Chapter IV: Part 4

This Poſition of the Moons, in reſpect of their Planets, muſt occaſion a great many very ſurprizing Appearances to their Inhabitants, if they have any, which is very doubtful, but may for the preſent be ſuppos’d. An enquiry into our Moon may ſerve for all the reſt. Its Globe is divided into two Parts, in ſuch a manner, that thoſe who live on one Side never loſe the ſight of us, and thoſe on the other never enjoy it. Except only ſome few who live on the Confines of each of theſe, who loſe us, and ſee us again by turns. The Earth to them muſt ſeem [The Aſtronomy of the Inhabitants of the Moon.] much larger than the Moon doth to us, as being in Diameter above four times bigger. But that which is moſt ſurprizing, is, that Night and Day they ſee it always in the very ſame part of the Heaven, as if it never moved: ſome of them as if ’twas falling upon their Heads: others ſomewhat above the Horizon, and others always in the Horizon, ſtill turning upon it ſelf, and preſenting them every twenty ſour Hours with a View of all its Countries, even of thoſe that lie near the Poles (I could wiſh my ſelf in the Moon only for the ſight of them) yet unknown and undiſcovered by us. They have it in its monthly Wane and Increaſe, they ſee it half, and horned, and full, by turns, juſt as we do the Body of the Moon. But the Light that they receive of us is five times larger than what we receive from them. So that in dark Nights that part that hath the Advantage of being towards us, receives a very glorious Light from us, tho’ Kepler thought otherwise. Their Days are always of the ſame Length with their Nights; and the Sun riſing and ſetting to them but once in one of our Months, makes the time both of their Light and Darkneſs to be equal to 15 of our Days. If their Bodies were of the ſame Materials with ours, thoſe that have the Sun pretty high in their Horizon, would be almoſt roaſted in ſuch long Days. For the Sun is not farther from them than he is from us. This will be the Caſe of thoſe that live upon the Borders of the two Hemiſpheres we mentioned; but thoſe that live under the Poles of the Moon will be juſt about as hot as our Whale-fiſhers about Iſland and Nova Zemla are, in the Summer-time: who are in ſo little danger of being roaſted, that in the middle of their Summer, in their Days of three Months length, they very often find it extreme Cold. I call thoſe the Poles of the Moon, round which the fix’d Stars ſeem to turn to its Inhabitants, which are different from ours, and alſo from thoſe of the Ecliptick, although they move round theſe latter, at the diſtance of five Degrees, in a period of nineteen Years. Their Year they count by the Motion of the Stars, and their return to the Sun, and ’tis the ſame with ours. They can eaſily do it, becauſe they have the Stars Day and Night, notwithſtanding the Light of the Sun: for they have no Atmoſphere (which is the only reaſon that we don’t every Day enjoy the ſame Sight) to hinder their Obſervations. Nor have they any Clouds to obſtruct their View, ſo that it is eaſier for them to find out the Courſes of the Planets, but more difficult to make a true Syſtem of them. For they will be apt to lay a wrong Foundation, by ſuppoſing that their Earth ſtands ſtill, which will lead them into more dangerous Errors than [This may be applied to the Moons about Jupiter and Saturn.] ever it did us. All that I have ſaid belongs as well to Jupiter’s and Saturn’s Satellites as to our Moon, in reſpect of the Planets they move round. The Length of their Day and Night is always equal to the Time of their Revolution: For example, the fifth Moon moves round Saturn in 80 Days, and the Days and Nights there are equal to Forty of ours. Both their Summer and Winter (Saturn moving round the Sun in thirty Years) are fifteen Years long. Therefore it is impoſſible but that their way of living muſt be very different from ours, having ſuch tedious Winters, and ſuch long watching and ſleeping times.

