148 DISSERTATION SECOND. [fart i. 



combination of these, (he rectilineal motion of the parts 

 became impossible ; the atoms or particles of matter were 

 continually diverted from the lines in which they had be- 

 gun to move ; so that circular motion and centrifugal force 

 originated from their action on one another. Thus matter 

 came to be formed into a multitude of vortices, differing 

 in extent, in velocity, and in density ; the more subtile 

 parts constituting the real vortex, in which the denser bo- 

 dies float, and by which they are pressed, though not equal- 

 ly, on all sides. 



Thus the universe consists of a multitude of vortices, 

 which limit and circumscribe one another. The earth and 

 the planets are bodies carried round in the great vortex of 

 the solar system ; and by the pressure of the subtile mat- 

 ter, which circulates with great rapidity, and great centri- 

 fugal force, the denser bodies, which have less rapidity, 

 and less centrifugal force, are forced down towards the 

 sun, the centre of the vortex. In like manner, each planet 

 is itself the centre of a smaller vortex, by the subfile matter 

 of which the phenomena of gravity are produced, just as 

 with us at the surface of the earth. 



The gradation of smaller vortices may be continued in the 

 same manner, to explain the cohesion of the grosser bodies, 

 and their other sensible qualities. But I forbear to enter 

 into the detail of a system, which is now entirely exploded, 

 and so inconsistent with the views of nature which have 

 become familiar to every one, that such details can hardly 

 be listened to with patience. Indeed, the theory of vorti- 

 ces did not explain a single phenomenon in a satisfactory 

 manner, nor is there a truth of any kind which has been 

 brought to light by means of it. None of the peculiar pro- 

 perties of the planetary orbits were taken into the account ; 

 none of the laws of Kepler were considered ; nor was any 

 explanation given of those laws, more than of any other that 



