COSMOGRAPHY 
 
 OR, 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL VIEWS 
 
 UNIYERSE. 
 
 CHARLES F. WINSLOW, M.D. 
 
 " The heavens are thine ; the earth also is thine: as for the world and 
 the fulness thereof; thou hast founded them. The north and the south, thou 
 hast created them. — Psalm Ixxxix. 11, 12. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 CROSBY, NICHOLS, & CO. 
 
 NEW YORK: C. S. FRANCIS & CO. 
 
 1853.
 
 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by 
 
 WM. CROSBY & H. P. NICHOLS, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 
 
 BOSTON : 
 
 PRINTED BY JOHN WILSON AND SON, 
 
 No. 22, School Stkeet.
 
 BE 
 Sit 
 
 u/?^ 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 CO 
 
 CO 
 
 cr» In presenting this little book to the world, I 
 
 r did not intend to make any prefatory remarks, 
 
 inasmuch as I had expressed a word here and 
 
 there in its pages by way of apology for what 
 
 -■« may be considered innovation or presumption. 
 
 g But, since the work has passed the press, I have 
 felt more than ever the necessity of great accu- 
 racy in the pursuit of its important inquiries ; 
 and, though my convictions of the correctness 
 of its main features are continually strength- 
 ened, I would have my ideas expressed with 
 such precision, that there should appear noth- 
 ing like error in the facts stated, or in the 
 philosophy set forth. In some instances, this 
 
 286775
 
 IV PREFACE. 
 
 object may not have been fully carried out; 
 and I feel sensible of several deficiencies which 
 will probably be observed by others. 
 
 The composition was first commenced as a 
 private letter, by way of amusement, to a scien- 
 tific friend ; but, the subject having enlarged 
 itself beyond my intention, I followed the sug- 
 gestion of others, and changed my purpose so 
 far as to transform the epistle into a book. 
 Since doing so, I have partly regretted it, for 
 reasons stated sufficiently at large in the body 
 of the work. The views, however, if altogether 
 erroneous, will do no harm to mankind ; but, if 
 correct, they will enlarge the bounds of human 
 knowledge, and impart fresh vigor to scientific 
 inquiry. 
 
 March, 1853.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Development op the Theory of Repulsion as a 
 Planetary, Solar, and Universal Force . . 1 
 
 PART II. 
 
 Analytical Examination of the Solar System, and 
 Application of the Theory of Repulsion to the 
 Creation of the Universe 45 
 
 PART III. 
 
 Inequalities of Surface in the Solid Spheres and 
 the successive revolutions observed through- 
 OUT the Crust of our own Globe, as Results 
 of the alternating Intensity of Cosmical 
 Forces 121
 
 PART I. 
 
 DEVELOPMENT OF THE THEORY OP REPULSION AS 
 A PLANETARY, SOLAR, AND UNIVER- 
 SAL FORCE.
 
 PART I. 
 
 As comparative anatomists, by careful ob- 
 servation of a fossil bone or tooth, may. 
 reconstruct an animal or race which lived 
 during some incalculably remote epoch ; 
 so, by the study of a planet or comet, — 
 mere fragments of the cosmical system, — 
 the primordial condition of the material 
 universe may be discovered, and the action 
 of the laws traced, which governed the 
 creation and motion of the celestial spheres. 
 To attempt merely the outline of such an 
 object is a work of great labor; but con- 
 templations which have given the writer 
 much enjoyment may, when expressed in
 
 4> COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 methodical form, be pleasing and profitable 
 to the general reader, and not without 
 importance to philosophers and scientific 
 inquirers. 
 
 When observing any animal form, we 
 notice its symmetry ; but we know noth- 
 ing of its internal composition, or the prin- 
 ciples of its organization, until we have 
 exposed its entire structure, not only to 
 general, but to microscopical examination. 
 Then alone we discover the facts on which 
 we can found the laws of its inception, 
 growth, and complete creation. The first 
 motion of its molecules, tending to its 
 inception, we may fail to discover, because 
 that lies beyond material being, and is the 
 creative principle itself, lying so remote as 
 to be hidden in chaos, but still so near 
 as to teach that it is the direct agent of the 
 thought and will of God. I shall apply 
 this illustration, so clear and natural as it 
 is, to the principle of analysis which I shall
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 6 
 
 pursue hereafter, in attempting to unfold 
 the mysteries of cosmical creations. To 
 arrive back at the ultimate cause of all 
 things, is what I do not expect nor attempt; 
 but only to examine the sidereal universe, 
 in connection with its great organic forces ; 
 to trace matter from its present combi- 
 nations to its original conditions; and to 
 endeavor to expose the fundamental princi- 
 ples which presided over its agglomeration, 
 and its creation into the actual, visible 
 forms presented in our contemplations of 
 the universe. 
 
 In nature we behold matter existing 
 under two distinct and remarkable forms : 
 one is the condition of separate individual 
 molecules ; the other is the union of these 
 molecules in such prodigious numbers as 
 to constitute the rotund, cosmical spheres 
 suspended in infinite space. Isolate a 
 molecule in the imagination, if possible, 
 and we find it possessed of two principles
 
 4 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 which govern its relations to all other 
 molecules : these are attraction and repul- 
 sion. Philosophers differ somewhat in 
 opinion about the exertion of these forces, 
 when molecules are brought into close 
 relation with each other. One, for in- 
 stance, imagines them separated by an 
 imponderable, inappreciable ether, which, 
 like the atoms themselves, expands and 
 contracts, and which prevents them from 
 ever coming into direct contact. Another 
 believes that molecules are brought by 
 attraction within definite distances of each 
 other, and that there repulsion acts to pre- 
 vent a nearer approach. Apply external 
 force, and overcome this repulsion beyond 
 a certain degree, they approach nearer, and 
 unite with each other into closer relations, 
 forming chemical compounds. These theo- 
 ries are more or less ingenious or probable ; 
 but, as the explanations of the relations of 
 molecules are doctrines developed by pure
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 
 
 reason, acting on certain known facts, the 
 highest orders of intellect may not enter- 
 tain exactly identical views; and it matters 
 not particularly to the final result of this 
 inquiry, as all are agreed on the existence 
 of the two properties which attach to the 
 ultimate particles of matter, — attraction 
 and repulsion. Bring one atom gradually 
 toward another atom ; and, at a certain 
 point, they attract each other, and approach 
 nearer, through the agency of a power re- 
 siding within themselves. At a certain 
 distance, before they come in contact, the 
 force of attraction is arrested ; and they 
 are kept apart by a power of repulsion, 
 which, equally with that of attraction, 
 resides within each molecule. It is an 
 admitted fact in philosophy, that these pro- 
 perties do attach to all ultimate particles 
 of matter. It is a difficult thing to ima- 
 gine the combination of these impondera- 
 ble, polarizing essences or forces with the
 
 6 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 atom of material substance. So far as I 
 can trace these forces to their first action, 
 it has seemed to me necessary, for the pur- 
 pose of establishing motion in the primor- 
 dial molecules diffused throughout space, 
 for them to have these forces located re- 
 spectively in foci equidistant from a given 
 axis. The principles of attraction and re- 
 pulsion being opposite, and thus located, 
 the molecule would be polarized; and the 
 consequence would be, that, in attracting 
 and being attracted, repelling and being 
 repelled, for the purpose of attaching them- 
 selves to each other, a rotary movement 
 would be imparted to all, and the funda- 
 mental act of celestial motion would have 
 been established. Admitting this consti- 
 tution of individual molecules, the same 
 action of rotation on their axes might be 
 imparted to all spherical agglomerations, 
 however vast their magnitude. 
 
 However molecules may be endowed by
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 7 
 
 these opposite forces, we can only deter- 
 mine their mutual action and reaction 
 with distinctness when they are aggrega- 
 ted into spheres, by the observation of 
 comets, when moving within the visible 
 influence of the great central body. 
 
 The sun is supposed to exert its attrac- 
 tive force on its revolving spheres, direct 
 from its centre. Physical astronomers, in 
 all mathematical computations on the dis- 
 tances, motions, &c. of the heavenly bodies, 
 make their calculations from the centre of 
 the sun. Comets are translucent bodies ; 
 and, by that remarkable property in their 
 physical constitution, they exhibit, with 
 great beauty and distinctness, the mobility 
 of their molecules ; and we can see them 
 condense towards the centre, as these bo- 
 dies approach the sun, until they have 
 formed a nucleus, so bright, in some cases, 
 that they are almost star-like. If there be 
 any reciprocity of central forces between
 
 8 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 the sun and its revolving spheres, we can 
 certainly form some idea of their action, 
 from the physical changes which we ob- 
 serve to take place in comets, as they 
 approach and recede from the sun. This 
 is certain, as they approach the sun, their 
 circumference becomes more defined and 
 disk-like, and their centre more dense and 
 compact. The sun, exerting its power 
 from its centre, draws them along their 
 orbit. Is this concentric accumulation of 
 molecules the result of an attractive force 
 in their centres, acting reciprocally with 
 the increasing power of the sun, and 
 assisting them in their gravitating course 
 toward the central body ? or is it the result 
 of a repulsive force, exerted from the cir- 
 cumference of the comet towards its 
 centre, by which its disk becomes more 
 denned, and the whole cometary mass 
 more compact, and by which it is pre- 
 vented from falling into the sun ? or are
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. V 
 
 these extraordinary appearances the results 
 of the combined action of the two forces of 
 attraction and repulsion, made visible by 
 the translucency of comets ? Whatever the 
 nature of the solar forces, or however the 
 central forces of the revolving bodies may 
 respond to the solar forces, one thing is 
 certain, the more the molecules of any mass 
 of matter are compressed by external force, 
 the denser that mass becomes, and the 
 greater is the degree of repulsion awakened 
 between its constituent particles. On a 
 mass of matter, possessed of great molecu- 
 lar mobility, which we may hold in the 
 hand, we may see the effects of mechanical 
 compression. The mass becomes smaller, 
 and the particles composing it are con- 
 tracted into a narrower compass. They 
 are forced into a smaller space by the repel- 
 ling power of external pressure. When 
 this external pressure, which acts like re- 
 pulsion on the outer layer of molecules, is
 
 10 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 removed, the whole mass expands from 
 centre to circumference, and regains the 
 volume it possessed during the natural 
 equilibrium of its particles. What do we 
 behold in comets as they approach and 
 recede from the sun ? When they ap- 
 proach, they diminish in volume, become 
 more dense in their centre and defined in 
 their spherical form. These phenomena 
 increase till they pass their perihelia, when 
 they begin to expand in volume, become 
 more rare, and less defined in their disk; 
 and these characteristics increase till the 
 comet passes out of sight. The sun's 
 action on the gaseous bodies of comets, is 
 similar to that of mechanical pressure on 
 a small sphere of the same composition. 
 What would be the effect of a like action 
 of external pressure upon a hollow sphere 
 of India-rubber, filled with some dense 
 or viscid liquid ? The same as on the 
 gaseous sphere. The particles composing
 
 VIEWS OP THE UNIVERSE. 11 
 
 the ball would be forced into a smaller 
 volume ; and, if the pressure was not uni- 
 form, various parts of the surface would 
 protrude or crack, and its fluid contents 
 would be poured out upon it. Now, what 
 happens to the revolving spheres, whose 
 crusts are solid, when they approach the 
 sun, and while they are in those parts of 
 their orbits nearest to the central body ? 
 The crust is convulsed by the tension of 
 internal re-action ; the fluid contents of the 
 interior escape to the surface ; and the solid 
 crust of the planets rises and falls, in ac- 
 cordance with the local and violent, or the 
 slow and gradual, action of these central 
 forces. These phenomena are all exhibited 
 in direct proportion to the exertion of the 
 solar forces ; and they are observed at their 
 maximum, when the earth is nearest the 
 sun; just as we observe the violent com- 
 motion of the molecular elements of the 
 translucent comet, under the same circum-
 
 12 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 stances. This interesting subject I shall 
 examine more in detail, in a subsequent 
 part of this treatise. 
 
 From these remarks, it would follow that 
 the physical influence exerted by the sun 
 upon revolving spheres, approaching and 
 while nearest to it, is similar to that of 
 mechanical compression. External pres- 
 sure on an elastic ball in our hand is 
 nothing more nor less than a repulsion im- 
 parted by our hand to the external layer of 
 molecules composing the ball ; and this 
 external layer communicates its repulsive 
 action to the next; and so the effect of 
 repulsion is produced from the circumfer- 
 ence to the centre, and a reflex action 
 ensues from the centre to the circumfer- 
 ence. The sun is so vast a sphere, and we 
 are so remote from it, and our means of 
 observation so imperfect, that it is impos- 
 sible for us to discover any change in its 
 disk or appearance, as its dependent revolv-
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 13 
 
 ing spheres approach and move around it. 
 Of its properties we can judge only by 
 studying effects which proceed from it. 
 
 Since the days of Sir Isaac Newton, 
 astronomy has recognized the reign of one 
 principle only among the heavenly bodies 
 for the maintenance of the stability of 
 the universe, — that of attraction. It 
 has become a question of the most pro- 
 found importance to my mind, whether 
 there be not another, exercising a domi- 
 nion equally secret and potent; acting in 
 a manner antagonistic to gravitation, and 
 sustaining, not only the harmonious rela- 
 tion of the various members of our solar 
 system to each other, but that of all the 
 suns, and their systems of revolving orbs, 
 throughout immensity. If a second active 
 principle, reigning over the stability of the 
 universe, be admitted, — that of repulsion, 
 — it appears to me that some of the most 
 difficult problems of celestial motion may
 
 14 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 be easily and beautifully explained. The 
 varying dimensions of the lunar orbit, 
 the lateral expansion of the earth's orbit, 
 the steady advance of the perihelion points 
 of all primaries and secondaries in our 
 system, the precession of the equinoxes, 
 the contracting dimensions of the orbits 
 of certain comets, and the revolutions of 
 multiple stars, are among those prominent 
 phenomena which appear to require the 
 existence of some active principle, antago- 
 nistic to that of attraction, to render their 
 explanation completely simple, satisfactory, 
 and conclusive. 
 
 In molecules, two antagonistic properties 
 exist; and these molecules, in their multi- 
 plied agglomeration, constitute the various 
 revolving spheres, all the way from the 
 smallest meteoric masses to the mightiest 
 central suns in the universe. The principle 
 of attraction follows the agglomeration of 
 these particles of matter; so that, in the
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 15 
 
 revolving bodies, it is manifested in direct 
 proportion to the mass of matter, and as- 
 sumes a magnified energy, called planetary 
 or solar attraction. Why, in this agglo- 
 meration, should not the same principle of 
 repulsion, which exists in individual mole- 
 cules in like manner as attraction, be 
 magnified and multiplied into a universal 
 power of repulsion, so as to become a cen- 
 tral planetary or solar force ? If it be, then 
 all revolving spheres must be possessed of 
 a certain degree of repulsion, which, acting 
 on each other as repulsion acts on mole- 
 cules, must keep them at fixed distances 
 asunder, and prevent them from coming 
 into contact. In spheres, as in molecules, 
 which are infinitesimal spheres, the attrac- 
 tion would ever exert its action within 
 definite distances, beyond which it would 
 not extend. We see this very principle 
 exerted in the planets over their satellites ; 
 and their influence extends not beyond cer-
 
 16 
 
 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 tain absolute limits. So with the sun. Its 
 attractive power is exerted over all the cos- 
 mical bodies within the limits of our sys- 
 tem. That is the domain of solar attraction. 
 That force, by which it causes all bodies 
 in our system to gravitate to its centre, 
 loses its influence beyond a certain bound. 
 Then come the boundaries of other stellar 
 empires. Thus the entire universe is par- 
 titioned off, and the innumerable multitude 
 of stellar worlds hang on nothing through- 
 out the boundless realms of space. It is 
 only when we contemplate the sun in 
 relation to other stars, that we discover the 
 exhibition of the great force of solar, or 
 rather of stellar, repulsion, by which the 
 whole heavens are maintained in the most 
 wonderful harmony during their vast side- 
 real revolutions. Admit repulsion to exist 
 as a universal force, manifested by spheres, 
 and acting in harmonious but antagonistic 
 combination with attraction upon all, and
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 17 
 
 the elements of a compound motion are at 
 once brought into being; which will explain 
 the various forms of planetary and comet- 
 ary paths, and permit a universal stellar 
 motion, without the necessity of imagining 
 a great central body, to which the outer 
 zones of celestial spheres are gravitating. 
 
 In contemplating the vast orbitual mo- 
 tions of the heavenly bodies, and tracing 
 the exertion of the forces in the molecules 
 to their multiplied exhibition in the spheres, 
 it has seemed to me that repulsion must 
 act, in all forms of matter, as a reflex power. 
 It is never exerted by one molecule on 
 another, until they are brought within a 
 given distance of each other. The circle 
 of attraction extends beyond the circle of 
 repulsion, insomuch that molecules, when 
 within given limits, are drawn towards 
 each other, with power increasing as the 
 squares of their distances diminish, until 
 they have attained a relation fixed by the 
 2
 
 18 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 law of repulsion. There they become 
 stationary, and repulsion maintains them 
 at specific distances from each other. 
 Force them beyond this point, and they 
 re-act with visible energy. Attraction is 
 constantly exerting a superior power up to 
 a certain point, and a positive one always 
 at all distances within the circle of its in- 
 fluence; whereas repulsion begins to act 
 with antagonistic energy only at a point 
 within the circle of attraction. Up to that 
 point, repulsion has exerted no energy, and 
 has been a dormant or negative force in 
 the molecule. But at a given point its 
 force is awakened ; and then it becomes 
 also a positive power, but antagonistic or 
 reflex in its action. Press the molecules 
 nearer to each other, and this reflex force of 
 repulsion is clearly demonstrated. 
 
