This imputed service would, perhaps, have been rendered more feasible, had he given them the animation, wings, and fins of Newton's great prototype Kepler, by means of which he imagined them to move through the ætherial spaces! Descartes supposed that comets were old wornout suns, carried from their centres by vortices, and so brought within the bounds of the solar system!

In contradistinction to the belief and doctrines of the great body of Newtonians, who in positive terms define comets "solid, compact, fixed, and durable bodies ;" a few modern astronomers of eminence have concluded, from their own observations, that even their forms are changeable and sometimes of a vapid nature. According to the testimonies of Windelimus, Cysatus and Hevelius, they have frequently been observed to change into various shapes, even in the course of a few seconds, while in the act of looking at them;-no great proof that of a strong central gravity. The latter judged them to be solar exhalations; which opinion, with some modifications, was adopted by a Liverpool philosopher who, about fifty years ago, corresponded with Dr. Franklin upon the subject, and made himself rather merry at the idea of Newton and Halley gravely occupying their time in most elaborately calculating the imaginary orbit of an ignis fatuus!

I have now stated the principal doctrines of the modern Pythagoreans concerning cometary appearances; and I think it is impossible to reflect upon them without entertaining a suspicion, that they have imbibed a considerable portion of that spirit which possessed their master when, in his cave at Samos, he studied those arts of imposture which, according to history, he afterwards played off upon the credulous people of Crotona. One Timon, a Greek writer, drew up his character in a few

words, when he described him, "the magician who loves nothing but vain glory, and who affects a gravity in his speech to entice men into his nets."

While philosophers are thus jarring amidst a perpetual war of opinions, the belief of the multitude, in most nations, is uniform and fixed; namely, that comets are SIGNS. And such, likewise, have been the opinions of learned men in every age, until the labours of modern philosophers began to remove, from the minds of men, the idea of a superintending Providence in the movements of the universe, and in the affairs of mankind: this might easily be shewn from the writings of historians, philosophers, and divines; but there is no occasion to take up the time of the reader by quoting passages from their works. And whatever salutary impressions of awe may be the effect of that belief, they are quite moderate when compared with the false alarms of drowning, burning, and horrible destruction, which, on the appearance of one of those bodies, are now excited in the minds of the credulous by Newtonian philosophers; who manage to give currency to their dogmas under a belief, industriously propagated, that they are clothed in mathematical demonstration! It was no doubt the abuse and misapplication of mathematics which induced Agrippa to declare, that the closer a man adheres to the favourite contrivances of mathematical professors, the more remote he will ever find himself from useful science. Tacitus says they were a deceitful people, and prohibited from Rome. It likewise appears from other writers, that under the reign of Augustus, and some of his successors in the empire, astronomers, philosophers, and mathematicians, were at different times expelled from the city. That severity on the part of those emperors, was, in some degree, justifiable, because

mathematics were prostituted to purposes of imposition, under the vain pretences of foretelling the destinies of individuals and states; as the same science is now used for the purpose of alarming and agitating weak minds, by prognostications of destruction to the globe. Such information can only proceed from the spiritual world, and has therefore nothing to do with the science of mathematics.

Therefore the Romans, though an idolatrous people, were wise in discouraging such impious vanities: yet the Christians not only tolerate, but encourage them, though the religion they profess clearly prohibits such practices, as criminal.* A prophet, of the Jewish nation, being forewarned that his fellow-citizens and countrymen would be carried away into captivity by a people who were under the influence and government of a regular system of mathematical delusion, gave them a wise and salutary injunction; "Learn not," said he, "the way of the heathen, and be not afraid of the SIGNS of the heaven, for the heathen are dismayed at them."

This was a precaution worthy of the Great Legislator of the World, who by the promulgation of His Laws, and by His other dispensations, had constantly warned them against the follies and dangers of superstition; recommended to them the Divine Precepts, as infallible guides through life; and enjoined the practice of all the virtues to which those precepts steadily point;-temperance, prudence, justice and fortitude; which are such things, says the illustrious author of the Book of Wisdom, than which men can have nothing more profitable in this life. Wisdom viii. 7.

* There are, I think, three Astrological works published annually, in London, with the King's stamp upon them!

CHAPTER VI.

ON THE SUPPOSED DIURNAL MOTION OF THE EARTH, FOUNDED ON THE NEWTONIAN EXPERIMENTS OF THE SPINDLE AND SOFT BALL OF CLAY, IRON HOOP, MOP, PENDULUM, AND MEASUREMENTS OF A DEGREE ON THE EARTH;-OPPOSITE CONCLUSIONS OF PHILOSOPHERS.

IN the foregoing observations I have shewn that the Newtonian laws of motion are nothing more than mere mathematical conceits;-that they have no real existence in the system of creation, and therefore can operate no other consequences than delusion and error in the minds of those who negligently rely upon them as substantial facts.

But, that it may not be said that I have uncandidly taken a partial view of the matter, I will now examine, and comment on, a few points which they contend are visible demonstrative proofs of their theory being grounded on nature and facts. One of the most eminent of such proofs, they say, is to be found in the turnip, or orange-shaped, figure of the earth. They first contend, upon the ground of their experiments, that such figure must necessarily result from their mechanical theory; and then they proceed, in their own way, to prove, by other experiments and observations, that such, in reality, is the form of the terrestrial globe.

To prove, that the oblate is the form naturally produced by their centrifugal motion, they, by way of

EXPERIMENT, stick a spindle through the centre of a soft ball of clay, and, by spinning it briskly, they observe that the clay has a tendency to contract at the poles, and to fly off the spindle! A certain astronomical professor exhibits the same effects by a thin iron hoop and a rod. "That this," says he, "must be the consequence, appears from this experiment; that if you take a thin iron hoop and make it revolve swiftly about one of its diameters, that diameter will be diminished, and the diameter which is perpendicular to it will be increased; now if we suppose the earth to revolve, the parts most distant from its axis must, from their greater velocity, have a greater tendency to fly off from the axis, and therefore that diameter which is perpendicular to the axis, must be increased." Another admired author says the same doctrine is proved by a mop! "When a mop," says he, "is turned upon the arm by a quick circular motion, the threads or thrums are observed to rise highest in the middle, and the swifter the mop is whirled, the greater will be the force, and the particles will fly off with the greater velocity."

These are genuine Newtonian experiments, designed to shew the principle and effect of the supposed diurnal motion of the earth; as the experiment of the string and ball, already described, was intended to illustrate the forces of the orbital motion. Some persons, who have not examined the ground-work of this celebrated system, may possibly imagine, that I am trifling with my readers-that such puerilities would have disgraced such renowned geniuses, and that therefore they could not possibly have introduced them as physical demonstrations. Be it known, however, to such, that a * reference to their books will immediately convince them

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