ASTRONOMY. 
222 
creation. For instance; if the planet Saturn, so large and 
so remote, had attracted the earth, both in proportion to 
the quantity of matter contained in it, which it does; and 
also in any proportion to its distance; i. e. if it had pulled 
the harder for being the farther off, (instead of the reverse 
jjtf .it*) itjvould have dragged out of its course the globe 
which we inhabit, and have perplexed its motions, to a de¬ 
gree incompatible with our security, our enjoyments, and 
probably our existence. Of the inverse laws, if the cen¬ 
tripetal force had changed as the cube of the distance, or 
in any higher proportion, that is (for I speak to the un¬ 
learned,) if, at double the distance, the attractive force had 
been diminished to an eighth part, or to less than that, the 
consequence would have been, that the planets, if they 
once began to approach the sun, would have fallen into his 
body; if they once, though by ever so little, increased 
their distance from the centre, would forever have receded 
from it. The laws, therefore, of attraction, by which a 
system of revolving bodies could be upholden in their mo¬ 
tions, lie within narrow limits, compared with the possible 
laws. I much underrate the restriction, when I say that, 
in a scale of a mile, they are confined to an inch. All 
direct ratios of the distance are excluded, on account of 
danger from perturbing forces; all reciprocal ratios, except 
what lie beneath the cube of the distance, by the demon¬ 
strable consequence, that every the least change of distance 
would, under the operation of such laws, have been fatal to 
the repose and order of the system. We do not know, 
that is, we seldom reflect, how interested we are in this 
matter. Small irregularities may be endured; but changes 
within these limits being allowed for, the permanency of 
our ellipse is a question of life and death to our whole sen¬ 
sitive world. 
(*) III. That the subsisting law of attraction falls 
within the limits which utility requires, when these limits 
bear so small a proportion to the range of possibilities upon 
which chance might equally have cast it, is not, with any 
appearance of reason, to be accounted for by any othei 
cause than a regulation proceeding from a designing mind. 
But our next proposition carries the matter somewhat far¬ 
ther. We say, in the third place, that, out of the different 
laws which lie within the limits of admissible laws, the 
best is made choice of; that there are advantages in this 
particular law which cannot be demonstrated to belong to 
any other law; and, concerning some of which, it can be 
demonstrated that they do not belong to any other. 
