KNOWLEDGE MAY BE ACQUIRED BY ASTRONOMY TO A CERTAIN EXTENT
That a certain power, derived from the æthereal nature, is diffused
over and pervades the whole atmosphere of the earth, is clearly evident
to all men. Fire and air, the first of the sublunary elements, are
encompassed and altered by the motions of the æther. These elements
in their turn encompass all inferior matter, and vary it as they
themselves are varied; acting on earth and water, on plants and
animals.[20]
[20] The following extract from an old geographical work, framed on the
rules of Ptolemy, explains the system on which this action of the æther
is made to depend:—
“Chap. 2. The world is divided into two parts, the elemental region
and the æthereal. The elemental region is constantly subject to
alteration, and comprises the four elements; earth, water, air and
fire. The æthereal region, which philosophers call the fifth essence,
encompasses, by its concavity, the elemental; its substance remains
always unvaried, and consists of ten spheres; of which the greater one
always spherically environs the next smaller, and so on in consecutive
order. First, therefore, around the sphere of fire, GOD, the creator of
the world, placed the sphere of the Moon, then that of Mercury, then
that of Venus, then that of the Sun, and afterwards those of Mars,
of Jupiter, and of Saturn. Each of these spheres, however, contains
but one star: and these stars, in passing through the zodiac, always
struggle against the _primum mobile_, or the motion of the tenth
sphere; they are also entirely luminous. In the next place follows the
firmament, which is the eighth or starry sphere, and which trembles or
vibrates (_trepidat_) in two small circles at the beginning of Aries
and Libra (as placed in the ninth sphere); this motion is called by
astronomers the motion of the access and recess of the fixed stars.”
(Probably in order to account for the procession of the equinoxes.)
“This is surrounded by the ninth sphere, called the chrystalline
or watery heaven, because no star is discovered in it. Lastly, the
_primum mobile_, styled also the tenth sphere, encompasses all the
before-mentioned æthereal spheres, and is continually turned upon the
poles of the world, by one revolution in twenty-four hours, from the
east through the meridian to the west, again coming round to the east.
At the same time, it rolls all the inferior spheres round with it,
by its own force; and there is no star in it. Against this _primum
mobile_, the motion of the other spheres, running from the west through
the meridian to the east, contends. Whatever is beyond this, is fixed
and immovable, and the professors of our orthodox faith affirm it to be
the empyrean heaven which GOD inhabits with the elect.”—Cosmographia
of Peter Apianus (named Benewitz), dedicated to the Archbishop of
Salzburg, edited by Gemma Frisius, and printed at Antwerp 1574.
The Sun, always acting in connection with the Ambient, contributes to
the regulation of all earthly things: not only by the revolution of the
seasons does he bring to perfection the embryo of animals, the buds of
plants, the spring of waters, and the alteration of bodies, but by his
daily progress also he operates other changes in light, heat, moisture,
dryness and cold; dependent upon his situation with regard to the
zenith.
The Moon, being of all the heavenly bodies the nearest to the Earth,
also dispenses much influence; and things animate and inanimate
sympathize and vary with her. By the changes of her illumination,
rivers swell and are reduced; the tides of the sea are ruled by her
risings and settings; and plants and animals are expanded or collapsed,
if not entirely at least partially, as she waxes or wanes.
The stars likewise (as well the fixed stars as the planets), in
performing their revolutions,[21] produce many impressions on the
Ambient. They cause heats, winds, and storms, to the influence of which
earthly things are conformably subjected.
[21] It will be recollected that the Ptolemaic astronomy attributes
motion and a regular course to those stars which we now call fixed, but
which the Greeks merely termed απλανεις, _undeviating_.
And, further, the mutual configurations of all these heavenly bodies,
by commingling the influence with which each is separately invested,
produce a multiplicity of changes. The power of the Sun however
predominates, because it is more generally distributed; the others
either co-operate with his power or diminish its effect: the Moon more
frequently and more plainly performs this at her conjunction, at her
first and last quarter, and at her opposition: the stars act also to a
similar purpose, but at longer intervals and more obscurely than the
Moon; and their operation principally depends upon the mode of their
visibility, their occultation and their declination.
From these premises it follows not only that all bodies, which may
be already compounded, are subjected to the motion of the stars, but
also that the impregnation and growth of the seeds from which all
bodies proceed, are framed and moulded by the quality existing in the
Ambient at the time of such impregnation and growth. And it is upon
this principle that the more observant husbandmen and shepherds are
accustomed, by drawing their inferences from the particular breezes
which may happen at seed-time and at the impregnation of their cattle,
to form predictions as to the quality of the expected produce. In
short, however unlearned in the philosophy of nature, these men
can foretell, solely by their previous observation, all the more
general and usual effects which result from the plainer and more
visible configurations of the Sun, Moon, and stars. It is daily seen
that even most illiterate persons, with no other aid than their own
experienced observation, are capable of predicting events which may
be consequent on the more extended influence of the Sun and the more
simple order of the Ambient, and which may not be open to variation by
any complex configurations of the Moon and stars towards the Sun. There
are, moreover, among the brute creation, animals who evidently form
prognostication, and use this wonderful instinct at the changes of the
several seasons of the year, spring, summer, autumn, and winter; and,
also, at the changes of the wind.
