170 ELEMENTARY PROPERTIES 



seems to think that the body of the sun 

 is solid and massy, like any other species 

 of matter; but that the light, with which 

 the planetary spheres are illuminated, pro- 

 ceeds from a luminous atmosphere, by which 

 the sun is surrounded ; and, that it is through 

 the crevices, or breaks, which sometimes take 

 place in the luminous matter, that the body 

 of the sun itself, is occasionally to be seen. 

 In the present essay, with a degree of candor 

 which does him honor, he frankly confesses, 

 that from greater, and more repeated, observa- 

 tions, on the arrangement and magnitude of the 

 stars, and some other particulars, his opinions 

 have undergone a gradual change; and, that it is 

 not surprising, that many things formerly taken 

 for granted, should, on examination, prove to 

 be different, from what they were generally, 

 but incautiously, supposed to be. He consi- 

 ders, or rather defines, nebulous matter to de- 

 note that substance, or rather those substances, 

 which give light, whatsoever may be their na- 

 ture, or of whatever different powers, .they may 

 be possessed ; and that this nebulous matter is 

 not equally bright in all its parts, but that its 

 light is more condensed, in some places, than in 

 others. He uses the word condensation as the 

 most intelligible that he can employ. He con- 

 ceives that we can only account for the greater 

 brightness towards the middle of the nebula, 



