ORIGIN OF THE WORLD 



explosive violence from each side of the star would 

 stream straight out into space in opposite directions 

 and each stream would ultimately fall directly back 

 upon the body from which it came, as a ball drops 

 back to the earth when you toss it into the air, were 

 it not that the gravitational influence of the passing 

 star, which caused the eruption, continues to make it- 

 self felt upon the erupted matter. The main eruption 

 would occur just at the moment when the stars were 

 nearest each other, minor eruptions would have taken 

 place while the stars were approaching and will con- 

 tinue for some time as they recede. And all the mat- 

 ter both of major and minor eruptions will be drawn 

 aside from a direct outward flight by the gravitation 

 pull which shifts its direction constantly with the 

 movement of the passing body. 



The result will be, as Professor Moulton has dem- 

 onstrated mathematically, that the two main erup- 

 tive streams will be drawn out to form independent 

 spirals, the space between which will be more or less 

 filled with matter from the minor eruptions ; and that 

 each particle of eruptive matter will ultimately settle 

 into an elliptical course, for the most part permanent- 

 ly detached from the central nucleus. In other words, 

 such a form as we see actually taken by the spiral neb- 

 ula is fully accounted for. 



WORLD SMASHING 



Such, then, is the result when two stars approach 

 each other without actual collision. 



But it must occasionally happen that two members 

 of the sidereal swarm, as they dash through space, 



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