so 



ON THE ELEMENTARY AND CONSTITUENT 



heavens 5 a sphere that in its vast embrace comprehends ten lower or sub- 

 ordinate spheres, that He between itself and the earth, which forms the 

 centre of the whole, and, in conjunction with the earth, constitutes the 

 universal world. 



This supreme intelligence Aristotle conceived to be in himself for ever 

 at rest ; and the tranquil and peaceable sphere in which he resides he de- 

 nominated the empyreum or heaven of biiss. But though enjoying eternal 

 rest himself, he communicates motion, necessarily and essentially, upon 

 this theory, to the sphere immediately below him ; as this, in its turn, com- 

 municates it in different directions, and with different velocities, to the 

 other spheres that revolve within its range whence the sphere thus 

 earliest receiving motion, and nearest to the empyreum, Aristotle denomi- 

 nated the PRiMUM MOBILE or first moving power : it constituted the tenth 

 in the regular series ; the ninth, or that which lies next to it, being de- 

 nominated the crystalline heavens ; the eighth, the starry sphere, or heavens ; 

 and the remaining seven deriving their names from, and being appropriated 

 to, the different revolutions of the different planets, as Saturn, Jupiter 

 Mars, Apollo or the sun, Venus, Mercury, and Diana or the moon : the 

 earth, forming the centre of the whole, being an imperfect sphere, with a 

 larger proportion of matter at the equator ; on which account the earth 

 was conceived to turn on her axis in a rocking motion, revolving round the 

 axis of the eliptic, and making the stars appear to shift their places at the 

 rate of about one degree in seventy-two years. According to which cal- 

 culation, all of them will appear to perform a complete revolution in the 

 space of 26,920 years, and, consequently, to return to the precise situation 

 they occupied at the commencement of such period. This period was 

 hence denominated the annus maonus, or great year, and not unfre- 

 quently the platonic year, as the same kind of revolution was in some 

 measure taught also by Plato, 



The motory power, thus impressed by the intelligent moving principle, 

 not voluntarily but by necessity, upon the different heavenly spheres, and 

 finally upon the earth, and productive of that catenation of effects which is 

 equally without beginning and without end, Aristotle denominated nature, 

 and thus furnished us with a word, which has for ages been so extensively 

 made use of, that, though there is nothing in all language more imprecise, 

 there is nothing we could spare with more inconvenience. The same 

 term, indeed, is occasionally employed by Plato, but in a sense still less 

 definite, if possible, and at the same time still less comprehensive. 



On the revival of literature, this theory, together with the other branches of 

 Peripatetic science, was chiefly restored and studied, and continued, indeed, 

 to be generally adhered to for upwards of a century after the publication 

 of the Copernican system ; which is well known to have at first experienced 

 but a very cold and inhospitable reception from the literary world. And it is 

 hence this theory that is principally a 'verted to and described in the pro- 

 ductions of ali the early poets as weVi as philosophei s of every part of mo- 

 dern Europe. And so complete was the triumph of the Peripatetic school 

 in all its doctrines throughout Christendom, at this period, that Melanc- 

 tlion makes it a matter of complaint, that, even in the sacred assemblies, 

 parts of the writings of Aristotie were read to th«^ people instead of the 

 Gospel. Even Milton himself, though born considerably more than a 

 century after Copernicus, wavers as to the propriety of adopting his hypo- 



* Diog. Laert. lib. v. sec. 23. Arist. Phys. lib. 1. cap. 3, 4. De Gael. lib. 2. cap. 3. 11. 



