139 



ON THE OEIGIN 



OF TIIB 



PLANETABY SYSTEM. 



Lecture delivered in Heidelberg and in Cologne, in 1871. 



IT is my intention to bring a subject before you to-day 

 which has been much discussed that is, the hypothesis 

 of Kant and Laplace as to the formation of the celestial 

 bodies, and more especially of our planetary system. 

 The choice of the subject needs no apology. In popular 

 lectures, like the present, the hearers may reasonably 

 expect from the lecturer, that he shall bring before 

 them well-ascertained facts, and the complete results 

 of investigation, and not unripe suppositions, hypothe- 

 ses, or dreams. 



Of all the subjects to which the thought and im- 

 agination of man could turn, the question as to the 

 origin of the world has, since remote antiquity, been 

 the favourite arena of the wildest speculation. Bene- 



