184 FROM NEBULA TO NEBULA 



later reuniting, as Laplace described ; and, once dissolved, 

 why and how did the minor nebulous masses manage to 

 reacquire the " solid" attributes in preparation for the 

 casting off of the secondary rings! Yet not for plain, 

 practical, common-sense reasons like these have scientists 

 thrown off the Laplacian incubus, but for such relative 

 trivialities as the behavior of little Phobos ; that cosmic 

 gnat upon which science foundered after banqueting upon 

 this caravan of French-served camelopards ! 



In short, the Nebular Hypothesis of Laplace removed 

 no difficulties whatsoever, but only set up futile others. 

 In its initial statement he frankly assumed, as much as 

 did Newton himself, a physically uncaused motion for his 

 matter ; second, he assumed its incandescence, despite its 

 envelopment by the unspeakable cold of space ; third, he 

 postulated an unnatural cloud-form ; fourth, he made no 

 attempt to explain how the nebula originated ; fifth, he 

 took no account whatever of the fatally disturbing factor 

 of the sun's motion through space; and, sixth, granting 

 him all his egregious postulates, the machine he invented 

 was geared too high to keep going, even had it ever got 

 started. To speak frankly, the Hypothesis bore upon its 

 face such crass imbecilities as should have condemned it 

 instanter. Even had it provisionally solved all the de- 

 tails it was intended to do, its palpable and inherent de- 

 fects should have discredited it nevertheless, and such 

 apparent responsiveness been laid to the credit of mere 

 coincidence. As it has turned out, science has frittered 

 away a century in laboriously putting this grotesque 

 wraith through a series of imaginary gymnastics, only to 

 have it perversely turn and twist the wrong way like a 

 double- jointed harlequin. In its application to details the 

 Hypothesis has been found consistently disappointing. 



From Laplace down to Mayer and Joule, scientists 

 peacefully believed in the possibility of this nebula being 

 superheated; but no sooner did the Mechanical Theory of 

 Heat appear than they confessed their previously con- 

 cealed misgivings and welcomed the newcomer with open 

 arms. With a great sigh of relief they improvidently 

 cooled with its breeze the nebula 's incandescence down to 



