CHAP. 69. (69.)—THAT THE EARTH IS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WORLD.

It is evident from undoubted arguments, that the earth is in the middle of the universe[1], but it is the most clearly proved by the equality of the days and the nights at the equinox[2]. It is demonstrated by the quadrant[3], which affords the most decisive confirmation of the fact, that unless the earth was in the middle, the days and nights could not be equal; for, at the time of the equinox, the rising and setting of the sun are seen on the same line, and the rising of the sun, at the summer solstice, is on the same line with its setting at the winter solstice; but this could not happen if the earth was not situated in the centre

1. "Mundi totius."

2. "Æquinoctii paribus horis."

3. Dioptra. "Græce dio/ptra, instrumentum est geometricum, un quart de cerele, quo apparentes rerum inter se distantiæ anguli apertura dijudicantur." Alexandre, in Lemaire, i. 384.