GASEOUS CONDITION OF THE UNIVERSE. 32 1 



on the ground of mathematical and astronomical facts, was 

 put forward in 1755 by our critical philosopher Kant,^^ 

 and was later more thoroughly established by the celebrated 

 mathematicians, Laplace and Herschel. This cosmogeny, or 

 theory of the development of the universe, is now almost 

 universally acknowledged; it has not been rej^laced by a 

 better one, and mathematicians, astronomers, and geologists 

 have continually, by various arguments, strengthened its 

 position. 



Kant's cosmogeny maintains that the whole universe, in- 

 conceivable ages ago, consisted of a gaseous chaos. All the 

 substances which are found at present separated on the 

 earth, and other bodies of the universe, in different con- 

 ditions of densit}^ — in the solid, semi-fluid, liquid, and elastic 

 fluid or gaseous states of aggregation — originally constituted 

 together one single homogeneous mass, equally filling up the 

 space of the universe, which, in consequence of an extremely 

 high degree of temperature, was in an exceedingly thin 

 gaseous or nebulous state. The millions of bodies in 

 the universe which at present form the different solar 

 systems did not then exist. They originated only in con- 

 sequence of a universal rotatory movement, or rotation, 

 during which a number of masses acquired greater density 

 than the remaining gaseous mass, and then acted upon the 

 latter as central points of attraction. Thus arose a separa- 

 tion of the chaotic primary nebula, or gaseous universe, into 

 a number of rotating nebulous spheres, which became 

 more and more condensed. Our solar system was such a 

 gigantic gaseous or nebulous ball, all the particles of which 

 revolved round a common central point, the solar nucleus. 

 The nebulous ball itself, like all the rest, in consequence 



