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 pâ—uement 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 Eâ—rth 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 chiefâ—â—â— 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 proâ—uced 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 absoâ—utely Sphericall The first part is shewed that it is round from Nâ—rth to South for if a man trauell from North to South or contrariwise from South to North hee shall perceiue nâ—w starres in the Heauens to appeare and shew themselues which before hâ—e 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 Trogloâ—ites of their dwelling in caues cannot see any Starre of the Great Beare Whence wee may concluâ—e 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
on this superficies successiuely growes greater from the Equinoctiall towards either Pole vntill it challenge equall Diameter with the Cylinder and likewise all the Meridians growing wider and farther off till they bee as farre distant euery-where as is the Equinoctiall one from the other Hence may easily bee vnderstood the true Mathematicall production or generation of this part for first of a Sphericall superficies it is made a Cylinder and secondly of a Cylinder it is made a Parallellogramme or plaine superficies For the concaue superficies of a Cylinder is nothing else but a plaine Parallellogramme imagined to bee wound about two equall equidistant circles hauing one common Axell-tree perpendicular vpon the Centers of them both and the Peripheries of them both equall to the length of the Parallellogramme as the distance betwixt those Centers is equall to the bredth thereof In this Chart so conceiued to be made all places must needs be situate in the same Longitudes and Latitudes Meridians Parallels and Rhumbes which they had in the Globe it selfe because we haue imagined euery point betwixt the Equatour and the Poles to swell equally in Longitude and Latitude till it apply it selfe to the concauity of the Cylinder so that no point can bee displaced from his proper seat but only dilated in certaine proportion And this I take to bee the best conceit for the ground-worke or platforme of this Geographicall Chart. 2 Except the distances betwixt the Parallels in a Plaine-Chart be varied it cannot bee excused from sensible errour It hath beene thought by many Geographers that the Earth cannot aptly according to due symmetry and proportion be expressed in a plaine superficies as it is in the Globe for as much as that which is ioyned and vnited in the Globe being of a Sphericall figure is in the Mappe extended and dilated to a diuerse longitude and latitude from that Sphericall delineation and although it hath been generally conceited by many writers that no due proportion could bee obserued in a Sphericall superficies without sensible errour yet most exception hath beene made against this Chart here mentioned consisting of one face and straight lines which in substance if we cōsider the Circles differs not from the Nauticall Chart of whose errours Martin Cortese Peter Nonnus and many others haue complained which escapes are excellently opened and reformed by our Countryman Edward Wright in his Correction of Nauticall Errours The reason or ground which drew these men to thinke that the Earth could not bee proportionably described in a plaine superficies proceeded from the common proportion of the Lines and Circles on the Chart. For supposing the Parallels cutting the Meridians at equall Angles to obserue an equall distance euery-where one from the other these errours and absurdities must of necessity ensue First what places soeuer are delineate in the ordinary Chart the length of them from East to West hath a greater proportion to the bredth from North to South then it ought to haue except onely vnder the Equinoctiall and this errour is so much the more augmented by how much those places are distant from the Equinoctiall for the neerer you approach the Pole the proportion of the Meridian to the Parallell still increaseth so that at the Parallell of 60 degrees of latitude the proportion of the length to the bredth is twice greater then it ought to bee for as much as the Meridian is double to that Parallell and so in all the rest whence as Edward Wright obserues the proportion of the length of Friesland to the bredth thereof is two-fold greater then in the Globe which expresseth the true proportion because the Meridian is double to the Parallell of that Iland In like sort it is plaine that in the Ilands of Grock-land and Groenland the length to the bredth hath a foure-fold greater proportion in the Common Chart then in the Globe because the Meridian is foure-fold greater then the Parallell of those places Wherefore it cannot be conceited that the manner of finding out the difference of Longitude by the common Chart can bee any-where true without sensible errour except onely vnder the Equinoctiall or neere about it because in no other place the Parallell is equall to the Meridian In other places the errour will bee sensible according to the difference of the Meridian and Parallell of that place whereas if the contrary were granted it would follow that two ships sayling from North to South vnder two seuerall Meridians would keepe the same distance the one from the other of longitude neere the Pole which they had neere the Equatour which is impossible because Meridians cannot bee Parallell the one to the other but by how much they approach the Pole by so much they are neerer that in the end they all concurre and meete in the Pole it selfe Secondly this common Chart admitted there would arise great errours not onely in the situation of diuers places which appeare to bee vnder the same Meridian but also in the bearing of places one to the other The reason is manifest for that the Meridian is a certaine Rule of the site and position of places therefore whensoeuer any errour shall be committed in the Site and Position of the Meridian there must needs follow errours in the designation of the Rhumbes and other points of the Compasse And therefore euery respectiue position of place to place set downe in the common Chart cannot bee warranted A pregnant example wee haue in the way from India for the Promontory of Africke called the Promontory of three Points hauing of Northerne latitude 4 Degrees and a halfe and the Iland of Tristan Acugna hauing 36 degrees of Southerne latitude are in the common Chart set vnder the same Meridian But the Chart sheweth the distance