ON THE INFLUENCE OF COMETS. 227 



least, the separate existence of an invisible chemical emanation 

 being now established, we may fairly infer the presence of others, 

 which are not the objects of our senses, but whose operations may 

 be alike important and widely extended. 



The application of the foregoing reflections to the subject is obx^i- 

 ous. The influences, which we have supposed to reside in the sun 

 and moon, may, with equal probability, be conceded, in a smaller 

 degree, to the other celestial bodies ; and the peculiarity of the con- 

 stitution of comets may lead us to imagine that the influence th«y 

 exert may be dissimilar to that of the other parts of the system. 



But here we must pause : observation alone ought to be our guide 

 in our farther advance ; and it may be very long before we can dis- 

 tinguish real effects from such mere coincidences as are perpetually 

 mistaken for them. That the latter has been, hitherto, in generals 

 the case, we cannot doubt ; though we may not affirm that all the 

 circumstances, which have accompanied the appearance of comets, 

 have been solely of this nature. Warmth, and fertility, and a 

 superior vintage were the effects attributed to the great comet of 

 1811 ; but probably upon no sufficient foundation: in these respects, 

 its similarity was remarkable to that very conspicuous one which 

 attended the apotheosis of Julius Caesar, if we may believe that 

 beautiful apostrophe of ^'irgil, — - 



" Ecce, Dionaei processit Cresaris astrum : 

 Astrum, quo segetes gauderent frugibus, et quo 

 Duceret apricis in collibus uva colorem."— JBc/o^. ix., 47- 



" See, Caesar*s lamp is lighted in the skies : 

 The star, whose rays the blushing grapes adorn, 

 And swell the kindly ripening ears of corn." — Dryden, 



It is scarcely necessary to add, that a hypothesis of this kind has 

 not the remotest connection with the absurdites of astrology. Both 

 are raised upon the same foundation ; and that foundation may be 

 truth : but they who, not content with the existence of an influ- 

 ence, have, without the slightest reason, defined its nature, its quan- 

 tity, its distribution, and the laws which it obeys, have erected a 

 superstructure which, contrasted with the magnificent dimensions 

 and harmonious proportions of the true theory of nature, has as 



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