fophers (b) have done, we fhould have another. Inftance of the great Ufe and Benefit of that Meteor.

And now, if we reflect upon this neceffary Appendage of the Terraqueous Globe, the Atmosphere; and confider the abfolute Neceffity thereof to many Ufes of our Globe, and its great Convenience to the Whole: And in a Word, that it answereth all the Ends and Purposes that we can fuppofe there can be for fuch an Appendage: Who can but own this to be the Contrivance, the Work of the great Creator? Who would ever fay or imagine fuch a Body, fo different from the Globe it ferves, could be made by Chance, or be adapted fo exactly to all thofe forementioned grand Ends, by any other Efficient than by the Power and Wifdom of the infinite God! Who would not rather, from fo noble a Work,

readily

folicito quodam vultu, fedebat, inclinato in palmam manus genibus innitentis capite; puerulus laxatis braccis in margine excavatæ fovea defixis in terram oculis àlvum exonerabat ; omnes in naturali fitu, carnea tanquam ftatuæ rigidi, apertis oculis & vultu vitam quafi refpirante, exanimes ftabant, Dr. Bern. Connor, Differt. Med. Phyf. p. 15.

The Doctor attributes all this to Cold; but I scarce think there could be Cold enough to do all this at Paris, and in a Cellar too. But his following Stories are not improbable, of Men and Cattle killed with Co'd, that remained in the very fame Pofture in which they died, of which he gives, from a Spanish Captain, this Inftance, that happened two Years before, of a Soldier who unfortunately ftraggled from his Company that were forraging, and was killed with the Cold, but was thought to have fallen into the Enemies Hands. But foon after their Return to their Quarters, they faw their Comrade returning, fitting on Horfeback, and coming to congratulate him, found him dead, and that he had been brought thither in the fame Pofture on Horseback, notwithstanding the jolting of the Horse. Ibid. p. 18.

(b) Of this Opinion was my late moft ingenious and learned Friend, Mr. Ray, whofe Reasons fee in his Phyfico-Theolog. Difcourfes, Difc. 2. ch. 2. P. 89, &c. So alfo my no lefs learned and ingenious Friends, Dr. Halley, and the late Dr. Hook, many of the French Vertuofo's alfo, and divers other very confiderable Men before them, too many to be specified here.

(c) An

readily acknowledge the Workman (c), and as easily conclude the Atmosphere to be made by GOD, as an Inftrument wrought by its Power, any Pneumatick Engine, to be contrived and made by Man!

TH

CHA P. IV.

Of Light.

HUS much for the firft Thing miniftring to the Terraqueous Globe, the Atmosphere and its Meteors; the next Appendage is Light. (a) Concerning which, I have in my Survey of the Heavens (b) fhewed what admirable Contrivances the infinitely wife Creator hath for the affording this noble, glorious,

(c) An Polycletum quidem admirabimur propter partium Statuæ · convenientiam ac proportionem? Naturam autem non modo non laudabimus, fed omni etiam arte privabimus, quæ partium proportionem non folùm extrinfecus more Statuariorum, fed in profundo etiam fervavit ? Nonne & Polycletus ipfe Natura eft imitator, in quibus faltem eam potuit imitari? Potuit autem in folis externis partibus in quibus artem confideravit. With much more to the like Purpose. Galen. de Uf. Part. 1. 17. c. 1.

(a) It is not worth while to enumerate the Opinions of the Ariftotelians, Cartefians, and others, about the Nature of Light, Ariftotle making it a Quality; Cartes a Pulfion, or Motion of the Globules of the fecond Element. Vide Cartes Princip. p. 3. Sect. 55, &c. But with the Moderns, I take Light to confift of material Particles, propagated from the Sun, and other luminous Bodies, not inftantaneously, but in Time, according to the Notes following in this Chapter. But not to infift upon other Arguments for the Proof of it, our noble Founder hath proved the Materiality of Light and Heat, from actual Experiments on Silver, Copper, Tin, Lead, Spelter, Iron, Tutenage, and other Bodies, expofed (both naked and closely shut up) to the Fire: All which were conftantly found to receive an Increment of Weight. I wifh he could have met with a favourable Seafon to have tried his Experiments with the SunBeams as he intended. Vide Boyle's Exp. to make Fire and Flame ponderable.

(b) Aftro-Theol. Book 7.

(c) And

rious, and comfortable Benefit to other Globes, as well as ours; the Provifion he hath made by Moons, as well as by the Sun, for the Communication of it.

And now let us briefly confider the great Neceffity and Use thereof to all our animal World. And this we fhall find to be little lefs than the very Life and Pleasure of all those Creatures. For what Benefit would Life be of, what Pleasure, what Comfort would it be for us to live in perpetual Darknefs? How could we provide ourselves with Food and Neceffaries? How could we go about the least Bufinefs, correfpond with one another, or be of any Ufe in the World, or any Creatures be the fame to us, without Light, and those admirable Organs of the Body, which the Great Creator hath adapted to the Perception of that great Benefit?