betweene these Ilands and the Cape of good Hope to come neere to 400 leagues both which cannot stand together for if all the coast from the Promontory of Three Points vnto the Cape of Good-hope be rightly measured and the Promontory of Three Points lye also vnder the same Meridian with those Ilands yet must the distance bee much lesse But if it be not lesse it cannot stand with reason that it should haue the same Meridian with the Promontory of Three Points but must needes lye more Westward Thirdly there must needs arise a greater errour in the translating Sea-coasts and other such places out of the common Chart into the Globe because they haue only a respect to the Numbers of Degrees of Longitudes and Latitudes found therein so that not onely errours appeare in the Sea-Chart but also otherwhere thence deriued These and many more errours haue been detected in the common Sea-chart which as we haue said respecting the circles ought to be imagined one and the selfe-same with the proiection of the lines in a Geographicall table which ouersight Ger. Mercator in his vniuersall Map seemes to correct yet leaues no demonstration behind him to teach others the certaine way to draw the Lines
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 Inundatâ—on 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
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 neceâ—sarily 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
magnitude for as the Philosopher hath taught vs continuate and diuisible things cannot bee made out of such things as are meerely discontinuate and indiuisible but because it is the first Mathematicall principle or beginning of termination and figuration This point although it haue euery-where an vse in Geometrie yet no-where more remarkeable then when it becomes the center of a circle which center wee ought not to imagine a meere Geometricall conceit but such as findes ground in the Naturall constitution of the Terrestriall Spheare For seeing all terrene bodies are carried in a right line as by a Radius to one point from euery part of the circumference we may obserue a center as it were designed and pointed out by Nature it selfe in the Globe Some haue here distinguished betwixt a point Physicall and a point Mathematicall as allotting the former Latitude and sensible existence but making the other meerely Indiuisible But if the matter bee rightly vnderstood they are not two points but all one distinguished only by a diuers name of conceit or consideration For wee consider first a point as it is existent in a sensible particular body and so we call it Physicall Secondly wee abstract it from this or that body sensible but alwayes conceit it withall to bee in some body and in this sort wee terme it Mathematicall for the Mathematician abstracts not a Quantity or Quantitatiue signe from all subiects for so being an accident hee should conceiue it abstracted from its owne nature but from this or that sensible body as wood or stone Such a point ought we to imagine the center of the Earth to be not participating of any latitude or magnitude albeit existent in some magnitude I am not ignorant that some Writers haue taken a Physicall point for a small and insensible magnitude in which sense the Globe of the Earth is called the center of all heauenly motions But this sense is very improper and besides in this example is to bee vnderstood a point Opticall as such as carries no sensible or proportionable quantity in regard of the sight Taking then the center of the Earth to bee a point fixt in the middest of the Earthly Spheare as we haue described wee will further describe the nature of it in two Theoremes 1 The center of the Earth is not an Attractiue but a meere Respectiue point An Attractiue point I terme that which hath in it a vertue or power to draw and attract the Terrestriall parts or bodies in such sort as the Loadstone hath a power to draw iron or steele But a Respectiue point is that which the Bodies in their motions doe respect and conforme themselues vnto as the bound or center to which their course is directed Which may bee illustrated by the directiue operations of the Load-stone which wee shall hereafter handle by which the Magneticall Indix or needle pointeth directly Northward not that in the North is fixed any Attractiue vertue or operation whicâ— might cause that effect but because the Magneticall Instrument is directed towards such a point or center That the Center of the earth hath no Attractiue force may bee proued 1 Because it cannot in any probability bee thought that an Imaginary point hauing only a priuatiue Being and subsistence should challenge to it selfe any such operation For all positiue effects proceed out of positiue causes neither can it be imagined that this Attraction should grow out of a meere priuation Secondly should this be granted that the motion of Earthly parts should be from the Attractiue vertue of the Center it would follow necessarily that this motion should not bee Naturall but violent as proceeding from an externall cause which all ancient and moderne Philosophers deny 2 The same point is the center of Magnitude and waight in the Terrestriall Spheare That the same point in the Terrene Globe should make the center both of Magnitude and Waight may seeme very plaine 1 Because we are not to multiply things and Entities in our conceit without any necessary consequence drawne from Nature or Reason enforcing vs thereunto But what reason could euer perswade any man that the Earth had two Centers the one of Waight the other of Magnitude but only a bare Imagination without proofe or demonstration Secondly if this were granted that the Center of magnitude were remoued some distance from the other then consequently would one part of the Earth ouer-poize the other in ponderosity and so the whole Spheare would either be shaken out of its place or dissolue it selfe into its first principles Both of which being by experience contradicted our assertion will stand sure and vndoubted In the meane space we deny not but that some little difference may be admitted in regard of the vnequall parts of the Earth but this must needs be so small and insensible as cannot bee cacullated or cause any alteration 8 The Terrene parts conforming themselues to this center may bee considered two wayes either Absolutely or Comparatiuely Absolutely as euery part is considered in it selfe 9 A terrestriall part considered in it selfe vndergoes the respect either of a Point of Magnitude as a point when any