192 NOMOS. 



CHAP. IV. 



SEARCH AFTER A CENTRAL LAW IN THE PHENO- 

 MENA OF NATURAL LIGHT. 



THE light of the sun agrees with the light which 



attests the operation of the law of the laboratory, in 



that it is attended by the same companion 



Natural light *txl.-lx- 



may be re- phenomena oi heat, chemical action, ana 



ferred to the L n , _ . , , 



law, named the rest ; and hence we may fairly take 

 Seiiw' oftlfe the light of the sun as another argument 



laboratory. ^ ^ j ftw Qf ^ l a b oratorv fo none 



other than the law of nature. Nor is it an objec- 

 tion to this conclusion, that the light of the moon and 

 stars is not attended by all the companion phenomena 

 which attend upon the light of the sun. These com- 

 panion phenomena are not all present, it is true, but 

 their apparent absence may be accounted for in the 

 same way as that in which we account for the ap- 

 parent absence of heat in the lunar ray. And yet 

 they are not all absent, for a power of motion is mixed 

 up with the lunar and stellar light, and the stellar 

 rays are not devoid of heat. 



There is also a great advantage in the conclusion 

 that natural light is another argument in favour of 

 the idea that the law of the laboratory is the law of 



