50 FROM NEBULA TO NEBULA 



Assuming that the earth was actually formed in this 

 manner, that the process took the moderate period of 

 five million years (which is much less than scientists 

 ordinarily allot) and that the accretions were gradual 

 and uniform, the figures will show that the average 

 dally sprinkle in the earth's case could not have ex- 

 ceeded one- fourth of an inch! When, in addition, we 

 take into account that the flakes and the planet itself 

 were continually exposed to a colder than arctic tem- 

 perature, and that the sun had his own future to look 

 after the while, one begins to feel, does he not, that the 

 effects of this cosmic snow-storm have been somewhat 

 Munchausenized ? 



But here I may be accused of unfairness in choosing 

 the simile of a snow-storm, as no doubt the substance 

 of the nebula was more compact than that, say in the 

 form of meteors. To this I answer, first, that the larger 

 the particles the fewer the impacts and the farther be- 

 tween, hence the theoretical aggregate would be just 

 the same: but> fortunately, there is a second answer 

 which may fairly be held to be experimental in charac- 

 ter; and in weighing it let it be remembered that the 

 earth is now at its maximum of attractive power. I 

 quote verbatim from Prof. Percival Lowell's book, The 

 Evolution of Worlds, page 41, who himself firmly be- 

 lieves in the theory. He says : 



"Most meteorites are stones, but one or two 

 per cent are nearly pure iron mixed with nickel. 

 When picked up they are usually covered with 

 a glossy thin black crust. This overcoat they 

 have put on in coming through our air. Air- 

 begotten, too, are the holes with which many of 

 them are pitted. For, entering our atmosphere 

 with their speed in space is equivalent to im- 

 mersing them suddenly in a blowpipe flame of 