signe or point in it selfe is considered in regard of his conformity to the center A Point albeit existing still in some magnitude as we haue shewed may notwithstanding bee abstracted from this or that body as seruing for the center of any body whose naturall inclination and conformity to the vniuersall center of the Earth we may in the first place handle as the Rule by which the motion and inclination of the whole magnitude ought to bee squared 1 Euery point or center of waighty body is moued toward the center of the Terrestriall Spheare by a right line A Right line is the measure and rule almost of all Naturall actions which albeit it be familiar in almost euery operation yet most of all in the motion of the Earthly bodies tending to the center of the Earth Why Nature in this kind should chiefly affect a Right line sundry reasons may bee alleaged 1 From the End which Nature doth propose it selfe which is to produce the worke which shee intends the readiest and shortest way as Aristotle testifies of her in the 5 of his Metaphisickes Now it is manifest that a Right line drawne betwixt the same points is alwayes shortest as Euclide shewes in his Elements where hee demonstrates that two sides of any triangle being counted together are longer then the third The better to vnderstand the working of Nature wee shall obserue in the motion of a heauy part to the center a double scope or end first that the said part of a terrestriall body should bee moued or separated from the place to which it is by violence transposed Secondly that this body should bee restored home and vnited to the Sphericall substance of the Earth in which it must chiefly seeke its preseruation That these two ends are best and soonest compassed by a right line is most manifest For
on the land in their perfect figure and greatnesse sayling farther off they will obserue them on the lower part little little diminished vntill such time as the tops only of the houses and trees will bee visible In like sort they which tarry on the Land will first espye the top and masâ— of a Ship approaching which sight will bee perfected more and more as the Ship drawes toward the land and at last all parts of it will shew themselues which accident can bee cast vpon no other cause then the Sphericall roundnesse and swelling of the water which if the distance be great interposeth it selfe betweene the station on the Land and the Ship wherein Passengers are conueyed which experiment is expressed in this Diagramme here annexed Certaine Platonicks of which the chiefest is Patricius a late Writer would ascribe this experiment to the impediment of the sight caused partly by the distance wich cannot perfectly represent the obiect partly by the interposed vapours arising in the Sea partly by the quiuering light which is spread by the refraction of the Sun-beames in the water I deny not but these causes may somewhat hinder and cause that the true and perfect species of a body cannot alwayes visit the sight Yet will it bee euident that this is not all but that the Sphericall roundnesse of the water will proue a greater impediment where the distance is any thing greater But for one of Patricius his shifts concerning vapour arising out of the Sea to which Clauius seemes also to consent in his Commentary vpon Iohannes de Sacrobosco it makes more for our assertion then his For that which is seene in a thicke medium according to the doctrine of the Opticks seemes greater in quantity and by consequence neerer and so higher then would otherwise appeare as wee see by experience that the Sunne sometimes is seene of vs before it ascend aboue the Horizon because of a refraction of it's beames in a thicke matter Wherefore it were rather to be imagined that a tower seene at Sea or a ship from the land through these thicke and grosse vapours should appeare higher and seeme neerer then if it met not with such vapours Secondly what is vrged concerning the trembling light caused by a refraction of the Sun-beames in the water is of no force For although such a light might cause an impediment or hinderance to the sight yet would not this decrement or hinderance bee by degrees and in such proportion as we find it to be correspondent to wit to the distance interposed And much wonder it is that Patricius as my learned Friend Mr R. Hues obserues being as it seemes very well read in the stories of Spanish nauigations should not bee conuinced out of the Navigation of Magellane who taking his iourney toward the Southwest parts passed by the Magellane straights now called by his name and so returned by the Cape of Good Hope into Spaine to which wee way adde the voiages of Drake Candish and many others The second reason is vrged by Aristotle in his 2d booke de coelo and hath its ground in Archimedes lib. 1. de Aqua-vectis which is formed in this sort The nature of the water is to affect and flow to the lower place whence it must necessarily bee inferred that it must bee round for otherwise it should not alwayes obtaine the lower place The reason of the consequence shall bee expressed in this figure for if we ascribe to the water a plaine superficies let it for example bee ADB and from the center of the earth C let there be described a circle to wit EGF then let there be drawne CD a perpendicular line to AB and let AC and BC be ioyned together Now because the right line CD is lesse then CA or CB as will appeare euidently by sense it will be plaine that the point D will be in a lower place then the point A or B because D is neerer to the Center for as much as DC is but a part of a beame of the circle whereas AC and CB euidently exceed that quantity or proportion Another reason there is commonly drawne from the roundnes of drops cast on the sand as also from water in pots whose superficies seemes to swell aboue the brimmes but this reason as we shall proue in place conuenient is rather against this assertion then for it because indeed wee affirme the water to be round but so as it claimes the same Center with the Center of the Terrene Globe and therefore cannot be sensible in so little a portion as a drop or pot of water This proposition being sufficiently proued by these two reasons it is needfull in the second place that wee answer certaine obiections cast in by the said Patricius against our assertion Euery surface of the water quoth Patricius is either only plaine or only round or both plaine and round or neither plaine nor round First that it is not both plaine and round seemes very euident for so it should