Chap. I. 



COMBINATION OF RELATIONS. 



129 



It appears from this table, that two intervals usually elapse between two suc- 

 cessive planets, so that the normal order of actual fractions is -1, ^, |, |, ^\^, etc., 

 or the fractions by the short way in phyllotaxis, from which, however, the Earth 

 is excluded, while it forms a member of the series by the long way. The explana- 

 tion of this, suggested by Peirce, is that although the tendency to set off a planet 

 is not sufficient at the end of a single interval, it becomes so strong near the 

 end of the second interval, that the planet is found exterior to the Hmit »f this 

 second interval Thus, Uranus is rather too far from the Sun relatively to Neptune, 

 Saturn relatively to Uranus, and Jupiter relatively to Saturn, and the planets thus 

 formed engross too large a pro2:)ortionate share of material, and this is especially 

 the case with Jupiter. Hence, when we come to the Asteroids, the disposition is 

 so strong at the end of a single interval, that the outer Asteroid is but just within 

 tliis interval, and the whole material of the Asteroids is dispersed in separate masses 

 over a wide space, instead of being concentrated into a single planet. A conse- 

 quence of this dispersion of the forming agents is, that a small proportionate 

 material is absorbed into the Asteroids. Hence, Mars is ready for formation so 

 far exterior to its true place, that when the next interval elapses the residual force 

 becomes strong enough to form the Earth, after which the normal law is resumed 

 without any further disturbance. Under this law, there can be no planet exterior 

 to Neptune, but there may be one interior to Mercury. 



Let us now look back upon some of the leading features alluded to before, 

 omitting the simpler relations of organized beings to the world around, or those of 

 individuals to individuals, to consider only the diflereut parallel series we have been 

 comparing when showing that, in their respective great types, the phenomena of 

 animal life correspond to one another, whether we compare their rank as deter- 

 mined l)y structural complication with the phases of their growth, or with their 

 succession in past geological ages ; whether we compare this succession with their 

 embryonic growth, or all these different relations with each other and with the geo- 



17 



