MATERIAL UNIVERSE. 66 



made to assume the form of immense globes of 

 fire, and impelled with inconceivable velocity 

 through space ! Well might the All- Wise, who 

 had created, weighed, measured, and reduced to 

 harmony and order the materials which had filled 

 all space, before He subjected them to the laws 

 of attraction, have pronounced them "good." 



But many of the gases, so called, such as now 

 pervade the atmosphere of our earth, were not 

 reduced to a state of fluidity, but were attracted 

 towards the molten masses, without being 

 allowed to unite with them ; the globes being 

 composed of substances to which man has since 

 given the name of metallic, including primary 

 rocks. These metallic globes, then, in conse- 

 quence of their high temperature, would at once 

 expel all the gases, which, if suffered to approach 

 them, would deprive them of their lustre : so 

 that we may suppose their surfaces to have pre- 

 sented the appearance of polished metals, sur- 

 rounded by an atmosphere of flame, each pre- 