admit of contrariety Neither can one part be plaine and another round because the water is an vniforme and homogeneall body not consisting of such vnequall parts that it should neither bee plaine nor round seemes more impossible because fâ—w or none haue dreamt of any other figure Lastly that it is not round only hee labours to confirme by sundry reasons and experiments First he testifies of himselfe that sayling in the Sea he plainely â—aw in the morning before Sun-rising the Mountaines of Corsica which afterward assoone as the Sunne was risen vanished out of his sight Whence he concludes that this proceeds not from the roundnesse of the Earth but from some other cause But this argumeÌ„t to iudicious men will seeme very weake 1 Because it depends altogether on the authority and credit of Patricius whose assertion I take to bee no better then another mans deniall 2ly were this argument euery where sound yet would it proue no other thing but that this effect were not to be imputed to the Sphericall swelling of the Earth Whence cannot bee drawne any generall conclusion that the Earth or Water is not Sphericall Wee deny not in the meane time that other causes sometimes concurre which may hinder or take away the sight of obiects from those who saile on the Sea The second experiment Patricius describes in this manner At a certaine Towne called Comaâ—lum saith hee there is a very great poole through which poole or lake some 3 yeares agoe it was my chance to bee carried in a boat The bottome of the water almost all the way in all the iourney appeared to bee lesse then 2 foot in depth from the top The way increasing at first the lower parts and foundations of houses then the tops and princely pinnacles began to vanish from our sight at last hauing scarce passed 6000 paces a Tower 72 foot high began to appeare as it were cut off by the middle and from the middle part vpward appeared visible
The Motiue is that by which all magneticall bodies are inclined and stirred vp to the motion In the Reasonable soule of a man wee haue two faculties which shew themselues a motiue and a directiue or disponent power whereof the one stirres vp the motion the other regulates conformes and directs it The former is the Will the later the Discourse and Iudgement This distinction of faculties howsoeuer more euident in the soule findes place in all Naturall agents in which a Philosopher ought to distinguish betwixt that which giues them a power to moue and that which limits determines and as the Schoolemen are wont to speake modificates the action Amongst others the magnet-stone seemes most to partake of these two powers as that which amongst all naturall agents in Gilberts opinion seemes most to haue resemblance with the soule of a man so that by an apt Trope it hath been called of many the Magneticall soule of the Earth for hence wee may well perceiue one vertue or inclination which â—â—useth the magneticall needle to moue out of its place another by which it is apt to conforme it selfe North and South as also to obserue certaine angles correspondent to the latitude of the place as shall bee demonstrated in due place Of the motiue power we will produce these Theoremes 1 The Magneticall motion is excited in a small vnperceiuable difference of time This proposition may be shewed out of euident experiment wherein euery mans sight may be a witnes For if an Iron-needle touched with the Loadstone be placed within the Spheare of the magneticall vertue of the stone it will presently moue it selfe notwithstanding the interposition of solide bodies which made Gilbert to imagine this motion to bee effected by a meere spirituall and immateriall effluxe which may well be compared to the light which neuerthelesse it surpasseth in subtility for the light is moued from East to West so quickly that many haue thought this motion to haue been in a moment or instant of time But this quicknes of motion may much more be imagined in the Magneticall vertue being of a more subtile and piercing nature as may bee gathered from this reason to wit That the light is alwayes hindered by the interposition of a thicke and opacous body but the vertue Magneticall findes a passage through all solide bodies whatsoeuer and meets with no impediment 2 This Motiue quality is Spherically spread through euery part of the Magneticall body Here againe may wee finde a great resemblance betwixt the magneticall vertue and the light for as all light Bodies as the Sunne Moone and Starres cast their beames euery way into an orbicular forme so this Magneticall vigour casts it selfe abroad not only from the center toward the superficies but from the superficies outward into the Aire or Water where this magneticall body is placed and so makes vp a Spheare but yet with this difference that if the body bee meere and perfectly Sphericall the Orbe of the magneticall vertue will end in a perfect Spheare as wee see the magnet G to confine his vertue within the Circle BF But if it be a square or any other figure not Sphericall it imitates a Spheare as neere as the body will suffer in that it spreades it selfe euery-where from the center by right lines yet will it be confined in a square figure correspondent to the body whence it proceeds as we see the vertue of the square magnet A to cast his beames into the square figure LD 3 The motiue quality of the Magneticall body is strongest of all in the Poles in other parts by so much the stronger by how much these parts are situated neere the Poles Wee suppose out of the principles of Magneticall Philosophie that a Magnet hath two Poles whose vse wee shall shew hereafter These Poles are found by experiment to haue more force and vigour in them then other parts and all other parts to enioy more or lesse force by how much neerer or farther off they are situated to their Poles The reason is ascribed by these Writers to the disposition of the Magneticall vigour in the body of the Load stone as shall appeare by this figure following in Gilbert expressing the great Magneticall Body of the earth Let the Sphericall superficies of it bee HQE the Pole E the Center M HQ the plaine of the Equinoctiall from euery point of this Equinoctiall plaine the vigour Magneticall is conueyed and extended to CFNE and to euery point from C to E the Pole but not towards the point B so neither from G towardâ— C. The vigour is not strengthned in the part FHG from that which is GMFE but FGH doth increase the vertue in H so that there can arise no vigor so far from the parallels to the Axel