br'eatliwg^bnt occasion a scorching or bur¬ 
ning heat. Prebably it is something of 
rthis kind, that frequently happens in the 
deep tin and coal mines in Engl and, where-1 
by many workmen loose their lives. II 
learn that the English miners once felt or ! 
ibeard an earthquake that happened in It-! 
aly, while those aboveground did not ob¬ 
serve It. 
I consider the rare gas, or aerial fluid, 
contained in the mid-plane cavity, as the 
principal means of the earth being bouyed 
up to a certain distance from the sun, and 
that the atmospheric or etheria! sphere in 
tvhich the earth floats, is more rare than 
that of the other spheres below it —to* 
wares the sun, and less rare than that of 
those spheres of medium beyond the earth, 
in relation to the sun. 
JNO. CLETES SYMME3. 
the new theory. 
Extract of a letter from Dr. Steel to Capt. 
Symmes, dated 
“BrownsviHe, Jackson Countv, HI. ^ 
September 21 st, 3819.” 3 
“Sir—Y our favor of the 24th May 
came to hand long since; buttlie pressure 
of domestic concerns kept me from an- 
swering it with that promptness which I 
should otherwise have done. In fact the 
theory being new, and having no positive 
ft a rom which to draw-conclusions, my 
conjectures, m many instances, fluctuat¬ 
ed— tho’ I never gave up one item of the 
Bxain point. 
“My first position, of the phosphoric 
strata of the inner atmosphere, on more 
mature deliberation, appeared too hypo- 
ihetical. It then occurred to me, that 
the refracting power of the ice, at the 
poles, might throw the sun’s rays into the 
cavity of the earth wa* omn! 
with this train of reasoning, whet I £und 
most of my conjectures anticipated in a 
Tulls of Le Ro 'r f '' 0m a ^ 
v 1 ’ , e *%> Tennessee county N 
} • 1 w “» Pleased to see the letter i 
found that we had both drew nearlV the 
“»r 1 rr/r trr <-*■« 
havino-* U 1 congratulate you on 
simplffies C bfon* ° f - h ‘ S illK ® nuit ^ w ho 
cannnf k ^ °P er ative machinery, what 
tionf’ ^ S ° Weii eiuci(J ated by descrip. 
