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  • Nov. 1, 1797
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  • HISTORY OF THE SCIENCES FOR 1797.
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The Freemasons' Magazine, Nov. 1, 1797: Page 18

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History Of The Sciences For 1797.

HISTORY OF THE SCIENCES FOR 1797 .

THEORY OF COMETS . [ CONCLUDED FROM OUB LAST . ]

THUS he accounts for trees and hones being found at a very great depth in Ihe earth . He also held , that before the fall , the earth revolved round the sun in the plane ofthe ecliptic , keeping always the same points of its surface towards the same fixed stars . By this means , as every meridian would come to the . sun but once in every revolution , a day and a year were then the same , but that a cometstriking obliquel ' on some part of tiie earth , gave it tlie

, y diurnal rotation : that- the antediluvian year consisted of 3 60 days ; but that the additional matter deposited upon the earth from the atmosphere of the comet at the flood , so retracted the revolution thereof round the sun , that it is not now performed in less than 365 days and about a quarter . The same comet he thought would probably , coming near the earth when heated in an immense degree

in its perihelion , be the instrumental cause of the general conflagration . As to the nature of comets , various conjectures have beenformed , and nothing certain can be concluded . Hevelius , in order to account for the various appearances ofthe nucleus , supposed that they were composed of several masses compacted together , with a transparent fluid interspersed ; but the apparent changes may be only on the surface : comets may be subject to spots as the planets are ; and the vastly different degrees of heat they go through may occasion

great and sudden changes even in their internal frame and texture . Newton places all these changes in the atmosphere that surrounds them ; which must be very dense near the surface , and have clouds floating therein . He was of opinion , that the changes may be wholly in the clouds , and not in the nucleus . This last he considered as a body of extreme solidity , in order to sustain such an immense heat as the comets sometimes endure ; and that

notwithstanding their flying out into such a vast extent of space , they would hardly be cool again on their return to the sun . According to his calculation , that . of 1680 must be for ever in a state of ignition . He hath computed , that a g lobe of red hot iron , of the dimensions ofthe earth , would not . be 'cool in 50 , 000 years . If then the comet be supposed to cool one hundred times faster than red hot iron , as

its heat was two thousand times greater , it must require more than a million of years to cool it . ¦ In the short period of 575 years , therefore , its heat can hardly be diminished ; and consequently in every revolution it must acquire an increase of heat ; so that since the creation , having received a proportional addition in every succeeding revolution , it must now be in a state of ignition very little inferior to that of the sun itself , VOL . is , 8 q

“The Freemasons' Magazine: 1797-11-01, Page 18” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 23 May 2025, django:8000/periodicals/fmm/issues/fmm_01111797/page/18/.
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Title Category Page
Untitled Article 1
Untitled Article 2
LONDON. Article 2
TO CORRESPONDENTS, &c. Article 3
MEMOIR OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE RICHARD HELY HUTCHINSON, Article 4
LIFE OF MR. GARRICK. Article 6
ON THE INFLUENCE OF GOVERNMENT ON THE MENTAL FACULTIES. Article 8
OBSERVATIONS ON THE YELLOW FEVER. Article 11
TRAITS OF THE SCOTCH CHARACTER. Article 12
OBSERVATIONS ON THE ENGLISH STYLE OF WRITING. Article 14
THE CHANGE OF CLIMATE IN THE MIDDLE COLONIES OF NORTH-AMERICA, Article 16
HISTORY OF THE SCIENCES FOR 1797. Article 18
ON THE PRESENT STATE OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY. Article 20
THE COLLECTOR. Article 22
ON THE INFELICITIES OF THE LEARNED. Article 27
AUTHENTIC PARTICULARS OF THE EVER MEMORABLE DEFEAT OF THE DUTCH FLEET, UNDER THE COMMAND OF ADMIRAL DE WINTER, Article 30
PLAN OF THE ACTION BETWEEN THE ENGLISH AND DUTCH FLEETS, Article 33
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF ADMIRAL LORD DUNCAN. Article 36
ADMIRAL DE WINTER, Article 37
THE FREEMASONS' REPOSITORY. Article 38
MASONIC INTELLIGENCE. Article 41
REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. Article 43
POETRY. Article 51
PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS. Article 55
REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT. Article 57
HOUSE OF COMMONS. Article 58
MONTHLY CHRONICLE. Article 63
OBITUARY. Article 70
LIST OF BANKRUPTS Article 74
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Page 18

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

History Of The Sciences For 1797.

HISTORY OF THE SCIENCES FOR 1797 .

THEORY OF COMETS . [ CONCLUDED FROM OUB LAST . ]

THUS he accounts for trees and hones being found at a very great depth in Ihe earth . He also held , that before the fall , the earth revolved round the sun in the plane ofthe ecliptic , keeping always the same points of its surface towards the same fixed stars . By this means , as every meridian would come to the . sun but once in every revolution , a day and a year were then the same , but that a cometstriking obliquel ' on some part of tiie earth , gave it tlie

, y diurnal rotation : that- the antediluvian year consisted of 3 60 days ; but that the additional matter deposited upon the earth from the atmosphere of the comet at the flood , so retracted the revolution thereof round the sun , that it is not now performed in less than 365 days and about a quarter . The same comet he thought would probably , coming near the earth when heated in an immense degree

in its perihelion , be the instrumental cause of the general conflagration . As to the nature of comets , various conjectures have beenformed , and nothing certain can be concluded . Hevelius , in order to account for the various appearances ofthe nucleus , supposed that they were composed of several masses compacted together , with a transparent fluid interspersed ; but the apparent changes may be only on the surface : comets may be subject to spots as the planets are ; and the vastly different degrees of heat they go through may occasion

great and sudden changes even in their internal frame and texture . Newton places all these changes in the atmosphere that surrounds them ; which must be very dense near the surface , and have clouds floating therein . He was of opinion , that the changes may be wholly in the clouds , and not in the nucleus . This last he considered as a body of extreme solidity , in order to sustain such an immense heat as the comets sometimes endure ; and that

notwithstanding their flying out into such a vast extent of space , they would hardly be cool again on their return to the sun . According to his calculation , that . of 1680 must be for ever in a state of ignition . He hath computed , that a g lobe of red hot iron , of the dimensions ofthe earth , would not . be 'cool in 50 , 000 years . If then the comet be supposed to cool one hundred times faster than red hot iron , as

its heat was two thousand times greater , it must require more than a million of years to cool it . ¦ In the short period of 575 years , therefore , its heat can hardly be diminished ; and consequently in every revolution it must acquire an increase of heat ; so that since the creation , having received a proportional addition in every succeeding revolution , it must now be in a state of ignition very little inferior to that of the sun itself , VOL . is , 8 q

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