this
world; and from thence will I take my beginning.

CHAPTER I. OF THE GALAXY, OR THE MILKY WAY.

It is a cloudy circle, which continually appears in the air, and by
reason of the whiteness of its colors is called the galaxy, or the milky
way. Some of the Pythagoreans say that, when Phaeton set the world on
fire, a star falling from its own place in its circular passage through
the region caused an inflammation. Others say that originally it was
the first course of the sun; others, that it is an image as in a
looking-glass, occasioned by the sun's reflecting its beams towards the
heavens, and this appears in the clouds and in the rainbow. Metrodorus,
that it is merely the solar course, or the motion of the sun in its own
circle. Parmenides, that the mixture of a thick and thin substance gives
it a color which resembles milk. Anaxagoras, that the sun moving under
the earth and not being able to enlighten every place, the shadow of
the earth, being cast upon the part of the heavens, makes the galaxy.
Democritus, that it is the splendor which ariseth from the coalition
of many small bodies, which, being firmly united amongst themselves, do
mutually enlighten one another. Aristotle, that it is the inflammation
of dry, copious, and coherent vapor, by which the fiery mane, whose seat
is beneath the aether and the planets, is produced. Posidonius, that it
is a combination of fire, of finer substance than the stars, but denser
than light.

CHAPTER II. OF COMETS AND SHOOTING FIRES, AND THOSE WHICH RESEMBLE
BEAMS.

Some of the Pythagoreans say, that a comet is one of those stars which
do not always appear, but after they have run through their determined
course, they then rise and are visible to us. Others, that it is the
reflection of our sight upon the sun, which gives the resemblance of
comets much after the same manner as images are reflected in mirrors.
Anaxagoras and Democritus, that two or more stars being in conjunction
by their united light make a comet. Aristotle, that it is a fiery
coalition of dry exhalations. Strato, that it is the light of the star
darting through a thick cloud that hath invested it; this is seen in
light shining through lanterns. Heraclides, native of Pontus, that it is
a lofty cloud inflamed by a sublime fire. The like causes he assigns
to the bearded comet, to those circles that are seen about the sun or
stars, or those meteors which resemble pillars or beams, and all others
which