Iland, the furtheft parts of Ruffia and Norway, would be deprived of the Sun, above a Hundred and Thirty Days together. Our felves in England, and the reft of the fame Clime would be closed up in darknefs no less than a Hundred or Eighty Days: and fo proportionably of the reft, both in, and out of the Temperate Zones. And as for Summer and Winter, though thofe Viciffitudes would be, yet it could not but caufe raging Difeafes, to have the Sun ftay fo long, defcribing his little Circles fo near the Poles, and lying fo hot on the Inhabitants, that had been in fo long extremity of Darkness and Cold before.

It remains therefore, that the pofture of the Axis of the Earth be inclining not perpendicular, not coincident to the fore-mention'd Plain. And verily, it is not only inclining, but in fo fit a proportion, that there can be no fitter imagined to make it to the utmoft capacity, ast well pleafant as habitable. For though the courfe of the Sun be curbed between the Tropicks, yet are not thofe parts directly fubject to his perpendicular Beams, either Unhabitable, or extremely Hot, as the Ancients fanfied: By the Teftimony of Travelers, and particulary Sir Walter Raleigh, the parts under and near the Line, being as fruitful and pleafant, and fit to make a Paradife of, as any in the World. And that they are as fuitable to the Nature of Man, and as convenient to live in, appears from the Longevity of the Natives; as for

Inftance, the Ethiopes, called by the Ancients, Mangóßio; but especially in the Brafilians in AΜακρόβιοι merica, the ordinarly Term of whofe Life is a Hundred Years, as is fet down by Pifo, a Learned Physician of Holland, who travelled thither on purpose to augment Natural Knowledge, but efpecially what related to Phyfick. And reafonable it is, that this fhould be fo, for neither doth the Sun lie long upon them, their Day being but twelve Hours, and their Night as long, to cool and refresh them, and befides, they have frequent Showers, and conftant Breezes, or fresh Gales of Wind from the East. It was the Opinion of Afclepiades, as Plutarch reports, that generally the Inhabitants of Cold Countreys are longer lived than thofe of Hot, because the cold keeps in the natural heat, as it were locking up the Pores to prevent its Evaporation; whereas in hot Regions the heat is easily diffipated, the Pores being large and open to give it way. Which opinion because I find fome Learned Men ftill to adhere to, I fhall produce fome further Inftances out of Monfieur Rochefort's Hiftory of the Antilles Islands, to confirm the contrary, and to fhew how often and easily we may be deceiv'd, if we truft to our own Ratiocinations, how plausible foever, and confult not Experience.

The ordinary Life (faith he) of our Caribbeans is an hundred and fifty years long, and fometimes more. There were fome among them not long fince living, who remembred to have

feen

feen the first Spaniards, that aborded America, who, we may thence conclude, lived to be at leaft 160 years old.

The Hollanders who Traffick in the Molucca Iflands, affure us, that the ordinary term of life of the Natives there is one hundred and

thirty years.

Vincent le Blanc tells us, that in Sumatra, Java and the neighbouring Iflands, the life of the Inhabitants is extended to 140 years, and that in the Realm of Caffuby it reaches 150. Francis Pirara promotes the life of the Brafilians beyond the terin we have fet it, v. g. to 169 years or more, and fays that in Florida and Fucatan there are Men found, who pafs that age. And it is faid, that the French in Laudoniers Voyage into Florida, Anno 1564. faw a certain old Man, who affirmed himself to be three hundred years old, and the Father of five Generations; And well he might be of double that number.

Laftly, Mapheus reports, that a certain Bengalefe vaunted himself to be 335 years old. So far Monfieur Rochefort. Indeed these two laft Inftances, being perchance fingular and extraordinary, do not prove the point; For even among us, where the ordinary term of life is about threefcore and ten or fourfcore, there occur fome rare inftances of Persons, who have lived 130, 140, 150 years and more. But the other Teftimonies being general prove it beyond contradiction; Neither yet is the thing

in it felf improbable. For there being not fo great inequality of Weather in thofe hot Countries, as there is in cold, the Body is kept in a more equal temper, and not having fuch frequent Shocks, as are occafion'd by fuch air, and often changes, and that from one extreme to another, holds out much longer. So we fee infirm and crazy Perfons, when they come to be fo weak as to be fixed to their Beds, hold out many Years, fome I have heard of, that have lain bed-rid 20 years: because in the bed they are always kept in an almoft equal temper of heat, who, had they been expofed to the exceffes of heat and cold, would not probably have furvived one.

Seeing then, this best posture which our Reafon could make choice of, we fee really established in Nature, we cannot but acknowledge it to be the iffue of Wisdom, Counsel, and Providence. Morcover, a further Argument to evince this is, That though it cannot but he acknowledged, that if the Axis of the Earth were perpendicular to the Plane of the Ecliptick, her motion would be more eafie and natural, yet notwithstanding for the Coveniences fore-mentioned, we fee it is made in an inclining posture.

Another very confiderable, and heretofore unobferv'd Convenience of this inclination of the Earth's Axis, Mr. Kiel affords us in his Examination of Dr. Burnet's Theory of the Earth, p. 69.

There

There is (faith he) one more [befides what he had mentioned before] confiderable advantage, which we reap by the prefent position of the Earth, which I will here infert, because I do not know that it is taken notice of by any. And it is, that by the prefent inclination of the Earth's Axis to the Plane of the Ecliptick, we who lived beyond 45 degrees of Latitude, and ftand moft in need of it, have more of the Suns heat throughout the year, than if he had fhined always in the Equator; that is, If we take the fum of the Suns actions upon us both in Summer and Winter, they are greater than its heat would be if he moved always in the Equator; or which is the fame thing, the aggregate of the Suns heat upon us while he defcribes any two oppofite Parallels, is greater than it would be if in those two days he defcribed the Equator. Whereas in the Torrid Zone and even in the Temperate almoft as far as 45 degrees of Latitude, the fum of the Suns heat in Summer and Winter is lefs than it would be, were the Axis of the Earth perpendicular to the Plane of the Ecliptick. For the Demonftration of which, I refer the Reader to the Book it felf.

I think (proceeds he) this confideration can- . not but lead us into a tranfcendent admiration of the Divine Wisdom, which hath placed the Earth in fuch a pofture as brings with it several Conveniencies beyond what we can easily dif cover without ftudy and application; and I

make