to the Distance of the Stars from us, and from one another, we may very
well consider the Sun as the Center of our Station, or Position in the
general System or Frame of Nature. And as the Stars are very visible
thro' good Telescopes, to the ninth or tenth Magnitude, if we multiply
the primary Distance of _Syrius_, or of any other of his Class, by this
Number of common intermediate Spaces, the Product will be equal to the
Radius of the visible Creation to the solar Eye; which, by this Rule,
you will find in capital Numbers to be [AI]nearly 6,000,000,000,000
Miles, taking in a Star of the sixth Magnitude, and to a Star of the
ninth, 9,000,000,000,000 Miles: But this Computation supposes a mean
common Distance of the Stars in a sort of Syzygia, or Direction of
a Right Line, which is not the real Case; for the Stars cannot be
supposed to diminish in a proportional Magnitude by any mathematical
_Ratio_, but by some geometrical, or rather musical one; for Instance,
if the Distance of a first be 3, that of a second should be about 5,
and of a proportional Third 8,333, _&c. ad infinitum_: But as their
true proportional Distance is unknown, the above will be sufficient for
our present Purpose; which is only to shew, without Exaggeration, the
Space we now are truly sensible of.
[Footnote AI: If the Distance of the Sun and Earth is found too much,
which I must own I have a violent Suspicion of, these Numbers must be
reduced in like Proportion.]
This I have here considered more extensively, to obviate all Objections
that you may make to the Probability of the general Motion of the
Stars, by shewing no Difficulty can possibly arise from their apparent
Proximity, Number, or irregular Distribution: Their Distances being
so immensely large, no Disorder or Confusion can be supposed in any
Direction of them, or Motion whatever. The greatest Distance of the
Planets, which all move undisturbed round the Sun, is about three
hundred and fifty-three Million of Miles: But the least Distance of
one Star from another, is upwards of two thousand eight hundred and
thirty-two Times that Distance, or one Million of Millions of Miles:
And as no sensible Disorder can be observed amongst the solar Planets,
what Reason have we to suppose any can be occasioned amongst the Stars,
or that a general Motion of these primary Luminaries round a common
Center, should be any way irrational, or unnatural?
What an amazing Scene does this display to us! what inconceivable
Vastness and Magnificence of Power does such a Frame unfold! Suns
crowding upon Suns, to our weak Sense, indefinitely distant from each
other; and Miriads of Miriads of Mansions, like our own, peopling
Infinity, all subject to the same Creator's Will; a Universe of Worlds,
all deck'd with Mountains, Lakes, and Seas, Herbs, Animals, and Rivers,
Rocks, Caves, and Trees; and all the Produce of indulgent Wisdom, to
chear Infinity with endless Beings, to whom his Omnipotence may give a
variegated eternal Life.
The astonishing Distance of the starry Mansions undoubtedly was
design'd to answer some wise End: One Consequence is this, and probably
is not without its Use: To every Planet of the same System, the same
sidereal Face of Heaven appears without the least Degree of Change;
and as the remotest Regions upon Earth see the same Moon and Planets,
so also the Inhabitants of the most distant Planets in ours, or in any
other System, see the same Forms and Order of the Stars in common with
the rest. The whole Sphere of Heaven being common and unchangeable
through all their various Revolutions.
Thus those (the People) in the Planet _Venus_ will see the
Constellation of _Orion_ just as we do, and the People in the
Planet _Saturn_, much farther still removed, alike will view this
Constellation in all respects the same; here then, (in the System of
the Sun) the Eye removed from us must only hope to find a new Earth
surrounded with the same sort of Sky: But Beings in another System,
behold not only a new Heaven above, but also new Earths below; and
all the Frame of Nature to them puts on a new Dress, new Signs, new
Seasons, and new Planets roll, and a new Sun renews the Day.
