Concerning Comets, Table of contents – Chapter 1
THE CONTENTS.
CHAP. I. THat Comets are not in the Air, but in the Starry Heaven: their Origin, & true Matter enquired into.
CHAP. II. The several sorts of Comets considered. The natural Reason of the Blaze. The time of their Appearance cannot certainly be praedicted. Notwithstanding their proceeding from natural causes they may be portentous signs of evil Events.
CHAP. III. The History of Comets from the beginning of the World to the first coming of Christ, together with some remarkable Events attending them.
CHAP. IV. An Historical Account of what Blazing Stars were seen within the first five hundred Years after Christs Incarnation, and the not able Events which still followed.
CHAP. V. Of Comets which appeared between the Year 500 & 1000. with some remarkable Events,
CHAP. VI. A continuance of the History of Comets, with the Events attending them, unto the Year 1200.
CHAP. VII. A further Account of Comets appearing from the Year of our Lord 1200. unto the Year 1500. with the most observable Events attending them.
CHAP. VIII. The History of Comets which have been observed from the Year 1500. to 1600. with the Events.
CHAP. IX. The History of Comets in this last Century, with the more remarkable Occurrences of Divine Providence, which have attended them.
CHAP. X. That Blazing Stars are commonly signs of evil Events, therefore not to be slighted; nor this last Blazing Star, which is attended with such rare Conjunctions of the Planets. Judicial Astrologers condemned. The Conclusion.
A Discourse Concerning COMETS.
CHAP. I.
That Comets are not in the Air, but in the Starry Heaven. Their Origin and true matter enquired into.
THe Sentiments of learned Men, concerning the place where and the matter out of which Comets are made; have been very various. The Peripatetick School has phansied them to be Meteors, generated out of the Bowels of the Earth, exhaled and extolled by the Sun to the supream Region of the Air, and there set on Fire. It would be needless and endless to tell how many have after Aristotle embraced this fiction, but it may not be unprofitable in a few words to evince the contrary, viz. That Comets are not placed in the first heaven or Air, but farr above it, in the second or Starry Heaven, and that therefore they are rather Stars than Meteors.
1. That most learned Mathematician Hevelius his argument from the motion of Comets is irrefragable aIn Cometographiae Lib. 2. Pag. 132.whatever body (saith he) is moved in the great Circle, dividing the Sphaere, and keeping fixed Poles, is certainly Etherial and not Aereal. But this is true of every Comet; its diurnal or common motion, is absolved as other Caelestial bodies are, which cannot be said of any sort of Meteors; yea, the motion thereof is exact and regular, though at first its more swift, and afterwards more slow, yet in that inequality, there is an exact proportion and regularity observed, when as it is otherwise with Meteors that are tossed to and fro, and move not through the great Circle. The motion of Comets doth very much imitate not that of the fixed Stars, but of the Planets, whence they are by some called Pseudo-Planetae, and by others. Spurious-Planets. And the Holy Scripture seems to give that name of Planets to them, or as our Translation hath it wandring Stars, Jude, 13. foreign
2. The truth of what we assert, is manifest to those that understand any thing in the Doctrine Parallaxes. It is an indubitable Maxim, that the less the Parallax the remoter the Phaenomenon. But Comets have a less Parallax than the Moon, which shews that they are Supra-Lunary Bodies, sometimes they admit of no sensible Parallax at all, as might by many instances be confirmed, Let us for Arguments sake, imagine the supream Region of the Air to extend as far as 20 Semidiameters of the Earth, h. e. 17000 German Miles (which it is most certain it doth not, nor the half of one thousand, as anon will be made to appear) if the Comet bHevel Lib. 3. Pag. 160.is no higher then that, there will be a considerable Parallax. Inasmuch then, as to many Comets there hath been no Parallax, that demonstrates their being elevated above 17000 Mill. Germ. and consequently as far as the Aetherial Heaven. Therefore,
3. Learned Men of these later times, wherein light in things natural as well as divine hath been admirably discovered, have by the help of Mathematical Instruments made ocular demonstrations, that Comets are far above this Aery Heaven, wherein Animals live and move.
