INTRODUCTION. 



PART I. 

 OF ASTRONOMICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



SECT. I. 



OF THE FIGURE AND MOTION OF THE EARTH, THE DIFFERENT 

 SYSTEMS OF THE UNIVERSE, THE PLANETS, COMETS, AND 

 FIXED STARS. 



J. HE science of Geography, in the more extensive significa- 

 tion of the word, is so intimately connected with that of Astronomy, 

 that it will be necessary to begin this work, with a summary view 

 of the system of the world, and a brief account of the order and 

 revolutions of the heavenly bodies. But first we shall premise a 

 few observations on the figure and motion of the earth. 



The earth was long considered as an extensive plain of unknown 

 thickness, beneath which was the abode of the spirits of the dead.... 

 the regions of Elisium and Tartarus. The heavens, in which the 

 sun, moon, and stars appeared to move daily from east to west, 

 were conceived to be at no great distance from it, and to be only 

 designed for its use and ornament. More attentive observation, 

 however, soon showed that the earth was of a globular figure. 

 Thus, when a ship sails on the sea, the tops of the masts first be- 

 come visible at a distance ; the setting sun may be distinctly seen 

 from the top of a hill when it appears to those below to have sunk 

 beneath the horizon ; and the shadow of the earth in a lunar eclipse 

 is of a circular figure. But it is needless to insist on these proofs, 

 since the frequent voyages of different navigators round the world, 

 from the time of Magelhaens, or Magellan, whose ship first cir- 

 cumnavigated the globe between the years 1519 and 1522, he him- 

 self being killed at the Ladrone islands, to that of the repeated, 

 voyages of captain Cook, have demonstrated the figure of the earth 

 to be globular beyond the possibility of a doubt. 



The spherical figure of the earth being admitted, its motion be- 

 came much more probable from the very nature of its form ; and 

 besides, a very strong, and in fact unanswerable, argument for that 

 motion was derived from considering, that if the earth did not 

 move round the sun, not only the sun, but all the planets and stars. 



Vol. I. B 



