Cosmotheoros or Conjectures Concerning T

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NG .1224. h. 24.
277
JamesAmster
Einds 1887
AL
BR
ION
AR
NAT
K
ONY
COSMO THE OROS :
OR,
CONJECTURES
CONCERNING
THE INHABITANTS
O F THE
PLANETS.
Tranflated from the Latin of
CHRISTIAN HUYGENS.
A new EDITION, corrected.
GLASGOW :
Printed for ROBERT URIE.

MCDLXI I.
050
СОК
06174
ASE
D.I
Y
LISPAR OF
23MRO
LA
1973 ND
Drxir
Radi >
TO THE
READ E R.
HIS Book was juſt finiſhed , and

THIS
defigned for the prefs, when the
author, to the great lofs of the learned
world, was feized by a difeafe that

brought him to his death . However , he
took care, in his laft will, ofits publicati

on, defiring his brother, to whom it was
infcribed , to take that trouble upon him .
But he was fo taken up with buſineſs , and

often at a diſtance , (as being Secretary in
Holland to the king of Great Britain ) that
he could find no time for it, till ayear after
the death of the author : when it ſo fell
out, that the printers being fomewhat
trady , and this gentleman dying, the book

was left without either father or guardi
an. Yet it now ventures into the public,

in the fame method that it was writ by
A 2
iv To the READER .
the author, and with the fame infcripti
on to his brother, though dead ; in con

fidence that this laft piece of his will meet
+
with as kind a reception from the world,
as all the other works of that author have.
It is true, there are not every where ma

thematical demonftrations ; but where
they are wanting, you have probable and
ingenious conjectures, which is the moſt
that can be reaſonably expected in fuch

matters. What belongs to, or has any
thing to do, with aftronomy, you will
fee demonſtrated , and the reft ingeniouſly

and fhrewdly gueffed at, from the affinity
and relation of the heavenly bodies to the
earth . But for your farther fatisfaction ,
we muſt refer you to the book itſelf.
A bodily des
* 100*
CONJECTURE S
CONCERNING THE
PLANETARY WORLDS,
THEIR
INHABITANT S
SAYAS ME
AND
QUADA
PRODUCTION S.
as 62
La
INSCRIBED
To the author's brother CONSTANTINE

HUYGENS, Secretary to his Britannic
Majefty WILLIAM III.
BOOK I.
MAN that is of Copernicus's opinion,

Fri
ethat
d this
rounearth d eours
d, anof tenaedplanet,
nlighis by the fcar
un,
A
like the rest of the planets, cannot but fometimes
think, that it is not improbable that the reft of
the planets have their drefs and furniture, and
perhaps, their inhabitants too, as well as this earth
of ours : eſpecially, if he confiders the later difco
veries made in the heavers fince Copernicus's time,
namely, the attendants ofJupiter and Saturn, and

A 3
6 Conjectures concerning Book I.
the plane and hilly countries in the moon, which

are a ſtrong argument ofa relation and kin between
our earth and them , as well as a proof of the truth
of that fyftem . This has often been our talk, I
remember, my dear brother, over a large tele
fcope, when we have been viewing those bodies;
a ftudy that your continual buſineſs and abfence
have interrupted for many years. But we were al
ways apt to conclude, that it was in vain to enquire
after what Nature is doing there, feeing there was
no likelihood of ever coming to any certainty of
the enquiry. Nor could I ever find that any phi
lofophers, either antient or modern, have attempt
ed any thing upon this fubject.
At the very birth of aftronomy, when
Some have
the earth was firſt afferted to be fpheri
already
talked of cal, and to be furrounded with air, e
the inhabi ven then there were fome men fo bold
tants ofthe
planets, but as to affirm , that there were innumerable
went no company of worlds in the ftars. But
farther.
later authors, fuch as cardinal Cufanus,
Brunus, Kepler, (and if we may believe him,
Tycho was of that opinion too) have furni
fhed the planets with inhabitants . Nay, Cufanus
and Brunus have allowed the fun and fixed
ftars theirs too. But this was the utmoſt of
their boldness ; nor has the ingenious French
author of the dialogues concerning the plu
Fality of worlds carried this matter any farther.
* Fontenelle.
the Planetary Worlds. 7
Only fome of them have coined fome ftories of the

men in the moon, juſt as probable as Lucian's true
hiftory; among which I muft count Kepler's, with
which he has diverted us in his aftronomical dream.
But a while ago thinking fomewhat feriously of
this matter, (not that I efteem myfelf more acute
than thofe great men, but that I had the happiness
to live after moſt of them) the enquiry appeared
not fo impracticable, nor the way fo ftopt up with
difficulties, but that there was very good room left
for probable conjectures. As they came into my
head, I put them down in my common place
book, and ſhall now endeavour to range them into
fome method for your better conception of them,
and add fomewhat of the fun and fixed ftars, and
the extent of that univerfe, of which our earth is
but an inconfiderable point. I know you have
fuch an esteem and reverence for every thing that
concerns the ſtudy of aftronomy, that I perfuade
myſelfyou will read what I have written with fome
pleafure : I am fure I writ it with a great deal.
But as often before, fo now, I find the faying of
Archytas true, even to a tittle, " That though a
(6 man were admitted into heaven to view the
"
wonderful fabric of the world, and the beauty
" ofthe ſtars, yet what would otherwife be rapture
" and extafy, would be but a melancholy amaze
" ment, if he had not a friend to communicate it
" to." Iwould wifh indeed that all the world might
8 Conjectures concerning Book I
not be my judges ; but that I might chufe my

readers, men , like you, not ignorant in aftronomy
and true philofophy ; for with fuch I might promife
myfelf a favourable hearing, and not need to make
au apology for daring to vent any thing new to the
world . But becaufe I am aware what weak hands
my book is likely to fall into, and what a fevere
fentence I may expect from thoſe whofe ignorance
or zeal is too great ; it may be worth the while to
Nepa
guard myſelfbeforehand against the affaults of thofe
fort of people.
There is one kind, who, knowing no
The objecti
ons of igno thing of geometry or mathematics, will
rant cavillers laugh at it as a whimſical and ridiculous
prevented.
undertaking. It is an incredible thing
to them to talk of meafuring the diftance and
magnitude ofthe ſtars : and for the motion of the
earth, they count it, if not a falfe, at leaſt a precari
ous, opinion ; and no wonder then if they take what
is, theyimagine, builtupon fuch a flippery foundation
for the dreams of a fanciful head and diftempered
brain . What ſhould we answer to theſe men, but
that their ignorance is the cauſe of their diflike,
and that if they had ftudied theſe things more, and
viewed the works of nature nicely, they would have
fewer fcruples ? But few people having had an op
portunity of profecuting thefe ftudies, either for
want ofparts, learning, or leifure, we cannot blame
their ignorance; and if they refolve to find fault
the Planetary Worlds.
9
with us for fpending time in fuch matters, becauſe
they do not underſtand the uſe of them, we muſt
appeal to properer judges.
The other fort, when they hear us
Thefe con
talk of new lands, and animals, and
jectures do
creatures endued with as much reaſon not contra
as themſelves, will be ready to cry out, dict the holy
that we ſet up our conjectures againſt fcriptures.
the word of God , and broach opinions directly
oppofite to holy writ. For we do not there
read any thing of the production of fuch crea
tures, no not fo much as that they exiſt ; nay ra
ther we read the quite contrary. For, that only
mentions this earth with its animals and plants,
and man the lord of them . To fuch perfons I an
fwer, what has been often urged by others before
me, that it is evident, God had no defign to make
a particular enumeration , in the holy fcriptures, of
all the works of his creation . When therefore it
is plain that under the general name of ftars or
earth at the creation, are comprehended all the
heavenly bodies, even the attendants upon Jupiter
and Saturn, why muft all that multitude of beings
which the almighty Creator has been pleafed to
place upon them, be excluded the privilege, and
not fuffered to have a fhare in the expreffion ? And
thefe men themfelves cannot but know in what
fenfe it is, that all things are faid to be made for
the uſe of man ; not certainly for us to look at
10 Book I.
Conjectures concerning
through a teleſcope, for that is very abfurd . Since

then the greateſt part of God's creation , that innu
merable multitude of ftars, is placed out of the
reach of any man's eye ; and many of them, it is
likely, of the beſt glaffes, fo that they do not ſeem
to belong to us ; is it fuch an unreaſonable opinion
to think, that there are fome reafonable creatures,
who ſee and admire thoſe glorious bodies at a near
er diſtance ?
But, perhaps, they will fay, it does not
This enquiry become us to be fo curious and inqui
not over cu fitive in theſe things which the fupreme
rious.
Creator feems to have kept for his own
knowlege : for fince he has not been pleaſed to
make any farther difcovery or revelation of them ,
it feems little better than prefumption to make an
inquiry into that which he has thought fit to hide.
But theſe gentlemen must be told, that they take too
muchuponthemſelveswhen they pretend to prefcribe
howfar, and nofarther, men fhall goin theirſearches,
and to fet bounds to other mens induftry ; as if
they knew the marks that God has placed to know.
lege ; or, as if men were able to pass thofe marks.
If our forefathers had been , at this rate, fcrupulous,
we might have been ignorant ftill of the magnitude
and figure of the earth, or that there was fuch a
place as America . We fhould not have known'
that the moon is enlightened by the fun's rays,
nor what the caufes of the eclipfes of each of them
.
the Planetary Worlds. II
are, nor a multitude of other things brought to

light by the late difcoveries in aftronomy. For
what can a man imagine more abftrufe, or lefs
T
likely to be known, than what is now as clear as
the fun ? Whence it follows, that vigorous induf
try and piercing wit were given men to make ad
vances in the fearch of nature, and there is no rea
fon to put any ſtop to fuch enquiries. I muſt ac
knowlege that what I here intend to treat of is not
of that nature as to admit of a certain knowlege. I
cannot pretend to affert any thing as pofitively true
(for howis it poffible ?) but only to advance a pro
bable guess, the truth of which every one is at his
own liberty to examine. If any one, therefore,
fhall gravely tell me, that I have ſpent my time
idly in a vain and fruitless enquiry after what, by
my own acknowlegement , I can never come to be
fure of; the anſwer is, that at this rate he would
decry all natural philofophy as far as it concerns it
felfin fearching into the nature ofthings.
Conjectures
In fuch noble and fublime ftudies as not ufelefs,
thefe, it is a glory to arrive at probabili becauſe not
certain.
ty, and the fearch itfelf rewards the
pains. But there are many degrees of proba
bility, fome nearer truth than others, in the de
termining of which lies the chief exercife of our
judgment. But befides the noblenefs 110 :91
Thefe ftudies
and pleaſure ofthe ftudies, may not we ufeful to reli
be fo bold as to ſay, they are no fmall , gion.
help to the advancement ofwisdom and
12 Conjectures concerning Book I,
morality fo far are they from being of no ufe at

all. For here we may mount from this dull earth,
and viewing it from on high, confider whether
nature has laid out all her coft and finery upon
this diminutive fpeck ofours. So, like travellers into
other diftant countries, we (hall be better able to
judge ofwhat is done at home, know how to make
a true eſtimate of, and fet a true own value upon ,
every thing. We fhall be lefs apt to admire what
this world calls great, fhall nobly defpife thoſe
trifles the generality of men fet their affections
on, when we know that there are a multitude of
fuch earths inhabited and adorned as well as our
own. And we ſhall worship and reverence that
God the maker of all theſe things ; we ſhall admire
and adore his providence and wonderful wifdom ,
which is difplayed and manifefted all over the uni
verfe, to the confufion of thofe who would have
the earth and all things formed by the fhuffling
concourfe of atoms, or to be without beginning.
But to come to our purpoſe. L
Copernicus's And now, becauſe the chiefargument

fyftem ex- for the proof of what we intend will be
plained. taken from the difpofition of the pla
nets, among which, without doubt, the earth muſt

be counted in the Coperniean fyftem, I fhall
here first of all draw two figures. The firft
is a defcription of the orbs the planets move in,
in that order that they are placed round the fun,
Page.13. Figs
ed
Saturni
Jovis.
Martis,
Telluris
Veneris
Merc
(Sel
12
drawn as near as can be in their true proportions,

like what you have feen in my clock at home. The
fecond fhows the proportion of their magnitudes in
refpect of one another and of the fun , which you
know is upon that fame clock of mine too. In the
firft, the middle point or center is the place of the
fun, round which, in an order that every one
knows, are the orbits ofMercury, Venus, the Earth
with that ofthe moon about it ; then thofe of Mars,
Jupiter and Saturn : and about the two laft the fmall
circles that their attendants move in : about Jupi.
ter four, and about Saturn five . Which circles , as
well as that of the moon, are drawn larger than
their true proportion would admit, otherwife they
could not have been feen . You may eafily
apprehend the vastnefs of thefe orbits by this,

that the diftance of the earth from the fun is
ten or twelve thoufand of the earth's diameters.
Almoſt all thefe circles are in the fame plane, de
clining very little from that in which the earth
moves, called The plan ofthe ecliptic. This plane is
cut obliquely by the axis upon which the earth turns
itfelf round with refpect to the fun in 24 hours,
whence arife the fucceffions of day and night.
The axis of the earth always keeping the fame in.
clination to the ecliptic (except a fmall change beft
known to aftronomers) while the earth itfelf is car
ried in its yearly courfe round the fun, caufes the
Jegular order of the feafons of the year ; as you
B
14 Conjectures concerning Book I.,
may fee in all the books of aftronomy. Out of

which I fhall tranfcribe hither the periods of the re
volutions of the planets, viz . Saturn moves round
•
⚫ the fun in 29 years, 174 days, and 5 hours : Ju
piter finiſhes his courfe in 11 years, 317 days, and
15 hours : Mars his in about 687 days . Our year
is 365 days, 6 hours : Venus's 224 days, 18 hours :
and Mercury's 88 days. This is the now common
ly received fyftem , invented by Copernicus, and
very agreeable to that frugal fimplicity nature
fhows in all her works. If any one is
Arguments
for the truth refolved to find fault with it, let him
of it. firft be ſure he underſtands it. Let him
firft fee in the books of aftronomers with how
much greater cafe and plainnefs all the moti
ons of the ftars, and appearances in the heavens,
are explained and demonftrated in this than either
in that of Ptolomy or Tycho. Let him confider
that diſcovery of Kepler, that the diftances of the
planets from the fun, as well of the earth as the
reft, are in a fixed certain proportion to the times
they spend in their revolutions . Which proporti
on it is fince obferved that their fatellites keep round
Jupiter and Saturn. Let him examine what a con
tradictory motion they are fain to invent for the
folution ofthe polar ftar's changing its diſtance from
the pole. For that ſtar in the end of the little bear's
tail which now deſcribes ſo ſmall a circle round
the pole, that it is not above two degrees and
twenty minutes, was obferved about 1820 years
P
Page 15
p
u
J
s
Sat
Mar
Tellus
Sol
Ven
us
Me
rc
ago, in the time of Hipparchus, to be about

twelve ; and will within a few ages more be 45 de
grees diftant from it ; and after 25000 years more
will return to the fame place it is now in . Now if
h them we allow the Heavens to be turned
with
up on their own axis, at this rate they must have
a new axis every day: a thing moft abfurd,
and repugnant to the nature of all motion .
Whereas nothing is eafer with Copernicus than
to give us fatisfaction in this matter. Then he
may impartially weigh thofe anfwers that Galile
us , Gaffendus, Kepler, and others have given to
all objections propofed, which have fo fatisfied all
fcruples, that generally aftronomers now-a-days
are brought over to our fide, and allow the earth
its motion and place among the planets . If he
cannot be fatisfied with all this, he is either one,
whoſe dulneſs cannot comprehend it, or who has
his belief at another man's diſpoſal .
In the other figure, you have the globes ofthe
planets, . and of the fun , reprefented to your eyes
as placed near one another. Where I have ob
ferved the fame proportion , of their diameters to
that ofthe fun, that I publifhed to the The propor
world in my book of the appearances tion of the
magnitude of
ofSaturn: namely, the diameter of the the planets,
ring round Saturn is to that of the fun in refpect of
as II to 37 ; that of Saturn himself one another,
and the fun.
B 2
about as 5 to 37 ; that of Jupiter as 2 to II ;

that of Mars as I to 166 ; of the Earth as i to
III ; and of Venus as I to 84: to which I
fhall now add that of Mercury obferved by Heve
lius in the year 166 , but calculated by myfelf,
and found to be as 1 to 290.
If you would know the way that we came to
this knowlege of their magnitudes, by knowing the
proportion of their diftances from the fun, and the
meaſures of their diameters, you may find it in the
book before-mentioned : and I cannot yet fee any
reafon to make an alteration in thofe I then fettled,
although I will not fay they are without their
faults. For I cannot yet be of their
The Lamel
lae more con- mind, who think the ufe of Microme
venient than ters, as they call them, is beyond that

micrometers. of our plates, but muſt ſtill think that
thofe thin plates or rods of which I there taught.

the ufe, not to detract from the due praifes of fo
ufeful an invention, are more convenient than the
micrometers.
In this proportion of the planets, it is worth
while to take notice of the prodigious magnitude of
the fun in comparifon with the four innermoft,
which are far less than Jupiter and Saturn . And
it is remarkable, that the bodies of the planets do
not increaſe in proportion, to their diftances from
tal
the fun ; for Venus is much bigger than Mars.
Having thus explained the two fchemes, there
the Planetary Worlds . 17
is none, I fuppofe, but fees, that in

The earth just
the first the earth is made to be ofthe
ly likened
to the pla fame fort with the rest of the planets.
nets, and the For the very pofition of the circles
planets to it.
fhows it. And that the other planets
are round like it, and, like it, receive all the light
they have from the fun, there is not the leaft
1 room ,
fince the diſcoveries made by teleſcopes, to doubt
Another thing they refemblé our globe in is, that
they are moved round their own axis ; for fince it
is certain that Jupiter and Saturn are, who can
doubt it of the others ? Again, as the earth has its
moon moving round it, fo Jupiter and Saturn have
Now fince in fo many things they thus a
gree, what can be more probable than that in o
thers they agree too ; and that the other planets
are as beautiful and as well ſtocked with inhabitants
as the earth ? or what fhadow of reafon can there
be why they should not ?
If any one fhould be at the diffection of a dog,
and be there fhewn the intrails, the heart, ftomach
** ,
91 As
liver, lungs and guts, all the veins, arteries and
nerves ; could fuch a man reaſonably doubt whether
there were the fame contexture and variety of parts
in a bullock, hog, or any other beaſt, though he had
never chanced to fee the like opening of them ? Ido
not believe he would . Or were we thoroughly fatis
fied in the nature of one of the moons round Jupi
B 3
ter, ſhould not we ftraight conclude the fame of

of them ? So if we could be affured in but
the reft 25
one comet, what it was that is the caufe of that
ftrange appearance , fhould we not make that
a ftandard to judge of all others by?

