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| Chap. 1 - 7: |
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The world - is it finite? Is it one? Its
shape; Its motion; Reason
for its name; The elements;
God;
The
planets - their nature;
Eclipses,
solar and lunar; Night. |
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| Chap. 8 - 17: |
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The stars - their magnituge Astronomical discoveries; The moon's motions;
Motions of the plantets; Theory of their light; Causes of apparent recession
and approach; General properties of planets; Reasons for changes of colour |
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| Chap. 18 - 38: |
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Thunderbolds, why attributed to Jove; The stars - their distances apart;
Music from the stars; Dimensions of the world; Shooting stars; Comets,
their nature, position and kinds; Identification of stars - method of Hipparchus;
Sky portents - recorded instances: torches, shafts, sky-beams, sky-yawning,
colours of the sky, sky-flame, sky-wreaths, sudden rings, prolonged solar
eclipses, several suns, several moons, daylight at night, burning shield;
an unique sky-portent; Disruption of stars The 'Castores'; The air. |
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| Chap. 39 - 56: |
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Fixed seasons. Rise of dog-star. Regular effect of seasons. Irregular
seasons. Rain storms. Showers of stones, their reason - Thunder-bolts and
- lightnings. Echo - its reason. Winds - their kinds, natures and behaviour.
Cloud-burst, typhoon, whirlwinds, presteres, tornadoes, other portentous
kinds of storms. Thunder-bolts - what countries immune from them and why;
their kinds, their peculiarities; Tuscan and Roman observances connected
with; method of calling down; general properties; what objects never struck. |
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| Chap. 57 - 68: |
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Showers of milk, blood, flesh, iron, wool, bricks. Portents. Stones
falling from the sky - Anaxagoras as to. Rainbow. Nature of hail, snow,
frost, cloud, dew. Local peculiarities of the sky. Nature of the
earth; its shape; antipodes
- do they exist? Water - how linked with earth? Rivers - their
reason. Is the earth surrounded by the ocean? What portion of the earth
is inhabited? |
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Chap. 69 - 80:
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The earth at the centre of the world. Obliquity of zones. Inequality
of climates. Eclipses - where invisible, and why ? Reason for
daylight on earth; gnomonics of daylight. Absence of shadows - where and
when? where twice yearly ? where shadows travel in opposite direction ?
Where days are longest and shortest? The first clock. How days are observed.
Racial difference and latitude. |
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Chap. 81 - 113:
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Earthquakes. Chasms. Signs of impending earthquake. Precautions against
impending earthquakes. Records of unique earth portents. Marvels of earthquake.
Retreat of sea, where occurred? Emergence of islands - reason for; instances
and dates of. Disruption of straits. Junction of islands with mainland.
Total inundation. Shrinkage of land areas. Cities engulfed by sea. Air-holes.
Continuous earth-tremors. Islands in constant agitation. Places where rain
does not fall. Collection of earth marvels. Rise and fall of tides - reason
for. Where do irregular tides occur? Marvels of the sea: influence of the
moon on earth and sea; of the sun; why is the sea salty? where is it deepest?
Remarkable properties of springs and rivers. Combined marvels of fire and
water: mineral pitch; naphtha; regions constantly glowing. Marvels of fire
alone. Dimensions of entire earth. Harmonic principle of the world. |
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