GENERAL INTRODUCTION 



THE object of this work is twofold: first, to present a 

 re-valuation of the time-honored doctrines upon 

 which modern astronomical science is based, and, 

 secondly, to propose a new system of cosmology revealing 

 the entire universe in the philosophic aspect of a single 

 organic unit. Like that of Newton, my system is founded 

 upon the great underlying principle of universal gravita- 

 tion ; but it improves upon his by taking into account the 

 hitherto unexploited factor of the joint attraction of the 

 stars and its dynamical influence upon the domestic rela- 

 tions of our solar family. 



During the two centuries which have elapsed since 

 the publication of The Principia many important astro- 

 nomical facts have come to light, for example ; the jour- 

 ney of the sun in space, the proper motions of stars, the 

 enormous age of the earth, the anomalous acceleration of 

 the moon, the existence of nebulae, etc., whose successful 

 incorporation into gravitational astronomy demands, not 

 adaptation merely, but radical reconstruction. 



Astronomers in general appear to have lulled them- 

 selves into the comforting belief that the paramount 

 problems of astronomy have been successfully disposed 

 of, and that little remains to be done save detail work, 

 such as, the classifying of star spectra, keeping tab on the 

 variable stars, computing asteroidal orbits, and the like, 

 a romance which popular writers on astronomy have 

 long been busily disseminating among their lay readers. 