In producing the changes of the seasons, the Sun itself is chiefly the
operating and visible cause. There are, however, other events which,
although they are not indicated in so simple a manner, but dependent on
a slight complication of causes in the Ambient, are also foreknown by
persons who have applied their observation to that end. Of this kind,
are tempests and gales of wind, produced by certain aspects of the
Moon, or the fixed stars, towards the Sun, according to their several
courses, and the approach of which is usually foreseen by mariners. At
the same time, prognostication made by persons of this class must be
frequently fallacious, owing to their deficiency in science and their
consequent inability to give necessary consideration to the time and
place, or to the revolutions of the planets; all which circumstances,
when exactly defined and understood, certainly tend towards accurate
foreknowledge.
When, therefore, a thorough knowledge of the motions of the stars,
and of the Sun and Moon, shall have been acquired, and when the
situation of the place, the time, and all the configurations actually
existing at that place and time, shall also be duly known; and such
knowledge be yet further improved by an acquaintance with the natures
of the heavenly bodies—not of what they are composed, but of the
effective influences they possess; as, for instance, that heat is the
property of the Sun, and moisture of the Moon, and that other peculiar
properties respectively appertain to the rest of them;—when all these
qualifications for prescience may be possessed by any individual,
there seems no obstacle to deprive him of the insight, offered at once
by nature and his own judgment, into the effects arising out of the
quality of all the various influences compounded together. So that
he will thus be competent to predict the peculiar constitution of
the atmosphere in every season, as, for instance, with regard to its
greater heat or moisture, or other similar qualities; all which may be
foreseen by the visible position or configuration of the stars and the
Moon towards the Sun.
Since it is thus clearly practicable, by an accurate knowledge of the
points above enumerated, to make predictions concerning the proper
quality of the seasons, there also seems no impediment to the formation
of similar prognostication concerning the destiny and disposition of
every human being. For by the constitution of the Ambient, even at the
time of any individual’s primary conformation, the general quality
of that individual’s temperament may be perceived; and the corporeal
shape and mental capacity with which the person will be endowed at
birth may be pronounced; as well as the favourable and unfavourable
events indicated by the state of the Ambient, and liable to attend the
individual at certain future periods; since, for instance, an event
dependent on one disposition of the Ambient will be advantageous to a
particular temperament, and that resulting from another unfavourable
and injurious. From these circumstances, and others of similar import,
the possibility of prescience is certainly evident.
There are, however, some plausible assailants of this doctrine, whose
attacks although greatly misapplied seem yet worthy of the following
observations.
In the first place, the science demands the greatest study and a
constant attention to a multitude of different points; and as all
persons who are but imperfectly practised in it must necessarily
commit frequent mistakes, it has been supposed that even such events
as have been truly predicted have taken place by chance only, and not
from any operative cause in nature. But it should be remembered that
these mistakes arise, not from any deficiency or want of power in the
science itself, but from the incompetency of unqualified persons who
pretend to exercise it. And, besides this, the majority of the persons
who set themselves up as professors of this science, avail themselves
of its name and credit for the sake of passing off some other mode
of divination; by that means defrauding the ignorant, and pretending
to foretell many things which from their nature cannot possibly be
foreknown; and consequently affording opportunities to more intelligent
people to impugn the value even of such predictions as can rationally
be made. The reproach, however, thus brought upon the science is
wholly unmerited; for it would be equally just to condemn all other
branches of philosophy, because each numbers among its professors some
mischievous pretenders.
