392 COMETS, 



the voice of God, With a Tongue of Fire, lo the 

 matter of the earth, and of the whole planetary 

 system, " Thus far shal t thou go, but no farther." 

 With a reverential belief at that time, in the 

 whole truth of the Newtonian hypothesis, (un- 

 natural and artificial as it is,) I was, neverthe- 

 less, led to conclude, and to publish, that 

 Comets, ivere bodies, which were destined to per- 

 form the office, which I have above described ; 

 that they were destined to decompose through 

 the medium of combustion, whatever gase- 

 ous, or atmospheric materials, had ascended 

 beyond their proper bounds ; that instead of 

 being limited, as I understood was the case, to 

 nine only, I was persuaded, that they were as 

 indefinite in point of number > as they were in mag- 

 nitude. Instead of describing regular orbits, that 

 they must be altogether irregular in their motions: 

 and finally, that instead of being permanent bo- 

 dies, and returning at stated periods, they were 

 transient and evanescent ; were finally dissipated 

 and decomposed, and no more seen. I, there- 

 fore, ventured to affirm, that the uppermost limits 

 of our atmosphere, I teas persuaded, abounded 

 with them ; and that it was only a proof of the 

 insufficiency and imperfection of our instruments, 

 that they were so seldom discovered; that they 

 were in their nature fiery, like other meteors, 

 like lightning^ and other species of fire, differing 

 tinly in quality, in consequence of the difference 