The Heathen Fables here are all erased with all the Immortality of
their vain earthly Gods and Heroes; _Perseus_ and _Alcides_ are no
more, and both the _Bears_ are vanished; the _Pleiades_ and the
_Hyads_ join, and shining Leo, though boasting two Stars of the first
Magnitude with us, there no where can be found, lost in the common
undistinguished Herd. But still Astronomy will exist, and new-framed
Forms may fill the varied Scene.
Perhaps you may expect that I should here give you my Conjectures of
what sort of Beings may be supposed to reside in the _Ens Primum_, or
_Sedes Beatorum_ of the known Universe, whether mortal, immortal, or
Creatures partaking in some Degree of the Properties of both; as such
may be conceiv'd to change their Natures and States, without a total
Dissolution of their Senses by Death: And farther, it may possibly
be judged unpardonable in me not to point out every blessed Abode,
suited to the Virtues, and all the various States an immortal Soul
may be translated to; but this is a Task above the human Capacity, or
is the pure Province of Religion alone; the Business of a Revelation
rather than Reason to discover. Besides, it is enough for the present
Purpose, to prove, that Miriads of celestial Mansions, are to be
discovered within our finite View, and by a kind of ocular Revelation,
which visibly extends the human Prospect, as it were, far beyond the
Grave. It matters not whether a Race of Heroes fill these Worlds, or
a Tribe of happy Lovers people those; whether a Peasant in the Realms
of Orion shall ever become a Prince in the Regions of _Arcturus_, or a
Patriarch in _Procion_, a Prophet in the _Precepæ_. Not to mention all
the Stages human Nature may, or have been destined to in any one World,
as believ'd by the ancient Philosophers, besides the final Coalition of
all Beings much more naturally to be expected in the _Sedes Beatorum_.
I say, whatever our Case may be with regard to these _Queries_ and
Futurity, the Plan and Principles of this Theory will not be at all
changed by it, since what it is chiefly founded upon may be clearly
demonstrated, so clearly and incontestably, that, with the Reverend Dr.
_Young_, we may justly conclude,
Devotion! Daughter of Astronomy!
and affirm with him also, That,
An indevout Astronomer is mad.
But I find what I at first proposed will prove too long for this
Letter. However, I will endeavour to reward your Patience in my next,
and continue, &_c._
LETTER the SIXTH.
_Of General Motion amongst the Stars, the Plurality of Systems, and
Innumerability of Worlds._
_SIR_,
Since my last, you'll find by this, speaking in the Stile of _Kercher_,
that I have been very far from home, round almost the visible Creation.
I have indeed applied myself very closely to transcribe my Thoughts to
you upon the old Subject the _Milky Way_, which my former Letter left
imperfected. To return then to the Theory of the Stars, and that yet
unreconciled Phænomenon; let us reason a little upon the visible Order
of the Stars in general, and see what Conclusions can be drawn from
what every Astronomer knows of them, and cannot be disputed.
First then, that the Stars are not infinitely dispersed and distributed
in a promiscuous Manner throughout all the mundane Space, without Order
or Design, is evident beyond a Doubt from this vast collective Body of
Light, since no such Phænomenon could possibly be produced by Chance,
or exhibited without a designed Disposition of its constituent Bodies.
If any regular Order of the Stars then can be demonstrated that will
naturally prove this Phænomenon to be no other than a certain Effect
arising from the Observer's Situation, I think you must of course grant
such a Solution at least rational, if not the Truth; and this is what I
propose by my new Theory.
To a Spectator placed in an indefinite Space, all very remote Objects
appear to be equally distant from the Eye; and if we judge of the _Via
Lactea_ from Phænomena only, we must of course conclude it a vast Ring
of Stars, scattered promiscuously round the celestial Regions in the
Direction of a perfect Circle.
But when we consider the explanick Position of many other Stars, all
of the same Nature, and not less numerous, together forming the great
Sphere of Heaven, we generally find ourselves quite at a Loss how to
reconcile the two apparent Classes; and I know none who have ever been
successful enough to reduce them to any one general Order.
