EXPLANATIONS. 5 



stantly narrowing foundation, depending, in- 

 deed, on a few difficultie s or obscurities, rathe r 

 than objections, which were certa in soon to b e 

 swept away hy xhv advanciiiL: tidu of^fcoojjiedge. 

 It appeared, at the same time, that there was a 

 want in the state of philosophy amongst us, of an 

 impulse in the direction of the consideration of 

 this theorj', so as to bring its difficulties the 

 sooner to a bearing in the one way or the other ; 

 and hence it was that I presumed to enter the 

 field. 



My starting point was a statement of the ar- 

 rangements of the bodies of space, ^vith a hypo- 

 thesis respecting the mode in which those arrange- 

 ments had been effected. It is a mistake to 

 suppose this (nebular) hypothesis essential, as 

 the basis of the entire system of nature developed 

 in my book. That basis lies in the material laws 

 found to prevail throughout the universe, which 

 explain why the masses of space are globular; 

 why planets revolve round suns in elliptical orbits ; 

 how their rates of speed are high in proportion to 

 their nearness to the centre of attraction ; and so 

 forth. In these laws arise the first powerful pre- 

 sumption that the formation and arrangements of 



