456 COSMOS. 



nearly all the satellites move in the plane of the equator of 

 their primary. In the group of Saturnian satellites, seven of 

 them revolve almost in the plane of the ring, while the outer- 

 most (the eighth, Japetus) is inclined towards their plane 

 12 14'. 



In this general consideration of the planetary revolutions 

 in the universe, we have descended from the higher, though 

 probably not the highest* system, from that of the Sun to 

 the subordinate partial systems of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, 

 and Neptune. In the same way that from the striving 

 towards generalization of views, which is innate in thoughtful, 

 and at the same time imaginative men, the unsatisfied cosmical 

 presentiment of a translatory motion 58 of our solar system 

 through space, appears to suggest the idea of a higher rela- 

 tion and subordination ; so the possibility has been conceived 

 that the satellites of Jupiter may be again central bodies to 

 other secondary ones, which, on account of their smallness, 

 are unseen. In that case the individual members of the 

 partial systems, which are chiefly situated among the group 

 of exterior principal planets, would have other and similar 

 partial systems subordinate to them. Repetitions of form in 

 recurring organizations, as well as the self-created images of 

 the fancy, are certainly pleasing to a systematic mind; but 

 in every serious investigation, it is imperatively necessary to 

 distinguish between the ideal and the actual Cosmos ; between 

 the possible, and that which has been discovered by actual 

 observation. 



61 Compare Cosmos, vol. iii. p. 267 



88 I have fully treated of the translatory motion of the Sun 

 in the delineation of nature. (Cosmos, vol. i. pp. 134-139. 

 Compare also vol. iii. p. 251.) 



