DESCRIPTIO GLOBI INTELLECTUALIS. 333 



igentia, ut consequential inde deduci adhuc debeant. 

 Illud inagis premit inquisitionem praesentem, quod pos- 

 sint esse plures globi opaci per sethera sparsi, qui om- 

 nino non cernuntur. Nam et luna ipsa in primis orti- 

 bus, qaatenus illustrator a sole, visum sane ferit, cornu 

 et labro illo tenui circuli extimi, in profundo autem 

 minime, sed cernitur eadem specie tanquam reliquus 

 ii j ther : et stellulaa ill* erratics? circa Jovem a Galila?o 

 (si fides constet) reperta?, merguntur ad visum nostrum 

 in pelago illo aetheris, tanquam insula? minores et non 

 conspicua? ; similiter et ilia? stellular quarum glomeratio 

 effecit o-alaxiam, si singulae sparsim, non congregata? 

 confertim, collocata? essent, prorsus conspectum nos- 

 trum effugerent ; quemadmodum et complures alia?, 

 quse noctibus serenis, praasertim per hiemem, micant ; 

 etiam nebulosae illa3 stellae sive foramina ad Praesepe, 1 

 jam distincta? per specilla numerantur ; quin per eadem 

 specilla in fonte lucis omnium purissimo (solem dici- 

 mus), macularum et opaci et inaequalitatis scrupulus 



1 The nebula Praesepe in Cancer, and the one in the head of Orion, were 

 the two first nebulae ever resolved into distinct stars. Galileo gave figures 

 of them as they appeared through his telescope in the Sydereus Nuncius. 

 What Bacon goes on to say of spots in the sun is particularly interesting 

 Galileo did not publish on the subject before 1613; so that Bacon's infor- 

 mation was probably not derived from Galileo, though it is believed that 

 Galileo's first observations were made in November 1610. The earliest ac- 

 count which is known to have been printed of these spots is that of Fabri- 

 cius, whose father's interesting correspondence with Kepler has recently 

 been published. His tract De Maculis in Sole observatis was published at 

 Wittenberg, 1611. It seems difficult to decide the question of priority of 

 observation between him and Galileo. Harriot observed the spots in De- 

 cember 1610, but did not apparently know what to make of the appear- 

 ance, and does not designate the phenomena by the specific name of spots 

 until December 1611, before which time their existence had been fully as- 

 certained by others. He drew a picture however of what he had seen on 

 the first occasion, of which a facsimile has been published by Professor 

 Rigaud, to whom I am indebted for most of the substance of this note. See 

 his Supplement to Bradley's Works, pp. 32. 35. 37. 



