IT EXPLAINS COMETARY PHENOMENA. 2G3 



tlieir distribution. Tlio hypothesis of evolution, on the 

 other hand, not only allows of the general answer, that 

 they are minor results of the genetic process ; but also fur 

 nishes us with something like explanations of their several 

 peculiarities. 



And now, leaving these erratic bodies, let us turn to 

 the more familiar and important members of the Solar Sys 

 tem. It was the remarkable harmony subsisting among 

 their movements, which first made Laplace conceive that 

 the sun, planets, and satellites had resulted from a common 

 genetic process. As Sir William Ilcrschel, by his observa 

 tions on the nebula?, was led to the conclusion that stars re 

 sulted from the aggregation of diffused matter ; so Laplace, 

 by his observations on the structure of the Solar System, 

 was led to the conclusion that only by the rotation of ag 

 gregating matter were its peculiarities to be explained. In 

 his &quot; Exposition du Systeme du Monde,&quot; he enumerates as 

 the leading evidences of evolution : 1. The movements of 

 the planets in the same direction and almost in the same 

 plane ; 2. The movements of the satellites in the same di 

 rection as those of the planets ; 3. The movement of rota 

 tion of these various bodies and of the sun in the same direc 

 tion as the orbitual motions, and in planes little different ; 

 4. The small eccentricity of the orbits of the planets and 

 satellites, as contrasted with the great eccentricity of the 

 cometary orbits. And the probability that these harmoni 

 ous movements had a common cause, he calculates as two 

 hundred thousand billions to one. 



Observe that this immense preponderance of probabil 

 ity does not point to a common cause under the form ordi 

 narily conceived an Invisible Power working after the me 

 thod of &quot; a Great Artificer ; &quot; but to an Invisible Power 

 working after the method of evolution. For though the 

 supporters of the common hypothesis may argue that it 

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