ORIGIN OF THE WORLD 



servatory established by Harvard University at Ara- 

 quipa in South America, Professor Pickering noticed 

 a hitherto undescribed minute star lying in the neigh- 

 borhood of the planet Saturn. He strongly suspected 

 it of being a new satellite. But he had not the time 

 to follow up the course of the little body at the mo- 

 ment, and it was not until 1904 that he rediscovered 

 it, and by noting its shift of position from night to 

 night, proved that it is really a far-outlying moon of 

 Saturn. 



To this new found niece of old Mother Earth, Pro- 

 fessor Pickering gave the name of Phoebe. 



Now Saturn was already known to be provided with 

 an abundant family, eight moons having previously 

 been recognized in addition to the unique system of 

 rings. Therefore the advent of this ninth satellite 

 would not have created any great sensation in the as- 

 tronomical world had it not been made evident that 

 Phoebe is behaving in a most anomalous manner. Not 

 only has she taken up her position at a vast distance 

 from her parent orb, but she is actually revolving in 

 opposite direction to the direction of rotation of 

 Saturn and the orbits of revolution of all the other 

 moons. A tenth moon discovered still more recently 

 by Professor Pickering is following the accepted 

 course ; so Phoebe's eccentric conduct is all the more 

 emphasized. 



It will be recalled that according to the hypothesis 

 of Laplace each satellite has been spun off from the 

 equatorial belt of its parent planet, and hence must 

 obviously go on revolving in the direction of the par- 

 ent body's rotation. Our moon follows this rule; so 



IX 



