7. Externall which concerne Sea-Trafficke and Marchandize Chap. 8. Land which we terme Pedography whose Accidents are either Naturall which are againe diuided into Perpetuall such as ordinarily agree to the earth these againe are either Absolute wherein we haue no respect vnto the Sea Here we consider the Nature 1 Of riuers fountaines and lakeâ Chap. 9. 2 Of mountaines vallieâ and plaine-Regions woody and champion Countreyes Chap. 10. Comparatiue wherein we consider the Termination of the Sea with the Land Chap. 11. Casuall which seldome fall out such as are Inundations and Earth-quakes Chap. 12. Ciuill which concernes the Inhabitants of any place in whom we consider the Originall or off-spring Chap. 13. Disposition which is varied either accorââââ ãâ¦ã 1 Site in respect of the Heauens Chap. 14. 2 Soyle Chap. 15. GEOGRAPHIE THE SECOND BOOKE CHAP. I. Of Topographie and the nature of a place IN the former Treatise by Gods assistance wee haue treated of the Sphericall part of Geographie It will in the second place seeme conuenient to speake of the Topicall part of it 2 The Topicall part teacheth the description of the Terrestriall Globe so farre forth as it is diuided into places The nature of Topographie whereof we are to treat in this second part is discouered vnto vs not only in the name which promiseth a description of places but also in the differences set downe by Ptolomy himselfe betwixt the Sphericall and Topicall part the former of which hee cals Geographie and latter Topographie whereof wee haue spoken at large in the first Chapter of our former booke Here onely wee will note this one distinction that Tââograhie may bee tâken either more generally or specially Generally we may take it so farre foorth as it discouers vnto vs either the whole world and all his parts or at least some great and principall parts such as is an Empire Region Kingdome or such like More specially and particularly it hath vsually beene taken for the description of a very small place whose situation in respect of the heauens is not noted but of the parts one to the other such as are Cities Burrowes Townes Castles Lakes and Riuers The former whereat wee chiefly aime cannot well bee performed without the vse of the Sphericall part That latter we will more sparingly touch being an infinite taske in the whole earth to descend to all particulars which come in our way yet shall wee not altogether omit or neglect such circumstances in their due places so farre foorth as wee can leauing the rest to such Topographers who spend their stocke in the description of some particular place or Region whereof this our Age hath produced many deseruing high commendations This Science was anciently adorned by Homer Anââimander Milesius Haecataeus Democritus Eudoxius Dicaearchus Euphorus as wee finde in Straboes first booke to which afterward succeede Eratosthenes Polybius Possidonius and diuers others Which part requires little or small knowledge in the Sciences Mathematicall but challengeth more affinity with the Physicall and Politicall part of Philosophie and therefore is more subiect to popular vnderstanding then the former and may without it affoord some profit to the Reader 3 The Topicall part is either generall or speciall The generall is that which handles the generall Adiuncts of a place 4 A place is a superficiall space of the Terrestriall Globe fitted for habitation To the constitution of a place as it is here Topographically taken there ought to be a concurrence of two things which we may call Matter and Forme The Matter is the space contained or superficiall platforme of the earth whereon wee dwell The forme is the capability or aptnesse of it for habitation both which concurring together are conceiued to make a place such as wee here Topographically vnderstand for here wee vnderstand not a place Physically for the receptacle of a naturall body in which sense the Heauens and all the elements are said to haue their naturall places Neither yet Geometrically for a plaine whereon a line or figure may bee drawne but Topographically for the vpper face of the earth whereon people or other liuing creatures may inhabite This place as appeares by reason and holy Scriptures was more ancient then habitation For whereas in the first Masse the earth was inueloped with waters on euery side affording no place for dwelling Almighty God is said afterwards to haue separated and parted the waters from the dry land making the one a Receptacle for Fishes and such creatures of the deepe the other for a dwelling place for mankind and such creatures as breath vpon the land yet hath hee so prouided in his diuine wisdome that neither the Inhabitants of the land can well want the Sea nor the liuing creatures in the Sea want the land The one appeares in that wee are inforced to make vse of the sea not onely for âood and nourishment whereof a great part consisteth of fish but also for our Traffique and commerce with forraine Nations which is better effected by Sea then Land-voyages The latter is as easily shewed in that the fishes of the Sea deriue not onely their composition but also their proper nourishment from the land whereof wee shall haue more occasion to speake hereafter Now wee are moreouer to consider that a place may bee taken in a double sense first more largely for any place wherein a creature may liue for longer or shorter time Secondly