 If I have clearly and correctly stated 
 these principles respecting their manifesta- 
 tion in molecules, we shall find a similar
 
 I 
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 19 
 
 exhibition of their magnified action in 
 spheres revolving in space, whose motions 
 are free, and so majestic and vast that the 
 mind is almost bewildered in contemplat- 
 ing them. The Newtonian philosophy and 
 universal scientific observation have estab- 
 lished beyond question the great principle 
 lying at the foundation of celestial dyna- 
 mics, called attraction of gravitation. Since 
 the sidereal motion of the universe was 
 discovered, this force has been considered 
 to act, from the uttermost bound of stellar 
 creations, towards some central point in 
 infinite space, capable of controlling the 
 entire mechanism of the heavens. It has 
 been supposed that no other power existed 
 in nature of so gigantic a character, and 
 that no other was necessary to maintain 
 the equilibrium and stability of the universe. 
 It is supposed that gravitation exerts itself 
 in such a manner as to create a mutual 
 dependence of one celestial body or system
 
 20 
 
 cosmography: 
 
 upon another for support, by the exercise 
 of its attraction in opposite directions ; so 
 that the entire sidereal creation, from its 
 centre to its outmost borders, is bound to- 
 gether in harmonious relations by this 
 force alone. Is this a reasonable supposi- 
 tion ? Does it explain satisfactorily the 
 mutual revolutions in equal or unequal, 
 or in eccentric orbits of the double and 
 multiple stars ? 
 
 As no other principle of universal power 
 has heretofore been suspected to exist in 
 the universe coextensive in its action on 
 the cosmical spheres with gravitation, I 
 shall present the supposition of a force of 
 universal stellar repulsion, and invite the 
 scientific world to demonstrate that it does 
 not exist. I shall present some aspects of 
 the universe, in which it appears very pro- 
 bable that some gigantic, antagonistic, or 
 reflex principle exerts an agency ; and phy- 
 sical astronomy must decide the existence
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 21 
 
 or absence of such a fundamental power. 
 Suppose the suns, with their primaries and 
 secondaries, each forming a stellar circle, 
 to be suddenly created, more remote from 
 the great attractive centre than they are at 
 present. The central body of each solar 
 system — in other words, the sun or star 
 itself — will be the body whose influence 
 will be exerted on the other stars, and 
 which will be attracted to the great central 
 point of the sidereal universe. Suppose 
 all to be attracted to the great centre by 
 the present existing power of gravitation, 
 why would not all fall, one by one, suc- 
 cessively upon that point ? If moving 
 with the proper sidereal motion, as at pre- 
 sent, why would not all be gathered in 
 gradually, and be swallowed up in that 
 centre ? If the suns in the outer zones of 
 the universe are attracting all their planets 
 toward their centres, and maintaining them 
 in harmonious relation to each other, still
 
 22 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 the suns themselves must yield to the 
 gravitation whose action is to converge all 
 stellar bodies to the great central focus. 
 The suns may exert an attraction upon 
 those next to them, yet all must yield 
 gradually to the irresistible action of the 
 one imperial, celestial law. 
 
 Now, on the other hand, suppose the 
 suns suddenly and perfectly formed as 
 before, and more remote than at present 
 from the great sidereal centre. Let each 
 star be endowed with a force of repulsion, 
 to remain negative or dormant within 
 itself, until awakened at a given period. 
 Let it, at the same time, be endowed with 
 the Newtonian principle of gravitation. 
 Now let the universe commence its proper 
 sidereal motion, and the stellar forces begin 
 their action. The stars will begin to fall 
 to the central focus. All their planets will 
 fall with them, as beautifully as the satel- 
 lites of Saturn move with it in its revo-
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 23 
 
 lution round the sun. The stars alone 
 sustain these vast and primary relations to 
 the great sidereal centre. Their planets 
 are but secondaries in this case, and exert 
 no influence on other stellar circles, inde- 
 pendent of the central solar powers. Now 
 all are converging, with accelerating power, 
 to the sidereal centre. Those which ap- 
 proach it first would fall together, unless 
 the dormant principle of repulsion was 
 awakened in them. What would be the 
 result ? They would assume a curvilinear 
 course, to avoid each other, follow the 
 general sidereal motion, move around the 
 central focus, and revolve around each 
 other. Stars more remote, falling next to 
 them, would encounter the same resist- 
 ance to further approximation to the cen- 
 tre, exert a mutual repulsion, and continue 
 to follow the general, sidereal motion. So 
 with all the stars in the universe. Their 
 final distance from each other would de-
 
 24 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 pend upon their mass, and the peculiar 
 properties of their material constitution. 
 
 In the organic acts by which the stellar 
 bodies were condensed, and made to fall 
 into their present arrangement in space, it 
 is probable that difference of dimensions 
 and physical constitution would create 
 inequalities in the velocity of their motion. 
 This might bring into definite relations 
 bodies framed at immense distances from 
 each other, and they would necessarily 
 form local systems of mutually revolving 
 suns ; and, under certain circumstances 
 of approach, their repulsive powers might 
 so act, that, while one became a central 
 and comparatively stationary body, other 
 members of the group might be thrown 
 into retrograde or direct orbits, and move 
 around it. The arrangement of such clus- 
 ters of stellar systems might be such that 
 their centre of equilibrium would be so 
 near the central star, that to human vision,
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 25 
 
 however highly aided, it would appear 
 entirely stationary. Telescopic scrutiny 
 is revealing double and multiple stars, to 
 the amount of many thousands, in both 
 hemispheres. The difference in color and 
 periodical variations of luminous intensity 
 of ,some single, double, and multiple stars, 
 indicate decided differences of physical 
 constitution among the heavenly bodies. 
 Even in our own system, difference in size, 
 density, color, form, and distance of the 
 revolving orbs, indicates radical differences 
 of physical combinations, and modifica- 
 tions of the fundamental powers which in 
 them respectively respond to the great cen- 
 tral solar forces. 
 
 Now, what would be the effect of this 
 repulsive principle upon the primaries of 
 these suns ? The cosmical bodies of our 
 system are so near, that we can contem- 
 plate their motions with much certainty of 
 precision and correctness. We see them
 
 26 
 
 COSMOGRAPHY 
 
 fall towards the sun, striving, with accele- 
 rated velocity, to reach its centre. In a 
 path as true as the curved form of a conic 
 section, they pursue their course until they 
 can attain a point no nearer the sun than 
 their perihelia. Then they recede, not at 
 a tangent, but in a similar curved line, so 
 as to complete a perfect ellipse ; and the 
 time which they occupy in their vast revo- 
 lutions can be computed to a second, 
 through endless cycles of the past and of 
 the future. Such would always be the 
 case, if no disturbing forces were exerted 
 upon them. The laws governing their 
 motion are so perfect, that their repeated 
 revolutions show the matter in each to 
 have been weighed by the sun so accu- 
 rately, that a molecule added or taken 
 away would modify the degree of attrac- 
 tion, and change the size of their orbits. 
 Heretofore, it has been supposed that the 
 definite and exact value of these orbits
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 27 
 
 has been preserved unchangeable by attrac- 
 tions of the heavenly bodies external to 
 them, counterbalancing their gravitation 
 to the sun. It has been supposed that the 
 planets have been thrown off from the sun; 
 and, having received a centrifugal motion 
 from the rotatory force of the sun, they have 
 been restrained by attraction, and brought, 
 by the compound action of these forces, 
 into an elliptical path ; and so they revolve 
 for ever around the central body by the 
 power of gravitation alone. These doc- 
 trines need to be resurveyed with great 
 candor and care ; for, if an element of uni- 
 versal repulsion should be found to govern 
 the relations of the heavenly bodies, it 
 would greatly facilitate the researches of 
 mathematical astronomy, and lead to yet 
 more wonderful discoveries in the physical 
 constitution of the universe. 
 
 In contemplating the motions of the 
 planets, we find them moving in orbits
 
 28 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 more or less elliptical, and the sun not 
 occupying the centre, but one of the foci of 
 the orbit. This position of the central 
 body in the planetary orbits is necessary 
 for the maintenance of the present rela- 
 tions and economy of the universe. Sup- 
 pose the earth to be situated at a given 
 distance from the sun, and both at rest. 
 Suppose their mutual forces of attrac- 
 tion and repulsion in perfect equilibrium. 
 There they would remain for ever at rest 
 by their inertia. Now, impart an impulse 
 to the earth. The forces of attraction and 
 repulsion being in equipoise, the earth 
 would move in a perfect circle around the 
 sun. So would all the planets under simi- 
 lar relations ; and, under the same circum- 
 stance, the secondaries would move in like 
 manner around their respective primaries. 
 But these are not the natural relations of 
 the cosmical bodies ; and the forces exerted 
 by them, though capable of acting in equi-
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 29 
 
 librium, are exerted on bodies to which an 
 impulse had been communicated previ- 
 ously to their coming within the influence 
 of the reflex power of repulsion. We will 
 again suppose our sun and its attendant 
 spheres to be created suddenly and per- 
 fectly, but more remote from the great 
 sidereal centre than their present arrange- 
 ment. The sun would tend, with accele- 
 rating velocity, toward the sidereal focus. 
 Its attraction, as a positive force, would be 
 exerted to assist to carry it toward that 
 centre, until it attained a certain point in 
 relation to other suns ; and there, attrac- 
 tion would become inoperative, and would 
 be replaced by repulsion, which would be 
 exerted to prevent a nearer approximation 
 of adjacent stars. During the active ope- 
 ration of the sun's attractive principle, the 
 planets would move in the same manner, 
 and press forward towards the solar cen- 
 tre. Solar attraction would increase in
 
 30 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 intensity, the reciprocal attraction of the 
 planets would be communicated to their 
 satellites, and all would move with accu- 
 mulating velocity to their respective central 
 bodies. When the earth, for instance, had 
 attained to that point in space where its 
 repulsive power was awakened, in con- 
 nection with the repulsive power already 
 exerted by the sun to sustain its proper 
 relation to surrounding stars, it would be- 
 gin to be arrested ; and, following the 
 general sidereal movement, would still 
 endeavor to reach the sun. At last the 
 point of the orbit would be reached when 
 the planet could approach the sun no 
 nearer, and would be at its perihelion. 
 The accumulated velocity which the planet 
 had acquired, during its fall through space 
 to this point, would drive it at a tangent 
 from the sun, but for the power of attrac- 
 tion, which still holds it within a defi- 
 nite distance. It continues to move by
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 31 
 
 necessity, and hereafter will be acted on by 
 the compound force of the two powers of 
 attraction and repulsion, which are exerted 
 through the sun from the sidereal centre. 
 An equipoised action of the two forces 
 would exist only when the planet moved 
 in a circle around the central body, at uni- 
 form radial distances from it. Moving in 
 an ellipse, with the sun in one of its foci, 
 the two powers would be exerted une- 
 qually upon the revolving body in every 
 point of its orbit. The power of attraction 
 would be predominant while the planet 
 was approaching the central body, and 
 repulsion while it was receding from it. 
 The regular action of these forces upon all 
 revolving spheres within the circle of their 
 influence would be to bring them within 
 the range of their equilibrium ; but, being 
 exerted by the sun to sustain its relations 
 to other stars, these forces are constantly 
 in a positive state of action, alternating
 
 32 
 
 COSMOGRAPHY 
 
 their intensity only as revolving spheres 
 are brought within, or carried beyond, 
 certain points equidistant from the solar 
 centre. Now in these respects the attrac- 
 tive and repulsive motion of the planets, in 
 regard to the sun, resembles the action of 
 molecules when they are forced within or 
 beyond a certain point of relation to each 
 other. This is remarkable ; and when we 
 consider that the entire sidereal universe is 
 composed of cosmical spheres, which are 
 merely vast agglomerations of molecules 
 possessing two positive and known forces 
 of attraction and repulsion, absolute and 
 reciprocal, and that these molecules must 
 carry their individual forces with them 
 under all circumstances, we must think it 
 extraordinary if only one force, that of 
 multiplied or planetary attraction, should 
 exist, and that the universal influence of 
 repulsion should be lost in the agglome- 
 ration. If this doctrine is examined by
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 33 
 
 astronomers and philosophers, and applied 
 to the heavenly bodies in all its details 
 and with mathematical accuracy, I have 
 ventured to believe that it will result in the 
 most beautiful harmony of numbers, and 
 in the simplified demonstration of pheno- 
 mena which have heretofore been myste- 
 rious or inexplicable. 
 
 If we extend this investigation one step 
 further, and follow the moon in its revolu- 
 tions round the earth, we shall observe that 
 the dimensions of its orbit are inversely as 
 the distance of the earth from the sun. 
 When the earth is nearest the sun, its 
 repulsion is the greatest ; and then the 
 moon, sensible of the influence of this 
 positive and powerful force, is the most 
 remote from the earth. Being the depen- 
 dant of the earth, as the earth is of the 
 sun, it is obedient to terrestrial forces as its 
 primary is obedient to solar forces, and as 
 the sun is in like manner obedient to the 
 
 3
 
 34 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 great sidereal central forces. So, again, 
 when the earth is most remote from the 
 sun, the moon's orbit is the smallest, and 
 that body is nearest the earth. Here the 
 repulsive force of the earth, superinduced 
 by solar influence, has become greatly 
 diminished ; and the moon, obedient to 
 attraction, falls nearer to the earth. 
 Hereby its motion is accelerated, and its 
 orbit diminished in size. Thus these in- 
 equalities of the lunar orbit alternate with 
 each other; and the slightest changes are 
 compensated by the opposing forces, in 
 exactly opposite points of the earth's orbit. 
 During the earth's advancement to its peri- 
 helion, the attraction of the sun is positive. 
 The earth yields to it with accelerating 
 velocity ; and, at the same time, a principle 
 of repulsion is accumulating in it. The 
 moon, being the earth's dependant, feels 
 this as a positive power, and recedes pro- 
 gressively, until, at the perihelion, terres-
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 35 
 
 trial repulsion is at its maximum : there 
 the lunar orbit is greatest. The intensities 
 of the terrestrial and solar forces are here 
 exchanged. The sun's repulsion becomes 
 positive, and the repulsive power of the 
 earth is gradually yielded up. Attraction 
 becomes predominant and positive, and 
 the moon falls again towards the centre of 
 the earth. Such appears to be the action 
 of these forces. Both undoubtedly exist ; 
 but a complete understanding of the com- 
 plex details of their action I do not pretend 
 to possess. Future investigation must 
 establish the accurate operation and ad- 
 justment of these forces. The translucency 
 of comets exhibits, with unmistakable dis- 
 tinctness, the remarkable fact, that alter- 
 nating changes of molecular arrangement 
 do take place throughout the entire radial 
 structure of cosmical spheres, through the 
 action of these all-pervading solar powers. 
 The body approaches the sun, and we
 
 36 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 behold its volume diminish, and its parti- 
 cles condense, towards its centre. The 
 condensation of these particles indicates 
 the exertion of a force upon the atomic 
 constitution of the comet which acts si- 
 milar to external pressure ; and, as a 
 natural result, these molecules must exert 
 a strong individual repulsion upon each 
 other. The whole comet, then, at its peri- 
 helion, through the individual action of its 
 molecules, would be in a high and positive 
 state of tension and repulsion. The conse- 
 quence would appear to follow, that this 
 body, by its original momentum, added 
 to the velocity acquired in falling through 
 one half of its orbit, had been impelled into 
 solar relations unnatural to the equilibri- 
 ous condition of its molecules, and thereby 
 a force of repulsion had been awakened in 
 them, which reached its maximum when 
 the body was at perihelion ; and that this 
 repulsion, added to its accumulated velo-
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 37 
 
 city at that point, must be the force to 
 project it through the receding half of its 
 orbit. The same action must necessarily 
 be exerted on all other revolving spheres ; 
 but their density and physical constitution 
 are such that no telescopic observations 
 have as yet discovered any change in their 
 form or appearance. Inequalities in the 
 lunar orbit, however, show an exhibition 
 of similar forces excited in the molecular 
 structure of our own planet ; and geognos- 
 tic phenomena, which I shall examine 
 hereafter, will confirm the existence of the 
 positive and alternating operation of these 
 radial forces, and of a powerful internal 
 tension exerted from the centre to the sur- 
 face of the globe. 
 
 Of the existence of these antagonistic 
 powers of nature, their compound action, 
 and their alternating intensities exerted to 
 maintain all the celestial motions and the 
 stability of the universe, I cannot doubt ; 
 
 286775
 
 38 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 but the methods of their operation are 
 complex and mysterious. Still, the exer- 
 cise of these two powers in spheres should 
 excite no more surprise than their exercise 
 in molecules. We can demonstrate their 
 existence in either case only by their 
 effects ; and, if a power of attraction, mul- 
 tiplied in proportion to the accumulation 
 of molecules, should be manifested, and the 
 opposite principle of repulsion — which, 
 in the isolated molecule, accompanied at- 
 traction side by side — should be lost, or 
 become negative, we should wonder more 
 at the method of its extinction than at the 
 effects of its exhibition. The operation of 
 these mysterious principles on matter, or 
 their connection with matter, mankind per- 
 haps may never fully comprehend. The 
 exertion of these great forces of nature, 
 growing out of their connection with 
 matter, is no more wonderful than the 
 manifestation of the varied powers of the
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 39 
 
 human understanding, and no more diffi- 
 cult of explanation than the connection of 
 these powers with the organized fibres 
 of the cerebrum. Both lie deep in the 
 constitution of nature, and both equally 
 display the most consummate wisdom and 
 marvellous power of the Deity. 
 
 Inquiry, however, is always legitimate, 
 when based on facts ; and the accumula- 
 tions of scientific research would allow, at 
 present, some attempt at generalization. 
 
 I have heretofore stated, that, as far as 
 my contemplations could trace the indwell- 
 ings of the two powers of attraction and 
 repulsion in molecules, they resided re- 
 spectively in foci equidistant from a given 
 axis. What would be the mutual action 
 of molecules thus endowed, at equal dis- 
 tances from their axes, with opposite prin- 
 ciples ? This is neither more nor less than 
 the polarization of matter in its ultimate 
 state of divisibility. We shall conceive
 
 40 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 at once, — if in boundless space, where 
 these atoms of matter could move with the 
 utmost freedom, — that, if points endowed 
 with similar principles were presented to 
 each other, motion would ensue. Suppose 
 the universe of matter, in its primordial, 
 attenuated, and molecular state, to be sud- 
 denly endowed by the Almighty with these 
 two forces ; — being on each side of the 
 given axis of a molecule, universal rotary 
 motion would be imparted throughout infi- 
 nite space, nuclei would be established, 
 and matter would agglomerate into spheri- 
 cal forms. 
 
