STUDY IV. 



153 



gênions thefe hypothefes may be, they are only 

 fcaffbldings imagined by men of genius, for rearing 

 the fabric of Science, but which no more affift us 

 in penetrating into the fancftuary of Nature, than 

 thofe employed in the conftruélion of our churches, 

 can introduce us into the fanéluary of Religion. 

 Thefe combined forces are no moie the movingr 

 principle of the courfe of the ftars, than the cir- 

 cles of the fphere are their barriers. They are 

 Cgns merely, which have, at laft, ufurped the place 

 of the objedts which they were intended only to 

 reprefent, like every thing elfe of human efta- 

 blifhment. 



If a centrifugal force had fwelled the mountains 

 of the Globe, when it was in a ftate of fufion, 

 there muft have been mountains much more ele- 

 vated than the Andes of Peru and Chili. That of 

 Chimboraco, which is the higheft of them, is only 

 3220, or 3350 fathoms in height, for the Sciences 

 are not perfectly agreed, even in matters of obfer- 

 vation. This elevation, which is nearly the greatefl: 

 known on Earth, is lefs perceptible on it than the 

 third part of a line would be on a globe of fix feet 

 diameter. Now, a mafs of melted metal prefents, 

 in proportion to it's fize, fcorias much more con- 

 fiderable. Look at the anfraftuofities of a fimple 

 morfel of iron-drofs. What frightful fwellings, 

 then, muft have been formed on a globe, of hete- 

 rogeneous 



