20 EXPLANATIONS. 



hypothesis, would result, not in a rotation, but in 

 a state of rest.* According to the North British 

 Review — ". . .Supposing the uniformly distributed 

 atoms to agglomerate round their ringleader, the 

 space left blank by the slow advance of the atoms 

 in radial lines converging to the nucleus, must be 

 a ring bounded by concentric circles, the outer- 

 most circle being the limit of the nebulous matter 

 not drawn to the centre of the nascent sun. Now, 

 as all the forces which act upon the agglomerating 

 particles, whether they proceed from the circum- 

 ference of the undisturbed nebulous matter, or 

 from the gradually increasing nucleus, must have 

 their resultants in the radial lines above men- 

 tioned, — there can be no cause whatever capable 

 of giving a rotatory motion to the mass. It must 

 remain at rest." 



Now, there can be no doubt that a confluence 

 proceeding precisely to a centre, has this result ; 

 but this is only an abstract truth, not an exact 

 and absolute description of any actual confluence 

 of the kind. The explanation was afforded by 

 Professor Nichol, long before the objection was 

 started, and it could not be given in better 

 * North British Review, No. 6. Atlas Newspaper, Aug. 30, 1845. 



