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PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRIES.

The novelty and ingenuity of the following Philosophical remarks, extracted from Mr. W. Colquitt's System of the Universe, will excite attention.

"Of all the liberal sciences, that which promotes the maintenance of truth, must promote virtue; hence is it necessary that we make use of our sight as well as our senses, and not to perplex the mind about things invisible and incomprehensible, there being no such thing as up or down, ascension or descension, in the round universe.

"The galaxy or pure heavens being the everlasting and generating source of all matter, forms a perfect circle, by whose circulation the stars keep their places, (every particle of matter has a tendency to unite with its own species) this law of Nature being admitted, universal order and harmony must prevail throughout the whole. The fixed stars are equally supplied with electric fire in proportion as they emit forth the same into the planetary regions (no comets or planets falling into the sun, or destroying the earth). The sun, who is near nine hundred thousand miles in diameter, is the most mighty, the most magnificent, the most splendid and pure body in the solar system, the Creator and Ruler of every thing contained therein, since nothing but what hath life, light, heat, and motion in itself, can impart form, and endue animals and plants with the same faculties. Hence the sun emits forth his vivifying light and heat into the planetary regions. The sun and the stars consist of the most pure matter in Nature, by the accumulation of their respective ingredients. The planets, the dross as it were of the heavens, are the accumulation of the more heavy and aqueous parts of terrestrial matter, as nothing but matter can act on matter, agreeable to truth and the orderly course of Nature; so that the earth, like an onion, with strata over strata, hath, from her least magnitude, always had a rotation round her axis, and received the electric heat and light in every particle of matter she consists of, which was the cause of the various compounds and colours of minerals and metals. The Chinese, who make the age of the earth seven million five hundred and two thousand years, appear to have had a knowledge of geology before the Europeans, and a more natural knowledge of the nature of things.

"By the rotary motion of the earth, and the sun's absorbing powers, light, heat, and electricity, doth grass, animals, and plants grow, producing their beautiful flowers and fruits. He, the joy of the

whole earth, dispels the darkness that covers her (yet was there never darkness, except in the nocturnal shadow of a planet). The sun is saluted in the morning by the wise and good, by the melody of birds and sweet opening flowers, and all things which adoru the surface of the earth; he moderates the atmosphere with light, and in wisdom collects and dissipates the storms, dividing the interstices of dark clouds, producing lightning and thunder, and, by relaxation, pours the rains to fertilize the fields and woods, and then shews us the light of his countenance, and all is light and cheerfulness. At the brightness of his presence his clouds passed: hailstones and coals of fire.-Psalm xviii. 12.

"In the more distant parts of the solar system, where the dense and more crowded particles of terrestrial matter were congregated, they have, at length, become a perfect sphere, and being crystallized, petrified, and consolidated by the sun, as she accumulates, in time becomes a planet; in this gradual and orderly manner hath the earth, and all the planets been formed. After the sulphureous and volcanic matter near to, and on the surface of the earth, was in a great measure consumed, which was the cause of gulphs, deep pits, and the uneven surface of the earth, heavy rains at seasonable times prevailed, until the hollow parts were filled with water, which covers three-fifths of the earth's surface.

"The reason that our earth is encompassed with a more dense atmosphere than Mars and Jupiter, arises from there being a greater quantity of water in the orbit of the earth, than in the orbits of those planets. 1 shall not presume to confine Nature to time or place in the operation of her works, since Time is eternal, Space boundless, and Matter everlasting; neither shall I make every star a sun, knowing that one star differeth from another star in lustre, magnitude, and solidity, and magnetic power: therefore, I shall only declare every star of the first magnitude a sun and the centre of a system, having from three to ten planets circulating round him.

