صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

Cleon. Because in this, not only fingle Planets, but a whole Syftem is made to revolve about the Earth every Year; which is an Effect fo prodigious to answer an End much easier brought about by a more fimple and natural Contrivance, that it has been juftly rejected by the Moderns, who all agree to admit the Copernican System as the only true and genuine one, of which we will hereafter discourse more particularly.

[blocks in formation]

Of the fallacious Reasoning on which the PTOLOMAIC HYPOTHESIS depends.

W

Cleonicus.

E laft Night had a pleafant Walk, in which I gave you a general Account of the Ptolomaic and Tyconic Systems; and as this Evening is like to prove very ferene, if it be agreeable to you to take a Walk (after Tea) to the Villa beyond the Park, we will re-affume the Subject of the Ptolemaic System, and confider a little more nicely the Merits of it.

Euphrof. With all my Heart, Cleonicus; and I fhould be glad to know the particular Reasons why this Syftem comes into fuch Difcredit among the Learned, when it feems, for the most part, agreeable to the Senfes, and is often mentioned in the Holy Scriptures.

Cleon. Neither of thofe Arguments you now mention, my Euphrofyne, have an Weight with Gentlemen of Learning, nor yet with Ladies of good Senfe; and you'll find yourfelf able, with a little Reflection, to fee they are not only abfurd, but even ridiculous; for you may as well think every Thing true you hear, as that every Thing is just as you fee it.

Euphrof. If we are not to believe our Senfes, Cleonicus, pray, why were they given us, and by what are we to be informed?

Cleon. Our Senfes are the general Means of Information, but they are all deceptive in fome Measure; none more

[ocr errors]

fo than the Sight. My dear Euphrofyne, you will find it a dangerous Thing to truft your Eye-fight too far; our rational and difcerning Faculties were given us for rectifying the Ideas of Senfes, and to difcover Truth from Error. And herein confifts our Pre-eminence above Brutes. But to come nearer the Point. To fuppofe the Earth at Reft, only because it appears to be fo, is the weakest Thing a Perfon can be capable of that pretends to any Reason at all.

- Euphrof. Why, Cleonicus, you feem very ferious, and almoft warm; if People are deceived by their Senfes, and impofed upon by their Profeffors, how can they help it?

Cleon. Very eafily, my Euphrofyne, let them think and reason, and they will not be any longer the Dupes of Error and Impofture. A common Sailor, who has little Reafon enough in most of his Actions, would yet be afhamed of fuch an Abfurdity, as to conclude his Ship was at Reft, because it appears to be fo to every one within it. And therefore, Sifter, when you are difpofed to take a Voyage to France, you will have an Opportunity of being convinced that Bodies in Motion will appear to be at Reft, and Objects at Reft appear to move, and fo you will have no farther Difficulty in that Affair.

Euphrof. Dear Cleonicus, I hope you will find fome more agreeable Way to convince me, than by fending me to Sea; for though I fhould like to make the Tour of France, and to acquire philofophical Experience in the Voyage, yet I cannot, by any Means, think of the terrible Element of the Ocean.

Cleon. Well, though it might anfwer a very good Purpofe for you to fee Paris, especially as you might then convince the Madames, that the English Ladies excel them as much in Genius and Faculties of the Mind, as They do them in the Frippery of Drefs, and perfonal Decorations: Yet, to fave you all this Trouble, we need only take a Walk to yonder Hill, and our Purpose will be anfwered every whit as well.

Euphrof. Indeed! Clernicus; I fhall gladly chufe that Mcthod rather than the other; but, pray, what curious Spectacle will there offer to confute fuch a general Argument?

Cleon. Come with me, and you will foon fee, my Euphrofyne-You obferve a Wind-mill is there placed on an

4

elevated

elevated Ground, and that there is a Ladder by which you afcend to the Door.-Do you go up, and I will follow, when I have fpoke a Word to one of the Millers.Well, I fee you are feated, and furveying the several Parts of the Machine; pray, how do you like being in a Windmill?

