fo in the rest. By which thefe Aftrological Gentlemen thought, that both their forces being united, their efficacy and vertue upon the Earth would be very ftrong. But now that the moveable Zodiack has mov'd, these two Circles have not the fame beginning, and the Stars that make up the figure of Aries, are not in the fign Aries but in Taurus, and those Stars which compofe the fign of Taurus, are no more in Taurus but in Gemini, fo the Stars of Gemini are got into Cancer, and thofe of Cancer into Leo, &c. as may plainly be feen on any Cœleftial Globe. Which they fuppofe to be perform'd by the motion of the eighth Sphere or the moveable Zodiack, of which all the old Aftronomers fpeak, whom if he pleases he may confult; particularly he may read Clavius's Notes on Sacrobofco de Sphæra, which is as common and as good a Book as he can find on the fubject.

But it seems the Defender thinks that this would appear more to his purpose, if the old fashion'd difguife were taken off, and the bufinefs apply'd to the true Syftem of the Heavens. Well let us fee if it is fo. The new Aftronomers fuppofe that the Stars are immoveable, and that the Earth turns round the Sun, fo that its Axis makes always the acute Angle of 66 with the Plane of its Orbit: if this Axis were perfectly directed to the fame point of the Heavens, or mov'd always pre

cifely

cifely parallel to its felf, then the fixed Stars would feem to have no other motion out the diurnal: But because the Earths Axis varies a little from an exact parallelifm, and does not precifely point to the fame Star when it is in the fame place of its Orbit but makes a small Angle with a line that obtains the position it had formerly in the fame place; hence it happens that the Equinoctial points or the common fection of the Equator and the Ecliptick, retrocede or move backwards from East to Weft; and this is that which the Aftronomers call the preceffion of the Equinox, by which the fixed Stars feem to move from the Weft to the Eaft with a very flow motion, and the Constellation Aries which at firft was in the fign Aries, has now got into Taurus, and Taurus has feem'd to move into Gemini, Gemini into Cancer, &c. From hence it appears, that according either to the old or new Aftronomers, the fixed Stars change their Longitude daily but not their Latitude, and they have always fuppos'd that the Axis of the World has kept ftill the fame Angle with the Plane of the Ecliptick. I will now leave it to any indifferent Reader, or even to the Theorift and his Defender to judge, if these quotations fignify any thing to the purpose, or if they are not ftronger arguments against the Theorift's pofition than for it.

Since the Defender has advis'd me to confult Antiquity, I fuppofe it will not be amifs

to

to alledge the teftimony of a very ancient Philofopher, whofe authority ought at least to be as great as Leucippus's, Anaxagoras's, Empedocles's, or even Plato's I mean the Divinely infpir'd Mofes, who is the most ancient Writer that is now extant, and the only one who gives us an account of the ftate and condition of the Primitive World, of which the Philofophers adduced by the Theorift were altogether ignorant; in his Writings there is not one word of the coincidence of the Ecliptick and the Equator, or of the perpetual Equinox and Spring that was obferv'd in the Primitive Earth., Mofes fuppofes no fuch thing but rather the contrary, for in giving an account of the Creation he tells us, that God faid let there be lights in the firmament of the Heavens to divide the day from the night, and let them be for figns and for feasons, and for days, amd for years; and from this it is obfervable, that Mofes fuppofes that there were different feafons from the very Creation, and that their variety proceeded from the different motion of the Heavenly bodies, and more particularly of the Sun, whereas if the Theorift's Hypothefis had been true, the motion of the Sun could have made no variety of feasons; but the Year would have remain'd with the fame face and tenour, having but one continued feafon. Thus it is evident, that the Theorifts fuppofition in this matter, is directly contrary to that of Mofes, and I think that his teftimony

mony ought to be of greater force with any candid Reader, even fuppofing that he had no Divine Inspiration, than any thing that could have been faid by fuch Philofophers as the Theorift has brought, who lived not till many hundred years after Mofes's time.

After this difpute about matter of fact, our Author comes to defend the Theorift's reafon he gave for the Antediluvian pofition of the Earth. It is faid in the Theory, that the Earth being an uniform and regular Body, having its Center of Gravity the fame with its Center of Magnitude, it would naturally take an even and parallel pofition with the Axis of its Orbit. In reply to this I told him, that it was demonstrated by the Writers of Hydro-. Ataticks, that a Sphere (or indeed any other body) whofe Center of Gravity coincides with its Center of Magnitude, if put in a fluid of the fame intensive Gravity with its felf, will be indifferent to any position given. Our Defender's answer to this, is, That fuch a thing may be, that is, for ought that he knows it may be fo, if the Sphere was refting; but if it was turned about its Axis and the Axis of the fluid, it would certainly take a pofition parallel to the Axis of the fluid. I wonder who affur'd him of this; I can scarce believe he had any Letters from Kenfington or any where else for it; otherwife he would have produced them as the grounds of his certainty. Well, tho? he is very fure of his point, yet perhaps it

may

may not be true, and therefore we will enquire if it is fo or not. [Fig. 12. Plate VI.] Let A B C represent an Arch of the Ecliptick, or of any Circle parallel to it; DEF any Circle in the Earth leffer or greater in the fame Plane with the Circle ABC, let H be the point where the ftream of the fluid falls perpendicularly upon the Circle DH EF and take any two Arches DH and EH equal. The direction of the particles of the fluid falling upon the point E is GE, and of those which fall upon D is ID, fo that the lines GE, AH, and ID, are parallel. Because the particles which move from G to E come obliquely on the point E, part of their force will be spent in carrying or driving the Circle forward, and part of it will be employ'd in turning the Circle round an Axis perpendicular to the Plane ABC from H, to E and F. So that the total force of the particles is to that part of it which is used in turning the Circle round, as the fquare of the Radius to the Rectangle, contain❜d between the Sine of the Arch HE and its Cofine; after the fame manner part of the force of the particles which move from I to D and fall upon the point D will be spent in turning the Circle round from HD to L, fo that the total force of the particles which rush upon D will be to the force by which they endeavour to turn the Circle round as the square of the Radius is to the Rectangle contain❜d between

the