Arguments
from their fi . It is therefore an argument of no
militude, of fall weight that is drawn from rela
no fmall
tion and likeneſs ; and to reafon from
weight.
what we fee and are fure of, to what we
cannot, is no falfe logic. This muſt be our me
thod in this treatife, wherein from the nature and
circumſtances of that planet which we fee before
our eyes, we may guess at thoſe that are farther
diftant from us.
The planets. And firft, it is more than. probable

arefolid, and that the bodies of the planets are folid
not without like that of our earth, and that they do
gravity. not want what we call gravity, that virtue,
which, like a load- ftone, attracts whatſoever is near

the body to its center. And that they have fuch
a quality, their very figure is a proof; for their
roundness proceeds only from an equal preffure of
all their parts tending to the fame center. Nay
more, we are fo fkilful now-a-days, as to be able
to tell how much more or lefs the gravitation in Ju
piter or Saturn is than here ; of which diſcovery
and its author you may read my effay ofthe caufes
of gravitation .
But now to carry the fearch farther, let us fee by
what fteps we muft rife to the attaining fome

knowlege in the deeper fecrets concerning the ftate
and furniture of thefe new earths. And, first,
how likely is it that they may be ſtocked with plants
and animals as well as we ? I fuppofe Have animals
no body will deny but that there is fome- and plants.
what more ofcontrivance, fomewhat more wonder
ful in the production and growth of plants and ani
mals, than in lifeless heaps of inanimate bodies, be
they never fo much larger ; as mountains, rocks,
or feas are. For the finger ofGod, and the wiſdom
of divine providence, is in them much more clear
ly manifefted than in the other. One of Demo
critus's or Cartes's fcholars may venture, perhaps,
to give fome tolerable explication of the appearan
ces in heaven and earth, allow him but his atoms
and motion ; but when he comes to plants and ani
mals, he will find himself non - plus'd, and give
you no likely account of their production . For e
very thing in them is fo exactly adapted to fome
defign, every part of them fo fitted to its proper

ufe, that they manifeft an infinite wifdom, and
exquifite knowlege in the laws of nature and geo
metry, as, to omit thofe wonders in generation,
we thall by and by fhow ; and make it an abfurdi
ty even to think of their being thus happily jumb
led together by a chance motion of I do not
know what little particles. Now fhould we al
7/22
low the planets nothing but vaft deferts, lifeless
and inanimate ſtocks and ſtones, and deprive them
20. Conjectures concerning Book I.
of all thofe creatures that more plainly ſpeak their

divine architect, we ſhould fink them below the
earth in beauty and dignity ; a thing very unrea
fonable, as I faid before.
Well then, we have gained the point thus far,
and the planets may be allowed fome creatures ca
pable of moving themfelves, not at all inferior to
ours ; and thefeare animals. And ifthis be allowed,
it almoſt neceffarily follows that there must be
Not to be i. herbs for food for them. And as for
magined too the growth and nouriſhment of all theſe,
unlike ours.
it is, no doubt, the famewith ours, feeing
they have the fame fun to warm and enliven them
ás ours have.
But, perhaps, fome may fay, we conclude toofaſt.
They will not deny indeed but that there may be
plants and animals on the furface of the planets,
that deſerve as well to be provided for by * their
Creator as ours do : but why muſt they be of the
fame kind with ours ? Nature feems to love variety
in her works, and may have made them widely
different from ours either in their matter or man
ner of growth, in their outward fhape, or the in
ward contexture ; fhe may have made them fuch as
neither our underſtanding nor imagination can

conceive. That is the thing we ſhall now examine,
and whether it be not more likely that ſhe has not
obferved fuch a variety as they talk of. Nature
feems most commonly, and in most of her works,
to affect variety, it is true. But they ſhould cons
fider it is not the bufinefs of men to pretend to fet

tle how great this difference and variety muft be.
Nor does it follow, becauſe it may be infinite, and
out of our comprehenfion and reach, that therefore
things in reality are fo. For fuppofe God ſhould
have pleaſed to have made all things in the rest of
the planets juft as he has here, the inhabitants of
thofe places (if there are any fuch) would admire
his wifdom and contrivance no lefs than if they
were widely different ; feeing they cannot come

to know what is done in the other planets. Who
doubts but that God, if he had plcafed, might
have made the animals in America and other dif
tant countries nothing like ours ? yet we fee he
1 has not done it. They have indeed fome diffe
rence in their fhape, and it is fit they should, to
diſtinguiſh the plants and animals of thofe coun
tries from ours, who live on this fide the earth ;
but even in this variety there is an agreement , an
exact correſpondence in figure and fhape, the fame
ways of growth, and new productions, and of
continuing their own kind . Their animals have
feet and wings like ours, and like ours have hearts,
lungs, guts, and the parts ferving to generation ;
whereas all theſe things, as well with them as us,
might, if it had pleafed infinite wisdom, havė
been ordered a very different way. It is plain then
that Nature has not exhibited that variety in her
works that ſhe could, and therefore we must not
allow that weight to this argument, as upon the
account ofit to make every thing in the planets

quite different from what is here. It is more pro
bable that all the difference there is between us
and them, fprings from the greater or lefs diſtance

and influence from that fountain of heat and life
the fun ; which will caufe a difference not fo much.
in their form and fhape, as in their matter and
contexture.
And as for the matter whereof the
Planets have
water . plants and animals there confift, tho'
it is impoffible ever to come to the
knowlege of its nature, yet this we may venture.
to affert (there being ſcarce any doubt of it) that
their growth and nouriſhment proceeds from fome
liquid principle. For all philofophers agree that
there can be no other way of nutrition ; fome ofthe
chiefamong them having made water to be the
original of all things. For whatfoever is dry and
without moiſture, is without motion too ; and with
out motion, it is impoffible there fhould be any in.
creaſe. But the parts of a liquid being in continual
motion one with another, and infinuating and
twiſting themſelves into the ſmalleſt places, are
thereby very proper and apt to add not themſelves
only, but whatſoever elfe they may bring along with
them, to the increafe and growth ofbodies. Thus
we fee that by the means of water the plants grow,
bloffom , and bear fruit ; and by the addition of
that only, ftones grow together out of fand . And
there is no doubt but that metals, cryftals, and

jewels, have the fame method of production :
though in them there has been no opportunity to
make the fame obſervation, as well by reaſon of
their flow advances, as that they are commonly
found far from the places of their generation ;
thrown up I fuppofe by fome earthquakes or con
vulfions . That the planets are not without water,
is not improbable by the late obfervations : for a
bout Jupiter are obferved fome ſpots of a darker
colour than the reft of his body, which by their
continual change fhew themſelves to be clouds :
for the fpots of Jupiter which belong to him,
and never remove from him, are quit different
from thefe, being fometimes for a long time not
to be feen for thefe clouds ; and again, when
thefe difappear, fhowing themfelves. And at the
going off of thefe clouds, fome fpots have been
taken notice ofin him, much brighter than the reft
of his body, which remained but a little while, and
then were hid from our fight. Thefe monfieur
Caffini thinks are only the reflection from the
fnow that covers the tops of the hills in Jupiter :
but I ſhould rather think that it is only the colour
of the earth, which happens to be free from thofe
1
clouds that commonly darken it.
Mars too is found not to be without his dark spots,
, by means of which he has been obferved to turn
round his own axis in 24 hours and 40 minutes,
the length of his day : but whether he has clouds

or no, we have not had the fame opportunity of
obferving as in Jupiter, as well becauſe even when
he is neareſt the earth, he appears to us much lefs
than Jupiter, as that his light not coming fo far,
is fo bright as to be an impediment to exact obfer
vations. And this reafon is as much ftronger in
Venus as its light is. But fince it is certain that
the earth and Jupiter have their water and clouds,
there is no reaſon why the other planets ſhould be "
without them. I cannt fay that they
But not juſt
like ours. are exactly of the fame nature with
our water ; but that they fhould be
Jiquid their uſe requires, as their beauty does that
they ſhould be clear. For this water of ours, in
f Jupiter or Saturn, would be frozen up inftantly by
reafon of the vaſt diſtance of the fun . Every pla
net therefore must have its waters of fuch a temper,
as to be proportioned to its heat. Jupiter's and
Saturn's muſt be of fuch a nature as not to be lia
ble to froft ; and Venus's and Mercury's of fuch ,
as not to be eaſily evaporated by the fun . But in all
of them , for a continual fupply of moisture, what
ever water is drawn up by the heat of the fun into
vapours muſt neceffarily return back again thither.
And this it cannot do but in drops, which are
cauſed as well there as with us, by their afcending
into a higher and colder region of the air, out of
that, which, by reafon of the reflection ofthe rays
ofthe fun from the earth, is warmer and more

temperate.
Here then we have found in thefe new worlds
fields warmed by the kindly heat of the fun, and
watered with fruitful dews and ſhowers : that there
muſt be plants in them as well for ornament as ufe,
we have fhewn juft now. And what nouriſhment,
what manner of growth fhall we allow them ?
Probably, there can be no better, nay Plants grow
no other, than what we here experi and are nou
rished there,
ence ; by having their roots faſtened
as they are
into the earth, and inbibing its nou here.
rishing juices by their tender fibres.
And that they may not be only like fo many bare
heaths, with nothing but creeping fhrubs and bufh
es, we may allow them fome nobler and loftier
plants, trees, or fomewhat like them ; thefe being
the greateſt, and, except waters, the only orna
ment that nature has beftowed upon the earth.
For not to ſpeak of thofe many ufes that are made
of their wood, there is no one that is ignorant ei
ther of their beauty or pleaſantnefs . Now what
way can any one imagine for a continual producti
on and fucceffion of thefe plants, but their bearing
feed ? A method fo excellent, that it is the only
one that nature has here made ufe of, and fo won
derful, that it feems to be defigned not for this
earth alone. In fine, there is the fame reaſon to
think that this method is obferved in thoſe diſtant
C
26
Conjectures concerning Book I.
countries, as there was of its being followed in the

remote quarters of this fame earth .
The fame It is much the fame in animals as it
true of their is in plants, as to their manner of nou
animals.
rishment,andpropagation oftheir kind.
For fince all the living creatures of this earth, whe
ther beaſts, birds, fifhes, worms, or infects, uni
verfally and inviolably follow the fame conftant
and fixed inftitution of nature ; all feed on herbs,
or fruits, or the flesh of other animals that feed on
them; fince all generation is performed by the
impregnating of the eggs, and the copulation of
male and female : why may not the fame rule be
obferved in the planetary worlds ? For it is cer
tain that the herbs and animals that are there
would be loft, their whole fpecies deftroyed with
out fome daily new productions : except there be
no fuch thing there as misfortune or accident ; ex
cept the plants are not like other humid bodies,
but can bear heat, froft, or age, without being
dried up, killed or decayed ; except the animals
have bodies as hard and durable as marble ; which
I think are "grofs abfurdities. If we fhould invent
fome new way for their coming into the world, and
make them drop like foland geefe from trees, how
ridiculous would this be to any one that confiders
the vaft difference between wood and fleſh ? Or
fuppofe we ſhould have new ones made every day

out offome fuch fruitful mud as that of Nile, who
does not ſee how contrary this is to the regularity

of nature ? and that it is much more agreeable to
the wiſdom of God, once for all to create of all
forts of animals, and diſtribute them all over the
earth in fuch a wonderful and inconceivable way
as he has, than to be continually obliged to new
productions out of the earth ? And what miferable,
what helpless creatures muft thefe" be, when there
is no one that by his duty will be obliged, or by
that ſtrange natural fondnefs, which God has wife
ly made a neceffary argument for all animals to take
care of their own, will be moved to affift, nurſe,
or educate them ?
As for what I have faid concerning their propa
gation, I cannot be fo pofitive ; but the other thing,
namely, that they have plants and animals, I
think I have fully proved, viz. from hence, that

otherwife they would be inferior to our earth .
And by the fame argument, they muſt have as
great a variety of both as we have. What this is,
will be beſt known to him that confiders the diffe
rent ways our animals make ufe of in moving from
one place to another. Which may be reduced, I
think, to thefe ; either that they walk upon two
feet or four ; or like infects , upon fix, 1 nay fome
times on hundreds ; or that they may fly in the air,

bearing up, and wonderfully fteering themſelves
with their wings ; or creep upon the ground with
out feet; or by a violent fpring in their bodies, or
G 2
paddling with their feet, cut themſelves a way in

the waters . I do not believe, nor can I conceive,
that there ſhould be any other way than theſe men

tioned. The animals then in the planets muſt
make uſe of one or more of thefe, like our amphi
bious birds, which can ſwim in water, as well as
walk on land, or fly in the air ; or, like our croco
diles and fea-horſes, muſt be mongrels, between
land and water . There can no other method
be imagined but one of thefe. For where is it
poffible for animals to live, except upon fuch a fo
lid body as our earth, or a fluid one like the water,
or ftill a more fluid one than that, fuch as our air
is ? The air, I confefs, may be much thicker and
heavier than ours, and fo, without any difadvan
tage to its tranſparency, be fitter for the volatile
animals. There may alfo be many forts offluids
ranged over one another in . rows as it were.
The fea, perhaps, may have fuch a fluid lying on

it, which though ten times lighter than water, may
be a hundred times heavier than air ; whofe utmoſt
extent may not be fo large as to cover the higher
places of the earth. But there is no reafon to fuf
pect or allow them this, fince we have no fuch
thing ; and if we did, it would be of no advantage
to them ; for that the former ways of moving
would not be hereby at all increafed . But when
we come to meddle with the ſhape of thefe crea
tures, and confider the incredible variety that is e
ven in thoſe of the different parts of this earth, and

that America has fome which are no where elſe to
be found, I muſt then confefs that I think it beyond
the force of imagination to arrive at any knowlege
in the matter, or reach to probability concerning
the figures of theſe planetary animals. Although
confidering theſe ways of motion we juſt now re
counted, they may, perhaps, be no more different
from ours, than ours (thofe of ours I mean that
are moſt unlike) are from one another.
If a man were admitted to a furvey of Jupiter or
Venus, he would, no doubt, find as great a num
ber and variety as he had at home. Let us then,
that we may make as near a gueſs at, and as rea
fonable a judgment of the matter as we can, con
fider the many forts, and the admirable difference
in the fhapes of our own animals ; run Greatvariety
ing over fome of the chief of them, of animals in
this earth.
(for it would be tedious to fet about a
general catalogue) that are notoriouſly different
from one another, either in the figure, or fome
peculiar property belonging to them ; as they be
long to the land, or the water, or the air.Among
the beafts we may take notice of the great diſtance
between the horfe, the elephant, the lion , the
ftag, the camel , the hog, the ape, the porcupine,
1 the tortoife, the cameleon : in the water, of that
between the whale and the fea-calf, the fkait, the
pike, the eel, the ink- fifh, the porpoife, the cro
G 3
Book I
༣༠ Conjectures concerning
codile, the flying-fifh, the crab, the oiffer, and

the purple fish and among birds, of that between
the eagle, the oftrich, the peacock, the fwan, the
owl, and the bat : and in infects, of that between
the ants, the fpider, the fly, and butterfly ; and
of that prodigy in their wonderful change from
worms. In this roll I have paffed by the creeping
kind as one fort, and ſkipped over that vaft multi
tude of lefs different animals that fill the interme
diate fpaces. But be they never fo many, there is
And no lefs no reaſon to think that the planets
in the pla. cannot match them. For though we
nets.
in vain guefs at the figures of thofe
creatures, yet we have difcovered fomewhat of
their manner of life in general ; and of their fenfes
we ſhall ſpeak more by and by.
The fame in The more confiderable differences
plants. in our plants ought to be remarked
as well as the other. As in trees, that between
the fir and the oak, the palm, the vine, the fig,
and the coco-nut tree, and that in the Indies , from
whofe boughs new roots fpring, and grow down
wards into the earth. In herbs , the difference is
notable between grafs, poppy , colewort, ivy,
pompions, and the indian fig with thick leaves
growing up without any ftalk, and aloe. Between
every one of which again there are many lefs diffe
ring plants not taken notice of. Then the diffe
rent ways of raifing them are remarkable , whether
from the feeds, or kernels, or roots, or by graft

ing or inoculating them. And yet in all thefe,
whether we confider the things themselves, or the
ways of their production , I make no doubt but
that the planetary worlds have as wonderful a va
riety as we.
But ftill the main and moſt agree. Rational ani
able point of the enquiry is behind, mals in the
which is the placing fome fpectators planets.
in thefe new difcoveries, to enjoy thefe creatures
we have planted them with, and to admire their
beauty and variety. And among all, that have
never fo flightly touched thefe matters, I do not
find any that have fcrupled to allow them their
inhabitants : not men, perhaps, like ours, but
fome creatures or other endued with reafon.
For all this furniture and beauty the planets are
ſtocked with feem to have been made in vain, with
out any defign or end, unless there were fome
in them that might at the fame time enjoy the
fruits, and adore the wife Creator of them. But
this alone would be no prevailing argument with
me to allow them fuch creatures. For what if we "
fhould fay that God made them for no other defign
but that he himself might fee (not as we do, it is
true ; but that he that made the eye fees, who can
doubt ?) and delight himſelf in the contemplation
of them ? For was not man himself, and all that
the whole world contains, made upon this very
account ? That which makes me of this opinion,

that thofe worlds are not without fuch a creature
endued with reafon, is, that otherwife our earth
would have too much the advantage of them, in
being the only part of the univerfe that could boaſt
of fuch a creature, fo far above, not only plants
and trees, but all animals whatfoever a creature
that has fomething divine in him, that knows, and
underftands, and remembers fuch an innumerable
number of things ; that deliberates, weighs and
judges ofthe truth : a creature upon whofe account,
and for whofe ufe, whatſoever the earth brings
forth feems to be provided. For every thing here
he converts to his own ends. With the trees,
ftones, and metals, he builds himſelf houfes ; the
birds and fishes he fuftains himfelf with ; and the
water and winds he makes fubfervient to his navi
gation ; as he doth the delicious fmell and glorious
colours of the flowers to his delight. What can
there be in the planets that can make up for its de
fects in the want of fo noble an animal ? If we
fhould allow Jupiter a greater variety of other crea
tures, more trees, herbs and metals, all theſe
would not advantage or dignify the planet ſo much
as that one animal doth ours by the admirable pro
ductions of his penetrating wit. IfI am miſtaken
is this, I do not know when to truft my reaſon,
and muſt allow myſelf to be but a poor judge in
the true eftimate of things.
Nor let any one fay here, that there is fo much

villany and wickedneſs in man that we Vices ofmen
nohinderance
have thus magnified, that it is a rea
to their being
fonable doubt, whether he would not
the glory of
be fo far from being the glory and or. the planet
"
nament of the planet that enjoys his they inhabit.
company, that he would be rather its fhame and
difgrace. For firft, the vices, that moft men
are tainted with, are no hinderance, but that thofe
that follow the dictates of true reaſon , and obey
the rules of a rigid virtue, are ftill a beauty and or
nament to the place that has the happineſs to har.
bour them . Beſides, the vices of men themfelves
are of excellent ufe, and are not permitted and
allowed in the world without wife defign. For
fince it has fo pleafed God to order the earth, and
every thing in it as we fee it is (for it is abfurd
to lay it happened againſt his will or knowlege)
we must not think that fo great a diverſity of
minds were placed in different men to no end
or purpoſe : but that this mixture, of bad men
with good, and the confequents of fuch a mixture,
as misfortunes, wars, afflictions, poverty, and the
like, were admitted for this very good end, viz.
the exercifing our wits, and ſharpening our inven
tions ; by forcing us to provide for our own necef
fary defence againſt our enemies. It is to the
fear of poverty and mifery that we are beholden
for all our arts, and for that natural knowlege
which was the product of laborious induſtry ; and

