36 plikt's natueal history. [Book It 



The eclipse of the moon affords an undoubted argument 

 of the sun's magnitude, as it also does of the small size of 

 the earths For there are shadows of three figures, and it is 

 evident, that if the body which produces the shadow be equal 

 to the light, then it will be thrown off in the form of a pillar, 

 and have no termination. If the body be greater than the 

 light, the shadow ^dll be in the form of an inverted cone^ 

 the bottom being the narrowest part, and being, at the sam* 

 time, of an infinite length. If the body be less than the 

 light, then we shall have the figure of a pyramid^, termina- 

 ting in a point. Now of this last kind is the shadow which 

 produces the eclipse of the moon, and this is so manifest that 

 there can be no doubt remaining, that the earth is exceeded 

 in magnitude by the sun, a circumstance which is indeed in- 

 dicated by the silent declaration of nature herself. Tor why 

 does he recede from us at the winter half of the year"* ? That 

 by the darkness of the nights the earth may be refreshed, 

 which otherwise would be burned up, as indeed it is in cer- 

 tain parts ; so great is his size. 



CHAP. 9. (12.) — AN ACCOTJKT OF THE OBSEEVATIONS THAT 

 HAVE BEEIS" MADE OK THE HEAVENS BY DIFEEEENT IN- 

 DIYinrALS. 



The first among the Romans, who explained to the people 

 at large the cause of the two kinds of eclipses, was Sul- 

 picius Gallus, w^ho was consul along with Marcellus ; and 



whether, in this passage, Pliny refers to the Ida of Crete or of Asia Minor. 

 But the discussion is unnecessary, as the statement of the author is equally 

 inappHcable to both of them. Mela appears to refer to tliis opinion in 

 the following passage, where he is describing the Ida of Asia Minor ; 



" ipse mens orientem solem ahter quam in aliis terris solet aspici, 



ostentat." hb. i. cap. 18. 



* " Ut dictimi est superiore capite, quo Plinius falso cont^idit Terram 

 esse Luna niinorem." Alexandi-e in Lemaire, ii. 253. The words of the 

 text, however, apply equally to the comparative size of the earth and the 

 sun, as of the earth and the moon. 



2 ." turbo rectus ;" UteraUy an upright top. ^ « meta." 



* This has been pointed out as one of our author's erroneous opinions 

 on astronomy. The earth is really about ■j;^^ nearer the sun in our winters 

 than in our summers. The greater degree of heat produced by his rays 

 in the latter case depends upon their falling on the surface of the earth 

 less obliquely. This is the principal cavise of the different temperatures 

 of the equatorial and polar refirions. 