 Whatever the special act of the Creator 
 was, by which central points or foci in 
 various parts of the universe were located, 
 the uniform result would follow, that 
 atoms would carry into their agglomera- 
 tion the fundamental forces and properties 
 which they possessed in their original iso- 
 lated condition. Thus their powers of
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 41 
 
 repulsion and attraction would be multi- 
 plied in proportion to the accumulation of 
 molecules, and the effect of their union 
 might be even to intensify the forces ag- 
 gregated in the mass. Now, present two 
 spheres to each other, thus formed and 
 thus endowed. Both are polarized, and 
 endowed with opposite principles, in every 
 particle of their structure. They had re- 
 ceived a rotatory motion during their for- 
 mation ; and it must continue by a physical 
 necessity, and depend upon reciprocal an- 
 tagonism of forces established, in the dawn 
 of their being. Here lies the secret of rota- 
 tion in the heavenly bodies ; for it is quite 
 clear to the understanding, as they hang 
 in space, suspended only by the forces of 
 attraction and repulsion, that they must 
 always move in such a manner as to main- 
 tain the equilibrium of forces exerted be- 
 tween themselves and the bodies on which 
 they are dependent for support. Thus in
 
 42 COSMOGRAPHY. 
 
 our satellite we behold these forces adjusted 
 to some special manifestation of force in 
 the primary, and so acting that the. same 
 meridional areas of the moon are always 
 presented to the earth. 
 
 This demonstrates clearly that some po- 
 larizing principle is accumulated on the 
 terrestrial side of the lunar axis, which re- 
 sponds to an attractive influence pervading 
 the entire mass of our own planet. A 
 similar correspondence of phenomena is 
 observed to exist between Jupiter and its 
 satellites ; and, so far as observation ex- 
 tends, the same unique relations are be- 
 lieved to hold between the planet Saturn 
 and its numerous dependencies. 
 
 All these inquiries are very curious, and 
 the phenomena so remarkable that science 
 will be richly rewarded by diligent explo- 
 rations of these mysterious paths through 
 the celestial universe.
 
 PART II. 
 
 ANALYTICAL EXAMINATION OP THE SOLAR SYSTEM, 
 
 AND APPLICATION OP THE THEORY OF 
 
 REPULSION TO THE CREATION 
 
 OP THE UNIVERSE.
 
 PART II. 
 
 Having finished my preliminary remarks, 
 I will enter upon a plan of analysis of the 
 material creation, which I trust may throw 
 new and additional light upon the foot- 
 steps of the Creator. To do this as intel- 
 ligibly as possible, I will name in detail 
 the fundamental forces, or rather the diffe- 
 rent exhibitions of the same force, which 
 philosophy declares to hold supreme con- 
 trol over matter in all its forms. 
 
 All atoms of matter are held together by 
 a peculiar sort of force, called molecular 
 attraction. This arranges molecules into 
 masses.
 
 46 cosmography: 
 
 All masses of molecules are held to- 
 gether by another form of force, called 
 cohesion. 
 
 Besides these forms of attractive force, — 
 which, acting apparently in a local and 
 conditional manner, govern the relation of 
 molecules, and of masses of heterogeneous 
 composition that in the aggregate form the 
 globe, — another form of the same force, 
 more general and unconditional, exists, 
 which binds all molecules, whether isolated 
 or arranged in masses, to the centre of our 
 planet : this is gravity, or terrestrial attrac- 
 tion. This arranges all masses of matter 
 into a defined spherical form, and thus 
 maintains them. In other words, it forms 
 worlds. 
 
 Another exhibition of physical force, 
 quite as wonderful and still more mighty, 
 binds this earth and all other planets to 
 the sun. This form of attraction is sola? 
 gravitation.
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 47 
 
 The remaining form of attractive power 
 which astronomers have conjectured to 
 exist, and which binds all systems of suns 
 and their dependencies to some great cen- 
 tral focal point, might with propriety be 
 called universal gravitation. I have not 
 intended to speak of the action or results 
 of this force particularly ; but, if the views 
 of creation, which have been awakened in 
 my mind, be true respecting the earth and 
 solar system that are mainly within reach 
 of observation and mathematical calcula- 
 tion, then, as complete harmony reigns 
 throughout the works of God, the same 
 great laws will appear to preside over the 
 entire universe. 
 
 The principles on which I shall attempt 
 my analysis of the material creation will 
 be based on these different exhibitions of 
 force which have been long known, and 
 admitted to be governing properties of 
 matter. The first two are familiar to com-
 
 48 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 mon philosophy. With the last three, 
 astronomers are especially familiar, as they 
 form the basis of the mathematical truths 
 which so highly distinguish their sublime 
 studies. 
 
 The necessity of the most rigid analysis 
 in these researches must be admitted, be- 
 cause the truths sought are sublime in 
 character; and, once established, their im- 
 portance will be as valuable to science as 
 the great planetary laws unfolded by Co- 
 pernicus, Kepler, or Newton. The views 
 which have been deeply impressed upon 
 my mind do not conflict with the discove- 
 ries of these remarkable men ; but, if true, 
 they will enlarge the field of natural laws, 
 and give a new impulse to scientific in- 
 quiry in searching out the wonders of the 
 worlds above and of the earth beneath. 
 
 The largest and most accurate results in 
 mathematics t are arrived at by using an 
 assumption as the basis of calculation.
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 49 
 
 Even Kepler's laws were established by 
 the most laborious researches of this sort ; 
 and, in a branch of inquiry so purely philo- 
 sophical as that proposed, while I govern 
 myself by strictly inductive argument, 
 based on facts, it must not be expected for 
 mathematics to take part in the analysis, 
 but only in the establishment of the great 
 truths promulgated. Facts and philoso- 
 phy must reveal physical truth ; further 
 observation and mathematics confirm it. 
 
 The course which I purpose to adopt, 
 to make my views the most intelligible, 
 is to unbind, one by one, the forces of 
 nature, and set matter completely free ; 
 and to present it to the mind unsubjected 
 to the control of any physical law. To 
 annihilate at once all the attractive and 
 gravitative forces would confuse the argu- 
 ment, and we should arrive at less satisfac- 
 tory results. To connect the analysis of 
 4
 
 50 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 our solar system with that of other sys- 
 tems would render inquiry complex, and 
 embarrass the understanding. 
 
 I shall, therefore, at present suppose that 
 our solar system is the only and entire 
 universe, excepting immensity of space ; 
 that the whole stellar creation has no be- 
 ing, and that no physical force depending 
 on or derived from it exists ; in a word, 
 that the sun and its planets comprise the 
 whole creation, and are uncontrolled by 
 any external law. By this position, I 
 unbind the solar system from the law of 
 universal gravitation, and the sun would 
 be its central and a stationary body. 
 
 In the second place, suppose the power 
 of solar gravitation, and all planetary at- 
 traction, so far as they control the motion 
 of the earth, to be suddenly and entirely 
 suspended. The result would be that the 
 earth would quit its orbit, and move in- 
 definitely in a straight line. Thus it is
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 51 
 
 wholly free in space, and is uncontrolled 
 by any external law. It rotates on its 
 axis, and is bound together by the extraor- 
 dinary internal forces of gravity, cohesion, 
 and molecular attraction. Suspend the 
 action of these forces one after the other : 
 what will be the result? Take away gra- 
 vity ; the whole mass immediately expands 
 to an indefinite degree. Destroy cohesion; 
 its rotatory motion rends it into fragments. 
 Those forms of matter, as the metals, 
 which, in the present state of the globe, 
 are the heaviest, would become equally 
 light as the most attenuated substances. 
 All solid or sensible form of matter would 
 be resolved. Annihilate molecular attrac- 
 tion ; the ultimate atoms (still possessing 
 a repulsive principle) would be wholly un- 
 bound from each other, and would exist in 
 the most simple, attenuated, and aeriform 
 condition ; so infinitesimal and so indefi- 
 nitely ultimate, as to defy all reason or
 
 52 cosmography: 
 
 imagination to give them form or being, 
 or even the susceptibilities of motion or 
 activity. That would be the ultimate 
 divisibility of matter. 
 
 This is a reasonable and just conclusion 
 from all the assumptions laid down. The 
 results of abrogating all these natural 
 forces would be as positive as is the exist- 
 ence of present forms of matter governed 
 by these same forces. Let them all be 
 abrogated at once, and let this suspension 
 be applied to all the revolving spheres in 
 our system : the result would be their dis- 
 persion to remote regions of space ; the 
 immediate expansion of their masses, as 
 they receded from the sun ; their simulta- 
 neous dissolution into fragments, and into 
 the ultimate and simple condition of their 
 primordial molecules. 
 
 Thus all the cosmical bodies of this sys- 
 tem, except the sun, would be reduced to 
 their original elements.
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 53 
 
 In resolving the sun back to its original 
 elements by the process which has been 
 adopted with the earth, it will be observed 
 that we set at liberty forms or properties 
 of matter which differ from those com- 
 posing the planets. That form of matter 
 which has been created as the vast store- 
 house of light and heat for its attendant 
 opaque spheres, is to radiate in all direc- 
 tions its material, subtile, and self-luminous 
 molecules. Its own solar gravity being, 
 annihilated, its mass expands indefinitely. 
 Its rotatory motion rends it to pieces ; and 
 its luminous and opaque fragments, ma- 
 terial and gaseous, are projected in all 
 directions, from its centre towards the con- 
 fines of the solar domain. The cohesive 
 and molecular forces being abrogated, the 
 whole solar orb would be dissolved into 
 its original highly attenuated and self- 
 luminous elements, and be mingled with 
 the elements of the other cosmical bodies.
 
 54 cosmography: 
 
 The hidden forces of repulsion, by which 
 the sun, as an orb, possesses the wonderful 
 powers of sustaining the revolving spheres 
 at certain and definite distances from itself, 
 would still attach to its ultimate particles ; 
 and the same differing polarity would exist 
 in the molecules filling up infinite space, 
 which at present exists among all the bo- 
 dies constituting the solar system. 
 
 By this method of investigation, we can 
 just as certainly arrive back at the original 
 condition of matter, and prove that the 
 planets had no existence as spheres at 
 some unknown age of the universe, as 
 we can demonstrate, by removing stratum 
 after stratum of organic remains, that, at 
 some former age of the earth, there was 
 neither animal nor vegetable life upon its 
 surface. One fact is quite as certain, and 
 almost as demonstrable, as the other. Ob- 
 servation of geological facts proves the 
 latter. The powers of logic and mathe-
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 55 
 
 matics, in the solution of physical laws, 
 establish the former. 
 
 Having attained, by the preceding me- 
 thod of research, what I believe to have 
 been the original and differing condition of 
 the material molecules at present compos- 
 ing the solar system, I shall assume it as a 
 fact, and commence the constructive part 
 of my argument. 
 
 The assumption, then, on which I base 
 my theory of the universe is this, — that 
 the matter constituting the present solar 
 system was, at some incalculably remote 
 epoch, diffused throughout space, and ex- 
 isted only in the most attenuate state of 
 being ; and that the forces which now con- 
 trol created worlds had not been ordained 
 to exert their energies on the primordial 
 molecules. 
 
 Scientific research proclaims the sun to 
 be a mass of matter, differing in funda-
 
 56 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 mental properties from the opaque spheres 
 which revolve around it. Its position, as 
 the central body of the solar system, con- 
 trolling the motions and phenomena of all 
 bodies external to it, demonstrates its origin 
 to have differed from theirs, and to have 
 been a more important act of creation. It 
 is self-evident that the sun, or the universal 
 energy residing in its centre, must have 
 been created and located antecedent to 
 the existence of bodies dependent on it for 
 their support. 
 
 Divine Wisdom having located the solar 
 focus, and originated solar gravity (not 
 that force called solar gravitation, by which 
 planets are drawn to the centre of the sun, 
 but its internal, accumulative force, on 
 which its special material creation de- 
 pended), the material particles, subject to 
 this peculiar attractive power, felt its influ- 
 ence, and concentrated around it, as grains 
 of ferruginous sand fly towards loadstone.
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 57 
 
 The energy of this local force was com- 
 municated simultaneously to the extreme 
 boundaries of solar empire ; and all matter 
 obedient to it converged to the solar focus. 
 The molecular and cohesive forces exert- 
 ing their power also, the vast, opaque, solid 
 solar sphere was in due time formed ; and 
 around it flowed oceans of gaseous fluid, 
 intensely refulgent. These envelops must 
 be composed of the last and most aeriform 
 molecules, which were elected by solar gra- 
 vity to compose the sun. 
 
 At this period, — the close of the sun- 
 forming epoch, — probably originated that 
 numerous class of eccentric and curious 
 bodies which so astonished mankind in 
 past ages, and whose character has defied 
 the researches of science and philosophy. 
 
 I will consider at some length the na- 
 ture of these bodies, as it is in connection 
 with them that I venture to propound the 
 existence of a law which applies equally to
 
 58 cosmography: 
 
 all revolving spheres in the solar system, 
 and to the whole universe of cosmical 
 creations. I present it with conflicting 
 feelings of doubt, delicacy, and confidence. 
 The first have embarrassed me, because I 
 possess not that measure of knowledge 
 requisite to determine the mathematical 
 details of its applicability. The second 
 have oppressed me, because it seems like 
 innovation in a science whose wonderful 
 problems have been solved by genius of 
 the highest order, on principles of celestial 
 mechanics, considered sufficiently accurate 
 to yield the most truthful results. But 
 I have been at last emboldened, because it 
 was my conviction that some great, secret 
 agency was lying behind unexplained phe- 
 nomena so sublime and gigantic in char- 
 acter, that a universal force alone could 
 produce them ; and that an ever-active 
 principle of universal repulsion was as 
 necessary for the stability and harmonious
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 
 
 59 
 
 developments of the universe, as the beau- 
 tiful Newtonian truth of gravitation. Mu- 
 tual attraction and mutual repulsion, local 
 and universal, are twin principles lying in 
 opposite points of the great circle of physi- 
 cal events. They are inexhaustible foun- 
 tains of power, between which hang atoms, 
 globes, suns, and systems, striving for 
 equilibrium ; refreshing their ceaseless mo- 
 tions with new forces, and accomplishing 
 silently, from cycle to cycle, the inexplica- 
 ble destinies of their creation. 
 
 In like manner as the opaque and solid 
 mass of the sun resembles the opaque and 
 solid condition of the planets which revolve 
 around it, so does its refulgent gaseous 
 envelop, with its radiant zodiacal light, 
 resemble the cometary bodies and their 
 luminous appendages. Comets, in all 
 their elements, plainly direct our conjec- 
 tures to trace their origin to solar sources.
 
 60 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 What does the eccentricity of their orbits 
 indicate ? That they originated in the 
 remotest confines of the solar domain, and 
 that the atmosphere of the sun was drawn 
 from regions, as far at least as they can 
 recede into space. What do the various 
 degrees of inclination and obliquity of their 
 orbits to the plane of the sun's equator 
 indicate? That the elementary molecules, 
 constituting the great central body, became 
 obedient to the creative forces of molecular 
 attraction, cohesion, and solar gravity, in 
 all directions from its centre. What do 
 the varying orbitual motions — almost as 
 frequently retrograde as direct — indicate? 
 That their formation took place under 
 different circumstances, and probably at a 
 different time, from the formation of the 
 planets, and that they were created in 
 direct relation to the sun ; and that, as 
 luminous masses, destined to make up the 
 bulk of the solar atmosphere, they were
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 
 
 61 
 
 arrested by sudden repulsive forces, and 
 diverted into orbits of endless irregularity. 
 The various and highly eccentric forms of 
 their orbits ; the endless diversity of incli- 
 nation and obliquity of these orbits to the 
 plane of the sun's equator ; the equally 
 frequent retrograde and direct motions of 
 these bodies themselves, as well as their 
 physical nature and appearance, — all de- 
 clare, with unmistakable signincancy, that 
 their origin differs altogether from that of 
 the planetary orbs, and that they are more 
 nearly allied in nature to the gaseous en- 
 velops of the sun than to any other form of 
 matter in the universe. 
 
 Now we will examine these extraordinary 
 gaseous spheres more in detail. When very 
 remote from the sun, they all appear alike 
 in form, and no diversity of nature is obser- 
 vable in them. The further they recede 
 from the sun, the more they expand in bulk ; 
 their outline becomes less denned ; they di-
 
 62 cosmography: 
 
 minish in refulgence, and fade away entirely 
 from the sight. It is only when comets 
 approach the sun, that they exhibit pecu- 
 liar and astonishing characters. When near 
 enough to be observed with mathematical 
 distinctness, they are seen to diminish in 
 size, to grow brighter throughout, and be- 
 come more defined in their circumference, 
 and more dense and luminous at their centre. 
 Sometimes suddenly, sometimes gradually, 
 a train of light, varying in appearance in 
 different comets, is projected in a direction 
 opposite to the sun. This increases in 
 brightness, size, or length, and the whole 
 sphere in refulgence, until it passes its 
 perihelion, when all these extraordinary phe- 
 nomena, which have been awakened by 
 solar influence, gradually grow less marked, 
 until the comet is resolved to a pale, misty, 
 loosely-defined gaseous sphere, dilating as 
 it advances into remote regions of space. 
 "What are the solar forces which occasion
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 63 
 
 the change in absolute dimension, the in- 
 creased density and brightness of the centre, 
 and the wonderful luminous appendages, 
 of this class of celestial bodies ? To facili- 
 tate research, this inquiry may be divided 
 into two parts. What power causes a 
 contraction of comets, and an increased 
 density and brightness of their centre, as 
 they approach the sun ? and why do they 
 expand, and become more rare and less 
 refulgent, at their centres, as they recede 
 from the sun ? The elucidation of this 
 question must form one of the most 
 important investigations in astronomical 
 science, and lead to the establishment of a 
 celestial law, equal in importance to that 
 of gravitation, and ranging, side by side, 
 with it, in all calculations of the motions 
 of the heavenly bodies. 
 
 Philosophical study, and experiment on 
 various forms of matter composing this 
 planet, have made us acquainted with the
 
 64 
 
 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 fundamental principle, that no two mole- 
 cules are in absolute contact with each 
 other ; that they are endowed with forces of 
 attraction and repulsion, which maintain 
 them at fixed distances from each other, 
 and restore them to this state of equi- 
 librium, when it is disturbed by external 
 causes. 
 
 This is an established law, underlying 
 all the exhibitions of physical force within 
 human observation, chemical affinity, mole- 
 cular attraction, cohesion, adhesion, and 
 terrestrial gravity. It is clear, if such a law 
 preside over the structure of a grain of sand, 
 it must also over that of its parent rock, and 
 so over that of the whole mountain mass 
 from which that rock was torn, and so 
 throughout the structure of the whole 
 globe. However movable the fluids com- 
 posing the ocean or atmosphere, the same 
 principle prevails in their molecular rela- 
 tions. Whatever the form of matter,
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 65 
 
 however subtile, however dense, there reign 
 the antagonistic energies of this law. 
 
