NKW THKORY OF THK ORK^IN OF THE EARTH 35 



And no such tliiii^ — at least siuci' the time when we took our 

 position as sigiitseers on the outer rim of tlie solar system — no 

 >U''h thing as creation, except in the sense of corul)inino- and 

 organizing existing materials into new forms. 



One of the whirhng masses we have seen grow up, gradually. 

 From a dust cloud to a globe, we name Earth and decide to take 

 possession of it for ourselves and our descendant-^. Tt is not the 

 laigest of them, hut it is large enough for us. We must wait, 

 however, until it acquires an atmosphere, and bec,»mes hahitahle 

 for mankind, hefoie we settle upon it. 



But let us consider more particularly of the earth's origin. 



The rtr.-;t i»l:iu-;ihle.hy(>othesis — the nohular theory — was origin- 

 ated hy .Sir Win. Herschell and developed hy La Place, and has 

 gained almost universal acceptance. A(;;-ording to this tiieor\ the 

 eai'th was at first a fiery, rotating mass of vapor and molten matter, 

 thrown into sj>ace hy soinegreat solar eruittion, and gradually con- 

 tracting .md solidifying as it cooled off. The internal lire that 

 linds vent in volcanic outbursts is the original state ';;f the whole 

 ph'.net, and tlie outer crust is growing thicker as the internal heat 

 g!'ows less. The moon, according to tliis hypothesis, is a dead 

 world, one whose fires have gone out: — a m;iss of lifeless matter, 

 a planet without an atn)osphere. or vegvtation, or water, or any 

 living thing wi, its surface — in shoil. a ty])e of what the c;nlh will 

 be, ac'cording to this theory, when its internal tires grow cold. 



And now we have anothi-i hyi»othesis of a very different char- 

 actei'. the one T have already held uj) before your eyes as a vision 

 of the past. Its author is i'l'of. Faircliild. and, like the nebniai- 

 tlieorv, it fits into most of the ])henomena (^f nature. The embryo 

 world, according to this hypothesis, instead of being a >u]ierheated 

 mass of tiaming gas, was a whirlwind of planetary ilust flying 

 thi-ough space, drawing to itself smaller particles that canjc withm 

 the influence of its attraction, and gradually growing denser and 

 larger. This })rocess still goes on. a great numbci- of meteorites 

 falling into the earth eveiw year, but its growth from this source of 

 <upi)ly isatp»*esent too slight to be pet':ei)tible. 



