The Blazing World · The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing-World (3/14)

The sun, as much as they could observe, they related to be a firm or solid stone, of a vast bigness; of colour yellowish, and of an extraordinary splendor: But the moon, they said, was of a whitish colour; and although she looked dim in the presence of the sun, yet had she her own light, and was a shining body of herself, as might be perceived by her vigorous appearance in moon-shiny-nights; the difference only betwixt her own and the sun’s light was, that the sun did strike his beams in a direct line; but the moon never respected the centre of their world in a right line, but her centre was always excentrical. The spots both in the sun and moon, as far as they were able to perceive, they affirmed to be nothing else but flaws and stains of their stony bodies. Concerning the heat of the sun, they were not of one opinion; some would have the sun hot in itself, alleging an old tradition, that it should at some time break asunder, and burn the heavens, and consume this world into hot embers, which, said they, could not be done, if the sun were not fiery of itself. Others again said, this opinion could not stand with reason; for fire being a destroyer of all things, the sun-stone after this manner would burn up all the near adjoining bodies: Besides, said they, fire cannot subsist without fuel; and the sun-stone having nothing to feed on, would in a short time consume itself; wherefore they thought it more probable that the sun was not actually hot, but only by the reflection of its light; so that its heat was an effect of its light, both being immaterial. But this opinion again was laughed at by others, and rejected as ridiculous, who thought it impossible that one immaterial should produce another; and believed that both the light and heat of the sun proceeded from a swift circular motion of the aethereal globules, which by their striking upon the optic nerve, caused light, and their motion produced heat: But neither would this opinion hold; for, said some, then it would follow, that the sight of animals is the cause of light; and that, were there no eyes, there would be no light; which was against all sense and reason. Thus they argued concerning the heat and light of the sun; but, which is remarkable, none did say, that the sun was a globous fluid body, and had a swift circular motion; but all agreed, it was fixed and firm like a center, and therefore they generally called it the sun-stone.

Then the Empress asked them the reason, why the sun and moon did often appear in different postures or shapes, as sometimes magnified, sometimes diminished; sometimes elevated, otherwhiles depressed; now thrown to the right, and then to the left? To which some of the Bird-men answered, that it proceeded from the various degrees of heat and cold, which are found in the air, from whence did follow a differing density and rarity; and likewise from the vapours that are interposed, whereof those that ascend are higher and less dense than the ambient air, but those which descend are heavier and more dense. But others did with more probability affirm, that it was nothing else but the various patterns of the air; for like as painters do not copy out one and the same original just alike at all times; so, said they, do several parts of the air make different patterns of the luminous bodies of the sun and moon: which patterns, as several copies, the sensitive motions do figure out in the substance of our eyes.

This answer the Empress liked much better than the former, and enquired further, what opinion they had of those creatures that are called the motes of the sun? To which they answered, that they were nothing else but streams of very small, rare and transparent particles, through which the sun was represented as through a glass: for if they were not transparent, said they, they would eclipse the light of the sun; and if not rare and of an airy substance, they would hinder flies from flying in the air, at least retard their flying motion: Nevertheless, although they were thinner than the thinnest vapour, yet were they not so thin as the body of air, or else they would not be perceptible by animal sight. Then the Empress asked, whether they were living creatures? They answered, yes: Because they did increase and decrease, and were nourished by the presence, and starved by the absence of the sun.

Having thus finished their discourse of the sun and moon, the Empress desired to know what stars there were besides? But they answered, that they could perceive in that world none other but blazing-stars, and from thence it had the name that it was called the Blazing-World; and these blazing-stars, said they, were such solid, firm and shining bodies as the sun and moon, not of a globular, but of several sorts of figures: some had tails; and some, other kinds of shapes.