more strictly for such a space of earth whereon mankinde may conueniently reside or dwell The former comprehends not onely the land but also the water for experience shewes that men in ships may for a time reside and dwell on the backe of the maine Ocean But the latter betokening a continuance of habitation is onely agreeable to the land Which sense howbeit it be more consonant to the common vse of speech yet for methode sake wee are inforced to vse the former vnderstanding by habitation not onely a place of conuenient residence but any other whereon a creature for a time may breathe and liue 1 The Terrestriall Spheare is euerywhere habitable It was an ancient opinion as we haue formerly touched that the earth was not euerywhere habitable namely in the Intemperate Zones whereof the one was placed in the middle of the earth
the other at the endes the former was thought not habitable by reason of the extremity of heat because the Sunne-beames there fall perpendicularly and so make a greater reflection The other for extremity of cold by reason of the obliquity of the Sunne-beames causing little or no reflection whence a second cause seemes to be drawne from the extreame drought of those places which seemes most opposite to mans temper requiring a reasonable degree of moisture But notwithstanding these reasons of the ancients it must needes bee confessed as an vndoubted truth confirmed by experience of many Nâuigatours that those Regions by them imagined vnfit for habitation are not onely habitable but in many places very populous Neither want there many reasons found out by latter writers to mitigate the rigour of this opinion some whereof wee haue already touched in our former treatise First whereas they vrge the places vnder the Equinoctiall to bee vnhabitable by reason of intemperate heat wee may easily answer that the dayes and nights are then alwayes equall containing not aboue 12 houres so that the space of either being shorter the cold of the night may well asswage the extreame heat of the day Another reason is ordinarily taken from the extraordinarily high mountaines commonly placed vnder the Equinoctiall which approaching neerer the middle Region of the aire must of necessity partake some what more of cold which dayly experience can witnesse in that their top â are couered with snow euen in the depth of Summer Thirdly the neerenesse of the maine Ocean to a great part of this Region is a great cause of this cold temper because water is found to bee by nature cold Fourthly the set and certaine windes by nature ordained to blow in the hottest times of the yeere may adde much to temperature Fiftly the extraordinary Raines and showers which those places suffer which are vnder the Line especially when the Sunne is verticall are a great cause of the asswaging of the heat of the Sunne Lastly the custome of the Inhabitants being from their cradles inured to no other quality or disposition of the ayre will take away much from our admiration On the other side no small reasons may bee shewed why the Regions lying neere or vnder the Pole should not bee so extreamely cold but that they may admit of habitation First because the Sunne being for six moneths together aboue their Horizon must needs impresse into the Ayre more heat then otherwise it would doe Besides the thicknesse incorporated as it were with heat must needs receaue into it more degrees of it then a thinner and more refined ayre because the intention of the quality most commonly supposeth the condensation or thickning of the subiect wherein it is But no greater reason can bee shewed in this point then the custome of the Northerne inhabitants exposed from their infancy to no other temperament If wee should aske a reason why wee vnmaske our faces against the encounter of the greatest cold being a soft and tender part not daring to vncouer our other parts what reason can a man inuent but custome If any should aske why barbarous people liuing in farre colder climates then this of ours goe altogether naked whereas the cold is mother of many diseases amongst vs who goe alwayes clothed onely vse and custome can yeeld an answer These reasons make it probable enough that no place of the whole world is by nature made not habitable Now that it is not only inhabitable by nature but also for the most part truly inhabited will appeare as easily if wee trust the testimony of Nauigatours which haue discouered few or no Regions wanting some ânhabitants But that this proposition may bee more distinctly vnderstood wee must know that the whole world is diuided into Sea and Land for the Sea we may call it habitable in that large sense before mentioned to wit that on it euery where men in ships may breath and liue which is plaine out of experience of Nauigatours who haue sailed round about the Earth from East to West and haue entred farre towards the North and South where at least some times of the yeere or other they might finde the way passable For the land which is here principally vnderstood wee must note that it may bee considered two wayes either for euery little quillet or parcell of land contaned in the superficies of the Earth or else for a certaine Region of some indifferent greatnesse In the former sense it were too much to affirme euery part of the Earth to bee habitable for as much as many places as the toppes of the Alpes or the sands of