Having thus explained the primary and ſecondary Planets round the Sun, we ſhould next ſet about the third Sort, the Sun and fix’d Stars; but before we do that, it would be worth while to ſet before you at once, in a clearer and more plain Method than hitherto, the Magnificence and Fabrick of the Solar Syſtem. Which we can’t poſſibly do in ſo ſmall a Space as one of our Leaves will but admit of, becauſe the Bodies of the Planets are ſo prodigiouſly ſmall in companion of their Orbs. But what is wanting in Figure ſhall be made up in Words. Going back then to the firſt Scheme, ſuppoſe another [Fig. 1.] like it, and proportionable, drawn upon a very large ſmooth Plain; whoſe outermoſt Circle repreſenting the Orb of Saturn, muſt be conceived three hundred and ſixty Foot in Semidiameter. In which you muſt place the Globe and Ring of Saturn of that [Fig. 2.] Bigneſs as the 2d Figure ſhows you. Let all the other Planets be ſuppoſed every one in his own Orbit, and in the middle of all the Sun, of the ſame Bigneſs that That Figure repreſents, namely, about four Inches in Diameter. And then the Orbit or Circle in which the Earth moves, which the Aſtronomers call the Magnus Orbis, muſt have about ſix and thirty Foot in Semidiameter. In which the Earth muſt be conceived moving, not bigger than a grain of Millet, and her Companion the Moon ſcarcely perceivable, moving round her in a Circle a little more than two Inches Diameter, as in [Fig. 5.] the Figure here adjoined, where the Line A B repreſents a ſmall portion of that Circle which the Earth moves in: the ſmall Circle therein C is the Earth, and the Circle D E the Path of the Moon round it, in which the Body of the Moon is D.

The outermoſt of Saturn’s Moons moves in an Orbit whoſe Semidiameter is 29 Inches; that of Jupiter in a ſomewhat ſmaller, whoſe Semidiameter is 19 and a quarter.

And thus we have a true and exact Deſcription of the Sun’s Palace, where the Earth will be Twelve thouſand of its Semidiameters diſtant from him, which in German Miles makes above ſeventeen Millions. But perhaps we may have a clearer Comprehenſion of this vaſt Length, by comparing it with ſome very ſwift Motion after the Example of Heſiod the Poet, who imagin’d that an Anvil let fall from the Top of Heaven, reach’d the Earth the tenth Day of its Journey, and in ten more arriv’d at the Bottom of Hell, the end of it: ſo making the Earth the mid-way between Heaven and Hell. I ſhan’t make uſe of the Anvil, but of ſomething as good, namely, a Bullet ſhot out of a great Gun, which may travel perhaps in a Moment, or Pulſe of an Artery, about a hundred Fathom, as is proved by thoſe Experiments that Merſennus in a Treatiſe of his relates; by which the Sound was found to extend itſelf eighty hundredth parts in the [The immenſe diſtance between the Sun and Planets illuſtrated.] ſame time. I ſay then, that ſuppoſing a Bullet to move with this Swiftneſs from the Earth to the Sun, it would ſpend 25 Years in its Paſſage. To make a Journey from Jupiter to the Sun, would require 125, and from Saturn thither 250 Years. This account depends upon the meaſure of the Earth’s Diameter, which, according to the accurate Obſervations of the French, is 6538594 times ſix Paris Feet, one Degree being 57060 of that Meaſure. This ſhows us how vaſt thoſe Orbs muſt be, and how inconſiderable this Earth, the Theatre upon which all our mighty Deſigns, all our Navigations, and all our Wars are tranſacted, is when compared to them. A very fit Conſideration, and Matter of Reflection, for thoſe Kings and Princes who ſacrifice the Lives of ſo many People, only to flatter their Ambition in being Maſters of ſome pitiful Corner of this ſmall Spot. But to return to the matter in hand, now we have given you an account of the Sun’s proportion to thoſe Orbs and Bodies, we’ll ſee what more we can ſay of him.

[No ground for Conjecture in the Sun.]