 This being an established physical law, 
 it must prevail universally throughout the 
 entire realm of matter. 
 
 The material constitution of comets has 
 never been questioned : all telescopic ob- 
 servations, all analogies, prove their nuclei 
 to be of a more or less dense molecular 
 structure. If so, then their entire mass 
 must be subject to contraction and expan- 
 sion, depending on the mutually attractive 
 or repulsive condition of their constituent 
 molecules. For a change of this sort to be 
 aroused throughout their entire molecular 
 mass, from centre to periphery, some all- 
 pervading and omnipotent disturbing force 
 must be exerted. As comets approach the 
 sun, they contract in volume ; as they 
 recede, they dilate. The disturbing power, 
 then, which causes this visible and remark- 
 able change in their dimensions, lies in the 
 5
 
 66 cosmography: 
 
 central body. What is it? It is a force 
 which evidently acts on the revolving 
 bodies, in the same manner as mechanical 
 pressure acts on matter under human 
 control. I call it cosmical repulsion; and I 
 hope in the sequel to demonstrate its 
 action on the solid planets, as positively as 
 we see its exhibition on the gaseous spheres. 
 The promulgation of the idea will create 
 profound and candid inquiry in various 
 ways ; and I trust to future observation, 
 more than to my present argument, to 
 establish the truth of a universal law, like 
 the following: — Tliat cosmical spheres pos- 
 sess a power of repulsion, by which they are 
 prevented for ever from falling together, and 
 by which they are sustained in their orbits, 
 at fixed distances from the sun; — in other 
 words, that all cosmical spheres possess a 
 vital centre, from which is constantly radia- 
 ting repulsive forces, acting on similar and 
 distant spheres, in proportion to their size, 
 density, or other physical susceptibilities.
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 67 
 
 Comets being of a gaseous character, 
 the mobility of their molecules must be 
 very sensible and very free. Being as 
 subject to the great law of solar repulsion 
 as the planets, they show a positive and 
 perceptible change in their volume, which 
 cannot be so easily detected in the planets, 
 in consequence of their great density. Be- 
 sides, possessing a near resemblance to the 
 solar atmosphere, and being governed as 
 much by relations to it as to the sun's 
 opaque mass, they are more easily acted on 
 by light and heat, or the electric forces of 
 the solar rays. Impelled by the great law 
 of attraction, these cometary bodies fell 
 from the regions of space, where their ma- 
 terials had been condensed, in a straight 
 line toward the centre of the sun ; and 
 they continued to fall,, until they began to 
 encounter the influence of the antagonistic 
 law of repulsion. At this point, they began 
 to deviate from the straight line ; and their
 
 68 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 course was bent into a curve, more or less 
 modified, according as the repulsive influ- 
 ence exerted between these bodies and the 
 sun affected the projectile or gravitative 
 motion already imparted to them. Thus 
 they advanced toward the sun with ac- 
 cumulating velocity. Feeling more and 
 more within their mass the influence of 
 a solar force acting like repulsion, their 
 molecules condense, and gather more com- 
 pactly around their centre; and thereby 
 they acquire an accumulating tension, and 
 more energetic repulsive forces of their 
 own. By the self-regulating energy of 
 their own central powers, they are con- 
 stantly maintained at definite distances 
 from the central body. Meantime that 
 central body is drawing them forward with 
 a power increasing in intensity as the 
 squares of their distances diminish. An 
 accumulating repulsive action is generated 
 in these bodies, at the same time that the
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 69 
 
 positive and predominant agency of the 
 sun is exerted to draw them toward itself. 
 In this manner these antagonistic forces 
 exert their energies, and in a measure con- 
 trol each other, until comets attain their 
 nearest possible approach to the sun. At 
 their perihelia, these antagonistic forces 
 exhibit their greatest power; and, having 
 been impelled into relations wholly at vari- 
 ance with an equipoised condition of these 
 forces, the moving spheres must change 
 their position by an imperious physical 
 necessity. Once in motion, celestial bo- 
 dies must continue to move through all 
 time ; and so these bodies would recede 
 from the sun, moving conjointly by radial 
 repulsive influences, and the momentum 
 imparted at their perihelia ; which momen- 
 tum would be the accumulated velocitv 
 acquired during their fall to their perihelia, 
 from that point in space where their foci 
 of atomic agglomeration were located by
 
 70 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 the will of God. Never relieved from solar 
 attraction, their receding motion is neces- 
 sarily a curved one, and at last they fall 
 into that path which they assumed when 
 first forced to deviate from a rectilinear 
 course. The path of a revolving sphere 
 once defined, there it must remain for ever, 
 unless modified by the influence of some 
 disturbing forces. 
 
 On the principles of this illustration, it 
 appears to me that the celestial motions 
 may be calculated with more simplicity ; 
 and that phenomena which heretofore have 
 greatly perplexed astronomers, and which 
 even now are not explained without diffi- 
 culty, may be rendered harmonious and 
 satisfactory. 
 
 In expressing so concisely the preceding 
 views on the causes of the contraction 
 and expansion of comets, and the alter- 
 nating density of their nuclei as they ap-
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 71 
 
 proach and recede from the sun, I hope to 
 have been sufficiently clear for the reader 
 to comprehend them. Being new, and 
 difficult of explanation, they may be better 
 understood perhaps after the examination 
 of similar changes which take place in 
 the solid planets. The increasing and de- 
 creasing brightness of their nuclei, as they 
 approach or recede from the neighborhood 
 of the sun, coming more properly under 
 the second division of the question, I shall 
 unite that subject with the inquiry into 
 the nature of the luminous appendages 
 which distinguish some of these eccentric 
 and wonderful bodies. 
 
 Astronomers, without exception, cannot, 
 so far as I am informed, divest their 
 minds of the belief that the tails of comets 
 are material, and are composed of matter 
 similar to that constituting the nucleus, 
 and that they are poured out from it. I 
 hope to be able to give a new direction
 
 72 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 to inquiry, and to make an important sug- 
 gestion, on this interesting subject. The 
 simple fact, that these appendages some- 
 times appear and disappear under the 
 observations of the telescope, and always 
 in a direction opposite to the sun, should 
 be sufficient to destroy all belief in their 
 material constitution, or that they were 
 composed of material emanations from the 
 nucleus. 
 
 Comets contract in volume, become more 
 denned in their circumference, brighter 
 throughout, and particularly bright and 
 more dense in their centre, as they ap- 
 proach the sun. These characteristics all 
 grow more intense, until the comet passes 
 its perihelion, when they gradually dimi- 
 nish, and the comet fades away into an 
 ill-defined, misty spot, which finally is lost 
 in space. The question is, What are the 
 solar forces which produce these luminous 
 phenomena ?
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 73 
 
 I have already shown with great proba- 
 bility, that the physical structure of comets 
 is similar to the gaseous and luminous 
 fluids which surround the sun, and that 
 they are vestiges of the primordial molecu- 
 lar masses which were drawn towards the 
 sun to constitute its envelop, becoming 
 endowed, by laws attached to that form 
 of matter, with central forces of their own, 
 by which they are maintained at fixed 
 distances from the sun, and revolve around 
 that orb. 
 
 The present state of knowledge allows 
 us to believe that the sun is an opaque, 
 solid globe ; that one stratum of its at- 
 mosphere is intensely refulgent, and the 
 source of rays which, highly endowed with 
 calorific, luminous, and electrical forces, 
 stimulate with kindred powers all the 
 spheres which revolve around it, and on 
 which these rays fall. Why should comets 
 not feel the stimulating influence of these
 
 74 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 rays, as well as the gaseous envelop of 
 our own globe? and why should not che- 
 mical, electrical, and mechanical action be 
 excited among their molecules, as well as 
 on the surface of this planet ? There are 
 certain forms of transparent solid matter 
 on this earth, which, exposed to the rays of 
 light, reflect and refract those rays with 
 intense resplendency ; and not only so, but 
 absorb them so as to radiate light for some 
 time afterwards. Why, then, may not 
 forms of matter, which are allied in com- 
 position to the luminous envelops of the 
 sun, receive such impressions from its rays 
 as to stimulate their natural forces, and 
 thus to renew the energy and luminous 
 character of those rays, and transmit them 
 beyond into infinite space with all the 
 velocity of light emanating directly from 
 the sun ? Such I believe to be the case, 
 and a reasonable explanation of the tails 
 of comets. The various forms of these
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 75 
 
 appendages, and the fact that some comets 
 possess none at all, furnish data for the 
 study of their physical constitution. 
 
 In examining particularly that class of 
 comets exhibiting tails, we find the various 
 degrees of transmitted light to produce all 
 the effects which have been observed in 
 these bodies from remotest time. The 
 great accumulation of material molecules 
 at their centres — in other words, the 
 density of their centres, though increasing 
 their direct light, does not allow so free a 
 transmission of solar rays, as the more 
 diffuse condition of their exterior parts. 
 Hence the hollow appearance of the tails 
 of various comets, and the more intense 
 luminous appearance of the upper and 
 lower portions, or the double tail. A 
 certain degree of density, or chemical 
 constitution of the transparent particles, 
 would produce the refrangibility of solar 
 rays, which, in some comets, have projected
 
 76 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 tails formed like a fan. Any form of lumi- 
 nous appendage may be explained on this 
 hypothesis ; and it may even be presumed 
 that the same comet will present different 
 appearances at different times, in conse- 
 quence of the extreme mobility of its con- 
 stituent molecules, and of their differing 
 relation to each other at various times. 
 
 The interesting experiments of Arago, 
 made on the great comet of 1819, and on 
 Halley's comet in 1835, with the polari- 
 scope, sustain these opinions of the nature 
 of comets with singular force. He showed 
 that only a very small portion of the come- 
 tary rays, which strike our eye, are reflected 
 from the sun. It may be strictly said, that, 
 with slight exception, comets shine with 
 direct and not reflected light. This is an 
 astonishing fact, and of great weight in this 
 inquiry. The planets and moons all shine 
 with light reflected from the sun. The 
 sun, comets, and stars all shine with direct
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 77 
 
 light, — that is, with light not reflected 
 from another body, but generated within 
 themselves. These experiments of Arago 
 are of immense scientific value, and, with 
 the contemplations herein presented, may- 
 throw new light on the physical constitu- 
 tion of comets, and open a new path of 
 astronomical inquiry, which may lead to 
 brilliant discoveries as to the original, as 
 well as to the present, physical constitu- 
 tion of the universe. 
 
 Some comets exhibit no tails. This 
 fact shows a difference only in their physi- 
 cal structure as a peculiar class of bodies. 
 The sun has several gaseous envelops : 
 one is self-luminous, and radiates its light 
 with intense power and activity ; another is 
 misty, and would not transmit direct light, 
 unless illuminated and stimulated by the 
 power behind it. So with this variety of 
 comets. They receive the direct action 
 of the sun's rays, which immediately illu-
 
 78 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 minates them ; and the nearer they approach 
 the central body, the more strongly their 
 internal forces are stimulated, and a self-lu- 
 minous property is generated within them. 
 In fact, they may never be destitute of this 
 property, and probably are. not. But, like 
 all other revolving spheres, their internal 
 forces sustain definite relations to the great 
 central solar forces, in proportion to their 
 distance from that centre. As they draw- 
 near the sun, they feel its influence. Their 
 powers for generating light, or renewing 
 the energy of the rays which penetrate 
 them, are stimulated by the presence of 
 these rays. In one, the rays are absorbed, 
 and the whole sphere becomes very lumi- 
 nous, and radiates its own light, in the 
 same manner as the sun or the stars. In 
 another, the rays penetrate and impart new 
 and intense power to the mass ; and the 
 luminous and radiant forces of these rays 
 are resuscitated by the molecules endowed
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 79 
 
 with properties similar to those in the sun 
 from which the rays emanated ; and away 
 they dart with refreshed energy, so as to 
 brighten space, in some instances, forty 
 millions of leagues beyond the relay at 
 which their luminous power was intensified. 
 In another, some peculiar atomic constitu- 
 tion diverts the transmitted solar ray : and 
 it is projected laterally, and in directions 
 at various angles to the rectilinear ray 
 proceeding from the sun. Difference of 
 chemical composition might even induce 
 varieties in the color of transmitted rays ; 
 and no color and no form of appendage 
 have ever been observed or can exist that 
 may not be accounted for on my imperfect 
 exposition of the physical nature and forces 
 of these mysterious bodies. 
 
 The orbits of comets varying in form, so 
 much as they do, require in this connection 
 some explanation.
 
 80 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 In these views of celestial dynamics, the 
 theory of centrifugal force is not enter- 
 tained in the sense in which it was origi- 
 nated by Huygens, and has since been 
 used by mathematical astronomers in cal- 
 culating the orbits of the heavenly bodies. 
 However accurate astronomical calcula- 
 tions, based on this theory, may be, it 
 appears to me that no dead or inactive 
 principle exists in the universe. The idea 
 of cosmical bodies being projected at ran- 
 dom from the hand of the Creator with 
 prodigious and variable forces, and after- 
 wards caught up by the attractive power of 
 the sun, as they were rolling by that orb in 
 a straight line directed to no particular 
 object in the universe, is not consistent with 
 the order displayed so universally in the 
 works of nature. There were living organic 
 forces instituted in the morning of creation, 
 and they were the most simple that Infi- 
 nite Wisdom could devise. The same that
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 81 
 
 were exerted to form the universe continue 
 to maintain its stability and harmony. 
 The Infinite Principle was to create, not to 
 destroy. The tendency of matter, what- 
 ever its condition, whether in isolated 
 molecules or in massive spheres, has always 
 been to form some attachment, to seek 
 some central point or nucleus, never to fly 
 from it ; to be aggregated, never to be 
 segregated. It may be prevented from 
 reaching that centre by a force inherent in 
 all molecules and spheres, — a force coin- 
 cident with and nearly as wide in its 
 operation as that of attraction ; and the 
 idea of that force is expressed by the word 
 repulsion as well as by any word in our 
 language. Vast accumulations of matter, 
 moulded into a cosmical sphere, and falling 
 for thousands or millions of miles towards 
 a central body, — even though a repulsive 
 influence were exerted between them, — 
 
 might be impelled into such relations with 
 6
 
 82 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 the central body as to be incompatible 
 with the equilibrium of the opposite forces 
 with which their constitutions might be en- 
 dowed. Under such circumstances, they 
 would recede from the focal centre ; and, 
 if carried beyond the equilibrium of their 
 forces on the other side, they would return 
 toward the central body again with the 
 same velocity as at first, and thus their 
 unequal motion would always be sustained 
 in consequence of the first organic act of 
 the Almighty. 
 
 Galileo discovered the axial rotation of 
 the heavenly bodies ; and the idea that 
 some projectile force had imparted a rotato- 
 ry motion to the planets led Huygens, with 
 his lofty mathematical genius, to imagine 
 the existence of a principle of motion, to 
 which he gave the name of centrifugal 
 force. On this basis, embraced within 
 Huygens's celebrated theory of central 
 forces, the immortal Newton, having had
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 83 
 
 revealed to his mind the beautiful truth of 
 gravitation, established by the most labo- 
 rious mathematical calculations the sublime 
 principles of celestial mechanics. To ac- 
 count for the elliptical form of planetary- 
 orbits, the existence of which was first 
 discovered by Kepler, he combined the 
 motions growing out of these two ideas; 
 and, from that day to the present, the powers 
 which sustain revolving spheres in their 
 orbits have been called centrifugal and 
 centripetal forces. The latter only, exists 
 in the minds of philosophers as a living 
 radial force, exerted actively by central 
 bodies to draw revolving orbs to their foci. 
 That is Newton's discovery, and it is the 
 active operation of the law of gravitation. 
 The present state of philosophy admits no 
 vital principle to reign in the action of the 
 centrifugal force. It exists in the eye of 
 science, only as a result of some ancient 
 and mysterious impulse communicated
 
 84 
 
 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 to inert masses of matter moving in 
 space. 
 
 Now, let us examine more particularly 
 the nature of centrifugal force. It was 
 imagined to exist by Huygens, has been 
 inculcated by Newton, and taught by philo- 
 sophers to the present day as a force acting 
 on revolving orbs independent of any radial 
 connection with the central body. The 
 annular hypothesis of Laplace would in- 
 deed imply, that the solid revolving bodies 
 had been impressed by a centrifugal force 
 during their former physical connection 
 with the central body : but, since their 
 separation from that body, the same force 
 continues to be exerted upon them as 
 though they were masses of inert matter, 
 and possessed no internal radial properties 
 by which their orbitual motion could be in 
 any way affected, — either increased or 
 retarded. If the doctrine of universal re- 
 pulsion, which I have ventured to propound
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 85 
 
 in this treatise, be sustained by the scientific 
 developments of the age or of futurity, 
 then the "centrifugal force" of modern 
 philosophy immediately assumes a life and 
 energy which it has never heretofore pos- 
 sessed ; and it becomes a force acting 
 conjointly with attraction, and is an active 
 radial property of cosmical bodies as posi- 
 tively as is attraction itself. 
 
