22 The Origin of the 



I have endeavoured to render the passage accu- 

 rately to the meaning. If we make some allowance 

 for the imperfection of a statement which we have 

 only at second hand, it seems to me to have that in 



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That this theory originated from the observation of meteoric 

 star-showers, and the fall of meteoric stones, appears from his 

 further inference that the fire of the stars was caught by rapid 

 motion. Astronomically he held that, of the heavenly bodies, the 

 moon was nearest to the earth, and moved in a smaller circle ; while 

 the orbit of the sun [in his annual apparent course] was much the 

 greatest : that the occasional occurrence of eclipses was owing to the 

 inclination of the earth's axis [to which they have a relation, as in 

 fact they only happen near the nodes of the two inclined orbits], 

 and that the greater frequency of lunar eclipses was owing to the 

 moon's orbit being so much less [the nearer distance, of course, 

 inferring also her smaller size.] Some allowance should also be 

 made for the imperfection of Hesychius's brief statement. 



The theory of Leucippus has been misunderstood, and so mis- 

 represented, by Sir George Cornwall Lewis, " Astronomy of the 

 Ancients," p. 136. The cycle of eclipses was well known to the 

 Chaldeans long before the time of Leucippus ; and by it Thales of 

 Miletus predicted the great solar eclipse of May 28th, B.C. 585. 



