WORLD- CREA TIONS. 703 



sixty-five elements. But, however this may be, we know that the 

 atoms, whatever they were, must have been held so far apart that no 

 combinations could possibly have existed. Neither were they drawn 

 more in one direction than another by their mutual attractions, for 

 they are equally diffused through all space. Therefore, heat, the 

 great repulsive force, has overcome all the forces of attraction 

 cohesion, chemical affinity, and gravity. 



Between such mighty contending forces we can hardly imagine 

 a state of perfect equilibrium. Immense currents and world-wide 

 surgings must be the long-continued if not the permanent condition 

 of this state of things, especially if we conceive it brought about by 

 natural causes. More condensed portions of nebulous matter would 

 be formed sections of space larger or smaller, in which the forces 

 of attraction counterbalanced those of repulsion. Each such section 

 would then have its centre of gravity, around which all the currents 

 within its influence, by the law of the composition of forces, must 

 eventually unite in one. This one flowing ever around and slowly 

 toward the centre, like a ball rolling down an inclined plane, goes 

 faster and faster, until the centrifugal overbalances the centripetal 

 force, and it separates completely from the inner mass. Thus a ring 

 is formed revolving around a central nucleus. Unless perfectly equi- 

 posed, and of homogeneous material, this ring would sooner or later 

 break up into a number of globes, which, by the superior attraction 

 of the largest, would ultimately coalesce into one. This globe, still 

 contracting, and the nucleus also contracting, would throw off satel- 

 lites and other planets, all revolving in nearly the same plane and 

 in the same direction. All these processes are in perfect accord, not 

 only with the conditions of the heavenly bodies so far as discovered, 

 but with known natural laws. Many of them have been successfully 

 imitated on a small scale in experimental illustrations, as in the rapid 

 rotation of oil suspended in water. 



We have here given only the simple outlines of the famous 

 "nebular hypothesis" of Laplace. In later years, the discovery of 

 nebulae in the heavens in all stages of world-formation, the evidence 

 of the spectroscope on the unformed material of the universe, and 

 other proofs, have compelled for the proscribed hypothesis a recog- 

 nized place in science. We do not stop to consider these subjects 

 more fully, because it is the purpose of this article to inquire chiefly 

 concerning the forces that would be engaged in such a process of 

 evolution ; and, firstly, how from the preponderance of the repellent 

 forces holding matter in universal diffusion there came the final mas- 

 tery of the aggregating forces ever concentrating, combining, and 

 working up the materials of the universe. 



The first of the operations which have come to our notice in the 

 progress of this evolution is the condensation of the gases. This, 

 according to all experience, ought to evolve heat ; but, instead, we 



