Dante, 1265- 
1321 A.D. 
SnriLAtioxH os 
DtmuBCTtn* or 
La*t> ajw Wat**. 
38 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 
n Li riling the distance, 1 but in support of the view that the space is not great he quotes 
s . i, ;!,<• passage in Esdras pointing to the ocean occup 3 ung only a seventh part of the 
, arth’s surface, J and the famous voyages to Ophir mentioned in the Bible. 3 Bacon’s 
: _ui, tents and quotations were copied into the popular book by Petrus Alliacus called 
/m Afundi published early in the fifteenth century. Columbus’s own copy of this 
work is still to be seen at Seville with his annotations on the margin. Here he first 
l.o -a me acquainted with the arguments of the Greek philosophers with reference to the 
] .b ibb extent of the habitable world, and their speculations as to the possibility of 
crossing the Atlantic to the coasts of India. It is probable that the reading of this book 
and these extracts from Bacon first suggested to Columbus the idea of a voyage across 
t he Atlantic ; it is not likely he had any direct acquaintance with the works of Boger 
Bacon. 
S .me interesting information regarding the opinions held during the Middle Ages with 
r _r.>! 1 to the listribution of land and water is to be found in a treatise which is now 
aim. >>t universally admitted to be a genuine work of the poet Dante, who may be regarded 
is tit. 1 raid of the Benaissance. Dante refers the elevation of the land above the water 
til. inlluence of the stars “by way of attraction as the magnet draws the iron, or by 
iv of impulsion, generating impelling vapours, as in certain mountains.” The tides are 
1 1 i Trod to the action of the moon. The sphericity of the earth and the equality of the 
h v. 1 of the sea in different oceans are also discussed. 4 In the Inferno he makes Ulysses 
,ir his companions to venture on a voyage into the great ocean beyond the Pillars of 
Hercules.® 
I . 'torn d Arezzo regarded the dry land as occupying only one-tenth of the surface of 
the gb’l ■>*, and held the opinion that the waters of the ocean were accumulated in the 
N.nih.TD L mi.'phere. We have already noted that this view was current among the 
An!-. 11> Mates this definitely in his interpretation of the Arabian celestial charts. These 
• le-tial pheres only show the stars visible at the horizon of Cairo or Alexandria ; no 
-tar- art- represented at the South Pole. Bistoro supposed, from a consideration of these 
h rt- th M the earth was formerly completely covered by the sea, that afterwards, by a 
; . vid.-ntial decree, the stars were all grouped in the northern celestial hemisphere, that 
..r. ,n. waters had been driven towards the south, and, as a consequence of this retreat 
< ■ land appeared in our hemisphere. He also pointed out that should the con- 
] n, Opus Magnum, edi«l it S. Jebb, fol. 184, London, 1733. Roger Bacon gives two figures to illustrate the 
• ; • ; • . that a narrow sea separates the eastern and western portions of the habitable world. 
* See ante, p. 2. 
" M n Tn i fol. 183 ; reach. 1, op. cit., p. 202. Albcrtus Magnus had, before Bacon, expressed the idea that 
■ n-e an it was believed to be to the west of Spain. He says: — “ Inter horizontem habitantium 
j ' : x • i f br <: Orieiitem habitantium in India non est in medio, ut dicunt, nisi quoddarn mare parvum” 
(Ds t M ’ i >, lib. it. tract, iv. cap. 11 ; tom. ii. fol. 146, Lugd. 1651). Albertus supports his view upon the text 
< f An«totle relative to elephants, which we have cited (p. 14). 
‘ q ■ n ell’ Aqua »■ della Terra di Dante Alighieri, Opp. Lat. di Dante, ed. Siuliani, vol. ii. ; see also 
Gardner, Salure, vol. xlvii. p. 205. 6 Canto xxvi. 