Kepler observed the Blazing Star which was seen A. D. 1618. to be at its first appearance three times as high as the Moon. Hevelius cLib. 5. P. 317then whom no man was more industrious and accurate in observing the Comet, A. D. 1652. saith that January the first it was as high as the sphaere of Mercury, January the sixth as high as Venus, Jan. 8. as high as Mars, January 9. as high as the Orb of Jupiter. It was distant from the Earth 15494. S. T. and not only the more subtile Doctrine of Parallaxes demonstrates that Blazing Stars are beyond the aery Region, but other considerations also evince it, e. g. that of its continuing so many hours above the Horizon, and being observed by persons in Countryes remote one from another at the same hour, to be in the same consteliation or place in the Heavens. Let us (saith Hevelius) suppose the supream Region of the Air to be 20 German miles (or 80 Italick miles) off, Kepler de Cometis P. 33.and yet that is no doubt higher then the Air is extended; for the tops of some Mountains are higher then the Clouds, so as that the Air doth not go beyond them: If men ascend the top of Mount Olympus in Asia, they die for want of air, being out of their Elements, just as Fishes die when listed above the water; But supposing it to be 80 miles distant from the Earth, and the Comet to be there, it would not have been above the Horizon, more then two hours; when as it was so 17 hours. And at the very hour when dIdem in Lib. 3. P. 151, 155.Hevelius did at Dantzick observe it to be in the Star near the foot of Persius, Bullialdus in Paris saw it in the very same place, whenas, if it had been no higher then the supream Region of the air, it would have appeared to Bullialdus (being then in Paris) in Hercules and not in Persius, as it did to those in Dantzick Nor would a Blazing Star be observed by all the World at once (where the Stars under which it moves, are seen) if it were not above the air. The opinion of Panaetius, who thought that a Comet was a meer Emphasis or Parelion, proceeding from the reflection of some other Star, is solidly refuted, from this consideration, that a Parelion is not seen in all Countries at once; The same argument proveth that Comets have their existence above the air.
4. We may argue from the magnitude of Comets, that they are as high as the starry Heaven. Snellius eIn Libro de Cometa Anno. 1618.endeavours by Mathematical demonstration to evince that if the whole airy Heaven should be contracted into one Globe it would not be so big as the head of that. Comet, which appeared, A. D. 1577. how then is it possible for the air to contain so vast a body? Majus non potest contineri a minori. And Gotfridus Wenoelinus observed that the magnitude of the Comet which appeared A. D. 1652. did equal or exceed the Moon. And Hevelius fL. 5. P. 323.writing of the same Comet, faith, that it was greater then the Moon, and that he was astonished, when with exact Mathematical Instruments he examined it; and though other Learned Men were with him at the same time, and helpful in his Observations, he professeth he could not have believed what they said, if his own eyes had not beheld it. Nay, he saith, that that Comet did almost equal the Sun a little before its disappearing, gIbid. P. 338.yet the Sun is (according to his judgment) 3462 times as big as the Earth. Is it likely that a body of so stupendious a magnitude should be contained in this low & little Heaven, wherein Mortal Creatures have their Breath and Being?
5. Some Comets (as Galtruchius de Sphaera Mundi, Cap. 6. P. 125. confesfeth) have been absconded, by the interposition of a Planet between the Earth and them, which could not be if they did not move in an higher Sphere then the Planet whereby they were Eclipsed: But notwithstanding these Arguments are so convictive and demonstrative, its marvellous to see how some Popi…h Authors (Jesuites especially) strain their wits to defend their Pagan Master Aristotle his Principles. Bullialdus speaks of a Florentine Physitian, that all the Friends he had could never perswade him once to view the Heavens through a Telescope▪ and he gave that reason for his refusal, because he was afraid that then his Eyes would make him stagger concerning the truth of Aristotles Principles, which he was resolved he would not call into question. It were well, if these Men had as great veneration for the Scripture as they have, for Aristotles (if indeed they be his) absurd Books de coelo Sed de his satis.
