communication. 
10*4 TTHS WESTSSM SPX AW© tITJiRAEy CAOJBT, 
Gentlemen— 
I offer for publication in your paper the 
following extract from a letter lately re¬ 
ceived from tfee author of the Gazetteer 
of New York. As this letter does not 
seem to have been written with any idea 
fhat it might be ultimately published, I 
withhold from publication such part as I 
Suppose the author, of whom I have no 
personal knowledge, woukl probably be 
averse to seeing in print. 
Respectfully, 
Jno. C. Symmes, 
Newport, Ky. Jan. 1822 * < 
Ballston Spa } State of JV„ K 
Esteemed Frien-d— 
The singular novelty and boldness of 
thy theory struck me at the first blush, 
with a kindred regard for the very inge¬ 
nious projector, i have long wished some 
acquaintance with thee,and some commu- : 
tiication, on the subject of thy specula-! 
lions, being strongly inclined to a belief' 
that there is at least good foundation for j 
a part of thy theory. But whether or not, 
every son of genius must regard thee with 
$avor,for the great perseverance thou hast 
displayed, and a discoverer of no ordina¬ 
ry cast. I have Song been convinced that 
the laws of gravity have not been well un¬ 
derstood. The Newtonian philosophy 
contemplates a globe at rest, lather than 
£n such rapid rotation on its axis as we 
know this world to have. There are ve- j 
ary many consequences and circumstances | 
connected with the Newtonian theory of, 
gravity, that have been strangely overlook- j 
•ed. Every planetary body has, in my o~ 
opinion, a rotary motion on its axis, regu- 
fated by its quantity of matter so that at 
its surface, centrifugal and centripetal ac¬ 
tion are equipoised. I bis globe was once 
a chaos, & mass of soft, liquid matter. The 
effect of its motion, m that state, has been 
