পাতা:পদার্থবিদ্যাসার.djvu/৩৯

28 Pup. Are the cemets supposed to be inhabited? . • * * 4. , Tut, All that we can say on the subject is conjecture: if they are inhabited, the being who live there must be very different from those with whom we have been conversant. Some people are of opimion, they are only intended as a supply for that diminution which the suu must suffer by the unceas. ing emission of its particles of light and heat. Pup. Do thesę comets prognosticate evit ? * out. Not at all. Many people are frightened at their appearance, as if they portended some public national calatnity; but without any foundation : for peace, plenty, and prosperity, have followed their appearance, as well as war, pestilence, or famine. Pup. What are falling stars supposed to be? Tut. Exhalations raised up from different bodies on the earth by the heat of the sun : catching fire, they shoot forth in a blaze, till the inflammable matter of which they are composed, is consumed. , Pup. What is the ignis-fatuus supposed to lie? * Tut. . It is probable, that it consists of inflammable air, or oleaginous matter, emitted from a putrefaction, and decomposition of vegetable substances, set on fire by an electric spark. ...o. o • ! Pup. What is a meteor? . . . . . . . - Tut. An imperfect body, formed by the inflammation of different species of hydrogen in the air. * Pup. How do philoiòphers accoünt for the fali of stones and other substances, which attend the ex ሕ'ኳ - plosion of meteors or fire-balls? ".” x: