affemblage, in a given time, it will be ten times as long before fuch a compreffed body is exhausted.

A fluid may be thought more easily acted upon than a solid, its parts more eafily feparable, and, when separated, more divergent: Water is easily acted on; the very paffage of the air over it, deprives water of fome of its particles, and its vapours spread every way; very evidently, much further than duft, or any similar substance, flies from a folid body. The fluid, therefore, of which the Sun is compofed, is adapted to give off its particles; but, in order to improve this disposition of the Sun to give off its particles, in order to impel these particles with vigour sufficient to quit the main body, to which they naturally adhere, and by which they are attracted, and held, there must be some force used, some active and vigorous motive muft drive them from their native abode; and this impulse we find in a ROTATION of the folar orb upon its proper

axis.

Give me leave here to remind you, LADIES and GentleMEN, that however adapted may be our visual powers to the nature of the globe we inhabit, yet, we must not expect to find them competent to the examination of distant worlds; on the contrary, they often deceive us, and generally, perhaps always, fail in their information. It is true, the Sun feems round; his outline, I fay, is round, yet, for aught we know, that part of him, which more immediately faces us, might be flat he might refemble a very large difh fet at a distance, and be merely a flat body of a certain thickness, without any revolutory motion. I freely confefs, I think, that had he

been

been fo, we should have had little occafion to thank him for his refplendence; it is exceedingly probable we should scaree have seen him. But, if we suppose him a globe, and revolving on his axis, we fuppofe a power which caufes inceffant agitation and motion (among his exterior particles especially), and which by its conftant and perpetual activity, Shoots his luminous beams in every direction around him.

[The fun revolves about his axis in twenty-five days, fifteen hours, fixteen minutes.]

Let me here obferve, that of all matter hitherto known or examined, light is compofed of the malleft particles; they are the most minute and atomical: and of all globes hitherto explored, the fun is immenfely the largest and most capacious, being 793,000 miles in diameter; his fuperficial contents 10,000 times the furface of the earth: a momentary reflection is fufficient to evince, that the rapid revolution of a globe fo prodigious, muft have moft powerful effect upon particles fo diminutive; it must hurl them through every fpace of free ethereal medium, and nothing can obftruct their progrefs, but fuch opaque and folid bodies as forbid their penetration. Yet even by them they fcorn to be confined, and rebound, diverging every way; fuch reflected light it is which fhews us the moon, and the planets of our fyftem, they stopping the passage of fo great a quantity of light, that even when reflected on all fides, it is fenfible through a very extensive distance.

I request the attention of my auditory to what I just hinted of the MAGNITUDE of the fun; and, as closely connected with it, his SITUATION in the fyftem. I may here obferve, that according

No. 2.

according to the advances of fcience, the magnitude of this luminary is calculated proportionally greater than formerly; which proves, not that former principles were erròneous, but that they were not perfected by such accuracy and advantages, as modern times poffefs.

er.

The folid bulk of the fun is estimated at one million times the folid bulk of the earth; his furface, at ten thousand times the furface of the earth; his diameter, feven hundred ninetythree thousand miles.-Dimenfions worthy our admiration! It seems at first fight, as if here was a waste, a redundance: might not a fun of lefs magnitude have fufficed, have equally difpenfed its beams, excited heat, and have been equally bene→ ficial? Light and heat a fun of finaller magnitude might have communicated; but it would not therefore have been equally beneficial. Recollect what was just now remarked of the impulfe of light; fmaller dimenfions muft imply fmaller pow Befides this, modern difcovery affords a fatisfactory aufwer to the question, having demonftrated, that all large bo dies attract smaller; that all small bodies gravitate toward larger; that the more are the contents of a large body (i. e. the more compact, clofe, and denfe its particles), the greater is its attractive power; it follows, that a fun of diminished magni, tude would have been proportionally weakened in its effects on furrounding bodies. We will fuppose, if you please, that the fun were fuddenly fhrunk to the dimenfions of our earth; the order of the heavens would cease, the fun would be drawn from his ftation, and the larger bodies around him would attract him toward themfelves. Shall we add to the fuppofition,

that

that our earth was suddenly enlarged to the dimenfions of the fun; in this cafe it would become the centre of the fyftem, and merely by its magnitude would attract toward itself

volving planet.

every re

The idea of attraction is extremely fimple: fuppofe a body containing ten particles, it will attract a body containing but one particle, with ten times greater power than that fingle particle will attract the body of ten particles; as a body of one hundred particles will attract the one of ten, and ftill by very much greater power, the fingle particle. It was neceffary therefore, that the fun should be immenfely large, that his dimensions might forbid every dispute or rivality, that he might maintain his station immoveably, and that his attraction might reach to the very extremity of the fyftem. What the folar station is, I think is not difficult to conceive; fince reafon would incline us to imagine, that the largest and most attractive body must be placed in the centre; around which the smaller muft circulate: moreover, the fource of light feems moft properly there to be expected. In fact, the fun is the centre, the focus of the fyftem and around him circulate the planets, and their attendants, (one of these planets is our earth); all at fuch regular distances, and proportionate intervals, as counterbalance the effect of folar attraction, which conftantly weakens, as diftance increafes. From the fun then, we calculate the distance of his attendant planets, and therefore the distance of the fun from the earth, &c. is rather an improper expreffion; the distance of the earth from the fun, will be noticed in its place.

Thus we have conjectured, at the nature of the fun's body,

at his globular form, at his immenfe magnitude, at his central ftation we fupport fome of these conjectures, by informing you, that he is not always every where equally luminous, but that many SPOTS have been obferved on his furface. I remember a baker's man exclaiming," Mafter! Mafter! do come and look, there's a hole in the fun;"" Aye, John, that I will," replied the master, "what's on t'other fide?" The spot which occafioned the outcry, was furely large enough, for I remember feeing it with my naked eye, and that distinctly: it was (really) at least five times the surface of the earth. They are feldom fo large as this was, but very much smaller; their magnitudes vary, as alfo their forms; and both their magnitudes and forms change, even while fubject to obfervation.

In most of these spots there is a deep black nucleus (or kernel) furrounded by a dufky cloud, whereof the inner skirts next the black are fomewhat brighter than the outskirts; they change their shapes, not unlike the manner of our clouds, only they take longer time about it, fometimes a few hours, fometimes days; fometimes a spot breaks into two or three; fometimes two or three unite into one; fometimes they are very numerous on the body of the fun together; fometimes they do not appear for a confiderable time, but feem perfectly dif folved. But the principal circumftance of all, is their motion, which carries them over the disk of the fun. They seem to enter the fun on his east fide, and gradually croffing his whole face, they go off on his weft fide. Now, as there may be twenty or thirty of thefe fpots at once, and all follow the fame motion from east to west, it implies very ftrongly, that

fuch