Bite aa 
On the Sun and Fixed Stars. T15 
| From the particulars here enumerated it is fuffiiciently ob- 
‘vious, that we have already a very clear idea of the vaft tm- 
| portance and powerful influence of the fun on its planetary 
_fyftem : : and if we add to this the beneficent eects we feel 
on this globe from the diffufion of the folar rays; and con- 
“fider that, by well-traced analoyies, the fame effects have 
e been proved, to take place on other planets of thisfyitem, 
& er, {hould not wonder if we were induced to think that no- 
thing remained to be added in order to complete our know- 
ledge: and yet it will not be dificult to fhew that we are 
fill very ignorant, at leaft with regard to the internal con- 
' ftruction of the fun. The various “conjectures which have 
‘been formed on this fubje&, are evident marks of the un- 
' certainty under which we have hitherto laboured. 
The dark {pots in the fun, for inftance, have been fuppofed 
to be folid bodies revolving very near its furface. They have 
been conjectured to be the fmoke of volcanoes, or the feam 
f floating upon an ocean of fluid matter. They have alfo been 
taken for clouds. They were explained to be opaque maffes 
fwimming on the fluid matter of the fun, dipping down 
occafionally.- It has been fuppofed that a fiery liquid fur- 
rounded the fun, and that, by its ebbing and flowing, the 
higheft parts of it were occafionally uncovered, and appeared 
under the fhape of dark {pots; and that, by the return of the 
| fiery liquid, they were @gain covered, and in that manner 
{ cceffively affumed different phafes. The fun itfelf has been 
bf salled a globe of fire, thongh perhaps metaphorically. The 
wafte it would undergo by a gradual confumption, on the 
fuppofition of its being ignited, has been ingeniou(ly calcu- 
lated: and, in the Faose point of view, its immenfe power of 
eating the bodies of fuch comets as draw very near to it 
has been affigned. 
The bright fpots, or faculee, have been called clouds of 
t, and alee vapours. The light of the fun itfelf has 
been fuppofed to be directly invifible, and not to be perceived 
unlefs by reflection; though the proofs which are brought 
n fupport of that opinion feem to me to. amount to no more 
than, what is fufliciently evident, that we cannot fee when 
all of light do not enter the eye, 
Q2 But 
