Читать книгу A New Catalogue of Vulgar Errors - Fovargue Stephen - Страница 7

That the farther you go South, the hotter is the Climate.

Gentle Reader, as thou art a Person of Understanding, thou wilt pardon the Want of Connection and Form which thou findest in the different Subjects which are here started for thy Entertainment: It would be very easy, in the fair Copy which will be wrote over, to range them, in an Order, suitable to the different Branches to which they belong; but why should I pester thee with Form, when there is nothing so agreeable to a Man of Taste as an easy Variety? Therefore, though it is ten to one that, before I have done with thee, I shall have some more Discourse with thee about Musical Instruments, yet I shall not humour thee as a Critic so much as to give thee it now; well knowing, that if thou art determined to Review me, thou mayest find Abundance of other Opportunities for it in this Book: And likewise, that if thou dost approve of what is here discussed, thou wilt, if thou art a good-natured honest Fellow, pass by a little Incorrectness; for what else can a Man hope for in a Book which treats of nothing but Blunders? However the two following Sections may afford thee some Entertainment, if thou art a Man of Learning, and if thou art not a Man of Learning, they will give thee some Instruction; and to tell thee the Truth, the Subject of them is so Philosophical, that if we were not fully convinced of the Truth of what will be alledged, we should be afraid to undertake it.

For in this little Pamphlet, Philosophy will be avoided as much as possible, that is, it never will be introduced at all, unless it is absolutely necessary to call in it's Aid, in order to prove the Truth of any Thing which shall be asserted. But to the Point; which is, to rectify the vulgar Error, which supposes, that the farther a Person goes South, the hotter will be the Climate.

This is so well known to be an Error, by all Men of Science, and by all Navigators, that it is needless to say much about it, only just to relate the Truth, that those who are mistaken in their Way may be set in the right Road. But to proceed.

The two Poles of the Earth, that is, the two North and South Extremities of the Globe, are in such a Position, or are so inclined to the Sun, or to the Plain of the Ecliptic, as never to have any Rays fall directly over their Heads, or they never have him any higher than a little above their Horizon, or the Surface of the Earth; for which Reason it is always cold at the North and South Poles, which will naturally be the Case, as any one may experience by the different Position of the Sun, in Summer and Winter, in our own Climates.

The Case is exactly contrary at the Æquator, or on the Middle of the Globe, which is farthest from the two Poles, for there they have the Sun over their Heads at Noon all the Year round; for which Reason it is always hot under the Line, yet not always the hottest of any Part of the Globe, as has been sometimes philosophically supposed, and which shall be the Subject of the next Chapter, to introduce which this was principally intended.