EVOLUTION THE MASTER-KEY 



wait until the sequel of this cosmic story, for the 

 last chapter in the history of the solar system in 

 the history of that nebula will be the same as the 

 first; wherein will be seen exemplified Spencer's 

 law of universal rhythm and the truth that there 

 is no new thing under the sun. 



The thesis, then, which science now believes it- 

 self to have established is that by the working of 

 the forces inherent in this nebula forces which 

 act according to laws immutable, then as now 

 it has been resolved by a process of contraction 

 into a central or parent mass which we call the 

 sun, and into a number of subordinate bodies called 

 planets and satellites. To these must probably 

 be added those comets which have not been capt- 

 ured and imprisoned within the solar system by 

 the force of gravitation, but which have originated 

 within it, and also the meteoric particles, such as 

 the Leonids, which occur in myriads in the inter- 

 planetary spaces, and are themselves probably of 

 cometary origin. Astronomy having brought the 

 evolution of the nebula thus far, other branches 

 of science take up the tale and declare that the con- 

 tinued action of these same forces, and of others 

 like them, has resulted to take the most instant 

 case in the formation of the earth's crust and 

 in that "vital putrefaction of the dust" to use 

 Stevenson's phrase which we call living matter, 

 and which has now continued the evolutionary 

 advance so far as to result in the existence of man. 

 Hence we believe that Newton, Shakespeare, and 

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