It has thus been
attempted in our own day, with tedious solemnity, to clothe in a scientific
garb the quaintly-devised fiction of the humorous Holbert.*
[footnote] *[The work referred to, one of the wittiest productions of the
learned Norwegian satirist and dramatist Holberg, was written in Latin, and
first appeared under the following title: 'Nicolai Klimii iter subterraneum
novam telluris theoriam ac historiam quintae monarchi Nicolai Klimii iter
subterraneum novam telluris theoriam ac historiam quintae monarchi ad huc
nobis incognitae exhibens e bibliotheca b. Abelini. Hafniae et Lipsiae sunt.
Jac. Preuss', 1741. An admirable Danish translation of this learned but
severe satire on the institutions, morals, and manners of the inhabitants of
the upper Earth, appeared at Copenhagen in 1789, and was entitled 'Niels
Klim's underjordiske reise ocd Ludwig Holberg, oversal after den Latinske
original of Jens Baggesen'. Holberg, who studied for a time at Oxford, was
born at Bergen in 1685, and died in 1754 as Rector of the University of
Copenhagen.] -- Tr.
p 172
The figure of the Earth and the amount of solidification (density) which it
has acquired are intimately connected with the forces by which it is
animated, in so far, at least, as they have been excited or awakened from
without, through its planetry position with reference to a luminous central
body.
Pages:
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359