 The centrifugal or tangential force acting 
 on spheres revolving in space has hereto- 
 fore been held in the light of an assumed 
 quantity, which, combined with a force 
 clearly demonstrable, has wrought out a 
 compound motion necessary to the exist- 
 ence of curvilinear orbits. Unlike the idea 
 attached to centripetal force, which implies 
 an absolute radial principle manifested 
 between the central and revolving orbs 
 binding them together, the idea attached 
 to centrifugal force embraces no innate 
 active principle, and refers only to an
 
 86 cosmography: 
 
 ancient impulse not even dependent for its 
 origin on attraction, and which was com- 
 municated when the sphere was at rest and 
 inert. The doctrine presented in this trea- 
 tise assumes that the primordial molecules 
 floating in space, not being inert when they 
 agglomerated, carried their internal princi- 
 ples of motion into the massive spheres, 
 which, thus endowed with central forces 
 capable of external and radial influences, 
 are not to be viewed in the light of inert 
 bodies whose motions can be compared 
 to those of objects twirled in a sling or 
 projected from fire-arms. On the contrary, 
 all their motions, from the moment % when 
 their molecules began to agglomerate, arose 
 from internal principles augmenting in 
 power in proportion to their mass. Thus 
 attraction, possessing a wider circle of 
 influence than the opposite principle, was 
 the first to exert its force as an organic 
 power, and to move the mass. This uni-
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 87 
 
 versal principle held complete dominion 
 over the universe during the earliest stages 
 of its cosmical developments. It acted 
 as a radial power from sun to sun, and 
 was the active agent of that vast con- 
 densation of worlds so beautifully ex- 
 hibited in the northern and southern hemi- 
 spheres, and increasing progressively in 
 numerical extent from the poles to the 
 equator of the galaxy. As the repulsive 
 principle was less efficient in its energies 
 at first than the attractive, and allowed 
 agglomerations rather than maintained a 
 diffuse condition of the primordial mole- 
 cules ; so, after these agglomerations had 
 taken place, the attractive principle ex- 
 tended its power from sphere to sphere 
 in such a manner as to impart an impulse 
 to all ; and that impulse, at a later period, 
 was met by the repulsive power which 
 acted as an opposing force, and created the 
 compound motion necessary to form the
 
 88 
 
 COSMOGRAPHY 
 
 planetary orbits. The repulsive principle 
 so exerted its influence as to compel the 
 falling bodies to maintain definite distances 
 from the central focus ; but, the attractive 
 principle having accumulated power in 
 proportion to the fall of a cosmical body 
 for millions of miles before it encountered 
 the repulsive force, it still continues to ap- 
 proach the central focus, and to overcome 
 the antagonistic principle. During this 
 period, it is being impelled into relations 
 with the central body wholly at variance 
 with the equilibrium of the forces emana- 
 ting from the two bodies ; and, when it has 
 attained the nearest possible point, a reac- 
 tion must take place ; and, on an inverse 
 application of the principle of Newton's 
 third law, that " action and reaction are 
 always equal and contrary," — a principle, 
 however, never applied by him in this man- 
 ner, — it must necessarily recede from the 
 sun. Here, repulsion, manifesting itself as
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 89 
 
 an active and predominant principle, be- 
 comes an absolute, living, centrifugal force ; 
 and the receding body is carried to its 
 aphelion by active radial influences exerted 
 between the moving and central spheres, 
 aided by the momentum accumulated by 
 the former in falling to its perihelion. No 
 force is exerted in space capable of impel- 
 ling planets out of their orbits, except 
 repulsion ; and that, as a living, radial 
 principle, is limited in its power to a circle, 
 whose radii, proceeding from the centre of 
 the sun, are equal throughout. Relieved 
 from attraction, revolving bodies would 
 necessarily leave their orbits, and at first 
 move away from the sun in a curve, not 
 at a tangent ; and, abandoned to the prin- 
 ciple of repulsion, they would recede, and 
 expand indefinitely, by virtue of radial in- 
 fluences exerted throughout their mass and 
 beyond it, whose energies would only die 
 away in space, when they had attained
 
 90 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 that distance from the sun where this force 
 was first awakened in them. 
 
 The lofty powers of Huygens, Newton, 
 and Laplace, — in every thing laborious, 
 and in so much truthful and exact, — have 
 controlled the direction of philosophical 
 thought for a long period. But, illumined 
 by light radiated from various branches 
 of science during the last forty years, it 
 may be a question whether some of their 
 doctrines might not with propriety be re- 
 examined for the purpose of confirming or 
 modifying them, in accordance with the 
 evidence of modern discovery. Thus the 
 " nebular theory " of the universe, promul- 
 gated by Laplace, — a sublime and beau- 
 tiful idea, — has governed the opinions of 
 the learned to this day; but it fails to 
 account for the existence, and for the 
 eccentric and retrogade orbits, of comets, 
 — a class of revolving bodies infinitely 
 more numerous than the solid planets.
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 
 
 91 
 
 When applied to them, his hypothesis, and 
 the direction of the centrifugal forces natu- 
 rally growing out of it, are wholly incon- 
 clusive; and the retrograde motions of the 
 satellites of Uranus, so long observed by 
 Sir John Herschel, throw additional obsta- 
 cles to the admission of its correctness. 
 
 The proposition herein presented has 
 grown out of contemplations of Newton's 
 universal law of gravitation, and of Mos- 
 sotti's equally beautiful suggestion, that all 
 molecules are surrounded by an elastic 
 ether ; and that they may approach or 
 separate from each other within definite 
 distances, as they may be influenced by 
 external circumstances. From this theory 
 of molecular repulsion my mind has been 
 led to conceive of a principle of universal 
 repulsion, less extensive in the circle of 
 its power than gravitation, but associated 
 with it, as a radial influence, in all worlds, 
 and so acting as to control their motions,
 
 • 
 
 92 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 and to sustain them at fixed distances 
 from the sun and from each other. If a 
 principle of attraction, presiding over mole- 
 cules, assume a ponderous and multiplied 
 power when these molecules are congre- 
 gated into vast globes, so as to create the 
 principle of cosmical attraction, then the 
 opposite principle of molecular repulsion 
 must assume an equally multiplied force, 
 and thereby create the mighty powers of 
 cosmical repulsion, so as to hold all globes 
 at definite distances from each other; and 
 these distances will depend on the quan- 
 tity, density, and peculiar properties of the 
 matter constituting the various bodies. 
 
 Thus in the beginning, foci of attrac- 
 tion being established by the Creator, the 
 primordial molecules fell to them without 
 obstruction. Chemical and cohesive forces 
 acted simultaneously, and different combi- 
 nations of molecules ensued, the action of 
 which upon each other would be to gene-
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 93 
 
 rate successively the various voltaic and 
 electrical forces which are now performing 
 such important agencies throughout the 
 material universe. By this process, the 
 great central body was created, whose 
 powers exert such wonderful effects upon 
 all the bodies which revolve around it. 
 Thus the suns were formed. But the 
 creative energies once exerted, and subor- 
 dinate foci established, the thought of God 
 to form the universe was perfected. 
 
 Having premised thus much to elucidate 
 more clearly the existence of a power, 
 which, combined with that of gravitation, 
 will explain the peculiar forms of the orbits 
 of planets and comets, I will proceed to 
 account for the varying and eccentric forms 
 of those of comets. 
 
 The gaseous matter of comets, as soon 
 as collected around their foci (in most in- 
 stances on the extreme confines of the
 
 94 cosmography: 
 
 empire allotted by creative Wisdom to 
 solar influence), would begin to fall toward 
 the sun. The sun's attraction being the 
 accelerating force, the velocity of these 
 bodies would constantly accumulate ; and, 
 unless diverted, they would fall in a 
 straight line directly on the sun. Go- 
 verned by the laws of accelerated motion, 
 their velocity would become prodigious, 
 and they would rush on, regardless of the 
 first impressions of solar repulsion. At 
 last, feeling this too sensibly to be longer 
 disregarded, they would deviate from a 
 rectilinear course ; and, partaking of the 
 mysterious influence of the universal side- 
 real motion, they would fall into a curvi- 
 linear direction, and advance from west to 
 east with accumulating velocity. Though 
 deflected, their object is still to reach the 
 sun, — the attracting focus; and to that 
 their accelerated velocity impels them. 
 Their momentum overcomes, to a certain
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 95 
 
 extent, the antagonistic repulsion ; and 
 they continue to approach the sun, until 
 they attain that point in their course where 
 the power of repulsion renders it impossi- 
 ble for them to approach nearer. This is 
 their perihelion. Here they move with a 
 momentum, which, together with mutual 
 repulsion, carries them onward, and the 
 sun's attraction still restraining them, their 
 motion is a curved one; and the elliptical 
 form of the orbit, and the sun's position in 
 relation to the circumference of that orbit, 
 are necessary consequences of the com- 
 pound action and alternating intensity of 
 these two forces of attraction and repul- 
 sion. Once established, the orbit must 
 remain the same for ever (except influ- 
 enced by external agencies), inasmuch as 
 it was first instituted by fixed laws, and 
 was dependent for its elements on the 
 amount and specific forces of the matter 
 subjected to solar action.
 
 96 cosmography: 
 
 It is quite clear, when the revolving 
 body had attained the extreme point in its 
 course, diminishing in velocity according 
 to the law regulating uniformly retarded 
 motion, it must commence its course anew 
 toward the sun, with that momentum 
 which it acquired in falling in a straight 
 line, to the point where it first felt the 
 influence of repulsive forces. This point is 
 the aphelion. 
 
 This explanation, applied to the revolu- 
 tions of the solid spheres, whose orbits are 
 more regular and circular, will be readily 
 appreciated ; and, on reflection, it will be 
 found equally applicable to the orbits of 
 gaseous bodies. These bodies being so 
 sensible to perturbating forces, the form of 
 their orbits would greatly depend on the 
 influence which they received from disturb- 
 ing causes, immediately or soon after their 
 creation. Composed, in most instances, 
 of material differing but little from the
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 97 
 
 gaseous and light-giving molecules of the 
 sun, condensing in very remote regions 
 of space, and converging in all directions 
 toward the solar centre, — the original 
 direction given to their motions would 
 perhaps be independent of the proper side- 
 real motion communicated so generally to 
 the planets and their secondaries. If not 
 entirely independent of it, they would be 
 more sensible to perturbating influences 
 than the solid spheres, and might as rea- 
 dily be drawn to the right as to the left, 
 after having commenced their rectilinear 
 course toward the sun. The planets, in 
 an unformed state, even before they had 
 approached the sun so far as to have been 
 deflected from their rectilinear course, — 
 in fact, even before their heterogeneous 
 elements had accumulated around their 
 attractive foci, — might have presented a 
 sufficient disturbing force to have drawn 
 a comet from its rectilinear course. If de- 
 7
 
 98 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 fleeted, the slightest sensibility to solar 
 repulsion would give them a curvilinear 
 direction, and the resulting orbital motion 
 would as probably be retrograde as direct. 
 The position and direction of the pertur- 
 bating force, at the moment of deflection, 
 would decide the character of the comet's 
 motion, and the elongation of its orbit; 
 for, when the comet was so remote as to 
 feel but slightly the force of solar repulsion, 
 its inclination to the curve would be only 
 slight, and it would hasten on to the 
 central focus with accumulating velocity. 
 This point of deviation from its primitive 
 rectilinear course would be not far from 
 the point of its future aphelion, when its 
 revolution had been accomplished, and its 
 orbit established. A line, projected from 
 the longer axis of the orbit, would meet 
 the point where the comet first received its 
 disturbing influence ; and such a line, pro- 
 jected still further, would ultimately reach
 
 VIEWS OP THE UNIVERSE. 99 
 
 the point in space where the attractive 
 focus of that body was located by the 
 Creator. Did the comet encounter no 
 lateral disturbing force, it would move in a 
 straight line to the sun, as before stated, 
 until the repulsive principle was awakened, 
 so far as to allow it to advance no further 
 in this manner. Then it would assume a 
 curved motion more suddenly, in conse- 
 quence of the combined action of the two 
 forces; and the aphelion of such an orbit 
 would probably be the point where the de- 
 viation first took place, and the form of that 
 orbit be more or less elliptical. But, where 
 the comet was diverted from its rectilinear 
 course, at a very early period after it began 
 to fall toward the sun, its orbit would be 
 proportionally elongated, and might be a 
 parabola or an hyperbola, according to the 
 degree of repulsive influence exerted upon 
 it, or by it, at the time of its deflection 
 from a rectilinear course.
 
 100 COSMOGRAPHY I 
 
 In this connection, and before I complete 
 my remarks on these singular bodies, it 
 will not be inappropriate to make a sug- 
 gestion upon the question which so deeply 
 agitated mankind in unenlightened ages, 
 and which is still unsettled among scien- 
 tific men, — Can comets come into col- 
 lision with the earth? The reply to this 
 question, based on the foregoing principles, 
 is that they cannot come in direct contact 
 with any other body possessing active 
 radial forces in the universe. All cosmical 
 bodies, once created, are endowed with 
 central forces as peculiarly and unalterably 
 their own, as the forces which attach to 
 molecules are peculiarly theirs. One cos- 
 mical sphere attracts another, and they are 
 bound to each other by certain relations ; 
 but these relations are such, that when, in 
 the course of cycles, the orbit of one will 
 so incline to and cut the orbit of another 
 that the two bodies, if pursuing their regu-
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 101 
 
 lar courses, would come in collision, they 
 would both exert their repulsive forces ; and 
 one would be retarded, and the other ac- 
 celerated, in their respective courses, and 
 all possibility of contact avoided. Thus, 
 should it so happen that the course of a 
 comet was such as to advance directly to 
 the earth, the comet, when within a cer- 
 tain distance determined by their respective 
 central forces, would feel the power of ter- 
 restrial repulsion, and be at first retarded ; 
 then such a degree of perturbation would 
 ensue as to modify the curvilinear form of 
 its orbit, until it had passed beyond the 
 earth's influence, when it would resume its 
 original motion. The exertion of its own 
 radial principle of repulsion would probably 
 be attended by a condensation of its mole- 
 cules, in the same manner as they condense 
 when these bodies are near the sun; for 
 it would seem necessary to the exertion 
 of strong repulsive force, for the molecules of
 
 102 
 
 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 which even cosmical bodies are composed, 
 to be drawn nearer to each other in propor- 
 tion to the exertion of that innate force. 
 By telescopic observation of comets, as 
 they approach and recede from the sun, this 
 appears to be a law of their spherical ex- 
 istence ; and I venture the prediction that 
 future observation and research will deter- 
 mine the same law to attach to all the solid 
 globes, in definite proportions to the quan- 
 tity and density, or peculiar physical 
 characters, of the molecules which compose 
 them. 
 
 The phenomenon observed to take place 
 in Biela's comet of 1845, whereby it dis- 
 united its physical elements, and assumed 
 the condition of two distinct spheres, is 
 certainly very remarkable, and not easily 
 explained ; but, as this change occurred 
 during its recess and course of molecular 
 expansion, it is possible that some violent 
 internal action, subordinate to solar influ-
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 103 
 
 ence, might have rent asunder elements of 
 opposite polarity. 
 
 It has not been my intention, in this 
 treatise, to attempt to explain all the phe- 
 nomena and appearances connected with 
 comets. My object is to unfold only what 
 I have believed to be important and im- 
 mutable truth, to open fresh and fertile 
 fields of observation and inquiry to minds 
 more highly endowed than my own, and to 
 invite the attention of physical astrono- 
 mers to what may possibly be a valuable 
 basis for mathematical calculations. I 
 may be considered presumptuous in thus 
 rudely invading provinces of learning, 
 which have been so profoundly cultivated 
 by the highest human genius ; but when 
 what we have long felt to be great truths 
 demand utterance, and our object is to 
 enlarge the boundaries of human know- 
 ledge, and to give impulse to research in 
 new and unexplored directions, we feel sure
 
 104 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 that our views will receive the indulgence 
 of a candid consideration from the learned, 
 rather than their too hasty condemnation. 
 Science is still imperfect. No department 
 of human inquiry has been so thoroughly 
 examined, that every thing is revealed to 
 our understanding. Much less so with as- 
 tronomy. Encke has felt convinced, while 
 calculating the path of the comet which 
 has received his name, that it was encoun- 
 tering some resisting force, and has, in 
 consequence of this conviction, imagined 
 space to be filled with a resisting medium. 
 Signs of resistance to the progress of the 
 heavenly bodies have been perceived by 
 various astronomers, both observers and 
 calculators ; but all have been fettered by 
 the sublime idea that gravitation was the 
 only active universal principle, and that a 
 centrifugal influence was only a negative 
 energy, having been exerted at that remote 
 epoch in the history of the universe, when
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 105 
 
 the various revolving spheres were projected 
 into space, or thrown off from the sun, and 
 is now, so to speak, a dormant projectile 
 force. Astronomers have been so en- 
 chained by this lofty mathematical tradi- 
 tion, that the grand and immortal truth of 
 cosmical repulsion has never been awa- 
 kened in their minds, or entered as an 
 element into their calculations. I say this 
 with all humility ; and though centrifugal 
 force, as a dead element, has been substi- 
 tuted for it, and with great mental labor 
 might be made in a manner equivalent, still, 
 in the nicest calculations, it will be greatly 
 deficient, and, as a basis of calculus, must 
 fall far short of the positive and natural 
 power. 
 
 I have already stated, with sufficient 
 clearness, my theory of the original state 
 of matter, and of the establishment of local 
 attractive foci, to make it unnecessary to
 
 106 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 enlarge further upon that subject. I wish 
 now to invite attention to the more solid 
 spheres which revolve around the central 
 body. 
 
 The solar focus being established, and 
 endowed with the peculiar principles which 
 Infinite "Wisdom devised to draw around 
 it those molecules destined for the sun's 
 special creation, and which were to hold 
 all other elementary forms of matter at 
 fixed distances, and in complete obedience 
 to it, the foci of subordinate though similar 
 principles would necessarily form the basis 
 or skeleton of the present solar system. 
 
 To impart a more clear understanding 
 of views herein presented on the forma- 
 tions of planets and their secondaries, it 
 will be necessary to consider the creation 
 of the earth as concisely as possible, and 
 apply knowledge derived from facts to the 
 elucidation of the mysteries which are, in 
 a great measure, beyond our reach.
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 107 
 
 Here every thing is subject to our touch 
 and examination. We can solidify aeri- 
 form substances, and dissolve into gas 
 rocks and metals. The most delicate in- 
 vestigations of the great forces of nature 
 can be devised by the enlightened intellect; 
 and the separation of forces and elements 
 into their simple and ultimate conditions 
 can be carried to an extent which unveils 
 the mysteries of creation, and transfers us 
 to that epoch in the history of the universe 
 when matter had received no form, and 
 when the germ of its consolidation was 
 only a thought in the bosom of the Su- 
 preme Being. How vast, how marvellous, 
 the amplitude of the human understand- 
 ing! — a principle so nearly allied to the 
 divine, that, like images of the resplendent 
 worlds above impressed on a tranquil sea, 
 the thoughts of God glance upon the 
 peaceful, meditative soul, and the Infinite 
 is reflected through the finite for the im-
 
 108 COSMOGRAPHY I 
 
 provement and elevation of the whole race 
 of man. 
 
