ractcr. Take these things for granted, and it niu^t follow, that the 

 atmospliere of the moon will take from the rays of the sun passing 

 through it that for which it has the strongest attraction, and this 

 attraction may be considered her natural appetite for what is ne- 

 cessary food, to qualify her for the due performance of her func- 

 tions ; and it is moreover a natural supposition that this matter 

 must be the most fiery part of the rays of the sun, which, being 

 imbibed by the moon, give to her the properties of a highly charg- 

 ed phosphoric body, the uses of which have been already consid- 

 ered. The light of the sun thus transmitted will be so mellowed 



This removes the above mentioned objection to this theory. 



Again, the rays of the sun, in passing through'the atmosphere 

 of the moon, will take from it that for which they have the strong- 

 est attraction and carry it to our earth ; and this, whatever it be, 

 considering the benevolent designs manifested in every depart- 

 ment of the creation, must be intended for our good. What this 

 may be, in this case, is perhaps beyond conjecture ; but this we 

 do know, that all earthly matter is subject to continual mutation, 

 between deterioration and melioration, for the balancing of which 

 there appears to be a provision in every branch of the econ- 



may be essential for such a purpose. This can only happen in oc- 

 currences of eclipses of the sun, and hence is their utility infer- 

 red. I may here with propriety recur to the quotations made from 

 Chancellor Livingston in confirmation of this theory, and submit 

 the reasonings contained in this memoir in confirmation of his. 



I may appeal also to the authority of Euler, who, in that con- 

 stellation of philosophers, who illuminated the M'orld in the two 

 last centuries, has been universally acknowledged as a star of the 

 first magnitude. He founded his theory about the tails of comets 

 (generally considered the most plausible of the many that have been 

 advanced) on the postulate that the rays of the sun could carry with 

 them, or propel the vapors, that compose the atmosphere of those 

 bodies, to the distance, at least to which their tails are risible. 

 The momentum of moving bodies is as the quantities of matter 

 they contain, multiplied into their velocities. Then, although the 

 particles of light may be incalculably small, yet their velocity, be- 

 mg so inconceivably great, as we know it to be, their momentum 

 may bo sufficient to produce very sensible effects. That such is 

 the fact we know with certainty, at least in one case. 



