The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1882-12-30
Commodore Rodgers and the Naval
Observatory.

perpendicular to the eartA The
force that causes this phenOmena
was designated hy Newton as grav.
ity. He expressly diselaimed a
knowledge of the cause, but from
this phenomena of motion inferred
the homogenity of the solar sys-
tenn aud the universe. In his third
letter TO Bentley he says; "That
gravity should be innate, Inherent
and essential to matter, SO that one
body may act on another, at dis.
tance, through a vacuum, without
the mediation of anything else, by,
and through which their actions
and force. may be conveyed from
one to another, is to me so great
an absurdity, that believe no man
who has in philosophical matters a
competent faculty of thinking, can
ever fall into.' In this light, gray.
ity simply means that Sir Isaac
Newton noticed a relation between
the distance, velocity and mass of
all bodies moving in space, within
the sphere of his powers of obser.
walton. The relative motions of
the planets from that their eXis-
tencc is due to the same initial
cause. Why the mind should he
befogged by attributing to the re-
suit of an original cause the pc.
culiar virtue of an elementary
principle can he accounted for
only by supposiug that the illustri-
ous discovcrer did not realize the
truth, that the phenomena of SO
called attraction WAS nothing but
/ the motions of the planets derived
from innitial momentum impaired
by the parent mass of the sun.
deliberately affirm that all the
hypothcscs derived from every
phenomena, observed and mob
served by mankind, will sustain
the theory that the planets wer,
thrown off from the surface of th,
sun, and that their motion is dut
solely to the original momentum
and that that principle which il
designated as the attraction 0
gravitation is phenomena, th'
result of motion.
That the satellites are in lik,
manner thrown OFF from the surf
ace of the planets is also self.eyi
dent, and that the whole system i
gradually losing momentum, is
necessary consequence of the friC
ton that palpably exists IN inter
planetory space as the seNcra
masses traverse their several oI
bits. That all bodies in space tina
have u motion around their ow
axis wrap funds around thcmselve
by friction is very clear, aud tina
the heavier fluids are the most SUI
ceptible to the action of friction
which is the medium through wbic
the centric tendency of the me
tons of our earth is impaired t
them, is also clear.
The volume of the water oil th
globe asserts its volatile charnctc
by the surface currents from cas-
to west around the equator. Mort
and South America, stretclin
square across the equator, pr,
scnts a barrier, and the equatoris
waters of the Atlantic after pass
ing into q pocket flow out of tll
Gulf of Mexico and traverse th
lofty ridge of submarine moui
tains, composing the western ban
of the Atlantic. and pile up aroun
the North Pole, IN the Artic oceal
from which the enormous supei
abundance of water flows out /
innumerablc small currents sprca,
Ng towards the equator. G
course the barriers of the cont
ncnts of America revolving Il
wards the Atlantic cause til
waters to he higher on the easter
than western coasts Of these oil
structions.
The air presents identical coni
tions, except that there are n
barriers to the upper current
relatively to the phenomena ,
ocean currents) or surface cu
rents. The air Immediately in c0l
tact with the surface is more dens
because of the friction of the cart
that tightly wraps it around III
surface, and of course the high,
portions being susceptible only
the friction of the more dense al
, would of a necessity present II
phenomena of being left benin
the fluid of the surface which WI
(, being reyolved at the rate of Il
rotary motion of that portion
the earth's surface with which
was in contact.
= While both the phenomena
ocean currents and the currents
the air have already been demo
stratcd, they are alluded to he
A q a =