132 On the Formation of the Universe. 



creased, so that by the time its circumference had arrived 

 about midway between the orbits of Saturn and Jupiter, it 

 would have thrown oif as much matter as is contained in 

 Saturn and its sateUites. Make the same supposition for 

 Jupiter, and so successively for all the planets below Jupi- 

 ter. This ejected matter, unless the cause of motion were 

 variable in its direction, would be left moving nearly in the 

 same plane. Having lost its equilibrium the mutual attrac- 

 tion of its parts would unavoidably draw it together. It 

 would first collect into small bodies, and these into greater. 

 As soon as reaction took place at the centre of a body, un- 

 less the matter were perfectly dense, there is an infinity of 

 chances against one, that it would commence a circular mo- 

 tion similar in some degree to that of eddies and of whirl- 

 winds. The circular motion of whirlwinds is produced by 

 air proceeding, while unresisted, in a direct course towards 

 a central line. In a condensing insulated body the cir- 

 cular motion would be produced by the force of the matter 

 proceeding in a direct course towards a central point. This 

 motion would recede from the centre no faster than the 

 reaction between the central wheels; and the aerial matter 

 collecting towards it. When the central wheel had com- 

 menced its motion, the collecting matter would proceed, 

 not all the way in a direct course towards its centre, but in 

 curved lines eventually becoming tangents to its circumfer- 

 ence. This curved direction would be produced by fric- 

 tion among the extreme concentric strata of the wheel, 

 whose great rarity would render the deviation very gradu- 

 al. There are cases with which we are familiar, where the 

 motion of non elastic matter would be annihilated, while that 

 of elastic matter is almost wholly retained ; and it seems in 

 the case before us, as if the matter would be turned into a 

 circular course without any very great loss in its acquired 

 rectilinear motion. As the matter accumulated on the cen- 

 tral wheel, there would be a constant increase of compres- 

 sion throughout the whole, which would be always least at 

 the surface and centre, and greatest at some point between 

 them J and from the centre this point would constantly re- 

 cede. Per at the extreme circumference, or the place 

 where the matter commenced a curvilinear motion, there 

 would be no increase of compression ; and the strata near 

 the centre having the same increase of weight or pressure 



