AND THEORY OF THE HEAVENS. 75 



different, in accordance with the immensity which nature 

 shows on all sides. Those elements, which are of 

 greater specific density and force of attraction, and which 

 of themselves occupy less room and are also rarer, would 

 therefore be more scattered than the lighter kinds when 

 the material of the world was equally diffused in space. 

 Elements of a thousand times greater specific gravity, 

 would therefore be thousands or even millions of times 

 more scattered than those that are lighter in that pro- 

 portion. And as these gradations must be thought to be 

 as infinite as possible, there may be material particles 

 of a kind which exceed those of another in density in 

 the same proportion as a globe described with the radius 

 of the planetary system does another which has only 

 the thousandth part of a line in diameter ; and thus these 

 kinds of scattered elements would be separated from 

 each other by a distance as great as those globes 

 themselves. 



In a region of space filled in this manner, a universal 

 repose could last only a moment. The elements have 

 essential forces with which to put each other in motion, 

 and thus are themselves a source of life. Matter 

 immediately begins to strive to fashion itself. The 

 scattered elements of a denser kind, by means of their 

 attraction, gather from a sphere around them all the 

 matter of less specific gravity; again, these elements 

 themselves, together with the material which they have 

 united with them, collect in those points where the 

 particles of a still denser kind are found ; these in like 

 manner join still denser particles, and so on. If we 

 follow in imagination this process by which nature 

 fashions itself into form through the whole extent of 



