THE PROBABLE AGE OF THE WORLD. 655 



on the top of St. Paul's Cathedral, and the earth by a little ball on 

 the top of the clock-tower of the Houses of Parliament. The inte- 

 rior planets would revolve round St. Paul's as a centre ; Mercury, at 

 the distance of St. Clement's Church in the Strand ; Venus, at the 

 distance of St. Martin's Church, Trafalgar Square ; Mars would be at 

 Lambeth Bridge ; Jupiter, at Walham Green ; Saturn, in the middle 

 of Richmond Park ; Uranus, a little nearer the centre than Slough ; 

 Neptune, a couple of miles short of Reading. The outermost planet 

 of the solar system, then, would on this scale revolve in an orbit 

 comprising London and its neighborhood as far as Stevenage on the 

 north, Chelmsford and Rochester on the east, and Horsham on the 

 south. 



On that same scale the nearest fixed star would be nearly as far 

 away as the moon is in the actual heavens. 1 



This inconceivable remoteness shows that the sun and his satel- 

 lites lie apart in space. They form one whole, interdependent on each 

 other, but completely removed, as regards their internal economy, 

 from the influence of any attraction outside. 



There are reasons for concluding that the system, thus organized 

 and isolated, was brought into existence by one continuous act of 

 creative energy, and that, however long the period over which the 

 process may have been spread, the whole solar system forms part of 

 one creation ; and though it has been sometimes thought that the 

 earth was made by itself, and that the sun was introduced from out- 

 side space, or created where he is at a different time, the evidence is 

 strong against such a supposition. 



In the first place, the orbits of all the planets are nearly in one 

 plane, and describe very nearly concentric circles. If, when they 

 received the original impulse which sent them revolving round the 

 sun, any of them had been started with a little more original veloci- 

 ty, such planets would revolve in orbits more elongated. If, there- 

 fore, they had been the result of several distinct acts of creation, 

 instead of being parts of one and the same act of creation, their 

 orbits would probably have been so many ovals, narrow and wide 

 in all degrees, and intersecting and interfering with each other in 

 all directions. Yet if this want of harmony had existed, even to a 

 small degree, it would have been sufficient to destroy the existing 

 species of living creatures, and cause to disappear all security for the 

 stability of the solar system. If the earth's orbit were much more 

 eccentric than it is, all living creatures would die, for the extremes 



1 On the scale of 1 mile to 100,000,000 miles : 



Miles. 



Mercury would be distant from ) OK 



the sun ) 



Venus 0.66 



The earth 0.91 



Mars 1.39 



Jupiter 4.75 



Mik6. 



Saturn 8.71 



Uranus 17.52 



Neptune 27.43 



And aCentauri, the nearest ) () 550 00 

 fixed star J ' 



