Tor THE I~IRST P1tINCIPLES OF GEOGRAPHY AND ASTRONOMY. SECTION L Of the Spheres or Globes of the Heaven and Earth. THERE i HE is nothing gives us a more easy or speedy ac. quaintance with the earth and the visible heavens than the repre- sentation of them on a globe or sphere; because hereby we have the most natural image of them set before our eyes. The terrestial globe represents the earth with its several lands, seas, rivers, islands, &c. The celestial sphere or globe represents the heavens and stars. Several points and circles are either marked or described on those spheres or globes, or are represented by the brass and wooden work about them, to exhibit the places and the motions of the sun, moon, or stars, the situation of the several parts of the earth, together with the relation that all these bear to each other. The earthly globe, with the lines and signs and points that are usually marked upon it, is sufficient to inform the reader of almost every thing that I shall mention here, even with re- gard to the heavens, the sun and the planets; unless he has a mind to be particularly acquainted with the fixed stars, and the several uses of them ; then indeed a celestial globe is most con- venient to be added to it. Note 1st, Half the globe is called a hemisphere ; and thus the whole globe or sphere of the heavens, or of the earth, may be represented on ,a flat or plane in two hemispheres, as in the common maps of the earth, or in draughts or descriptions of the heavens and stars. Because globes are not always at hand, the several points and circles, together with their properties, shall be so described in this discourse as to lead the reader into some general and im- perfect knowledge of these things (as far as it may be done by a map of the world, which is nothing else but a representation of the globe of earth and waters on twofat or plane surfaces;) or at least I shall so express these matters, that a map will assist him to keep them in remembrance, if he has been first a little acquainted with the globe itself.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=