"...Lucas discoursed of stars and planetary motions and the nature of comets..." (p. 106)
So what is the nature of comets?
The following passage refers to Adam Marsh, not to Adam:
"Adam had no superstitious horror of comets; unlike the mob, he knew what they were, and their place in the scheme of things. They were simply bodies of earthly fire which, because of an affinity for one of the fixed stars, had been sublimated and drawn into the sublunar heavens, there to share the motion of the star that had called them up. But it followed from this that on the earth there would be an infirmity or corruption in the men, plants and animals over which that star principally ruled."
-James Blish, Doctor Mirabilis IN Blish, After Such Knowledge (London, 1991), 1-318 AT VI, p. 137.
So now we know.
4 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I have a vague recollection of Galileo quarreling with his critics about comets. And those critics apparently raised legitimate objections to what Galileo said about comets.
Ad astra! Sean
See this for more about Galileo on comets.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Comet_of_1577
and how Tycho Brahe demonstrated that at least that comet was farther away than the moon, by comparing his observations, made near Copenhagen, with observations made in Prague.
Kaor, Jim!
Thanks, I will look up the Great Comet of 1577.
Ad astra! Sean
Kaor, Jim!
And Galileo thought comets were mere optical phenomena, wrangling with those who disagreed.
Ad astra! Sean
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