Whenever I have entered into conversation with any sensible woman on astronomy, I have always found that she had read Fontenelle's Plurality of Worlds; and that his book had excited her curiosity on the subject. As it has been so much read already, it must continue to engage attention: I therefore thought it would be useful to point out its faults; to add some observations, without which the reader would be led into error with respect to the vortices; to make known the late discoveries; and to shew what numbers, before our author, had written on the plurality of worlds. But I have made no alterations in the text; the reputation of Fontenelle renders him respectable, even in his mistakes.

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