100 Observations 07i the Phcenomena 



after to close. The sea in the neighbourhood of Amboyna was 

 violently agitated during that month, rising to high-water mark 

 and sinkinsi; to low- water mark in tlu- iirse of ten minutes. 

 For several days, at the same time, tlic >un appeared (according 

 to a letter from the late Lieutenant White, of the Bombay ma- 

 rine, then at Amboyna) of a green colour, encircled with a haze. 

 Fort Victoria, on Amboyna, lies in lat. 3° 40' S. and in long. 

 128^ 14' E. 



The inhabitants of the island of Banda, one of the Moluccas, 

 experi^nced shocks of an earthquake at the time of the eruption 

 of Mount Tanbora. 



N. B. Some of the facts here mentioned arc from mv own 

 personal knowledge, some from the information of individuals and 

 from written documents on which I can rely; and some of them, 

 more especially those concerning Sumatra, Banca, Amboyna, and 

 Banda, are taken from the .lava Government Gazette. 



XV. Observations on the Phcenomeiia of the Universe. By 

 A Newtonian. 



To Mr. Tilloch. 



Sir, — U.AV1NG lately perused the Essays on the proximate 

 mechanical Causes of the general Phaenomena of the Universe, by 

 Sir Richard Phillips, in which he endeavours to eclipse the im- 

 mortal memory of the illustrious Newton, I have been induced 

 to offer a few remarks respecting the theory of Sir Richard, 

 which, like many other systems lately published, has, in my opi- 

 nion, little or no foundation to support it. 



Previously to offering any remarks, I shall make a few extracts 

 from the above Essays : 



1. Whatever be tlie origin of its own motion, the sun acts in 

 the oeconomy of the planetary bodies, of the solar system, like 

 the heart in the oeconomy of the animal system. Its own motion 

 may be created by some arrangement within itself — l)y a per- 

 petual motion of unknown contrivance, by the cross and recipro- 

 cal actions of the i)lanets. The continued impulse of the sun 

 on the mediuin of space, or solar atmosphere, or both, must ne- 

 cessarily connnunicate to the entire sphere of its influence a 

 simultaneous rotation like the atmosphere of the earth. The or- 

 bicular motions of the planets will in that case be governed by a 

 ratio of their distance, compounded with their densities, p. 6o. 



2. Sir Richard inclines to think from reasoning a priori that 

 every fixed star as a sun ])Uts in revolution its own gaseous 

 sphere, and by a revolving and diverging agency governs the ge- 

 neral motions of the planetary bodies placed within its system or 

 sphere of action, impulse, or rotation, p. 59. 



3. Nor 



