RECENT COSMOGONIES 199 



The most remarkable fact about the capture theory of cos- 

 mical evolution is the harmony which it introduces among the 

 most diverse phenomena. This shows that it rests on true causes 

 and is approximately an ultimate truth, which may indeed be 

 modified by future discovery, but will never be radically changed. 

 It gives us a simple and natural conception of the processes by 

 which cosmical systems are formed and unites and harmonizes 

 all the known phenomena of the sidereal universe, so that, with 

 the exception of universal gravitation, it is believed to embody the 

 most ultimate law of the starry heavens. 



The Capture Theory Criticised 



Before proceeding to the more technical criticism of 

 Doctor See 's theory it may be well enough to get a clear 

 idea of the nature of this so-called nebula with which he 

 is conjuring. In considering Laplace 's nebula, we found 

 its density to be that of a cubical void 535 feet each way 

 charged with the equivalent of but a single cubic inch of 

 liquid air. Let us compare that density with the density 

 of Doctor See's nebula. Taking the minimum radius 

 mentioned by him, namely, a trillion miles, and dividing 

 by the radius of Neptune's orbit, 2,800,000,000, gives the 

 number 350, which being cubed reveals that See 's nebula 

 is, in round numbers, 43,000,000 times as rare as La- 

 place's ! We can get a more concrete idea of its extreme 

 tenuity by multiplying the side 535 feet by 350 and erect- 

 ing about this distance, as one edge, a larger cube, 35 

 miles each way. Such a cube would cover with its base 

 the entire area of the State of Rhode Island, land and 

 water. The air from such a cube, supposing it through- 

 out of the density at sea level, if reduced to liquid form, 

 would fill a cubical vat four miles each way (64 cubic 

 miles). Discard this all, retaining but a single cubic inch 

 of it, as in our former illustration, and restore it to the 

 great void of 42,875 cubic miles out of which it came, and 

 you acquire a mathematically accurate idea of the sort of 

 nebula Doctor See is dogmatizing about. However, one 

 distinction it is important to note, namely, that in place 

 of using the substance air, which is a gas, we should sub- 

 stitute, say, a heaping teaspoonful of fine flour. Such, 

 then, is the, by courtesy, "density" of the so-called "re- 