which makes us that we cannot but admire the
power and wisdom of the Creator, which otherwiſe
we might have paffed by with the fame indifference
ed
as beafts . And ifrbmen wereuato
l lead their whole
stu cont
in e
ves in an undi peac , in no fear
of poverty, no danger of war, I doubt they would
live little better than brutes, without any knowlege
or enjoyment of thofe advantages that make our
lives pafs on with pleaſure and profit. We ſhould
want the wonderful art ofwriting, if its great ufe
and neceffity in commerce and war had not forced
out the invention . It is to thefe we owe our art
1
of failing, our art of fowing, and moſt of thoſe
difcoveries of which we are mafters ; and almoſt
all fecrets in experimental knowlege . So that thofe
Very things on account of which the faculty of reas
fon feems to have been accufed, are no ſmall helps
to its advancement and perfection . For thofe vir.
tues themſelves, fortitude and conftancy, would
be of no ufe if there were no dangers, no adverfi
ty, no afflictions for their exercife and trial.
If we fhould, therefore, imagine in the planets
fome fuch reaſonable creature as man is, adorned
with the fame virtues, and liable to the fame vices,
it would be fo far from degrading or vilifying them ,
that while they want fuch a one, I muft think them
inferior to our earth .
But if we allow thefe planetary inhabitants fome
1
fort of reafon, muft it needs, may fome fay, be
the fame with ours ? Certainly it must,
Reaſon there
whether we confider it as applied to not different
juftice and morality, or exercifed in from what it
+ iş here.
the principles and foundations of ſci
ence. For reafon with us is that which gives us a
true fenfe of juſtice and honefty, praiſe, kindneſs,.
and gratitude : it is that which teaches us to diftin.
guifh univerfally between good and bad ; and ren.
ders us capable of knowlege and experience in it.
And can there be any where any other fort of reafon
than this ? or can what we call juft and generous, in
Jupiter or Mars, be thought unjuſt and wicked with
us ? This is not at all, I do not ſay probable, but
poffible. For the aim and defign of the Creator is
every where the prefervation and fafety of his crea
tures. Nowv when fuch reafon, as we are maſters
of, is neceffary for the prefervation of life, and
promotingoffociety, a thing that they are not with
out, as we ſhall ſhow, would it not be ſtrange that
the planetary inhabitants fhould have fuch a per
verfefort of reafon given them, as would neceffarily
deſtroy and confound what it was defigned to
maintain and defend ? But allowing morality and
paffions with thofe diftant inhabitants to be fome
1
what different from ours, and fuppofing they
may act by other principles in what belongs
to friend hip, anger, hatred, honefly, modefty,
and comeliness, yet ftill there would be no
doub but that in the fearch after truth, ་ in
ures ing
36 Conject concern A Book I.
judging of the confequences of things, in reafon

ing, particularly in that fort which belongs to
magnitude or quantity, about which their geome
try, if they have fuch a thing, is employed ; there
would be no doubt, I fay, but that their reafon
here must be exactly the fame, and go the fame
way to work with ours, and that what is true in
one part will hold true over, the whole univerfe ;
fo that all the difference muft lie in the degrees of
knowlege,
45-2776 which will be proportional to the geni
us and capacity of the inhabitants.
They have But I perceive I am got fomewhat
fenfes
too far. Let us firft enquire a little
concerning the bodily fenfes of thefe planetary
perfons ; for without fuch, neither will life be any
pleaſure to them, nor reafon of any ufe. And I
think it very probable, that all their animals, as
well their beaſts as rational creatures, are like ours
the
k s that relates to the fenfes. For without
in all
power of feeing we fhould find it impoffible for
animals to provide food for themſelves, or be
fore-warned of any approaching danger, fo as to
guard themſelves from it. So that where-ever we
plant any animals, except we would have them
lead the life of worms or moles, we muſt allow
them fight ; than which nothing can conduce more
Sight..! either to the prefervation or pleaſure of
their lives. Then if we confider the
wonderful nature of light, and the amazing artifice
in the fit framing the eye for the reception of it,

we cannot but fee that bodies, fo vaftly remote,
could not be perceived by us in their proper figures
and juſt diſtances, any other way than by fight.
For this fenfe, and all others that we know of,
muft proceed from an external motion. Which
in the ſenſe of ſeeing muſt come either from the
fun, the fixed ftars, or fire ; whofe particles being
put into a very quick motion , communicate is to
the celeftial matter about, whence it is conveyed
in a very short time to the moſt diftant parts, juft
like a found through the air. If it were not for
this motion of the intermediate æthereal matter,
we ſhould be all in darkneſs, and have fight nei
ther of fun nor ftars, nor any thing elfe, for all
other light muft come to us by reflection from
them. This motion perceived by the eyes is cal
led light. And the nice curiofity ofthis perception
is admirable, in that it is caufed by the ſmalleſt
particles of the luminous body brought to us by
that fine matre
matter, which at the fame time deter
mine the coaft from w hence the motion comes ;
and that in all thefe different roads of motion,
thefe waves, croffing and interfering with one ano
ther, are yet no hinderance to every one's free paf
fage. All theſe things are fo wifely, fo wonder
fully contrived, that it is above the power of hu
man wit, to invent or frame any thing like them i
nay, it is very difficult fo much as to imagine and
D
res ng
ectu erni Boo
k
38 Conj conc I.
comprehend them. For what can be more amaz

ing, than that one fmall part of the body ſhould
be fo contrived and framed, as by its means to
fhow us the fhape, the pofition , the diſtance, and
all the motions, nay, and all the colours, of a
body that is far remote from us, that it may ap
pear the more diftinct ? And then the artful compos
fition of the eye, drawing an exact picture of the
objects without it, upon the concave fide of the 录
choroides, is even above all admiration ; nor is
there any thing in which God has more plainly
manifefted his excellent geometry. And thefe
things are not only contrived and framed with
fo great wisdom and fkill, as not to admit of
better, but to any one that confiders them at
tentively, they feem to be of fuch a nature as not
to allow any other method. For it is impoffible
that light fhould repreſent objects to us at fo vaft
a diftance, except by fuch an intervening motion ;
and it is as impoffible that any other compofition
of the eye fhould be equally fitted to the reception
of fuch impreffions. So that I cannot but think
them greatly miſtaken, that maintain theſe things
might have been contrived many other ways. It
is likely then, and credible, that in theſe things
the planets have an exact correſpondence with us,
and that their animals have the fame organs, and
ufe the fame way of fight that we do. They muſt
have eyes therefore, and two at leaſt we muſt grant
them, otherwife they would not perceive thoſe
things cloſe to them, nor hardly be able to walk

about with fafety. And if we muſt allow them to
all animals for the prefervation of their life, how
much more muft they, that make more and more
noble ufes of them, not be deprived of the bleffing
of fo advantageous members ? For by them we
view the various flowers, and the elegant features of
beauty with them we read, we write, we contem
plate the heavens and ftars, and meaſure their dift
ances, magnitudes, and journeys : which how far
they are common to the inhabitants ofthofe worlds
with us, I fhall preſently examine.
But, first, I shall enquire whether now we have
given them one, we ought alfo to give them the
other four fenfes .
And, indeed as to hearing, many Hearing.
arguments perfuade me to give it a fhare to the a

nimals of thofe new worlds. For it is of great
confequence in defending us from fudden accidents ;
and, especially when feeing is of no ufe to us, it
fupplies its place, and gives us feafonable warning
of any imminent danger. Befides, we fee many
animals call their fellow to them with their voice,
which language may have more in it than we are
aware of, though we do not understand it. But
if we do but confider the vaft ufes and neceffary
occafions of fpeaking on the one fide, and hearing
on the other, among thofe creatures that make ufe
of their reafon, it will fcarce feem credible that
D 2
two fuch ufeful, fuch excellent things were defign.

ed only for us. For how is it poffible but that
they, that are without theſe, muſt be without many
other neceffaries and conveniencies oflife ? or what
can they have to recompenfe this want ? Then , if
we go ftill farther, and do but meditate upon the
neat frugal contrivance of Nature in making the
fame air, by the drawing in • of which we live, by
whofe motion we fail, and by whoſe means birds
fly, for a conveyance of found to our ears ; and
this found for the conveyance of another man's
thoughts to our minds ; can we ever imagine that
ſhe has left thoſe other worlds deſtitute of fo vaft
A medium to advantages ? That they do not want

convey found the means ofthem is certain , for their
to the cars.
having clouds in Jupiter puts it paft.
doubt that they have air too ; that being moftly
formed of the particles of water flying about, as
the clouds are of them gathered into fmall drops.
And another proof of it is, the neceffity of breath .
ing for the prefervation of life, a thing that feems
to be as univerfal a dictate of nature, as feeding
upon the fruits of the earth.
Touch. As for feeling, it feems to be given up
on neceffity to all creatures that are covered with
a fine and fenfible fkin , as a caution . againſt com
ing too near thoſe things that may injure or in
commodate them and without it they would be
liable to continual wounds, blows and bruifes.
thePlanetary Worlds. 41
Nature feems to have been fo fenfible of this, that

fhe has not left the leaft place free from fuch a
perception . Therefore it is probable that the in
habitants of thofe worlds are not without fo necef.
fary a defence, and fo fit a preſervative againſt
-
dangers and accidents .
And who is there that doth not fee Smell and
taſte.
the inevitable neceffity for all creatures
that live by feeding to have both tafte and fell,
that they may diftinguish thofe things that are
good and nourishing, from thofe that are mif
chievous and hurtful ? If therefore we allow the
planetary creatures to feed upon herbs, feeds, or
I fleſh, we muſt allow them taſte and fmell, that
they may chufe or refufe any thing according as

they find it likely to be advantageous or noxious
to them .
I know that it hath been a queftion with many,
whether there might not have been more fenfes
than theſe five ? If we should allow Their fenfes
this, it might, nevertheless, be reafon not very dit
ably doubted, whether the fenfes of ferent from
ours.
the planetary inhabitants are much dif
ferent from ours ? I must confefs, I cannot deny
but there might poffibly have been more fenfes;
but when I confider the ufes of thofe we have , I
cannot think but they would have been.fuperfluous .
The eye was made to difcern near and remote ob
jects, the ear to give us notice of what our eyes
D 3
could not, either in the dark or behind our back :

then what neither the eye nor the ear could , the
nofe was made (which in dogs is wonderfully nice)
to warn us of. And if any thing efcapes the no
tice of the other four fenfes, we have feeling to
inform us of the too near approaches of it before
it can do us any mifchief. Thus has Nature fo
plentifully, fo perfectly provided for the neceffary
prefervation of her creatures here, that I think ſhe
can give nothing more to thofe there, but what
will be needlefs and fuperfluous. Yet the fenfes
were not wholly defigned for ufe : but men from
all, and all other animals from fome ofthem, reap
pleafure as well as profit ; as from the tafte in de
licious meats; from the fmell in flowers and per
fures ; from the fight in the contemplation of
beauteous fhapes and colours ; from the hearing
in the ſweetneſs and harmony offounds ; from the
feeling in copulation , unless you pleafe to count
that for a particular fenfe by itſelf.
They have Since it is thus, I think it is but
pleaſure arif reafonable to allow the inhabitants of
ing from the
the planets thefe fame advantages that
fenfes .
we have from them . For upon this
•
confideration only, how much happier and eaſier a
man's life is rendered by the enjoyment of them,
we muſt he obliged to grant them theſe bleffings,
except we would engroſs every thing that is good
to ourselves, as if we were worthier and more de
ferving than any elfe. But over and above, that

pleaſure which we perceive in eating, or in copu
lation , feems to be a neceffary and provident com
mand of nature, whereby it tacitly compels us to
the prefervation and continuance of our life and
kind. It is the fame in beafts . So that for their
happineſs and preſervation, it is very probable the
reft of the planets are not without it. Certainly
when I confider all theſe things, how great, noble,
and useful they are ; when I confider what an
admirable providence it is, that there is is fuch
thing as pleaſure in the world, I cannot but think
that our earth, the ſmalleſt part almoft of the uni
verfe, was never defigned to monopolize fo great
a bleffing. And thus much for thoſe pleaſures
which affect our bodily fenfes, but have little or no
relation to our reafon and mind.
But there are other pleafures which men enjoy,
which their foul only and reafon can reliſh : fome
airy and brifk, others grave and folid, and yet ne
vertheleſs pleaſures, as arifing from the fatisfaction
which we feel in knowlege and inventions, and
fearches after truth, of which whether the plane
tary inhabitants are not partakers, we fhall have
an opportunity of enquiring by and by.
There are fome other things to be confidered
firft, in which it is probable they have fome rela
tion to us. That the planets have thofe elements
of earth, air, and water, as well as we,中 I have
already made not unlikely. Let us now ſee whether

they may not have fire alfo : which is not fo pro
perly called an element, as a very quick motion
of the particles in the inflamable body.
All the pla
nets have fire. But be it what it will, there are many
arguments for their not being without
it. For this earth is not fo truly called the place
of fire as the fun : and as by the heat of that, all
plants and animals here thrive and live ; fo, no
T
doubt, it is in the other planets. Since then fire
is caufed by a most intenfe and vigorous heat, it
follows that the planets, eſpecially thofe nearer the
fountain of it, have their proportionate degrees of
heat and fire. And fince there are fo many ways
of its production , as by the collection of the rays
ofthe fun, by the reflection of mirrors, by the
ftriking of flint and ſteel, by the rubbing of wood,
by the clofe loading of moift grafs, by lightening,
by the eruptions of mountains and volcanos, it
would be ftrange if neither art ſhould have pro
duced it, nor nature effected it there by one of theſe
many means. Then how ufeful and neceffary is it
to us ! By it we drive away cold, and ſupply the
want of the fun in thofe countries where his ob
lique rays make a lefs vigorous impreffion, and fø
keep a great part of the earth from being an unin- `
habited defart: which is equally neceffary in al
the planets, whether we allow them fucceffion of
feafons, or a perpetual Spring and equinox : for
even then the countries near the pole would receive

but little advantage from the heat of the fun. By
the help of this we turn the night into day, and
thereby make a confiderable addition to the fhort
nefs ofour lives. Upon all thefe accounts we ought
not to think this earth of ours enjoys it all alone,
and exclude all the other planets from ſo advanta
geous and fo profitable a gift.
But, perhaps, it may be afked as well concern
ing brutes as rational creatures, and of their plants
and trees too, whether they are proportionably
larger or less than ours ? For if the The bigness
of their crea
magnitude of the planets was to be the
tures not
ftandard oftheir meafure, there would
rightly gueſt
be animals in Jupiter ten or fifteen at bythe big
times larger than elephants, and as nefs of the
much longer than our whales, and planets.
then their men muſt be all giants in refpect to us.
Now though I do not fee any fo great abfurdity in
this as to make it impoffible, yet there is no reaſon
to think it is really fo, feeing nature has not always
tied herſelf to thofe rules which we have thought
more convenient for her. For example, the mag
nitude of the planets is not anſwerable to their dif
tances from the fun ; but Mars, though more re
mote, is far less than Venus ; and Jupiter turns
round his axis in ten hours, when the earth which
is much less than him, spends 24. But fince na
ture, perhaps, fome will fay, has not obferved
fuch a regularity in the proportion of things, for

ought we know there may be only a race of pyg
mies, about the bignefs of frogs and mice, poſſeſſed
of the planets. But I fhall fhow that this is very
improbable by and by.
In the pla There may arife another queſtion,
nets are ma
whether there be in the planets but
ny forts of
rational crea one fort of rational creatures, or if
tures as well there be not feveral forts poffeffed of
as here.
different degrees of reafon and fenſe ?
There is fomething not unlike this to be obferved
among us. " For to pass by thofe who have human
fhape (although fome ofthem would very well bear
that enquiry too) if we do but confider fome forts
of beafts, as the dog, the ape, the beaver, the ele
phant, nay fome birds and bees, what fenfe and
underſtanding they are mafters of, we ſhall be
forced to allow, that man is not the only rational
animal. For we difcover fomewhat in them of
reafon independent on, and prior to all teaching
and practice.
But ftill no body can doubt, but that the under
ftanding and reafon of man is to be preferred to
theirs, as being comprehenfive of innumerable
things, indued with an infinite memory of what is
paft, and capable of providing againſt what is to
come. That there is fome fuch fpecies of rational
creatures in the other planets, which is the head
and fovereign of the reft, is very reafonable to be
lieve for otherwife, were many fpecies endued

with the fame wisdom and cunning, we fhould
have them always doing mifchief, always quarrel
ling and fighting one with another for empire and
fovereignty, a thing that we feel too much of where
we have but one fuck fpecies.
But to let that pafs, our next enquiry fhall be
concerning thofe animals in the planets which are
furnished with the greateft reafon, whether they
have made as great advances in arts and knowlege
as we in our planet. Which deferves moft to be
confidered and examined of any thing belonging to
their nature ; and for the better performance of it
we must take our rife fomewhat higher, and nicely
view the lives and ftudies of men.
And in thoſe things wherein men provide and
take care only of what is abfolutely neceffary for
the preſervation of their life ; in defending them
felves from the injuries of the air ; in fecuring them.
felves against the incurfions of enemies by walls ;
and againſt fraud and violence by laws ; in educat
ing their children, and providing for themfelves
and them in all thefe I can fee no great reaſon
that man has to boast of the pre-eminency of his
reafon above beafts and other animals . For moſt
of theſe things they perform with greater eaſe and
art than we, and fome ofthem they have no need Ch
of. For that fenfe of virtue and juftice in which
man excels, offriendship, gratitude and honefty,
of what uſe are they, but either to put a stop to the

wickedness of man , or to fecure us from mutual
affaults and injuries, things wherein the beaſts want
no guide but nature and inclination ? Then if we
fet before our eyes the manifold cares, the diftur
bances of mind, the reftlefs defires, the dread of
death, that are the refult of this our reaſon ; and
compare them with that eafy, quiet, and harmless
life which other animals enjoy, we fhould be apt.
to wish a change, and conclude that they, eſpeci
ally birds, lived with more pleaſure and happineſs
than man could with all his wifdom . For they have
as great a reliſh of bodily pleafures as we, let the
new philofophers fay what they will, who would
have them to be nothing but clocks and engines
of flesh ; a thing which beaſts ſo plainly confute by
crying and running away from a ſtick, and all o
ther actions, C that I wonder how any one could
fubfcribe to fo abfurd and cruel an opinion. Nay,
I can ſcarce doubt but that birds feel no ſmall plea
fure in their eafy, fmooth failing through the air;
and would much more, if they but knew the ad
vantages it hath above our flow and laborious pro
greffion.
What is it then after all that fets
Men chiefly
differ from human reafon above all other, and
beafts in the makes us preferable to the reſt of the
study of na
ture. animal world ? Nothing in my mind
cbnfo much as the contemplation of the
works of God, and the ſtudy of nature, and the
improving thoſe ſciences which may bring us to

fome knowlege of their beauty and variety. For
without knowlege, what would be contemplation ?
And what difference is there between a man , who,
with a careleſs fupine negligence, views the beauty

and ufe ofthe fun, and the fine golden furniture of
the heavens, and, one, who, with a learned nicenefs,
fearches into their courfes ; who underſtands where
in the fixed ftars, as they are called, differ from the
planets, and what is the reaſon of the regular viciffi
tude of the feafons ; who by found reafoning can
meaſure the magnitude and diſtance of the fun and
planets ? Or between fuch a one as admires, per
haps, the nimble activity and ſtrange motions of
fome animals , and one that knows their whole
ftructure, underſtands the fabric and architecture
oftheir compofition ? If therefore the principle we
before laid down be true, that the other planets
are not inferior in dignity to ours, what follows
but that they have creatures, not to They have
ftare and wonder at the works of na aftronomy.
ture only, but who employ their reafon in the ex
amination and knowlege of them, and have made
as great advances therein as we have ? They do
not only view the ftars, but they improve the fci .
ence of aftronomy: nor is there any thing can
make us think this improbable, but that fond con
ceitedness of every thing that we call our own, and
that pride that is too natural to us to be eaſily laid
E
down. But I know fome will fay, we are a little

