RECENT COSMOGONIES 239 



prosaic thing as everyday terrestrial mechanics and not 

 the poetic-license monstrosity that Newtonianism and 

 Laplacianism have pictured it. He looked upon the earth 

 genuinely as a physical object capable of being stopped 

 or retarded like any other, given the natural forces ; al- 

 though it must be confessed he seems to have found noth- 

 ing amiss in the silly notion that the earth perennially 

 centrifugalizes her equatorial waters without the con- 

 sumption of power. Though straining on the gnat, he 

 experienced no difficulty in negotiating the camel. 



Remarkable as it may seem to the uninitiated, as- 

 tronomers have found a way to test Kant's conclusion. 

 This they have done by comparing the records of ancient 

 eclipses as far back as the 8th century B. C., almost three 

 mdlleniums. The result, however, has been negative, 

 demonstrating, according to Young (Genl. Astr., p. 105) : 



At present it can only be said that the change, if any has oc- 

 curred since astronomy became accurate, has been too small to be 

 detected. The day is certainly not longer or shorter by i-ioo of 

 a second than in the days of Ptolemy, and probably has not 

 changed by i-iooo of a second. 



In recent years Sir George H. Darwin (1845-1913), 

 more than any other single investigator perhaps, has 

 made a special and practical study of the tides ; and, like 

 the rest of mankind, he fell naturally into the habit of 

 viewing the universe through the spectacles of his 

 specialty. There were three peculiarities about our earth- 

 moon system that struck him as possibly susceptible of 

 correlation under the tidal principle, and to the pursuit 

 of this object he devoted many years of his studious life. 

 These three peculiarities, according to his interpretation, 

 were the following : 



1. The moon constantly turns the same side toward 

 us. 



2. Her surface is obviously volcanic. 



3. The earth is the only planet having a single 

 satellite, and this satellite is the largest, relatively to its 

 primary, in the whole solar system. 



