Of the Situations of Places upon the Earth; of the different Situations of its Inhabitants; of Zones and Climates.
The situations of places upon the Earth, are determined by their Latitude and Longitude.
Latitude.
1. The Latitude of any place (upon the Earth) is its nearest distance, either North or South from the Equator; and if the place be in the (Northern/Southern) hemisphere, it is accordingly called (North/South) Latitude; and is measured by an arch of the meridian intercepted betwixt the zenith of the said place, and the equator. And all places that lie on the same side, and at the same distance from the equator, are said to be in the same parallel of latitude: the parallels in Geography, being the same with the parallels of declination in Astronomy.
From this definition arise the following Corollaries.
(1.) That no place can have above 90 degrees of latitude, either North or South.
(2.) Those places that lie under the equinoctial (or thro’ which the equator passes) have no latitude, it being from thence that the calculation of latitudes is counted; and those places that lie under the Poles have the greatest latitude, those points being at the greatest distance from the equator.
(3.) The latitude of any place is always equal to the elevation of the Pole in the same place above the horizon; and is therefore often expressed by the Pole’s height, or elevation of the Pole; the reason of which is, because from the equator to the Pole there is always the distance of 90 degrees, and from the zenith to the horizon the same number of degrees, each of these including the distance from the zenith to the Pole: That distance therefore being taken away from both, will leave the distance from the zenith to the equator, (which is the latitude) equal to the distance of the Pole to the horizon.
(4.) The elevation of the equator in any place is always equal to the complement of the latitude of the same place.
(5.) A ship sailed directly (towards/from) the equator (lessens/augments) her latitude, (or (depresses/raises) the Pole) just so much as is her distance sailed.