THEIR ARRANGEMENTS AND FORMATION. 17 



centrifugal force comes into play, flinging off portions of 

 the rotating masses, which become spheres by virtue of 

 the same law of attraction, and are held in orbits of revo- 

 lution round the central body by means of a composition 

 between the centrifugal and gravitating forces. All, we 

 see, is done by certain laws of matter, so that it. becomes 

 a question of extreme interest, what are such laws ? All 

 that can yet be said, in answer, is, that we see certain 

 natural events proceeding in an invariable order under 

 certain conditions, and thence infer the existence of some 

 fundamental arrangement which, for the bringing about 

 of these events, has a force and certainty of action similar 

 to, but more precise and unerring than those arrange- 

 ments which human society makes for its own benefit, 

 and calls laws. It is remarkable of physical laws, that 

 we see them operating on every kind of scale as to mag- 

 nitude, with the same regularity and perseverance. The 

 tear that falls from childhood's cheek is globular, through 

 the efficacy of that same law of mutual attraction of par- 

 ticles which made the sun and planets round. The rapidi- 

 ty of Mercury is quicker than that of Saturn, for the same 

 reason that, when we wheel a ball round by a string and 

 make the string wind up round our fingers, the ball al- 

 ways flies quicker and quicker as the string is shortened 

 Two eddies in a stream, as has been stated, fall into a mu- 

 tual revolution at the distance of a couple of inches, 

 through the same cause which makes a pair of suns link 

 in mutual revolution at the distance of millions of miles. 

 There is, we might say, a sublime simplicity in this indif- 

 ference of the grand regulations to the vastness or mi- 

 nuteness of the field of their operation. Their being uni- 

 form, too, throughout space, as far as we can scan it, and 

 their being so unfailing in their tendency to operate, so 

 that only the proper conditions are presented, afford to 

 our minds matter for the gravest consideration. Nor should 

 it escape our careful notice that the regulations on which 

 all the laws of matter operate, are established on a rigidly 

 accurate mathematical basis. Proportions of numbers 

 and geometrical figures rest at the bottom of the whole. 

 All these considerations, when the mind is thoroughly 

 prepared for them, tend to raise our ideas with respect to 

 the character of physical laws, even though we do not go 

 a single step further in the investigation. But it is im- 

 possible for an intelligent mind to stoo there. We acU 