too bold in theſe affertions of the planets, and that
we mounted hither by many probabilities ; one of
which, ifit chance to be falfe, and contrary to our
fuppofition, would, like a bad foundation , ruin
the whole building, and make it fall to the ground .
But I would have them to know, that all I have
faid of their knowlege in aftronomy, has proofs
enough, antecedent to thofe we now produced.
For fuppofing the earth, as we did, one of the pla
nets of equal dignity and honour with the reft,
who would venture to ſay, that no where elſe were
to be found any that enjoyed the glorious fight of
nature's theatre ? Or if there were any fellow-fpec
tators, yet we were the only ones that had dived
deep into the fecrets and knowlege of it ? So that
here is a proof not ſo far fetched for the aſtronomy
of the planets, the fame which we uſed for their
having rational creatures, and enjoying the other
advantages we before talked of, which ferves at the
fame time for the confirmation of our former con
jectures.But if amazement and fear at the eclipfes
of the moon and fun gave the firft occafion to the
ſtudy of aſtronomy, as probably they did, then it
is almoſt impoffible that Jupiter and Saturn fhould
be without it ; the argument being of much great
er force in them, by reafon of the daily eclipfes of
their moons, and the frequent ones of the fun , to
their inhabitants. So that if a perfon difintereſted
the Planetary Worlds. 5!
in his judgment, and equally ignorant ofthe affairs

of all the planets, were to give his opinion in this
matter, I do not doubt , he would give the cauſe
for aftronomy to thoſe two planets rather than us.
This fuppofition , of their knowlege and uſe ofaf
tronomy in the planetary worlds, will afford us
many new conjecturés about their manner of life,
and their ftate as to other things.
Ad
For, firft: no obfervations of the And all its
ftars, that are neceffary to the know fubfervient
***
arts.
lege of their motions, can be made
without inftruments ; nor can theſe be made with
out metal, wood, or fome fuch folid body. Here
is a neceffity of allowing them the carpenters tools,
the faw, the ax, the plane, the mallet, the file :
and the making of thefe requires the ufe of iron,
or fome equally hard metal. Again , Geometry
thefe inftruments cannot be without a and arithme
tic.
circle divided into equal parts, or a
ftrait line into unequal . Hence a neceffity for in
troducing geometry and arithmetic . And writing.
Thenthe neceffity in fuch obfervations. 2014
of marking down the epochas or accounts of time,
and oftranfmitting them to pofterity, will force us
to grant them the art of writing ; perhaps, very
different from ours which is commonly uſed, but I
dare affirm not more ingenious or eafy. For how
muchmoreready and expeditious is our way, than by
that multitude of characters ufed in China ; and how
E 2
52 Conjectures concerning BookI .
vaftly preferable to knots tied in cords, or the pic

tures in ufe among the barbarous people of Mexico
and Peru ? There is no nation in the world but
has fome way or other of writing or marking down

their thoughts : fo that it is no wonder if the pla
netary inhabitants have been taught it by that great
fchool-miftrefs neceffity, and apply it to the ſtudy
of aftronomy and other ſciences. In aftronomical
matters the neceffity of it is moreover apparent
from hence, that the motion of the ftars is, as it
were, to be fancied and gueffed at in different fyf
tems, and theſe fyftems to be continually improved
and corrected, as later and more exact obfervations
fhall convince the old ones of faults : all which
can never be delivered down to fucceeding gene
rations, unless we make uſe of letters and figures.
But after all thefe large and liberal allowances to
them, they will ftill be behind- hand with us. For
we have fo certain a knowlege of the
And optics .
true fyftem and frame of the univerfe ;
we have fo admirable an invention of teleſcopes to
affift our eyes in the view and bignefs of the diffe
rent forms of the planetary bodies, in the difcove
ry ofthe mountains, and the fhadows of them on
the furface of the moon, in the bringing to light
an innumerable multitude of ſtars otherwife invifi
ble, that we muft neceffarily be far their maſters
in that knowlege. Hence it is almoſt neceffary
(except we have a mind to flatter and complement
ourfelves as the only people that have the advantage

of fuch excellent inventions) either to allow the
planetary inhabitants fuch ſharp eyes as not to need
them, or elfe the ufe of glaffes to help the deficien
cy of their fight . And yet I dare not affert this,
left any one ſhould be ſo diſturbed at the extrava
gancy offuch an opinion , as to take the meaſure
of my conjectures by it, and hifs them all off, up
on the account of this alone ..
But fome may perhaps object, and Thefe fcien
that not without reafon at first fight, ces not con
that the planetary inhabitants, it is trary to na
ture.
likely, are deftitute of all refined
knowlege, juſt as the Americans were before they
had commerce with the Europeans. For if one
confiders the ignorance of thofe nations, and of o
thers in Afia and Africa equally barbarous, it will
appear as ifthe main deſign of the Creator in plac
ing men upon the earth was that they might live,
and, in a juft fenfe of all the bleffings and pleaſure
they enjoy, worship the fountain of their happiness ;
but that fome few went beyond the bounds of na
ture in their enquiries after knowlege. There does
not want an answer to thefe men. For God
could not but forefee the advances men would make
in their enquiring into the heavenly bodies : that
they would difcover arts ufeful and advantageous
to life that they would cross the feas, and dig up
the bowels ofthe earth . Nothing of all this could
E 3
happen contrary to the mind and knowlege of the

infinite author of all things. And if he forefaw
theſe things would be, he fo appointed and deſtined
them to human kind . And the ſtudies of arts and
fciences cannot be faid to be contrary to nature,
fince in the fearch thereof mankind are employed :
efpecially ifwe confider how great the natural defire
and love of knowlege, rooted in all men, is. For
it is impoffible this fhould have been given them
upon no deſign or account. But they will urge,
that iffuch a knowlege is natural, if we were born
for it, why are there fo very few, especially in af
tronomy, that profecute thefe ftudies ? For Eu
rope is the only quarter of the earth in which there
have been any advancements made in aftronomy.
And as for the judicial aftrology, which pretends to
foretel what is to come, it is fuch a wretched, and
oftentimes mischievous, piece of madness, that I
do not think it ought to be fo much as named here.
And even in Europe, not one in a hundred thou
fand meddles with thefe ftudies. Befides, its ori
ginal and rife is fo late, that many ages were paft
before the very firft rudiments of aftronomy, or
geometry, which is neceſſary to the learning of it,
were known . For every one is acquainted almoſt
with its first beginnings in Egypt and Greece.
Add to this, that it is not above fourfcore years
fince the bungling epicycles were diſcarded, and
the true and eafy plain motion of the planets was
diſcovered.
For the fatisfaction of thefe fcruples, to what

we faid before, concerning the fore knowlege of
God, may be added this ; that God never defigned
we ſhould come into the world aftronomers or phi
lofophers. Theſe arts are not infufed into us at
our birth, but were ordered , in long tracts of time,
by degrees, to be the rewards and refult of labori
ous diligence . Efpecially thofe fciences which are
now in debate, are fo much the more difficult and
abftrufe, that their late invention and flow progrefs
are fo far from being a wonder, that it is rather
ftrange, they were ever difcovered at all . There
are but few, I acknowlege, one or two perhaps in
an age, that purfue them, or think them their bu
finefs : but their number will be very confiderable
if we take in thofe that have lived in all the ages
in which aftronomy hath flourished : and no one can
deny them that happineſs and contentment which
they have pretended to above all others. In fine,
Me it was fufficient that ſo ſmall a number ſhould make
it their ſtudy, fo that the profit and advantage of
their inventions might but fpread itſelf over all the
world. Since then the inhabitants of this earth,
let them be never fo few, have had parts and geni
us fufficient for the attainment of this knowlege ;
and there is no reafon to think the planetary inha
bitants lefs ingenious or happy than ourſelves ; we
have gained our point, and it is probable that they
are as ſkilful aſtronomers as we can pretend to be.
So that now we may venture to deduce fome con

fequences from fuch a fuppofition .
We havebefore ſhowed the neceffary dependence
and connexion, not only of geometry and arith
metic, but ofmechanical arts and inftruments, with
this fcience. This leads us naturally to the enquiry
how they can uſe theſe inftruments and engines for
the obfervation of the ftars, how they can write
down fuch their obfervations, and perform other
things which we do with our hands . So that we
muft neceffarily give them hands, or .
They have
hands. fome other member, as convenient
for all thofe ufes, inftead of them.
One of the ancient philofophers laid fuch ftrefs u
pon the úfe and conveniency of the hands, that
he made no fcruple to affirm , they were the cauſe
and foundation of all our knowlege. By which, I
fuppofe, he meant no more, than that without
their help and aſſiſtance men could never arrive to
the improvement of their minds in natural know
lege : and indeed not without reaſon . For fuppofe
inſtead of them they had had hoofs, like horſes or
bullocks, given them, they might have laid indeed
the model and defign of cities and houſes in their
head, but they would never have been able to have
built them . They would have had no fubject of
difcourfe but what belonged to their victuals, mar.
riages, or felf- prefervation . They would have
been void of all knowlege and memory, and in
deed would have been but one degree diftant from
brute beafts. What could we invent or imagine
that could be fo exactly accommodated to all the
defigned ufes as the hands are ? Elephants can lay
hold of, or throw any thing with their probofcis,
can take up even the fmalleft things from the
ground, and can perform fuch furprizing things
with it, that it has not very improperly been called
their hand, hough, indeed, it is nothing but a noſe
fomewhat longer than ordinary. Nor do birds fhow
lefs art and defign in the ufe of their bills in the
picking up their meat, and the wonderful fabric
of their nefts. But all this is nothing to thofe con
veniencies the hand is fo admirably fuited to ; no
thing to that amazing contrivance in its capacity
of being ſtretched, or contracted , or turned to any
part as occafion fhall require. And then, to pafs
by that nice ſenſe that the ends of the fingers are
endued with, even to the feeling and diſtinguiſhing
a moft forts of bodies in the dark, what wifdom and
art is ſhowed in the difpofition of the thumb and
fingers, fo as to take up or keep faft hold of any
thing we pleaſe ! Either then the planetary inhabi
tants must have hands, or fomewhat equally con
venient, which it is not eafy to conceive ; or elſe
we muſt ſay that nature has been kinder not only
to us, but even to fquirrels and monkey than them .
That they have feet alfo fcarce any And feet.
one can doubt, that does but confider what we faid
but juft now of animals different ways of going a

long, which it is hard to imagine can be performed
any other ways than what we there recounted .
And of all thofe, there is none can agree fo well
with the ſtate of the planetary inhabitants, as that
which we here make uſe of : except, what is not
very probable, if they live in fociety, as I fhall
fhow they do, they have found out the art of flying
in fome of thofe worlds.
That they The ftature and ſhape of men here
are upright. does fhow forth the divine providence
fo much in its defigned ufes, that it is not with.
out reafon that all 1the philofophers have taken no
tice ofit, nor without probability that the planetary
inhabitants have their eyes and countenance up
right, like us , for the more convenient and easy
contemplation and obfervations of the ftars. For
if the wisdom of the Creator is fo obfervable , fo
praife-worthy in the pofition ofthe other members ;
in the convenient fituation of the eyes, as watches
in the higher region of the body ; in the removing
of the more uncomely parts out offight as it were ;
we cannot but think he hasHas aalmoſt
It follows not .
therefore that obfe rved the fame meth od in the bo
theyhavethe dies of thofe remote inhabitants . Nor
fame hape does it follow from hence that they
with us.
must be of the fame fhape with us.
For there is fuch an infinite poffible variety of fi
gures to be imagined , that both the ftructure of
Ibe the Planetary Worlds. 59
their whole bodies, and every part of them, both

outfide and infide, may be quite different from
ours. How warmly and conveniently are fome crea
tures clothed with wool, and how finely are o
thers decked and adorned with feathers ? Perhaps
among the rational creatures in the planets there
may fome fuch diftinction be obferved in their garb
1 pa
and covering ; a thing in which beafts feem to ex
cel men in here. Unlefs, perhaps, men are born
naked, for this reaſon to put them upon employing
and exercifing their wits, in the inventing and mak
ing that attire that nature had made neceffary for
Fa
them. And it is this neceffity that has been the
greateſt, if not the only occafion of all the trade
and commerce, of all the mechanical inventions and
difcoveries that we are maſters of. Befides, nature
might have another great conveniency in her eye,
by bringing men into the world naked, namely,
that they might accommodate themfelves to all
places of the world, and go thicker or thinner
clothed, according as the feafon and climate they
lived in required. D There may ftill be conceived a
greater difference between us and the inhabitants
of the planets ; for there are fome fort of animals,
fuch as oyſters, lobſters, and crab fish, whofe fleſh
is on the infide of their bones, as it were. But
that which hinders me from afcribing fuch a kind

of frame and compofition to the planetary inhabi
tants is, that nature feems to have done it only in
a few of the meaneft fort of creatures, and that
hereby they would be deprived of that quick eafy
motion of their hands and fingers , which is fo ufe
ful and neceffary to them, otherwife I ſhould not
be much affected with the odd fhape and figure.
A rational For it is a very ridiculous opinion,

foul may in that the common people have got,
habit another that it is impoffible a rational foul
ſhape than
ours. fhould dwell in any other fhape than
ours. And yet as filly as it is, it has
been the occaſion of many philofophers allowing
the gods no other fhape ; nay, the foundation of a
fect among the Chriftians, that from hence have
the name of Anthropomorphites . This can pro
ceed from nothing but the weakneſs, ignorance,
and prejudice of men ; the fame as that other con
cerning the human fhape, that it is the handſomeſt
and moſt excellent of all others, when indeed it is
nothing but a being accuſtomed to that figure that
makes us think fo, and a conceit that we and all o
ther animals naturally have, that no fhape or co·
lour can be fo good as our own . Yet fo powerful
are theſe, that were we to meet with a creature of
a much different ſhape from man, with reafon and
fpeech, we should be much furprized and fhocked
H
at the fight. For if we try to imagine or paint a
creature like a man in every thing elfe, but that
has a neck four times as long, and great round
eyes five or fix times as big, and farther diftant,
Prof
we cannot look upon it without the utmoſt averfion

although at the fame time we can give no account
of our diſlike.
When I juſt now mentioned the The inhabi
ftature of the planetary inhabitants, tants of the
I hinted that it was improbable they planets not
lefs than we.
fhould be less than we are. For it is
likely, that as our bodies are made in fuch a pro
portion to our earth, as to render us capable of
travelling about it, and making obfervations upon.
its bulk and figure, fome order is obferved in the
inhabitants of the other planets, unless in this par
ticular alfo, which is very confiderable, we would
prefer ourfelves to all others. Then feeing we
have before allowed them aftronomy and obferva
tions, we muſt give them bodies and ſtrength fuf
ficient for the ruling their inftruments, and the e
recting their tubes and engines. And for this the
larger they are the better. For if we fhould fnp
poſe them dwarfs, not above the bignefs of rats or
mice, they could neither make fuch obfervations
ass are requifite ; nor fuch inftruments as are necef
fary to thofe obfervations. Therefore we muſt fup
poſe them larger than, or at leaft equal to, our
felves, efpecially in Jupiter and Saturn , which are
fo vaftly bigger than the planet which we inhabit.
Aftronomy, we faid before, could They live in
never fubfift without the writing down • fociety.
their obfervations : nor could the art of writing (any
F
more than the arts ofcarpenters and founders) ever

be found out except in a fociety of reaſonable crea
tures, where the neceffities of life forced them up
on invention : fo that it follows from hence, as
was before faid, that the planetary inhabitants muſt.
in this be like us, that they maintain a fociety and
fellowship with, and afford mutual affiſtances and
helps to one another. Hereupon we muſt allow
them a fettled, not a wandering Scythian way of
living, as more convenient for men in fuch circum
ftances. But what follows from hence ? Muft they
not have their governors, houſes, cities , trade and
commerce? Why fhould they not, when even the
barbarous people of America and other places were,
at their firft difcovery, found to have fomewhat of
that nature in ufe among them. I do not fay, that
things must be the fame there as they are here.
We have many that may very well be ſpared among
rational creatures, and were defigned only for the
prefervation of fociety from all injury, and for the
curbing ofthofe men who make an ill ufe of their
reaſon to the detriment of others . Perhaps, in
the planets, they have fuch plenty and affluence of
all good things,- as they neither need or defire to
fteal from one another ; perhaps they may be for
juft and good as to be at perpetual peace, and ne
ver to lie in wait for, or take away the life of their
neighbour : perhaps they may not know what an
ger or hatred are ; and if fo, they muſt be much
happier than we. But it is more likely they have

fuch a mixture of good with bad, of wife with
fools, of war with peace, and want not that fchool
miftrefs ofarts, poverty. For, as was before ſhown,
fome good ufe may be made of theſe things, but
if not, there is no 7 reaſon why we ſhould prefer
their condition to our own.
What I am now going to lay may They enjoy
ſeem ſomewhat more bold, and yet is the pleasures
of fociety.
not lefs likely than the former. For
if theſe nations in the planets live in fociety, as I
have pretty well fhowed they do, it is fomewhat
more than probable that they enjoy not only the
profit, but the pleaſures arifing from fociety : fuch
as converfation, amours, jollity, and ſhows. O❤
therwife we fhould make them live without diver
fion or merriment ; we ſhould deprive them of the
great fweetness of life, which it cannot well be
without, and give ourſelves fuch an advantage o
ver them as reaſon will by no means admit of.
But to proceed to a farther enquiry into their bu
finefs and employment, let us confider, what we
have not yet mentioned, wherein they may bear
any likeness to us. And, firft, we have good rea
fon to believe they build themſelves houfes, be
cauſe we are fure they are not without their fhow.
ers. For in Jupiter have been obferved clouds,
big no doubt with vapours and water, which

hath been proved by many other arguments, not
F.2
to be wanting in that planet. They have rain

then, for otherwife how could all the vapours drawn
up by the heat ofthe fun be difpofed of? and winds,
for they are caufed only by vapours diffolved by
heat, and it is plain that they blow in Jupiter by
the continual motion and variety of the clouds a
bout him. To protect themſelves from
They have
houſes to fe theſe, and that they may pass their
cure them nights in quiet and ſafety, they muſt
from weather.
build themſelves tents or huts, or live
in holes of the earth. But why may we not fup.
pofe the planetary inhabitants to be as good archi
tects, have as nobie houfes, and as ftately palaces
as ourſelves? unless we think that every thing which
belong to ourſelves is the most beautiful and per
fect that can be. And who are we, but a few that
live in a little corner of the world, upon a ball ten
thousand times lefs than Jupiter or Saturn ? and
yet we must be the only fkilful people at building ;
and all others must be our inferiors in the know
lege of uniform fymmetry ; and not be able to raiſe
towers and pyramids as high, magnificent, and
beautiful, as ourfelves. For my part, I fee no
reafon why they may not be as great mafters as
we are, and have the ufe of all thofe arts fubfervi
ent to it, as ſtone-cutting and brick-making, and
whatfoever elfe is neceffary for it, as iron , lead and
glafs ; or ornamental to it, as gilding and picture.
If their globe is divided, like ours, into fea and
land, as it is evident it is (elfe whence could all

