DESCRIPTIO GLOBI INTELLECTUALIS. 329 



ubi erat parum spiritus vini collocantes, tumqne primo 

 candelam, deinde spiritum vini accendentes ; ubi facile 

 erat cernere flammam candelaa coruscantem et candi- 

 dam, per medium flammaa spiritus vini infirm se et ver- 

 gentis ad diaplianum. 1 Atque pari ratione cernuntur 

 sagpius per coelum trabes lucidae lucem manifestam ex 

 se praebentes, et tenebras noctis insigniter illustrantes ; 

 per quarum corpora tamen datur conspicere astra. At- 

 tamen ista inasqualitas Stellas et setheris interstellaris 

 non bene definitur per tenue et densum, ut stella scil- 

 icet sit densior, aether tenuior. Nam generaliter hie 

 apud nos flamma acre est corpus subtilius, magis, in- 

 quam, expansum, et minus habens material pro spatio 

 quod occupat ; quod etiam in coelestibus obtinere pro- 

 babile est. Durior vero est error, si stellam sphserae 

 partem esse intelligant veluti clavo fixam, et aethera 

 Stellas deferens. 2 Hoc enim fictitium quiddam est, 

 quemadmodum et orbium contignatio ilia quae describ- 

 itur. Nam corpus stellae in cursu suo aut aethera 

 secat, aut et aether ipse rotat simul aequaliter. Si enim 

 inaequaliter rotet, etiam stellam secare aethera necesse 

 est. Fabrica autem ilia orbium contiguorum, ut con- 

 cavum exterioris orbis recipiat convexum interioris, 

 et tamen propter laevorem utriusque alter alterum in 

 conversionibus suis, licet inaequalibus, non impediat, 



1 Compare Sylva Sylvarum (31.). 



2 The phrase fixed stars, Sidera infixa coelo, iras originally connected 

 frith the notion of the stars being fastened to the vault of heaven. The 

 substitution, as Humboldt has remarked, of Jixa for infixa or affixa, indi- 

 cates the transition to our notion of fixed stars, which relates only to their 

 relative immobility. See Cosmos, vol. iii., chapter on Fixed Stars. There 

 is a curious passage in Acosta's History of the Indies on this subject. He 

 conceives that both the Milky Way and what are commonly called the 

 Coal Bags belong to the substance of the heaven itself, and prove by their 

 motion that the heavens turn as well as the stars [i. 2.J. 



