The Empress having received an information of what concerned both church and state, passed some time in viewing the imperial palace, where she admired much the skill and ingenuity of the architects, and enquired of them, first, why they built their houses no higher than two stories from the ground? They answered her Majesty, that the lower their buildings were, the less were they subject either to the heat of the sun, or wind, tempest, decay, etc. Then she desired to know the reason, why they made them so thick? They answered, that, the thicker the walls were, the warmer they were in winter, and cooler in summer; for their thickness kept out both cold and heat. Lastly, she asked, why they arched their roofs, and made so many pillars? They replied, that arches and pillars, did not only grace a building very much, and caused it to appear magnificent, but made it also firm and lasting.
The Empress was very well satisfied with their answers; and after some time, when she thought that her new founded societies of the virtuosos had made a good progress in the several employments she had put them upon, she caused a convocation first of the Bird-men, and commanded them to give her a true relation of the two celestial bodies, viz. the sun and moon, which they did with all the obedience and faithfulness befitting their duty.
The sun, as much as they could observe, they related to be a firm or solid stone, of a vast bigness; of colour yellowish, and of an extraordinary splendor: But the moon, they said, was of a whitish colour; and although she looked dim in the presence of the sun, yet had she her own light, and was a shining body of herself, as might be perceived by her vigorous appearance in moon-shiny-nights; the difference only betwixt her own and the sun’s light was, that the sun did strike his beams in a direct line; but the moon never respected the centre of their world in a right line, but her centre was always excentrical. The spots both in the sun and moon, as far as they were able to perceive, they affirmed to be nothing else but flaws and stains of their stony bodies. Concerning the heat of the sun, they were not of one opinion; some would have the sun hot in itself, alleging an old tradition, that it should at some time break asunder, and burn the heavens, and consume this world into hot embers, which, said they, could not be done, if the sun were not fiery of itself. Others again said, this opinion could not stand with reason; for fire being a destroyer of all things, the sun-stone after this manner would burn up all the near adjoining bodies: Besides, said they, fire cannot subsist without fuel; and the sun-stone having nothing to feed on, would in a short time consume itself; wherefore they thought it more probable that the sun was not actually hot, but only by the reflection of its light; so that its heat was an effect of its light, both being immaterial. But this opinion again was laughed at by others, and rejected as ridiculous, who thought it impossible that one immaterial should produce another; and believed that both the light and heat of the sun proceeded from a swift circular motion of the aethereal globules, which by their striking upon the optic nerve, caused light, and their motion produced heat: But neither would this opinion hold; for, said some, then it would follow, that the sight of animals is the cause of light; and that, were there no eyes, there would be no light; which was against all sense and reason. Thus they argued concerning the heat and light of the sun; but, which is remarkable, none did say, that the sun was a globous fluid body, and had a swift circular motion; but all agreed, it was fixed and firm like a center, and therefore they generally called it the sun-stone.
Then the Empress asked them the reason, why the sun and moon did often appear in different postures or shapes, as sometimes magnified, sometimes diminished; sometimes elevated, otherwhiles depressed; now thrown to the right, and then to the left? To which some of the Bird-men answered, that it proceeded from the various degrees of heat and cold, which are found in the air, from whence did follow a differing density and rarity; and likewise from the vapours that are interposed, whereof those that ascend are higher and less dense than the ambient air, but those which descend are heavier and more dense. But others did with more probability affirm, that it was nothing else but the various patterns of the air; for like as painters do not copy out one and the same original just alike at all times; so, said they, do several parts of the air make different patterns of the luminous bodies of the sun and moon: which patterns, as several copies, the sensitive motions do figure out in the substance of our eyes.
This answer the Empress liked much better than the former, and enquired further, what opinion they had of those creatures that are called the motes of the sun? To which they answered, that they were nothing else but streams of very small, rare and transparent particles, through which the sun was represented as through a glass: for if they were not transparent, said they, they would eclipse the light of the sun; and if not rare and of an airy substance, they would hinder flies from flying in the air, at least retard their flying motion: Nevertheless, although they were thinner than the thinnest vapour, yet were they not so thin as the body of air, or else they would not be perceptible by animal sight. Then the Empress asked, whether they were living creatures? They answered, yes: Because they did
