4 o8 THE WORLD MACHINE 



comets now circulate. This condition of nature, regarded 

 simply by itself, appears to be the simplest which can follow 

 upon nothing. But this condition of general quiescence could 

 last but a moment. The elements have within themselves the 

 essential forces needful to set them in motion, and have in 

 themselves a source of life. This matter at once reveals an 

 effort to take on form. The scattered elements of like density 

 come together by virtue of the force of attraction to form a 

 sphere, around which will gather the substances of less specific 

 gravity." 



It is in such wise that he conceives the beginnings of the 

 world, and this hypothesis he endeavours to firm ground through 

 a hundred and fifty closely reasoned pages. He brings to bear 

 the density and comparative mass of the different planets, 

 their spacing one from another, the eccentricity of their orbits, 

 endeavouring everywhere to find sequence and law. Having 

 shown that the theory will, as he believes, satisfy existing con- 

 ditions, he turns to the recently discovered rings of Saturn as 

 proof that the mode of planetary formation which he has con- 

 ceived is the actual mode through which all of the planets have 

 passed, and of which Saturn, the outermost, represents the 

 last stage. 



It is in his endeavours to show that the contraction of a 

 vast nebular mass would result in the formation of a series of 

 planets such as our system presents, that Kant's reasoning is 

 the least satisfactory. He supposes that the coalescing mass 

 would acquire a rotatory motion, and' that this motion would 

 survive in the successive clumps into which the mass would 

 condense. It is not at all clear that this would be the case. 

 Moreover, on Kant's own theory the apparent result of the 

 contraction of a vast mass would not be a planetary system at 

 all, but that it would all draw towards a common centre 

 that is to say, the sun. 



The available facts which Kant had to build on were in- 

 adequate, and some of the inferences which he drew have 

 been discredited by subsequent discovery. The young Konigs- 

 berg philosopher failed in his ambitious attempt to provide 

 a satisfactory mechanical explanation of the origin of worlds ; 

 he did not become a greater Newton. It may be remarked 

 that no one has succeeded since. The precise process eludes 

 us still. That our solar system and all its kind grew out of 