 The system of analysis, by which ter- 
 restrial matter has been resolved into its 
 primordial conditions, is strictly inductive ; 
 and it affords a basis for reasoning suffi- 
 ciently strong to make the views of terres- 
 trial creation herein expressed more than 
 bare hypothesis. Having unbound mole- 
 cules from the forces which held them in 
 such relations as constituted the various 
 forms of matter composing this planet, we 
 left them free and chaotic in infinite space. 
 Let us now invoke known physical forces 
 to exert their energies, and reconstruct the 
 earth. 
 
 That region of space having been al- 
 lotted as the theatre of these energies, 
 they all act simultaneously and unitedly. 
 Molecular attraction draws atoms together, 
 which, being polarized in various degrees, 
 constitute forms of diversified character ;
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 109 
 
 cohesion accumulates masses, and terres- 
 trial gravity attracts the simple and com- 
 pound elements of nature around its central 
 focus. Thus all this planetary matter is en- 
 dowed with physical life and motion. The 
 act is as instantaneous as the thought of 
 God, and the result as positive and irresisti- 
 ble as his will. The various forms of matter 
 falling together equally in all directions, 
 would necessarily fashion out a sphere. 
 To the terrible galvanic phenomena which 
 would attend such a rapid condensation 
 and accumulation of heterogeneous masses, 
 I will only refer as absolute results of such 
 world-forming energies. The molten con- 
 dition of the inner portions of the globe 
 still attest to the violent conflict of forces 
 exerted at its creation. Collecting around 
 the solid sphere, at last condensed the 
 flowing ocean and the ambient air. Thus 
 probably all the solid planets were created ; 
 for, so far as we can observe their physical
 
 110 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 appearance, and judge of them by their 
 obedience to laws which govern known 
 forms of matter, they are probably not 
 exceedingly dissimilar, and were formed 
 on the same general principles. 
 
 So far as one class of cosmicai creations 
 took precedence of another, the inference is, 
 from close examination of physical laws 
 applied to facts and to probabilities, that 
 the central and commanding forces of the 
 suns were first ordained. Previous to this, 
 that polarization of all molecules through- 
 out immensity took place, which produced 
 lateral accumulations toward a vast plane 
 extending through the universe. This 
 plane will be recognized as no other than 
 the galactic zone ; and the guaging of the 
 northern heavens by Struve, and the 
 southern by Sir John Herschel, show such 
 a similarity and numerical uniformity to 
 exist in the density of stars in the two 
 hemispheres, that there can be no doubt of
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. Ill 
 
 the vast polarizing force exerted in the 
 dawn of creation. Telescopic observations 
 prove beyond a question the universal con- 
 densation of primordial matter, from the 
 direction of the two galactic poles to the 
 plane of the milky way. This was a stu- 
 pendous action of Divine Thought, which 
 we behold carried out very beautifully in 
 detail, in the construction of our own 
 solar system. Ours is suspended in the 
 midst of the milky way, and we see all 
 forms of matter condensed from the direc- 
 tion of the poles to the plane of the ecliptic. 
 It is spread out in one broad sheet, extend- 
 ing from bound to bound of the solar 
 domain ; and the polarizing force which 
 effected these lateral accumulations still 
 retains its power over the terrestrial mole- 
 cules, and is displayed in the wonderful 
 phenomena of the magnetic poles. No- 
 thing appears to have been left behind 
 during the manifestation of this local or
 
 112 cosmography: 
 
 solar polarizing force, except the wandering 
 comet ; and these mysterious bodies, by 
 their escape, point significantly to a pre- 
 vious formation, or to a play of physical 
 forces wholly different from, and antecedent 
 to, those exerted for the consolidation of 
 the planetary spheres. 
 
 Thus, by our knowledge of terrestrial 
 magnetic forces, we can ascend, by analogy 
 and inductive contemplation, to the display 
 of these forces when the planetary molecules 
 were in their primordial state. The effect 
 would be to draw them together from north 
 to south, and to form a zone extending in 
 all directions from the solar equator. 
 
 Previous to this, all stellar boundaries 
 had been marked out; and our sun, among 
 the countless multitude in the heavens, had 
 received the domain allotted for the display 
 of its mighty external forces. Its own 
 powers and form were given to it, and it be- 
 came the controlling orb, around which this
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 113 
 
 earth and all kindred spheres were to re- 
 volve throughout time. 
 
 As the planets were made subsequently, 
 and subordinate to the sun, and endowed 
 with attraction and repulsion similar to the 
 solar forces ; so were the secondaries crea- 
 ted subsequently, and subordinate to them, 
 and endowed with corresponding principles. 
 The stability of the system would not 
 necessarily demand a simultaneous organic 
 perfection of all its members ; for, the focal 
 forces being established in relation to each 
 other, matter would probably operate in 
 the same equilibrious manner, though not 
 with equal intensity, whether in a dilated 
 or condensed state. The rotation of Saturn 
 under these circumstances, exerting its re- 
 pulsive as well as attractive forces, would 
 more naturally explain the formation of its 
 rings, and their permanent but librating 
 relation to each other and to the planet, 
 
 than the hypothesis of Laplace, applied to 
 
 8
 
 114 cosmography: 
 
 their phenomena, with the highest human 
 ingenuity. 
 
 It is not my design to enter into a mi- 
 nute detail of what many might consider 
 bold speculations, or that persons, whose 
 knowledge is more exact and enlarged than 
 my own, might call baseless theory. But 
 I venture to utter opinions only so far as 
 facts and observation will sustain legiti- 
 mate inquiry ; and my main object is to 
 invite scientific minds to resurvey the past 
 state of knowledge, and to press forward 
 in the development of the sublimest phy- 
 sical truths. 
 
 Subordinate still to terrestrial attraction, 
 is a class of bodies called aerolites. As 
 comets point our conjectures to their exist- 
 ence as vestiges of solar matter flying 
 towards the sun from all regions of space, 
 so aerolites point our conjectures to their 
 existence as vestiges of planetary matter,
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 115 
 
 which for asres have wandered around the 
 earth or moon. As it is a physical impossi- 
 bility for them to have been projected by 
 any volcanic agency beyond the gravita- 
 tive attraction of this globe, I have been led 
 to imagine that they are creations subor- 
 dinate to the moon, and that their orbits 
 have been so eccentric to that secondary, 
 that at last they have lost their equilibrium, 
 and been drawn within the earth's power. 
 If this be so, it would countenance the opi- 
 nion, advanced by some astronomers, that 
 certain comets whose return has been pre- 
 dicted, and which have never again ap- 
 peared, may have wandered to the outskirts 
 of the solar empire, and fallen within the 
 attraction of remote stars. 
 
 The fact on which I base the conjec- 
 ture that aerolites — or rather the original 
 masses, of which they are only fragments 
 — were lunar satellites, is significant in so 
 far, that some ferruginous aerolites have
 
 116 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 decomposed very rapidly after reaching the 
 earth. This is strong presumptive evidence 
 that they had previously occupied regions 
 where no oxygen or atmosphere like our 
 own existed. The absence of a lunar at- 
 mosphere increases the probability of the 
 conjecture, that their origin is more nearly 
 connected with the constitution of the 
 moon than with that of the earth. At any 
 rate, the fact is so remarkable that I would 
 invite inquiry and critical telescopic obser- 
 vation to this point ; though it is presum- 
 able, that, from the small size of these 
 erratic bodies, they may not be discovered 
 by the most scrutinizing and patient re- 
 search. 
 
 These opinions on aerolites, however, 
 are speculative ; and I advance them be- 
 cause it appears to me a physical impossi- 
 bility for meteoric bodies to have been 
 projected, either by the moon or earth, be- 
 yond the limits of their respective gravita-
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 
 
 117 
 
 tive forces. If that cannot be, the inference 
 is that they must be moving in space free 
 as other cosmical bodies. Besides, their 
 physical characters, though denoting a 
 chemical origin similar to that of our earth, 
 show a composition so foreign to it, as to 
 direct our research for their origin beyond 
 the bounds of this sphere. Thus I have 
 been led to believe, that they have sustained 
 a nearer relation to the moon than to the 
 earth, and that they are fragments of ano- 
 malous cosmical masses, mere vestiges of a 
 world-forming epoch, revolving in eccentric 
 orbits around the moon under circumstan- 
 ces of feeble relation to it, and which at 
 last have reached the great central focus 
 within whose circle of forces the condensa- 
 tion and crystallization of their molecules 
 were first effected.
 
 PART III. 
 
 INEQUALITIES OF SURFACE IN THE SOLID SPHERES 
 AND THE SUCCESSIVE REVOLUTIONS OBSERVED 
 THROUGHOUT THE CRUST OF OUR OWN GLOBE, 
 AS RESULTS OF THE ALTERNATING INTENSITY 
 OF COSMICAL FORCES.
 
 PART III. 
 
 Having completed a cursory survey of the 
 cosmical bodies composing our system, 
 and the forces which govern their mutual 
 relations, the changes that take place on 
 the surface of the globe, growing out of 
 the local and radial action of these forces, 
 will next claim our attention. This is a 
 subject which has not hitherto attracted 
 the consideration of scientific men. But 
 the sequel will demonstrate its importance ; 
 and I trust the suggestion will receive that 
 candid and profound investigation which 
 exact scientific knowledge demands. The 
 means of inquiry will be wholly within our
 
 122 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 reach ; and a few years of careful observa- 
 tion will determine whether I have promul- 
 gated a sublime physical truth, or indulged 
 my imagination with dreams and mere 
 conjectures. 
 
 Changes produced in this globe, from 
 universal causes, must be only a counter- 
 part of similar changes in all globes where 
 like causes operate. This is irrefutable; 
 and I shall therefore announce, without 
 further preliminary remark, the following, 
 as a physical fact or law: — That planets 
 contract in volume as they approach the sun, 
 in direct proportion to their mass and dis- 
 tance, until they reach their perihelia, when 
 they are smallest; and that they increase in 
 volume, in like proportion, as they recede 
 from the sun, until they reach their aphclia, 
 ivhere their dimensions are the greatest. 
 
 The evidences of alternate contraction 
 and expansion of planets are of two sorts, 
 analogical and internal. The former is
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 123 
 
 derived from observation of other cosmical 
 bodies ; the latter, from a study of the earth 
 itself. At present they appear limited. 
 Hereafter they will be numerous, both as- 
 tronomical and mathematical, and com- 
 pletely demonstrative. 
 
 The analogical evidence is derived from 
 comets. Their varying dimensions, as 
 they approach and recede from their peri- 
 helia, demonstrate a remarkable solar in- 
 fluence over the mobility of the molecules 
 composing this class of bodies. When 
 freed from the grasping power of the sun, 
 which is exerted with so much energy that 
 we fear they must be swallowed up in its 
 atmosphere, they dart away as if rejoicing 
 in their freedom, and expand as they re- 
 cede ; the nuclei yielding up their centrali- 
 zing forces, and the condensed matter of 
 the whole mass returning to what appears 
 to be an original equilibrious state of ex- 
 pansibility. This element in the physical
 
 124 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 constitution of some comets, being well 
 observed and substantiated, makes it cer- 
 tain that a similar law presides over the 
 structure of all ; though difference in 
 distance, external relations, or internal 
 composition, might not render telescopic 
 observation uniformly positive. 
 
 Now, if one class of revolving spheres, 
 whose physical structure is known to pos- 
 sess great molecular mobility, be subject to 
 such remarkable expansions and contrac- 
 tions of their molecular relations, by the 
 mutual play of their own and the solar 
 forces, why are not other revolving spheres, 
 of greater density and possessing equally 
 potent central forces, subject to similar 
 alternations of size ? alternations, however, 
 which, in consequence of their solidity and 
 peculiar atomic forces, may not be so sen- 
 sible to optical observation ? There is no 
 reason whv this should not be so. 
 
 To say nothing of the fluid condition of
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 125 
 
 the interior, all observation shows an extra- 
 ordinary degree of mobility in the particles 
 composing even the solid rocks of this 
 globe. Mountain masses of stratified 
 granular limestone are changed into the 
 most beautiful crystalline marbles, simply 
 by the injection of molten lava through 
 their strata. This change is effected solely 
 by calorific radiation. Here is an altera- 
 tion in the absolute juxtaposition of mole- 
 cules, so great that the whole mass has 
 changed its character and its physical ap- 
 pearance. But we have another sort of 
 evidence, too sensible to be mistaken, of 
 the mobility and expansibility of the mat- 
 ter of the solid crust of the globe. The 
 trundling of wagons over pavements or 
 frozen ground communicates oscillations 
 of the surface for some distance. Explo- 
 sions of gunpowder are still more remark- 
 able for their oscillating action on large 
 extents of ground. But the evidence of
 
 126 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 greatest value in this connection is derived 
 from earthquakes. The force in these phe- 
 nomena acts, indeed, from within the earth 
 impulsively and spasmodically ; but the 
 result, if sudden and violent, is still the 
 same on the mobility of terrestrial mole- 
 cules. Vast extents of the globe some- 
 times feel the oscillation communicated by 
 these subterranean forces. That of 1755, 
 which concentrated its violence under Por- 
 tugal, produced a radiating oscillation 
 of molecules over the whole Atlantic mass 
 of the earth and ocean, the whole of conti- 
 nental Europe, and the northern part of 
 Africa. All these prodigious results are 
 produced by the impulsive action of one 
 molecule against another, until the whole 
 hemisphere has felt the impulse given to 
 the first molecule by the subterranean 
 force. 
 
 If, then, physical causes, under common 
 observation, produce such sensible and
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 127 
 
 extraordinary effects on the earth, why 
 may not the powerful radial forces of the 
 sun, so universal in their action as to be 
 felt in every molecule of a revolving globe 
 (and those antagonistic energies exerted 
 by that globe through every molecule of its 
 mass), — why may not the insensible, but 
 active and positive, exercise of these cen- 
 tral forces exert an effect equally insensible, 
 active, and positive, in producing alternate 
 expansions and contractions of the whole 
 globe, as it recedes from, and draws within, 
 solar influence ? These forces radiate from 
 centre to circumference, and are exerted 
 from molecule to molecule. These oscil- 
 late as the forces play upon them, and 
 recede or press toward each other from 
 centre to periphery, according to the direc- 
 tion of the earth's motion, and its distance 
 from the solar orb. The great repulsive 
 power of the sun is exhibited when the 
 earth is in perihelion, by preventing its
 
 128 ^cosmography: 
 
 closer proximity to that body. The great 
 repulsive power of the earth is exhibited 
 to us sensibly by the enlargement of the 
 moon's orbit. This increases as the earth 
 approaches the sun, and is largest when 
 the earth is nearest to the central body. 
 Astronomers have attributed the enlarge- 
 ment of the lunar orbit, as the earth 
 approaches the sun, entirely to the sun's 
 attraction of the moon away from the 
 earth. May not this be an error, growing 
 out of imperfect knowledge of universal 
 laws ? May not the varying dimensions 
 of the lunar orbit depend in a great mea- 
 sure upon the degree of terrestrial repul- 
 sion ? That repulsion is greatest when the 
 earth is in perihelion; and it corresponds 
 to a similar maximum solar force, and both 
 are necessary to sustain the equilibrium of 
 the system. This force pervades cosmical 
 spheres through their molecules. It is a 
 secret, potent, all-pervading influence. It
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 129 
 
 appears to act upon the molecules of celes- 
 tial masses like extreme pressure applied 
 to masses under human control. Conden- 
 sation, and consequent contraction, must 
 be necessary effects of the stupendous 
 compressive or repulsive energy exerted 
 upon a body, when it is forced into such 
 proximity to the sun as to be wholly in- 
 compatible with an equipoised display of 
 its central powers. In comets so sensi- 
 ble to the controlling influence of solar 
 energy, the phenomena of alternate con- 
 densation and expansion, according to their 
 nearness to the central body, are demon- 
 strated to the eye. The material structure 
 of the earth is exceedingly dense ; but we 
 must, nevertheless, conclude that the phy- 
 sical changes in it, resulting from the 
 action of the solar forces, must be similar 
 to and as determinate, though not visible 
 to the eye, as those observed in more rare 
 and translucent spheres. 
 9 

 
 130 * COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 The second class of evidence, which I 
 shall bring to sustain my proposition, is 
 internal; and that, of course, is strictly geo- 
 logical in its character. At first thought, 
 it would seem as if no testimony from this 
 quarter could bear upon the question ; but 
 the earth is a celestial sphere, like other 
 planets, and as such must be obedient, 
 throughout its whole molecular structure, 
 to universal laws. This class of evidence 
 embraces three distinct orders of pheno- 
 mena, all of which are well observed ; but 
 their causes heretofore have been involved 
 in the deepest obscurity. 
 
 I. Geological investigations manifestly 
 declare that the surface of this globe was at 
 some time, and perhaps at many different 
 times, wholly enveloped by the ocean. It 
 is probable that, in the morning of its crea- 
 tion, it was in this state ; wholly surround- 
 ed with an envelop of water and another 
 of air, neither of which was disturbed by
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 131 
 
 such prodigious encroachments of solid 
 matter as now destroy their conformity. 
 
 Geological observations also show, that 
 elevations and depressions of vast areas of 
 the earth's surface have taken place at 
 various ages, and that these changes of ele- 
 vation cannot have been spasmodic and 
 rapid ; but that they were quiet and 
 gradual, occupying incalculable periods of 
 time for their accomplishment. Volcanic 
 agencies produce local elevations and de- 
 pressions, more or less suddenly. Islands 
 and mountains may be suddenly formed or 
 suddenly sunk. The vent of volcanoes 
 may affect comparatively small regions of 
 surface in their vicinity, so that they may 
 gradually rise or subside during the quies- 
 cence or activity of such volcanoes. But 
 the slow and insensible submerging or ele- 
 vation of vast continents, so gradual that 
 an inch or a foot during a century will 
 only guage the gain or loss of the ocean,
 
 132 COSMOGRAPHY ! 
 
 cannot be accounted for by ordinary vol- 
 canic agencies. Forces acting from the 
 central foundations of the planet, slowly, 
 quietly, insensibly, as the march of time, — 
 as insensibly, as gradually, as steadily, as 
 the periodical expansion and contraction of 
 the whole terrestrial ball itself, — will alone 
 explain these extraordinary changes. These 
 elevations and depressions are positive 
 and unmistakable. They have been alter- 
 nate and numerous. They have extended 
 throughout all geological periods. They 
 mark ages of such incalculable length, that 
 the mind is bewildered in its attempts to 
 study the antiquity of their beginnings. 
 
