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st. john of damascus (676-749 - Cristo Raul

st. john of damascus (676-749 - Cristo Raul

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&quot;Ce<br />

que les Arabes aclopterent avec plus d ardeur ce fut<br />

ON NATURAL SCIENCE.<br />

them.&quot;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.&quot;<br />

iiailly, ubi. sup. p. 227

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