The Celestial Worlds Discover'd

Part 1

THE Celeſtial Worlds DISCOVER’D: OR, CONJECTURES Concerning the INHABITANTS, Plants and Productions OF THE Worlds in the Planets.

Written in Latin by CHRISTIANUS HUYGENS, And inſcrib’d to his Brother CONSTANTINE HUYGENS Late Secretary to his Majeſty King William.

The Second Edition, Corrected and Enlarged.

LONDON: Printed for James Knapton, at the Crown in St. Paul’s Church-Yard. Mdccxxii.

TO THE READER.

This Book was juſt finiſhed, and deſigned for the Preſs, when the Author, to the great loſs of the Learned World, was ſeized by a Diſeaſe that brought him to his Death. However he took care in his laſt Will of its Publication, deſiring his Brother, to whom it was writ, to take that Trouble upon him. But he was ſo taken up with Buſineſs and Removals, (as being Secretary in Holland to the King of Great Britain) that he could find no time for it till a Year after the Death of the Author: When it ſo fell out, that the Printers being ſomewhat tardy, and this Gentleman dying, the Book was left without either Father or Guardian. Yet it now ventures into the Publick, in the ſame Method that it was writ by the Author, and with the ſame Inſcription to his Brother, tho’ dead; in confidence that this laſt Piece of his will meet with as kind a Reception from the World as all the other Works of that Author have. ’Tis true there are not every where Mathematical Demonſtrations; but where they are wanting, you have probable and ingenious Conjectures, which is the moſt that can be reaſonably expected in ſuch matters. What belongs to, or has any thing to do with Aſtronomy, you will ſee demonſtrated, and the reſt ingeniouſly and ſhrewdly gueſs’d at, from the Affinity and Relation of the heavenly Bodies to the Earth. For your farther Satisfaction read on, and farewel.

THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER.

I Doubt not but I ſhall incur the Cenſures of learned Men for putting this Book into Engliſh, becauſe, they’ll ſay, it renders Philoſophy cheap and vulgar, and, which is worſe, furniſhes a ſort of injudicious People with a ſmattering of Notions, which being not able to make a proper uſe of, they pervert to the Injury of Religion and Science. I confeſs the Allegation is too true: but after Biſhop Wilkins, Dr. Burnet, Mr. Whiſton and others, to ſay nothing of the ancient Philoſophers, who wrote in their own Tongues; I ſay, after theſe great Authors have treated on as learned and abſtruſe Subjects in the ſame Language, I hope their Example will be allowed a ſufficient excuſe for printing this Book in Engliſh.

Concerning this Edition I can ſay, that I have taken care to have the Cutts exactly done, and have placed each Figure at the Page of the Book that refers to it, which I take to be more convenient to the Reader than putting them all at the End.

I have been careful to procure the beſt Paper, that I might in ſome meaſure come up to the Beauty of the Latin Edition, though this bear but half the Price of it.

And I hope the Tranſlator has expreſſed the Author’s Senſe aright, and has not committed Faults beyond what an ingenuous Reader can pardon.

NEW CONJECTURES Concerning the Planetary Worlds, THEIR INHABITANTS AND PRODUCTIONS.

Written by Christianus Huygens, and inſcribed to his Brother Constantine Huygens.

BOOK the Firſt.

