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Meteorology By Aristotle

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Author Topic: Meteorology By Aristotle  (Read 2802 times)
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Bathos
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« Reply #15 on: August 30, 2009, 11:39:56 pm »

An objection that tells equally against those who hold this theory
and those who say that comets are a coalescence of the planets is,
first, the fact that some of the fixed stars too get a tail. For this
we must not only accept the authority of the Egyptians who assert
it, but we have ourselves observed the fact. For a star in the thigh
of the Dog had a tail, though a faint one. If you fixed your sight
on it its light was dim, but if you just glanced at it, it appeared
brighter. Besides, all the comets that have been seen in our day have
vanished without setting, gradually fading away above the horizon;
and they have not left behind them either one or more stars. For instance
the great comet we mentioned before appeared to the west in winter
in frosty weather when the sky was clear, in the archonship of Asteius.
On the first day it set before the sun and was then not seen. On the
next day it was seen, being ever so little behind the sun and immediately
setting. But its light extended over a third part of the sky like
a leap, so that people called it a 'path'. This comet receded as far
as Orion's belt and there dissolved. Democritus however, insists upon
the truth of his view and affirms that certain stars have been seen
when comets dissolve. But on his theory this ought not to occur occasionally
but always. Besides, the Egyptians affirm that conjunctions of the
planets with one another, and with the fixed stars, take place, and
we have ourselves observed Jupiter coinciding with one of the stars
in the Twins and hiding it, and yet no comet was formed. Further,
we can also give a rational proof of our point. It is true that some
stars seem to be bigger than others, yet each one by itself looks
indivisible. Consequently, just as, if they really had been indivisible,
their conjunction could not have created any greater magnitude, so
now that they are not in fact indivisible but look as if they were,
their conjunction will not make them look any bigger.

Enough has been said, without further argument, to show that the causes
brought forward to explain comets are false.
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