Now suppose all the matter in our globe to be an extended liquid mass, the particles so disengaged from each other, as to take their positions according to the _established_ laws of matter, and then see what would be the consequences resulting from motion and gravity. Taking the laws of Newton for our guide, the particles of matter in the centre would be operated on by the power of gravity equally on all sides and consequently be stationary. Suppose then a line struck through this globe of matter, so as to make a globe of half the diameter of the whole in the centre, it is plain that the inner globe would not contain more than one eighth part as much matter as the surrounding one; hence it would be attracted towards the surface more than to the centre, were it not for the attraction of the matter on the opposite side exerting an influence upon it――but this being removed to so much greater distance, would not be more than an equipoise to the other. The diameter of our globe, according to the best observation, is believed to be about 7970 English miles, and its circumference 25,038: consequently, if it were solid, it would contain 265,078,559,622 cubic miles of matter; while a globe of only half the diameter, would contain only 33,134,819,952.[3] Suppose our globe divided into parts of one square mile on the surface, bounded by straight lines converging to a point at the centre, as the subjoined figure represents: [Illustration] and then suppose there were no other particles of matter in the universe but A and B, A containing 1,328 cubic miles of matter, and B only 166, A would attract B so as to make their centre of attraction at O, which point would become at once the common centre: but admitting the whole matter of the globe to exist, A would still exert its influence on B, but both would be operated upon by T and S and the surrounding matter, all perhaps, tending to one common centre. However, I imagine that the tending to the centre would not be so great as is contended for by the generally received theory, which alleges that matter at the centre of the earth is four times as hard as hammered iron. The Newtonian philosophy appears to contemplate a globe at rest, and not in such rapid motion as we know the earth and other planetary bodies to be in, communicating to them a centrifugal force, which tends to throw matter from the centre. The rotary motion of each planet is no doubt regulated by the quantity of matter it contains: so that at its surface centrifugal and centripetal forces are equally balanced――the rotary motion being adequate to communicate a force to counter-balance the force of gravity.