THE HAMBURG ACCOUNT OF WRIGHT'S THEORY. l8l 



various states to a final perfection, and reflect upon the 

 many illustrious personages who have from time to time 

 thought it a kind of duty to become observers and con- 

 sequently admirers of this stupendious sphere of primary 

 bodies, and diligent enquirers into the general laws and 

 principles of nature ; who can avoid being filled with a 

 kind of enthusiastic ambition, to be acknowledged one 

 of the number, who, as it were, by thus adding his atom 

 to the whole, humbly endeavours to contribute towards 

 the due adoration of its great and Divine Author," This 

 work rightly deserves the attention of every reader ; and 

 hence our notice of it will be the more circumstantial. 

 But as the author has illustrated his work with various 

 beautiful copper-plates to which we cannot refer in this 

 excerpt, we shall have to pass over many passages. The 

 following will however suffice to give our readers a favour- 

 able idea of the work. 



THE FIRST LETTER is entitled : " Concerning the opinions 

 of the most eminent authors whose sentiments upon this 

 subject have been published in their works" In this letter 

 Mr. Wright first endeavours to commend diligent appli- 

 cation to the knowledge of nature by adducing the 

 important advantages which flow from it, and then he 

 proceeds to quote the opinions of the most famous writers 

 concerning his first proposition, namely, that the stars are 

 all suns and are surrounded with planetary bodies. The 

 writers quoted are Jordanus Bruno, Milton, Christian 

 Hugenius, Christopher Huygens, Isaac Newton, Dr. Der- 

 ham, Mr. Harvey, 1 Dr. Young, Mr. Pope, and so on. 



THE SECOND LETTER is entitled : " Concerning the 

 nature of mathematical certainty and the various degrees 

 of moral probability proper for conjecture? In this letter 

 the author shows that in things where no mathematical 

 demonstration can be expected we must be satisfied with 

 moral certainty; and where a demonstration is wanting 

 we must employ another method for judging by, in order 

 to convince any one of the point in dispute, namely, 

 "by the analogy of known and natural things." In order to 

 explain what he means by moral certainty and by mathe- 

 matical proof he gives examples of both. He observes 



1 Contemplations on the Starry Heavens. 



