The story about the crews getting upset about sailing off the edge of the earth is probably a myth since they knew better. That Columbus was fighting the false knowledge of the flat earth apparently was invented in the late 1800s in an effort to make him a great American symbol of the progress of science over superstition associated with the 1892 celebrations.Or did he include the notion just so that smartasses could correct him?
There was a demon that lived in the air. They said whoever challenged him would die. Their controls would freeze up, their planes would buffet wildly, and they would disintegrate. The demon lived at Mach 1 on the meter, seven hundred and fifty miles an hour, where the air could no longer move out of the way. He lived behind a barrier through which they said no man could ever pass. They called it the sound barrier.posted by kirkaracha at 8:27 PM on November 24, 2010
In the case of the heart the cause is plain, for the heart is the seat of the senses, while an indication that the generative organ too is vital is that there flows from it the seminal potency, itself a kind of organism.It is referenced again in "On Youth and Old Age, On Life and Death, On Breathing," in part 3, third paragraph:
Certainly, however, all saguineous animals have the supreme organ of the sensefaculties in the heart, for it is here that we must look for the common sensorium belonging to all the sense-organs. These in two cases, taste and touch, can be clearly seen to extend to the heart, and hence the others also must lead to it, for in it the other organs may possibly initiate changes, whereas with the upper region of the body taste and touch have no connexion.And in "On The Generation of Animals," book 4, in the last paragraph of part 1, Aristotle helpfully explains the roles of the male and female in reproduction:
But the semen of the male differs from the corresponding secretion of the female in that it contains a principle within itself of such a kind as to set up movements also in the embryo and to concoct thoroughly the ultimate nourishment, whereas the secretion of the female contains material alone.That theme is also echoed throughout the rest of the work, as you will quickly notice. In fact, if you actually read Aristotle, I think your respect for the man will quickly slip down a notch. He says a huge number of silly things. I've only scratched the surface.
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And are there even any non-religious depictions of the earth as flat? We've known that it's round since the ancient Greeks. Archimedes, at least.
posted by mr_roboto at 3:25 PM on November 24, 2010 [7 favorites]