180 TSH! ORtGlN OF CfiEATlOK'. 



men about nature and her laws. Besides he can point to n'o' 

 direct evidence of any collision having ever taken place ; and of 

 all the numerous erratic comets which have passed through our" 

 system, not one is known to have collided with a planet. 

 . Our theory of Meteors is as follows : The earth in its 

 daily journey through space, has its atmosphere pressed hy the 

 atmospheres of other planets, (as shown in the chapter on 

 Tides.) The outer or upper surface of the earth's atmosphere, i 

 composed of metallic atoms. If, then, hy the pressure or con- 

 tact of the atmospheres, two of these metallic atoms should unite, 

 they must immediately influence and attract other atoms. They 

 then accumulate, become more and more dense, and fall towards 

 the earth, increasing in bulk, force of attraction, and also in 

 Velocity, till they come into the oxygen atmosphere near the 

 surface of the earth ; when the reciprocal action between the 

 two classes of atoms takes place, and the friction is so intense 

 that combustion and light is the result : they may either then 

 explode and be dissolved into a gaseous condition again, or fall 

 as solid meteoric stones to the earth. 



To support our assertions we have three facts, besides Prof. 

 Newton's statement already referred to, to bring forward in 

 proof. 



The first is, that the microscopist, Dr. Sorby, of Sheffield, 

 England, has arrived at the conclusion, from the examination 

 of a large number of specimens, that the structure of meteorites 

 cannot be explained in a satisfactory manner, except by sup- 

 posing that their constituents were originally in a state of 

 vapour. 



The second is, that the late Prof. Graham said the "Leonarto " 