thofe vapours in Jupiter proceed ?) we have great
reafon to allow them the art of navigation , and .
not vainly engrofs fo great, fo ufeful a thing to
ourfelves . Especially confidering the great advan
tages Jupiter and Saturn have for failing, in have
ing fo many moons to direct their courfe, by whofe
guidance they may attain eafily to the knowlege,
that we are not mafters of, ofthe longitude of pla
ces. And what a multitude of other things follow
from this allowance ? Ifthey have ships, they muſt
have fails and anchors, ropes, pullies, and rud
ders, which are of particular uſe in directing a
fhip's courſe againſt the wind, and in failing diffe
rent ways with the fame gale. And perhaps they
may not be without the ufe of the compafs too ;
for the magnetical matter, which continually paffes
through the pores of our earth, is of fuch a nature,
that it is very probable the planets have fomething
like it. But there is no doubt but that
They have .
they muſt have the mechanical arts and navigation,
aftronomy, without which navigation and all arts
fubfervient.
can no more fubfift, than they can
without geometry.
But geometry ſtands in no need of being proved
after this manner. Nor doth it want affiftance
from other arts which depend upon it, but we
may have a nearer and fhorter affurance of their
not being without it in thofe earths. For that fci
F 3
ence is offuck fingular worth and dignity, fo pe

culiarly employs the underſtanding, and gives it
fuch a full comprehenfion and infallible certainty
Asgeometry. of truth, as no other knowlege can
pretend to it is, moreover, offuch a
nature, that its principles and foundations muſt be
fo immutably the fame in all times and places, that
we cannot without injuftice pretend to monopolize
it, and rob the reſt of the univerfe of fuch an in
comparable ſtudy. Nay nature itſelf invites us to
be geometricians ; it prefents us with geometrical
figures, with circles and fquares, with triangles,
polygons, and fpheres, and propofes them as it
were to our conſideration and ſtudy , which, ab
ſtracting from its uſefulneſs, is moſt delightful and
ravishing. Who can read Euclid, or Apollonius,
about the circle, without admiration ! or Archime
des, of the furface of the fphere, and quadrature
of the parabola, without amazement ! or confider
the late ingenious difcoveries of the moderns with
boldness and unconcernednefs ! And all theſe truths
are as naked and open, and depend upon the fame
plain principles and axioms in Jupiter and Saturn
as here, which makes it not improbable that there
are in the planets fome who partake with us in
thefe delightful and pleaſant ſtudies . But what is
the greatest argument with me, that there are fuch,
is their ufe, I had almoft faid neceffity, in moft af
fairs of human life. Now we are got thus far,
00 the Planetary Worlds. 67
what if we fhould venture fomewhat farther, and

fay, that they have our inventions of the tables of
fines, of logarithms, 1961and 1 Algebra ? I know it
would found very odd , and perhaps a little ridicu
lous ; and yet there is no reafon but the thinking
ourſelves better than all the world, to hinder them
from being as happy in their difcoveries, and as
ingenious in their inventions as we ourſelves are.
It is the fame with mufic as with ge. They have
ometry; it is every where immutably mufic.
the fame, and always will be fo. For all harmo
ny confifts in concord, and concord is, all the
world over, fixed according to the fame invariable
meaſure and proportion . So that in all nations
the difference and diſtance of notes is the fame,
whether they be in a continued gradual progreffion,
or the voice makes fkips over one to the next. Nay
very credible authors report, that there is a fort of
bird in America, that can plainly fing in order fix
mufical notes : whence it follows, that the laws of
mufic are unchangeably fixed by nature, and there
fore the fame reafon holds for their mufic, as we,
even now, fhewed for their geometry. For why,
fuppofing other nations and creatures, endued with
reafon and fenfe as well as we, ſhould not they reap
the pleaſures ariſing from theſe ſenſes as well as we

too ? I do not know what effect this argument,
from the immutable nature of theſe arts, may have
upon the minds of others ; I think it no inconfide
y
rable or contemptible one, but of as great ſtrength

as that I made ufe of above, to prove that the pla
netary inhabitants had the fenſe of ſeeing.
But ifthey took delight in harmony, there is no
doubt but that they have invented muſical inſtru
ments . For they could fcarce help lighting upon
fome or other by chance ; the found of a tight

ftring, the noiſe of the winds, or the whiſtling of
reeds, might have given them the hint. From thefe
fmall beginnings, they, perhaps, as well as we, have
advanced by degrees totheufe ofthe lute, harp, flute,
and many ftringed inftruments. For although the
tones are certain and determinate, yet we find a
mong different nations a quite different manner
and rule for finging ; as formerly among the Dori
ans, Phrygians, and Lydians, and in our time a
mong the French, Italians, and Perfians.In like
manner it may fo happen, that the mufic of the in
habitants of the planets may widely differ from all
thefe, and yet be very good. But why we ſhould
look upon their muſic to be worſe than ours, there
is no reaſon can be given ; neither can we well pre
fume that they want the uſe of half- notes and quar
ter-notes, feeing the invention of half-notes is fo
obvious, and the uſe of them fo agreeable to na
ture. Nay, to go a step farther, what if they
fhould excel us in theory and practic part of mu
fie, and outdo us in conforts of vocal and inftru
mental mufic, fo artificially compofed, that they
fhew their fkill by the mixtures of difcords and

concords ? and of this laft fort it is very likely the
fifth and third are in ufe with them.
This is a very bold affertion, but it may be true
for ought we know, and the inhabitants of the pla
nets may poffibly have a greater infight into the
theory of mufic than has yet been diſcovered among
us . For if you afk any of our muſicians, why two
or moreperfect fifths cannot beufed regularly in com
pofition ; ſome fay it is to avoid that ſweetneſs and
lufcioufnefs which arifes from the repetition of this
pleafing chord. Others fay, this muſt be avoided for
the fake ofthat variety of chords that are requifite to
make a good compofition ; and theſe reaſons are
broughtby Cartes and others. Butan inhabitant ofJu
piter or Venus will perhaps give you a better reaſon
forthis, viz. becaufe when you pass from one perfect
fifth to another, there is fuch a change made as im
mediately alters your key ; you are got into a new
key before the #ear is prepared for it ; and the more
perfect chords you ufe of the fame kind in confe
cution, by fo much the more you offend the ear
by these abrupt changes.
Again, one ofthefe inhabitants perhaps can fhow
how it comes about, that in a fong of one or more
parts, the key cannot be kept fo well in the fame
agreeable tenour, unless the intermediate clofes
and intervals be fo tempered, as to vary from their
ufual proportions, and thereby to bear a little this
70 Conjectures concerning Sela Book I.
way or that, in order to regulate the fcale. And

why this temperature is beft in the fyftem of the
ftrings, when out of the fifth the fourth part of a
comma is ufually cut off ; this fame thing I have
formerly fhewed at large.
But for the regulating the tone of the voice, as
I before hinted, that may admit of a more eaſy
proof, and we ſhall give you an effay ofit, fince
I have mentioned a thing that is not mere ima
gination only : I fay therefore, if any perfon
ftrike thofe founds which the muſicians diftinguifk
by theſe letters, C, F, D, G, C, by thefe agreeable
intervals, altogether perfect, interchangeable, af
cending and defcending with the voice : now this
latter found C will be one comma, or very ſmall
portion lower than the firſt founding of C. Becaufe

of thefe perfect intervals, which are as 4 to 3, 5 to
6, 4 to 3, 2 to 3, an account is made in fuch a
proportion, as 160 to 162. that is, as 80 to 81,
which is what they call a comma . So that if the
fame found ſhould be repeated nine times, the voice

would fall near the matter a greater tone, whofe
proportion is as 8 to 9. But this the fenfe of the
ears by no means endures, but remembers the firſt
tone, and returns to it again. Therefore we are
"
compelled to ufe an occult temperament, and to
fing thefe imperfect intervals, from doing which
lefs offence arifes. And for the most part, all fing
ing wants this temperament, as may be collected
by the aforefaid computations. And theſe things we
have offered to thofe that have fome knowlege in

geometry.
We have ſpoke of thefe arts and inventions,
which it is very probable the inhabitants of the pla
nets partake of in common with us, befides which
it feems requifite to take in many other things that
ferve either for the ufe or pleaſure of their lives.
But what theſe things are we fhall the better ac
count for, by laying before us many of thofe things
which are found among us. I have before menti
oned the variety of animals and vegetables, which
very much differ from each other, among which
there are ſome that differ but little ; and I have
faid, that there are no lefs differences in theſe
things in the planetary worlds.
I fhall now take a ſhort view of the benefits we
receive both from thofe herbs and animals, and fee
whether we may not with very good reafon con
clude that the planetary inhabitants reap as great
and as many from thofe that their countries afford
them .
And here it may be worth our while to take a
review of the variety and multitude of our riches.
For trees and herbs do not only ferve us for food,
they in their delicious fruits, theſe in their feeds,
leaves and roots ; the herbs moreover furniſh us
with phyfic, and trees with timber, for our houfes
and fhips. Flax, by the means of thofe two ufe
ful arts of ſpinning and weaving, affords us cloth
ing. Ofhemp or matweed we twift ourſelves thread

and ſmall ropes ; the former of which we employ
in fails and nets, the latter in making larger ropes
for maſts and anchors. With the ſweet ſmells and
beauteous colours of flowers we feaft our fenfes :
and even thoſe of them that offend
The advan
tages we reap Our noftrils, or are mischievous to our
from herbs bodies, are feldom without excellent
and animals.
ufes ; or were made, perhaps, by na
ture as a foil to fet off, and make us the more va
lue the good by comparing them with theſe.
What vaft advantages and profit do we reap from
the animals ! The fheep give us clothing, and the
cows afford us milk : and both of them their fleſh
for our fuftenance. Affes, camels, and horfes do,
what if we wanted them we muſt do ourſelves, car
ry our burdens ; and the laft of them we make ufe
of, either themſelves to-carry us, or in our coaches
to draw us. In which we have fo excellent, fo ufe
ful an invention of wheels, that I cannot fuppofe
the planets to enjoy fociety and all its confequences,
and be without them. Whether they are Pytha
goreans there, or feed upon fleth as we do, I dare
not affirm any thing. Though it feems to be al
lowed men to feed upon whatfoever may afford
them nouriſhment, either on land, or water, up
on herbs, and pomes, milk, eggs, honey, fish, and
no leſs upon the flesh of many birds and beafts .
But it is a furprizing thing, that a rational creature
ſhould live upon the ruin and deftruction offuch a

number of other his fellow- creatures ! And yet it
"
does not feem at all unnatural, fince not only he,
but even lions, wolves, and other ravenous beaſts,
prey upon flocks of other harmleſs things, and
make mere fodder of them ; as eagles do of pidge
ons and hares ; and large fifh of the helpleſs little
ones. We have different forts of dogs for hunting,
and what our own legs cannot, that their noſe and
legs can help us to. But the ufe and profit of herbs
and animals are not the only things they are good
for, but they raife our delight and admiration when
we confider their various forms and natures, and
enquire into all their different ways ofgeneration :
things fo infinitely multifarious, and fo delightfully
amazing, that the books of natural philofophers
are defervedly filled with their encomiums. For
even in the very infects, who can but admire the
fix-cornered cells of the bees, or the artificial web
of a ſpider, or the fine bag of a filk worm ; which
laft affords us, with the help ofincredible induſtry,
even ſhip-loads of foft delicate clothing . This is
• a ſhort fummary of thofe many profitable advanta
ges the animal and herbal world ferve with us.
But this is not all. The bowels of the earth
likewife contribute much to man's happiness . For
what art and cunning does he employ in finding,
in digging, in trying metals, and in melting, re
fining, and tempering them ! What ſkill and nice
G
ty in beating, drawing or diffolving gold, fo as

And from with inconfiderable changes to make e
metals. very thing he pleafes put on that noble
5
luftre ? Of how many and admirable uſes is iron ?
and how ignorant in all mechanical knowlege were
thofe nations that were not acquainted with it, fo
as to have no other arms but bows, clubs, and
fpears, made of wood. There is one thing indeed
we have, which it is a queſtion whether it has done
more harm or good, and that is gun- powder
made of nitre and brimſtone . At first indeed it
feemed as ifwe had got a more fecure defence than
former ages againſt all affaults, and could easily
guard our towns, by the wonderful ſtrength of that
invention, againſt all hoftile invafions : but now
we find it has rather encouraged them, and at the
fame time been no fmall occafion of decay of va
lour, by rendering it and strength almoſt uſeleſs in
war. Had the Grecian emperor, who faid, virtue
was ruined only when flings and rams firft came in
to ufe, lived in our days, he might well have com
plained ; efpecially of bombs , againſt which nei
ther art nor nature is of fufficient proof : but
which lays every thing, caſtles and towers, be they
never ſo ſtrong, even with the ground. If for no
thing elfe, yet upon this one account, I think we
had better have been without the diſcovery. Yet,
when we were talking of our difcoveries, it was
not to be paffed over, for the planets too may have
their miſchievous as well as uſeful inventions .
We are happier in the ufes for which the air and

water ferves us ; both of which help us in our na
vigation, and furniſh us with a ſtrength fufficient,
`without any labour of our own , to turn round our
mills and engines ; things that are of ufe to us in
fo many different employments. For with them
we grind our corn, and ſqueeze out our oil ; with
them we cut wood, and mill cloth, and with them
we beat our ſtuff for paper. An incomparable in
vention ! where the naftieſt uſeleſs fcraps of linen
are made to produce fine white fheets. To thefe
we may add the late difcovery of printing, which
not only preferves from death arts and knowlege,
but makes them much eaſier to be attained than be
fore. Nor muſt we forget the arts of engraving
and painting, which, from mean beginnings, have
improved to that excellence, that nothing that
ever ſprung from the wit of man can claim pre
eminence to them. Nor is the way of melting
and blowing glaffes, and of poliſhing and ſpread

ing quick-filver over looking glaffes, unworthy
ofbeing mentioned ; nor above all, the admirable .
ufes that? glaffes have been put to in natural
knowlege, fince the invention of the Teleſcope
and Microſcope. And no lefs nice and fine is the
art of making clocks, fome of which are fo fmall
as to be no weight to the bearer ; and others fo
exact as to measure out the time in as fmall porti
ons as any one can defire : 7 the improvement of
G 2
s Book I.
76 Conjecture concerning 3
both which the world owes to my * inventi
ons.
From the dif I might add much here ofthe 1 late
coveries of diſcoveries, moft of them of this age,
our age. which have been made in all forts of
natural knowlege as well as in geometry and aftro.
nomy; as ofthe weight and fpring of the air, of
the chymical experiments that have ſhown us a way
of making liquors that fhall fhine in the dark, and
with gentle moving fhall burn of themfelves. I
might mention the circulation ofthe blood through
the veins and arteries, which was underſtood indeed
before ; but now, by the help of the Microſcope,
has an ocular demonftration in the tails of fome
fishes: ofthe generation of animals, which now is
found to be performed no otherwife than by the
feed of one of the fame kind ; and that in the feed
of the male are difcovered, by the help of glaffes,
millions offprightly little animals, which it is pro
bable are the very offspring of the animals them.
felves : a furpriſing thing, and never before now
known.
The planets Thus have I put together all thefe

have, though and now
late difcoveries of our earth
notthe fame, though, perhaps, fome of them may
yet as useful
inventions .be common to the planetary inhabi
tants with us, yet that they ſhould have
all of them is not credible. But then they may
The author invented the pendulum for clocks.

have fomewhat to make up that defect, others as

good and as ufeful, and as wonderful, that we want.
We have allowed that they may have rational crea
tures among them, and geometricians, and mufici
ans : we have proved that they live in focieties, have
hands and feet, are guarded with houfes and walls :
wherefore ifa man could be carried thither by fome
powerful genius, fome Mercury, I do not, in the
leaft, doubt, it would be a very curious fight ; cu
rious beyond all imagination , to fee the odd ways,
and the unufual manner of their fetting about any
thing, and their ftrange methods of living. But
fince there is no hopes of our going fuch a journey,
we muſt be contented with what is in our power :
we may ſuppoſe ourſelves there, and inquire as far
as we can into the aftronomy of each planet, and
fee in what manner the heavens prefent themfelves
to their inhabitants. We fhall make fome obfer
vations ofthe eminence of each of them, in refpect
of their magnitude, and number of moons they
have to wait on them ; and fhall propofe a new
method ofcoming to fome knowlege ofthe incredible
diftance of the fixed ftars. But first after this long and
deep thoughtfulnefs we will give ourſelves a little
reft, and ſo put an end to this book.
G 3
res ing Book II.
78 Conjectu concern
BOOK the Second.
IT was fome years ago that I chanced to light

upon Athanafius Kircher's book, called the Ecfta
tic Journey, which treats of the nature ofthe ſtars,
and of the things that are to be found in the fuperfi
cies of the planets. I wondered to ſee nothing there
of what I had often thought not improbable , but
quite other things, nothing but a heap of idle un
reaſonable ſtuff: which I was the more confirmed
in, when, after the writing of the former part, I
ran over the book again . And I thought mine
were very confiderable and weighty matters ifcom
pared with Kircher's . That other people may be
fatisfied in this, and fee how vainly thofe, who
caft off the only foundations of probability in ſuch
matters, which we have all the way made ufe of,
pretend to philofophize in this cafe, I think it will
not be befide the purpoſe to beftow fome few re
flections upon that book.
Thatingenious man , ſuppoſing him
Kircher's
ecftatic jour felf carried by fome angel through the
ney exami vaft fpaces of heaven, and round the
ned.
ftars, tells us, he faw a great many
things, fome of which he had out of the books of
aftronomers, the reft are the product of his own
fancy and thoughts. But, before he enters upon
his journey, he lays down thefe two things as cer
tain ; that no motion must be allowed the earth,

and that God has made nothing in the planets, no
/
not fo much as herbs, which has either life or fenfe
in it. Leaving then the fyftem of Copernicus,
he chufes Tycho for his guide. But when he fup
pofes all the fixed ftars to be funs, and round each
of them places their planets, here, againſt his will,
I fuppofe, he has unawares made an infinite num
ber of Copernican fyftems . All which, beſide
their own motion, he abfurdly makes to be car
ried, with an incredible fwiftnefs, in twenty four
hours round the earth . Since moft of thefe worlds
are out ofthe reach of any man's fight, as he owns
they are, I cannot think for what purpoſe he makes
fo many funs to fhine upon defolate lands, like our
earth in every thing, he fays, only that they have
neither plants nor animals, where there is no one
to whom they ſhould give light. And from hence
he ſtill falls into more and more abfurdities . And
becauſe he could find no other ufe of the planets,
even in our ſyſtem, he is forced to beg help of the
aftrologers ; and would have all thofe vaft bodies
made upon no other account than that the whole
univerſe might be preferved and continue fecure by
their means, and that they might govern the mind
of man by their various and regular influences.
Accordingly, to gratify aftrology, he fays that Ve
nus was the moſt pleaſant place, every thing fine
and handfome, its light gentle, its waters fweet
80 Conjectures concerning Book II.
and purling, and itſelf befet all about with ſhining

