Chap. 25.] ACCOUNT OF THE WOELD. 59 



CHAP. 24. (26.) — THE DOCTErPTE OF HIPPAECHTJS^ ABOUT 



THE STAES. 



TMs same Hipparclius, who can never be sufficiently 

 commended, as one who more especially proved the relation 

 of the stars to man, and that our souls are a portion of 

 heaven, discovered a new star that was produced in his own 

 age, and, by observing its motions on the day in which it 

 shone, he was led to doubt whether it does not often happen, 

 that those stars have motion which we suppose to be lixed. 

 And the same individual attempted, what might seem pre- 

 sumptuous even in a deity, viz. to number the stars for 

 posterity and to express their relations by appropriate names ; 

 having pre\dously devised instruments", by which he might 

 mark the places and the magnitudes of each individual star. 

 In this way it might be easily discovered, not only whether 

 they were destroyed or produced, but whether they changed 

 their relative positions, and likewise, whether they were in- 

 creased or diminished; the heavens being thus left as an 

 inheritance to any one, who might be found competent to 

 complete his plan. 



CHAP. 25. — EXAMPLES FEOM HISTOET OF CELESTIAL PEO- 

 DIGIES ; FACES J LAMPADES^ AND BOLIDES^. 



The faces shine brilliantly, but tliey are never seen except- 

 ing when they are faUing-* one of these darted across the 



mortalium exire." He concludes by observing, " Yeniet tempus, quo ista 

 qua nunc latent, in lucem dies extrahat, et longioris diei diligentia j 

 ^^at. Qua^st. lib. 7. § 19. p. 807. 



1 For some account of Hipparchus, see note ^ p. 37. 



2 Nothing is known respecting the nature of these mstruments, nor 

 have we any means of fomung even a conjecture upon the subject. 



3 The terms "faces," "lampades," " bohdes," and "trabes," hterally 

 torches, lamps, darts, and beams, which are employed to express dift'erent 

 kinds of meteors, have no corresponding words in Eughsh wluch would 

 correctly designate them. 



4 From this account it would appear, that the "fax" was what wo 

 term a falhng star. " Meteora ista, super cervices nostras transeuntia, 

 diversaque a stelhs labentibus, modo aerohthis ascribenda sunt, modo va- 

 poribus incensis aut electrica vi prognata vidontur, ct quamvis I'requen- 

 tissime recurrant, exphcatione adhvic incerta uidigent." Alexandre in 

 Lemaire, i. 302. 



