22 Astronomy and Geology compared. 



PT. I. 



distance to Neptune, the most remote of the known 

 planets. The subjoined table of the diameters, 

 volume or cubic contents, and the distances from 

 the Sun of the eight principal planets, and of the 

 Sun's diameter and volume, will render the com- 

 parison more obvious : 



* The four nearer or terrestrial planets, 

 f The four farther or major planets. 



J The cubic contents are calculated as if the planets were spheres, and no 

 account is taken of their trifling spheriodicity. 



It will be observed, by the comparative estimate 

 in the foregoing table (column 5), how small and 

 insignificant is the Earth when compared with the 

 larger planets, and still more strikingly, with the 

 Sun itself. There is one remark which suggests 

 itself in this comparison, and that is, notwithstand- 



