consideration of art, and its intrinsic feebleness, to that of the
sublimity of nature. At such times, this globe has appeared so
insignificant, in comparison with the mighty system of which it forms so
secondary a part, that I felt a truly philosophical indifference, not to
give it a better term, for all it contained. Admiration of human powers,
as connected with the objects around me, has been lost in admiration of
the mysterious spirit which could penetrate the remote and sublime
secrets of the science; and on no other occasions have I felt so
profound a conviction of my own isolated insignificance, or so lively a
perception of the stupendous majesty of the Deity.

Passing by the common and conceded facts of the dimensions of the
planets, and the extent of their orbits, what thoughts are awakened by
the suggestion that the fixed stars are the centres of other solar
systems, and the eccentric comets are links to connect them all in one
great and harmonious design! The astronomers tell us that some of these
comets have no visible nucleuses--that the fixed stars are seen through
their apparent densest parts, and that they can be nothing but luminous
gases; while, on the other hand, others do betray dark compact bodies of
more solid matter. Fixed stars unaccountably disappear, as if suddenly
struck out of their places. Now, we know that aerolites are formed in
the atmosphere by a natural process, and descend in masses of pure iron.
Why may not the matter of one globe, dispersed into its elements by the
fusion of its consummation, reassemble in the shape of comets, gaseous
at first, and slowly increasing and condensing in the form of solid
matter, varying in their course as they acquire the property of
attraction, until they finally settle into new and regular planetary
orbits by the power of their own masses, thus establishing a regular
reproduction of worlds to meet the waste of eternity? Were the earth
dissolved into gases by fusion, what would become of its satellite the
moon? Might not the principles of our planet, thus volatilized, yield to
its nearer attraction, assemble around that orb, which, losing its
governing influence, should be left to wander in infinite space, subject
to a new but eccentric law of gravity, until finally reduced again
within the limits of some new system? How know we that such is not the
origin of comets?

Many astronomers have believed that the solar system, in company with
thousands of