JANUARY 20, 1893] 



NATURE 



297 



Let the heavens be where are four crosses, the water 

 where three, the earth where there are two. 



Let D be the centre of earth and concentric water and 

 heaven. Water cannot be concentric with the earth 

 unless the earth be in some part " gibbous " above the 

 central circumference. Let the protuberance of the earth 

 be at G, and at some part of the circumference of water let 

 there be a protuberance of water at H. Then let a line be 

 drawn from D to H and another from D to F ; it is manifest 



that D H is longer than D F,and therefore the summit of one 

 is higher than the summit of the other. Since both touch 

 at their summit the surface of the water without passing 

 beyond, it is clear that the water of the protuberance will 

 be higher, with regard to the surface where F is. Since, 

 therefore, there is no obstacle, the water of the protuber- 

 ance will flow down until it become level at D with the 

 central or regular circumference. And thus it will be 

 impossible for a protuberance of water to last or even to 

 exist.— Q.E.D. 



Dante now brings forward a subsidiary argument to 

 show that probably water has no protuberance out of the 

 regular circumference. The protuberance of the earth is 

 sufficient to prove and explain everything, and " Quod 

 potest fieri per unum, melius est fieri per unum quam per 

 plura." So there is no protuberance on the surface of 

 the water, because God and Nature always do what is 

 best and do not work in vain. 



Since water cannot be eccentric, as was shown by the 

 first figure, nor concentric with a protuberance, as was 

 shown by the second figure, it is necessary that water be 

 concentric and coequal, i.e. equally distant in every part 

 of its circumference from the centre of the world. 



Thus it has been proved impossible for water in any 

 part of its circumference to be higher than the surface of 

 the earth ; and so the first point is completed. 

 We now pass on to the second. 



2. This emergent earth is everywhere higher than the 

 surface of the sea. This is shown in this way : — 



Ail the shores of the ocean, as well as of the Mediter- 

 ranean seas, rise above the surface of the sea which 

 bounds them, as is clear to the eye. Therefore all the 

 shores are further from the centre of the world, since the 

 centre of the world is also the centre of the sea and the 

 shoreward surfaces are parts of the whole surface of the 

 sea ; and since everything that is more remote from the 

 centre of the world is also more high, it follows that 

 the shores everywhere rise above the surface of the sea. 

 And if the shores are higher than the sea, much more 

 must be the other regions of the earth, since the shores 

 are the lower parts of the earth, as we see by the rivers 

 flowing down to them. 



3. In accordance with the order of the question as ^at 

 first stated by Dante, he now brings forward various 

 arguments which seem to contradict his demonstrations, 

 and these arguments he then proceeds to demolish. They 

 need not detain us here. In the course of the operation 

 there occurs a most interesting distinction between hotno- 



NO- I 2 13. VOL. 47] 



geneous and simple bodies, in which I seem to see a distinct 

 foreshadowing of our modern view of the chemical ele- 

 ments in contradistinction to the ordinary four or five 

 elements of Aristotle and his followers. " Corpora enim 

 homogenea et simplicia sunt ; homogenea ut aurum 

 depuratum J et corpora simplicia, ut ignis et terra." 

 § xviii. 



But perhaps- it might not be out of place to quote here 

 the following passage from G. H. Lewes's " Aristotle " : — 

 " One of the great difficulties in interpreting ancient 

 opinions is to guard against the tendency of reading our 

 fulness of knowledge into their vague expressions. We 

 often find in ancient works the precious metal we have 

 ourselves brought with us ; as the alchemist often uncon- 

 sciously put into his crucible the gold, which he afterwards 

 discovered there with surprised delight." — G. H. Lewes, 

 "Aristotle," x. § 170. 



He thus sets forth the Jinal cause of the elevation or 

 emergence of the earth : There must needs be a part in 

 the universe where all miscibilia — to wit, elements — can 

 come together ; this cannot be unless the earth be in some 

 part emergent. Thus, although earth, according to its 

 own nature, tends always downwards, it has in it another 

 nature by which it obeys the intention of Universal 

 Nature, and allows itself to be here and there raised up, 

 in order that mixture of the elements may be possible, 

 and thence all things that are subject to generation and 

 corruption may be formed. 



He further shows that the emergent earth on which we 

 dwell has the form of a semilune, by arguments which he 

 graciously tells us that even ladies can follow—" Mani- 

 festum esse potest etiani mulieribus." 



4. What now is the efficient cause of the elevation 

 or emergence of the earth above the surface of the 

 water ? 



Dante first shows that neither the earth itself, nor 

 water, nor air, nor Jire can be the efficient cause. There- 

 fore it must be relerred to the heavens. But there are 

 many heavens, and to which are we to refer it .? Dante 

 shows that it cannot be referred to the tnoon, nor to the 

 heavens of any of the planets (Mercury, Venus, the Sun,. 

 Mars, Jupiter, Saturn), nor yet to the Crystalline Heaven 

 or Primum Mobile, the 9th sphere. Now, since the only 

 mobile bodies which remain are the Heaven of the Stars, 

 Caelum Stellatutn, or 8th circle, we must refer the cause of 

 the elevation of the earth of our hemisphere to that. This 

 Heaven of the Stars has at once unity in substance and 

 multiplicity in its virtues or influences, as the poet him- 

 self sings : — 



" II del, cui tanti lumi fanno bello, 

 Dalla mente profonda che lui volve 

 Prende I'image, e fassene suggello. 

 E come I'alma dentro a vostra polve, 

 Per different! membra, e conlormate 

 A diverse potenzie, si risolve ; 

 Cosi rintelligenzia sua bontate 

 Multiplicata per le stelle spiega, 

 Girando se sovra sua unitaie." 



— "Paradise," ii. 130 138.^ 



Dante further refers the elevation of our earth to that 

 region of the Coelum Stellatum which roofs over this un- 

 covered earth ; that is, that this elevating virtue or influ- 

 ence is in those stars which are in the region of the 

 heaven, which is bounded by the equator and the circle 

 which the pole of the zodiac describes around the pole of 

 the world ; " whether it elevate by way of attraction as 



I " The heaven, which lights so manifold make fair, 



From the Intelligence profound, which turns it, 



The image takes, and makes of it a seal. 

 And even as the soul within your dust 

 Through members different and accommodated 



To faculties diverse expands itself, 

 So likewise this Intelligence diffuses 



Its virtue multiplied among the stars. 



Itself revolving on its unity." 



"Paradiso," ij. 130-138, Longfellow's trans. 



