THE GENESIS OF WORLDS. 71 



combinations could possibly have existed. Neither were they 

 drawn more in one direction than another by their mutual attrac- 

 tions, for they were equally diffused through all space. Therefore 

 heat, the great repulsive force, had overcome all the forces of at- 

 traction cohesion, chemical affinity, and gravity. 



Between such mighty contending forces we can hardly imag- 

 ine a state of perfect equilibrium. Immense currents and world- 

 wide surgings must be the long-continued if not the permanent 

 condition of this state of things, especially if we conceive it 

 brought about by natural causes. More condensed portions of 

 nebulous matter would be formed sections of space larger or 

 smaller in which the forces of attraction counterbalanced those 

 of repulsion. Each such section would then have its center of 

 gravity, around which all the currents within its influence, by 

 the law of the composition of forces, must eventually unite in 

 one. This one flowing ever around and slowly toward the cen- 

 ter, like a ball rolling down an inclined plain, goes faster and 

 faster, until the centrifugal overbalances the centripetal force, 

 and a part separates completely from the inner mass. Thus a 

 ring is formed revolving around a central nucleus. Unless per- 

 fectly equipoised and of homogeneous material, this ring would 

 sooner or later break up into a number of globes, which by the 

 superior attraction of the largest, would ultimately coalesce into 

 one. This globe still contracting might throw off satellites or 

 moons, while the nucleus, also continuing to contract, would throw 

 off other planets, all revolving in nearly the same plane and in 

 the same direction. All these processes are in perfect accord, 

 not only with the conditions of the heavenly bodies so far as dis- 

 covered, but with known natural laws. Many of them have been 

 successfully imitated on a small scale in experimental illustra- 

 tions, as in the rapid rotation of oil suspended in water. 



We have here given only the simple outlines of the famous 

 "nebular hypothesis" of Laplace. In later years the discovery 

 of nebulse in the heavens in all stages of world-formation, the evi- 

 dence of the spectroscope on the unformed material of the uni- 

 verse, and other proofs, have compelled for the proscribed hy- 

 pothesis a recognized place in science. We do not stop to 