And ſome have thought it not improbable but that the Sun himſelf has alſo his Inhabitants. But upon what reaſon I cannot imagine, there being leſs ground for a Probability in him than in the Moon. For we are not yet ſure, whether he be a ſolid or liquid Globe; altho’, if my Notion of Light be true, upon that account I ſhould rather think him liquid: which his Roundneſs and equal diſtribution of his Light to all parts are an Argument for. For that very ſmall inequality on his Surface, which is diſcovered by the Teleſcopes, (and that not always neither) which makes Men fancy they ſee boiling Seas and belching Mountains of Fire, is nothing but the trembling Motion of the Vapours our Atmoſphere is full of near the Earth; which is likewiſe [The Faculæ in the Sun not eaſily ſeen.] the Cauſe of the Stars twinkling. Nor could I ever have the Luck to diſcern thoſe bright Spots in the Sun which they boaſt as much of as they do of his dark ones, which latter I have very often ſeen; ſo that I have very good Reaſon to doubt whether there be any thing in the Sun brighter than the Sun itſelf. For by the moſt exact Obſervations, I could never find any ſuch pretended to be ſeen any where but juſt about his dark Spots; and it is no great wonder that thoſe Parts which are ſo near the darker, ſhould appear ſomewhat [By reaſon of its Heat no Inhabitants like ours can live in the Sun.] brighter than the reſt. That the Sun is extremely hot and fiery, is beyond all diſpute, and ſuch Bodies as ours could not live one Moment in ſuch a Furnace. We muſt ſuppoſe a new ſort of Animals then, ſuch as we have no Idea or Likeneſs of among us, ſuch as we can neither imagine nor conceive: which is as much as to ſay, that we can make no Suppoſition at all about them. No doubt that glorious and vaſt Body was made for ſome noble End and Uſe, and fram’d with excellent Deſign. And I think we all very well know and feel its Uſefulneſs in that effuſion of Light and Heat to all the Planets round it; in the Preſervation and Happineſs of all living Creatures, and that not only in our Ball, but in thoſe vaſt Globes of Jupiter and Saturn, not contemptible when compared with its own. Theſe are ſuch great, ſuch wiſe Ends, that it is not ſtrange that the Sun ſhould have been made, if it had been only upon their account. For, as for Kepler’s Fancy, that he hath another Office, namely, to help on the Motion of the Planets in their own Orbs, by turning about his own Axis (which he would fain eſtabliſh in his Epitome of the Copernican Syſtem) I ſhall give good Reaſons why I cannot aſſent to it.

[The ſix’d Stars so many Suns.]

Before the Invention of Teleſcopes, it ſeemed to contradict Copernicus’s Opinion, to make the Sun one of the fix’d Stars. For the Stars of the firſt Magnitude being eſteem’d to be about three Minutes Diameter; and Copernicus (obſerving that tho’ the Earth changed its Place, they always kept the ſame diſtance from us) having ventur’d to ſay that the Magnus Orbis was but a Point in reſpect of the Sphere in which they were placed, it was a plain Conſequence that every one of them that appeared any thing bright, muſt be larger than the Path or Orbit of the Earth: which is very abſurd. This is the principal Argument that Tycho Brahe ſet up againſt Copernicus. But when the Teleſcopes took away thoſe Rays of the Stars which appear when we look upon them with our naked Eye, (which they do beſt when the Eye-glaſs is black’d with Smoke) they ſeemed juſt like little ſhining Points, and then that Difficulty vaniſhed, and the Stars may yet be ſo many Suns. Which is the more probable, becauſe their Light is certainly their own: for it’s impoſſible that ever the Sun ſhould ſend, or they reflect it at ſuch a vaſt Diſtance. This is the Opinion that commonly goes along with Copernicus’s Syſtem. [They are not all in the ſame Sphere.] And the Patrons of it do alſo with reaſon ſuppoſe, that all theſe Stars are not in the ſame Sphere, as well becauſe there’s no Argument for it, as that the Sun, which is one of them, cannot be brought to this Rule. But it’s more likely they are ſcatter’d and diſpers’d all over the immenſe Spaces of the Heaven, and are as far diſtant perhaps from one another, as the neareſt of them are from the Sun.

