242 On the Physical Facts contained in the Bible, 
If, then, the luminous rays emitted by nebulosities require 
so long an interval in order to become visible, the stars which 
transmit them to us must have been created before the last 
arrangements were made on the surface of our planet. Now, 
as these rays require about a hundred thousand years to reach 
us, and as the final dispositions made on the earth do not go 
back further than seven thousand or seven thousand five 
hundred years from the present epoch, the stars to which we 
owe this blessing must have been created at the commence- 
ment of things, or, to use the expression in Genesis, at the 
beginning—in principio. An immense interval must therefore 
have intervened between the creation of the celestial bodies 
and their co-ordination. This interval is still greater when 
we turn our attention, not to the stars of the solar system, 
but to those which form no part of it. In fact, the former are 
completely terminated ; but it is not so with the others. This 
work has, however, commenced at an era separated from ours 
by immense periods, and the succession of ages has not suf- 
ficed to complete it. 
This co-ordination of a matter pre-existing since the origin 
of things, cannot be considered as a true creation. The latter 
could not take place unless the materials of which the celes- 
tial bodies are composed had been derived from nothing by 
the power and volition of the Creator. No doubt the conden- 
sation of the nebulous matter causes that matter to assume 
new forms ; but while acquiring these its nature is not 
changed ; it only passes through different states. This ap- 
propriation, and these different dispositions, assumed by a 
substance already formed, cannot be likened to a real creation. 
In this case there is, indeed, a change in the state and form 
of the original materials, but there is no new production. 
This production, however, would be necessary, in order that 
these changes and modifications could properly be regarded 
as acts emanating immediately from the creative power. 
Matter being once created, secondary causes, under the 
direction of Divine Wisdom, would tend to make it assume 
determinate forms, and proceed in a regular course. Accord- 
ingly, the forces which Nature holds in some degree in re- 
serve, in order that they may be brought into action when 
