TIIH THEORY OF THK FIRMAMENT.
its extinguishnhle part, and protects itself on all sides, Imt yet it is a (lame, weak without vigour, and havinir little of radi;ition of that kind ; that is, neither vivid from its own nature, nor much | excited by a contrary one ; neither is it sincere, j but, from its composition with an ethereal sub stance, such as is there met with, it is stained and mixed up. And in the region of Mercury flame has not very plentifully established itself, since, by the accumulation of its whole amount, it is able to form only a small planet, and that withal labouring and struggling, like an ignis fatuus, with a great and highly disturbed diversity of fluctuating motions, and not bearing to be sepa rated but for a small distance from the guardian protection of the sun. Moreover, after we arrive at the region of Venus, the flamy nature begins to gain strength and to wax brighter, and to be col lected into a globe of a tolerable size; neverthe less, she also is the handmaid of the sun, and shudders with an abhorrence of any greater recession from him. But in the region of the sun, flame is set, as it were, on a throne, the mean being among the flames of the planets, for there it is stronger and more glittering than the flames of the fixed stars, on account of the greater restrain ing* influence shed all around, and the closest possible union. But flame in the region of Mars is observed to be likewise powerful, denoting by its splendour the sun s vicinity, yet existing of its own proper virtue, and admitting of a separation from the sun to the extent of the whole diameter of the firmament. In the region of Jupiter, how ever, flame, laying aside, in a gradual manner, this emulation, appears more serene and clear, not so much from its proper nature, (as the planet Venus, she being more sparkling,) but from being less moved and excited by the nature spread around him ;f in which region it is probabljv that takes place, which Galileo devised, to wit, that the firmament there begins to be studded with stars, although from their minuteness invisible. But, again, in the region of Saturn the nature of flame seems to become somewhat languid and faint, as being both farther removed from an alli ance with the sun, and exhausted by the neigh bouring constellated firmament. Lastly, a flamy and sidereal nature having overpowered the ethereal nature, gives a constellated firmament composed of an ethereal and sidereal nature, as the globe of the earth is of continent and waters scattered up and down on this side and that side, the ethereal substance being however overruled,
- AntiperiMasin : rrrpt s-ao-ij signifies, generally, circum-
mai ce: but. in Athen. I. 5, it also denotes circuitus : ai II rtif mniraacws Svpat riv apifydv hxoai. ovaai, ports , <imr in r irruitu erant, viginti, &c. ; therefore, the illustrious author iiKiy mean by antiperistasis, the attractive influ ence of the sun opposed to, and which detains [cohibet] the planets in their orbits. t Or, " from the nature spread around him being less," Sic., accordine ns irritata and exasperate are taken in the nomina tive or ablative rase. VOL. I 53 subdued, and assimilali <!, so as to tli : endure and become subservient to tin- Wherefore, from the earth to the sunm-it of tln firmament are found three m-nera of r _, r i" i s . and, as it were, three stages, as relate t.. the i which flame is extinguished, the region in hirh flame disperses itself; moreover, to quibble about contiguity and continuity in soft and flowing bodies, would be an utter vulgarism. Neverthe less, that point should be understood, namely, that nature is accustomed to advance to spaces by gradual steps, then, of a sudden, by leaps, and to alternate this sort of process, otherwise no fabric could be formed did she always proceed by insen sible degrees; for what a jump as respects the expansion of matter is there from water to air, even ever so dense or clouded, and yet these bodies, so different in their nature, are joined together in position and superficies without any medium or interposing distance : nor is it a less leap as to a substantial nature, from the region of the air to the region of the moon; in like manner, a prodigious one from the firmament. Wherefore, if any one shall have taken for continuous and contiguous, not from the manner of their annexa tion, but from the diversity of the bodies con nected, those three regions we have spoken of, they can only be held for contiguous in their limits. But now it is time to notice, in a clear and ex plicit manner, the amount and nature of what this our theory, relating to the substance-matters of a system, may establish, as also of what it may give the negative to, in order that it may be main tained or overthrown. It denies that vulgar opinion, that flame is air ignited, by affirming that those two bodies, air and flame, are clearly hete rogeneous, like water and oil, sulphur and mer cury. It negatives that vacuum coacervalurn held by Gilbert, to obtain among the scattered spheres, but affirms that the spaces are filled with aerial or a flamy nature. It denies that the moon is an aqueous, or a dense, or a solid body, but affirms that it is of a flamy nature, though it be gentle withal, and weak, being indeed the first r .diment and the last sediment of celestial flame since flame, (according to its density,) no less than air and liquids, admits of innumerable degrees. It establishes that flame, justly and freely posited, becomes fixed and subsists, no less than air and water; nor is it a momentary thing, and only successive in its bulk, by renewal and feeding, as is the case here with us. It maintains that flame has a natural tendency to go and collect itself into globes, after the manner of an earthy nature, but not at all like air and water, which are ga thered together in orbs and the interstices oi globes, but never into perfect globes. It avers that the same flamy nature in the proper jil.u-o, (that is) in the constellated firmament, is d isprrsef, in infinite round atoms, but yet. in such sort that
