Technical Notes and Further Information

Spelling and punctuation are as in the original, including the consistently “modern” use of V and U. Italic capital V has two forms, used interchangeably. Since italic capital U does not occur, the rounded form has been transcribed as U.

word ‘Venus’, first form   word ‘Venus’, second form

The element -que in Latin passages was almost always printed with a ligature resembling “q3”:

word showing ‘-que’ ligature resembling ‘q3’

Translations of Latin and Greek passages were usually printed with marginal quotation marks. These passages have been shown as block quotes (indented) with quotation marks.

The incorrect pagination on pages 177-192 (printed as 175-190) is all one error: The eight pages printed on one side of the sheet forming signature N— 177, 180, 181, 184, 185, 188, 189, 192— were misnumbered by -2.

Works and Authors Cited in Sidenotes:

This is not intended to be a comprehensive list. A few sources could not be identified; others are so well-known, they did not need to be marked.

The following spellings and name forms are used consistently:

Austin = Augustine

Blancanus the Jesuit(e) = Josephus Blancanus, Giuseppe Biancani

Caelius = Lodovicus Caelius Rhodiginus

Tycho = Tycho Brahe

Nicholas Hill “a country man of ours”. Hill the early atomist, not Hill (Montanus, van de Bergh) the printer.

Keplar = Kepler (Johannes)

Julius Caesar = Cæsar la Galla, Giulio Cesare La Galla, Lagalla

Mæslin = Maestlin (Michael)

Rawleigh, Rawly = Raleigh (Sir Walter)

Verulam = Francis Bacon (1st Baron Verulam)


Note also “sydera” for “sidera”.


Albertus Magnus: De quattuor coaequaevis

—: De caelo et mundo

Aristotle: De Caelo

Bede: De ratione temporum

Christopher Besoldus: De Natura Populorum ejusque variatione, et de Linguarum ortu atque immutatione (1632)

Josephus Blancanus (Giuseppe Biancani): Sphaera mundi (Full Title: Sphaera Mundi seu Cosmographia. Demonstrativa, ac facili Methodo tradita: In qua totius Mundi fabrica, una cum novis, Tychonis, Kepleri, Galilaei, aliorumque; Astronomorum adinventis continetur)

—: Aristotelis loca mathematica ex universes ipsius operibus collecta et explicata

Tycho (Brahe): Astronomiae instauratae progymnasmata

Th. (Tommaso) Campanella: Apologia pro Galileo (1622)

Collegium Conimbricenses (Jesuits of Coimbra University): Commentarii Collegii Conimbricensis Societatis Jesu in quattuor libros physicorum Aristotelis de Coelo (1592)

Cardinal de Cusa, Cusanus (Nicholas of Cusa/Kues, Nicolaus Cryffts): De Docta Ignorantia

Johannes Fabricius: De Maculis in Sole Observatis, et Apparente earum cum Sole Conversione Narratio (1611)

Text not identified by name.

Libertus Fromondus (Libert Froidmont): Meteorologicorum libri sex (1627)

Galileo: Nuncius Sidereus

Camillus Gloriosus (Giovanni Camillo Glorioso): De Cometis dissertatio astronomico-physica (1624)

Isidore: Originum

Johannes Kepler: Dissertatio cum Nuncio Sidereo

The name “Galileo” (or “Galilei”) is sometimes included in the title, as “Diss. cum Nunc. Syd. Galil.”

—: Epitome astronomiae Copernicanae

—: Astronomiae Pars Optica

Julius Caesar (Giulio Cesare La Galla): De Phenomenis in Orbe Lunae (1612)

Leonard Lessius: De perfectionibus moribusque divinis (1620)

This work is often cited as “De Moribus”; other early mentions are found in Tristram Shandy and The Anatomy of Melancholy.

Mæslin (Michael Maestlin): Epitome Astronomiae (1610)

Carolus Malapertus, Malapertius (Charles Malapert): Austriaca sidera heliocyclia astronomicis hypothesibus illigata (1633)

Jacobus Mazonius (Jacopo Mazzoni): In universam Platonis et Aristotelis philosophiam praeludia sive de Comparatione Platonis et Aristotelis

Johannes Eusebius (Juan Eusebio) Nieremberg: Historia Naturae (1635)

Augustinus Nifus (Niphus, Agostino Nifo)

Quoted text not identified by name.

Benedictus Pererius (Benito Pereira): Commentariorum et disputationum in Genesim tomi quattuor (1591-99)

Plutarch: De facie in orbe lunae

—: De tranquillitate animi

Erasmus Reinhold: Commentary (1542, 1553) on Georg Purbach’s Theoricae novae planetarum

Caelius = Lodovicus Caelius Rhodiginus (Lodovico / Luigi Ricchieri): Lectionum antiquarum libri triginta

Ruvio (Antonio Rubio): Commentary on Aristotle’s De Caelo

(Julius Caesar) Scaliger: Exotericae exercitationes ad Hieronymum Cardanum

Christoph Scheiner: Rosa Ursina sive Sol ex Admirando Facularum & Macularum suarum Phoenomeno varius

Tostatus (Alonso Tostado): In Genesis

Transcriber’s Footnotes

1. There are a few illegible points in the Greek text (Herodotus IV.36.2):
Γελῶ δὲ ὁρῶν γῆς περιόδος γράψαντας, πολλοὺς ἤδη καὶ οὐδένα νόον ἔχοντας ἐξηγησάμενον ὃι Ὠκεανόν τε ῥεόντα γράφουσι πέριξ τήν τε γὴν ἐοῦσαν κυκλοτερέα ὡς ἀπὸ τόρνου.
Gelô de horôn gês periodous grapsantas pollous êdê kai oudena noon echontas exêgêsamenon hoi Ôkeanon te rheonta graphousi perix tên te gên eousan kukloterea hôs apo tornou.
πολλοὺς: text reads “πελλοὺς”.
ἔχοντας: last vowel unclear; may be ου (ou) ligature.
2. Sidenote unclear:
sidenote text
3. Sidenote unclear:
sidenote text
4. Reading doubtful; may be intended for “Enius” (modern Aenus?).
5.
Now the aggregate of the quadrate from A B a hundred, and B G a 1000 will bee 1010000, unto which the quadrate arising from A G must be equall according to the 47th proposition in the first booke of elements. Therefore the whole line A G is somewhat more than 104, and the distance betwixt H A must be above 4 miles, which was the thing to be proved.
That is: given that AB = 100 and BG = 1000, 1002 + 10002 = 1,010,000. By the Pythagorean Theorem (“the 47th proposition”), AG = √1010000. 104 is presumably an error for 1004; the actual figure is almost 1005.
6.
Cælius (Sidenote) Progym. 1.
the noble Tycho (Sidenote) l. 20. c. 5.
These two sidenotes may be reversed: one of Tycho Brahe’s works is called Progymnasmata.
7. The first paragraph on this page is very unclear. The page image is shown in full because in other respects this is a typical page. If there were sidenotes, they would be printed in the wide margin, outside the line.
image of page 160
8.
the words of Fienus, as they are quoted by Fromondus in the above cited place, Possunt maximæ permutationes in cœlo fieri
The text as printed reads:
in the above cited place) Possunt maximæ
The passage could also be punctuated as:
the words of Fienus (as they are quoted by Fromondus in the above cited place) Possunt maximæ permutationes in cœlo fieri
9. The sidenote is printed alongside the Mæslin quotation, but the text named in the sidenote is by Kepler.