Here again too I know Kepler is of another Opinion in his Epitome of Copernicus’s Syſtem, that we mention’d above. For tho’ he agrees with us, that the Stars are diffus’d through all the vaſt Expanſe of the Heavens, yet he cannot allow that they have as large an empty Space about them as our Sun has. For then ’twas his Opinion, we ſhould ſee but very few, and thoſe of very different Magnitudes: For, ſeeing the largeſt of all appear ſo ſmall to us, that we can ſcarce obſerve or meaſure them with our beſt Inſtruments; how muſt thoſe appear that are three or four times farther from us? Why, ſuppoſing them no larger than theſe, they muſt ſeem three or four times leſs, and ſo on ’till a little farther they will not be to be ſeen at all: Thus we ſhall have the ſight of but very few Stars, and thoſe very different one from another; Whereas we have above a Thouſand, and thoſe not conſiderably bigger or leſs than one another. But this by no means proves what he would have it; and his Miſtake was chiefly, that he did not conſider the Nature of Fire and Flame which may be ſeen at ſuch diſtances, and at ſuch ſmall Angles as all other Bodies would totally diſappear under. A thing that we need go no farther than the Lamps ſet along the Streets to prove. For altho’ they are a hundred Foot from one another, yet you may count Twenty of them in a continued Row with your Eyes, and yet the twentieth Part of them ſcarce makes an Angle of ſix Seconds. Certainly then the glorious Light of the Stars muſt do much more than this; ſo that it’s no wonder we ſhould ſee a Thouſand or two of them with our bare Eyes, and with a Teleſcope diſcover twenty times that number. But Kepler had a private Deſign in making the Sun thus ſuperiour to all the other Stars, and planting it in the Middle of the World, attended with the Planets: For his Aim was hereby to ſtrengthen his Coſmographical Myſtery, that the Diſtances of the Planets from the Sun are in a certain proportion to the Diameters of the Spheres that are inſcribed within, and circumſcribed about Euclid’s Regular Bodies. Which could never be ſo much as probable, except there were but one Chorus of Planets moving round the Sun, and ſo the Sun were the only one of his kind.

But that whole Myſtery is nothing but an idle Dream taken from Pythagoras or Plato’s Philoſophy. And the Author himſelf acknowledges that the Proportions do not agree ſo well as they ſhould, and is fain to invent two or three very ſilly Excuſes for it. And he uſes yet poorer Arguments to prove that the Univerſe is of a ſpherical Figure, and that the Number of the Stars muſt neceſſarily be finite, becauſe the Magnitude of each of them is ſo. But what is worſt of all is, that he ſettles the Space between the Sun and the Concavity of the Sphere of the fix’d Stars, to be ſix hundred thouſand of the Earth’s Diameters. For this reaſon, which he has no Foundation for, that as the Diameter of the Sun is to that of the Orbit of Saturn, which he makes to be as 1 to 2000, ſo is this Diameter to that of the Sphere of the fixed Stars. I cannot but wonder how ſuch things as theſe could fall from ſo ingenious a Man, and ſo great an Aſtronomer. But I muſt be of the ſame Opinion with all the greateſt Philoſophers of our Age, that the Sun is of the ſame Nature with the fix’d Stars. And this will give us a greater Idea of the World, than all thoſe other Opinions. [The Stars have Planets about them like our Sun.] For then why may not every one of theſe Stars or Suns have as great a Retinue as our Sun, of Planets, with their Moons, to wait upon them? Nay, there’s a manifeſt reaſon why they ſhould. For if we imagine our ſelves placed at an equal diſtance from the Sun and fix’d Stars; we ſhould then perceive no difference between them. For, as for all the Planets that we now ſee attend the Sun, we ſhould not have the leaſt glimpſe of them, either becauſe their Light would be too weak to affect us, or that all the Orbs in which they move would make up one lucid Point with the Sun. In this Station we ſhould have no occaſion to imagine any difference between the Stars, and ſhould make no doubt if we had but the Sight, and knew the Nature of one of them, to make that the Standard of all the reſt. We are then plac’d near one of them, namely, our Sun, and ſo near as to diſcover ſix other Globes moving round him, ſome of them having others performing them the ſame Office. Why then may not we make uſe of the ſame Judgment that we would in that caſe; and conclude, that our Star has no better attendance than the others? So that what we allowed the Planets, upon the account of our enjoying it, we muſt likewiſe grant to all thoſe Planets that ſurround that prodigious number of Suns. They muſt have their Plants and Animals, nay and their rational Creatures too, and thoſe as great Admirers, and as diligent Obſervers of the Heavens as our ſelves; and muſt conſequently enjoy whatſoever is ſubſervient to, and requiſite for ſuch Knowledge.