You'll say probably how shall we make this chaosic Disposition of the
primary Luminaries agree with the secondary Laws, and the just Harmony
observed in the third [AJ]Creation, &_c._
[Footnote AJ: The Moon, Satellites of _Saturn_ and _Jupiter_, &c.]
The Work now you see is undertaken, and chiefly at your own Request,
therefore I have a Right to expect you'll be very indulgent to the
Author, and pass over all his Faults, and allow him free Argument in
Pursuit of these important Truths, which will in the End open perhaps
a much wider Field of Contemplation to us, than at first could be
supposed to be intended by the _Genesis_ of _Moses_.
That Description of the Beginning of Nature is not without its Beauty
and Nobleness, suitable to the Dignity both of the Author and Subject.
But should we even in this knowing Age of the World pretend to account
for the Original of Things, as _Moses_ to support his believed divine
Legation, was obliged in some measure to do, we should soon be reduced
to talk in the same Stile, and perhaps with less Probability, than then
at least appeared in his elegant Account of the Origin of the Universe,
especially if we do but consider, that what he wrote, was only to
the Senses of a People who had not yet learnt to make use of their
Reason any other way, but from the Appearance of Things, and upon a
Subject too sublime for vulgar Capacities in any Age, and had only been
attempted in the deepest Learning of _Egypt_, which, he though well
acquainted with, the Generality of them were totally Strangers to.
In the first Place it must be granted, that the Stars being all of
the same Nature, are either all moveable, or all fixed, that is all
governed by one and the same Principle.
Now to suppose them all fixed, and dispersed in an endless Disorder
thro' the infinite Expanse, which has long been the Opinion of many
very able Astronomers amongst the Antients, and even now received
by too many of the Moderns, implies an Inactivity in those vast and
principal Bodies, so much the Reverse of what may be expected, and what
we daily observe through all the rest of their Attendants, namely,
their own respective Satellites, that we cannot possibly upon any
rational Grounds, advance one single Argument to support so much as
a Conjecture towards it, without betraying the greatest Simplicity,
and next to an Affirmation reduce the whole Frame of Nature, and all
corporeal Beings to a wild unmeaning Chance, arising from an unnatural
Discord and Confusion.
For upon the Principles of Locality and Materiality, you having allowed
me the Use of my Senses and Reason, as absolutely necessary towards
conceiving any Idea of our present State, or of Futurity: Upon these
Principles I say, unless our Faculties are useless, if there are no
other Bodies or Beings in the Universe than what we see, and are now
sensible of, we must now at the Height of this our present State, be as
near Perfection as we can reasonably expect, and as such ourselves the
supreme Beings of all Beings. To what End then do we form Ideas of a
succeeding Life, where a more exalted State cannot be hoped for.
