I remember Dr. Velikovsky using the Jonathan Swift quote to suggest that once the moons of Mars were close enough to see without a telescope. Did he speculate on where they might have come from?
There was a paper in KRONOS (I think by Cardona) regarding that. It was suggested long ago (not by Dr V) that Swift had access to some kind of early, otherwise undocumented discovery of the moons of Mars because he gave the particulars of their orbital periods very close to the actual values. Turns out to be rooted in the view of an astronomer of his acquaintance. I'll try to check out the details when I get home.
ah here it is... Jonathan Swift and the Moons of Mars by Ken D. Moss, Vol.8:4