Page:Philosophical Transactions - Volume 001.djvu/127

 into the Land, and have a bredth capable to be observed. There are Fluxes in certain places, that reach into large Countries, enough to make there some apparent change; & in some of our Seas there float sometimes such bulky masses of Ice, that are far greater, than the Objects, which we are assured, we can see in the Moon. Again, we cut down whole Forrests, and drain Marishes, of an extent large enough to cause a notable alteration: And men have made such works, as have produced Changes great enough to be perceived. In many places also are Vulcans, that seem big enough to be distinguish't, especially in the shadow: And when Fire lights upon Forrests of great extent, or upon Towns, it can hardly be doubted, but these Luminous Objects would appear either in an Eclipse of the Earth, or when such parts of the Earth are not illuminated by the Sun. But yet, I know no man, who hath observed such things in the Moon; and one may be rationally assured that no Vulcans are there, or oror [sic] that none of them burn at this time. This it is (so he goes on) which all Curious men, that have good Telescopes, ought well to attend; and I doubt not; but, if we had a very particular Map of the Moon, as I had designed to make one with a Topography, as it were, of all the considerable places therein, that We or our Posterity would find some changes in Her. And if the Mapps of the Moon of Hevelius, Divini, and Riccioli, are exact, I can say, that I have seen there some places considerable enough, where they put parts that are clear, whereas I there see dark ones. 'Tis true that if there be Seas in the Moon, it can hardly fall out otherwise, than it doth upon our Earth, where Alluvium's are made in some places, and the Sea gains upon the Land in others. I say, if those Spots we fee in the Moon, are Seas, as most believe them to be; whereas I have many reasons, that make me doubt, whether they be so; of which I shall speak elsewhere. And I have sometimes thought, whether it might not be, that all the Seas of the Moon, if there must be Seas, were on the side of the other Hemisphere, and that for this cause it might be that the Moon turns not upon its Axis, as our Earth, Rh