The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1827-02-28
:ASa.St.11yD.
THE JN.aTERfAL UA1HERSE.

} I1E Juyd1EklJ1L1 tjsAIVEkSE.
Looking over" The Book OF Nature'' by ]. "a
Good, lately published in this city by Well
u Lilly, we were struck with the eloquencl
OF the snneKed passage, which closes th,
first lecture, on Matter and a Msteria
\ World. GaLaru.
This view of the subject has giver
rise 10 variety of magnificent specuIs.
tioos, at which | shall just glance, with.
out meaning to dwell upon them. Is ali
this immensely of matter, this universe
of worlds within worlds, and systems
within systems, the resul; of one singh
fiat OF he great Creator? Did The
Power that spake IL INTO existence give
ii from The first the general order aud
harmony and perfection thai prevail a,
present Of did he merely produce a
vast central aud aggregate chaos, az lhs-
rude basis OF future worlds, he parent
stock or s:ore-house from wbica the y
have since issued by series OF distinct
| afforls and evolutions or, thirdly; has
every separate planet been the result OF
a separate birth, aud a separate ACT OF
creation
1t is of little importance which Of
these splendid tancIss we adopt; for all
of them are but fancies, and buIit upon
conjecture alone. la course of phiie
sopnical inquiry, however, il becomes
US to be acquainted with their existence F.;
and to be informed, beyond this, thai
the second is the speculation which has
been more generally espoused by PHI
losophers; that, mean, which con-
ceives the existence of central and
primary chaos, from which all the heav-
emily bodies have successfully proceed
ed, of whatever kind or description,
whether suns, stars, comets, or planets :;
though the mode by which such efforts
have been produced has been varousfy
accounted for. Des Gates seems 10
have supposed stars TO have preceded
planets in the order of creation, aud that
the earth was at first a star, and contin-
ued so till rendered opake by having ite
bright surface encrusted with grosser and
untransparent matter, and drawn into
the vortex of the solar system; anC
LeibnitZ adopted his conjecture. Whis
ton conceived it TO have been originall,
a comet, the rude materials of wbicI
constituted the chaos of the earth an
Button, to have consisted of a comet an
a portion of the suns exterior Iimb o
edge carried of by such comet, in con
sequence of lis having given the sun al
obllque stroke in the course of its orbit
the chaos Of the earth being thus form
ed by the vapoury substance of the i'm
pinging comet uniting with portion OF
the suns igneous mass and in this man
I ner he endeavored 10 account for the
production Of every other planet OF the
solar system.
But of all this class of speculattons,
(for assuredly they deserve no higher
character) the most splendid and COM
prehensive is that which was first em.
braced by DR.. Herschei, and was per-
haps an Improvement on prior hypoth-
esis of MIR. Button but which, so pre-
carious is the life of philosophical n.y.
pothesis, he himself discarded, not many
years afterwards, for something newer.
1t supposes the existence of an immense
mass of opake but igneous matter, seat.
ed 10 the centre of universal nature
but it is volcanic in its structure, anc
subject to eruptions of uncomfortable
force and violence; that the SUI anC
every other luminary Of every otheI
system were thrown forth from it at diff
ferent times, by the operation of suct
projectile powers; aud that these, pos
sessing in great degree the qualities O.
the parent body, threw forth afterward
at different times, by means Of similar
volcanoes, portions of their own sub
stance, each of which, by the common
laws of projectiles, assuming an orbicuIa
motion, constituted distinct planet, AM
became the chaos of a rising world
Hence, according 10 this comprehensiv.
and daring hypothesis, the existing uni
verse has acquired lis birth; hence, new
lsystems of worlds are perpetualy rising
into being, and pew planets are added t,
systems already created.
But worlds and systems of worlds ar,
E not ouly perpetually creating, they ar,
also perpetualIy diminishing and disap
pearing. 1t is an extraordinary fact
that, within the period Of the last cent?
ry, not less than thirteen stars in differ
emf considerations, none Of them beIo,
the sixth magnitude, seems totally 4
have persisted forty to have change
5 their magnitude by becoming eithe
) much larger or much smaller: and Tel
new stars TO have supplied The place @
those that are lost. Some of thes
changes may perhaps be accounted TO
by supposing proper motion in the so
lar or sideral systems, by which the rel
alive positions of several of the heaven
fly bodies have varied. But this explain
alton though II NAV annlv 10 saueral a