How absurd and impious this is I leave to your own Reason and
Reflection: This is the fatal Rock upon which all weak Heads and
narrow Minds are lost and split upon, consequently ought to be the
most carefully avoided, not only as the Nurse of Atheism, but as the
dreadful Father of Despair: "For, say they, these unhappy Wretches,
to be always the same, is inconsistent with a Change; and to be less
than what we are, any where hereafter, is full as difficult to conceive
as to be more." Thus, unless we admit of superior Seats and much more
glorious Habitations than these we are sensible of, we strike at the
very Root of a fair flourishing Tree of Immortality, and must become
Authors of our own Despair. I have often wonder'd how thinking Men
could possibly fall into so gross an Error, as that of a Spirit's
Annihilation; and I should be glad to ask one of those fruitless
Students, whether, upon the Evidence of our present Being, it is not
much more rational, to hope for a future, than to expect a _Ne plus
ultra_ upon no Evidence at all. The Affirmative is certainly much more
natural to be conceiv'd than the Negative. But if Chance were the
Case, and that Chance produced all these regular and wondrous Works,
'tis to be wished at least, that Chance might do the same again; and
if not Chance, of course an eternal Direction: But Chance only can
effect Disorder, Discord, and Confusion; _ergo_, the visible Harmony
and Beauty of the Creation declare for a Direction; and this must of
Consequence, from its perfect Nature, proceed from the Wisdom and Power
of an eternal Being, _God of Infinity_, the Author of all Ideas: And if
this primitive Power produced us his Creatures from nothing, nothing
can be wanting to revive our Frames again; and if from something, that
something must remain to establish us in a future Life. But to return,
how absurd it is to suppose one Part of the Creation regular, and
the other irregular, or a visible circulating Order of Things, to be
mixed with Disorder, and circumscribing Part of an endless Confusion,
is obvious to the weakest Understanding, and consequently we may
reasonably expect, that the _Via Lactea_, which is a manifest Circle
amongst the Stars, conspicuous to every Eye, will prove at last the
Whole to be together a vast and glorious regular Production of Beings,
out of the wondrous Will or Fecundity of the eternal and infinite _one_
self-sufficient Cause; and that all its Irregularities are only such
as naturally arise from our excentric View: To demonstrate which
absolutely and incontestibly, we shall only want this one _Postulata_
to be granted, _viz._ _That all the Stars are, or may be in Motion_:
This, if one may be allowed to judge of the Whole by the Similitude
and Government of its Parts, I am perswaded you will think a very
reasonable Assumption; but that you may imbibe a good Opinion of this
Assumption, and entirely come into this much better to be wished
Hypothesis, I would have you consult these following Arguments.
First, it is allowed, as I have endeavoured to shew, by all modern
Philosophers, that the Sun and Stars are all of the same or like
Nature; consequently, that the Stars are all Suns, and that the Sun
himself is a Star.
[Illustration: Plate XVII.]
PLATE XVII.
Represents a kind of perspective View of the visible Creation, wherein
A represents the System of our Sun, B, that supposed round _Syrius_,
and C, the Region about _Rigel_. The rest is a promiscuous Disposition
of all the Variety of other Systems within our finite Vision, as they
are supposed to be posited behind one another, in the infinite Space,
and round every visible Star. That round every Star then we may justly
conjecture a similar System of Bodies, governed by the same Laws and
Principles with this our solar one, though to us at the Earth for very
good Reasons invisible[AK]. Secondly,
[Footnote AK: _Anaximines_ believed the Stars to be of a fiery Nature;
and that there were certain terrestrial Bodies that are not seen by us,
carried together round them. _Stob. Ecl. Phys._ cap. 25. _Pythagoras_
affirmed, that every Star is a World, containing Earth, Air, and Æther.]
The Sun is also observed to have a Motion round his own Axis in about
twenty-five Days. Now, since all the other [AL] Planets which move in
Orbits round him, and are within our Observation, are found to have a
like Rotation round their Axis, may we not as reasonably imagine, that
that Power which was able to give the Sun a Motion round his Axis,
could and would at the same time, with adequate Ease, give him also
an orbitular one? and why not, since no progressive Mutability can
either take from, or disturb the boundless Property of an Infinity; and
besides, seeing to imagine him at rest, is to impose such an unnatural
Stagnation upon the eternal Faculty, quite repugnant to that imparable
Power which we suppose stands in need of neither Sleep nor Rest?
[Footnote AL: _Saturn_, _Jupiter_, _Mars_, _Venus_, the Earth, Moon,
and _Mercury_.]
'Tis true, the Sun may be said to be the Governor of all those Bodies
round him; but how? no otherwise than he himself may be governed by a
superior Agent, or a still more active Force; and methinks it is not
a little absurd to suppose he is not, since we have discovered by
undoubted Observations, that the same gravitating Power is common to
all; and that the Stars themselves are subject to no other Direction
than that which moves the whole Machine of Nature.
