OF A SCIENTIFIC COSMOGRAPHY. 



19 



or the general consideration of matter, of force, 

 and of motion, from chemistry, or the consid- 

 eration of the different natures of matter, its 

 combinations and changes through admixture, 

 not through affinities in virtue of the simple 

 relations of mass, we then perceive, in the 

 telluric region, physical and chemical processes 

 existing together. Besides that fundamental 

 property of all matter, attraction at a distance 

 (gravitation), other forces att'ect us here upon 

 earth, which come into operation at infinitely 

 small distances, or upon immediate contact be- 

 tween material particles(*), forces which are 

 designated chemical affinities, and which, called 

 into action variously by electricity, caloric, and 

 even simple contact, are incessantly efficient 

 in inorganic nature, as well as in living organ- 

 isms. In the celestial spaces we have as yet 

 no apprehension of any other than physical 

 processes, affections of matter which depend 

 on mass alone, and which are subjected to the 

 dynamic laws of a pure doctrine of motion. 

 Such affections are regarded as independent of 

 all qualitative differences — of heterogeneous- 

 ness or specific difference of matter. 



The inhabitants of the earth are brought into 

 relation with the matter dispersed over space, 

 only by the phenomena of light and the influ- 

 ence of general gravitation (attraction accord- 

 ing to mass). The influences of the sun and 

 moon upon the periodical variations of terres- 

 trial magnetism, are still buried in obscurity. 

 We have no immediate knowledge or experi- 

 ence of the qualitative nature of the matter 

 which circulates in, or perhaps fills, the uni- 

 verse, unless, perchance, it be through the fall 

 of aerolites, if these heated masses, involved 

 in vapour, be assumed as constituting small 

 planetary bodies which have come within the 

 sphere of the earth's attraction in their course 

 through space ; an assumption which the di- 

 rection and extraordinary centrifugal force of 

 the bodies in question appears to render proba- 

 ble. The familiar aspect of their constituent 

 elements, and the identity in nature of these 

 with such as we have in abundance among the 

 mineral masses of the earth, are very striking. 

 They may serve, on analogical grounds, to lead 

 us to conclusions in regard to the nature of 

 such planets as belong to the same group, and 

 have been formed, under the dominion of one 

 central body, by precipitation from revolving 

 rings of vaporous matter. Bessel's pendulum- 

 experiments, which bear the impress of such 

 accuracy as has never yet been attained, have 

 given a renewed faith in the truth of the New- 

 tonian axiom, that bodies of the most dissimi- 

 lar constitution— water, gold, quartz, granular 

 limestone, aerolites — experience a perfectly 

 similar acceleration of motion through the at- 

 traction of the earth. Many purely astronom- 

 ical results, indeed, for example the almost 

 equal mass of Jupiter, in consequence of the 

 influence of the planet on his satellites, on 

 Encke's comet, on the small planets Vesta, 

 Juno, Ceres, and Pallas, assure us that every 

 where it is the quantity of matter alone which 

 influences its power of attraction(5). 



This exclusion of every appreciable circum- 

 stance referrible to diversity of material, sim- 

 plifies the mechanism of the heavens in a re- 

 markable manner ; it brings the infinite realms 



of space under the sole dominion of the laws 

 of motion ; and the astrognostic portion of 

 physical cosmography draws from established 

 theoretical astronomy, in the same way as the 

 terrestrial portion draws from physics, chem- 

 istry, and organic morphology. The depart- 

 ments of science just mentioned, indeed, era- 

 brace phenomena so intricate, and at times so 

 opposite to mathematical views, that the ter- 

 restrial portion of the doctrine of the Cosmos 

 cannot boast of the same certainty and simpli- 

 city of treatment as the astronomical portion. 

 In the distinction now indicated lies undoubt- 

 edly the reason wherefore, in the earlier peri- 

 ods of the Greek civilization, the Pythagorean 

 philosophy of nature was rather directed to the 

 heavens than to the earth ; wherefore it be- 

 came fruitful, with reference to our solar sys- 

 tem, in a much higher degree, through Philo- 

 laus, and, in later times, through Aristarchus 

 of Samos, and Seleucus the Erythrean, than the 

 Ionic natural philosophy could prove in regard 

 to the physics of our globe. More indifferent 

 as to the specific nature of that which filled 

 space, as to qualitative differences of matter, 

 the forces of the Italic school were directed 

 with Doric earnest upon regulated formations, 

 on shape, on form and measure alone(®) ; whilst Mi 

 the Ionic physiologists occupied themselves 

 especially with the consideration of species of 

 matter, with their supposed transmutations and 

 generic relations. It was reserved for the pow- 

 erful, truly philosophic, and, at the same lime, 

 thoroughly practical mind of Aristotle, to plunge 

 with equal delight into the world of abstraction, 

 and into the measureless abundance of material 

 diversity in organic forms. 



Several, and these very excellent works upon 

 physical geography, comprise an astronomical 

 section in their introduction, in which the earth 

 is first considered in its planetary dependence, 

 or in its relations to the rest of the solar sys- 

 tem. This plan is the very opposite of that 

 which I have chalked" out for myself. In a sys- 

 tem of cosmography, the astronomical portion, 

 which Kant entitled the Natural history of the 

 heavens, must not appear as subordinate to the 

 telluric portion. In the Cosmos, as the old 

 Copernican philosopher, Aristarchus of Samos, 

 said, the sun with his attendants is a star 

 amongst innumerable stars. A general survey 

 of creation must consequently begin with the 

 heavenly bodies that occupy space, with a 

 graphic delineation, a kind of map of the celes- 

 tial universe, such as the bold hand of the elder 

 Herschel first ventured to design. If we see 

 that, despite the relative insignificance of our 

 planet, the terrestrial portion still occupies the 

 largest space in the history of the universe, and 

 is most fully handled, this only happens in re- 

 spect of the unequal mass of that which is 

 Known to the inequality of that which is Em- 

 pirically accessible. This subordination of the 

 uranological portion we already find in the 

 great geographer, Bernhard Varenius, in the 

 middle of the 17th century(0- He distinguish- 

 es with much acumen between the General and 

 Special description of the earth, and subdivides 

 the former, into the absolutely terrestrial and 

 the planetary, according as the relations of the 

 surface of the earth in different zones, or the 

 sol-lunar life of the earth — the relations of our 



