st. john of damascus (676-749 - Cristo Raul
st. john of damascus (676-749 - Cristo Raul
st. john of damascus (676-749 - Cristo Raul
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
"Ce<br />
que les Arabes aclopterent avec plus d ardeur ce fut<br />
ON NATURAL SCIENCE.<br />
them."i When we recollect how <strong>st</strong>rong a tendency<br />
there was among the followers<br />
<strong>of</strong> Mahomet to a<strong>st</strong>ro<br />
logical super<strong>st</strong>ition a we shall appreciate more fully<br />
the courage and wisdom <strong>of</strong> these words <strong>of</strong> Damas<br />
cenus.<br />
The signs <strong>of</strong> the zodiac are set down in order, with<br />
the day <strong>of</strong> the year in which the sun enters each<br />
-<br />
and after some remarks, in a moralising rather than<br />
i a scientific vein, on the borrowed light <strong>of</strong> the<br />
moon, the author proceeds to <strong>st</strong>ate the causes <strong>of</strong> an<br />
dipse. An eclipse <strong>of</strong> the sun is due to the inter<br />
vention <strong>of</strong> the moon between it and the earth; and<br />
though the sun be much the larger body <strong>of</strong> the two<br />
yet we ought not to wonder that its disc can be<br />
hidden from us by the moon, when we reflect how<br />
small an object-a little cloud, a hillock, a hotisewall_can<br />
conceal it from our sight. An eclipse <strong>of</strong><br />
the moon takes place only when it is fifteen days old<br />
or at full, and is due to the shadow <strong>of</strong> the earth<br />
falling upon it, when that body is between it and the<br />
sun.<br />
The lengths <strong>of</strong> the solar and lunar years are next<br />
compared. Mixed up with this matter <strong>of</strong> simple<br />
Amputation is a remark<br />
reminding us how far<br />
removed we are from modern mathematics in the<br />
1<br />
2<br />
Migne s ed. i., p. 893.<br />
1<br />
a<strong>st</strong>rology judiciaire. Cette erreur e<strong>st</strong> naturalise dans 1 Asie<br />
mendionale, ou un climat brulant allume 1<br />
imagination, ou les<br />
dears excites demandent des esperances, et oh 1 homme<br />
foible<br />
plus<br />
qua.lleurs, croit plus aisement ce qu il souhaite."<br />
iiailly, ubi. sup. p. 227