[43] Sir Isaac Newton, in his Principia, under prop. 16, book 3, lays down the following proposition, viz: that "_the heat of the sun is as the density of his rays, that is reciprocally as the squares of the distances from the sun_." From this principle, it has been assumed by some of our modern astronomers, that but few of the planets can be inhabited, as if the effect of light and heat are reciprocally proportionate to the squares of the distances from the centre of their propagation; and if you divide the square of the earth's distance from the sun, the quotient will show, that the light and heat, which Mercury receives, are about seven times greater, making it more than twice as hot as boiling water. The light and heat communicated to Saturn, being only the one hundredth part of that of the earth, the difference is more than seven times as great as that between our summer heat and red hot iron, if the light and heat of the sun are only in proportion to the density of his rays. Such extremes of heat and cold, we would naturally conclude must totally preclude all material being, if in the least degree resembling those we are acquainted with; nor could any of the vegetable world, known to us, germinate in either extreme; nay, even the matter of our globe would scarcely withstand it, our oceans would be dissipated in vapour, on Mercury, and frozen to the bottom on Saturn. Considerations like these must induce us to conclude, that light and heat cannot be communicated exactly on the plan laid down by Newton, viz: that the heat of the sun is simply as the density of his rays: for though the sun's rays may be the _sine qua non_, without which no light or heat would be communicated, yet the _quantum_ of heat may depend on the density and co-operation of the medium through which it passes, or upon some other circumstance not known to us, and perhaps impossible for us to know. [44] I am indebted to an excellent Hebrew scholar for the following: NOTE. The words תהו ובהו _Theoo_ and _Beoo_, (Genesis, chapter 1, verse 2,) which has been rendered by the translators of our bible, "Without form and void," might perhaps, with equal propriety, have been translated "without form and hollow." 1. _Theoo_, the root, agreeably to the Hebrew grammar, is found as a noun תה or תהה _The_ or _Thee_, and, is rendered _confusion_, loose, unconnected, without form, order, or the like; and so well understood. 2. _Be-oo_, the root, is, according to the same rule, found in בה――_Be_, (_Bethhey_) _hollow_; it occurs not only in this form but―― 1. As a noun בהו Beoo――Hollow, empty, having nothing in it but air, filled only _vacuo aere_, with empty air, as Lucan calls it, Lib. 5, line 94. 2. As a noun fem: in reg: בת‏‎, בת עין Bet, Bethoin, the apparent hollow, or pupil of the eye, &c. Comp. בבת Bebath, under, בב Beb. 3. As a noun fem: תבה _Thebe_ in Reg: תבת Thebeth, an ark, a hollow vessel, under 2d head of בב Beb. occurs not as a verb in kab, but