chryſtals. In Jupiter he found wholeſome and
fweet gales, delicate waters, and a land fhining like
filver. For from thefe two planets it feems, men
have all that is happy and healthful poured down
upon them ; and all that renders them handfome
and lovely, wife and grave, is owing to their influ
ences. Mercury had I do not know what airinefs
and brifknefs in it ; whence men derive, when they
are first born, all their wit and cunning. Mars
was nothing but infernal, ftinking, black flames,
and ſmoke: and Saturn was all melancholy, dread
ful, nafty, and dark: for thefe are the planets (I
do not know why, but all fortune-tellers hate them)
that bring all the plagues and miſchiefs that we feel
upon us, and would exerciſe their ſpite ſtill more,
unless they were fometimes mitigated and correct
ed by the benign and kind influences ofthe other
planets. All this and fuch like ftuff his genius
teaches him. Whom he introduces as giving
a ferious anſwer to this idle queſtion , whether
a Jew or heathen could be duly and rightly bap
tized in the waters ofVenns ? Ofhim too he learns
that the heaven of the fixed ſtars is not made offo
lid matter, but of a thin fluid, wherein an inumera
ble company of ftars and funs lie floating here and
there, not chained down to any place, (thus far
he is in the right ; ) and defcribing in the ſpace of a
day thofe prodigious circles round the earth. He
forgets here, if there be ſuch a motion, with what

an incredible fwiftnefs they would fly off from eve
ry part of their orbits. But I fuppofe the intelli
gences that he has placed in them are to take care
of that, thofe angels that prefide over, and regulate
their motions. And in that he follows a company
of doctors that harboured that idle fancy of Ariſto
tle upon no account or confideration. But Coper
nicus has freed thofe intelligences of all that labour
and trouble, only by bringing in the motion ofthe
earth, which, if upon no other account, every one,
that is not blind purpoſely, must own to be necef
fary upon this. I dare fay Kircher, if he had dared
freely to ſpeak his mind, could have afforded us bet
ter fort of things than thefe. But when he could
not have that liberty, I think he might as well
have let the whole matter alone . But enough
of this ; let us havedone with this famous author.
And now that we have ventured to place fpectators
in the planets, let us examine each of them , and
fee what their years, days, and aftronomy are.
To begin with the innermoft and The ſyſtem
neareſt the fun : we know that Mercu- ofthe planets
ry is three times nearer that vaft body in Mercury.
oflight than we are. Whence it follows that they
fee him three times bigger, and feel him nine times
hotter than we do. Such a degree of heat would
be intolerable to us, and fet afire all our dried herbs,
our hay and ſtraw that we ufe. And yet there is
no doubt but that the animals there, are made of

fuch a temper, as to be moderately warm , and the
plants fuch as to be able to endure the heat. The
inhabitants of Mercury, it is likely, have the fame
opinion of us that we have of Saturn , that we muſt
be intolerably cold, and have little or no light, as we
are fo far from the fun. There is reafon to doubt,
whether the inhabitants of Mercury, though they
live ſo much nearer the fun, the fountain of life and
vigour, are much more airy and ingenious than
we. For if we may guefs at them by what we fee
here, we ſhall not be obliged to grant it. The
inhabitants of Africa and Brafil, that have for
their fhare the hotteft places in the earth, being
neither fo wife nor fo induſtrious as thofe that be
long to colder and more temperate climates ; they
have ſcarce any arts or knowlege among them ; and
thofe of them, that live upon the very fhore, un
derſtand little or no navigation.. Nor can I be
willing to make all that vaft number that must in
habit thofe two large planets, Jupiter and Saturn,
and have fuch noble attendance, mere dull block
heads, or without as much wit as ourſelves, though
they are fo far more diftant from the fun . The
•
aftronomy of thofe that live in Mercury, and the
appearance of the planets to them, oppofite at cer
tain times to the fun, may be eaſily conceived by
the fcheme of the Copernican fyftem in the former
part. At the times of thefe oppofitions Venus and
the earth muft needs appear very bright and large

to them. For if Venus fhines fo gloriouſly to us
when ſhe is new and horned, fhe muft neceffarily,
in oppofition to the fun, when he is full, be at
leaſt fix or seven times larger, and a great deal
nearer to the inhabitants of Mercury, and afford
them light fo ftrong and bright, that they have no
reafon to complain of their want of a moon.
What the length oftheir days are, or whether they
have different feafons in the year, is not yet difco
vered, becauſe we have not yet been able to obferve
whether his axis have any inclination to his orbit,
or what time he spends in his diurnal revolution a
bout his own axis . And yet feeing Mars, the earth,
Jupiter and Saturn, have certainly fuch fucceffions,
there is no reason to doubt but that he has his days
and nights as well as they. But his year is fcarce
the fourth part fo long as ours.
The inhabitants of Venus have much the fame
face of things as thoſe in Mercury, only they never
fee him in oppofition to the fun, which is occafi
oned by his never removing above 38 degrees, or
thereabouts, from it. The fun appears to them
larger by half his diameter, and above twice in his
circumference, than to us : and by confequence
affords them but twice as much light and heat, fo
that they are nearer our temperature than Mercury.
Their year is completed in feven and a half of
our months. In the night, our earth, when it is
on the other fide of the fun from Venus, muft

needs feem much larger and lighter to Venus than
ſhe doth ever to us ; and then they may eaſily fee,
if their eyes be not weaker than ours, our conftant
attendant the moon. I have often wondered that
when I have viewed Venus when he is neareſt to
the earth, and reſembled an half-moon , juſt begin
ning to have fomething like horns, through a tele
ſcope of 45 or 60 foot long, fhe always appeared to
me all over equally lucid, that I cannot fay I ob
ferved fo much\ as one fpot in her, though in Ju
piter and Mars, which feem much lefs to us, they
are very plainly perceived. For if Venus had any
fuch thing as fea and land, the former muſt necef
farily fhow much more obfcure than the other, as
any one may fatisfy himſelf, that from a very high
mountain will but look down upon the earth. I
thought that perhaps the too bright light of Venus
might be the occafion of this equal appearance ;
but when I uſed an eye-glafs that was fmoked for
the purpoſe, it was ftill the fame thing. What
then, has Venus no fea, or do the waters there re
flect the light more than ours do, or their land lefs ?
Or rather (which is moft probable in my opinion)
is not all that light we fee reflected from an atmo
fphere furrounding Venus, which being thicker and
more folid than that in Mars or Jupiter, hinders
our ſeeing any thing of the globe itſelf, and is at
the fame time capable offending back the rays that
it receives from the fun ? For it is certain that if

we looked on the earth from the outfide of the at
moſphere, we ſhould not perceive fuch a difference.
as we do from a mountain ; but by reafon of the
interpofed atmosphere, we should obferve very lit
tle diſparity between fea and land. It is the fame
thing that hinders us from feeing the ſpots in the
moon as plain in the day as in the night,, becauſe
the vapours that furround the earth, being then en
lightened by the rays of the fun, are an impediment
to our profpect.olo fub mun fly
But Mars, as I faid before, has fome In Mars.
parts of him darker than other fome.
By the conftant returns of which his nights and

days have been found to be ofabout the fame length
with ours, But the inhabitants have no perceivable
difference between fimmer and winter, the axis of
that planet having very little or no inclination to
his orbit, as has been diſcovered by the motion of
his fpots. Our earth muft appear to them almoft
as Venus doth to us, and by the help of a telefcope
will be found to have its wane, increafe, and full,
like the moon ; and never to remove from the fun
above 48 degrees, by whofe difcovery they fee it,
as well as Mercury and Venus, fometimes pafs o
ver the fun's disk. They as feldom fee Venus as
we do Mercury. I am apt to believe , that the land
in Mars is of a blacker colour than that of Jupiter
or the moon, which is the reafon of his appearing
H
of a copper colour, and his reflecting a weaker

light than is proportionable to his diſtance from the
fun. His body, as I obferved before, though far
ther from the fun, is lefs than Venus. Nor has he
any moon to wait upon him, and in that, as well
as Mercury and Venus, he muſt be acknowleged
inferior to the earth. His light and heat is twice.
and fometimes three times less than ours, to which
I fuppofe the conftitution of his inhabitants is an
fwerable.
Jupiter and If our earth can claim pre-eminence

Saturn the of the fore-mentioned planets, for ha
mofteminent
of the pla ving a moon to attend upon it, (for
nets both for its magnitude can make but a ſmall
bignefs and difference) how much fuperior muſt
attendants
Jupiter and Saturn be to thofe three
and the earth alfo ! For whether we confider their
bulk, in which they far exceed all the others, or
the number of moons that wait upon them, it is
very probable that they are the chief, the primary
planets in our fyftem, in compariſon with which
the other four are nothing, and ſcarce worth men
tioning. For the eafier conception of their vaſt
disparity, I have thought fit to add a ſcheme of our
earth, with the moon's orbit, and the globe of
the moon itſelf, and the fyftems of Jupiter and
Saturn , where I have drawn every thing as near
the true proportion as poffible *. Jupiter you fee is
adorned with four, and Saturn with five moons,
* Fig
. 3.
Page 86
3
Sat
сссоз
Moon Farth
87
dood the Planetary Worlds.
T
all placed in their respective orbits. The moons
about Jupiter, it is well known, we owe to Galilæo:
and any one may imagine he was in no finall
rapture at the difcovery. The outermoft but one, and
brighteſt of Saturn's, it chanced to be my lot, with
a teleſcope not above 12 foot long, to have the first
fight of in the year 1655. The reſt we may thank
the induſtrious Caffini for, who uſed the glaſſes of
Jof. Campanus's grinding, firft of 36, and after
wards of 136 foot long. He has often, and parti
cularly in the year 1672, fhewed me the third and
གཞི་ རྩ
fifth . The firſt and fecond he gave me notice of
by letters in the year 1684 : but they are ſcarce e
ver to be feen, and I cannot pofitively fay, I had
14
ever that happiness : but am as fatisfied that they
are there, as if I had ; not in the leaft fufpecting
the credit of that worthy man. Nay, I am afraid
there are one or two more ſtill behind, and not.
without reafon. For between the fourth and fifth
there is a diſtance not at all proportionable to that
between all the others : here, for ought I know, there
may be a fixth; or perhaps there may be another
3
without the fifth that may yet have escaped us :
for we can never fee the fifth but in that part of
his orbit, which is towards the weft : for which
we fhall give you a very good reafon.
Perhaps when Saturn comes into the northern
figns, and is at a good height from the Horizon
(for at the writing of this he is at his loweft) you
H 2
88
Conjectures concerning Book II.
may happen to make ſome diſcoveries, good bro

ther, ifyou would but make uſe of your two tele
fcopes of 170 and 210 foot long ; the longeft, and
the beſt I believe now in the world. For thought
we have not yet had an opportunity of obferving
the heavens with them (as well by reafon of their
unweildinefs, as for the interruption of our ſtudies
by your abfence) yet I am faisfied of their good
nefs by our trial of them one night, in reading a
letter at a vaft diftance by the help of a light, I
cannot but think of thofe times with pleaſure, and
of our diverting labour in polishing and preparing
fuch glaffes,
RWAL in inventing new methods and engines,
and always pufhing forward to ftill greater and
greater things. But to return, to the figures, of
which there remains fomething further to be faid..
The I have there made the diameter of
prop
or
tion of the Jupiter about twoE third parts of our
diameter of
diſtance from the moon for the dia.
Jupiter, and
of the orbits meter ofJupiter is above twenty times
of his fatel bigger than that of the earth ; which
lites to the ‫ܐ ܂܂‬
is about a thirtieth part of the moon's
orbit of the
moon round diſtance. The orbit of the outermoſt
the earth. of Jupiter's Satellites is to that of the
moon round the earth, as 8 and is 10.1 . And
The periods each of theſe moons, by the ſhadow

of Jupiter's they make upon Jupiter, cannot be
onstien s
moons.
earth. Their periods)
afted lefs than our
that I may not omit them, are, according to Caf
oo the Planetary Worlds . 89
fini's account, thefe . That of the inmoſt is one

day, 18 hours, 28 minutes, and 36 feconds. The
fecond fpends 3 days, 13 hours, 13 min. 52 fe
conds in the going round him . The third 7 days,
3 hours, 59 minutes, 40 feconds. The fourth 16
days, 18 hours, 5 minutes, 6 feconds. The dif
tance of the innermoft from Jupiter himſelf is 2
and five fixth parts of his diameters. That of the
fecond is four and a half: of the third 7 and one
fixth part of the fourth 12 and two thirds, ofthe
fame diameters. The innermoſt
And Saturn's.
of Saturn 's fatellit es moves round
him in 1 day, 21 hours, 18 minutes, 31 feconds.
The ſecond in 2 days, 17 hours, 41 minutes, 27 fe
conds. The third in 4 days, 13 hours, 47 minutes,
16 feconds. The fourth in fifteen days, 22 hours,
41 minutes, 11 feconds. The fifth in 79 days, 7
hours, 53 minutes, 57 feconds. Their diſtances
from the center of Saturn are, that of the firſt al
moſt one, that is 39 fortieth parts of the diameter
Dof his ring ; that of the fecond one and a quarter

of thofe diameters ; ofthe third one and three quar
ters of them ; of the fourth four, or according to
my calculation, but 3 and a half; of the fifth 12,
which were found with vaft pains and labour.
Now can any one look upon, and compare thefe
fyftems together, without being amazed at the vaſt
magnitude and noble attendance of theſe two pla
nets, in respect of this little earth of ours ! Or can
H 3
they force themſelves to think, that the wife Crea

tor has difpofed of all his animals and plants here,
has furnished and adorned this fpot only, and has
left allthofe worlds bare and deftitute of inhabitants,
who might adore and worship him; or that all
thofe prodigious bodies were made only to twinkle
to, and be ſtudied by fome few perhaps of us poor
mortals ?
This propor I do not doubt but there will be
tion true ac ·
fome who will think we are very much
cording to all
modern ob miſtaken about the magnitude of theſe
fervations. planets . For will you pretend to
make them who are taken up în admiring the

largenefs of this globe, its multitude of nations ,
cities, and empires ; can you pretend I fay to make
them ever believe that there are places in compari
fon ofwhich the earth is as inconfiderable as this fi
gure would make it ? But they ought to be infor

med, that thefe proportions are thoſe which the
beft aftronomers of this age have agreed upon .
Forifthe earth be diftant from the fun ten or eleven
thousand of its own diameters, according to the
accounts of monfieur Caffini in France, and Mr.
Flamsteed in England, wherein they made ufe
of very exact abfervations of the parallaxes of .
Mars ; or if, according to a very probable con
jecture ofmine, it be diftant twelve thoufand, then
the magnitudes of the other orbs will very near an
fwer the proportions here fettled.
Rock the Planetary Worlds. 91
But to return to Jupiter. The fun appears to them

who are upon it five timesless than tous, The appa
and confequently they have but the five parent mag."
nitude of the
and twentieth part of the light and
fun inJupiter,
heat that we receive from it. But that
and a way of
light is not fo weak as we imagine, as finding what
is plain by the brightneſs of that pla light they
there enjoy.
net in the night ; and alfo from hence
that when the fun is fo far eclipfed to us, as that
only the twenty fifth part of his difk remains un
covered, he is not fenfibly darkened . But if you
have a mind exactly to know the quantity of light
that Jupiter enjoys, you may take a tube of what
length you pleafe. Let one end of it be clofed
•
with a plate of brafs, or any fuch thing, in the
middle of which there must be a hole, whofe
breadth muſt have the fame proportion to the length
of the tube, as the chord of 6 minutes bears to the
radius ; that is, about as one is to 570. Let the
tube be turned fo to the fun, that no light may
fall upon a white paper placed at the end of it, but
what comes through the little hole at the other end
of the tube. The rays that comes through this
will reprefent the fun upon the paper of the fame

brightnefs that the inhabitants of Jupiter fee it in a
clear day. And if removing the paper you place
your eye in the fame place, you will fee the fun of
the fame magnitude and brightneſs as you would
were you in Jupiter.
If you make the hole twice as little in breadth,

And in Sa- you will fee the fame in Saturn . And
turn . although his light be but the hundredth
part of ours, yet you ſee it makes him ſhine tole
rably bright in a dark night. But in both theſe
planets, ifthere be ever any cloudy days, it muft
be very dark in compariſon of us ; yet without
doubt the inhabitants have no more reafon to com
plain ofthe want of light, than our owls and batts,
to whom the twilight or the night itſelf is more
agreeable than the brightnefs of the day.
But it is a little ftrange, that when
In Jupiter
their days Jupiter is fo much bigger than our pla
are five net, their days and nights ſhould be
hours.
but five of our hours. By this we may
fee that nature has obferved that proportion that
their bulk feems to require, feeing in Mars the days
are very little different from ours. But in the
length of their years, that is, in the revolution of
the planets round the fun, there is an exact pro
portion to their diftances from the fun followed.
For as thecubes of their diſtances, fo are the fquares
of their revolutions as Kepler first found out.
Which proportion the moons of Jupiter and Sa.
turn keep in the courfes round thoſe planets. As
Always the the years and days in Jupiter are dif
fame length. ferent from ours in this refpect, fo are
the days in another ; namely, that they are all of
the fame length. For they there enjoy a perpetual
-II Moodthe Planetary Worlds. 93
equinox, their axis having little or no inclination to

their orbit, as the earth's has, as has been difcove
red by teleſcopes. The countries that lie near their
poles have little or no heat, by reafon the rays of
the fun fall fo obliquely upon them; but then they
are freed from the inconveniency that ours are
troubled with, of the tedious long half- year nights,
and have the conftant returns of day and night es
very five hours. Indeed fuch fhort days would
not be agreeable to us ; but we think ourfelves
much better done by, that ours are more than
twice as long, though upon no other account, but
that whatever is our own, we are apt to imagine,
muſt be beft. Sati
The reft of the planets are fo near the fun (Mars

himself never being above 18 degrees from it) that
in Jupiten they have the fight only of Saturn. Boti
we cannot deny but that their fouq moons ftand
them in greater ftead than C our one doth us, if it
were only that they feldom know any fuch thing
as to be without moonſhiny nights. And they are
of great advantage to them, as we faid before, in
their navigation, if they have any fuch thing. Nor
to mention the pleaſant fights of their frequent con
junctions and eclipfes, things that they are feldom
a day without, 144
Saturn enjoys all thofe pleaſures and advantages

in a ſtill higher degree, as well for his five moons,
as for the delightful profpect that the ring about
him affords his inhabitants night and day. But

