Note 186 — BOOK II. AN ACCOUNT OF THE WORLD AND THE ELEMENTS.

This has been pointed out as one of our author’s erroneous opinions on astronomy. The earth is really about 1⁄30 nearer the sun in our winters than in our summers. The greater degree of heat produced by his rays in the latter case depends upon their falling on the surface of the earth less obliquely. This is the principal cause of the different temperatures of the equatorial and polar regions.