Philosophumena; or, The refutation of all heresies, Volume I — David Hume — John Shaqi
Philosophumena; or, The refutation of all heresies, Volume I
David Hume · en
moisture evaporated by the sun. And that mankind was at the beginning
very like another animal, to wit, a fish. And that winds come from the
separation and condensation of the subtler atoms of the air[59] and
rain from the earth giving back under the sun’s heat what it gets from
the clouds,[60] and lightnings from the severance of the clouds by
the winds falling upon them. He was born in the 3rd year of the 42nd
Olympiad.[61]
6. _About Anaximenes._
Anaximenes, who was also a Milesian, the son of Eurystratus, said that
the beginning was a boundless air from which what was, is, and shall
be and gods and divine things came into being, while the rest came
from their descendants. But that the condition of the air is such that
when it is all over alike[62] it is invisible to the eye, but it is
made perceptible by cold and heat, by damp and by motion. And that
it is ever-moving, for whatever is changeable[63] changes not unless
it be moved. For it appears different when condensed and rarefied.
For when it diffuses into greater rarity fire is produced; but when
again halfway [Sidenote: p. 19.] condensed into air, a cloud is formed
from the air’s compression; and when still further condensed, water,
and when condensed to the full, earth; and when to the very highest
degree, stones. And that consequently the great rulers of formation
are contraries, to wit, heat and cold. And that the earth is a flat
surface borne up on the air in the same way as the sun and moon and
the other stars.[64] For all fiery things are carried through the air
laterally.[65] And that the stars are produced from the earth by reason
of the mist which rises from it and which when rarefied becomes fire,
and from this ascending fire[66] the stars are constructed. And that
there are earth-like natures in the stars’ place carried about with
them. But he says that the stars do not move under the earth, as others
assume, but round the earth[67] as a cap is turned on one’s head, and
that the sun is hidden, not because it is under the earth, but because
it is hidden by the earth’s higher parts, and by reason of its greater
distance from us. And because of their great distance, the stars give
out no heat. And that [Sidenote: p. 20.] winds are produced when the
air after condensation escapes rarefied; but that when it collects and
is thus condensed[68] to the full, it becomes clouds and thus changes
into water. Also that hail is produced when the water brought down
from the clouds is frozen; and snow when the same clouds are wetter
when freezing. And lightning come when the clouds are forced apart
by the strength of the winds; for when thus driven apart, there is a
brilliant and fiery flash. Also that a rainbow is produced by the solar
rays falling upon solidified air, and an earthquake from the earth’s
increasing in size by heating and cooling. This then Anaximenes. He
flourished about the 1st year of the 58th Olympiad.[69]