Secondly, it is not attempted to be denied that any individual,
although he may have attained to the greatest possible accuracy in the
science, must still be liable to frequent error, arising out of the
very nature of his undertaking, and from the weakness of his limited
capacity in comparison with the magnitude of his object. For the whole
theory of the quality of matter is supported by inference rather than
by positive and scientific proof; and this is caused principally by
the concretion of its temperament out of a multitude of dissimilar
ingredients. And, although the former configurations of the planets
have been observed to produce certain consequences (which have been
adapted to configurations now taking place), and are, after long
periods, and in a greater or less degree, resembled by subsequent
configurations, yet these subsequent configurations never become
exactly similar to those which have preceded them. For an entire
return of all the heavenly bodies to the exact situation in which they
have once stood with regard to the earth will never take place, or at
least not in any period determinable by human calculation, whatever
vain attempts may be made to acquire such unattainable knowledge.[22]
The examples referred to for guidance being therefore not exactly
similar to the existing cases to which they are now applied, it must
naturally follow that predictions are sometimes not borne out by the
events. Hence arises the sole difficulty in the consideration of
events produced by the Ambient. For no other concurrent cause has been
hitherto combined with the motion of the heavenly bodies; although
the doctrine of nativities, particularly that part of it relating to
peculiar individual temperament, demands also the consideration of
other concomitant causes, which are neither trifling nor unimportant,
but essentially potent in affecting the individual properties of the
creatures born. Thus the variety in seed has the chief influence in
supplying the peculiar quality of each species; for, under the same
disposition of the Ambient and of the horizon, each various kind of
seed prevails in determining the distinct formation of its own proper
species; thus man is born, or the horse is foaled; and by the same law
are brought forth all the other various creatures and productions of
the earth. It is also to be remembered, that considerable variations
are caused in all creatures by the respective places where they may
be brought forth: for although, under the same disposition of the
Ambient, the germs of the future creatures may be of one species,
whether human or of the horse, the difference in situation, of the
places in which they are generated, produces a dissimilarity in the
body and spirit of one from the body and spirit of another: and in
addition to this it must be considered that different modes of nurture,
and the variety of ranks, manners, and customs, contribute to render
the course of life of one individual greatly different from that of
another[23]; consequently, unless every one of these varieties be duly
blended with the causes arising in the Ambient, the prejudgment of any
event will doubtless be very incomplete. For, although the greatest
multiplicity of power exists in the Ambient, and although all other
things act as concurrent causes in unison with it, and can never claim
it as a concurrent cause in subservience to them, there will still,
nevertheless, be a great deficiency in predictions attempted to be made
by means of the heavenly motions alone, without regard to the other
concurrent causes just now adverted to.
[22] There seems reason to suppose that this was a favourite
speculation among the ancients. In Scipio’s Dream, as related by
Cicero, the phantom of his illustrious grandfather is made to speak
of this entire return of all the celestial bodies to some original
position which they once held, as being the completion of the
revolution of one great universal year: and the phantom adds, “but I
must acquaint you that not one-twentieth part of that great year has
been yet accomplished.”
This quotation is from memory, and perhaps may not be verbally correct.
[23] In this passage the author seems to have anticipated, and exposed
the absurdity of an argument now considered very forcible against
astrology: viz. that “if the art were true, then any two individuals
born under the same meridian, in the same latitude, and at the same
moment of time, must have one and the same destiny; although one
were born a prince, and the other a mendicant.” Such a monstrous
conclusion is nowhere authorized by any astrological writer; it is,
on the contrary, always maintained by all of them, that the worldly
differences and distinctions, alluded to in the text, inevitably
prevent this exact resemblance of destiny; and all that they presume to
assert is, that, in their respective degrees, any two individuals, so
born, will have a partial similarity in the leading features of their
fate. Whether their assertion is _uniformly_ borne out, I will not
take upon me to determine, but it would be unfair not to subjoin the
following fact:—
In the newspapers of the month of February, 1820, the death of a
Mr. Samuel Hemmings is noticed: it was stated that he had been an
ironmonger, and prosperous in trade; that he was born on the 4th of
June, 1738, at nearly the same moment as his late Majesty, and in the
same parish of St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields; that he went into business
for himself in October, 1760; that he married on the 8th September,
1761; and finally, after other events of his life had resembled those
which happened to the late King, that he died on Saturday, the 29th
January, 1820.
These coincidences are, at least, highly remarkable.
Under these circumstances, it would seem judicious neither to deny
altogether the practicability of prescience, because prognostications
thus imperfectly derived are sometimes liable to be fallacious; nor,
on the other hand, to admit that all events, whatever, are open to
previous inquiry; as if such inquiry could in all cases be securely
conducted without having recourse to mere inference, and as if it
were not limited by the narrow extent of mere human abilities. The
art of navigation, for instance, is not rejected, although it is in
many points incomplete; therefore the bare fact that predictions are
frequently imperfect cannot authorise the rejection of the art of
prescience: the magnitude of its scope, and the faint resemblance
that it bears to a divine attribute, should rather demand grateful
commendations, and receive the utmost regard and attention. And,
since no weakness is imputed to a physician, because he inquires
into the individual habit of his patient, as well as into the nature
of the disease, no imputation can justly attach to the professor of
prognostication, because he combines the consideration of species,
nurture, education and country, with that of the motion of the heavens:
for as the physician acts but reasonably, in thus considering the
proper constitution of the sick person as well as his disease; so,
in forming predictions, it must surely be justifiably allowable to
comprehend in that consideration every other thing connected with the
subject in addition to the motion of the heavens, and to collect and
compare with that motion all other co-operating circumstances arising
elsewhere.