ioo KANT'S UNIVERSAL NATURAL HISTORY 



to their deviations, increases with their distances from the 

 centre of the system. And in the depths of the heavens 

 it is lost in. a complete absence of revolution, which leaves 

 the extreme bodies that are being formed to fall freely to 

 the sun, and thus puts the farthest limits to the constitu- 

 tion of the system. 



In this sketch of the movements of the comets, I 

 assume that as regards their direction they will have it 

 mostly in common with the planets. This appears to me 

 to be indubitable in the case of the near comets ; and 

 this uniformity cannot be lost in the depths of the heavens 

 nearer than where the elementary primitive matter in the 

 utmost faintness of motion sets up the rotation which 

 arises so far in all directions by its fall. And this is so, 

 because the time which is required by the combination 

 of the lower movements to make them accordant in their 

 direction, is, on account of the intervening distance (not- 

 withstanding that the formation of nature is accomplished 

 in the nearer region), too long for them to extend to it. 

 There may thus perhaps be comets which perform their 

 revolution towards the opposite side, namely, from east 

 to west; although, from reasons which I shrink from 

 assigning here, I would almost like to persuade myself 

 that of nineteen comets in which this peculiarity has been 

 observed, in some cases an optical illusion may have 

 given occasion to it. 



I must still make some further remarks concerning the 

 masses of the comets and the density of their matter. 

 For the reasons advanced in the last chapter, in the more 

 remote regions where these heavenly bodies are formed, 

 there should rightly be formed masses greater and greater 

 according to the ratio in which their distance increases. 