tree aboue the said parallels but internally from the parallels to the Pole So wee see that from euery point of the Equinoctiall plaine the force is deriued to the Pole E. But the point F hath only the vigour from GH and the point N from OH but the Pole E is corroborated and strengthened from the whole plaine of the Equinoctiall HQ Wherefore the vigour magneticall in this Pole is most eminent and remarkable but in the middle spaces as for example in F the magneticall quality is so far strengthened as the portion of the Equinoctiall plaine H can giue But Dr Ridley in his late Magneticall Treatise in the 6. Chapt. seemes to oppose this Demonstration For although hee acknowledgeth that the vigour is strongest of all in the Poles yet saith hee if tryall bee made what the Pole will take perpendicularly and also what the parts aboue 34 degrees will lift vp it will appeare to bee halfe asmuch perpendicularly so that the Pole doth not take vp as much as this and the other part doth on the other side But the decision of these differences I leaue to such as are more experimentall then my selfe being destitute of those helpes and instruments which they enioy 4 It behoues vs in the second place to speake of the Disponent vigour of Magneticall bodies The Disponent force we call that facultie by which magneticall Bodies are disposed or directed to a certaine site or position 1 Magneticall bodies moue not vncertainly but haue their motions directed and conformed to certaine bounds This Proposition is confirmed by manifold experiments For magneticall bodies are neuer found to moue vncertainly and at all adventures but conforme themselues to certaine Poles and make certaine angles proportionall to the latitude as we shall shew hereafter in particular The reason of which experiment wee can draw from no other cause then the first institution of Nature in all Naturall agents which wee would haue directed to certaine ends that nothing in her Common-wealth might seeme idle or vnnecessary wherefore shee giues all agents not only a power to worke their ends but also shewes them the way squares and regulates the meanes which direct vnto the end No-where is this
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 Eâ—rth 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 Ficiâ—us 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 heâ—uen 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
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 coÌ„panions of the Sun are Venus Mercurie which so coÌ„passe 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 Epicyâ—les 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 râ—st 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
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 CoÌ„uertible 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 â—ixt 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 superâ—iliously 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 Firmâ—ment 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 Scaâ—iger 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
that it inclines no more on the one side then on the other but lies euen as wee see in the surface of the water when it rests quiet without motion for howsoeuer the water so resting as we haue formerly demonstrated is alwayes sphericall yet in a small distance in the sensible Horizon it may to sense be represented by a plaine 25 So much for the Inuention The Distinction of the Horizon is into three sorts for either it is a right Horizon or oblique or parallell 26 A right Horizon is that which with the Equator makes Right Angles This distinction growes naturally out of the Respect of the Horizon to the Equatour For sith the Equatour is one and the selfe-same immoueable circle and the Horizon is mutable and changed according to his diuerse verticall points they cannot alwayes keepe the same situation in regard one of the other This they haue reduced into three heads for either it is Right or Oblique or Parallell The Right is so called from the right Angles which the Horizon makes with the Equator wherein the two poles are alwayes couched in the Horizon and the Equator passing directly ouer their heads as is plaine to be seene in this figure here affixed such an Horizon haue these Inhabitants which dwell directly vnder the Equinoctiall line in the very middest of the Torrid Zone such an Horizon agrees to a great part of Africke to a part of Peru in America Also to most of the Molucco Ilands the Ilands of Taprobana and S. Thomas but no part of Europe is subiect to such a Right Horizon The cause of this variation of Horizons is the naturall roundnesse of the Earth For the earth being supposed to bee sphericall as we haue before demonstrated it must of necessity follow that the site of the poles should be changed according to the diuersity of the places Also because wheresoeuer we are placed on the Earth as wee haue shewed all impediments of the sight as mountaines and vallies put apart we can behold the Hemispheare of the Heauens which middle part being set downe is diuided from the part vnseene by the Horizon it must needs bee that either both the poles must be in the Horizon and so make a Right Spheare or at least one must bee aboue and seene and the other hid from the sight and so much as one is eleuated aboue the Horizon must the other bee couched vnder it For otherwise wee should see more or lesse then a precise moity or halfe of the Heauens sith the poles differ one from the other the halfe of the whole Heauens to wit by the Diameter of the world 27 An oblique Horizon is that which with the Equator makes oblique Angles Those Inhabitants are said to haue an oblique Horizon whose site and position declines somewhat from the Equator either to the North or South towards either pole yet so that the pole bee not eleuated so high as 90 Degrees for then it becomes a Parallell Horizon as wee shall shew in the next The representation of such an oblique Spheare may bee seene in this Diagram wherein the Horizon cuts the Equatour at oblique Angles whence it is called oblique Clauius seemes to adde another reason of this appellation to wit because in such an Horizon one pole is alwayes eleuated aboue and the other hid but this reason seemes too generall as that which agrees not onely to an Oblique but also to a Parallell Spheare From this Horizon by Iohannes de Sucrobosco the Spheare is called Artificiall because as Clauius coniectures it is variable and doth naturally diuide the Globe For whereas