304 DESCRIPTIO GLOBI INTELLECTUALIS. 



coetu planetarum divulsit, cum quibus tot habet pas- 

 siones communes, similiter durum ; et quod tantum im- 

 mobilis introduxit in naturam, ponendo solem et Stellas 

 immobiles, pmesertim corpora maxime omnium lucida 

 et radiantia ; et quod lunam terrae tanquam in epicy- 

 clo adluerere voluit ; et alia nonnulla quse ille sumit, 

 ejus sunt viri qui quidvis in natura fingere, modo cal- 

 culi bene cedant, nihil putet. Quod si detur motus 

 terrae, rnagis consentaneum videatur, ut tollatur omnino 

 systema, et spargantur globi, secundum eos quos jam 

 nominavimus, quam ut constituatur tale systema cujus 

 sit centrum sol. Idque consensus seculorum et anti- 



* u j a o i . 



quitatis potius arripuit ' ,apprpteT'~ - Nam opinio 

 de motu terrae nova non JH , oconuare dfiquis repetita, 

 quemadmodum diximus ; at ilia de soie ut sit centrum 

 mundi et immobile, prorsus nova est (excepto uno ver- 

 siculo male traducto), 1 et primo a Copernico introducta. 



Nevertheless the notion of a triple motion long adhered to the Copernican 

 hypothesis. See Paradise Lost, viii. 130. Of course the earth's axis really 

 has a third motion which gives rise to the phenomena of precession and 

 mutation; but this is exceedingly slow. Injustice to Copernicus it should 

 be added, that though his notion of an annual third motion was unneces- 

 sary, yet he employed it, and in a correct manner, to explain precession. 

 Boeckh's notion that the movement of the fixed stars in the theory of Phil- 

 olaus was introduced for the same purpose, does not seem to be well made 

 out. No doubt, as the earth revolved every day round Hestia, the fixed 

 stars might have been allowed to remain at rest; but we have a remarkable 

 example of a similar pleonasm in the astronomical theory of Cardinal Cusa- 

 nus. See the fragment of Cusanus first published by Clemens in 1843: it 

 is given in extenso in Apelt on the Reformation of Astronomy, p. 23. 



1 Bacon alludes to Job, ix. 6. On this verse, " Qui commovet terram de 

 loco suo et columnae ejus concutiuntur," Didacus a Stunica, in his Com- 

 mentary on Job, published in 1584, founded an argument in favour of the 

 Copernican hypothesis, alledging that no text could be found in which the 

 earth's motion is as distinct!} 7 denied as it is here asserted: " Nullus dabi- 

 tur scripturse sacrosanctae locus qui tam aperte dicat terram non moveri quam 

 hie moveri dicit." Stunica on Job, p. 41. (I quote from the edition of 

 1591). This argument of Stunica's seems to have attracted some attention. 

 Galileo mentions it in his letter to the Grand Duchess Christina, which was 



