AND THEORY OF THE HEAVENS. 29 



disposed not only for undisturbed motion but also for 

 distinct observation of it in the clearest way. It seems 

 to me that we can here say with intelligent certainty and 

 without audacity : ' Give me matter, and I will construct a 

 world out of it /' i.e. give me matter and I will show you 

 how a world shall arise out of it. For if we have matter 

 existing endowed with an essential force of attraction, it 

 is not difficult to determine those causes which may have 

 contributed to the arrangement of the system of the world 

 as a whole. We know what is required that a body shall 

 take a spherical figure; and we understand what is 

 required in order that spheres, as orbs moving freely, may 

 assume a circular movement around the centre to which 

 they are drawn. The position of their orbits, in relation 

 to each other, agreement in the direction of their motions, 

 the eccentricity of their paths, may all be referred to the 

 simplest mechanical causes ; and we may confidently hope 

 to discover them because they can be reduced to the 

 easiest and clearest principles. __But can we boast of the same 

 progress even regarding the lowest plant or an insect ? 

 Are we in a position to say : ' Give me matter, and I will 

 show you how a caterpillar can be produced ' ? Are we not 

 arrested here at the first step, from ignorance of the real 

 inner conditions of the object and the complication of 

 the manifold constituents existing in it ? It should not 

 therefore cause astonishment if I presume to say that the 

 formation of all the heavenly bodies, the cause of their 

 movements, and, in short, the origin of the whole present 

 constitution of the universe, will become intelligible before 

 the production of a single herb or a caterpillar by 

 mechanical causes, will become distinctly and completely 

 understood. 