What a wonderful and amazing Scheme have we here of the magnificent Vaſtneſs of the Univerſe! So many Suns, ſo many Earths, and every one of them ſtock’d with ſo many Herbs, Trees, and Animals, and adorn’d with ſo many Seas and Mountains! And how muſt our Wonder and Admiration be increaſed when we conſider the prodigious Diſtance and Multitude of the Stars?

That their Diſtance is ſo immenſe, that the Space between the Earth and Sun (which is no leſs than Twelve thouſand of the Earth’s Diameters) is almoſt nothing when compar’d to it, has more Proofs than one to confirm it. And this among the reſt. If you obſerve two Stars near one another, as for example thoſe in the middle of the Great Bears Tail, differing very much from one another in Clearneſs, notwithſtanding our changing our Poſition in our Annual Orbit round the Sun, and that there would be a Parallax were the Star which is brighter nearer to us than the other, as is very probable it is, yet whatever Part of the Year you look upon them, they will not in the leaſt have altered their diſtance. Thoſe that have hitherto undertook to calculate their Diſtance, have not been able perfectly to compaſs their Deſign, by reaſon of the extreme Niceneſs and almoſt Impoſſibility of the Obſervations requiſite for their Purpoſe. The only Method that I ſee remaining, to come at any tolerable Probability in ſo difficult a Caſe, I ſhall here make uſe of. Seeing then that the Stars, as I ſaid before, are ſo many Suns, if we do but ſuppoſe one of them equal to ours, it will follow that its diſtance from us is as much greater than that of the Sun, as its apparent Diameter is leſs than the Diameter of the Sun. But the Stars, even thoſe of the firſt Magnitude, though view’d through a Teleſcope, are ſo very ſmall, that they ſeem only like ſo many ſhining Points, without any perceivable Breadth. So that ſuch Obſervations can here do us no good. When [A way of making a probable gueſs at the diſtance of the Stars.] I ſaw this would not ſucceed, I ſtudied by what way I could ſo leſſen the Diameter of the Sun, as to make it not appear larger than the Dog, or any other of the chief Stars. To this purpoſe I clos’d one End of my twelve-foot Tube with a very thin Plate, in the Middle of which I made a Hole not exceeding the twelfth Part of a Line, that is the hundred and forty fourth Part of an Inch. That End I turn’d to the Sun, placing my Eye at the other, and I could ſee ſo much of the Sun as was in Diameter about the 182d part of the Whole. But ſtill that little piece of him was brighter much than the Dog-ſtar is in the cleareſt Night. I ſaw that this would not do, but that muſt leſſen the Diameter of the Sun a great deal more. I made then ſuch another Hole in a Plate, and againſt it I plac’d a little round Glaſs that I had made uſe of in my Microſcopes, of much about the ſame Diameter with the former Hole. Then looking again towards the