[43] Roughly estimating from the date here given, it seems probable that the line here mentioned refers to the diameter of the earth. Although that diameter had not been exactly measured at that time, a long step toward this had been taken by Picard of France, who in 1671 made the first really valuable measure of the arc of a meridian, a measure which Isaac Newton used in verifying his idea of gravitation. The ambiguous manner in which the line is mentioned by the writer (supposedly Kino, as cited by Diaz) was probably due to cautious dread lest ecclesiastical penalties be visited on the too definite statement of scientific discoveries; for at that time Mexico was dominated by the Inquisition, by which tribunal the great Galileo had been imprisoned less than fifty years before Kino made these observations. The course of this comet can easily be verified, after making due allowance for the precession of the equinoxes, on any map of the constellations. Information for this note is furnished by Albert S. Flint, astronomer of Washburn Observatory, University of Wisconsin.
[44] Eusebius Kino (or Chino) was a noted mathematician and explorer. Born near Trent in 1644, he entered the Jesuit order at the age of twenty-one, and in 1678 came to America. He soon devoted himself to the California missions, and explored and mapped a large extent of country in Mexico and Lower California. He died at Magdalena, March 15, 1711.
[45] One of the collections of canon law is called “Clementinas” (see VOL. XXV, p. 226): they were compiled out of the canons of the Council of Vienne (1316) and some of his own constitutions. (Addis and Arnold’s Catholic Dictionary, p. 106.) The father of Bolivar had apparently held the clementina chair of canon law in a university.
[46] The vihuela (or viguela) was the ancient form of the guitar, or something between it and the violin. It is mentioned as in use, in a poem of the fourteenth century. There were vihuelas de penoia and vihuelas de arco—the former played with a plectrum, the latter with a bow. Later, the vihuela merged entirely into the guitar. (H. E. Watts, in note on his edition of Don Quixote [London, 1895], iv, p. 85.)
[47] “Much difficulty was found in raising the required force for the Philippine Islands. Many of the soldiers dreading the climate would desert before reaching Acapulco, and new schemes had to be devised for raising recruits. Thus in 1677 all criminals willing to enlist were pardoned, and 125 pesos a year given them as pay. Still, only a small number could be induced to accept this offer.” (Bancroft, Mexico, iii, p. 185.)
[48] Spanish, quintas esencias (English, “quintessences”); referring to the notion in alchemy of a fifth or last and highest essence or power in a natural body.
[49] Spanish, se parte un pelo en el aire; an idiomatic expression (also written cortar or hender un cabello), signifying the possession of great penetration, keenness, dexterity; quick perception, much perspicacity. Cf. the common phrases, “to fish for things in the air,” “to catch them while flying,” etc. (Dominguez). The saying perhaps originated in the ability of a good swordsman to cut a hair in two instantly with his sword.
[50] Spanish, dos palos; meaning the two wooden ships used for the Acapulco trade, which was the sole support of the colony.
[51] That is, “mindless, or silly, or without sense;” a neat and keen play on words. The meaning evidently is, that knowledge of law does not consist in mere remembrance of law terms, but in discerning their force and power.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.
[52] “They feared to lose temporal goods, and did not reflect on the life eternal; and thus they lost both.”