APPENDIX B. 



THE HAMBURG ACCOUNT OF THE THEORY OF 

 THOMAS WRIGHT OF DURHAM. 1 



LONDON. 



THERE has been published here : " An Original Theory 

 or New Hypothesis of the Universe, Founded upon the 

 Laws of Nature, and solving by Mathematical Principles 

 the General Phenomena of the Visible Creation ; and 

 particularly the Via Lactea. Comprised in Nine Familiar 

 Letters from the Author to his Friend. And illustrated 

 with upwards of thirty graven and mezzo-tinted Plates 

 by the best Masters. By Thomas Wright, of Durham. 

 London, MDCCL." 2 It is rightly remarked by this ingenious 

 author that "in a System naturally tending to propagate 

 the principles of virtue and vindicate the laws of Pro- 

 vidence, we may indeed say too little, but cannot surely 

 say too much; and to make any apology for a work of 

 such nature, where the glory of the Divine Being of course 

 must be the principal object in view, would be too like 

 rendering virtue accountable to vice for any author to 

 expect to benefit by such excuse." In another passage 

 he says, " In a word, when we look upon the universe as 

 a vast infinity of worlds acted upon by an eternal Agent, 

 and crowded full of beings, all tending through their 



1 Translated from the MS. Excerpt Copy, in the Edinburgh University 

 Library, from the FREYE URTHEILE UND NACHRICHTEN 



ZUM AUFNEHMEN DER WlSSENSCHAFTEN UND DER HlSTORIE UBEK- 



HAUPT. Achtes Jahr, I. Stuck. Hamburg, bey Georg Christian Grund, 

 den i Januar, 1751. 



2 The title and following quotations are all given here as they run 

 verbatim in the original English text of Wright's work. 