But now by the Help of this admirable, this first made (c) because moft neceffary, Creature of God; by this, I fay, all the animal World is enabled to go here and there, as their Occafions call; they can tranfact their Bufinefs by Day, and refresh and recruit themselves by Night, with Reft and Sleep. They can with Admiration and Pleasure, behold the glorious Works of God; they can view the Glories of the Heavens, and fee the Beauties of the flowry Fields, the gay Attire of the feather'd Tribe, the exquifite Garniture of many Quadrupeds, Infects, and other Creatures; they can take in the delightfome Landskips of divers Countries and Places; they can with Admiration fee the Great Creator's wonderful Art and Contrivance in the Parts of Animals, and Vegetables: And, in a Word, behold the Harmony of this lower World, and of the Globes above, and survey God's exquifite Workmanship in every Creature.

Το

(c) And God faid, Let there be Light, and there was Light. Gen. i. 3.

Book I. To all which I might add the Improvements which the Sagacity of Men hath made of this noble Creature of God, by the Refractions and Reflections of Glaffes. But it would be endless to enumerate all its particular Ufes and Benefits to our World.

But before I leave this Point, there are two Things concerning Light, which will deferve an especial Remark; and that is, its fwift and almoft inftantaneous Motion, and its vaft Extenfion.

1. It is a very great Act of the Providence of God, that fo great a Benefit as Light is, is not long in its Paffage from Place to Place. For was the Motion thereof no fwifter than the Motion of the swifteft Bodies on Earth, fuch as of a Bullet out of a great Gun; or even of a Sound (d) (which is the fwifteft Motion we have next Light,) in this Cafe Light would take up, in its Progrefs from the Sun to us, above thirty two Years, at the rate of the firft; and above feventeen Years, at the rate of the latter Motion.

The Inconveniencies of which would be, its Energy and Vigour would be greatly cooled and aba

(d) It may not be ungrateful to the Curious, to take Notice of the Velocity of these two Things.

According to the Obfervations of Merfennus, a Bullet-fhot out of a great Gun, flies 92 Fathom in a Second of Time, (Vide Merfen. Balist.) which is equal to 589 English Feet and a half; and according to the Computation of Mr. Huygens, it would be 25 Years in paffing from the Earth to the Sun. But according to my own Obfervations made with one of her late Majefty's Sakers, and a very accurate Pendulum-Chronometer, a Bullet at its firft Difcharge, flies 510 Yards in five half Seconds, which is a Mile in a little above 17 half Seconds. And allowing the Sun's Diftance to be, as in the next Note, a Bullet would be 32 Years and a half in flying, with its utmost Velocity, to the Sun.

As to the Velocity of Sound, fee Book 4. Chap. 3. Note 28, according to which Rate there mentioned, a Sound would be Years and a half in flying as far as the Distance is from the Earth to the Sun. Confer here the Experiments of the Acad. del Ciment, p. 140, Sa

near 17

(e) Mr.

ted; its Rays would be lefs penetrant; and Darknefs would with greater Difficulty and much Sluggifhnefs, be diffipated, efpecially by the fainter Lights of our fublunary, luminous Bodies. But paffing with fuch prodigious Velocity, with nearly the inftantaneous Swiftnefs of almost two hundred thoufand English Miles in one Second of Time, (e) or (which is the fame thing) being but about feven or eight Minutes of an Hour in coming from the Sun to us, therefore with all Security and Speed, we receive the kindly Effects and Influences of that noble and useful Creature of God.

2. Another Thing of great Confideration about Light is, its vaft Expanfion, its almoft incomprehenfible, and inconceivable Extenfion, which, as a

late

(e) Mr. Romer's ingenious Hypothefis about the Velocity of Light, hath been established by the Royal Academy, and in the Obfervatory, for eight Years, as our Phil. Trans. N° 136. obferve from the Journ. des Scavans; our most eminent Aftronomers alfo in England admit it: But Dr. Hook thinks with Monfieur Cartes, the Motion of Light Instantaneous, Hook's Poft. Works, Page 77. And this he endeavours to explain, Pag. 130, &c.

What Mr. Romer's Hypothefis is, may be seen in the Phil. Tranfact. before-cited: As alfo in the before-mentioned Sir Ifaac Newton's Opticks: Light is propagated from luminous Bodies in Time, and spends about feven or eight Minutes of an Hour in paffing from the Sun to the Earth. This was firft obferved by Romer, and then by others, by means of the Eclipfes of the Satellites of Jupiter. For thefe Eclipfes, when the Earth is between the Sun and Jupiter, happen about seven or eight Minutes fooner than they ought to do by the Tables; and when the Earth is beyond the Sun, they happen about feven or eight Minutes later than they ought to do: The Reason being, that the Light of the Satellites hath farther to go in the latter Cafe than in the former, by the Diameter of the Earth's Orbit. "Newt. Opt. L. 2. Part 3. Prop. 11.

Now forafmuch as the Distance between the Sun and the Earth (according to the Computations in my Aftro-Theology. B. 1. Ch. 3. Note 2.) is 86051398 English Miles; therefore, at the Rate of 7 Minutes and a half, or 450 Seconds, in paffing from the Sun, Light will be found to fly above 191225 Miles in one Second of Time.

(f) Dr.