10 OF. THE FIGURE AND MOTroN

of a round or spherical figure, nearly resemblingthat of a globe.

The truth of this doctrine, without havingrecourse to scientific principles, will appear suf-ficiently evident from the voyages of those cele-brated navigators Magellan, Sir Francis Drake,Lord Anfon, Cooke, &c. who all set out, atdifferent times, to fail round the world; and,by steering their course continually westward,arrived, at length, at the place from whencethey departed; which could never have hap-pened, had the earth been of any other than aspherical or globular figure.

This form is also apparent, from the circularappearance of the sea itself, and the circum-stances which attend large objects when seen ata distance on its surface. For, when a ship goesout to sea, we first lose fight of the hull, orbody of the vessel; afterwards of the rigging ;and at last discern only the top of the mast;which is evidently owing to the convexity ofthe water between the eye and the object; orotherwise, the largest and most conspicuouspart would have been visible the longest, as ismanifest from experience.

Another proof, which is of no less force thancither of the former, is taken from the shadowof the earth, upon the face of the moon, inthe time of a lunar eclipse. For as the moonhas no light but what it receives from the fun,

and