Marquis de Laplace. 375 



those which relate to the stability of great phaenoniena ; for 

 no object is more worthy of the meditation of philosophers. 

 Hence it follows that those causes, either accidental or con- 

 stant, which disturb the equilibrium of the ocean, are subject 

 to limits which cannot be passed. The specific gravity of the 

 sea being much less than that of the solid globe, it follows 

 that the oscillations of the ocean are always comprehended 

 between very narrow limits ; which would not have happened 

 if the fluid spread over the globe had been much heavier. 

 Nature in general keeps in reserve conservative forces which 

 are always present, and act the instant the disturbance com- 

 mences, and with a force increasing with the necessity of call- 

 ing in their assistance. This preservative power is found in 

 every part of the (iniverse. The form of the great planetary 

 orbits, and their inclinations, vary in the course of ages, but 

 these changes have their limits. The principal dimensions 

 subsist, and this immense assemblage of celestial bodies oscil- 

 lates round a mean condition of the system, towards which it 

 is always drawn back. Every thing is arranged for order, 

 perpetuity, and harmony. 



In the primitive and liquid state of the terrestrial globe, the 

 heaviest materials are placed near the centre, and this condi- 

 tion determines the stability of seas. 



Whatever may be the physical cause of the formation of 

 the planets, it has impressed on all these bodies a projectile 

 motion in one direction round an immense globe ; and from 

 this the solar system derives its stability. Order is here kept 

 up by the power of the central mass. It is not, therefore, left, 

 as Newton himself and Euler had conjectured, to an adventi- 

 tious force to repair or prevent the disturbance which time may 

 have caused. It is the law of gravitation itself which regulates 

 all things, which is sufficient for all things, and which every- 

 where maintains variety and order. Having once emanated 

 from Supreme Wisdom, it presides from the beginning of time, 

 and renders impossible every kind of disorder. Newton and 

 Euler were not acquainted with all the perfections of the uni- 

 verse. 



Whenever any doubt has been raised respecting the accu- 

 racy of the Newtonian law, and whenever any foreign cause 

 has been proposed to explain ajiparent irregularities, the ori- 

 ginal law has always been verified after the most profound ex- 

 amination. The more accurate that astronomical observations 

 liave become, the more conformable have they been to theory. 

 Of all geometers Laplace is the one who has examined most 

 profoundly these great questions. 



Wc cannot afiirni that it was his destiny to create a science 



entirely 



