Tuesday, March 11, 2014

THE MAN IN THE MOON






The air in that place I found quiet, without any motion of wind, and exceeding temperate, neither hot nor cold, as where neither the sunbeams had any subject to reflect upon, neither was yet the earth or water so near as to affect the air with their natural quality of coldness.  As for that imagination of the philosophers, attributing heat together with moistness into the air, I never esteemed it otherwise than a fancy.  Lastly now it is to be remembered that after my departure from the earth, I never felt any appetite of  hunger or thirst.  Whether the purity of the air, our proper element, not being infected with any vapors of the earth and water, might yield nature sufficient nutriment, or what else might be the cause of it, I cannot tell, but so I found it,  although I perceived myself in perfect health of body, having the use of all my limbs and senses, and strength both of body and mind rather beyond and above anything short of the pitch or wonted vigor.  Now let us go on, and on we shall go more than apace.





Excerpt:  Bishop Francis Godwin, The Man In The Moon (1638)

Art:  Vija Celmins
 

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