According To Gemma Phrisius, In
Certain Parts Of Africa, As In The Greater Atlas, The Air In The Night
Is
Seen shining with many strange fires and flames, rising as it were as
high as the moon, and strange noises
Are heard in the air, as of pipes,
trumpets, and drums, which are caused perhaps by the vehement motions of
these fiery exhalations, as we see in many experiments wrought by fire,
air, and wind. The hollowness also, and various reflections and
breakings of the clouds, may be great causes thereof, besides the great
coldness of the middle region of the air, by which these fiery
exhalations, when they ascend there, are suddenly driven back with great
force. Daily experience teaches us, by the whizzing of a burning torch,
what a noise fire occasions in the air, and much more so when it strives
and is inclosed with air, as seen in guns; and even when air alone is
inclosed, as in organ pipes and other wind instruments: For wind,
according to philosophers, is nothing but air vehemently moved, as when
propelled by a pair of bellows, and the like.
Some credible persons affirm that, in this voyage to Guinea, they felt a
sensible heat in the night from the beams of the moon; which, though it
seem strange to us who inhabit a cold region, may yet reasonably have
been the case, as Pliny writes that the nature of stars and planets
consists of fire, containing a spirit of life, and cannot therefore be
without heat.
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