the Horizon of the Right Spheare passeth by either Pole it seemes by it selfe as it were Naturally and Directly to diuide the Spheare and this diuision is no way variable as that it should bee more or lesse Right but contrariwise in the oblique Spheare sith one Pole is placed aboue and the other beneath it seemes to be placed out of his naturall site and position Moreouer this Oblique Horizon is variable according to the diuersity of habitations so that it may be to some more to others lesse Oblique for so much the more Oblique must it be by how much the neerer it is placed to the Poles The Inhabitants of an Oblique Spheare are such as seated betwixt the Equator and either of the Tropicks of Cancer and Capricorne or such as dwell betwixt either Tropicke and the Polar-circle 28 A Parallell Horizon is that which lies Parallell to the Equator making no angles at all with it Such a kinde of Horizon those Inhabitants are said to haue which are included betwixt the Poles of the world and the Polar circles whose Horizon cuts not the Equatour at any Angles at all either Right or Oblique but lies Parallell vnto it as we see in this Figure here set downe Some haue reduced this kinde of Spheare to an Oblique Horizon in regard that in this site our Pole is eleuated aboue the Horizon and the other depressed vnder in which opinion Clauius seemes to second Iohannes de Sacrobosco on whom hee comments But this is ridiculous because the Spheare is called Right or Oblique as wee haue taught from the Angles which the Horizon makes with the Equator wherefore that Horizon which makes no Angles at all cannot bee called either Right or Oblique but is necessarily distinguished from either On this distinction of Horizons is grounded the diuision of the Inhabitants of the Earth according to three kinds of Spheares of whose accidents and proprieties wee shall more fully treat hereafter in the dictinction of the parts and Inhabitants of the Terrestriall Spheare because such proprieties cannot so well be taught without the knowledge of the Artificiall Spheare whose Nature and Fabricke wee shall labour God willing in our next Chapter to vnfold CHAP. VII Of the Artificiall Representation of the Terrestriall Spheare 1 HAuing hitherto treated of the Terrestriall Spheare as it is Naturall or reall wee are in the next place to speake of the Artificiall Globe The Artificiall Globe is an expression or imitation of the Spheare of the Earth 2 The Artificiall imitation of the Earth is either Common or Magneticall The common is againe twofold either in the Globe or in the Geographicall Mappe or Table 3 The Geographicall Globe is a round solid Body adorned with Lineaments pictures seruing for the vse of Geographers Who was the first Inuentour of this Artificiall Globe it is not euident some thinke with Pliny that it was found out by Atlas and carried into Greece by Hercules Others haue ascribed it to Anaximander Milesius some to Musaeus as Diogenes Laërtius others to other Authors amongst whom Architas Tarentinus is not forgotten as one that was esteemed the rarest Mathematician of his time But all these were out-stripped by Archimedes the Syracusan Mathematician who is said to haue composed a Spheare of transparent glasse representing vnto the life the whole frame of the Heauens wherein the Sunne
it greater at the time of the Soâ—stice 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 fâ—rther 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 â—eeres 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 Theorâ—mes 1 Northerne and Southerne places alike situate generally inioy a like disposition Wee haue formerly granted to
it selfe the contrary quality of cold An argument of cold may bee drawne from the testimony of Alvarez who affirmes the waters there in the month of Iune to bee frozen ouer with Ice the South winde blowing The second cause is by iudicious writers ascribed to the subtility and rarity of the Aire vnder the Equinoctiall line which cannot recâ—aue into it selfe so many degrees of heat as the thicke and grosse aire of diuers places distant For the North Region wherein Europe and a great part of Asia is placed is for the most part full of waters which bursting out of secret and vnknowne concauities doe produce infinite Fennes Gogges Lakes and Marishes which in the Summer season cause infinite vapours to abound which being intermixed with heat scorch and heat more feruently then the purer ayre of Africke being for the most part free from the mixture and concurse of such slimie vapours That the aire being thickned should yeeld a greater feruour euery man out of ordinary experience can frame to himselfe an argument For wee see Fire and Heat being incorporated as it were in the Steele or Iron to burne and heat more then in Aire or Wood. The like reason some would draw from the keepers of Stoâ—es or Hot houses which doe besprinkle the ground with water that the vapour being contracted and the aire thickned they may the longer and better maintaine heat and spare Fuell Another cause which we haue formerly touched may bee drawne from the Set and Anniuerwindes which blow most part of the yeere one way Iosephus Acosta obserues that betwixt the Tropicks the winde is for the most part Easterly beyond Westerly and a Dutch-discouerer hath related that in Guinea they haue a certaine winde which comes from the land till noone and then very violent from the Sea in so much as the Inhabitants are wont to trafficke in the morning being not able to indure it which if it bee true wee cannot imagine this Region to bee so hot as men suppose For here the heat in the night is asswaged by the absence or remotenesse of the Sunne Likewise the excesse of heat incident to noonetide is much qualified or as it should seeme by this relation altogether vanquished by the cold winde deriued from the Sea Another reason no lesse probable may be deriued from the excessiue height of the land and great mountaynes obserued to bee neere or vnder the line whose tops are alwayes couered with Snow which giue a sufficient testimony of cold For instance wee need goe no farther then the ridge of the mountaines Andâ— in America where they obserued the Ayre to be so â—hinne and cold that it inforced them to scowre and vomit which came neere it The like whereof is related of another called Punas where the extremity of cold cutteth off their hands From which experience wee may finde some places neere the Line to bee more infested with cold 〈◊〉 heat The laâ—t and greatest â—eason may bee