Before their eyes in sudden view appear

The secrets of the hoary deep; a dark
Illimitable ocean, without bound,

Without dimension; where length, breadth, and height,
And time, and place, are lost; where eldest Night
And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold

Eternal anarchy, amidst the noise

Of endless wars, and by confusion stand.

For Hot, Cold, Moist, and Dry, four champions fierce,
Strive here for mastery, and to battle bring

Their embryon atoms; they around the flag
Of each his faction, in their several clans,

Light armed or heavy, sharp, smooth, swift, or slow,
Swarm populous, unnumbered as the sands

Of Barca or Cyrene's torrid soil,

Levied to side with warring winds, and poise

Their lighter wings. To whom these most adhere,
He rules a moment: Chaos umpire sits,

And by decision more embroils the fray,
By which he reigns: next him high arbiter
Chance governs all. Into this wild abyss,
The womb of Nature, and perhaps her grave,
Of neither sea, nor shore, nor air, nor fire,
But all these in their pregnant causes mixed
Confusedly, and which thus must ever fight,
Unless the Almighty Maker them ordain
His dark materials to create new worlds.'

PARADISE LOST.

PREFACE.

IN THE COURSE of a perusal of some of the scientific works of the day, it has frequently occurred to the author that some of the explanations of the phenomena of nature were not wholly sufficient, and that though they contained much of the truth they did not embrace the whole truth, and also that more accurate as well as more extended conceptions of their real causes might be attained were some alterations made on the hypotheses on which these explanations rest. With this idea he jotted down from time to time such facts or effects as seemed to converge from various directions on certain points, sought out the laws and conditions under which these effects might be rendered possible, assumed these conditions as hypotheses, and then proceeded to trace out a few other effects consequent upon their adoption. How far these hypotheses are altered in the right direction, and how far the inferences are correctly drawn, he leaves to time and circumstance to decide.

The opening remarks of the paper on Motion are designed to show that the position presently held by Astronomy with regard to the motions and velocities of the planetary bodies is not unassailable, and the

A 2

other portions are devoted to the consideration of their peculiarities on the hypothesis that the ether in space is a material substance, and that the various world systems are upheld by the continued operation of a duality of forces, and not, as heretofore alleged, by one well-directed primal impulse, acting in combination with the one continuous force of gravitation.

The hypothetical analyses and syntheses of nitrogen are carried out on the same principles. Were this subject reasoned out a little further than appears in the context, the oceans of the air and the water might be found to be the two great reservoirs of the organic matter of our planet; that in their decomposition and recomposition with the bases of the earth animal and vegetable organisms, under the guidance of Supreme Power, spring into existence and development, and that the material part of these organisms are reconvertible by a process of combustion into mother air, earth, and water on passing through the intermediate stage of carbonic acid, vapour, and ash.

Should the principle of this analysis prove correct, we may come to a better appreciation of the elements of the ancients on the one hand, and on the other to the consciousness of the possibility of such further reduction of our simple bodies as must ultimately point to a common origin for all things.

BANKFIELD,

March 1st, 1871.

A. L.

CONTENTS.

PART I.

PLANETARY MOTION IN SPACE.-Some inconsistencies under existing

theories. Hypothesis of the materiality of the medium in space

and the continuousness of the forces of tangential propulsion

and gravitation. Method of the revolution of the planets

under the influence of two continuous forces. Reasons for the

revolutions of the satellites round their primaries and round

their own axes being coincident in time. Theory for each planet

in the course of its orbit describing equal areas in equal times.

Theory for the velocity of each planet in the course of its

orbit varying inversely as the perpendicular on the tangent in

place of the actual distance. The tangential motive power

ascribed to magnetism: Theory for the elliptical orbits of the

planets. Theoretical relations of the planets to each other.

Distances of equal velocities. Distances of equal magnetisation.

Actual distances. Stability of the solar system. Condensation

of the ether in space and progressive development into systems

of motion. Infinity of space.

PART II.

Hypothetical analysis of nitrogen. Hypothetical synthesis of same.
Hypothetical synthesis of cyanogen, by which its specific
gravity is accounted for. Composition of atmosphere. De-
composition and recomposition in the process of respiration.
Exhaled products. Atomic weights of the decomposed atmo-
spheric air. Theories.