thinking it impossible to measure, or any wise to be ascertained of the magnitudes and distances of the celestial bodies; and as to the earth's motions they look on them as fictions, and not capable of being proved to such he answers, that he does not assert those things as absolutely demonstrated but rather as probable conjectures, and that he leaves every one free to judge of them as they please. And to such as may think them useless, since they are only conjectural, he answers, upon the same account, all other physical knowledge may be rejected, since that also for the most part is but conjectural; and yet we know the studies of those things are very commendable, and afford great pleasure, satisfaction, and benefit, even to such as think them contradictory to holy writ, to suppose other worlds, or animals then those of the earth; because such are not mentioned in the history of the creation. He thinks there has been enough said to shew that the description of the creation in the Bible, was only with relation to the earth, and not at all with respect to the other parts of the world, then what where here visible; nor can it be detrimental to religion, but will be rather, as he conceives, a means to make men have a lesser esteem of these earthly things, since they are but small, with respect to the other world, and to have a greater veneration and adoration of that wonderful wisdom and providence which is universally displayed through the whole fabrick of the universe. As to the form and disposition of the whole, and of the parts of this universe, he agrees with the system of Copernicus; for the better explication of which he hath added two figures, the first of which shows their order and positions, and the second their comparative magnitudes. And because by reason of the smalluess of these figures, the true proportions could not be sufficiently exprest, he has added a particular explication, expressing in numbers, the distances of their orbs from the sun in the center, and the times of their periods in them: next of their particular magnitudes and so of their proportions to each other, and to the body of the sun. And since it hereby appears that the earth is moved about the sun, as well as the other planets, (which all the best of the modern astronomers do now believe, and none but such as are of a more dull apprehension, or are otherwise over powered by their superiors, do deny, or make any scruple positively to assert) and that those planets are enlightened by the sun in the same manner as the earth is, and some of them, as ↳ and 24, have their own

moons, or secondary planets moving about them, sometimes eclipsing them, and eclipsed by them, as the earth also is by its moon, and that some of them are much bigger, as well as some others smaller than the earth; and so that the magnitudes are not proportioned, either according to their order or their distance; since also they are observed to have the same kinds of motion, both annual and diurnal, therefore he thinks it very probable that they do resemble the earth also in other qualifications; for that we have no argument to the contrary why they should not, nor is this way of reasoning from the agreement in some to a like agreement of other precarious, since it is the most usual method of discovering the insensible parts of the world, by their similitude to the more sensible, as in anatomy we judge of the parts of a creature, by the similitude, we find they have to the parts of some other before known. From this topic therefore he thinks we may safely conclude that the other planets have solid bodies, and gravity towards their centers, as the earth hath since, we find them to have the same figure, and the same motions, and the same concomitants, and that they have atmospheres and air, and water, &c. Aud since it would be too great a depretiating of them, and a too much overvaluing of the earth, to suppose them not to be likewise adorned with the more admirable productions, and fabricks of plants, and animals, which more evidently manifest the wisdom and design of the divine architect, which we find the earth to be enriched and beautified with. But to suppose them only lifeless lumps of matter, as earth, water, &c.; or vast deserts, barreu mountains, rocks, &c. This he says would sink them too much below the earth in beauty and dignity, which this method of reasoning will in no wise permit. He conceives therefore we must suppose and believe them to have animals as well as the earth; and so of necessity plants for their nourishment. And these possibly not much different from those we have, both as to their outward form, and as to their internal structure, and as to their method of production, or propagation, and their increase or growth. And that if there be any difference, most probably it must arise from the differing distances of those globes from the sun, which is more likely to affect the matter than the form. Wherefore though we cannot be ascertained what these differences are, yet we may reasonably conclude, that they are composed of solids and fluids: for that the production and nutrition of these animals must be made

by fluids; and thence also that the parts of them for motion must be somewhat like those of terrestrial animals; whether beasts, fishes, birds, or insects, that is, they must have legs, finns, wings, &c. Though not exactly the same with ours, since the fluids may be more various, as to their number, and as to their density, and as to their rarefaction and conglaciation, some of these globes being much further off, and somewhat nearer to the sun, and its powerful rays. And so the fluids of ↳ and 24 may not be so apt to be frozen, nor those of Q and, to be rarified into vapours, neither of which would destroy the form and use of water for the vegetation of plants.

