"We speak of the peice of Ordinance mounted per­pendicular to the Horizon, that is, of a shot towards our vertical point, and to conclude, of the return of the ball by the same line unto the same peice, though that in the long time which it is se­parated from the peice, the earth hath transported it many miles towards the East; now it seemeth, that the ball ought to fall a like distance from the peice towards the West; the which doth not happen: therefore the peice without having been moved did stay expecting the same. The answer is the same with that of the stone falling from the Tower; and all the fallacy, and equivocati­on consisteth in supposing still for true, that which is in question; for the Opponent hath it still fixed in his conceit that the ball departs from its rest, being discharged by the fire from the piece; and the departing from the state of rest, cannot be, unlesse the immobility of the Terrestrial Globe be presupposed, which is the conclusion of that was in dispute; Therefore, I reply, that those who make the Earth moveable, answer, that the piece, and the ball that is in it, partake of the same motion with the Earth; nay that they have this together with her from nature; and that therefore the ball departs in no other manner from its quiescence, but conjoyned with its motion about the cen­tre, the which by its projection upwards, is neither taken away, nor hindered; and in this manner following, the universal motion of the Earth towards the East, it alwayes keepeth perpendicular over the said piece, as well in its rise as in its return. And the same you see to ensue, in making the experiment in a ship with a bullet shot upwards perpendicularly with a Crosse-bow, which returneth to the same place whether the ship doth move, or stand still."

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Added on April 10, 2026
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Original Language: English

Sources

Salviati, p. 153-154.

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Systeme_of_the_World%3A_in_Four_Dialogues