DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.63447#0538
522
THE HISTORICAL PAST OF ITALY.
In the Purgatorio, canto xxviii., v. 115-18, we find in-
dicated the peculiarities of cryptogamous plants, and the
mode of propagating them without seeds.
The theory of rain also is remarkable for truth and con-
densation. Purgatorio, canto v. 109 :—
“ Ben sai come nell’ aer si raccoglie
Quell’ umido vapor che in acqua riede,
Tosto che sale dove ’1 freddo il coglie.”
He divined the action of light on the ripening of fruit,
the circumstances which influence the colouring of the
foliage of plants, and the mysterious circulation of their
vegetable juices. The reflections on the flight and mi-
gration of birds ; on the rainbow; on the scintillations of
the stars; on the vapourous atmosphere created by com-
bustion, are all equally accurate, and have been made the
subject of a .scientific memoir 1 in our own times. Many
lines and passages might be quoted in a work more
especially literary to prove, from the great work of Dante,
how forcibly and exquisitely the beautiful horizons and
the graceful nature of Tuscany had appealed to his poetic
eye.
In his less popular and far less known “Convito,” we
find he was acquainted with the works of Ptolemy and
Aristotle, whom he sometimes corrects (by aid of the more
advanced Arabian science). He gives an ingenious theory of
the phenomenon of the Milky Way, and a correct one on
the recurrence of eclipses. He was acquainted with the
theory and practice of perspective, generally supposed
unknown until the close of the fourteenth century ; in fact
the “ Convito ” is the first philosophical treatise in the
Italian language.
The dissertations of Dante upon the Italian vernacular
are of the greatest interest. They prove hot only that
he had been gifted by nature with a copious and
varied diction, but that he had devoted infinite pains and
time to the study of that incomparable tongue, so insepar-
ably connected with his name, and which, take it all in
1 Targioni, “Degli atti dell’ Accademia della Crusca.” Vol. ii.
THE HISTORICAL PAST OF ITALY.
In the Purgatorio, canto xxviii., v. 115-18, we find in-
dicated the peculiarities of cryptogamous plants, and the
mode of propagating them without seeds.
The theory of rain also is remarkable for truth and con-
densation. Purgatorio, canto v. 109 :—
“ Ben sai come nell’ aer si raccoglie
Quell’ umido vapor che in acqua riede,
Tosto che sale dove ’1 freddo il coglie.”
He divined the action of light on the ripening of fruit,
the circumstances which influence the colouring of the
foliage of plants, and the mysterious circulation of their
vegetable juices. The reflections on the flight and mi-
gration of birds ; on the rainbow; on the scintillations of
the stars; on the vapourous atmosphere created by com-
bustion, are all equally accurate, and have been made the
subject of a .scientific memoir 1 in our own times. Many
lines and passages might be quoted in a work more
especially literary to prove, from the great work of Dante,
how forcibly and exquisitely the beautiful horizons and
the graceful nature of Tuscany had appealed to his poetic
eye.
In his less popular and far less known “Convito,” we
find he was acquainted with the works of Ptolemy and
Aristotle, whom he sometimes corrects (by aid of the more
advanced Arabian science). He gives an ingenious theory of
the phenomenon of the Milky Way, and a correct one on
the recurrence of eclipses. He was acquainted with the
theory and practice of perspective, generally supposed
unknown until the close of the fourteenth century ; in fact
the “ Convito ” is the first philosophical treatise in the
Italian language.
The dissertations of Dante upon the Italian vernacular
are of the greatest interest. They prove hot only that
he had been gifted by nature with a copious and
varied diction, but that he had devoted infinite pains and
time to the study of that incomparable tongue, so insepar-
ably connected with his name, and which, take it all in
1 Targioni, “Degli atti dell’ Accademia della Crusca.” Vol. ii.