238 FROM NEBULA TO NEBULA 



than did Neptune, is by far the most eccentric of any, 

 whereas, next to Venus, Neptune's orbit is the most 

 rounded. In fact, there is no element of our planetary 

 orbits more irreducible to a regular rule than just this 

 one of ellipticity, as you may see from a list of the planets 

 arranged in the order of this peculiarity: Mercury, 

 Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, Earth, Neptune, Venus. 

 Furthermore, we cannot decently concede that it is in any 

 sense consistent with See's general hypothesis that Nep- 

 tune, in particular, could ever have enjoyed the benefit of 

 the resistance of any matter now incorporated in the sun 

 and interior planets, for all of that matter must inevi- 

 tably have preceded and beaten him in the race of cen- 

 tralization. Making allowance for this factor, it can 

 easily be figured that the nebular density of the zone ac- 

 tually traversed by Neptune was a billion times less than 

 the vacuousness already computed, yielding a result 

 comparable to that of a single cubic foot of atmospheric 

 air to the volume of our earth ! And it is from this noth- 

 ingness revolving, mirabile dictu, in the same direction, 

 and at equal speed, with the planet, that Doctor See pred- 

 icates a "vast amount of nebulous resistance !" And, 

 finally, because he sub-consciously sees the preposterous- 

 ness of his pretensions, he strategically diverts attention 

 to an already general divination that other planets may 

 one day be discovered beyond Neptune, as if laying in 

 advance the foundation for a future claim to prophecy 

 and corroboration should the expected come true. 



THE TIDAL-EVOLUTION THEORY 



It was in the year 1755 that Kant published his work 

 on The History of Nature and Theory of the Heavens, in 

 which he maintained that, because of tidal friction, the 

 earth's axial rotation is slowing up and our day conse- 

 quently lengthening. His argument was, of course, 

 based on Newton's theory of tidal formation, and, grant- 

 ing the correctness of that, Kant was undoubtedly right. 

 He was one of the very few who have had an inkling of 

 the truth that celestial mechanics is essentially the same 



