JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS. 177 



reference to the phenomena attending their arrival upon our 

 Earth ; and, second, in reference to their original formation 

 and composition. As it appeared to him to present this 

 curious and mysterious phenomenon in nature in a more clear 

 and satisfactory light than anything he had hitherto seen 

 upon the subject, he had ventured to give a translation of the 

 few brief positions into which the distinguished author 

 sums up his conclusions, as follows : 



" I. 



" 1. Through the Almighty Word (Werde) there comes out of noth- 

 ing into (woi ld-)space (as it is now known to us) matter indued with the 

 manifold properties which we are now able to discover in it, in the most 

 divided elementary condition in the status nascens. 



"2. The material world consists of cosmic matter, gathered into 

 globular masses, after the manner of the (fiery) molten spheres of the 

 nebular theory of La Place. 



"3. The pressure of the outermost upon the deeper lying strata, and 

 the pressing of like and unlike particles against one another, raises the 

 temperature, and there begins • a reaction of the interior of the body 

 against the rind and surface. 7 * 



"4. For a solid rind is formed, whilst the innermost parts are yet only 

 in progress of solidification. 



"5. Difference of expansive power in the inner and outer portions may 

 cause an explosion of the celestial body. The fragments would be scat- 

 tered in all directions and thrown off into the regions of the fixed stars. 



"II. 



"1. A fragment in its course reaches the atmosphere of our Earth. 



"2. Its cosmic velocity meets here with resistance which checks it. 



u 3. During this time, in consequence of the pressure, light and heat are 

 developed ; the meteor rotates and acquires a fused rind. 



''4. The stratum of heated air is rolled back behind the meteor into a 

 'fireball.' 



"5. Coming to a stop, the meteor ends its cosmic course. 



"6. The development of light and heat ceases ; and the vacuum of the 

 fireball is suddenly filled up, with the noise of a powerful explosion. 



"7. The cold of the inner kernel equalizes itself with the heat of the 

 outer rind. 



"8. The meteorite falls down as a heavy body belonging to the Earth, 

 so much the warmer, the better its material conducts the heat." 



He would only observe, with regard to the first proposition, that he pre- 

 sumed we were to understand the author as meaning to say no more than 

 that something comes into existence, in that manner, as particular forms 

 of matter, where no such particular things existed before, and not that 

 something could be created absolutely out of nothing. Lord Bacon thought 

 it belonged to one and the same Omnipotence to make nothing of some- 

 what as to make somewhat of nothing ; and, in one sense, this may be 

 true. Berkeley conceived of the Creator as a " thinking essence," and he 

 denied the existence of any other matter. This, too, may be true. New- 

 ton, also, spoke of the »' thinking substance of God," whom he consid- 

 ered to be " omnipresent not virtually only, but also substantially; for 

 virtue cannot subsist without substance. "t According to Plato, •' the be- 

 ginning of motion is that which moves itself;" and this he took to be 

 "the very essence and true notion of soul." It being once admitted that 

 the Almighty Being exists as a thinking essence, it then becomes easier 

 to conceive how new forms of matter may be continually created out of, 

 and returned into, this one substance of all created things. 



* Humboldt, Kosmos. t Principia. 



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