An original theory or new hypothesis of the universe /

by Thomas Wright

PLATE XV.

Represents the Pleides, a well known Knot of Stars in the Sign Taurus, as they appeared to me thro' a one Foot reflecting Telescope: And Plate XVI. is a View of the Persides, another surprizing Knot of Stars in the Constellation Perseus, exactly as they appear through a Tube of two convex Glasses. There are also other luminous Spaces in the starry Regions, not unlike the Milky Way, which I have had no Opportunity of observing; such as the Nebeculæ, near the South Pole, called by the Seamen Magellanic Clouds; and which likewise viewed through Telescopes, present us with little Nebulæ, and small Stars interspersed: One of these Kind is situated between Hydrus and Dorado; and another, something less than this, betwixt Hydrus and the Toucan.

Now admitting the Breadth of the Via Lactea to be at a Mean but nine Degrees, and supposing only twelve hundred Stars in every square Degree, there will be nearly in the whole orbicular Area 3,888,000 Stars, and all these in a very minute Portion of the great Expanse of Heaven. What! a vast Idea of endless Beings must this produce and generate in our Minds; and when we consider them all as flaming Suns, Progenitors, and Primum Mobiles of a still much greater Number of peopled Worlds, what less than an Infinity can circumscribe them, less than an Eternity comprehend them, or less than Omnipotence produce and support them, and where can our Wonder cease?

Plate XV.

Plate XVI.

In this Place perhaps I ought not to pass over the astonishing Phenomenon of several new Stars, &c. which have frequently appeared, and soon again vanished, in the same Point of the Heavens. But as the Business of this Theory is rather to solve the general, than any particular Phænomenon, I shall only here by way of Note subjoin a Table of such as has been regularly observed, and by whom they were first discovered.

A Table of several new Stars, Nebulæ, and double Stars, &c.

Nomina Stellarum.		Observationum.
Septima Pleiadum	{	Lost after the burning of Troy, but now returned; see Ricciolus.
A new Star appeared in Cassiopea, nearly in the same Place with that of 1572.	{	Anno Dom. 945, bright as Jupiter; see Ricciolus.
The new Star in Cassiopea's Chair.		Bright as Venus, from November 1572 to March 1574.
A new Star in Collo Ceti.	{	Of the 3d Magnitude, is said to have appear'd periodically, seven Times in six Years, i. e. every three hundred and thirteen Days: It was first observed in August 1596, for two Months, by D. Fabricius.
A new Star in the Swan's Neck.	{	Observed by Kepler in 1600, of the third Magnitude, till the Year 1659; then gradually decreasing; in 1661 it disappeared; in 1666 it became visible again, and is yet to be seen of the sixth Magnitude.
A new Star in the Right Foot of Serpentarius,	{	Bright as Venus from October 1604 to October 1605: see Kepler.
A new Star in Andromeda's Girdle,		Seen by Simon Marius and Fabricius, Anno 1612.
A new Star in Antinous,		Seen by Justus Byrgius.
A new Star seen in the Whale,	{	In 1638, by John Procyclides Holuarda, of the third Magnitude, which disappeared periodically, every three hundred and thirty Days.
A new Star in the Fox's Head,	{	Of the third Magnitude, seen by Hevelius in July 1670, and till August 1671, also from March 1672 to September 1672.
A new Star in the Swan's Neck.	{	This appear'd periodically every four hundred and four Days, and about six Months at a Time; it was seen at its brightest, September 10, 1714.

Of the Nebulæ, or Cloudy Stars. Nebulose in Orion's Sword. Nebulose in Andromeda's Girdle. Nebulose in the Bow of Sagitarius, Small, but very luminous. Nebulose in Centaurus, Never seen in England. A Nebulose preceding the right Foot of Antinous, Obscure, but with a Star in the Middle of it. Nebulæ in Dorso Herculis, Discovered by Dr. Hally.

Besides the Nebulæ, and new Stars, it appears from the ancient Catalogues of Hevelius, &c. that some of the old ones have intirely vanished; in particular, one in the left Thigh of Aquarius, the contiguous one preceding in the Tail of Capricorn; the second on the Belly of the Whale; the first of the unformed ones after the Scales of Libra, and several others. Many of the Stars also appear to be double, as the first Star of Aries and Castor; others triple, as one in the Pleiades; and the middle one in Orion's Sabre; and others again, quadruple, &c.