taken from the continuall moisture wherewith the regions situate betwixt the Tropicks frequently abound This moisture is deriued from two causes 1 From the melting of the Snow on the tops of the mountaines by the Sunne which running from thence continually into the vallies keepe them almost alwayes watrish especially in the midst of Summer when the Sunne is neerest 2 From the extreame heat of the Sunne which being very neere and many times verticall rayseth vp continually moist vapours in great quantity These vapourâ— in so short a time as 12 houres being not consumed but meeting with the cold from the middle Region of the aire are therewith conuerted into drops which fall downe againe in great showres in so much as some trauellers of good credit haue told me that all the while they sayled betwixt the Tropicks they seldome saw the Sunne by reason of raine and clowdy vapours Whence wee note with Iosephus Acosta by way of consectary that the presence of the Sunne betwixt the Tropicks produceth moisture but contrariwise without the Tropicks it is the cause of drouth whence the inhabitants inioy as it were a Winter when the Sun is to them verticall because of the distemperature by Windes Raines and Stormes and great Inundations whereunto commonly all great riuers betwixt the Tropicks are most subiect Also they seeme to haue a Summer when the Sunne is in or neere the Tropicks because being somewhat remoued he cannot bee so powerfull in drawing such store of vapours and exhalations which hee can dispell and consume Thus wee see the moity of this first Section lying 15 degrees from the Equatour how soeuer subiect to a greater reflection of the Sunne-beames yet through the concurrence of other causes to bee found indifferently Temperate and the other 15 degrees about the Tropicks howsoeuer subiect to a lesser Reflection to bee excessiue hot which later cause besides all which hath beene said before shall bee further confirmed hereafter by the complection of the natiue Inhabitants which wee shall finde to bee Choller-adust the true symptome of an externall heat But if any man shall answer that this accident is incident as well to the Regions situate vnder the Equatour as to that vnder the Tropicks I will produce another reason drawne from the colour of their countenances which vnder the Equatour is not seene so blacke and swarthie as elsewhere For toward the Tropicke is placed the Land of Blackmores or Nigritarum Regio where the people are all coleblacke which might perhaps happen also to those that dwell vnder the other Tropicke but that other causes interpose themselues which hinder the excesse of heat which is taken to be the chiefe cause of this blacknesse Here some would oppose the opinion of Herodotus which referred the cause of this blacknesse in the Negroes to the Seed which hee would haue to bee blacke others would haue this blacknesse as a curse inflicted vpon Chams posterity but these opinions carry very little shew of probability For first if this former opinion were admitted it would of necessity follow saith Boden that Ethiopians in Scythia should alwayes bee borne blacke and Scythians in Ethiopia should bee alwayes white For as much as all nations from the beginning of the world haue beene confused and mixt by the distinction of Colonies but experience teacheth vs that men trasplanted into another Soyle will in manner of trees and Plants by little and little degenerate and change their first disposition As if a Blackmore marry and beget children here with vs in England experience will plainely declare the children to be more inclining to whitenesse then the fathers and the grand children more then them Secondly if the second opinion of Chams curse deserued any credit I see no reason why all his posterity such as by most writers consent are generally the people of Africke should not bee subiect to the same execration as well as one little parcell of it Moreouer it is reported by Pline and confirmed by Appian that in those places are many
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 Eâ—ternall 5 The Internall are such as are inbâ—ed 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 mâ—â—st 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 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 poâ—ition 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 sâ—red 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 ouerâ—flow all Egypt being lower then it â—elfe vnlesse it were manicled with the Creatours power as it were with setters to which also afterwards seeme to subscribe Aquinâ—â— 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 accuâ—ulation 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 Iâ—b wheâ—e 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 perpâ—tuall violence vpon Nature sith wâ—â—ee the Creator in other maâ—ters to vse Nature as his ordinary â—eruant and to administer the Regiment of things by â—econd causes Neither were the authority of these Diuines so great in thâ—se Cosmoâ—râ—phicall 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 ouerâ—lowe all Aegypt if it were not supernâ—turally 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 thâ—n 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 â—o lift it selfe higher â—nd contrarywise the Heâ—uens 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 coÌ„sequently 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 coÌ„firme 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 â—hen the Earth I answer as before that if we intirely consider these Elements amongâ—t themselues we must giue the hight to the Water for as much as the greatest part of the Eâ—rth lies â—rowned for that aboue beaâ—es 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 conueâ—ity 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 clifâ—s â—ils 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 â—broad 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 â—ouÌ„ds besides that we haue spoken coÌ„cerning the interpretatioÌ„â— of such places of Scripture as seeme to fauour this opinioÌ„ we â—nswere 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 heaâ—ed vp in such
