130 KANTS UNIVERSAL NATURAL HISTORY 



it has at present through certain unknown retarding causes 

 till it reached its present rate of rotation ; or, the ring 

 may be supposed to have been formed by the universal 

 primitive material falling obliquely according to the rules 

 which we have already explained all which must not be 

 taken too rigorously if we are to satisfy our inclination 

 for what is singular. But what an abundance of beautiful 

 explanations and consequences does such an idea furnish ! 

 A ring round the earth ! What a beautiful sight for 

 those who were created to inhabit the earth as a paradise ! 

 What a convenience for those on whom nature was designed 

 to smile on all sides ! But all this is still nothing compared 

 with the confirmation which such an hypothesis may borrow 

 from the record of the History of Creation, and which is 

 no small recommendation of it for the approval of those 

 who believe that they do not desecrate, but establish, the 

 honour of revelation when they employ it to give con- 

 firmation to the revellings of their own understanding. 

 The water of the firmament, which the Mosaic description 

 mentions, has already caused not a little trouble to com- 

 mentators. Might this ring not be used to help them 

 out of this difficulty? This, ring undoubtedly consisted 

 of watery vapours. And besides the advantage which it 

 might furnish to the first inhabitants of the earth, it had 

 further this property of being able to be broken up on 

 occasion, if need were, to punish the world which had 

 made- itself unworthy of such beauty, with a Deluge. 

 Either a comet whose attraction brought the regular 

 movements of its parts into confusion, or the cooling of 

 the region in which it was situated, condensed its scattered 

 vapour-particles, and precipitated them in one of the most 

 awful deluges upon the earth. It is easy to understand 