And because though we should allow these globes, these orna ments and furniture, yet though we suppose them deprived of the principal production and master-piece of all, and for whose use and benefit all the rest seem to be made, we should too much exalt and over-value this globe of the earth, and too much depreciate all the other. Therefore he thinks we must suppose them to have ra tional animals also, and that those have all those senses, and other necessary organs for reasoning that men have here, aud that they do use them, and have procured thereby the same advantages, and improvement of that faculty, that in the like cases men have done here upon the earth. And since we find that fire in many cases is of great use, he thinks that we must suppose it common to all the other globes also. But to judge of the magnitude, or exact shape of those animated bodies in the other planets, by the magnitude of those globes, he thinks we have no medium to direct us, since we find that nature does not restrain itself to such rules of measure as might seem the best to us. But since the principal use of reason, which he supposes to be the same as here seems to be for the contemplation of the works of the Creator, and the improvement of arts and sciences, he conceives that those inhabitants do not only contemplate and observe the stars, but that they have also made an astronomy, and cultivated such arts as conduce thereunto; as those of geometry, arithmetic, optics, &c. and that of writing, by which they may register their observations to their posterity. And thence be concludes they must have hands and legs, or such like limbs, and an erect face, by which they may be enabled to perform such actions as are necessary for those purposes, and in general he thinks it probable that they may have many arts and sciences, the same with

livening of the parts of the other planets. And as for fixed stars, he conceives them to be so many suns, and to be dispersed in the vast expansum of heaven, at various distances, and each of them to have a proper system, and planets moved about them. And though it be impossible for us ever to see those planets, by reason of their vast distance, yet from the analogy that is between the sun and stars, we may judge of the planetary systems about them, and of the planets themselves too, which probably are like the planetary bodies about the sun, (that is) that they have planets and animals, nay, and rational ones too, as great admirers and observers of the heavens as any on the earth. This represents to us a wonderful scheme of the prodigious vastness of the heavens; so that the distance between the earth and the sun, though of 17 millions of German miles, is almost nothing to the distance of a fixed star. And because of the difficulty in making observations for this purpose, in the common ways, he therefore proposes a new method of his own for this purpose, which he also explains, and by that one may the better conceive the vastness of the distance of one of the nearest, as for instance, from the sun; which by this way he proves to be 27,664 times the distance of the sun from the earth; and to make this distance yet more comprehensible, he makes use of the former explication, by the time that a cannonbullet moved as swift, as hath been just now explained. Wherefore multiplying 27664 by 25, he finds that a cannon-bullet, mov. ing a hundred fathom in a second, would be 700,000 years in its journey betwixt us and the fixed stars; here by the way he makes some reflections on Des Cartesa's Vortices, and explains his own' sentiments concerning the present state of the universe, nor will he trouble his mind about their beginning, or how made, as knowing it to be out of the reach of human knowledge or conjecture.

Upon the whole matter you will here find the ingenious author's opinion, concerning the universe, with all the arguments for it, drawn from the most accurate observations that have been hitherto made that are pertinent thereunto. The only failure seems to some to be in his opinion concerning the moon and secondary planets. Upon which subject there may perhaps be shortly published a brief discourse of one who is of a somewhat differing sentiment.

[From the translation adopted by the Royal Society, 1699; and printed in the Phil. Trans. for the same year.]

CHAPTER VI.

ON THE NATURE AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE SUN AND FIXED STARS.

AMONG the celestial bodies, the sun is certainly the first which should attract our notice. It is a fountain of light that illuminates the world! it is the cause of that heat which maintains the productive power of nature, and makes the earth a fit habitation for man! it is the central body of the planetary system; and what renders a knowledge of its nature still more interesting to us is, that the numberless stars which compose the universe, appear, by the strictest analogy, to be similar bodies. Their innate light is so intense, that it reaches the eye of the observer from the remotest regions of space, and forcibly claims his notice. Now, if we are convinced that an inquiry into the nature and properties of the sun is highly worthy of our notice, we may also with great satisfaction reflect on the considerable progress that has already been made in our knowledge of this eminent body. It would require a long de tail to enumerate all the various discoveries which have been made on this subject; I shall therefore content myself with giving only the most remarkable of them.

Sir Isaac Newton has shown that the sun, by its attractive power, retains the planets of our system in their orbits. He has also pointed out the method by which the quantity of matter it contains may be accurately determined. Dr. Bradley has assigned the vo locity of the solar light with a degree of precision exceeding our utmost expectation. Galileo, Scheiner, Hevelius, Cassini, and others, have ascertained the rotation of the sun on its axis, and determined the position of its equator. By means of the transit of Venus over the sun's disc, mathematicians have calculated its distance from the earth; its real diameter and magnitude; the density of the matter of which it is composed; and the fall of heavy bodies on its surface. From the particulars here enumerated, it is obvious that we have already a very clear idea of the vast importance, and powerful influence of the sun, on its planetary system.