NOMOS. 117 



also be said of the markings which are seen upon 

 the body of Saturn ; for these are not constant 

 enough to belong to the solid surface of the planet. 

 We see, indeed, the clouds which cover the surface 

 of Jupiter and Saturn, and from these clouds we 

 may infer the presence of water underneath, and 

 that is all. In a word, we may, without any great 

 improbability, assume that the differences which are 

 met with upon the surface of the Earth are not 

 peculiar to this planet; and we may infer the 

 presence of similar or analogous differences upon the 

 other planets, which differences are so arranged as 

 to give rise to those departures from the purely 

 circular orbits in which the planets would move if 

 there were no such differences. We may infer, 

 for example, that the land, or what is analogous to 

 land, is chiefly confined to one hemisphere, if the 

 eccentricity of the orbit is considerable, as is the 

 case with the orbit of Mercury ; and that it is 

 scattered over both hemispheres in corresponding 

 proportions, if the eccentricity is inconsiderable, as 

 is the case with the orbit of Venus. We may, in 

 fact, infer the distribution of the lands and waters, 

 though this be altogether hidden from view, from the 

 eccentricity of the orbit. All this may be assumed ; 

 and, to say the least, it is not more difficult to do 

 this, than to assume that the orbital eccentricities of 

 the different planets are due to the different and 

 particular velocity with which the planet was 

 originally projected at a tangent to the orbit. 



Nor is there any reason for supposing that the 

 orbital eccentricities of the planets are at all due 



I 3 