Euphrof. Very well; I never was in one before; there is fomething novel and ftrange in the Structure, and I am greatly entertained with the Oddity of my Situation; but what amuses me most of all is, the Motion of that large. fquare upright Poft; fee, how faft it moves round!

Cleon. The Poft move, Sister! I fee no Motion of a Poft. Euphrof. Not fee the Poft move, Cleonicus! What has happened to you all at once? I hope you are not blind, can you fee me?

Cleon. Yes, my Euphrofyne, with Pleasure I fee and hear you too; but I fee no Poft move, really.

Euphrof. Well, this is the most wonderful Thing I ever knew; for it has continued to move ever fince I have been fpeaking to you about it, and I never faw any Thing plainer in my Life than I fee it move now. How is it, Brother, that you cannot fee it likewife? I am amazed!

Cleon. You'll be further furprized, Euphrofyne, when I tell you, that though I fee no Poft move, I fee the Mill itfelf move, and that I fuppofe is more than you can fee; is it not so?

Euphrof. Truly it is; the Mill move! I fhould not have thought of it, Cleonicus. I fit as perfectly at Reft here as I do in the Parlour at home, and fee no Motion in any Thing but the Poft; or is it all Enchantment? But hold, I recollect what you said by the Way; I believe I have difcovered the Plot.

Cleon. I dare fay' you have; the End of your coming here is very well anfwered. You hereby fee how very fallacious the Sight is; you faw the Poft in Motion, and the Mill at Reft, as you thought; but now look out at this little Window, Euphrofyne, and you'll fee the whole Reason of fuch a strange Illufion; obferve Rotato the Miller, by means of that strong Lever, turning the Mill round its Axle, or upright Poft, which, when you go down, you'll fee is fixed inmoveably in the Earth; this they always do to set the Sails against the Wind. And this real Motion of the Body of the Mill caufes that very curious, and indeed, wonderful apparent Motion of the Swivel-poft.

Euphrof. I am perfectly convinced by this Inftance of the Deception of Vision; I could never have thought it was poffible in fo great a Degree: I fhall hence-forward have Reason to be more diffident, or less pofitive, with respect to common Notions and fenfible Appearances.

Cleon. Very good, my Euphrofyne; it was for these Purposes I brought you hither. You will now readily grant the Earth may appear to be at Reft, and yet really move, and that the daily Motion of the Sun, Moon, and Stars, may not be real but apparent.

Euphrof. I am fully fatisfied upon that Head:-But what muft I reply to those who foreligiously object the Scriptures mentioning the Motion of the Sun, and the Earth at Reft?

Cleon. Very little will fuffice for an intelligent Perfon, and there is no reasoning with others. As the Penmen of the Scriptures never defigned to give us a Syftem of Philofophy, or Aftronomy, (which very probably they none of them understood rightly) fo they every where accommodated their Difcourfe and manner of speaking to the common Understanding and Apprehenfions of the Vulgar. And indeed, it would be extremely abfurd to act otherwife. Sir I. Newton always faid the Sun rofe and fet; and had he been in Joshua's Place would have faid as he didSun, ftand thou fill, &c. Befides, how weakly do we argue from the literal Expression of Scripture! Does it not fay, in one Place, that the Earth is fupported by Pillars? And in another, that he (viz. God) has hung the Earth upon nothing? How contradictious are fuch Expreffions ! And indeed, this Method of treating the Scriptures is not only injurious to the Sciences, but even to Religion itself./

Euphrof. You have faid enough to fatisfy me upon that Head, Cleonicus; and as it is far in the Evening, and we have a long Walk over the Park, let us set out; and when we come home, I fhall be farther inquifitive about this Matter.

Cleon. As much as you please, Sifter; I fear it will be too cold for you; put the beft Foot foremost, and we shall foon be at home.

Euphrof. I do not think of the Cold; my Head is employed about the Mill;-but, among all the bright Stars that light us home, how many Planets do you fec, Cleonicus?

« السابقةمتابعة »