PROCEEDINGS OF THE POLYTECHNIC ASSOCIATION. 687 



It has evidently prevented a large portion of the matter, that nor- 

 mally belonged to him, from reaching him. It has thus rendered 

 him abnormally small and dense, besides depriving him of a moon, 

 and nearly preventing him from inheriting even an atmosphere. 

 It is difficult, now, to determine how much the attraction of Jupi- 

 ter influenced the formation of the Earth; but, in conjunction with 

 Mars, our theory indicates that it has rendered seven rings aste- 

 roidal between the orbits of Mars and of our planet. It also indi- 

 cates that one of the primitive rings was within four millions of 

 miles of the earth. Does not this agree with the observations 

 which have been made in relation to the zodiacal light? Between 

 the Earth and Venus seven rings existed, one of which was within 

 three and a half millions of miles of the Earth's orbit. The large 

 mass and the great density of Venus probably prevented that 

 planet from being rendered asteroidal by the attraction of the 

 Earth. The formation of a moon was actually prevented, in all 

 probability, by the earth's influence, together with that of the 

 nearest rings. Between Venus and Mercury are eighteen rings; 

 nor is this surprising, when we consider that the rings in this inter- 

 val were only from one to three millions of miles wide; and that 

 Venus, a large exterior body, aided by the Earth, was opposed to 

 their concentration. Of course. Mercury, under these circum- 

 stances, could not have a satellite. Between Mercury and the sun 

 the rii^gs became so rapidly narrowed, and so numerous, that nor- 

 mal planets were out of the question. We can now understand 

 the reason of the greater space between the sun and Mercury than 

 between Mercury and Venus, or between Venus and the earth. 

 The same fact exists in Jupiter's system of satellites, and also in 

 that of Saturn; the space between the primary and the nearest 

 secondary is greater than between the first and second satellites. 

 Our theory indicates that there were four primitive rings between 

 the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn, which must have all been ren- 

 dered asteroidal. Between Uranus and Saturn there were three 

 rings, all of which may now exist in the form of planets, though 

 as yet they are undiscovered. The influence of Saturn may possi- 

 bly have prevented the ring nearest to his orbit from forming a 

 planet; but I cannot doubt that the other two (denominated Apollo 

 and Minerva in the tables) actually exist, and that they will yet 

 be discovered in the orbits indicated in the tables. Between 

 Uranus and Neptune there is probably another planet, Pluto, 



