174 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1949 
giant quanta of very small waves. And the energy of one of these 
giant quanta can easily be calculated as sufficient to knock one or 
more planets out of the sun. The even smaller waves at a somewhat 
earlier instant would have been in quanta with sufficient energy to 
tear apart stars, and even earlier, to tear apart the galaxies from some 
primordial globe of matter. 
The details of this remarkable suggestion have been carried no 
farther, but Haldane’s investigation points up one important general 
fact: whether or not Milne’s new relativity is accepted, conditions 
at the time of the origin of the solar system were probably consider- 
ably different from those today. If Milne’s cosmology is accepted, 
the relationship between radiation and matter was most radically 
different. It may seem that this iast and most fantastic speculation— 
which can neither be completely explained nor fully evaluated here— 
contradicts our former conclusion that the solar system was formed 
from a rotating nebula of gas and dust. However, the condensation 
of the planets and the distribution of angular momentum (which 
have been so difficult to explain in all previous theories) may follow 
from further mathematical investigation of the first second of atomic 
time. In fact, if the details can be worked out rigorously, Haldane’s 
suggestion may lead to confirmation of Milne’s cosmology, which is 
as yet lacking. 
In an echo of the introductory remarks it scarcely needs to be 
emphasized that we have no complete theory of the origin of the 
earth. The reader may be impressed with the diverse investigations 
involved and with the promise of the latest speculations; or he may 
notice the infinite regression implicit in any question of origins: if 
the planets were formed from dust or planetesimals, whence came the 
dust or planetesimals? if the dust and planetesimals came from a 
primordial nebula, whence came the primordial nebula? if the primor- 
dial nebula was formed by the absorption of a giant quantum by a 
fragment of matter, whence came the original matter and radiation 
in the universe? and so on, ad infinitum (clock time). 
