Bl-PARENTAL ORIGIN OF THE EARTH 9 



tidal forces because of the near approach of a passing 

 star. A great jet or gaseous mass might be lifted off 

 from ihe sun by the gravitational attraction of the 

 passer-by, might be drawn out beyond possibility of 

 recall, and might break into vast fragments which 

 became our present planets. They would at first 

 describe orbits under the combined gravitational 

 action of the sun and of the star which caused the 

 cataclysm, and this, as Jeans suggests, may account 

 for the two planes of the solar system — the plane 

 which contains the orbits of the outer planets, and 

 the plane of the sun's equator and the orbit of Mer- 

 cury, inclined at about seven degrees to the other. But 

 as the passing star receded, the planets would be left 

 in obedience to the parent-sun. 



In a metaphorical way, then, we may think of the 

 earth and the planets having a bi-parental origin, the 

 one parent being the sun and the other a passing star. 

 This seems almost too accidental to be true, but we 

 suppose the passing of the star need not be thought 

 of as in any way fortuitous, but rather as an integral 

 part of the scheme of things — the X)rder of Nature, 

 in other words. If the theory is true, it suggests that 

 sequence of events in the Order of Nature must have 

 been very well thought out. The mere fact that it 

 led on eventually to the evolution of astronomers who 

 devised such an ingenious theory seems enough to 

 show that the star was not passing at random. Even 

 hard-shelled physicists are agreed as to the incom- 

 prehensibility (not impossibility) of our cosmos 

 emerging from chaos and chance. 