 At the present time, the whole north of 
 Europe, and Greenland, and the continent 
 of South America, are slowly rising above 
 the sea ; and the bed of the South Pacific 
 ocean is sinking deeper below the surface. 
 I formed a similar opinion of the bed of the 
 Indian Ocean in 1844, during my explora-
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 133 
 
 tion of the Island of St. Paul's, which con- 
 tains an extinct and partially submerged 
 crater. The nature of the soil and appear- 
 ance of the rocks indicated an immense 
 antiquity ; and my impressions, as I con- 
 templated its solitary position and its 
 structure, were, that it was only a tomb- 
 stone marking the burial-place of a conti- 
 nent, long since engulfed beneath that vast 
 sea. The character of the soundings seve- 
 ral miles distant from the island, and the 
 color of the ocean observed while sailing 
 two days in a south-easterly direction from 
 it, confirmed this impression. Observa- 
 tions of travellers on the coral formations 
 in the northern parts of the same ocean 
 have established this opinion as a geologi- 
 cal fact. 
 
 This ponderous uprising and subsidence 
 of whole hemispheres of the solid earth 
 cannot be accounted for by the ordinary 
 operation of volcanic causes. The agency
 
 134 
 
 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 is deeper and more pervading. It operates 
 more steadily, firmly, powerfully, and uni- 
 versally. How prodigious must be the 
 forces requisite to lift whole continents, so 
 slowly and steadily ! How uniformly and 
 uninterruptedly must these forces act to 
 sustain them, and to let them fall again so 
 quietly and insensibly towards the centre 
 of the globe ! Where shall we search for 
 agencies short of the fundamental organic 
 powers which operate on the whole mass of 
 the planet through the individual motion 
 of its molecules? Nothing short of the 
 action of stupendous radial forces can pro- 
 duce such gigantic geological phenomena. 
 
 How do these forces act to produce 
 such extraordinary results ? 
 
 The theory of central heat is not new. 
 The common phenomena of hot springs 
 and volcanic eruptions, and recent obser- 
 vations of the increase of temperature the 
 deeper we descend beneath the surface, has
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 135 
 
 nearly decided the opinion of scientific men 
 on this question. 
 
 The theory of the chemical creation of 
 the earth here presented exhibits, in the 
 beginning, such an amount of voltaic 
 action, that the whole interior of the 
 globe must necessarily be subjected to 
 the highest degree of incandescence. The 
 present and remotest time equally sustain 
 this theory by the numerous exhibitions of 
 molten matter which have been poured out 
 from the interior of the globe, through fis- 
 sures in its crust. Some philosophers have 
 made numerical calculations on the ex- 
 cessive degree of heat which must apper- 
 tain to the molten mass of the central parts 
 of the globe. It is only necessary for my 
 argument to mention this fact, when the 
 extreme degree of fluidity of the molten 
 matter will be at once comprehended. This 
 condition of it would greatly facilitate the 
 mobility of its molecules.
 
 136 
 
 COSMOGRAPHY 
 
 Now, suppose the terrestrial sphere 
 started on its course, for the sun, from 
 that region of space where it received its 
 creation. It would fly on, drawn by the 
 accelerating power of the solar centre, con- 
 densing as it flew ; and at last it would 
 reach that point of its rectilinear course, 
 when the individual repulsion of its mole- 
 cules would assume an active and positive 
 radial force, create enormous tension, and 
 begin to exhibit itself as a planetary power. 
 Now, its own repulsion, or the sun's, or 
 both united, would compel it to change the 
 direction of its motion, and to assume a 
 curvilinear course. Here its orbit would 
 commence its birth, and the planet would 
 continue to advance with accumulating ve- 
 locity. Advancing motion would be accom- 
 panied by a corresponding accumulation 
 of molecules towards the centre, an abso- 
 lute contraction in volume, and an equal 
 increase of internal tension and molecular
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 137 
 
 repulsion. Having reached the perihelion, 
 its contraction, and the intensity of its ac- 
 cumulated forces of atomic and planetary 
 reaction and repulsion, would be greatest. 
 Passing this point, the terrestrial mass 
 would begin to be relieved from the com- 
 plex influence of forces which had con- 
 strained the relations of its molecules like 
 external pressure ; and it would recede 
 from the sun, gradually regaining its ato- 
 mic equilibrium, and expanding in all its 
 radial dimensions. 
 
 The greatest degree of repulsive action 
 exerted between its molecules and masses 
 must take place when the earth is contract- 
 ing its volume, and during its advance 
 towards, and while in the more immediate 
 neighborhood of, the sun. At the time 
 when it approached so near to the central 
 body as to be deflected into an elliptical 
 orbit, it must have attained that degree of 
 tension, which alone was compatible with
 
 138 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 its molecular equilibrium. A forcible ad- 
 vancement beyond this point would neces- 
 sarily destroy that equilibrium, and incite 
 an increasing intensity in all its repulsive 
 forces, and a radial reflex action, so strong 
 in various directions, and at different times, 
 as to create distension of the semi-fluid 
 surface, or fissures in the hardened crust, 
 attended with outpourings of molten mat- 
 ter. Thus, as the earth is approaching, 
 and nearest to, the sun, its internal tension 
 is so great that it is ready, at any moment, 
 to burst its crust, and to give vent to its 
 confined currents of molten fluid, in the 
 thinnest and weakest parts of its surface. 
 Any pointing, whether produced by crack- 
 ing or quiet elevation of the surface, would 
 form a sort of focus, exposed subsequently 
 to a more intense action of internal radial 
 force. Whatever the amount of elevation 
 of solid matter, the depth of the ocean over 
 that part would be diminished, and its
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 139 
 
 volume would be augmented over other 
 parts of the earth. Great irregularities of 
 surface having been induced, difference in 
 gravity of the undulating parts would aid 
 to increase the irregularity. Atmospheric 
 and hydrostatic pressure would diminish 
 on the rising surface, while it would in- 
 crease to a corresponding degree on the 
 subsiding parts. The radial reaction of 
 the internal fluid mass would act the most 
 energetically where it encountered the least 
 resistance. And thus, in the course of count- 
 less revolutions of the earth, the periodical 
 expansion and contraction of the globe 
 would bring about the slow and gigantic 
 changes of elevation and depression which 
 are at present transpiring, and which can 
 be traced through various geological pe- 
 riods. 
 
 The upheaving and subsidence of hemi- 
 spheres are effected so slowly, that the 
 changes can be discovered only by the pa-
 
 140 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 tient observation of centuries. However 
 slow and imperceptible, these changes are 
 positive ; and the agency producing them 
 is quiet, uniform, irresistible, and universal. 
 The motion of the interior fluids, which 
 alone can create and sustain these slow 
 and vast revolutions of the surface, must 
 be connected with, and controlled by, the 
 supreme forces which chain the earth to 
 the central body. What other agency can 
 produce them ? What but an agency like 
 this could have produced that wonderful 
 chain of American elevations, extending 
 from the arctic to the antarctic circles? 
 The expansive power of the compressed 
 and reacting fluid was such as to rend 
 asunder one entire side of the globe, project 
 the hardened crust, and here and there ob- 
 tain vent for itself through fissures opened 
 to the surface. Here the pointing was 
 irregularly linear, and extending almost 
 from pole to pole ; and the result of that
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 141 
 
 first impulsive movement has been the 
 slow and gradual upheaving of the whole 
 American continent, and a corresponding 
 subsidence of the bed of the Pacific Ocean. 
 II. Another order of effects, of a geologi- 
 cal but comparatively isolated character, 
 presents itself to substantiate the view set 
 forth in this inquiry. These are volcanic 
 phenomena. Though isolated, they are 
 numerous, and must form an array of evi- 
 dence, taken in the aggregate, decidedly 
 favorable or unfavorable to any hypothesis 
 relating to the revolutions of the earth's 
 surface. They are connected with the mo- 
 tion of the fluid mass of the interior of the 
 globe. Earthquakes and volcanic erup- 
 tions manifest themselves in various quar- 
 ters of the earth. No region of the surface 
 of this vast sphere, so far as we know, has 
 been or is exempt from exhibitions of these 
 phenomena. Being universal, their cause 
 must be equally so. If the accumulated
 
 142 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 tension of the fluids of the inner parts of 
 the planet exist by special relation of its 
 distance from the sun, we must expect to 
 find a greater number of volcanic pheno- 
 mena occurring during the earth's repul- 
 sive condition, or when it is approaching 
 the sun, and while occupying the parts of 
 its orbit nearest the solar focus. What are 
 the facts on this point ? So far as scientific 
 statistics have been accumulated, it is as- 
 certained that the greatest number of 
 earthquakes occur in the months of Decem- 
 ber and January. Mr. Robert Mallet, who 
 presented a report on the " Facts of earth- 
 quake phenomena" to the British Asso- 
 ciation, held in Ipswich July 2, 1851, made 
 this statement after the computations of 
 a catalogue of earthquakes amounting to 
 nearly six thousand, and extending from 
 remotest observations to the date of his 
 report. The report is made with remarka- 
 ble scientific exactness, and was designed
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 143 
 
 to sustain a special theory of his own. The 
 evidence furnished to this inquiry is inci- 
 dental, and therefore of the greater value. 
 The catalogue I have not seen ; but, from 
 the studious care for scientific accuracy 
 exhibited by the author in the details of his 
 observations, I have great confidence in its 
 fidelity; and a special analysis of it, in 
 reference to this great question, would pro- 
 bably do much towards its elucidation. 
 
 The western part of South America is a 
 volcanic focus ; and the frequency of earth- 
 quakes in those regions is so great, that 
 they may furnish some evidence on this 
 important subject. A writer in " Black- 
 wood's Magazine" for July, 1846, makes 
 this statement, drawn probably from Dr. 
 Tschudi's Travels in Persia, as well as from 
 other sources : " At Lima, earthquakes fre- 
 quently occur. On an average of years, 
 five and forty shocks are annually felt, 
 most of which occur in the latter half
 
 144 cosmography: 
 
 of October, in November, December, and 
 January, and in May and June. January 
 is the worst month ; during which, in many 
 years, scarcely a day passes without con- 
 vulsions of this kind." 
 
 These facts are certainly extraordinary ; 
 and the report of Mr. Mallet to the British 
 Association was so striking in this particu- 
 lar, that " Mr. Hopkins remarked, that, 
 while he placed no faith in such indica- 
 tions as those of earthquakes being more 
 frequent in winter, they were yet very curi- 
 ous, and it was not yet known how much 
 might be due to the influence of apparently 
 trivial causes." 
 
 The causes which produce these remark- 
 able periodical exacerbations of internal 
 force are by no means trivial or accidental. 
 They coincide with the periodicity of the 
 earth's more intimate relation with the 
 sun ; they coincide with the period when 
 the tension and molecular repulsive action
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 145 
 
 of the interior of the globe is greatest ; 
 and it must be clear to all minds, if the 
 crust of the earth be so weak in certain 
 parts as not to sustain the radial repulsive 
 action of its fluid interior, — which is ex- 
 erted with irresistible power to elevate 
 entire continents, — that it must be rent 
 asunder, and the molten currents be injected 
 into fissures, or between strata, dislodging 
 them in various directions, and thereby 
 convulsing the solid ground. These mani- 
 festations of internal repulsive forces are 
 earthquakes; and, though the chemical 
 and galvanic changes going on within the 
 globe may be such as to produce isolated 
 phenomena of a similar kind, still the 
 increasing tension of the planet as it 
 approaches the sun, and the continuance 
 of that tension while it is nearest the cen- 
 tral body, would give efficiency to local 
 agencies, and render earthquakes and vol- 
 canic eruptions more frequent from July to 
 10
 
 146 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 February or March, than during the other 
 months of the year. Facts, so far as my 
 own researches extend, sustain the views 
 which are presented ; and I desire to invite 
 the attention of travellers and scientific 
 persons to this announcement, with the 
 hope that rigid observations and inquiries 
 may be instituted, which may determine 
 the truth of this interesting question. 
 
 To strengthen the weight of the evi- 
 dence derived from volcanic phenomena, 
 and which bears on the question of the 
 earth's contraction during its advance, and 
 the augmented radial pressure of its mol- 
 ten interior on its crust, while in those 
 parts of its orbit nearest to the sun, — it 
 is desirable to ascertain if these local ex- 
 hibitions of internal force occur simulta- 
 neously in regions far distant from each 
 other. My own memoranda are limited, 
 having been commenced in August, 1852. 
 But it is very remarkable, so far, that
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 147 
 
 subterranean violence should have been 
 exhibited on three different occasions si- 
 multaneously, in parts of the planet remote 
 from one another. 
 
 The first was on the 20th of August, 
 when Mount Etna assumed intense acti- 
 vity, accompanied by an earthquake and 
 an immense flow of lava. On the same 
 day, Cuba was shaken by an awful earth- 
 quake, Santiago was partially destroyed, 
 and eruptions of lava broke out on the 
 island. This circumstance is very remark- 
 able, and should stimulate scientific mind 
 to great activity in its investigation of the 
 causes of these events. 
 
 The second coincidence of volcanic 
 phenomena, in regions remote from each 
 other, occurred on the 10th of October, 
 when Luzon was visited by a terrific earth- 
 quake ; and, on the same day, two distinct 
 earthquake shocks were felt at Clinton, 
 Georgia.
 
 148 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 The third occurred on the 26th of No- 
 vember, when Cuba was again convulsed 
 with great intensity ; and a distinct, but not 
 violent, earthquake shock was felt in the 
 northern part of Massachusetts, and the 
 southern part of New Hampshire. 
 
 Besides these coincidences, the outpour- 
 ings of Etna have been continuous, from 
 the 20th of August into the month of 
 December; and, in the meantime, earth- 
 quakes of greater or less violence have 
 occurred, at longer or shorter intervals, 
 and sometimes almost simultaneously, in 
 Luzon, Chili, Peru, Mexico, California, 
 New Hampshire, Virginia, Georgia, Texas, 
 the West India Islands, north of England 
 and Ireland, south of Spain, Teneriffe, 
 north of Hungary, and in China. It is 
 very probable that others have convulsed 
 the beds of the oceans, or the interior of 
 Africa or Asia, of which we have no 
 accounts.
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 
 
 149 
 
 These facts all point to a similarity of 
 internal pressure on the crust of the globe ; 
 and transpiring remotely from each other, 
 at the same time, or at short intervals, 
 they indicate a universal action radiating 
 from the centre to the circumference of 
 the sphere; and they thus strengthen 
 the weight of the argument herein pre- 
 sented. 
 
 The evidence of Mr. Mallet's catalogue 
 must furnish important data in this con- 
 nection. As the remarks in his report, 
 however, are only incidental, they are not 
 so full as I could wish ; but future analysis 
 will make his records of great value in this 
 branch of inquiry. The general result of 
 his analysis is, that " coincident earth- 
 quakes in time at distant places on the 
 earth's surface have been by no means rare, 
 as at Iceland and Norway, Poland and 
 Constantinople, &c." For further facts of 
 this sort, he refers to his catalogue. With
 
 150 
 
 COSMOGRAPHY t 
 
 regard to one coincidence which seemed 
 to have a doubtful bearing on his own 
 views of the transmission of the earthquake 
 wave, he says, " There is some ground for 
 believing that one and the same shock of 
 earthquake was felt on November 16th, 
 1827, at places nearly antipodal, viz. at 
 Ochotsk and at Columbia in South Ame- 
 rica; and, if so, had its origin not very 
 remote from the centre of the earth." 
 
 The fact that violent earthquakes occur 
 when the earth is receding from the sun, 
 and its whole molecular structure is dila- 
 ting in volume, does not invalidate the 
 force of the argument founded on their 
 greater uniform average, during the earth's 
 approach and its passage through the parts 
 of its orbit nearest to the central body. It 
 would only demonstrate the uninterrupted 
 activity of the radial forces, and the ex- 
 treme tension of the molten currents of the 
 interior of the globe. Besides, constant
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 151 
 
 changes in the arrangement of the mole- 
 cules must favor developments of chemical 
 and galvanic forces of a gigantic character, 
 and abnormal causes would be very likely 
 to produce untimely events. This sort of 
 agencies would be local and spasmodic, 
 and scarcely tend to disturb, for a moment, 
 the uniformity of the slow and universal 
 causes of elevation and depression of the 
 hemispheres which are exerted virtually 
 through the radii of the entire planet. 
 
 It is more than probable that certain un- 
 timely occurrences, alluded to above, and 
 the irregular periodicity which have been 
 observed in volcanic and earthquake phe- 
 nomena in different regions of the globe, 
 may be connected with the conjunctions 
 occurring at various intervals between the 
 earth and the internal and external planets. 
 From its close relation to the earth, and its 
 periodical nearness to the sun and to the 
 planet Venus, we should naturally expect
 
 152 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 that the moon would be subject to that 
 sort of radial molecular action which would 
 make it peculiarly the seat of intense vol- 
 canic forces. It is a remarkable fact that 
 telescopic scrutiny demonstrates this to be 
 unmistakably the case. Even as long ago 
 as 1787, in the month of April, — a period 
 when the satellite is drawing near to the 
 earth, — Sir William Herschel discovered 
 three burning mountains in the moon, and 
 observed their changing aspects for several 
 nights. The vast crater mountains and 
 enormous ravines and fissures which mark 
 the surface of its visible hemisphere, all 
 indicate the most violent radial energies 
 to have been exerted within it during past 
 time. The opinions of selenographists are 
 uniform in declaring its surface to be in- 
 finitely more broken and irregular than the 
 surface of our own globe. The nature of 
 the forces, both distant and present, which 
 have produced these similar superficial
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 153 
 
 irregularities, must be identical ; and if the 
 doctrine set forth in this treatise be true, it 
 will appear — to say nothing of the ab- 
 sence of aqueous and atmospheric envelops 
 — that the moon will not for along period, 
 perhaps never, become habitable to the 
 higher orders of organic life. 
 