100
we will give an account of their aftronomy, as we
have done of the reſt of the planets.
AC
And firft of all we fhall obferve
They feethe
fixed ftars what we might have remarked before,
just as we o but which will be more ftrange here,
do .
that the fixed ftars appear to them of
famefigureand magnitude, and with the famedegree
of light that they do to us : and this, by reaſon of
their immenfe diſtance, of which we ſhall have oc
cafion to ſpeak by and by. In compariſon with
which the space that a bullet- hot out of a cannon
could travel in 25 years, would be almoſt no
thing.
Their aftronomers have all the fame figns ofthe
bear, the lion, orion , and the reſt, but not turn
ing upon the fame axis with us: for that is diffe
1185
rent in all the planets.
As Jupiter can fee no planet but Saturn, fo Sa
turn knows of no planet but Jupiter; which ap
pears to him much as Venus doth to us, never re
moving above 37 degrees from the fun. The
length of their days I cannot determine : but if
from the diſtance and period of his innermoft at
tendant, and comparing it with the innermoſt of
Jupiter's, a man may venture toguefs, they are verylit
tle from Jupiter's, 10 hours or fomewhat lefs . But
whereas in Jupiter thefe are equally divided between
light and darkneſs , theinhabitants ofSaturn muftper
Fior
Page95.
Satumus
Felles
Luna
0 D
N T H
L
Y
F E
B
ceive a more fenfible difference than we, efpecially

between fummer and winter. For our axis inclines
to the plain of the ecliptic but 23 degrees and a half;
but their's is above 31. Upon this account his
moons must decline very much from the path that
the fun feems to move in , and his inhabitants can
never have a full moon but just at the equinoxes ;
two of which fall out in 30 of our years. It is
this pofition ofthe axis too that is the cauſe of thoſe
delightful appearances, and wonderful profpects
that its inhabitants enjoy. For the better under
ftanding of which I fhall draw a figure of Saturn
with his ring about him : in which the proportion
between the diameters of the globe and ring is as
9 to 4. And the empty space between them is of
the fame breadth with the ring itfelf. All obfer.
vations confpire to prove that that is of no great
thickness, although if we ſhould allow it fix hun
dred German miles, I think, confidering its dia
meter, we ſhould not overdo the matter.
Suppofe then, figure 4th, agreeable to what has
been ſaid, to be the globe of Saturn , whofe poles
are A, B. G N is the diameter of the
Fig. 4.
ring, as you view it fideways, repre
fenting a narrow oval . Thofe that live about
the poles within the arches C A D, E B F, each
of which are 54 degrees, (ifthe cold will fuffer a'
ny body to live there) never have a fight of the
ring. From all other parts it is continually to be
tures ning Book II.
96 Conjec concer
feen for fourteen years and nine months, which is

juſt half their year. The other half
Their ap
it is hid from their view . Thofe then
pearances of
the ring of that dwell between the polar circle
Saturn.
CD, and the equator TV, all that
time that the fun enlightens the part oppofite to ,
them, have every night the fight of a piece ofit
HG L, much in the fhape of a thining bow, which
comes from the horizon, but is darkened in the
middle by the fhadow of Saturn G H, which reaches
moſt commonly to the outermoft rim of it. But
after midnight that fhadow by little and little be
gins to move towards the right hand to thofe in the
northern, but the left to thofe in the fouthern
hemifphere. In the morning it difappears, leav
S
ing behind it a likeneſs indeed of a bow, but niuch
paler and weaker than our moon is in the day
time. For they, as I faid before, have an atmof.
phere, or an air furrounding them enlightened by
the fun. Otherwife night and day they would have
their ring, their moons, and all the fixed ftars, e
qually confpicuous . Another thing that muſt make
the fight of their ring very curious, is, that by fome
fpots in it, it is difcovered to turn round upon it
felf a thing that thofe that are fo near cannot but
take notice of, when we that live at this diſtance
can defcry a great inequality, the infide of it being
much brighter than the outfide is. When the fha
dow ofthe globe falls upon that part of the ring at
the fame time darkens another part of the globe a

bout P F, which otherwife would have the fun up
on it. So that there is always a zone of the globe
PY FE, fometimes of a larger extent than at o
thers, which is deprived of the fight both of the
fun and ring for a confiderable time, the latter of
which hides fome part of the ftars from it too.
And certainly an amazing thing it muſt be, all ofa
fudden to have the fun intercepted, and to become
as dark as midnight, without feeing any cauſe of
fuch an accident. All which time their moons are
their only comfort. The other half of the year,
the hemifphere TBV enjoys the fame light that
TAU before did, and then this undergoes thoſe
long eclipfes that that before fuffered. At the e
quinoxes, when the fun is in the fame plane with
the ring, the inhabitants of Saturn cannot well per
ceive it : no not even we with our glaffes, by rea
fon of its darkness. This happens when Saturn,
viewed from the fun, is advanced one and twenty
degrees and a half in Virgo or Pifces, as I have
ſhowed formerly in my fyftem of Saturn : where
there is an account given of the rifings of the fun a
bove the ring, throughout all the Saturnian year.
With Saturn in the fcheme you have the globes
of the earth and moon drawn in their true propor
tion, to put you in mind again of a thing worth
remembering, viz. how very fmall our habitation
is when compared with that globe or the ring a
I
Bout it. And now any one, I fuppofe, can frame

to himſelf a picture of the night in Saturn , with
two arches of the ring, and five moons fhining a
bout, and adorning him. This then is what I had
to fay to the primary planets.
We e are now come a little lower, to make an
enquiry into the attendants of thefe planets, efpe
cially our own. And here we ſhall not only con
fider their aftronomy, but ſhall alſo ſearch intotheir
furniture and ornament, if they are found to have
any fuch thing, which we have deferred confidering
till now.
Very little to And here one would think that

befaid of the when the moon is fo near us, and by
moon.
the means of a teleſcope may be fo
nicely and exactly obferved, it fhould afford us
matter for more probable conjectures than any ofthe
other remote planets . But it is quite otherwife, and
I can fcarce find any thing to fay of it, becauſe I
have not a planet of the fame nature before my
eyes, as in all the primary ones I have. For they.
are ofthe fame kind with our earth ; and ſeeing all
the actions, and every thing that is here, we may
make a reaſonable conjecture at what we cannot fee
in thofe worlds.
But this we may venture to ſay,
The guards of Ju
piter and Saturn of without fear, that all the atten
the fame nature dants of Jupiter and Saturn are
with one moon , of the fame naturewith our moon,
and being carried with them
round the fun juft as the moon is with the earth 1.

Their likeneſs reaches to other things too, as you
172
will fee by and by. Therefore whatſoever we can
with reafon confirm or conjecture of our moon
(and we may lay a little of it) muſt be ſuppoſed
with very little alteration to belong to the fatellites
of Jupiter and Saturn , as having no reaſon to be at
all inferior to that.
The furface of the moon then is The moon
found, by the leaft teleſcopes of about hath moun
tains.
three or four foot, ‫ ܢ‬to be diverſified
with long tracts of mountains, and again with
broad valleys. For in thofe oppofite to the fun
you may fee the fhadows of the mountains, and
often difcover the little round valleys between them
.
with a hilloc orr two perhaps rifing out of them.
Kepler from the exact roundness of them would
prove that they are fome vaft work of the rational
inhabitants. But I cannot be of his mind , both
for their incredible largenefs, and that they might
eafily be occafioned by natural caufes. Nor can I
find any thing like fea there, though he and many
others are ofthe contrary opinion IKnow. For thoſe
vaft countries which appear darker than the other,
commonly taken for and called by the names of
feas, are diſcovered with a good long teleſcope, to
be full of little round cavities ; whofe fhadow fall
ing within themfelves, makes them appear of that
colour : and thofe large champains there in the
I 2
100 Book II.
Conjectures concerning
e always even and
moon you will find not to be
Tmooth, if you look carefully upon them : neither
of which two things can agree to the fea. There
But no feas. fore thofe plains in her that feem

brighter than
#Y the other parts muſt con
fift, I fuppofe, of a whiter fort of matter than they.
Nor do I believe that there are any rivers ; for if
Nor rivers. there were, they could never efcape our

fight, especially if they run between
the hills as ours do. Nor have they any clouds to
furnish the rivers with water : for if
Nor clouds.
they had, we fhould fometimes fee
one part of the moon darkened by them, and
fometimes another, whereas we have always the
fame profpect of her.
Nor air, and It is certain moreover, that the moon
water. has nowy air or atmoſphere furrounding
it as we have. For then we could never fee the
outermoft rim of the moon fo exactly as we do,
when any ftar goes under it, but its light would
terminate in a gradual faint fhade, and there would
be a fort ofa down as it were about it ; not to
mention that the vapours of our atmoſphere confift
of water, and confequently that where there are no
feas or rivers, there can be no atmoſphere. This
is that notable difference between the moon and us
that hinders all probable conjectures about it. If
we could but once be fure that there were feas and
rivers in it, it would be no weak argument to prove
the Planetary Worlds. $ 101
that it has alfo all other furniture which belongs to

our earth, and the opinion of Xenophanes might
be true, that it has its inhabitants, cities, and
mountains. But as it is, I cannot imagine how a
ny plants or animals, whofe whole nouriſhment
comes from liquid bodies, can thrive in a dry, wa
terlefs, parched foil. get
207056
What then, is it credible that this The conjec
great ball was made for nothing but to ture of its
give us a little light in the night-time plants and a
nimals very
or to raiſe our tides in the fea? May dubicus.
there not be fome people there that
may have the pleaſure of ſeeing our earth turn up
on itſelf, prefenting them fometimes with a prof
pect of Europe and Africa, and then of Afia and
America; fometimes half of it bright, and fome
times full ? And muſt all thofe moons round Jupi
ter and Saturn be condemned to the fame uſeleſs
> nefs ? I do not know what to say concerning it,
becauſe I know of nothing like them to found a
conjecture upon . And yet it is not improbable
that thofe great and noble bodies have fomewhat or
other growing or living upon them, though very
Idifferent from what we fee and enjoy here. Per
haps their plants and animals may have another
fort of nourishment there. Perhaps the moiſture
of the earth there is but juft fufficient to caufe a miſt
or dew, which may be very fuitable to the growth
of their herbs. This I remember is Plutarch'sto
13 E
ONAL
NATI
•OF S
C
2
pinion, in his dialogue upon this fubject. For in
our earth a very little water drawn from the fea in
to dew, and falling down again upon the herbs,
would be fufficient for all our needs, without any
rain or fhowers . Wi But theſe are mere gueſſes, or
rather doubts, J but yet they are the beſt we can
make ofthis, and all thofe other moons :
Jupiter's and
Saturn's for, as I1 faid before, they are all of
moons turn
always the 3 the fame nature, which is proved like
fame fide to wife by this, that as our moon can af
them .
ford us the fight never but of one fide
of her, fo they turn always the fame face to their
primary planets . It may perhaps feem ftrange,
how we fhould
10 come to know this ; butit is no hard
matter, after that obfervation which I juft now.
made, that the outermoft of Saturn's moons can
never be feen but when he is of the weft-fide of
her planet. The reaſon of which is plainly this,
that one fide of her is darker, and does not reflect
the light fo much as the other, which when it is
turned towards us, we cannot fee by reafon of its
weak light. This always happening when it is eaſt
of him, and never on the other fide, is a manifeſt
proofthat he always keeps the fame fide toward
Saturn . Now fince the outermoſt of Saturn's, and
our moon carry themſelves thus to the planets round
which they move, who can well doubt it of all the
reft round Jupiter and Saturn ? And there is a ve
ry good reaſon for it, namely, that the `matter of
which thofe moons confift, being heavier, and

more folid on the fide that is averfe from us, than
on that which we have the fight of, does confe
quently fly with a greater force from the centre of
its orbit ; for otherwife, according to the laws of
motion, it fhould turn the fame fide always, not
to its planets, but to the fame fixed ftars.
This pofition of the moons, in reſpect of their
planets, muft occafion a great many very furpriz
ing appearances to their inhabitants, if they have
any, which is very doubtful, but may for the pre
fent be fuppofed . An enquiry into our moon may
ferve for all the reft. Its globe is a into two
Y
parts, in fuch a manner, that thoſe who live on one
fide never lofe the fight of us, and thofe on the o
ther never enjoy it. Except only fome few who live
on the confines of each of thefe, who lofe us, and
fée us again by turns. The earth to
1
The aftrono
them muft feem much larger than
my of the
moon doth to us, as being in dia inhabitants of
meter above four times bigger. But the moons.
that which is moſt furprizing, is, that
night and day they fee it always in the very fame
part of the heaven, as if it never moved : fome of
them as if it was falling upon their heads : others
fomewhat above the horizon , and others always in
the horizon, ftill turning upon itfelf, and prefent
ing them every twenty four hours with a view of
all its countries, even of thofe that lie near the poles
(I could wish myſelfin the moon only for the fight
of them ) yet unknown and undiſcovered by us.

They have it in its monthly wane and increafe,
they fee it half, and horned, and full, by turns,
juft 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, though

Kepler thought otherwife. Their days are always
ofthe fame length with their nights ; and the fun
rifing and fetting 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 ofthe fame materials with ours, thoſe
that have the fun pretty high in their horizon ,
would be almoft roafted in fuch long days. For
the fun is not farther from them than he is from
us. This will be the cafe of thofe that live upon
the borders ofthe two hemifpheres we mentioned;
but thofe that live under the poles of the moon will
be juftabout as hot as our whale-fifhers about Iceland
and Nova Zembla are, in the fummer-time : who
are in fo little danger of being roafted, that in the
middle of their fummer, in their days of three
months length, they very often find it extreme
cold. I call thofe the poles of the moon, round
which the fixed ftars feem to turn to its inhabitants,
which are different from ours, and alfo from thefe
of the ecliptic, although they move round thefe
latter, at the diſtance of five degrees, in a period

of nineteen years. Their year they count by the
motion of the ftars, and their return to the fun,
and it is the fame with ours. They can eafily do
it, becauſe they have the ſtars day and night, not
withſtanding the light of the fun: for they have
no atmoſphere (which is the only reafon that we do
nof every day enjoy the fame fight) to hinder their
obfervations. Nor have they any clouds to ob
struct their view,
1 fo that it is eaſier for them to
find out the courfes of the planets, but more diff
cult to make a true fyftem of them. For they will
be apt to lay a wrong foundation, by ſuppoſing that
their earth ſtands ftill, which will lead them into
more dangerous errors than ever it did us. All
that I have faid belongs as well to Ju
This may be
piter's and Saturn's fatellites as to our applied tothe
moon, in reſpect of the planets they moons about
Jupiter and
move round. The length of their day Saturn .
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 40 of ours. Both their
fummer and winter ( Saturn moving round the fun
in thirty years) are fifteen years long. Therefore
it is impoffible but that their way of living muſt be
J
very different from ours, having fuch tedious win.
ters, and fuch long watching and fleeping times.
Having thus explained the primary and feconda
ry planets round the fun, we thould next fet about

the third fort, the fun and fixed ſtars. But before
we do that, it would be worth while to fet before
you at once, in a clearer and more plain method
than hitherto, the magnificence and fabric of the
folar fyftem. Which we cannot poffibly do in fo
fmall a ſpace as one of our leaves will but admit
of, becauſe the bodies of the planets are fo prodi
giouſly finall in compariſon of the orbs . But what
1 is wanting in figure fhall be made up in words.
Going back then to the firſt ſcheme, fuppofe ano
Fig. I. ther like it, and proportionable, drawn
BRUT upon a very large fmooth plain ; whofe
outermoft circle reprefenting the orb of Saturn,
must be conceived three hundred and fixty foot in
femidiameter. In which you muſt place the globe
Fig. 2. and ring of Saturn of that bignefs as the

2d figure fhows you. Let all the other
planets
BRY be fuppofed every one in his own orbit,
and in the middle of all , the fun , of the fame
bigneſs that that figure reprefents, namely, about
four inches in diameter. And then the orbit or
circle in which the earth moves, which the aftro
-
nomers call the magnus orbis, muſt have about fix
and thirty foot in femidiameter. In which the
earth must be conceived moving, not bigger than
a grain of millet, and her companion the moon
fcarcely perceivable, moving round her in a circle
a little more than two inches diameter, as in the
Jug:5.
Page. 107.
A C B
E
figure adjoined, where the line A B reprefents a

fmall portion ofthat circle which the earth Fig, 5.
moves in the fmall circle therein C is
the earth, and the circle D E the path ofthe moon
round it, in which the body of the moon is D.
-The outermoſt of Saturn's moons moves in an
orbit, whofe femidiameter is 29 inches ; that of Ju
piter in a fomewhat finaller, whofe femidiameter
is 19 and a quarter..
And thus we have a true and exact deſcription of
the fun's palace, where the earth will be twelve
thousand of its femidiameters diftant from him,
which in German miles makes above ſeventeen
millions. But perhaps we may have a clearer cont
prehenfion of this vaft length, by comparing it
with fome very fwift motion , after the example of
Hefiod the poet, who imagined, that an anvil, let
fall from the top of heaven, reached the earth the
tenth day of its journey, and in ten more arrived
at the bottom of hell, the end ofit : fo making the
earth the mid-way between heaven and hell . I
fhall not make uſe of the anvil, but of fomething
as good, namely a bullet-fhot out of a great gun,
which may travel perhaps in a moment, or pulfe
of an artery, about a hundred fathom , as is prov
ed by thofe experiments that Merfennus in a trea
tife ofhis relates ; by which the found was found toex
tend itſelfeighty hundredth parts in thefame time. I
fay then, that fuppofing a bullet to move with this
fwiftneſs
CD2 from the earth to the fun, it would ſpend
The immenfe 25 years in its paffage. To make a
diſtance be
journey from Jupiter to the fun, would
tween the
fun and pla- require 125, and from Saturn thither
nets illuftra 250 years. This account depends u
ted. pon the meaſure of the earth's diame
ter, which, according to the accurate obfervations
ofthe French is, 6538594 times fix Paris feet, one
degree being 57060 ofthat meaſure. This fhows us
how vaft thofe orbs muft be, and how inconfiderable
this earth, the theatre upon which all our mighty
defigns, all our navigations, and all our wars are
tranfacted, is when compared to them. A very fit
confideration , and matter of reflection, for thoſe
kings and princes who facrifice the lives of fo ma
ny people, only to flatter their ambition in being
mafters of fome pitiful corner of this fmall fpot.
But to return to the matter in hand, now we have
given you an account of the fun's proportion to
thoſe orbs and bodies, we will ſee what more we
can fay of him .
And fome have thought it not im
No ground
for conjec probable but that the fun himſelf has
ture in the alfo his inhabitants. But upon what
fun.
reafon I cannot imagine, there being
lefs ground for a probability in him than in the
moon. For we are not yet fure, whether he be a
folid or liquid globe ; although, if my notion of
light be true, upon that account I should rather
Tel
think him liquid : which his roundness and equal

diftribution of his light to all parts are an argument
for. For that very fmall inequality on his furface,
which is difcovered by the teleſcopes, (and that not
always neither) which makes men fancy they fee
A LO
boiling feas and belching mountains of fire, is no
thing but the trembling motion of the vapours our
atmoſphere is full of near the earth ; which is like
wife the caufe of the ftars twinkling. The faculae
Nor could I ever have the luck to dif thefun not
cernthofe bright ſpots in the fun which eafly feen.
they boaſt as much of as they do of his dark ones,
which latter I have very often feen ; fo that I have
very good reafon to doubt whether there be any
thing in the fun brighter than the fun itfelf.
For by moft obfervations I could never find
any fuch pretended to be feen any where but
juſt about his dark ſpots ; and it is no great won
der that thofe parts which are fo near the dar
ker, fhould appear fomewhat brighter than the

reſt. That the fun is extremely By Las # 154
reason of
hot and fiery, is beyond all 1 difpute, its heat no
and fuch bodies as ours could not live inhabitants
like ours can
one moment in fuch a furnace . We liveinthe fuo.
muft fuppofe a new fort of animals
then, fuch as we have no idea or likeness of among
us, fuch as we can neither imagine nor conceive :
which is as much as to fay, that we can make no
fuppofition at all about them . No doubt that glo
rious and vaft body was made for fome noble en
K
110 Book II.
06 Conjectures concerning
and ufe, and framed with excellent defign. And