A Man that is of Copernicus’s Opinion, that this Earth of ours is a Planet, carry’d round and enlighten’d by the Sun, like the reſt of the Planets, cannot but ſometimes think, that it’s not improbable that the reſt of the Planets have their Dreſs and Furniture, and perhaps their Inhabitants too as well as this Earth of ours: Eſpecially if he conſiders the later Diſcoveries made in the Heavens ſince Copernicus’s time, viz. the Attendants of Jupiter and Saturn, and the champaign and hilly Countries in the Moon, which are a ſtrong Argument of a Relation and Kin between our Earth and them, as well as a Proof of the Truth of that Syſtem. This has often been our Talk, I remember, good Brother, over a large Teleſcope, when we have been viewing thoſe Bodies, a Study that your continual Buſineſs and Abſence have interrupted for many Years. But we were always apt to conclude, that ’twas in vain to enquire after what Nature is doing there, ſeeing there was no likelihood of ever coming to any Certainty of the Enquiry. Nor could I ever find that any Philoſophers, either antient or modern, have attempted any thing upon this Subject. At the very Birth of Aſtronomy, when the Earth was firſt aſſerted to be Spherical, and to [Some have already talk’d of the Inhabitants of the Planets, but went no farther.] be ſurrounded with Air, even then there were ſome Men ſo bold as to affirm, there were an innumerable Company of Worlds in the Stars. But later Authors, ſuch as Cardinal Cuſanus, Brunus, Kepler, (and if we may believe him, Tycho was of that opinion too) have furniſhed the Planets with Inhabitants. Nay, Cuſanus and Brunus have allowed the Sun and fixed Stars theirs too. But this was the utmoſt of their Boldneſs; nor has the ingenious French Author of the Dialogues about the Plurality of Worlds carried this Matter any farther. Only ſome of them have coined ſome Stories of the Men in the Moon, juſt as probable as Lucian’s true Hiſtory; among which I muſt count Kepler’s, which he has diverted us with in his Aſtronomical Dream. But a while ago thinking ſomewhat ſeriouſly of this matter (not that I count my ſelf quicker-ſighted than thoſe great Men, but that I had the Happineſs to live after moſt of them) the Enquiry appeared not ſo impracticable, nor the Way ſo ſtopt up with Difficulties, but that there was very good room left for probable Conjectures. As they came into my Head, I put them down into common Places, and ſhall now try to digeſt them into ſome Method for your better Conception of them, and add ſomewhat of the Sun and fix’d Stars, and the Extent of that Univerſe of which our Earth is but an inconſiderable Point. I know you have ſuch an Eſteem and Reverence for any thing that belongs to the Heavens, that I perſwade my ſelf you will read what I have written with ſome Pleaſure: I’m ſure I writ it with a great deal; but as often before, ſo now, I find the Saying of Archytas true, even to the Letter, That tho’ a Man were admitted into Heaven to view the wonderful Fabrick of the World, and the Beauty of the Stars, yet what would otherwiſe be Rapture and Extaſie, would be but a melancholy Amazement if he had not a Friend to communicate it to. I could wiſh indeed that all the World might not be my Judges, but that I might chuſe my Readers, Men like you, not ignorant in Aſtronomy and true Philoſophy; for with ſuch I might promiſe my ſelf a favourable hearing, and not need to make an Apology for daring to vent any thing new to the World. But becauſe I am aware what weak Hands it’s likely to fall into, and what a ſevere Sentence I may expect from thoſe whoſe Ignorance or Zeal is too great; it may be worth the while to guard my ſelf beforehand againſt the Aſſaults of thoſe ſort of People.

There’s one ſort who knowing nothing of Geometry or Mathematicks, will laugh at it as a whimſical and ridiculous Undertaking. It’s an incredible Thing to them to talk of meaſuring the Diſtance and Magnitude of the Stars: And for the Motion of the Earth, they count it, if not a falſe, at leaſt a precarious Opinion; and no wonder then if they take what’s built upon ſuch a ſlippery Foundation for the Dreams of a fanciful Head and a diſtemper’d Brain. What ſhould we anſwer to theſe Men, but that their Ignorance is the Cauſe of their Diſlike, and that if they had ſtudied theſe things more, and viewed the Works of Nature nicely, they would have fewer Scruples? But few People having had an opportunity of proſecuting theſe Studies, either for want of Parts, Learning or Leiſure, we cannot blame their Ignorance; and if they reſolve to find fault with us for ſpending time in ſuch Matters, becauſe they do not underſtand the Uſe of them, we muſt appeal to properer Judges.

The other ſort, When they hear us talk of new Lands, and Animals, and Creatures endued with as much Reaſon as themſelves, will be ready to cry out, that we ſet up our Conjectures againſt the Word of God, and broach Opinions directly oppoſite to Holy Writ. For we do not there read any thing of the Production of ſuch Creatures, no not ſo much as that they exiſt; nay rather we read the quite contrary. For, That only mentions this Earth with its Animals and Plants, and Man the Lord of them: To ſuch Perſons I anſwer, what has been often urged by others before me: That it’s evident, God had no deſign to make a particular Enumeration in the Holy Scriptures, of all the Works of his Creation. When therefore it is plain that under the general Name of Stars or Earth at the Creation, are comprehended all the Heavenly Bodies, even the Attendants upon Jupiter and Saturn, why muſt all that Multitude of Beings which the Almighty Creator has been pleaſed to place upon them, be excluded the Privilege, and not ſuffered to have a Share in the Expreſſion? And theſe Men themſelves can’t but know in what Senſe it is that all things are ſaid to be made for the Uſe of Man, not certainly for us to look at through a Teleſcope, for that’s very abſurd. Since then the greateſt part of God’s Creation, that innumerable multitude of Stars, is placed out of the reach of any Man’s Eye; and many of them it’s likely, of the beſt Glaſſes, ſo that they don’t ſeem to belong to us; is it ſuch an unreaſonable Opinion to think, that there are ſome reaſonable Creatures who ſee and admire thoſe glorious Bodies at a nearer diſtance?

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