DISSOLUTION. 549 



seems an unavoidable conclusion that the quantity of mo- 

 tion possessed, must diminish by radiation; and that so, 

 on each successive resumption of the nebulous form, the 

 matter of our Sidereal System will occupy a less space; 

 until it reaches either a state in which its concentrations 

 and diffusions are relatively small, or a state of complete 

 aggregation and rest. Since, however, we have no evidence 

 showing the existence or non-existence of Sidereal Systems 

 throughout remote space; and since, even had we such evi- 

 dence, a legitimate conclusion could not be drawn from 

 premises of which one element (unlimited space) is incon- 

 ceivable; we must be for ever without answer to this tran- 

 scendent question. 



But confining ourselves to the proximate ^nd not neces- 

 sarily insoluble question, we find reason for thinking that 

 after the completion of those various equilibrations which 

 bring to a close all the forms of Evolution we have contem- 

 plated, there must continue an equilibration of a far wider 

 kind. When that integration everywhere in progress 

 throughout our Solar System has reached its climax, there 

 will remain to be effected the immeasurably greater inte- 

 gration of our Solar System, with other such systems. 

 There must then re-appear in molecular motion what is lost 

 in the motion of masses; and the inevitable transformation 

 of this motion of masses into molecular motion, cannot take 

 place without reducing the masses to a nebulous form. 



§ 183. Thus we are led to the conclusion that the 

 entire process of things, as displayed in the aggregate of 

 the visible Universe, is analogous to the entire process of 

 things as displayed in the smallest aggregates. 



Motion as well as Matter being fixed in quantity, it 

 would seem that the change in the distribution of Matter 

 which Motion affects, coming to a limit in whichever direc- 

 tion it is carried, the indestructible Motion thereupon neces- 

 sitates a reverse distribution. Apparently, the universally- 



