132 CHEMICAL AFFIKITT. 



found within the reach of the burning body, were in many in. 

 Btanci-s absolutely unhurt, and in others only scorched ; the heat 

 not having been strong enough to set them on fire. It is impossi- 

 ble to give an adequate reason for this remarkable change ; nor 

 does it seem before the very time of the accident to have product il 

 any Tory sensible alteration in the appearance and functions of the 

 body, which is certainly a most astonishing circumstance. With 

 regard to the effect which the use of ardent spirits is supposed to 

 have in this case, it is impossible not to imagine that this cause may 

 contribute largely to this change ; but the instances of the abuse of 

 spirits are so innumerable, and those of this surprising combustion 

 are so extremely rare, that very little satisfaction can be obtained 

 from this explanation. [Pantologta. 



CHAP. X. 



CHEMICAL AFFINITY. 



1. ALL the great bodies which constitute the solar system arc 

 urged towards each other by a force which preserves them in their 

 orbits, and regulates their motions. This force has received the 

 name of attraction. Its nature is unknown : whether it be inhe- 

 rent in these bodies themselves, or the consequence of some foreign 

 agent, are questions altogether beyond the reach of philosophy, 

 because we have no method of deciding the point. One would be 

 more inclined to the first supposition than to the other, as we can 

 conceive no foreign agent sufficient to explain the planetary mo. 

 tions unless an intelligent one ; and, for any thing which we know 

 to the contrary, it was as easy for the Creator to have bestowed on 

 the planets the power of acting on each other at a distance, as 

 the power of being acted on, and receiving motion from other sub- 

 stances. 



2. Sir Isaac Newton demonstrated, that this planetary attrac- 

 tion is the same with gravitation, or that force by which a heavy 

 body is urged towards the earth ; that it is possessed, not only by 

 th* planets as wholes, but by all their component parts also j that 



