NEBULAR HYPOTHESIS. 7 



nothing more ; and, though it were utterly dis- 

 proved, the evidence which we previously pos- 

 sessed that physical creation, so to speak, was 

 effected by means of, or in the manner of law, 

 would remain exactly as it was. We should only 

 be left in the dark with regard to the previous 

 condition of matter, and the steps of the process 

 by which it acquired its present forms. 



It would nevertheless strengthen the presump- 

 tion, and, indeed, place it near to ascertained 

 truths, if we were to obtain strong evidence for 

 what has hitherto been called the nebular hypo- 

 thesis. The evidence for it is sketched in the 

 Vestiges: it is exhibited with greater clearness, 

 and in elegant and impressive language, in Pro- 

 fessor Nichol's Views of the Architecture of the 

 Heavens. The position held by tliis hypothesis 

 in the philosophical world when my book was 

 written, is shown, with tolerable distinctness, in 

 the Edinburgh Review for 1838, where it is 

 spoken of in the following general terms : — 

 " These Aiews of the origin and destiny of the 

 various systems of worlds which fill the immensity 

 of space, break uj)on the mind witb all the interest 

 of novelty, and all the brigJitness of truth. Appeal- 