 There can be no doubt of identity be- 
 tween the craters, lava currents, and other 
 volcanic aspects of the moon, and of simi- 
 lar conditions, both recent and ancient, of 
 the earth's surface. The largest and deep- 
 est extinct crater on our globe is probably 
 that of Hale-e-ka-la (in Polynesian dialect, 
 " the house of the sun "), on the Island of 
 Maui, which I have examined several times 
 with intense interest. Though ten thou- 
 sand feet high, — and observed from a dis- 
 tance appearing like a beautiful dome, — 
 with an abrupt crater 2500 feet deep, and 
 perhaps twenty-five miles in circumference, 
 presenting sixteen small craters from two
 
 154 cosmography: 
 
 to eight hundred feet in height, rising 
 from its pent-up floor of black, rough, and 
 glistening lava, it is still a mere pigmy 
 in comparison with Bailly, Clavius, Schi- 
 kard, and many other lunar craters. The 
 resemblance between the aspects of the 
 great crater mountains of the moon and of 
 Hale-e-ka-la in the Hawaiian Islands, and 
 of Malinche and the numerous isolated 
 volcanic cones of vast dimensions which 
 I have observed in Mexico, has filled me 
 with such amazement, that, when examin- 
 ing the moon, I have almost imagined it to 
 be a part of our own planet. All observing 
 travellers who have visited volcanic regions 
 of the earth, and then surveyed the moon 
 through suitable telescopes, must have been 
 impressed in the same forcible manner. 
 Like causes, under the same circumstances, 
 beget like results ; and so we find the vol- 
 canic upheavals of the moon's surface 
 exhibiting proof of the strongest kind to
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 155 
 
 sustain the general law of molecular ex- 
 pansion and contraction of all revolving 
 spheres, as the special results of their rela- 
 tion to central bodies. 
 
 III. Besides the geological changes aris- 
 ing from the sensible action of the dense 
 molten ocean which fills the interior of the 
 globe, there is an order of appearances in 
 its solid crust, which presents strong evi- 
 dence to the point, that the earth is under- 
 going alternate contractions and expan- 
 sions of its entire volume. They appear to 
 be universal effects of molecular motion in 
 the solid matter, and of a steady and quiet 
 pressure, — the result of internal tension 
 on the crystalline crust of the planet, — in 
 contradistinction to the local and circum- 
 scribed action of violent and spasmodic 
 outbreaks, occasioned by igneous ulcera- 
 tions, or weakness of the surface. This 
 class of appearances embraces the fissures, 
 cleavages, splits, and heaves, so well
 
 156 
 
 cosmography: 
 
 known to miners, and mostly occurring 
 in directions north-south and east-west 
 throughout the entire globe, from its sur- 
 face to the greatest depths explored by man. 
 There is much reason to believe, that a 
 careful study of many dislocations of strata, 
 heretofore supposed to have been produced 
 by sudden and spasmodic upheavings, will 
 prove them to have resulted from the quiet, 
 gradual, and long-continued action of a 
 radial repulsive force. These fissures or 
 splits in the crust, of great depth and ex- 
 tent, are sometimes observed to take place 
 in mines unaccompanied by earthquakes, 
 or sensible subterranean convulsions. They 
 are sometimes so sudden as to create 
 alarm among the miners, and so extensive 
 that the solid crystalline structure of the 
 crust will open several hundred feet, and 
 in some places a number of inches in 
 width. Sudden concussions and internal 
 sounds are frequently heard in the mines
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 157 
 
 of all countries ; and the sides of veins 
 often bulge out in such a manner, that all 
 .mechanical resistance to their movement 
 is without avail. What is very extraordi- 
 nary, these circumstances transpire without 
 sensible agitation of the earth. Noises, 
 evidently, from their varying sounds, the 
 result of cracking of the crystalline rock, 
 have been heard on the surface of the earth 
 in various countries, when they were not 
 heard in mines many hundred feet below. 
 The contrary of this has also been ob- 
 served ; and noises, unattended with earth- 
 quake movements, have been heard in 
 mines, so as to alarm their occupants, 
 when on the surface nothing of the kind 
 has been heard. 
 
 These are very interesting phenomena 
 considered in this connection ; and their 
 cause, as universal as their extent, may be 
 traced directly to the molecular disturbance 
 of the solid crust, and to the alternating
 
 158 
 
 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 change of volume which is constantly go- 
 ing on throughout the entire solid and fluid 
 contents of the globe. 
 
 Such is the internal or geognostic evi- 
 dence, that the globe expands and contracts 
 periodically, and in direct relation to its 
 distance from the central body. These al- 
 ternate changes produce the vast irregu- 
 larities of its surface, either slowly when 
 operating under immense areas, or actively 
 when local circumstances may increase the 
 intensity of the universal force on some 
 particular part of the crust. 
 
 These two classes of evidence being 
 tenable respecting the earth, we must con- 
 clude that all other planets will sustain the 
 same relations to the sun, and be affected 
 physically in the same manner. 
 
 Similar inequalities of surface would be 
 produced by similar causes ; and thus we 
 find the moon and various planets, as far
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 159 
 
 as telescopic observation can reach, to have 
 undergone the same physical changes 
 which are still progressing upon this planet. 
 How central and radiating, then, must be 
 the universal cause of molecular motion in 
 the planetary masses, when the results are 
 so uniform throughout the system ! Such 
 causes must be exerted by the great central 
 controlling force, and that force is embo- 
 somed in the sun. It embraces all revolv- 
 ing spheres in its far-reaching influence, 
 acting silently and powerfully through their 
 molecular structure, and stimulating their 
 internal forces to exhibitions of phenomena, 
 too wonderful and multifarious to be easily 
 understood by man. 
 
 Need further evidence or reasoning be 
 adduced to sustain the proposition which 
 has been laid down ? It is promulgated 
 as a universal physical fact, growing out 
 of the great fundamental laws of cosmical 
 attraction and repulsion ; and I must leave
 
 160 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 all my deductions to be sustained or over- 
 thrown by the results of future investiga- 
 tions. 
 
 The existence of a force antagonistical 
 to that of gravitation has seemed to me as 
 necessary for the stability of the universe 
 as that of gravitation itself. The action of 
 the two forces would create the compound 
 motion requisite for the constitution and 
 maintenance of the planetary orbits. The 
 present doctrine of centrifugal force, ap- 
 plied to the motion of the revolving orbs, 
 embraces a negative and lifeless idea. 
 The term " tangential force " is perhaps 
 considered by some as more significantly 
 expressive of an unknown power acting 
 upon an inert sphere ; but whence the ori- 
 gin of that power ? In the beginning, all 
 matter sought the great central focus, and 
 would have reached it, had it not been 
 repelled. Molecular attraction and repul-
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 161 
 
 sion are but the diminutives of the vast 
 energies which sustain worlds and suns at 
 fixed distances from each other. Planets 
 are like atoms floating in boundless space, 
 whose relations are definite and eternal; 
 and they can neither approach nor recede 
 beyond the limits of laws which bind them 
 to the great central body. Laws govern- 
 ing atoms act in complete harmony with 
 laws controlling sphere?. When planets 
 are in aphelion, it would appear as if their 
 molecules are at greater, though still insen- 
 sible, distances from each other, and more 
 in equilibrium, than when in other parts 
 of their orbit, When they begin to press 
 toward the sun, their molecules sympathize 
 with the solar power, and begin to press 
 toward ^ach other. As the intensity of 
 solar gravitation increases, a corresponding 
 activity of molecular condensation takes 
 place in the advancing sphere ; and this 
 increases until the perihelion is reached, 
 ll
 
 162 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 Here molecules and orbs alike have at- 
 tained their greatest degree of juxtaposi- 
 tion, and they exchange forces. Beyond 
 the perihelion the sun yields its attraction, 
 and the molecules of the sphere recede 
 from each other in proportion as the sphere 
 recedes from the sun; and they continue 
 to seek that degree of equilibrium which 
 they possessed in aphelion, where solar 
 influence is at its minimum. In this solar 
 action on the vast planetary masses, we 
 see but the counterpart exhibited in the 
 forces which play between molecules. The 
 physical results of this law of mutual rela- 
 tion is demonstrated to the eye in the 
 translucent spheres of comets ; it is exhi- 
 bited by various sensible phenomena on 
 this earth ; and, by optical aid, we behold 
 in other planets the same stupendous cos- 
 mographic changes which molecular mobi- 
 lity, superinduced by solar influence, has 
 effected in our own globe. Thus does
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 163 
 
 the entire material universe harmonize 
 throughout its frame. In the minutest 
 monad and the mightiest sphere, we wit- 
 ness the operation of kindred forces ; and, 
 while one rotates in microscopic epicycles 
 to fulfil the destinies of its creation, the 
 other rolls in majestic circuits through 
 immensity of space, to accomplish, with 
 equally wonderful precision and harmony, 
 the mysterious plan of its being. 
 
 In reviewing this broad and interesting 
 field of research, two prominent ideas are 
 presented forcibly to the mind, relative to 
 the state of human knowledge. We are 
 surprised at the immense accumulations 
 of exact learning, and at the progress 
 of scientific discovery, since the days of 
 Copernicus ; and we are impressed with 
 the magnitude of the experimental and 
 contemplative labor to be performed during 
 succeeding ages, to connect, by inductive
 
 164 COSMOGRAPHY *. 
 
 science, present and known forms and 
 forces with the forms and forces of the dis- 
 tant realms of space, and to dispel the mys- 
 teries which enshroud the manifold works 
 of the Creator. The more profound and 
 exact the inquiry, the greater is the simpli- 
 city discovered in the nature of physical 
 laws, and in the methods of their operation. 
 This has uniformly been the result of all 
 sound generalization ; and the multiplied 
 forms of physical force and material being, 
 heretofore wrapt in obscurity, or exhibiting 
 great complexity, are resolving themselves, 
 one by one, into the most beautiful unity 
 and order, under the brilliant light of mo- 
 dern discovery. Even the views exposed 
 here for the first time to the consideration 
 of scientific men, that thL earth and all 
 planets undergo periodical changes of vo- 
 lume, and variations, both in character and 
 in intensity, of their internal and external 
 radial forces, and that a cosmical radial
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 165 
 
 repulsive power is generated during their 
 molecular condensation, are rendered the 
 more probable by recent experiments of 
 Faraday, Pluck er, and Matteucci, on vari- 
 ous forms of matter. They have disco- 
 vered that the magnetic property of all 
 substances has its attractive force dimi- 
 nished materially by heat ; and that the 
 diamagnetic property loses scarcely any of 
 its repulsive power by the same cause. 
 Iron, for instance, which exhibits a maxi- 
 mum of attractive force, has that force 
 diminished fifteen million times by fusion ; 
 while bismuth, which exhibits a maximum 
 diamagnetic force, suffers by fusion a very 
 slight loss of its repulsive power. Profes- 
 sor Matteucci, by most carefully conducted 
 experiments, has established the fact, that 
 mechanical pressure, applied to diamag- 
 netic substances, increases their repulsive 
 force very sensibly, according to the de- 
 crease of their volume and the increase of
 
 166 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 their density. This is a remarkable fact; 
 and, though a mere experiment, it demon- 
 strates the inherent and wonderful forces 
 of matter; and, if the mass submitted to 
 experiment be augmented in volume, and 
 a corresponding degree of compression 
 applied, the exhibition of forces generated 
 will be proportionally great. This earth 
 being a compound of matter possessed of 
 paramagnetic and diamagnetic, attractive 
 and repulsive properties, it would probably 
 be influenced under natural, as small 
 amounts of matter would be under arti- 
 ficial, circumstances. If the contraction 
 of the planet should be accompanied by 
 increased accumulations of internal heat, 
 as is very probable, its attraction as a 
 planetary power would be progressively 
 diminished ; and, if its condensation was 
 accompanied by an increased repulsive 
 power, that power would be exerted as a 
 planetary influence, and hold the revolv-
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 167 
 
 ing sphere at definite distances from the 
 central body. A universal magnetic con- 
 dition of the earth has been ascertained to 
 exist, when formerly it was only suspected, 
 on account of the correspondence of elec- 
 trical experiments with certain terrestrial 
 phenomena. It remains now for science 
 to demonstrate clearly a diamagnetic con- 
 dition of the globe, and to establish the 
 existence of paramagnetism and diamag- 
 netism, or of two similar universal and 
 opposite principles, as organic agents, lying 
 at the foundation of all cosmical creations, 
 reigning over their atomic structure and 
 sidereal relations by reciprocal influences, 
 and consolidating the resplendent frame- 
 work of the universe, to whose boundaries 
 human sight or knowledge can never 
 extend. 
 
 The pursuit of this inquiry has led to the 
 development of a sublime and beautiful
 
 168 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 truth, uniting inseparably the two great de- 
 partments of astronomical and geological 
 science. Heretofore they have been as 
 widely separated as the heavens and the 
 earth. Astronomers, so charmed with the 
 glories of the celestial universe, have hardly 
 devoted an hour to contemplations of the 
 physical structure of our own planet. Geo- 
 logists, so amazed at the countless ves- 
 tiges of animal life which crowd the strata 
 of the earth's crust, barely glance at the 
 heavenly bodies, and theorize only on the 
 results of Plutonic agencies, or aqueous 
 and atmospheric degradations, and on the 
 destruction of antediluvian races. Science 
 and philosophy must awaken to still more 
 sublime contemplations. The earth is only 
 one marvellous link in an endless chain 
 of cosmical creations. It is composed of 
 atoms, each one of which is bound by 
 mysterious and harmonious relations to 
 all the rest in the physical universe. The
 
 169 
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 
 
 revolutions of the earth around the sun not 
 only expose its surface to cheering and fer- 
 tilizing beams of light, but its universal 
 mass throbs through every molecule, as it 
 hastens along its circuit in obedience to the 
 great celestial laws. It is moved from 
 centre to circumference with intense ac- 
 tivity. Quiet and gigantic internal changes 
 beget quiet and gigantic external results. 
 Slow igneous ulcerations of the inner sur- 
 face of the crust at last induce sudden 
 subterranean convulsions, or volcanic inun- 
 dations. Universal or local revolutions of 
 surface ensue. As continents rise and 
 oceans retire, isothermal variations as gra- 
 dually succeed each other; and, in corre- 
 sponding succession, various organic crea- 
 tions spring up, or pass away, both on the 
 earth and in the sea, according to laws 
 regulating their physical inception and de- 
 velopment, ordained by the Almighty. 
 Thus is evanescent, ever-changing life
 
 170 COSMOGRAPHY : 
 
 upon the earth connected with the cease- 
 less rolling of the spheres. While the 
 varying seasons, and day and night, are 
 necessary for the resuscitation of natural 
 forces, and the differing wants of organic 
 being, the revolutions of the earth's sur- 
 face are necessary for unfolding the endless 
 resources of the Creator's plan, and to 
 prepare it for the abode of the crowning 
 work of his will. Epochs, whose duration 
 exceeds all human calculation, have suc- 
 ceeded each other in unknown numbers, 
 with all their multifarious forms of ex- 
 istence rising progressively in the scale of 
 development with the lapse of time. Stra- 
 ta on strata of organic remains have thus 
 been heaped together in the sea and upon 
 the land ; and, were the deposits of each 
 geological age piled one upon the other, 
 they would rise many miles in height. 
 Had complete repose brooded for ever over 
 the globe, granites, slates, marbles, coal-beds,
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 171 
 
 and metalliferous mines would all lie deep 
 in the bowels of the earth, or beneath the 
 ocean, and bevond the reach of man. But 
 the ever-changing year, which brings seed- 
 time and harvest, and summer and winter, 
 for the growth and sustenance of swarming 
 myriads of organized forms, brings at the 
 same time changes in the physical consti- 
 tution of the planets, slow and impercep- 
 tible, or active and determinate, which 
 exhibit with overwhelming eloquence the 
 beneficence and universal providence of the 
 Creator. How necessary all these changes 
 for the highest physical happiness and the 
 intellectual and moral perfection of man ! 
 Had our race been created first instead of 
 last, the bare granitic surface of the globe 
 would have been an inhospitable abode 
 indeed ; or, midway in the course of ages, 
 we should have inhabited a surface filled 
 with a rank and noisome vegetation, ex- 
 haling only pestilence, and unfit for the
 
 172 cosmography : 
 
 fulfilment of the sublime plan of our crea- 
 tion ; if still later, our companions would 
 have been hideous and terrible monsters, 
 whose existence would seem fabulous, did 
 not their remains demonstrate to us their 
 magnitude and rapacity. But the lot of 
 man was designed for the highly elaborated 
 surface of the earth, where the companions 
 of his creation could administer to his 
 wants, and aid his occupations ; and where 
 all the abounding wealth of metals and 
 of decomposed animal and vegetable re- 
 mains has been overturned and exposed by 
 physical changes, to invite and reward his 
 mechanical and agricultural toil. 
 
 Thus all created things seem linked to- 
 gether. We can trace the special creations 
 of God from step to step on this globe, all 
 the way from man back to the first plants 
 and animals which he made in the primor- 
 dial seas. Special and definite interposi- 
 tions of divine thought and energy are
 
 VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 173 
 
 manifest from age to age in organic crea- 
 tions, and they are all linked to the suc- 
 'cessive revolutions of the surface of the 
 earth. Through countless ages we can 
 trace these changes, and these exhibitions 
 of Infinite "Wisdom, till we arrive back, and 
 stand upon the bare crystalline surface of 
 the uninhabitable globe. The contempla- 
 tion of these changes and these creations 
 almost brings us face to face with the great 
 Jehovah. How wonderful and manifold 
 his works ! How marvellous the faculties 
 of thought which translate us towards In- 
 unity ! But the cause of these remarkable 
 changes in the planet, to which vegetable 
 and animal life are subordinate, lie without 
 and beyond it. The influence which steals 
 through its constituent molecules is more 
 subtile and potent than the light and heat 
 of the solar rays which warm and fertilize 
 its surface. In these solar powers dwell 
 the levers of the Almighty, by which he
 
 174 
 
 COSMOGRAPHY. 
 
 has raised from the bosom of the deep the 
 lofty mountain and sloping vale, and pre- 
 pared them for the abode of successive 
 races of plants and animals. 
 
 Thus, by the exertion of the intellectual 
 and meditative faculties with which man 
 is endowed, he can ascend step by step 
 through the infinite series of created things ; 
 behold his own existence linked through 
 the atoms of the earth to the heart of the 
 sun, — and that depending for its energies 
 and stability upon the stellar multitudes of 
 the milky way ; and the whole universe 
 chained together in one vast empire, em- 
 bracing alike molecule and globe, sun and 
 systems of suns, stretching beyond the 
 reach of mortal sight, and all bound with 
 enduring power to the omnipotent arm of 
 their Creator. 
 
 T U E END.
 
 ERRATUM. 
 For "Persia," p. 143, line 18, read "Peru."
 
 ■g-t- 
 
 ;
 
 L 006 129 876 6 
 
 JPpP 
 
 M/ » 000 183 705