I would now willingly help you to conceive the indefinite mutual Distance of the Stars, in order to give you some small Notion of the Immensity of Space; but as this will be a Task merely conjectural, I shall only desire you to believe it as far as your Reason will carry you, safely supported by an obvious Probability.

Perhaps it may be necessary here to acquaint you, that all the Stars are so far apparently of different Magnitudes, that no two of them are to be found in the whole Heavens exactly the same, either in Bigness or Brightness[AH]. The largest we have sufficient Reason to believe is the nearest to us; the next in Bigness and Brightness more remote; and so on to the least we see, which we judge to be the most remote of all.

The first Degree, or that of the largest Magnitude, we give to Syrius, the second to Arcturus, the third to Aldebaran, the fourth to Lyra, the fifth to Capella, the sixth to Regulus, the seventh to Rigel, the eighth to Fomahaunt, and the ninth to Antarus: These are all said to be of the first Class; and besides which, there are at least, within the Reach of our latest improved Opticks, nine more Denominations within the Radius of the visible Creation.

[AH] A very little Knowledge in Opticks will render this indisputable, and has been in a great measure demonstrated before; 1. in the Great Dog; 2. in Bootes; 3. in the Bull; 4. in the Harp of Apollo; 5. in Auriga; 6. in the Lion; 7. in Orion; 8. in the Southern Fish; 9. at the End of Erridanus.

Now, by the certain Return of the Comets, which we find are all governed by the Laws of this System, and supposed to be undisturbed by any of the others, we cannot avoid concluding, if we consider them at all to the Purpose, that the nearest Stars cannot be less distant than twice the Radius of the greatest Orbit belonging to the Sun. Most Mathematicians think this a great deal too near, as it must of course make all the Systems join, as in Contact; and I think we may safely add, to separate their Spheres of Attraction, at least one Half of this Distance more, which will make in the Whole about four hundred and twenty Semi-orbits of the Earth, or 33,600,000,000 Miles. This even the ingenious Mr. Huygins endeavours to prove still much too little, and his Arguments are such as cannot easily be refuted. His Principle is grounded upon the known Laws of Analogy, as considered in the Proportion of light Surfaces, and is as follows. Having reduced the Sun's Disk to the Appearance of the Star Syrius, by the Help of a small Hole at the End of his Telescope, and comparing this Part of his Surface to the whole Disk of the Sun, he infers that the Stars Distance to that of the Sun must be as 27,664 to 1. Hence Syrius from us will be nearly (avoiding Units) 2,213,120,000,000 Miles: But this I take to be as much too large as the former is too little; yet, as Mr. Bradley has, with some Shew of Reason, banished all the Stars out of the Sphere of Parallax, the last is the only Method we can possibly make use of with any kind of Confidence; and Sir Isaac Newton endeavours to recommend it with great Force of Argument, as the only probable Means by which we can give any tolerable Guess at these immense Measurements of Space.

To moderate the Matter then if you please, allow me but to make use of a Mean betwixt the two fore-mentioned Numbers; and we may take it for granted, a Distance sufficiently exact, to suit all our Wants in the present Case, namely, to give a very tolerable Idea of the Extent of the visible Creation, which is all I propose in this Place to attempt; but I mean to be much more exact in another.

Now as the Distance from the Sun to the Earth is so small in Proportion to the Distance of the Stars from us, and from one another, we may very well consider the Sun as the Center of our Station, or Position in the general System or Frame of Nature. And as the Stars are very visible thro' good Telescopes, to the ninth or tenth Magnitude, if we multiply the primary Distance of Syrius, or of any other of his Class, by this Number of common intermediate Spaces, the Product will be equal to the Radius of the visible Creation to the solar Eye; which, by this Rule, you will find in capital Numbers to be [AI]nearly 6,000,000,000,000 Miles, taking in a Star of the sixth Magnitude, and to a Star of the ninth, 9,000,000,000,000 Miles: But this Computation supposes a mean common Distance of the Stars in a sort of Syzygia, or Direction of a Right Line, which is not the real Case; for the Stars cannot be supposed to diminish in a proportional Magnitude by any mathematical Ratio, but by some geometrical, or rather musical one; for Instance, if the Distance of a first be 3, that of a second should be about 5, and of a proportional Third 8,333, &c. ad infinitum: But as their true proportional Distance is unknown, the above will be sufficient for our present Purpose; which is only to shew, without Exaggeration, the Space we now are truly sensible of.

[AI] If the Distance of the Sun and Earth is found too much, which I must own I have a violent Suspicion of, these Numbers must be reduced in like Proportion.