It is an easier matter to prove that Comets are in the Aether, then to declare how they came there. Some antient Philosophers judged them to be coaevous with the Planets, and fixed Stars, and that only their appearance and not their existence is new. This Opinion hConsulantur Aristot meteor Lib. 1. Chap. 6. Plutarch de placitis Philosophorum, L. 3. Chap. 5. Ricciolus de Cometis L. 8. P. 36, 40.was embraced by Pythagoras, Diogenes, Seneca, and by the old Chaldeans. Nor is it contradicted by Columbus, Licetus, Cartesius, with some other late Writers. And it must be acknowledged, that notwithstanding their disapp…rance at certain times, for many years together, they may be coaetaneous, and altogether of the same nature with the true Planets. A rectilineal motion may soon cause a Star to vanish out of our sight which yet hath a real existence still. Or some density or obscurity in the Atmosphaere though our Air should be never so clear, may cause it to be unobservable by us. Antient Writers speak of some fixed Stars which are not seen by us. And divers of them do not now appear to be of the same magnitude, as in former ages. And sundry new Stars have of late appeared which the former Generation never saw. It seems not consonant to reason to imagine, either that the old Stars are lost, or that new ones are of late created, those glorious coelestial Bodies being of perpetual duration. The Stars are by the Hebrews called Chochabim, probably by Antiphrasts, from Chabah extinxit, because they are Lights which never go out; And for ought that any man is able to prove to the contrary, they shall remain as everlasting Monuments of the power & wisdome of God, throughout the dayes of Eternity. Nevertheless, it is admirable iDe… hac admiranda stella doctissimus Hevelius peculiarem librum scripsitto consider, that there is a Star of later times observed in collo Coeti, which disappears every year for several Moneths, and then appears again, in the very same place where it was the last year; Being at first very small and obscure, but afterwards a bright Star of the second magnitude. Also, a new Star appeared in the Swans breast, A. D. 1601 and continued shining there until the year 1660. and then it disappeared; kCometographia P. 382.and when, or whether ever it will be seen again, no man can say: also a new Star was lately (viz. Anno. 1672.) discerned in the Swans head. But though the Argument See the Philosophical transactions for year 1677. P. 854.from disappearance be invalid, it is from other reasons manifest, that they are not such Planets as those created at the beginning of the World are. Comets are often seen out of the Zodiack, which the true Planets are not. They dispatch more way by far then the Planets do. That lRicciolus ubi supra P. 41.Comet, A. D. 1618 in the space of three Moneths dispatched 180 Degrees. No Planet goeth over so great an arch of the circle in so short a time. Some Comets have moved 20, 30, nay 40 Degrees in one natural day. Whenas the lesser Planets do not absolve two degrees in that time.
Comets then are Temporary, whenas the true Planets are perpetual. As for the matter out of which they are generated, Suellius, Puteanus, Fromondus, and others conceive them to be compacted out of evaporations, which do proceed from the Sun. Our modern Mathematicians, have observed, that there are Maculae Solares or spots about the Sun, which sometimes may be discerned for many dayes together: & sometimes for several Moneths, nothing of that nature can be perceived. Hevelius mLib. 7. Page 40 l, 405.concludeth that the Effluvia proceeding from the Sun are such, as will afford matter enough for 68 Comets in one year, in case those aethereal vapours should congregate into a body. The wisest of men must ingeniously confess their own ignorance in these things, and that what they say is but problematical and conjectural. I shall not therefore be positive in any determination, which concerns the matter that Comets are formed out of. Only I am easily induced to believe, that they are generated out of the same matter which Stars were in the beginning of the World, made of, viz. Light, or the Element of Fire, being first condensed into lesser particles, and after that conglomorate… into a vast body. In the Scripture, the Stars are called Luminaries, Ge. 1. 1415 [Mcoroth] quasi [min Or] ex luce vel igne qui abs Hebraeis [Ur] dicitur, a lucendo. We see that the Sun doth beat down fire continually, inasmuch as the beams thereof, if condensed with a Glass, will burn. Anaxagoras nAristot. meteor L. 1. C. 6. Plutarch de placit. Philosophorum L, 3. C 2and Democritus of old thought that Comets were made of many little Stars growing into one. Which Cusatus, Tannerus, and other neotericks confess to be a very probable opinion. Some Comets have appeared broken into many Stars. In that famous Comet which was seen A. D. 1618. one might with a Telescope discern many small clots like Stars or Coals of Fire. At first it seemed to be one solid lump, but on December 8. it was divided into three Wendelinus in Teratologia cometica P. 21.unequal parts, Dec 17. it was broken into many little Stars, Decemb. 24. it was dissolved into more and lesser Stars (o) In the Blazing Star that appeared A. D. 1652. not only Hevelius and Wendelin, but the Astronomers in Mantua viewing of it with a Telescope, perceived in the head of that Comet, a great many of smal Stars, & one bigger & longer than the rest, like coals of fire in an Hearth or Oven, when the wood is consumed. Mr. Robert Hook (an ingenious Mathematician now in London) observed a Star in the midst of the head of that Comet which was seen in April, A. D. 1677. The like is to be said concerning several other Comets, as may be seen in the ninth Chapter of this Dissertation. And there are many who to confirm this Notion that a Comet is a company of small Stars growing into one body, affirm that they usually appear about the Galaxia or Milky Way, wherewith the skye glitters. Now the Telescope discovers that part of the skye to be exceeding full of little Stars. Blazing Stars do not alwayes (though often) appear there. Nevertheless, I believe that when we know more of the true and natural reason of the Via Lactea, we shall understand more of the nature of Comets.