CHAPTER III.

GRAVITATION.

The Forms of Matter--Shape of the Earth--Probability of the Mass forming this Planet having existed in a Nebulous State--Zodiacal Lights--Comets--Volatilization of Solid Matter by Artificial means--The principle of Gravitation--Its Influence through Space and within the smallest Limits--Gravitating powers of the Planets--Density of the Earth--Certainty of Newton’s Law of the Inverse Square--Discovery of Neptune--State of a Body relieved from Gravitation--Experiment explaining Saturn’s Ring, &c.--General inference 21