This I have here considered more extensively, to obviate all Objections that you may make to the Probability of the general Motion of the Stars, by shewing no Difficulty can possibly arise from their apparent Proximity, Number, or irregular Distribution: Their Distances being so immensely large, no Disorder or Confusion can be supposed in any Direction of them, or Motion whatever. The greatest Distance of the Planets, which all move undisturbed round the Sun, is about three hundred and fifty-three Million of Miles: But the least Distance of one Star from another, is upwards of two thousand eight hundred and thirty-two Times that Distance, or one Million of Millions of Miles: And as no sensible Disorder can be observed amongst the solar Planets, what Reason have we to suppose any can be occasioned amongst the Stars, or that a general Motion of these primary Luminaries round a common Center, should be any way irrational, or unnatural?

What an amazing Scene does this display to us! what inconceivable Vastness and Magnificence of Power does such a Frame unfold! Suns crowding upon Suns, to our weak Sense, indefinitely distant from each other; and Miriads of Miriads of Mansions, like our own, peopling Infinity, all subject to the same Creator's Will; a Universe of Worlds, all deck'd with Mountains, Lakes, and Seas, Herbs, Animals, and Rivers, Rocks, Caves, and Trees; and all the Produce of indulgent Wisdom, to chear Infinity with endless Beings, to whom his Omnipotence may give a variegated eternal Life.

The astonishing Distance of the starry Mansions undoubtedly was design'd to answer some wise End: One Consequence is this, and probably is not without its Use: To every Planet of the same System, the same sidereal Face of Heaven appears without the least Degree of Change; and as the remotest Regions upon Earth see the same Moon and Planets, so also the Inhabitants of the most distant Planets in ours, or in any other System, see the same Forms and Order of the Stars in common with the rest. The whole Sphere of Heaven being common and unchangeable through all their various Revolutions.

Thus those (the People) in the Planet Venus will see the Constellation of Orion just as we do, and the People in the Planet Saturn, much farther still removed, alike will view this Constellation in all respects the same; here then, (in the System of the Sun) the Eye removed from us must only hope to find a new Earth surrounded with the same sort of Sky: But Beings in another System, behold not only a new Heaven above, but also new Earths below; and all the Frame of Nature to them puts on a new Dress, new Signs, new Seasons, and new Planets roll, and a new Sun renews the Day.

The Heathen Fables here are all erased with all the Immortality of their vain earthly Gods and Heroes; Perseus and Alcides are no more, and both the Bears are vanished; the Pleiades and the Hyads join, and shining Leo, though boasting two Stars of the first Magnitude with us, there no where can be found, lost in the common undistinguished Herd. But still Astronomy will exist, and new-framed Forms may fill the varied Scene.

Perhaps you may expect that I should here give you my Conjectures of what sort of Beings may be supposed to reside in the Ens Primum, or Sedes Beatorum of the known Universe, whether mortal, immortal, or Creatures partaking in some Degree of the Properties of both; as such may be conceiv'd to change their Natures and States, without a total Dissolution of their Senses by Death: And farther, it may possibly be judged unpardonable in me not to point out every blessed Abode, suited to the Virtues, and all the various States an immortal Soul may be translated to; but this is a Task above the human Capacity, or is the pure Province of Religion alone; the Business of a Revelation rather than Reason to discover. Besides, it is enough for the present Purpose, to prove, that Miriads of celestial Mansions, are to be discovered within our finite View, and by a kind of ocular Revelation, which visibly extends the human Prospect, as it were, far beyond the Grave. It matters not whether a Race of Heroes fill these Worlds, or a Tribe of happy Lovers people those; whether a Peasant in the Realms of Orion shall ever become a Prince in the Regions of Arcturus, or a Patriarch in Procion, a Prophet in the Precepæ. Not to mention all the Stages human Nature may, or have been destined to in any one World, as believ'd by the ancient Philosophers, besides the final Coalition of all Beings much more naturally to be expected in the Sedes Beatorum.

I say, whatever our Case may be with regard to these Queries and Futurity, the Plan and Principles of this Theory will not be at all changed by it, since what it is chiefly founded upon may be clearly demonstrated, so clearly and incontestably, that, with the Reverend Dr. Young, we may justly conclude,

Devotion! Daughter of Astronomy!

and affirm with him also, That,

An indevout Astronomer is mad.

But I find what I at first proposed will prove too long for this Letter. However, I will endeavour to reward your Patience in my next, and continue, &c.