Africa properly admit of no habitation yet in an improper and large sense they may be called habitable because on them a man may liue and breath for a certaine space of time But if by the parts of the land wee vnderstand some reasonable greatnesse no great doubt can bee made but that it is either already inhabited by mankinde or can at least admit of habitation as that which not only for a time affords a man life and breath but also some conuenient meanes of sustenance for no countrey hath euer beene found so indigent and barren of all vitall aides which is neither capeable of liuing creatures in the land fit for mans nourishment or that cannot draw Fishes from the Sea or if this should faile cannot afford Fruits or Herbage from the ground or in case all the rest were deficient cannot haue passage by Water to other Countries whence to relieue their necessities And no question but nature hath stored euery Countrey with some commodity or other which by trafficke may draw riches from other Regions as by instances may more particularly appeare hereafter when wee shall speake of particular Regions and their seuerall accidents 2 All places of the Earth haue suffered manifold alteration and change as well in Name as Nature I need not spend time to demonstrate this Assertion for that euery place of the Earth hath beene subiect to much mutation in the processe of time as well in Nature of the Soyle as of the Inhabitants a few obuious instances in each Countrey will easily certifie yet will it not seeme amisse I hope to shew the progresse manner and causes of this alteration which would giue no small satisfaction To discourse of all changes according to all times were a matter infinite Wee may referre all to two heads to wit the change of Names and the change of Nature Concerning the former that most Countreyes haue changed their first and originall names is most euident to such as consult the Maps and writings of our common Geographers for few or none will discouer vnto vs any Region by that name by which it was knowne in former times in so much as great controuersie and dispute hath growne about diuerse countreyes mentioned by ancient writers whereof the name should take its first originall but of this change we shall speake hereafter But if we
other in greatnesse as for example let there be imagined two Parallelogrammes the one an exact square of six foot the other a long square of 10 foot in Length and two in Breadth The one comprehends 36 square feet the other 20 as will appeare by multiplication of their sides the one into the other in which numbers there is a great inequality Yet notwithstanding if we measure the circuit or circumference of each Figure we shall finde them equall to wit of 24 foot as will appeare by their figures here prefixed For amongst those Figures called Isoperimetrall or of equall Perimeter that is alwayes to bee esteemed the greatest which is the more Ordinate figure which is that which commeth neerest to an equality of Sides and Angles But in Inordinate Figures of which nature for the most part are all Regions infinite errour may be committed if we measure them by circumnauigation wherefore to measure a Countrey more exactly it behooueth vs not only to know the Circumference but also the Diameter 2 Those Countreyes are more exactly measured which partake of a plaine surface The reason of this Proposition is easily shewed because a plaine Superficies consists of right lines But a right line as Euclide witnesseth is the shortest betwixt his owne bounds whereas betweene two points infinite crooked lines may bee drawne whence it must needs follow that more certainty and exactnesse is to bee expected in the measure of a Plaine Countrey whose Diameter is a Right line then from a Crooked and hilly trey Region where the Corde is crooked and gibbous Whence some Mathematicians haue demonstrated that more men may stand on a Sphericall Superficies as a Hill or mountaine then on a Plaine although both are found to be of the same Diameter It may bee here objected that the earth is euery where crooked and orbicular and therefore no part thereof can bee measured by a Right line I answer that the Earth is indeed Sphericall as wee haue formerly proued yet may some little part or portion thereof bee counted as a Plaine because such parts haue little or no proportion to the whole masse of the Earth This conuexity therefore being so little may passe for a plaine without any sensible errour Hence wee may gather that the Land cannot so exactly bee measured as the Sea For as much as the land for the most part is vneuen varied with hills Daleâ and other inequalities But the Sea euery where plaine and like it selfe except the rising of the waues and surges which in so great a distance will make no difference at all Secondly we may hence collect that of two Countreyes of the same bounds and figure that must bee the greatest whose soyle and superficies is most varyed and crooked because as wee haue said crooked lines betwixt the same points are longer then right and therefore measure the greater Magnitude 9 Thus much of the Magnitude The Bound of a Countrey is a line compassing it round This definition is very euident in that euery Region is Topographically considered as a Plaine or Superficies whose bound is a line compassing it round for as a Line is bounded by a Point so a Superficies by a Line