THE SOLAK SYSTEM. 129 



to preclude the possibility of an aggregation of the materials 

 of either ring or segment, into one spheroidal body ; while, in 

 the Solar System, the size and other conditions of each of these 

 cycloidal nebulae were, with apparently one exception, such as 

 to admit of an aggregation into one spheroidal body. The 

 exception here referred to relates to the mass of materials 

 from which originated the asteroids. The fifth or segregative 

 process in the universal development, consists, according to 

 our hypothesis, of the division of each nebulous ring or seg- 

 ment, into a multitude of angular and indefinitely formed 

 masses ; whereas the fifth and corresponding development in 

 the Solar System, consisted (in every case except that of the 

 asteroids, as before mentioned) simply of the breaking up of 

 the nebulous ring, and the assemblage of its parts into one 

 body. The processes of the sixth development, both of the 

 Universe and of the Solar System, were perfectly identical, 

 except that in the former case solar spheres, and in the latter, 

 the gaseous and incandescent spheres of nascent planets, were 

 the result. The seventh development of the universe con- 

 sisted of the unfolding of the identical forms which were the 

 product of the sixth development of the solar system, viz., 

 the forms of nascent planets, as aforesaid ; whereas the seventh 

 development of the solar system, consisted of the superficial 

 solidification of those bodies, and such other changes in them 

 as prepared them for the introduction of the first and lowest 

 of the organic forms, by which they were subsequently 

 tenanted. 



But although the Universal System and the Solar System 

 thus each consists of a complete octave of developments, each 

 octave has its own particular key-note, which differs from that 

 of the other. That is to say, they do not begin at the same 

 place iu the staff, nor does one begin where the other ends. 



