FOOTNOTES:
[1] Loudon, Encyclopædia of Gardening, 848.
[2] Dec. Phys. vol. ii. 478.
[3] Fleming, Zool. i. 400.
[4] Rapports du Physique et du Moral de l’Homme, II. 371.
[5] It will be observed that it is not here asserted that the difference of native products depends on the difference of climate alone.
[6] The resemblance consists in this; that we have a strip of greater temperature accompanied by a strip of smaller temperature, these strips arising from the diurnal and nocturnal impressions respectively, and being in motion; as in the waves on a canal, we have a moving strip of greater elevation accompanied by a strip of smaller elevation. We do not here refer to any hypothetical undulations in the fluid matter of heat.
[7] Loudon, 1219.
[8] Loudon, 1214.
[9] Manchester Memoirs, v. 357.
[10] Howard on the climate of London, vol. ii. pp. 216, 217.
[11] Daniell, Meteor. Ess. p. 56.
[12] Daniell. p. 129.
[13] Phil. Trans. 1821.
[14] Mr. Gough in Manch. Mem. vol. v.
[15] The reader who is acquainted with the two theories of light, will perceive that though we have adopted the doctrine of the ether, the greater part of the arguments adduced would be equally forcible, if expressed in the language of the theory of emission.
[16] Or rather through the focal centre of the eye, which is always near the centre of the pupil.
[17] Laplace, Expos. du Syst. du Monde, p. 441.
[18] In this statement of Laplace, however, one remarkable provision for the stability of the system is not noticed. The planets Mercury and Mars, which have much the largest eccentricities among the old planets, are those of which the masses are much the smallest. The mass of Jupiter is more than two thousand times that of either of these planets. If the orbit of Jupiter were as eccentric as that of Mercury is, all the security for the stability of the system, which analysis has yet pointed out, would disappear. The earth and the smaller planets might in that case change their approximately circular orbits into very long ellipses, and thus might fall into the sun, and fly off into remote space.
It is further remarkable that in the newly discovered planets, of which the orbits are still more eccentric than that of Mercury, the masses are still smaller, so that the same provision is established in this case also. It does not appear that any mathematician has even attempted to point out a necessary connexion between the mass of a planet and the eccentricity of its orbit on any hypothesis. May we not then consider this combination of small masses with large eccentricities, so important to the purposes of the world, as a mark of provident care in the Creator?
[19] The eccentricity of a planet’s orbit is measured by taking the proportion of the difference of the greatest and least distances from the sun, to the sum of the same distances. Mercury’s greatest and least distances are as two and three; his eccentricity, therefore, is one-fifth.
[20] The stability of the axis of rotation about which the earth revolves, has sometimes been adduced as an instance of preservative care. The stability, however, would follow necessarily, if the earth, or its superficial parts, were originally fluid; and that they were so is an opinion widely received, both among astronomers and geologists. The original fluidity of the earth is probably a circumstance depending upon the general scheme of creation; and cannot with propriety be considered with reference to one particular result. We shall therefore omit any further consideration of this argument.
[21] Airy on Encke’s Comet, p. 1, note.
[22] Principia, b. iii. prop. x.
[23] Paley.
[24] If the Laws of Motion are stated as three, which we conceive to be the true view of the subject, the other two, as applied in mechanical reasonings, are the following:
Second Law. When a force acts on a body in motion, it produces the same effect as if the same force acted on a body at rest.
Third Law. When a force of the nature of pressure produces motion, the velocity produced is proportional to the force, other things beings equal.
[25] Though Friction is not concerned in any cosmical phenomena, we have thought this the proper place to introduce the consideration of it; since the contrast between the cases in which it does act, and those in which it does not, is best illustrated by a comparison of cosmical with terrestrial motions.
[26] Butler, Serm. 3.
[27] Müller, Infusoria, Preface.
[28] Monas. Müller. Cuvier.
[29] Volvox.
[30] Vibrio. Müller. Cuvier.
[31] Dupuis. Origine des Cultes.
[32] Herschel on the Study of Nat. Phil. Art. 28.
[33] Amici me cunctantem atque etiam reluctantem, retraxerunt, inter quos primus fuit Nicolaus Schonbergius, Cardinalis Capuanus, in omni genere literatum celebris; proximus ille vir mei amantissimus Tidemannus Gisius, episcopus Culmensis, sacrarum ut est et omnium bonarum literarum studiosissimus.—De Revolutionibus. Præf. ad Paulum III.
[34] Lib. i. cx.
[35] Pensées, Art. viii. 1.
[36] Thomson’s Hist. of Chemistry, vol. i. 321.
[37] Manch. Mem. vol. v. p. 346.
[38] “Since all reasoning may be resolved into syllogisms, and since in a syllogism the premises do virtually assert the conclusion, it follows at once, that no truth can be elicited by any process of reasoning.”—Whately’s Logic, p. 223.
Mathematics is the logic of quantity, and to this science the observation here quoted is strictly applicable.
[39] A l’intérieur le ministre Quinette fut remplacé par Laplace, géomêtre du premier rang, mais qui ne tarda pas à se montrer administrateur plus que médiocre: des son premier travail les consuls s’aperçurent qu’ils s’étaient trompés: Laplace ne saisissait aucune question sous son vrai point de vue: il cherchait des subtilités partout, n’avait que des idées problématiques, et portait enfin l’esprit des infiniment petits dans l’administration.—Mémoires écrits à Ste Hélène, i. 3.
[40] Il semble que la nature ait tout disposé dans le ciel, pour assurer la durée du systême planétaire, par des vues semblables à celles qu’elle nous parait suivre si admirablement sur la terre, pour la conservation des individus et la perpétuité des espèces.—Syst. du Monde, p. 442.
[41] Rapports du Physique et du Moral de l’Homme, i. 299.
[42] De Augment. Sc. ii. 105.
[43] Herschel on the Study of Nat. Phil. Art. 28.
[44] Elem. of Phil. ii. p. 273.
[45] Bacon. Essay on Atheism.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within the text and consultation of external sources.
Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text, and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.
[Pg 47]: ‘a slendar stalk’ replaced by ‘a slender stalk’.
[Pg 48]: ‘animal motious’ replaced by ‘animal motions’.
[Pg 54]: ‘the raingage’ replaced by ‘the rain gauge’.
[Pg 67]: ‘by Fourrier, and’ replaced by ‘by Fourier, and’.
[Pg 69]: ‘would dimininish’ replaced by ‘would diminish’.
[Pg 72]: ‘is obvitated by’ replaced by ‘is obviated by’.
[Pg 81]: ‘than 1-100dth to’ replaced by ‘than 1-100th to’.
[Pg 131]: ‘are nealy circular’ replaced by ‘are nearly circular’.
[Pg 139]: ‘by one anomally’ replaced by ‘by one anomaly’.
[Pg 153]: ‘would loose its’ replaced by ‘would lose its’.
[Pg 174]: ‘a memoir entited’ replaced by ‘a memoir entitled’.
[Pg 174]: ‘volocity, in’ replaced by ‘velocity, in’.
[Pg 178]: ‘effects take take place’ replaced by ‘effects take place’.
[Pg 196]: ‘and and Director of’ replaced by ‘and Director of’.
[Pg 200]: ‘for for her young’ replaced by ‘for her young’.
[Pg 205]: ‘in his puposes’ replaced by ‘in his purposes’.
[Pg 224]: ‘thus irremoveably’ replaced by ‘thus irremovably’.
[Pg 228]: ‘of knowlege and’ replaced by ‘of knowledge and’.
[Pg 259]: ‘and no othewise’ replaced by ‘and not otherwise’.