Astronomy and General Physics Considered with Reference to Natural Theology

_On the Impression produced by considering the Nature and Prospects of Science; or, on the Impossibility of the Progress of our Knowledge ever enabling us to comprehend the Natu...

The object of physical science is to discover such laws and properties as those of which we have spoken in the last chapter. In this task, undoubtedly a progress has been made o...

The opinion illustrated in the last chapter, that the advances which men make in science tend to impress upon them the reality of the Divine government of the world, has often b...

The question of a _plenum_ and a _vacuum_ was formerly much debated among those who speculated concerning the constitution of the universe; that is, they disputed whether the ce...

We shall proceed to make a few observations on the Law of Gravity, in virtue of which the motions of planets about the sun, and of satellites about their planets take place; and...

The manner in which heat is transmitted through fluids is altogether different from the mode in which it passes through solids; and hence the waters of the earth’s surface produ...

The mere aspect of the starry heavens, without taking into account the view of them to which science introduces us, tends strongly to force upon man the impression of his own in...

With our views of the moral government of the world and the religious interests of man, the study of material nature is not and cannot be directly and closely connected. But it...

We have seen in the preceding chapter how many and how important are the offices discharged by the aqueous part of the atmosphere. The aqueous part is, however, a very small par...

We have pointed out a great number of instances where the mode in which the arrangements of nature produce their effect, suggests, as we conceive, the belief that this effect is...

We shall not pursue this argument of the last chapter, by considering the other laws of motion in the same manner as we have there considered the first, which might be done. But...

The organization of plants and animals is in different tribes formed upon schemes more or less different, but in all cases adjusted in a general way to the course and action of...

A year is the most important and obvious of the periods which occur in the organic, and especially in the vegetable world. In this interval of time the cycle of most of the exte...

1. The aspect of the world, even without any of the peculiar lights which science throws upon it, is fitted to give us an idea of the greatness of the power by which it is direc...

We have referred to Laplace, as a profound mathematician, who has strongly expressed the opinion, that the arrangement by which the stability of the solar system is secured is n...

We shall now consider the adaptation which may, as we conceive, be traced in the amount of some of the quantities which determine the course of events in the organic world; and...

There is a consequence resulting from the actual structure of the solar system, which has been brought to light by the investigations of mathematicians concerning the cause and...

Besides the hearing and sound there is another mode by which we become sensible of the impressions of external objects, namely, sight and light. This subject also offers some ob...

1. We are not to expect that physical investigation can enable us to conceive the manner in which God acts upon the members of the universe. The question, “Canst thou by searchi...

The various trains of thought and reasoning which lead men from a consideration of the natural world to the conviction of the existence, the power, the providence of God, do not...

We shall now consider another astronomical element, the time of the revolution of the earth on its axis; and we shall find here also that the structure of organized bodies are s...

Besides the function which air discharges as the great agent in the changes of meteorology and vegetation, it has another office, also of great and extensive importance, as the...

We shall now make a few remarks on the general Laws of Motion by which all mechanical effects take place. Are we to consider these as instituted laws? and if so, can we point ou...

It is possible to conceive arrangements of our system, according to which all parts of the earth might have the same, or nearly the same, climate. If, for example, we suppose th...

1. It has been shown in the preceding chapters that a great number of quantities and laws appear to have been _selected_ in the construction of the universe; and that by the adj...

The orbit which the earth describes round the sun is very nearly a circle: the sun is about one thirtieth nearer to us in winter than in summer. This nearly circular form of the...

We have spoken of the steady average of the climate at each place, of the difference of this average at different places, and of the adaptation of organized beings to this chara...

The examination of the material world brings before us a number of things and relations of things which suggest to most minds the belief of a creating and presiding Intelligence...

We proceed in this book to point out relations which subsist between the laws of the inorganic world, that is, the general facts of astronomy and meteorology; and the laws which...

In the preceding observations we have supposed the laws, by which different kinds of matter act and are acted upon, to be already in existence; and have endeavoured to point out...

When we speak of material nature as being governed by _laws_, it is sufficiently evident that we use the term in a manner somewhat metaphorical. The laws to which man’s attentio...

1. A person of ordinary feelings, who, on a fine moonlight night, sees our satellite pouring her mild radiance on field and town, path and moor, will probably not only be dispos...

What is meant by the stability of the ocean may perhaps be explained by means of the following illustration. If we suppose the whole globe of the Earth to be composed of water,...

In the cosmical considerations which we have to offer, we shall suppose the general truths concerning the structure of the solar system and of the universe, which have been esta...

In what has just been said, we have spoken of light, only with respect to its power of illuminating objects, and conveying the impression of them to the eye. It possesses, howev...

The next circumstance which we shall notice as indicative of design in the arrangement of the material portions of the solar system, is the position of the sun, the source of li...

The contemplation of the material universe exhibits God to us as the author of the laws of material nature; bringing before us a wonderful spectacle, in the simplicity, the comp...

To ascertain such laws of nature as we have been describing, is the peculiar business of science. It is only with regard to a very small portion of the appearances of the univer...

We have considered in succession a number of the properties and operations of the atmosphere, and have found them separately very curious. But an additional interest belongs to...

Electricity undoubtedly exists in the atmosphere in most states of the air; but we know very imperfectly the laws of this agent, and are still more ignorant of its atmospheric o...

In making a survey of the universe, for the purpose of pointing out such correspondencies and adaptations as we have mentioned, we shall suppose the general leading facts of the...

When we turn our attention to the larger portions of the universe, the sun, the planets, and the earth as one of them, the moon and other satellites, the fixed stars and other h...

Magnetism has no very obvious or apparently extensive office in the mechanism of the atmosphere and the earth: but the mention of it may be introduced, because its ascertained r...

The illuminating power of light will come under our consideration hereafter. Its agency, with regard to organic life, is too important not to be noticed, though this must be don...

There are several arbitrary quantities which contribute to determine the state of things at the earth’s surface besides those already mentioned. Some of these we shall briefly r...

The total quantity of air of which our atmosphere is composed is another of the arbitrary magnitudes of our terrestrial system; and we may apply to this subject considerations s...

Governor of the Moral World 195 II. On the Vastness of the Universe 205 III. On Man’s Place in the Universe 212 IV. On the Impression produced by the Contemplation of Laws of Na...

II. The Length of the Day 37 III. The Mass of the Earth 43 IV. The Magnitude of the Ocean 50 V. The Magnitude of the Atmosphere 51 VI. The Constancy and Variety of Climates 52 V...

II. The Circular Orbits of the Planets round the Sun 123 III. The Stability of the Solar System 127 IV. The Sun in the Centre 134 V. The Satellites 137 VI. The Stability of the...