Thirdly, From many Observations of the polar Points, and the Obliquity
of the Earth's Equator to the Plane of her solar Orbit compared
together, the Sun is very justly suspected to have changed his sidereal
Situation; and this must either arise from a Change in the Position
of the Earth's diurnal Axis, or from a Removal of the Sun himself,
out of the primitive Plane of the _Orbis Magnus_. I believe you are
so much of a Mathematician, as to know that if either of these Facts
be allowed, the Consequence I want will follow. I shall not therefore
here enter into any farther Dispute about it; but I think it will be
necessary to submit some Observations to your Consideration, that may
convince you that there is a Motion somewhere to be thus discovered,
and whether in the Sun, or in the Stars, or in both, I leave to your
own Determination, but to assist your Imagination, I refer you to
PLATE XVIII.
The Globe S is here supposed to represent the Sun, having changed its
Situation by a local Motion from A to C, and B represents the Globe
of the Earth in a permanent Position, with its principal Points and
Circles, respecting the primitive Plane A, B, K. Now in Consequence
of the Angle of Variation, A, B, C, it evidently appears that a new
ecliptic Plane, will be produced, as C, B, and also a Variation in the
greatest Declination of the Sun, North and South from the Line of the
_Equator_ D, L. Hence, as in this Figure, the Obliquity of the Poles P,
N, and G, F, will naturally decrease, and is shewn in Quantity by the
Line of Aberration H, I.
Here follows a Table of the Change observed in the Obliquity of the
Ecliptic by Astronomers of different Ages.
[Illustration: Plate XVIII.]
_A Table of the Obliquity of the Ecliptic._
_Ante Christi_ ° ′
124 Arato 24 00
---- Hiparchus 23 51⅓
127 Eratosthenes 23 51½
_Anno Dom._ ° ′
140 Ptolomy 23 51⅓
749 Abategnius 23 35½
1070 Airahel 23 34
1140 Alomean 23 33
1300 Profatiograd 23 32
1458 Purbacchio 23 29½
1490 Regiomontaus 23 30
1500 Copernicus 23 28½
1592 Tycho Brahe 23 21½
1656 Cassini 23 29½
Now sure, if we consider this continual Decrease of the Sun's
Declination, which can proceed from no other Cause than that of
his having moved out of the primitive Plane; we need make no great
Difficulty thus far, to think our Conjectures not irrational.
The following is a Citation from Dr. _Edmund Hally_, Astronomer-Royal.
See _Philosophical Transactions_, N^o. 355. p. 736.
"But while I was upon this Enquiry (_of the Obliquity of the Ecliptic_)
I was surprized to find the Latitudes of three of the principal Stars
in the Heavens, directly to contradict the supposed greater Obliquity
of the Ecliptic, which seems confirmed by the Latitudes of most of
the rest; they being set down in the old Catalogues, as if the Plane
of the Earth's Orbit had changed its Situation amongst the fixed
Stars, about 20′ since the Time of _Hipparchus_, particularly all
the Stars in _Gemini_ are put down, those to the Northward of the
Ecliptic, with so much less Latitude than we find, and those to the
Southward, with so much more southerly Latitude; and yet the three
Stars _Palilicium_, _Sirius_, and _Arcturus_, do contradict this Rule:
For by it, _Palilicium_, being in the Days of _Hipparchus_, in about
10 gr. of _Taurus_, ought to be about 15′ more southerly than at
present, and _Sirius_ being then in about 15 gr. of _Gemini_, ought
to be 20′ more southerly than now; yet _Ptolomy_ places the first
20′, and the other 22′ more northerly in Latitude than we now find
them: Nor are these the Errors of Transcribers, but are proved to be
right by the Declination of them set down by _Ptolomy_, as observed
by _Timocharis_, _Hipparchus_, and himself; which shew, that these
Latitudes are the same as those Authors intended. As to _Arcturus_, he
is too near the Equinoctial Colour, to argue from him concerning the