"Exclusive of the dark planets, which are formed, illumined, moved, and preserved by the sun, and in order turn round him; there are other bodies of superior elements and composition, as comets, which are capable of enduring as much heat as would immediately consume this or any other planet, and are endued with greater power of motion than that of any other body throughout the starry firmament. Comets are luminous

bodies,

1821.] Philosophical and Astronomical Inquiries.

bodies, independent of the solar powers, and always emit forth their electric fire, forming a tail of great length, directed in opposition to the sun. Hence do I conclude that a comet is a solid, inflammable, living body for if a snake, with only one member, the head, hath power to move with velocity on this heavy mass, how much more fit is it that a comet must have life, strength, and power, and these qualities in a superior degree, to move in his own proper district, and to leave this our system to visit the nearest fixed star of the first magnitude.

"Therefore, as such order and harmony prevail among the fixed stars and planetary regions, I conclude, (as I well know) that the same order prevails among the comets; that if we were visited with a comet every year, and there were more planets in our system, not one of them would be impeded in her motion, as the comets, as well as the planets, have their own particular tracts and boundaries, accelerating his motion as he draws near to the sun. The want of a diurnal parallax, shews that comets move beyond the orbit of the Georgian.

"There never was a beginning of light, or a vacuum throughout the universe. If otherwise, the fixed stars could not keep their places, neither could the planets (subservient to them) perform their annual orbits, and that universal affinity, order, and harmony prevail, which I perceive do prevail throughout the whole, adjusted with that regularity of parts as the best time-piece.

"With respect to the heavenly bodies, of which this earth is one, none can be suddenly formed-none can be suddenly destroyed.

"As all planets contract their orbits in the insensible progress of time, Mercury must be the oldest planet in the solar system, and the ages of the other planets in proportion to their distances from the sun. Hence may Mercury be in her consuming state; the nearer any planet is to the sun, the greater will be her motion in her orbit; and the slower her diurnal rotation, and the more distant, the slower in their orbits, and faster round their axes.

"Venus, like this earth, is subject to much rain and change of seasons.

"The surface of Mars appears covered with extensive plains and mountains, issuing volcanic fire (like our earth formerly was), therefore may have not received rain and torrents to finish and accommodate her with seas and lakes.

"The seas of Jupiter, called his belts, frequently change their parallelism in consequence of his rapid motion round his axis, once in ten hours. If I now lived in this planet near the sea, I should see it ebb and flow like our sea, only with

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double the motion, and should find that it was high water every five hours; and at that part of his body where his nearest moon was, I should perceive an inequality of the tides, and the water rising higher; this planet being eighty-eight thousand miles in breadth.

"The use of Saturn's ring, which consists of two solid circles, one within the other, appears to be a crystallization of similar matter to the planet, of a bright yellow colour, for the purpose of reflecting and refracting a strong light every fifteen years, when in opposition to the sun, and to reflect the solar light and heat in alternate order. over every part of the planet, and to confine and moderate his atmosphere and his seasons at the distauce of nine hundred millions of miles from the sun; seventy nine thousand miles in breadth, having six moons that circulate round him.

"The Moon, like all the planets, is an opaque globe, and always contracting her orbit; and being, like the satellites of Jupiter and Saturn, without clouds and atmosphere, reflects a greater quantity of light to the earth. The inequality of the moon's motions arises from the rapid motion of the earth in her orbit round the sun, while the moon circulates round the earth, and which causes an inequality of the tides, called spring and neap tides, three-fifths of the earth's surface being overflowed, and the moon being an arid dry body, causes that mutual attractive power between them."

ASTRONOMY.

Baron Lindenau has recently published some observations respecting the diminution of the solar mass. It will be found, he says, that the sun may have been imperceptibly subject to successive diminution since the science of astronomy has been cultivated. Baron Lindenau supposes the sun's diameter to be 800,000 miles - 4,204,000,000 feet- - or nearly 2000 seconds. We have not, he observes, hitherto possessed any instrument for measuring the diameter of the heavenly bodies to a second. The sun may therefore diminish 12,000 of its diameter, or 2,102,000 feet, without the possibility of being perceived. Supposing the sun to diminish daily two feet, it would require three thousand years to render the diminution of a second of its diameter visible.

THE POLES.

The Pole of the world has usually been considered as the coldest point; but Dr. Brewster, in a paper recently read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh, has proved that there are two poles of maximum cold, situated at a distance from the Pole, and in the meridian, passing through North America and Siberia.

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