36 plikt's natueal history. [Book It The eclipse of the moon affords an undoubted argument of the sun's magnitude, as it also does of the small size of the earths For there are shadows of three figures, and it is evident, that if the body which produces the shadow be equal to the light, then it will be thrown off in the form of a pillar, and have no termination. If the body be greater than the light, the shadow ^dll be in the form of an inverted cone^ the bottom being the narrowest part, and being, at the sam* time, of an infinite length. If the body be less than the light, then we shall have the figure of a pyramid^, termina- ting in a point. Now of this last kind is the shadow which produces the eclipse of the moon, and this is so manifest that there can be no doubt remaining, that the earth is exceeded in magnitude by the sun, a circumstance which is indeed in- dicated by the silent declaration of nature herself. Tor why does he recede from us at the winter half of the year"* ? That by the darkness of the nights the earth may be refreshed, which otherwise would be burned up, as indeed it is in cer- tain parts ; so great is his size. CHAP. 9. (12.) — AN ACCOTJKT OF THE OBSEEVATIONS THAT HAVE BEEIS" MADE OK THE HEAVENS BY DIFEEEENT IN- DIYinrALS. The first among the Romans, who explained to the people at large the cause of the two kinds of eclipses, was Sul- picius Gallus, w^ho was consul along with Marcellus ; and whether, in this passage, Pliny refers to the Ida of Crete or of Asia Minor. But the discussion is unnecessary, as the statement of the author is equally inappHcable to both of them. Mela appears to refer to tliis opinion in the following passage, where he is describing the Ida of Asia Minor ; " ipse mens orientem solem ahter quam in aliis terris solet aspici, ostentat." hb. i. cap. 18.
- " Ut dictimi est superiore capite, quo Plinius falso cont^idit Terram
esse Luna niinorem." Alexandi-e in Lemaire, ii. 253. The words of the text, however, apply equally to the comparative size of the earth and the sun, as of the earth and the moon. 2 ." turbo rectus ;" UteraUy an upright top. ^ « meta."
- This has been pointed out as one of our author's erroneous opinions
on astronomy. The earth is really about ■j;^^ nearer the sun in our winters than in our summers. The greater degree of heat produced by his rays in the latter case depends upon their falling on the surface of the earth less obliquely. This is the principal cavise of the different temperatures of the equatorial and polar refirions.
