A History of New York
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- Synopsis
- Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www. million-books. com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: BOOK I. CONTAINING DIVERS INGENIOUS THEORIES AVD PHILOSOPHIC SPECULATIONS, CONCERNING THE CREATION AND POPULATION OF THE WORLD, AS CONNECTED WITH THE HISTORY OF NEW-YORK. CHAPTER I. Description of the World. According to the best authorities, theworld iu which we dwell is a huge, opaque, reflecting, inanimate mass, floating in the vast ethereal ocean of infinite space. It has the form of an orange, being an oblate spheroid, curiously flattened at opposite parts, for the insertion of two imaginary poles, which are supposed to penetrate and unite at the centre; thus forming an axis on which the mighty orange turns with a regular diurnal revolution. The transitions of light and darkness, whence proceed the alternations of day and night, are produced by this diurnal revolution successively pre- 32 DERSCRIPTION OF THE WORLD. tenting the different parts of the earth to the rays of the sun. The latter is, according to the best, that is to say, the latest accounts, a luminous or fiery body, of a prodigious magnitude, from which this world is driven by a centrifugal or repelling power, and to which it is drawn by a centripetal or attractive force; otherwise called the attraction of gravitation; the combination, or rather the counteraction of these two opposing impulses pBoducing a circular and annual revolution. Hence result the different seasons of the year, viz. spring, summer, autumn, and winter. This I believe to be the most approved modern theory on the subject?though there be many philosophers who have entertained very different opinions; some, too, of them entitled to much deference from their great antiquity and illustrious characters. Thus it was advanced by some of the ancient sages, that the earth was an extended plain, supported by vast pillars; and by . . .
- Copyright:
- 1783
Book Details
- Book Quality:
- Publisher Quality
- ISBN-13:
- 9781440699825
- Publisher:
- PENGUIN group
- Date of Addition:
- 04/29/14
- Copyrighted By:
- Washington Irving
- Adult content:
- No
- Language:
- English
- Has Image Descriptions:
- No
- Categories:
- History, Literature and Fiction
- Grade Levels:
- Twelfth grade, College Freshman
- Submitted By:
- Bookshare Staff
- Usage Restrictions:
- This is a copyrighted book.