as wee are taught in Geometry Now wee must consider that the bounds of Countreyes may bee taken two manner of wayes First Geometrically for the meere line which is imagined to goe round about it Seconly Geographically for the visible markes and Characters whereby the line is traced out vnto vs such as are Riuers Cities Hills Castles and such like These markes whereby a Topographer noteth out vnto vs the bounds and limits of Countreyes are of two sorts either Naturall or Artificiall The naturall are such as are deriued from nature without mans appointment such as are Riuers Creekes Mountaines Woods and such like other matters which bound the extents of Countreyes The Artificiall bounds are such as depend vpon some constitution or decree of a man which so diuide one Countrey from another the partition being often made where no notable marke or bound is set by nature 1 Naturall bounds are more certaine then Artificiall The reason is because naturall signes or markes which are set for bounds of Countreyes are alwayes the same and as it were continued from the first creation and cannot bee changed without some great Earthquake Inundatâon or such like alteration in nature which very seldome happeneth and in very few places whereas on the contrary part such bounds and limits as depend vpon mans appointment may bee altered and changed according to the wills and dispositions of men as wee daily see amongst vs that ancient lands and inheritances are much questioned concerning their bounds and limits as also great controuersie is made amongst Geographers concerning the bounding of Countreyes and Territories anciently knowne and defined by old writers For names and particular contracts betwixt men in a few ages may easily slip out of memory especially when the possessours themselues as it often happens striue to extinguish and raze out the memory of former ages leauing behind them no marke or signe to tell the world their wronged neighbours right or the limited fortunes of their owne possessions 2 Equall bounds doe not alwayes containe equall Regions This Proposition is plainely demonstrated before in this very Chapter wherein wee haue proued of two figures supposed equall in the circumference that to bee the greatest which more neerely approacheth an Ordinate figure which wee define to bee that which commeth neerest to an equality of Sides and Angles So that two Regions the one round the other square may haue an equall compasse about and yet the former will bee a great deale greater in respect of the space therein contained 10 In the next place we are to consider the Quality By the quality I vnderstand the naturall temper and disposition of a certaine place 1 Speciall places are endowed with speciall tempers and dispositions That Almighty God who created the whole world hath not granted the same gifts and indowments to all Countreyes but hath diuided diuerse commodities to diuerse Regions seemeth a matter out of all controuersie For who findes not by experience one Countrey hot another cold a third temperate one fruitfull another barren a third indifferent one healthie another vnwholsome The like diuersity is also found in the inhabitants themselues according to that common prouerbe Valentes Thebani Acutiores Attici whence this diuersity should arise it is a hard matter to vnfold for as much as many causes herein concurre sometimes to helpe sometimes to crosse one the other yet will I striue as neere as I can to reduce them to certaine Heads by which a generall guesse may bee giuen to the particulars The first reason may bee drawne from the situation of the Earth in respect of the heauen and Starres therein fixed This may cause a diuersity of disposition two wayes 1 By reason of the Sun and his generall light and influxe whence in the Earth are ingendred
it greater at the time of the Soâstice the reflection being greater approaching neerer to right Angles If wee consider the Earth wee shall finde no reason at all why the heat should be more predominant at this time then another Then must wee of necessity ascribe it to a speciall Influence of the Dog-starre being in coniunction with the Sunne Many other Instances might bee here produced but I hold it needlesse being a matter consented to amongst most Philosophers The second point concernes the Extent and limitation of this operation in inferiour bodyes for vnfolding of which point wee must know that this operation may haue respect either to the Elements of Earth and Aire or else to the Inhabitants residing on the Earth For the operation of the Heauens vpon the Elementary masse experience it selfe will warrant yet with this limitation that this operation is measured and squared according to the matter whereinto it is receaued as for example wee shall finde the Moone more operatiue and predominant in moist Bodyes then in others partaking lesse of this quality Likewise the heat caused by the Sunne more feruent where it meets with a subiect which is more capable Whence it comes to passe that one Countrey is found hotter then another although subiect to the same Latitude in respect of the Heauens for howsoeuer the action of the Heauens bee alwayes the same and vniforme in respect of the Heauen it selfe yet must the same bee measured and limited according to the subiect into which it is imprest For the Inhabitants wee are to distinguish in them a twofold nature