344 SCIENTIFIC REC(;KD FOR 1885. 



It cannot be denied, moreover, that they offer a broad field for the dis- 

 coveries and theories that from time to time transform and, as it were, 

 renew science. The mechanical theory of heat and spectrum analysis 

 have inaugurated a new era for speculations concerning the origin of 

 the world and the constitution of the universe, by furnishing to theo- 

 retical reasoning a basis incomparably more sure than that possessed 

 at the time of Laplace. It is quite natural, therefore, that scholars 

 should again turn their attention to the chaos from which the stars 

 were born, and that, with the aid of the knowledge gained during the 

 last century, they should undertake to submit the current cosmical 

 theories to searching examination. 



" M. Faye's book upon this subject will be welcomed, as it comes at a 

 moment when attention is everywhere beginning to turn to these ob- 

 scure and sublime questions. A large part of the book is devoted to 

 the history of cosmogonies, beginning with that of Moses; and every 

 reader will be pleased that M. Faye has taken pains to give always the 

 original text, accompanying it by comments and remarks. The book 

 contains extracts from Genesis, Plato's Timcens, Aristotle's Heavens, 

 Cicero's De Republica, the poem of Lucrece, Descartes' World, Newton's 

 Principia, Kant's AUgemeine N'aturGeschichte und Theorie des Himmels 

 and Beweisgrund zu einer Demonstration des Daseins Gottes, Laplace's 

 Exposition du Systeme du Monde, and from M. Hirn's Analyse elemen- 

 taire de V Univers. After this historical exposition of ancient and mod- 

 ern cosmical ideas M. Faye proceeds to consider in his turn the prob- 

 lem of the formation of the universe and of the solar system. 



" M. Faye regards Laplace's celebrated cosmic hypothesis, which is 

 still accepted in treatises on astronomy, as quite opposed to science in 

 its present state ; he says that it cannot be reconciled with the retro- 

 grade motions of the satellites of Uranus and Neptune, nor with the 

 rapid revolutions of Mars' satellites, nor with our notions of the rings 

 of Saturn. M. Faye proposes to replace this hypothesis by another one 

 more conformable to existing ideas, taking its point of departure in 

 Descartes' vortices." {Bull. Astron., February, 1885.) 



"Prof. G. II. Darwin has contributed to Nature (Vol. 31, p. 506) an 

 interesting and valuable criticism of M. Faye's theory of the evolution 

 of the solar system as explained in his paper in the ''■Annua.ire du Bu- 

 reau des Longitudes for 1885, and also in his work entitled ^^Bur VOrigine 

 du Monde.^^ The best general idea of the line of speculation adopted by 

 M. Faye may be given by saying that it is a theory of evolution from 

 meteorites, instead of from the nebulous matter which gives its nau)e 

 to Laplace's theory. In the primitive condition, the universe consisted 

 of matter scattered in chaotic confusion. Currents were generated in 

 the midst of this chaos under the influence of mutual gravitation ; and 

 in consequence of these movements, shreds of matter became detached 

 and moved with rapid linear and slow gyratory motion. The solar sys- 

 tem is taken to have originated from a shred which aggregated into. 



