ON THE INFLUENCE OF COMETS. 



haps, imagine that, in other more recondite operations, he may, also, 

 work by intermediate principles, such as his unsearchable wisdom 

 has ordained for his own glory, and his unbounded beneficence di- 

 rects to the good of his creatures. 



The argument then reduces itself to this : — that since the number 

 of effects which we are able to refer to known principles is very far 

 from comprising the whole of the operations of nature, we may very 

 fairly infer, from effects hitherto unexplained, the existence of prin- 

 ciples as yet undiscovered : and since, in the former instance, seve- 

 ral of the most dominant agents affect us at an immense distance, 

 there is no antecedent improbability that such may be the case in 

 the latter, and that the heavenly bodies may mutually communicate 

 to each other many very powerful and essential influences, among 

 which those of Comets, from their magnitude, and the peculiar 

 distribution of their orbits, may be ordained to act a very important 

 part ; though, at the same time, the exact nature of these influ- 

 ences is, at present, entirely beyond our comprehension. 



These reflections, though they may not be opposed to any of the 

 rules of legitimate induction, might, notwithstanding, be regarded 

 as little more than a sketch of a philosophical romance, if they were 

 entirely unsupported by the evidence of facts. To some persons this 

 will appear to be the case ; and the falsely denominated march of 

 intellect — which, at best, is but the march of informat^'on, and very 

 frequently of dogmatical presumption — is sufficiently opposed to 

 the reception of any statement which appears to militate against 

 its infallibility and perfection. To allude to the opinion of Lu- 

 nar Influence may subject me to the censure of an elegant writer, 

 who has asserted that '^such prejudices, if they yet linger in 

 some places among the shattered remnants of that ignorance and 

 superstition which once overspread Europe, are now rapidly dis- 

 appearing before the advancement of science : they resemble the 

 shadows of the night, that flit, for a while, amid ruins, though 

 the general darkness has passed away ; but which, ere long, also 

 vanish, by the progressive and brightening influence of the sun.*** 

 Nay, there may possibly not be wanting, among the sciolists of the 



* Mihie's Essay On Comets, p. 180. 