After this, the Empress asked them, what kind of substance or creature the air was? The Bird-men answered, that they could have no other perception of the air, but by their own respiration: For, said they, some bodies are only subject to touch, others only to sight, and others only to smell; but some are subject to none of our exterior senses: For nature is so full of variety, that our weak senses cannot perceive all the various sorts of her creatures; neither is there any one object perceptible by all our senses, no more than several objects are by one sense. I believe you, replied the Empress; but if you can give no account of the air, said she, you will hardly be able to inform me how wind is made; for they say, that wind is nothing but motion of the air. The Bird-men answered, that they observed wind to be more dense than air, and therefore subject to the sense of touch; but what properly wind was, and the manner how it was made, they could not exactly tell; some said, it was caused by the clouds falling on each other; and others, that it was produced of a hot and dry exhalation: which ascending, was driven down again by the coldness of the air that is in the middle region, and by reason of its lightness, could not go directly to the bottom, but was carried by the air up and down: Some would have it a flowing water of the air; and others again, a flowing air moved by the blaze of the stars.

But the Empress, seeing they could not agree concerning the cause of wind, asked, whether they could tell how snow was made? To which they answered, that according to their observation, snow was made by a commixture of water, and some certain extract of the element of fire that is under the moon; a small portion of which extract, being mixed with water, and beaten by air or wind, made a white froth called snow; which being after some while dissolved by the heat of the same spirit, turned to water again. This observation amazed the Empress very much; for she had hitherto believed, that snow was made by cold motions, and not by such an agitation or beating of a fiery extract upon water: Nor could she be persuaded to believe it until the Fish- or Mear-men had delivered their observation upon the making of ice, which, they said, was not produced, as some had hitherto conceived, by the motion of the air, raking the superficies of the earth, but by some strong saline vapour arising out of the seas, which condensed water into ice; and the more quantity there was of that vapour, the greater were the mountains of precipices of ice; but the reason that it did not so much freeze in the torrid zone, or under the ecliptic, as near or under the poles, was, that this vapour in those places being drawn up by the sunbeams into the middle region of the air, was only condensed into water, and fell down in showers of rain; when as, under the poles, the heat of the sun being not so vehement, the same vapour had no force or power to rise so high, and therefore caused so much ice, by ascending and acting only upon the surface of water.

This relation confirmed partly the observation of the Bird-men concerning the cause of snow; but since they had made mention that that same extract, which by its commixture with water made snow, proceeded from the element of fire, that is under the moon: The Empress asked them, of what nature that elementary fire was; whether it was like ordinary fire here upon earth, or such a fire as is within the bowels of the earth, and as the famous mountains Vesuvius and Etna do burn withal; or whether it was such a sort of fire, as is found in flints, etc. They answered, that the elementary fire, which is underneath the sun, was not so solid as any of those mentioned fires; because it had no solid fuel to feed on; but yet it was much like the flame of ordinary fire, only somewhat more thin and fluid; for flame, said they, is nothing else but the airy part of a fired body.