the one Materiall as partaking of the Elements whereof euery mixt body is compounded The other spirituall as that of the Soule The former wee cannot exempt from the operation of the Heauens for as much as euery Physician can tell how much the humours and parts of our body are stirred by celestiall influence especially by the Moone according to whose changes our bodies dayly vndergoe an alteration For the humane soule how farre it is gouerned by the stars is a matter of great consequence yet may wee in some sort cleere the doubt by this one distinction The Heauens may bee said to haue an operation vpon the soule two manner of wayes First Immediatly by it selfe Secondly Mediately by the humours and corporeall organes whereof the Soules operation depends The first wee absolutely deny for the soule being an immateriall substance cannot bee wrought vpon by a materiall agent as Philosophers affirme for the second it may bee granted without any absurdity For the operation of the soule depends meerely on materiall and corporeall organes The Elementary matter whereof these organes consist are subiect to the operation of the Heauens as any other Elementary matter So that wee may affirme the Heauens in some sort to gouerne mens mindes and dispositions so farre forth as they depend vpon the bodily instruments But here wee must note by the way that it is one thing to inferre a Necessity another thing to giue an Inclination The former we cannot absolutely auerre for as much as mans will which is the commandresse of his actions is absolutely free not subiect to any naturall necessity or externall coaction Yet can wee not deny a certaine inclination for as much as the soule of a man is too much indulgent vnto the body by whose motion it is rather perswaded then commanded The third point we haue in hand is to shew how many wayes the Heauens by their operation can affect and dispose a place on the Earth Here wee must note that the operation of the Heauens in the Earth is twofold either ordinary or extraordinary The ordinary is againe twofold either variable or Inuariable The variable I call that which is varyed according to the season as when the Sunne by his increase or decrease of heat produceth Summer or Winter Spring or Autumne which operation depends from the motion of the Sunne in his Eclipticke line wherein hee comes sometimes neerer vnto vs sometimes goeth fârther from our verticall point The Inuariable I call that whereby the same places are supposed to inioy the same temperament of heat or cold without any sensible difference in respect of the Heauens putting aside other causes and circumstances for how soeuer euery Region is subiect to these foure changes to wit Summer Winter Spring and Autumne yet may the same place inioy the same temperament of Summer and Winter one yeere as it doth another without any great alteration and this depends from the situation of any place neerer or farther of in respect of the Equinoctiall circle The Extraordinary operation of the Heauens depends from some extraordinary combination or concurse of Planets particularly affecting some speciall place whence the cause may bee probably shewed why some place should some âeeres proue extraordinary fruitfull other times degenerate againe to barrennesse or why it should sometimes bee molested with too much drouth and other times with too much moisture To let passe the other considerations as more appertaining to an Astrologer then a Geographer wee will here onely fasten on the Inuariable operation of the Heauens on earthly places and search how farre forth the places of the Earth are varied in their Temper Quality according to their diuerse situations and respect to the Equinoctiall circle taking onely notice of the Diurnall and ordinary motion of the Sunne in his course Herein shall wee finde no small variety not onely in the temper of the Ayre but also in the disposition and complection of the Inhabitants both which we shall more specially declare the former in this Chapter the other in due place wherein we shall haue occasion to treat of the materiall constitution and manners of diuerse Nations 2 In respect of the Heauens a place may be diuided two wayes First into the North and South Secondly into the East and West 3 Any place is said to be Northerne which lyeth betwixt the Equatour and Arcticke Pole Southerne betwixt the Equatour and the Antarcticke-Pole The whole Globe of the Earth as we haue formerly taught is diuided by the Equatour into two Hemispheares whereof the one is called Northerne lying towards the Northerne or Arcticke Pole the other towards the other Pole is called the Southerne But here to cleere all doubt wee must vnderstand that a place may be said to be Northerne or Southerne two manner of wayes either Absolutely or Respectiuely Absolutely Northerne and Southerne places are tearmed when they are situated in the Northerne or Southerne Hemispheares as wee haue taught in this Definition But such as are Respectiuely Northerne may be vnderstood of such Regions whereof the one is situate neerer the Pole the other neerer the Equatour In the first place here wee are to consider a place as it is absolutely taken to be either North or South Concerning which we will particularly note these two Theorâmes 1 Northerne and Southerne places alike situate generally inioy a like disposition Wee haue formerly granted to