I think we all very well know and feel its uſefulneſs
in that effufion oflight and heat to all the planets
round it ; in the prefervation and happinefs of all
living creatures, and that not only in our ball,
but in thofe vaft globes of Jupiter and Saturn , not
contemptible when compared with its own. Thefe
are fuch great, fuch wife ends, that it is not ſtrange
that the fun fhould 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 axis (which he would fain efta
blish in his epitome of the Coperncian fyftem) I
fhall give good reaſons why I cannot afſent to it.
The fixed Before the invention of teleſcopes,
ftars fo ma it feemed to contradict Copernicus's o
ny funs.
7 pinion, to make the fun one of the
fixed ſtars. For the ftars of the firſt magnitude
being eſteemed to be about three minutes diame
ter; and Copernicus (obferving that though the
earth changed its place, they always kept the fame
diſtance from us) having ventured to fay that the
magnus orbis was but a point in respect of the
fphere in which they were placed, it was a plain
confequence that every one of them that appeared
any thing bright, muft be larger than the path or
orbit of the earth : which is very abfurd. This is
the principal argument that Tycho Brahe fet up a
the Planetary Worlds. II
gainft Copernicus. But when the teleſcopes took a

way thoſe rays of the ſtars which appear when we
look upon them with our naked eye, (which they
do beft when the eye-glafs is blacked with fmoke)
they ſeemed juft like little fhining points, and then
that difficulty vanished, and the ftars may be fo
many funs. Which is the more probable, becauſe
their light is certainly their own : for it is impoffi
ble that ever the fun ſhould fend , or they reflect it
at ſuch a vaſt diſtance. This is the opinion that
commonly goes along with Copernicus's fyftem.
And the patrons of it do alfo with rea Theyare not
•
fon fuppofe, that all theſe ftars are not all in the
fame fphere.
in the fame fphere, as well becaufe
2
there is no argument of it, as that the fun, which
But
is one of them, cannot be brought to this rule .
it is more likely they are fcattered and" diſperſed all
over the immenfe fpaces of the heaven, and are as
far diftant perhaps from one another, as the near
eft of them are from the fun.
Here again too I know Kepler is of another opi

nion in his epitome of Copernicus's fyftem , that
we mentioned above. For though he agrees with
us, that the ftars are diffuſed through all the vaſt
expanfe of the heavens, yet he cannot allow that
they have as large an empty space about them as
}
our fun has. For then it was his opinion , we
fhould fee but very few, and thofe of very different
magnitudes: " For, feeing the largest of all appear
K 2
Conjectures concerning Book II.
11?
we can ſcarce obferve or
that we
" fo fall to us, that
" meafure them with our beft inftruments ; how
" muſt thofe appear that are three or four times far
" ther from us ? Why, fuppofing them no larger
" than thefe, they muft feem three on four times
" lefs, and fo on ' till a little farther they will not
દ be to be feen at all : thus we fhall have the fight
"" of bus very few ftars, and thofe very different
"( one from another ;" whereas we have above a
thousand, and thofe not confiderably bigger or leſs
30
than one another. But this by no means proves
„ SEMELLATEY
what he would have it ; and his miſtake was chief
ty , that he did not confider the nature of fire and
ach brus
flame which may be feen at fuch diftances, and at
fuch fmall angles as all other bodies would totally
difappear under. A thing that we need go no far
1
ther than the lamps fet along the ſtreets to prove.
For although they are a hundred foot from one a
8.978 00 90
nother, yet you may count twenty of them in a
continued row with your eyes, and yet the twenti -1
eth part of them fcarce makes an angle of fix fe
3
conds. Certainly then the glorious light of the
ftars muft do much more than this ; fo that it is not
# porce ad
wonder we should fee a thouſand or two of them
with our bare eyes, and with a teleſcope difcover
আहे दूর।हु है ARE 249
twenty times that number. But Kepler had a pri
vate defign in making the fun thus fuperior to all
the other ftars, and planting it in the middle of
the world, attended with the planets : for his aim
was hereby to ftrengthen his cofmographical myf.

tery, that the diftances of the planets from the fun
are in a certain proportion to the diameters ofthe
fpheres that are infcribed within, and circumfcribed
about Euclid's regular bodies. Which could never
be fo much as probable, except there were but one
chorus of planets moving round the fun, and fo
ew i
the fun were the only one of his kind.
But that whole myſtery is nothing but an idle
dream taken from Pythagoras or Plato's philofophy.
And the author himfelf acknowleges that the pro
portions do not agree fo well as they fhould, and
is fain to invent two or three very filly excufes for
it. And he uses yet poorer arguments to prove
that theuniverfe is of a fpherical figure, and that the
number of ſtars must neceffarily be finite, becaufe
the magnitude of each of them is fo. But what is
worst of all is, that he fettles the space between the
Y ^ fun and the cancavity of the fphere of the fixed
ftars, to be fix hundred thousand of the earth's diə
ameters : for this reafon , ? which he has no foun➡
dation for, that as the diameter of the fun is to
that ofthe orbit of Saturn , which he makes to be
as I to 2000, fo is this diameter to that of the
fphere of the fixed fars . .. I cannot but wonder
how fuch things as thefe could fall from fo ingeni
ous a man, and fo great an aftronomer. But I
must be of the fame opinion with all the greateſt
philofophers of our age, that the fun is of the fame
K 3
pature with the fixed ftars. And this will give us

a greater idea of the world, than all thofe other o
The harstenpinions. For then why may not eve.
have planetsry one of theſe ftars or funs have as
outthem great a retinue as our fun, of planets,
our fun.
with their moons, to wait upon them ?
ORO WA STVARAN
Nay, there is a manifeft reaſon why they should.
ourſelves placed at an equal
imagine ourselves
For if we Imagine
diſtance from the fun and fixed ſtars, we ſhould
then perceive no difference between them. For,
as for all the planets that we now fee attend the
fun, C we should not have the leaft glimpse of them,
either becauſe their light would be too weak to af
fect us, or that all the orbs in which they move
would make up one lucid point with the fun.
this flation we ſhould have no occaſion to imagine
any difference between the ftars, and fhould make
no doubt if we had but the fight, and knew the
nature of one of them, to make that the ftandard
of all the reft. We are then placed near one of
them , namely, our fun, and fo near as to difco
ver fix other globes moving round him , fome of
them having others performing them the fame of
fice. Why then may not we make ufe ofthe fame
judgment that we ſhould in that cafe ; and conclude
that our ftar has no better attendance than the o
thers ? So that what we allowed the planets, upon
the account of our enjoying it, we muſt likewiſe
grant to all thofe planets that ſurround that prodi-
gious number offuns. They must have their plants

and animals, nay and their rational creatures too,
and thofe as great admirers, and as diligent obfer
19 heavens as ourſelves ; and must confe
vers of the
quently enjoy whatfoever is fubfervient to, and re
quifite for fuch knowlege.
What a wonderful and amazing ſcheme have we
here of the magnificent vaftnefs of the univerfe !
So many funs, fo many earths, and every one of
them ftocked with fo many herbs, trees, and ani
mals, and adorned with fo many feas and moun
tains ! And how muft our wonder and adiniration
be encreaſed when we confider the prodigious dif
tance and multitude of the ſtars !
That their diſtance is fo immenfe, that the space
between the earth and fun (which is no less than
twelve thoufand of the earth's diameters) is almoſt
nothing when compared to it, has more proofs
than one to confirm it. And this amongjthe reft.
If you obſerve two ſtars near one another, as for
example thofe in the middle of the Great Bear's tail,

differing very much from one another in clearness,
notwithstanding our changing our pofition in our
annual orbit round the fun, and that there would be
a parallax were the ftar which is brighter nearer to
us than the other, as is very probable it is, yet
whatever part ofthe year you look upon them, they
will not in the leaft have altered their diftance.
Thofe that have hitherto undertook to calculate
theirdiſtance,have not been able perfectly to compafs

their defign, by reafon of the extreme nicenefs
and almoſt impoffibility of the obfervations requi
fite for their purpofe. The only method that I
fee remaining, to come at any tolerable probabili
ty in fo difficult a cafe, I fhall here make ufe of
Seeing then that the ftars, as I faid before, are fo
many funs, if we do but fuppofe one of them equal
to ours, it will follow that its diftance from us is
as much greater than that of the fun, as its
apparent diameter is lefs than the diameter
of the fun. But the ftars, even thofe of the
firft magnitude, though viewed through a tele
fcope, are fo very fmall, that they feem only
like fo many fhining points, without any perceiv
able breadth. So that fuch obfervations can here
A way of do us no good . When I faw this

making a would not fucceed, I ftudied by what
probable way I could fo leffen the diameter of
guess at the
diſtance of the fun, as to make it not appear lar
the ftars. ger than the Dog, or any other of the
chief ftars. To this purpofe, I clofed one end of
twelve foot tube with a very thin plate, in the
my
middle of which, I made a hole not exceeding the
twelfth part of a line, that is the hundred and forty
That end I turned
fourth part of an inch.
to the fun, placing my eye at the other, and I
could fee fo much ofthe fun as was in diameter a
bout the 182d of the whole . But ftill that little
piece of him was brighter much than the dog-ſtar

11 be the Planetary Worlds. 117
is in the cleareſt night. I faw that this would not

do, but that I muft leffen the diameter of the fun
a great deal more. I made then fuch another hole
in a plate, and againſt it I placed a little round
glafs that I had made ufe of in my microfcopes,
of much about the fame diameter with the former
hole. Then looking again towards the fun (taking
care that no light might come near my eye to hin
der my obfervation) I found it appeared of much
the fame clearnefs with Sirius. But cafting up my
account, according to the rules of dioptrics, I found

his diameter now was but ,, part of that hundred
and eighty fecond part of his whole diameter that
I faw through the former hole. Multiplying
I
and 182 into one another, the product I found to
to be 64. The fun therefore being contracted
into fuch a compafs, or being removed fo far from
us (for it is the fame thing) as to make his diame
ter but the 27664 part of that we every day fee,
will fend us juft the fame light as the dog ftar now
doth . And his diftance then from us will be to
his prefent diſtance undoubtedly as 27664 is to 1 ;
and his diameter little above four thirds, 4"". See
ing then Sirius is fuppofed equal to the fun, it fol
lows that his diameter is likewife 4" , and that his
distance to the diftance of the fun from us is as
27664 to 1. And what an incredible diſtance that
is, will appear by the fame way of reasoning that
we uſed in meaſuring that of the fun . For if 25
#
years are required for a bullet out of a cannon, with
its utmoſt ſwiftnefs , to travel from the fun to us :
then by multiplying the number 27664 into 25,
we ſhall find that fuch a bullet would spend almoſt
feven hundred thousand years in its journey between
us and the fixed ftars. And yet when in a clear
night we look upon them, we cannot think them
above fome few miles over our heads. What I
have here enquired into, is concerning the neareſt

of them. And what a prodigious number muft
there be befides of thofe which are placed in the
vaft ſpaces of heaven, as to be as remote from theſe
as theſe are from the fun ? For if with our bare
eyes we can' obferve above a thouſand , and with a
teleſcope can difcover ten or twenty times as ma
ny; what bounds of number can we fet to thofe
which are out of the reach even of thefe affiſtances,
eſpecially if we confider the infinite power of God!
Really, when I have been reflecting thus with my
felf, methought all our arithmetic was nothing,
and we are verfed but in the very rudiments of
numbers, in comparison of this great fum. For
this requires an immenfe treafury, not of twenty
or thirty figures only, in our decuple progreffion,
but of as many as there are grains of fand upon
the fore. And yet who can fay, that even this
himber exceeds that of the fixed ftars? Some of
the ancients, and Forddmus Brunus, carried (r it far
ther, M in declaring the number infinite : he would
perfuade us that he has proved it by many argu

ments, thoughin my opinion they are none ofthem
conclufive. Not that I think the contrary can ever
be made out. Indeed it feems to me certain, that
the univerfe is infinitely extended ; but what God
has been pleaſed to place beyond the region ofthe
ftars, is as much above our knowlege, as it is be
yond our habitation.
Or what if beyond fuch a determinate ſpace he
has left an infinite vacuum ; to ſhow, how incon
fiderable all that he has made is, to what his pow
er could, had he fo pleaſed, have produced ? But
I am falling, before I am aware, into that intricate
difpute of infinity : therefore I fhall wave this, and
not, as foon as I am free of one, take upon me a
nother difficult tafk. All that I fhall do more is to
add fomewhat ofmy opinion concerning the whole
world, as it is a place for the reception of the funs
or fixed ſtars, every one of which, I have ſhowed,
may have their planetary fyftems about them .
I am ofopinion then that every fun Every funhas
a vortex
is furrounded with a whirl- pool or
roundit, very
vortex of matter in a very ſwift moti different from
on ; though not in the leaſt like Car- thofe of Car
tes's either in their bulk, or manner oftes.
motion. For Cartes makes his fo large, as every
one of them to touch all the others round them,
in a flat furface, juft as you have ſeen the bladders
that boys blow up in foap-fuds do; and would
120 Conjectures concerning Book 11.
have the whole vortex to move round the fame

way. But the angles of every vortex will be no
fmall hindrance to fuch a motion. Then the
whole matter moving round at once, upon the ax

is as it were of a cylinder, did not a little puzzle
him in giving reafons for the roundness of the fun :
which however they may fatisfy fome people that
do not confider them, really prove nothing of the
matter. xeq? In this æthereal matter the planets float,
and are carried round by its motion : and the thing
that keeps them in their own orb is, that they
themſelves, and the matter in which they fwim,
equally ſtrive to fly offfrom the center of this moti
on. Againſt all which there are many aſtronomi
cal objections, fome of which I touched upon in
my effay of the caufes of gravity. Where I gave
another account of the planets not deferting
their own orbs ; which istheir gravitation towards
the fun. I ſhowed there the caufes ofthat gravitation ,
and cannot but wonder that Cartes, thefirſt man that
ever began to talk reaſonably of that matter, thould
never meddle with, or light upon it. Plutarch, in
his book of the moon above -mentioned, fays, that
fome ofthe ancients were of opinion, that the reaſon
ofthemoon's keeping her orbit was, that the force of
her circular motion was exactly equal to her gravi
ty, the one of which pulled her to, as much as the
other forced off from the centre. And in our age
Alphonfus Borellus, who was of the fame opinion in

Hoof the Planetary Worlds. fti
the other planets as well as the moon, makes the

gravitation of the primary planets to be towards
the fun, as that of the ſecondary is towards the
planets round which they move : which Sir Ifaac
Newton has more fully explained, with a great deal
ofpains and fubtilty ; and how from that caufe pro
•
ceeds the ellipticity of the orbs of the planets,
found out by Kepler. According to my notion of
f
the gravitation of the planets to the fun, the mat
ter of his vortex muſt not at all move tthe fame
way, but after ſuch a manner as to have its parts
carried different ways on all fides. And yet there
is no fear of its being deftroyed by fuch an irrregu
lar motion, becauſe the Æther round it, which is
at reft, keeps the parts of it from flying out.
With the help of fuch a vortex as this I have un
dertook in that effay to explain the gravity of bo
dies on this earth, and all the effects of it. And I
fuppofe there may be the famie caufe as well of the
gravitation of the planets, and of our earth amongi
the reft, towards the fun, as of their roundness : at
thing fo very hard to give an account of in Cartes's
ſyſtem . £༢
I muft differ from him too in the bignefs of the
vortices, for I cannot allow them to be fo large as
he would make them . I would have them difperfed
all about the immenfe fpace, like fo many little
whirlpools of water, that one makes by the ſtir
L
$ 22 Conjectures concerning Book II.
ring of a ſtick in any large pond or river, a great

way diftant from one another. And as their moti
ons
1248 do not all intermix or communicate with one
another, fo in my opinion muft the vortices ofA
ftars be placed as not to hinder one another's free
circum - rotations . on hab dults E 0
So that we may be fecure, and never fear that
they will ſwallow up or devour one another; for
that was a mere fancy of Cartes's, ་ when he"3 was a
howing how a fixed ftar or fun might be turned
into a planet. And it is plain that when he writ
it, he had no thoughts of the immenfe diftance of
the ſtars from one another ; particularly, by this
one thing, that he would have a comet as foon
1
as ever it comes into our vortex, to be ſeen by us.
Which is as abfurd as can be. For how could a
ftar, which gives us fuch a vaft light only from the
reflection of the beams of the fun, as he himself
owns they do; how, I fay, could that be fo 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 fun there is a vaft ex-1
tenfum ; 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 fuch poor and trifling arguments,
that I have often wondered how an ingenious man
I
nd busty T Toleran
arude five pad
could fpend all that pains in making fuch fancies
hang together. For my part, " I fhall be very well
contented, and fhall count I have done a great
ixo
matter, if I can but
448 943 come to any knowlege of the
43071
nature of things, as they now! are, never troubling
myſelf about their beginning, or how they were
AIRO
made, knowing
vadi that
• to be out of the reach
114 of hu
man knowlege, or even conjecture. !
elli
Bas
3th Lydowndà
HAN biq will to dr
gnacio Shoes
12
FIN1 S.
Make
11
Directions for placing the plates.
Plate I. to face page 13

II. 156A
III. 86
IV. 95
V. 107
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This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized

by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the

Tranflated from the Latin of

A new EDITION, corrected.

Printed for ROBERT URIE.

HIS Book was juſt finiſhed , and

world, was feized by a difeafe that

took care, in his laft will, ofits publicati

But he was fo taken up with buſineſs , and

the death of the author : when it ſo fell

out, that the printers being fomewhat

trady , and this gentleman dying, the book

an. Yet it now ventures into the public,

the author, and with the fame infcripti

on to his brother, though dead ; in con

It is true, there are not every where ma

that can be reaſonably expected in fuch

fee demonſtrated , and the reft ingeniouſly

we muſt refer you to the book itſelf.

To the author's brother CONSTANTINE

MAN that is of Copernicus's opinion,

namely, the attendants ofJupiter and Saturn, and

the plane and hilly countries in the moon, which

Only fome of them have coined fome ftories of the

not be my judges ; but that I might chufe my

through a teleſcope, for that is very abfurd . Since

are, nor a multitude of other things brought to

morality fo far are they from being of no ufe at

Copernicus's And now, becauſe the chiefargument

nets, among which, without doubt, the earth muſt

drawn as near as can be in their true proportions,

apprehend the vastnefs of thefe orbits by this,

may fee in all the books of aftronomy. Out of

ago, in the time of Hipparchus, to be about

about as 5 to 37 ; that of Jupiter as 2 to II ;

venient than ters, as they call them, is beyond that

thofe thin plates or rods of which I there taught.

is none, I fuppofe, but fees, that in

ter, ſhould not we ftraight conclude the fame of

a ftandard to judge of all others by?

The planets. And firft, it is more than. probable

which, like a load- ftone, attracts whatſoever is near

what fteps we muft rife to the attaining fome

defign, every part of them fo fitted to its proper

of all thofe creatures that more plainly ſpeak their

neither our underſtanding nor imagination can

fider it is not the bufinefs of men to pretend to fet

were widely different ; feeing they cannot come

account ofit to make every thing in the planets

and them, fprings from the greater or lefs diſtance

there is no doubt but that metals, cryftals, and

the length of his day : but whether he has clouds

ofthe fun from the earth, is warmer and more

countries, as there was of its being followed in the

fuppofe we ſhould have new ones made every day

does not ſee how contrary this is to the regularity

think I have fully proved, viz. from hence, that

times on hundreds ; or that they may fly in the air,

paddling with their feet, cut themſelves a way in