ee ee — 
‘shell would be formed while the interior remains much 
On the Formation of the Universe. 143 
nal globe also would have a tendency to form the external 
fluids of the shell into an oval figure, hich would be most 
raised at the place where the internal globe was situated, so 
that whenever this globe changed its situation, the situation 
of the external water would also be changed. This i is. prob- 
ably the best account of the deluge, that it is possible to 
give. The comparative density of the bodies in the sys- 
tem, would depend on their nearness to the central fire ; 
their magnitude ; and their liability to be disturbed during 
formation. The bodies most distant from the central fire 
would cool most rapidly, and their permanent external 
more heated and expanded than if they had been nearer it. 
Also large bodies would stiffen on the outside while their 
interior remained more expanded, than the interior of small- 
er bodies at the same distance from the sun ; and therefore 
shells broken up, when if they had been free from dieters 
bance those shells would have remained permanent.  Dis- 
turbance, therefore, would increase the density. It is need- 
less to remark, that so far as we know the relative densities 
of the system, with this theory they are perfectly coinci- 
dent. 
The motion in the great solar aerial wheel, assumed at the 
commencement, has not yet been accounted for: but by an 
inspection of the argument respecting the motion of the 
ye wheels, it will be seen, that the assumed motion 
the solar wheel might have been 2 in the same 
eee All that is necessary, is to suppose, that the mat- 
ter in the system was diffused subsily through a space ex- 
tending to an immense distance, perhaps half way to the 
nearest fixed stars; and it is worthy of remark, that the 
power of gravitation would bring the whole to the centre 
very nearly in the same period of time: a circumstance 
without which, the formation of the system as explained - 
above, could not have been effected. The great length of 
this period, probably about 28,000,000 years, seems at first 
a very considerable objection to the theory : but when the 
vast resources of eternity are opened to view, and when it 
is considered, that the matter might as well be moving du- 
ring that period, as to be at rest or not in existence, the ob- 