Sun (taking care that no Light might come near my Eye to hinder my Obſervation) I found it appeared of much the ſame Clearneſs with Sirius. But caſting up my account, according to the Rules of Dioptricks, I found his Diameter now was but 1⁄152 part of that hundred and eighty ſecond part of his whole Diameter that I ſaw through the former Hole. Multiplying 1⁄152 and 1⁄182 into one another, the Product I found to be 1⁄27664. The Sun therefore being contracted into ſuch a Compaſs, or being removed ſo far from us (for it’s the ſame thing) as to make his Diameter but the 27664 part of that we every Day ſee, will ſend us juſt the ſame Light as the Dog-ſtar now doth. And his diſtance then from us will be to his preſent diſtance undoubtedly as 27664 is to 1; and his Diameter little above four Thirds, 4‴. Seeing then Sirius is ſuppoſed equal to the Sun, it follows that his Diameter is likewiſe 4‴, and that his Diſtance to the Diſtance of the Sun from us is as 27664 to 1. And what an incredible Diſtance that is, will appear by the ſame way of reaſoning that we uſed in meaſuring that of the Sun. For if 25 Years are required for a Bullet out of a Cannon, with its utmoſt Swiftneſs, to travel from the Sun to us; then by multiplying the Number 27664 into 25, we ſhall find that ſuch a Bullet would ſpend almoſt ſeven hundred thouſand Years in its Journey between us and the neareſt of the fix’d Stars. And yet when in a clear Night we look upon them, we cannot think them above ſome few Miles over our Heads. What I have here enquir’d into, is concerning the neareſt of them. And what a prodigious Number muſt there be beſides of thoſe which are placed in the vaſt Spaces of Heaven, as to be as remote from theſe as theſe are from the Sun! For if with our bare Eyes we can obſerve above a Thouſand, and with a Teleſcope can diſcover ten or twenty times as many; what bounds of Number can we ſet to thoſe which are out of the Reach even of theſe Aſſiſtances! eſpecially if we conſider the infinite Power of God. Really, when I have been reflecting thus with my ſelf, me-thoughts all our Arithmetick was nothing, and we are vers’d but in the very Rudiments of Numbers, in compariſon of this great Sum. For this requires an immenſe Treaſury, not of twenty or thirty Figures only, in our decuple Progreſſion, but of as many as there are Grains of Sand upon the Shore. And yet who can ſay, that even this Number exceeds that of the Fix’d Stars? Some of the Ancients, and Jordanus Brunus carry’d it further, in declaring the Number infinite: he would perſwade us that he has prov’d it by many Arguments, tho’ in my opinion they are none of them concluſive. Not that I think the contrary can ever be made out. Indeed it ſeems to me certain, that the Univerſe is infinitely extended; but what God has been pleas’d to place beyond the Region of the Stars, is as much above our Knowledge, as it is beyond our Habitation.

