424 GRAVITATING FORCE. SECT. XXXVII, 



SECTION XXXVII. 



Diffusion of Matter through Space Gravitation Its Velocity Sim- 

 plicity of its Laws Gravitation independent of the Magnitude and 

 Distances of the Bodies Not impeded by the intervention of any 

 Substance Its Intensity invariable General Laws Recapitulation 

 and Conclusion. 



THE known quantity of matter bears a very small proportion to 

 the immensity of space. Large as the bodies are, the distances 

 which separate them are immeasurably greater ; but, as design 

 is manifest in every part of creation, it is probable that, if the 

 various systems in the universe had been nearer to one another, 

 their mutual disturbances would have been inconsistent with the 

 harmony and stability of the whole. It is clear that space is not 

 pervaded by atmospheric air of such density as that we breathe, 

 since its resistance would long ere this have arrested the motion 

 of the planets : it certainly is not a void, but replete with a medium 

 possibly in itself electric or magnetic, but at all events capable of 

 transmitting light, heat, magnetism, gravity, and probably in- 

 fluences of Avhich we can form no idea. 



Whatever the laws may be that obtain in the more distant 

 regions of creation, we are assured that one alone regulates the 

 motions, not only of our own system, but also of the binary 

 systems of the fixed stars ; and, as general laws form the ultimate 

 object of philosophical research, we cannot conclude these remarks 

 without considering the nature of gravitation that extraordinary 

 power whose effects we have been endeavouring to trace through 

 some of their mazes. It was at one time imagined that the 

 acceleration in the moon's mean motion was occasioned by the 

 successive transmission of the gravitating force. It has been 

 proved that, in order to produce this effect, its velocity must be 

 about fifty millions of times greater than that of light, which 

 flies at the rate of 192,000 miles in a second. Its action, even 

 at the distance of the sun, may therefore be regarded as instan- 

 taneous ; yet, remote as the fixed stars are, the solar gravitation 



