Wheeling compiler. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [i.e. W. Va.]) 1829-1831, 1830-06-09
MISCELLANEOUS
IRON THE NANTUCKET ENQUIRER.
A FRAGMENT
on TIE THEORY OF THE UNIVERSE,
BY ST. PIERRE.

~ y. y.
lie mas c-,glovad an instrument more
potent than the prism, 10 uvieot inc procI-
gies Of light: it is the eye.-Suppose that
a horizon shall be we'll defined when it mas
diameter but league in extent--reckoh
now. how many Of these horizons there are
upon the globe, when the sun ehlIghtens
the half Of It's surface: you will fpd mil
lion and half Of them, each Of which pre-
sents a peculiar landscape, ofhelds, noun.
tains, valleys, forests, prarIes, of rocks,
and rivers and Of seas: Their heavens
are still more varied by the changeful
clouds, by its serenity, by its rains and
storms. But let us Limit ourselves to the
simple effects Of lieht;-there is not one,
which bears a resemblance to the other.
You might at least quadruple the aspects
ofyour soil, in turning from morn to eve,
90 the east. TO the south, to the north aud
west; which viii extend to more than six
millions, in all these horizons, the daily
harmonies ofhght aud shades. You may
carry this calculation a great deal further,
IT. multiplying bv the three hundred and
sixty FIVE day of ,he year; for each day
has its physiognomy which IS impressed
upon each horizon that 1t ilumines. And
hence the delight which so many find in
travelling; they are gladdened b the iunu-
mcra5lc and successive hamonies of
lights and shadows although ignorant OF
the cause.
Night comes: nature offers to your view
eniovments still more wonderful. You no
longer behold the earth; but the incalcua-
bic distances of the stars, the infinite NUN
Der Of those which stud the milky way
like sparkling sand; pNrt Of the planets.
and the brilliant consultations, IN short
.balfof the visible heavens, are imagined
without confusion on the minute ratIna Of
the evel Does attraction work these mir
.acIes2 Astronomers who regard Il as the
sole law ofheavenly bodies, which are so
FAR removed from us, explain their incon-
eeyable motions bv mechanical means;
but neverhaye they dared explain tho phe-
noneua of vision SO near 70 all, and which
IS governed by so remote cause.
Our authorr remarked first, that the RAYS
orthe sun while in their Transmission, al
though they animate all nature, arc des-
pute OF heat-aud this he proves b phys
Iical phenomena. If says ae, we ascend
.ta the saun.tofa mountain of buta league
and Il half 60 altitude, even 10 the bosom
iofthe torrid zone, AZ the noontide hour, we
should fad 1t covered with ice and snow at
SIX hundred toIses of It's height. THIS Ell
feet IS witnessed upon Mount Taurus, the
peak ofTenerfie and in all quarters OF the
Globe. The air at this elevation Is no lon
Ger respirable: thus able chemists have at
| all times pretended that they could pro
duce ice I'D a Pneumatic machine by the
privation of the air alone.
Tie ancients not less wise, defined the
mir 70 be the nourisher Of fire, GeT Pabut'Hl
;oDis. Without its atmosphere our earth
would be but a globe of ice, although all
snarkling with the suns rays. Thus
/ Newton in his calculations, Is again de
ceived in saying Of a comet that had pas
lsed near the sun. that it had experienced a
heat two thousand times greater than that
of red hot iron. If it had no atmosphere
liz IS certain that u felt no more the power