SOLAR SYSTEM. 79 



each other ? And is it because of these antagonist 

 forces, that stars are found associated together in 

 clusters, and not concentrated into one self-luminous 

 or incandescent mass ? 



138. In the remote past, has our sun given birth 

 to numerous planetary bodies, which have become 

 self-luminous, and which are now observable as 

 nebulous matter in the distant regions of the solar 

 system ? 



139. What is the zodiacal light ? Is it analogous 

 to those photospheres which have been observed by 

 Sir John Herschel as surrounding the larger stars of 

 our firmament ; but which, though yet unresolvable 

 by our best telescopes, is a portion of that firmament 

 of stars to which the sun, as we suppose, is destined 

 to give birth ? 



From late observations upon the zodiacal light, it 

 would seem that the light is only upon one side of 

 the sun, and if seen from a distant point of view in 

 space, would it, with the sun, present somewhat the 

 appearance of the nebulae, Fig. 22 ? 



140. Shall the Earth, if burned up, and the planets 

 in their turn, become each the parent of a planetary 

 system ; and thus there shall be the creation of suns, 

 and worlds, and systems in never-ending suc- 

 cession ? 



