Ixxxiv KANT'S UNIVERSAL NATURAL HISTORY 



tjve, and shows no such insight as Kant does, into 

 the genesis of additional heat by the process of 

 contraction ; and it presents no attempt to account 

 physically for the movements of rotation. On almost 

 every important point at which Laplace's hypothesis 

 has been called in question, Kant shows a singular 

 freedom from mere theoretical prepossession, and a 

 remarkable conformity with the latest empirical 

 observations, or at least a remarkable adaptability 

 to them. This is shown particularly by the general 

 harmony and correspondence of his views with the 

 various modifications of the recent so-called ' Meteo- 

 ritic Hypothesis.' 1 And Kant transcends Laplace, 

 even more than in his empirical accuracy, by the 

 universal range of his speculation, carrying it, as 

 he does, into all the Stellar Systems, whereas La- 

 place stopped short at the Solar System as Newton 

 had done ; and this gives Kant's theory of evolution 

 its supreme, unrivalled significance for us still. 



A. MEYDENBAUER, a strong advocate of Kant and of the 

 Meteoritic Hypothesis, points out ' the following contradic- 

 tions of Laplace's theory with facts, and with rational 

 inferences : i The primitive ball of Laplace is very hot and 

 endowed with a rotation working equally through the whole 

 ball, which is not accounted for ; 2 the formation of 

 equivalent double and plural stars is impossible according to 

 the theory of the separation of rings ; 3 in the whole 



1 See Lockyer's The Meteoritic Hypothesis : A Statement of the 

 Kesults of a Spectroscopic Inquiry into the Origin of Cosmical Systems, 

 1890. But Sir Norman Lockyer's' method here does not lead him to 

 refer to Kant. 



