The existence of springs on mountain tops is explained by the fact that water rises thither not in the form of water but of vapour. Another upholder of Ristoro’s theory that Water was rolled away from Earth seems to have brought forward as evidence that sailors can see distant land from the mast which is invisible from the deck, and that therefore it evidently lies below the ocean; but this is confuted by the true and well known explanation that it is the convex shape of the sea which hides the distant land. Our author adds to his other arguments, in the curiously casual way so characteristic of his age, the ordinary observation which would be the first to occur to us, and quite sufficient in itself, viz. that instead of seeing a great wall of ocean rising above our sea-coasts, we invariably see the coast rising above the sea. His own idea is that though the sphere of Water in general rises above Earth, in one part of the northern hemisphere Earth has been drawn up above the ocean. Earth must be subject to an uplifting influence, as well as to the downward drag of gravity, just as man is susceptible to the influence of reason as well as to the sway of his lower passions. This uplifting influence is not inherent in Earth herself, an upward impulse would be contrary to her own nature; nor can it be in water, or air, or fire, since all these are homogeneous bodies, and their virtue is evenly distributed, so that they could not cause a local and partial effect. It must be therefore in one of the heavens, and it remains for us to enquire which. It cannot be in the heaven of the moon, for in the moon herself resides whatever influence comes from her sphere;[630] and she goes as far south of the equator as she does north: therefore she would raise land beyond the equator as well as on this side, but this is not so. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [630] Compare with _Conv._ II. vii. 88-100, where the poet says that the influence from each sphere comes on the rays of the planet in that sphere, also _De Mon._ III. iv. 139, 140. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Then follows a passage of which commentators can make nothing as it stands:— “Nec valet dicere quod illa declinatio non potuit esse propter magis appropinquare terræ per excentricitatem; quia si hæc virtus elevandi fuisset in luna, (quum agentia propinquiora virtuosius operentur) magis elevasset ibi quam hic.”[631] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [631] “Nor does it avail anything to say that that declination could not take place because of approaching nearer the earth through eccentricity; for if this elevating virtue were in the moon, since agents act the more powerfully the nearer they are, she would elevate there rather than here.” _Qu._ xx. 65-71. ------------------------------------------------------------------------