THEIR ARRANGEMENTS AND FORMATION. 15 



of the cosmical rings attributable to the condensation of the 

 solar atmosphere." ( 7 ) It must of course be admitted that the 

 process of the experiment was of a reverse kind, and at- 

 tended, as far as M. Plateau's description informs us, by 

 slightly various effects ; but the general reflection which it 

 gives of Laplace's cosmogony is certainly such as to confer 

 upon that hypothesis a strong probability. 



To conclude this section of the history. What we see is 

 a boundless multitude of bodies with vast empty spaces 

 between. We know of certain motions amongst these bodies ; 

 of other and grander translations we are only beginning to 

 get some knowledge. Beside this idea of locality and move- 

 ment, we have the equally certain one of a former soft and 

 more diffused state of the materials of these bodies ; also a 

 tolerably clear one as to gravitation having been the deter- 

 mining cause of both locality and movement. To no other 

 conclusion, as it appears to me, can these various ideas lead, 

 than to that of universal space being formerly occupied with 

 gasiform matter ; this, however, of irregular constitution, so 

 that gravitation caused it to break up and gather into patches, 

 producing at once the relative localities of astral and solar 

 systems, and the movements which they have since observed, 

 in themselves and with regard to each other, from the daily 

 spinning of single bodies on ideal axles, to the mazy dances 

 of vast families of orbs, which come to periods only in millions 

 of years. How grand, yet how simple the whole of this pro- 

 cess for a God only to conceive and do, and yet for man, 

 after all, to trace out and ponder upon. Oh, truly must we 

 be in some way immediate to the august Father, who can 

 think all this, and so come into his presence and council, 

 albeit only to fall prostrate and mutely adore ! 



