QO KANT'S UNIVERSAL NATURAL HISTORY 



tions in being conducive to the formation of great 

 masses, and generally the planets which are formed at a 

 far distance from the sun must attain to greater masses 

 than those that are near. This holds good, then, in so 

 far as we imagine the formation of one planet only as 

 going on in presence of the sun ; but if we consider 

 several planets as being formed at different distances, 

 then the one will limit the range of the attraction of 

 the other through its own sphere of attraction, and this 

 brings about an exception to the former law. For that 

 planet which is near another of preponderating mass will 

 lose very much of the benefit of the sphere of its form- 

 ation, and will thereby become much smaller than 

 the proportion of its distance from the sun taken by 

 itself alone would demand. Although, therefore, on the 

 whole the planets have a greater mass according as they 

 are further removed from the sun, and accordingly Saturn 

 and Jupiter, the two chief members of our 'system, are 

 the largest planets because they are furthest removed 

 from the sun, yet there are found deviations from this 

 analogy, in which however there is always conspicuously 

 displayed the indication of the general mode of the 

 formation of the heavenly bodies which we have asserted : 

 namely, that a planet of exceptional largeness robs 

 the nearest planets on both sides of the mass that 

 properly belongs to them on account of their distance 

 from the sun, by thus appropriating part of the materials 

 which should go to their formation. In fact, Mars, 

 which in virtue of its position ought to be larger than 

 the earth, has been deprived of some of its mass by the 

 attractive force of the enormous mass of Jupiter being 

 near to it; and Saturn itself, although having an advan- 



