Astronomical Myths: Based on Flammarions's "History of the Heavens"
John Stuart Mill · en
In tracing the history of ideas concerning the structure of the heavens
among the Greek philosophers, we meet with other modifications which it
will be interesting to recount. Thus Eudoxus, who paid greater attention
than others to the variations of the motions of the planets, gave more
than one sphere to each of them to represent these observed changes.
Each planet, according to him, has a separate part of the heaven to
itself, which is composed of several concentric spheres, whose
movements, modifying each other, produce that of the planet. He gave
three spheres to the sun: one which turned from east to west in
twenty-four hours, to represent the diurnal rotation; a second, which
turned about the pole of the ecliptic in 365-1/4 days, and produced its
annual movement; and a third was added to account for a certain supposed
motion, by which the sun was drawn out of the ecliptic, and turned about
an axis, making such an angle with that of the ecliptic, as represented
the supposed aberration. The moon also had three spheres to produce its
motions in longitude and latitude, and its diurnal motion. Each of the
other planets had four, the extra one being added to account for their
stations and retrogressions. It should be added that these concentric
spheres were supposed to fit each other, so that the different planets
were only separated by the thicknesses of these crystal zones.
Polemarch, the disciple of Eudoxus, who went to Athens with his pupil
Calippus for the express purpose of consulting Aristotle on these
subjects, was not satisfied with the exactness with which these spheres
represented the planetary motions, and made changes in the direction of
still greater complication. Instead of the twenty-six spheres which
represented Eudoxus' system, Calippus established thirty-three, and by
adding also intermediary spheres to prevent the motion of one planet
interfering with that of the adjacent ones, the number was increased to
fifty-six.
There is extant a small work, ascribed to Aristotle, entitled "Letter of
Aristotle to Alexander on the system of the world," which gives so clear
an account of the ideas entertained in his epoch that we shall venture
to give a somewhat long extract from it. The work, it should be said, is
not by all considered genuine, but is ascribed by some to Nicolas of
Damas, by others to Anaximenas of Lampsacus, a contemporary of
Alexander's, and by others to the Stoic Posidonius. It is certain,
however, that Aristotle paid some attention to astronomy, for he records
the rare phenomena of an eclipse of Mars by the moon, and the
occultation of one of the Gemini by the planet Jupiter, and the work may
well be genuine. It contains the following:--