ADVERTISEMENT. Ixxiii 



patience of the Reader. I have the confidence, 

 then, to flatter myfelf with having placed in the 

 cleareft light, the coincidence of the movements 

 of the Ocean with thofe of the Sun, and their dif- 

 agreement with the phafes of the Moon. 



I could produce more than one objeftion againfl 

 the fyftem of attradion itfelf, on which Newton ac- 

 counts for the motion of the planets in the Hea- 

 vens. Not that I deny, in general, the Law of 

 attraâiion, of which we fee the effefts on the Earth, 

 in the gravity of bodies, and in magnetifm ; but I 

 do not find that the application which has been 

 made of it, by Newton, and his partifans, to the 

 courfe of the planets, is accurate. According to 

 Newton, the Sun and the Planets reciprocally at- 

 traâ: each other with a force which is in the direft 

 proportion of their mafles, and the inverfe propor- 

 tion of the fquare of their diflance. A fécond 

 force blends itfelf with attradion, to preferve the 

 planets in their orbits. From thefe combined 

 forces there rcfults an ellipfe, for the curve de- 

 fcribed by each planet. This curve is continually 

 undergoing alteration, by the aflion exercifed by 

 the Planets over each other. By means of this 

 theory, the courfe of thofe ftars is traced in the 

 Heavens, with the utmoft precifion, according to 

 the Newtonians, The courfe of the Moon alone 



had 