Or what if beyond ſuch a determinate Space he has left an infinite Vacuum; to ſhow, how inconſiderable all that he has made is, to what his Power could, had he ſo pleas’d, have produced? But I am falling, before I am aware, into that intricate Diſpute of Infinity: Therefore I ſhall wave this, and not, as ſoon as I am free of one, take upon me another difficult Task. All that I ſhall do more is to add ſomewhat of my Opinion concerning the whole World, as it is a Place for the Reception of the Suns or fix’d Stars, every one of which, I have ſhowed, may have their Planetary Syſtems about them.

[Every Sun has a Vortex round it, very different from thoſe of Cartes.]

I am of Opinion then that every Sun is ſurrounded with a Whirl-pool or Vortex of Matter in a very ſwift Motion; tho’ not in the leaſt like Cartes’s either in their Bulk, or manner of Motion. For Cartes makes his ſo large, as every one of them to touch all the others round them, in a flat Surface, juſt as you have ſeen the Bladders that Boys blow up in Soap-ſuds do; and would have the whole Vortex to move round the ſame way. But the Angles of every Vortex will be no ſmall hindrance to ſuch a Motion. Then the whole Matter moving round at once, upon the Axis as it were of a Cylinder, did not a little puzzle him in giving Reaſons for the Roundneſs of the Sun: which however they may ſatisfy ſome People that do not conſider them, really prove nothing of the Matter. In this æthereal Matter the Planets float, and are carried round by its Motion: and the thing that keeps them in their own Orbs is, that they themſelves, and the Matter in which they ſwim, equally ſtrive to fly off from the Center of this Motion. Againſt all which there are many Aſtronomical Objections, ſome of which I touch’d upon in my Eſſay of the Cauſes of Gravity. Where I gave another Account of the Planets not deſerting their own Orbs; which is their Gravitation towards the Sun. I ſhow’d there the Cauſes of that Gravitation, and cannot but wonder that Cartes, the firſt Man that ever began to talk reaſonably of that Matter, ſhould never meddle with, or light on it. Plutarch in his Book of the Moon above-mentioned ſays, that ſome of the Ancients were of Opinion, that the Reaſon of the Moon’s keeping her Orbit was, that the Force of her Circular Motion was exactly equal to her Gravity, the one of which pull’d her to, as much as the other forc’d off from the Centre. And in our Age Alphonſus Borellus, who was of this ſame Opinion in the other Planets as well as the Moon, makes the Gravitation of the primary Planets to be towards the Sun, as that of the Secondary is towards the Planets round which they move: Which Sir Iſaac Newton has more fully explain’d, with a great deal of Pains and Subtilty; and how from that Cauſe proceeds the Ellipticity of the Orbs of the Planets, found out by Kepler. According to my Notion of the Gravitation of the Planets to the Sun, the Matter of his Vortex muſt not at all move the ſame way, but after ſuch a manner as to have its Parts carry’d different ways on all Sides. And yet there is no fear of its being deſtroyed by ſuch an irregular Motion, becauſe the Æther round it, which is at reſt, keeps the Parts of it from flying out. With the Help of ſuch a Vortex as this I have undertook in that Eſſay to explain the Gravity of Bodies on this Earth, and all the Effects of it. And I ſuppoſe there may be the ſame Cauſe as well of the Gravitation of the Planets, and of our Earth among the reſt, towards the Sun, as of their Roundneſs: A Thing ſo very hard to give an Account of in Cartes’s Syſtem.

I muſt differ from him too in the Bigneſs of the Vortices, for I cannot allow them to be ſo large as he would make them. I would have them diſperſed all about the immenſe Space, like ſo many little Whirl-pools of Water, that one makes by the ſtirring of a Stick in any large Pond or River, a great way diſtant from one another. And as their Motions do not all intermix or communicate with one another, ſo in my Opinion muſt the Vortices of Stars be placed as not to hinder one anothers free Circumrotations.

So that we may be ſecure, and never fear that they will ſwallow up or deſtroy one another; for that was a mere Fancy of Cartes’s, when he was a ſhowing how a fix’d Star or Sun might be turn’d into a Planet. And ’tis plain that when he writ it, he had no Thoughts of the immenſe Diſtance of the Stars from one another; particularly, by this one Thing, that he would have a Comet as ſoon as ever it comes into our Vortex, to be ſeen by us. Which is as abſurd as can be. For how could a Star, which gives us ſuch a vaſt Light only from the Reflection of the Beams of the Sun, as he himſelf owns they do; how I ſay could that be ſo plainly ſeen at a diſtance Ten thouſand times larger than the Diameter of the Earth’s Orbit? He could not but know that all round the Sun there is a vaſt Extenſum; ſo vaſt, that in Copernicus’s Syſtem the magnus Orbis is counted but a Point in compariſon with it. But indeed all the whole Story of Comets and Planets, and the Production of the World, is founded upon ſuch poor and trifling Grounds, that I have often wonder’d how an ingenious Man could ſpend all that pains in making ſuch Fancies hang together. For my part, I ſhall be very well contented, and ſhall count I have done a great Matter, if I can but come to any Knowledge of the Nature of Things, as they now are, never troubling my ſelf about their Beginning, or how they were made, knowing that to be out of the reach of human Knowledge, or even Conjecture.

FINIS.

NOTE

[1] The Author invented the Pendulum for Clocks.