Change of the Obliquity of the Ecliptic; but _Ptolomy_ gives him 33′
more North Latitude than he is now found to have; and that greater
Latitude is likewise confirmed by the Declinations delivered by the
abovesaid Observations: So then these three Stars are found to be above
half a Degree more southerly at this Time than the Antients reckoned
them. When, on the contrary, at the same time, the bright Shoulder of
_Orion_, has, in _Ptolomy_ almost a Degree more southerly Latitude than
at present, what shall we say then? It is scarce to be believed, that
the Antients could be deceived in so plain a Matter, three Observers
confirming each other. Again, these Stars being the most conspicuous
in Heaven, are in all Probability the nearest to the Earth; and if
they have any particular Motion of their own, it is most likely to
be perceived in them, which in so long a Time as eighteen hundred
Years, may shew itself by the Alteration of their Places, though it be
intirely imperceptible in the Space of one single Century of Years:
Yet, as to _Syrius_, it may be observed, that _Tycho Brahe_ makes him 2
Min. more northerly than we now find him; whereas he ought to be above
as much more southerly from his Ecliptic (whose Obliquity he makes 2′½
greater than we esteem it at the present) differing in the Whole 4′½.
One Half of this Difference may perhaps be excused, if Refraction were
not allowed in this Case by _Tycho_; yet 2 Min. in such a Star as
_Syrius_, is somewhat too much for him to be mistaken in.
But a more evident Proof of this Change is drawn from the Observation
of the Application of the Moon to _Palilicium_, _An. Chris._ 509.
_Mar. 11._ when, in the Beginning of the Night, the Moon was seen to
follow that Star very near, and seemed to have eclipsed it, ἐπέβαλλε
γὰρ ὁ ἀστηρ τῳ πᾶρα την διχοτομίαν μέρει τῆς κυ'ρτυς περιφειας τõυ
πεφωτισμένου μερους, _i.e._ _Stella apposita erat parti per quam
bisecabatur limbus Lunæ illuminatus_, as _Bullialdus_, to whom we are
beholden for this ancient Observation, has translated it. Now, from
the undoubted Principles of Astronomy, this could never be true at
_Athens_, or near it, unless the Latitude of _Palilicium_ were much
less than we at this Time find it[AM]."
[Footnote AM: Vide _Bulialdi Astr. Philolaica_, p. 172.]
The [AN]Motion of _Arcturus_ seems further confirmed, from the
Observations of _Tycho Hevelius_ and Flamstead; for _Hevelius_ sets
down the Distance of that Star from _Lyra_ 4′ greater than _Tycho_ had
observed it seventy-two Years before him, and _Flamstead_ twenty-two
Years after measured the Distance betwixt the same two Stars, still
3′ greater than _Hevelius_ found it; so that if _Lyra_ had stood still
all that while, there was an Appearance of _Arcturus's_ having gone 7′
out of his Place in the Space of an hundred Years. See Dr. _Long_'s
Astronomy, p. 274.
[Footnote AN: These are the nearest and greatest of the fixed Stars,
the Motion of the others not having been observed, or being at too
great a Distance, are either imperceptible, or have not been taken
notice of.]
It is further to be observed, in Confirmation of the Motion of one of
these Stars, that _Flamstead_ found the Distance of _Arcturus_, from
the Head of _Hercules_ 3′ greater than it is set down by the Prince
of _Hesse_; and that his Distance from the _Lion's Tail_ was a little
decreased with 5½′ less Latitude than _Tycho_ had observed. Hence, to
make these Observations agree, one or both of them must have moved
together equal to 7′. This Change of Place, which is quite contrary
to all known Causes proceeding from the Earth, must therefore be
occasioned either by the Motion of the Sun, or by a particular Motion
of their own; but if, amongst themselves, they must all move, and if
all be in Motion, the Sun must also move.