A RATIONAL COSMOGONY 145 



into the gravitational vortex together; for a falling 

 fulcrum is what a vortex really is. When by these 

 accretions the primary becomes very large, its concen- 

 tration into one mass and consequently more equable 

 motion than when divided tends to steady the system 

 as a whole. In short, it acts on the principle of a 

 ship's ballast, which is effective in proportion as it is 

 ponderous, compact, and free from movable parts. 



I do not think, however, that our solar system has 

 been fashioned strictly on this plan, or that the earth 

 is made directly out. of the dust of the original chaos. 

 Nature has a way of building on her past achievements, 

 and it is very doubtful whether any aboriginal bodies 

 or systems still survive. Eternity is a long while. If 

 matter is really eternal, we are as near its beginning 

 as to its end or to its prime. In short, half of eternity 

 has already elapsed, if I may be permitted the sole- 

 cism, and the universe must be theoretically consid^ 

 wed, not </* just beginning but ax in regular working 

 order. 



Hence I incline strongly to the belief that the earth, 

 or at least its nucleus, is a fragment from an exploded 

 star, and that any accretions which have since come 

 to it are likewise the debris of stars, probably of the 

 same star out of which the nucleus itself sprang. I 

 think too that its geological structure bears out this 

 inference. The planet, then, must once have been in 

 the molten state, and required some time for cooling; 

 although that day was ages ago, so that our globe long 

 since reached a condition of stable temperature. The 

 moon, I take it, is a product of the same cataclysm, 

 the two bodies being twins by birth and having relig- 

 iously recognized their sororal relationship ever since. 



On viewing the Pyramids, a dozen methods may 

 occur to us as to how the ancients managed to trans- 



