INTRODUCTION. 21 



towards the several centres assigned 

 for them, they would immediately be 

 dispersed through the space occupied 

 by them before suns and planets were 

 formed. The particles of matter, com- 

 posing the suns and planets, would be 

 repelled, and made to fly, with immense 

 rapidity, through space ; and, the ca- 

 loric being diffused among them, would 

 cause them to separate, ignite, and " the 

 elements would melt with fervent heat," 

 and, from liquid masses, become vapor ; 

 and, finally, be again decomposed, to 

 take their place in space, in the gaseous 

 form assigned them before their forma- 

 tion into suns and planets. 



Every material body, with which we 

 are acquainted, has its beginning, its ma- 

 turity, and its decay, this last convert- 

 ing it again into its original elements. 