extreame or Middle 6 The extreame inhabitants are either the Northerne or Southerne The former in the higher Hemispheare The other are the inhabitants thereunto opposite in the other Hemispheare 7 The middle Inhabitants are such as are situate in the middle betwixt the Aequator and the Pole in either Hemispheare The mistaking of the true limits of North and South in this our Northerne Hemispheare hath caused great errour amongst the Ancients Insomuch as Hippocrates pronounced the people of the North to be of a leane dry disposition of a small and dwarfish statuâ—e whereas either writers out of a good obseruation haue found them to be of a tall stature big-boned of a most able constitution in respect of those of the South To compose which difference we must haue recourse to that sub-partition of the Hemispheare before mentioned wherein we allotted of the 90 degrees accompted from the Aequatour to the Pole 30 for heat 30 for cold 30 for temperament Whereof the former lyeth Southward to the Aequatour The second is accompted from the pole the other is conceiued to lye betwixt both But because wee find this Mathematicall diuision to be too precise to answere the obseruation of Writers in this kinde we must a little alter these bounds that these rules may rather stoop to Nature and obâ—eruation then Nature bee sqâ—ared to our owne conceits yet shall wee shew in a generality and for the most part that the naturall disposition of the Inhabitants ought to be iudged and measured according to these limits though not exactly answering in precise degrees Wherefore towards the North wee limit these with Bodin other good writers which lie from the 50th degree Northward to the 70th in which Tract we shall find our Brittaines Ireland Denmarke Gotland the lower Germany from Moenus and Hipanus to Scythia and Tartary which â—ake vp a great part of Europe Asia on the South we place the mosâ— Southerly Spaniards â—he Sicilians Peloponnesians Cretians Syrians Arabians Persians Sufians Gedrosians Indians Egyptians Cyranians Carthaginians Numidians Lybians Moores and the Inhabitants of Florida in America The middle Region is meant that which lyes iust in the middle place betwixt the Tropicke and the Pole not that which lyes betwixt the Pole and the Line the reason whereof wee haue shewed before because the places vnder the Tropicks are found to bee hottest but vnder the Line more temperate so that our temperate Clime here we place that which beginnes at the 40 and endeth at the 50 degree of latitude In which Climat be the Northernmost Spaine France Italy the higher Germany as farre as the Mase both Hâ—ngaries Illyria both Mysâ—as Daâ—ia Moldauia Macedon Thrace and the better part of Asia the lesser Armenia Parthia Sogdiana and a great part of the greater Asia so that all the Nations as yet mentioned in histories and perfectly discouered in our Northerne Hemispheare are contained betwixt the 30 degrees of latitude and the 60. What to thinke of the Nations dwelling betwixt the two Tropicks and those which are 60 degrees to the Pole for want of accurate obseruation and History we can set downe no certainty yeâ— so farre as men may iudge by coniecture we may aâ—compt in the Region betwixt the Tropicks the 15 degrees from the Tropicke towards the Line to be of like quality with the 15 degrees without the Tropicke The Tract in the middle vnder the Equatour being more temperate theâ— that of the Tropicks may be iudged to come neere the tempâ—r of the middle Region betwixt the Tropicke and the Line though perhaps somewhat hotter For the Regions very neere the Poles lesse câ—rtainty can be collected yet that litle which we find concerning the nature of these Inhabitants we will â—ot omit According to this partition of our Northern Hemispheare we may maâ—â— iudgment of â—he otheâ— because where no other cause shewes it selfe we may wel guesse these places which are of equall site to be of equall disposition so far forth as they respect the heauenly operation All which concerne the nâ—turall disposition of the Inhabitants wee will reduce to these â—hree heads to wit either 1 the bodily qualities 2 the mentall Affections 3 the outward Actions 1 The Extreame Inhabitants towards either Pole are in complexion Hot and Moist Those toward the Equatour Cold and Dry those of the middle indifferent as partaking of both The confirmation of this proposition depends on 2 points the first is the Declaration of the Cause of this diuersity the second is the â—ffects and diuerse tokens which this variety of â—empeâ— pâ—oduces aâ— well in the Accidents of the Body as the Mind The cause we haue partly befoâ—e opened which is tâ—e Heat of the Sunne in â—limates neerer the Equatour and the Cold iâ— places fartheâ— remote and situate neerer the Pole whereof the former working on the Internall heat and moisture of men and all other liâ—â—ng creatures liuing in those hot Climats dâ—awes it oâ—t and consumes it in such â—ort that little remaines but Cold and Dry Melancholy as the Seas in the bottome the other parts being as it were euaporated For by how much more heat any man receiues outwardly from the heat of the Sunne so much more wants he the â—ame inwardly which euery man may see confirmed out of ordinary experience since that our naturall heat is far more vigorous in Winâ—er then in Summer and that our ioints are more operaâ—â—ue in frosty weather and then when the Northwinde is stiâ—â—ing On the other side in the Summer wee commonly obserue the contrary we find our ioints lazy and heauy our Appetites dull as may also bee perceiued in the English Germans and French traâ—ailing from the Norâ—h Southerly into Iâ—aly and Spaine who if they confine not their dyet to a sparing rate they commonly are surprized by surfets an example we haue of Philip Duke of Austria liuing in Spaine after his German fashion But on the contrary if a Spaniard who in his owne Country is inured to great Niggardlinesse arriue in our Northerne Countrey he commonly proues a better â—rencher-man then our natiue Inhabitants And this Bodin obserues to fall out true not onely in Men but also in beasts which driuen towards the North waxe fat and proue well but towards the South they pine away and waxe â—eane which may well be confirmed out of Leo Afer who auerres that almost throughout all Africke you shall find fâ—w or no heards of cattle or horse few sheepe and scarce any milke whereas each mans Table almost in Germany and Britaâ—ny can giue a plaine demonstration of our Countreyes store in this kind Hence may appeare that as the heat of the Sunne towards the Equatour by drawing out the internall heat and moisture causeth men inwardly to bee left cold and â—ry so towards the Pole the internall moisture being prâ—seâ—â—ed from the Excesse of Externall heate and the internall heat being strengthned and thickned by externall cold haue left vnto them a