102 plint's natubal histobt. [Book !!♦ 



CHAP. 69. (69.) THAT THE EABTH IS Ef THE MIDDLE OF 



THE WORLD. 



It is evident from undoubted arguments, that the earth is 

 in the middle of the universe*, but it is the most clearlj 

 proved by the equality of the days and the nights at the equi- 

 nox^. It is demonstrated by the quadrant^, which affords 

 the most decisive confirmation of the fact, that unless the 

 earth was in the middle, the days and nights could not be 

 equal ; for, at the time of the equinox, the rising and setting 

 of the sun are seen on the same line, and the rising of the 

 sun, at the summer solstice, is on the same line with its 

 setting at the winter solstice ; but this could not happen if 

 the earth was not situated in the centre 



CHAP. 70. (70.) — OF THE OBLIQUITY OP THE ZONES'*. 



The three circles^, which are connected with the above- 

 mentioned zones, distinguish the inequalities of the seasons ; 

 those are, the solstitial circle, which proceeds from the part 

 of the Zodiac the highest to us and approaching the nearest 

 to the district of the north ; on the other side, the brumal, 

 which is towards the south pole ; and the equinoctial, which 

 traverses the middle of the Zodiac. 



CHAP. 71. — OF THE IITEQUALITT OF CLIMATES. 



The cause of the other things which are worthy of our 

 admiration depends on the figure of the earth itself, which, 

 together with aU its waters, is proved, by the same argu- 

 ments, to be a globe. This certainly is the cause why the 

 stars of the northern portion of the heavens never set to us, 

 and why, on the other hand, those in the south never rise, 

 and again, why the latter can never be seen by the former, 

 the globe of the earth rising up and concealing them. The 



* " Mundi totius," * " ^quinoctii paribus horis." 



3 Dioptra. " G-rsece ^loTrrpa, instrumentura est geometricum, un 

 quart de cercle, quo apparentes rerum inter se distantiffi anguli apertura 

 dijudicantur." Alexandre, in Lemaire, i. 384. 



^ This title does not correspond with the contents of the chapter. 



* " Tropici duo, cum aequinoctiali circulo j" Hardouin, in Lemaire, L 



