THE PAST HISTORY OF THE EARTH AS INFERRED 



FROM THE MODE OF FORMATION OF THE 



SOLAR SYSTEM. 



By T. J. J. SEE. 

 (Read April 23, 1909.) 



In No. 4308 of the Astronomische NachricJiten (February, 1909) 

 it is proved that the mode of formation of the solar system has been 

 very different from that heretofore imagined by astronomers. It 

 will, therefore, be of decided interest to physicists and geologists, as 

 w^ell as to astronomers and mathematicians, to consider the bearing 

 of this new work upon the past history of the earth. If we could 

 certainly recognize the general process by which the solar system 

 was formed, it would of course follow that the earth, as one of the 

 inner planets of that system, originated in the same way, and much 

 new light might be thrown upon the problems of the physics of 

 the globe. 



The investigation outlined in the Astronomisclie Nachrichten, 

 No. 4308, was undertaken for astronomical purposes only, and was 

 therefore in no way biased by other considerations. And since the 

 new method is accurate and conclusive, so as to demonstrate with 

 all rigor the actual processes involved in the formation of our sys- 

 tem, it becomes peculiarly valuable in throwing light upon the past 

 history of the earth. In fact this new theory gives the only accurate 

 and reliable data that we have on the subject, and it is difficult to 

 see where other data of equal trustworthiness could be obtained. 

 We shall therefore first summarize the process by which the solar 

 system was formed, as shown by the researches in astronomy, and 

 then apply this general theory to the past history of our particular 

 planet. 



Though Laplace was the greatest master of celestial mechanics 

 since Newton, and formulated the nebular hypothesis as the culmi- 

 nation of his researches on the dynamics of our system, yet it was- 



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