Lastly, the Empress asked the Bird-men of the nature of thunder and lightning? and whether it was not caused by roves of ice falling upon each other? To which they answered, that it was not made that way, but by an encounter of cold and heat; so that an exhalation being kindled in the clouds, did dash forth lightning, and that there were so many rentings of clouds as there were sounds and cracking noises: But this opinion was contradicted by others, who affirmed that thunder was a sudden and monstrous blaze, stirred up in the air, and did not always require a cloud; but the Empress not knowing what they meant by blaze (for even they themselves were not able to explain the sense of this word) liked the former better; and, to avoid hereafter tedious disputes, and have the truth of the phenomenas of celestial bodies more exactly known, commanded the Bear-men, which were her experimental philosophers, to observe them through such instruments as are called telescopes, which they did according to her Majesty’s command; but these telescopes caused more differences and divisions amongst them, than ever they had before; for some said, they perceived that the sun stood still, and the earth did move about it; others were of opinion, that they both did move; and others said again, that the earth stood still, and sun did move: some counted more stars than others; some discovered new stars never seen before; some fell into a great dispute with others concerning the bigness of the stars; some said, the moon was another world like their terrestrial globe, and the spots therein were hills and valleys; but others would have the spots to be the terrestrial parts, and the smooth and glossy parts, the sea: At last, the Empress commanded them to go with their telescopes to the very end of the pole that was joined to the world she came from, and try whether they could perceive any stars in it: which they did; and, being returned to her Majesty, reported that they had seen three blazing-stars appear there, one after another in a short time, whereof two were bright, and one dim; but they could not agree neither in this observation: for some said, it was but one star which appeared at three several times, in several places; and others would have them to be three several stars; for they thought it impossible, that those three several appearances should have been but one star, because every star did rise at a certain time, and appeared in a certain place, and did disappear in the same place: Next, it is altogether improbable, said they, that one star should fly from place to place, especially at such a vast distance, without a visible motion; in so short a time, and appear in such different places, whereof two were quite opposite, and the third sideways: Lastly, if it had been but one star, said they, it would always have kept the same splendor, which it did not; for, as above mentioned, two were bright, and one was dim. After they had thus argued, the Empress began to grow angry at their telescopes, that they could give no better intelligence; for, said she, now I do plainly perceive, that your glasses are false informers, and instead of discovering the truth, delude your senses; Wherefore I command you to break them, and let the Bird-men trust only to their natural eyes, and examine celestial objects by the motions of their own sense and reason. The Bear-men replied, that it was not the fault of their glasses, which caused such differences in their opinions, but the sensitive motions in their optic organs did not move alike, nor were their rational judgments always regular: To which the Empress answered, that if their glasses were true informers, they would rectify their irregular sense and reason; But, said she, nature has made your sense and reason more regular than art has your glasses; for they are mere deluders, and will never lead you to the knowledge of truth; Wherefore I command you again to break them; for you may observe the progressive motions of celestial bodies with your natural eyes better than through artificial glasses. The Bear-men being exceedingly troubled at her Majesty’s displeasure concerning their telescopes, kneeled down, and in the humblest manner petitioned, that they might not be broken; for, said they, we take more delight in artificial delusions, than in natural truths. Besides, we shall want employments for our senses, and subjects for arguments; for, were there nothing but truth, and no falsehood, there would be no occasion to dispute, and by this means we should want the aim and pleasure of our endeavours in confuting and contradicting each other; neither would one man be thought wiser than another, but all would either be alike knowing and wise, or all would be fools; wherefore we most humbly beseech your Imperial Majesty to spare our glasses, which are our only delight, and as dear to us as our lives. The Empress at last consented to their request, but upon condition, that their disputes and quarrels should remain within their schools, and cause no factions or disturbances in state, or government. The Bear-men, full of joy, returned their most humble thanks to the Empress; and to make her amends for the displeasure which their telescopes had occasioned, told her Majesty, that they had several other artificial optic-glasses, which they were sure would give her Majesty a great deal more satisfaction. Amongst the rest, they brought forth several microscopes, by the means of which they could enlarge the shapes of little bodies, and make a louse appear as big as an elephant, and a mite as big as a whale. First of all they showed the Empress a gray drone-fly, wherein they observed that the greatest part of her face, nay, of her head, consisted of two large bunches all covered over with a multitude of small pearls or hemispheres in a trigonal order: Which pearls were of two degrees, smaller and bigger; the smaller degree was lowermost, and looked towards the ground; the other was upward, and looked sideward, forward and backward: They were all so smooth and polished, that they were able to represent the image of any object, the number of them was in all 14,000. After the view of this strange and miraculous creature, and their several observations upon it, the Empress asked them, what they judged those little hemispheres might be? They answered, that each of them was a perfect eye, by reason they perceived that each was covered with a transparent cornea, containing a liquor within them, which resembled the watery or glassy humour of the eye. To which the Empress replied, that they might be glassy pearls, and yet not eyes; and that perhaps their microscopes did not truly inform them. But they smilingly answered her Majesty, that she did not know the virtue of those microscopes; for they never delude, but rectify and inform the senses; nay, the world, said they, would be but blind without them, as it has been in former ages before those microscopes were invented.