Dr. Reynolds on Meteors. 276 
sufficent magnitude, they might volatilize a space equal to the 
state of New-York in a moment of time! As all bodies pos- 
ses3 a limited capacity for heat, does it not follow that there 
must be some outlet to its perpetual accession to our globe, or 
the earth would soon become so highly ignited as to glow with 
the fulgor of a meteor? And may not this outlet be found in 
the above described compounds? which serve as conductors of 
the surplus of heat from the earth to the higher regions of the 
air, where on being freed by displosion, from the grosser matters 
incumbering it, it finds a rapid passage to its great archetype 
and parent, the sun. Thus his daily waste may be restored, and 
a0 equilibriam, by the retura of his owa emanated particles, pre- 
served, betweeen the sun and the earth, and sae all | wd 
planets of our system. 
The last consideration I shall offer in favor of the domes- 
tic or earthy origin of meteoric phenomena, is the oo 
that present to our granting them a foreign one. 
well aware of the respectability of the names which the theory 
of moonstones can summon to its support, yet I have always 
regarded it as unfounded and unphilosophical for the following 
reasons, viz. Ist. Whether the moon has an atmosphere or not, 
We will all admit that she has attraction, which must extend to 
many thousands of miles from her surface. No projectile force 
that we are acquainted with can throw a heavy body 100 miles, 
¢ven though no atmospheric, or other resistance than Helown 
stavity, were present; hence the idea of that force extending 
{0 thousands of miles from the moon’s surface, is gratuitous 
and nugatory. 2dly. The products of volcanoes bear no si- 
milarity or origin, or kindred resemblance to meteoric stones ; 
se are lavas of different kinds, pumicestone, scoria, ashes, 
&c. these solid masses of matter, with some degree of regular- 
ity in the arrangement of their constituent particles.  3dly 
The descent of these stones has no coincidence in point of 
time with the position of the moon. She is as often in their 
nadir as their zenith. We also witness in all cases, explosion 
and light in our own atmosphere, at the time of the descent of 
these stones. This could not be the case if they proceeded 
from the moon, for obvious reasons. 4thly. The oon aes 
