On the Formation of the Uniaene. 143 



nal globe also would have a tendency to form the external 

 fluids of the shell into an oval figure, which would be most 

 raised at the place where the internal globe was situated, so 

 that whenever this globe changed its situation, the situation 

 of the external water would also be changed. This is prob- 

 ably the best account of the deluge, that it is possible to 

 give. The comparative density of the bodies in the sys- 

 tem, would depend on their nearness to the central fire ; 

 their magnitude ; and their liability to be disturbed during 

 formation. The bodies most distant from the central fire 

 would cool most rapidly, and their permanent external 

 shell would be formed while the interior remains much 

 more heated and expanded than if they had been nearer it. 

 Also large bodies would stiffen on the outside while their 

 interior remained more expanded, than the interior of small- 

 er bodies at the same distance from the sun ; and therefore 

 their density would be less in proportion to their magnitude. 

 Bodies subject to disturbance, would of course have their 

 shells broken up, when if they had been free from distur- 

 bance those shells would have remained permanent. Dis- 

 turbance, therefore, would increase the density. It is need- 

 less to remark, that so far as we know the relative densities 

 of the system, with this theory they are perfectly coinci- 

 dent. 



The motion in the great solar aerial wheel, assumed at the 

 commencement, has not yet been accounted for : but by an 

 inspection of the argument respecting the motion of the 

 planetary wheels, it will be seen, that the assumed motion 

 of the solar wheel might have been produced in the same 

 manner. All that is necessary, is to suppose, that the mat- 

 ter in the system was diffused equally through a space ex- 

 tending to an immense distance, perhaps half way to the 

 nearest fixed stars ; and it is worthy of remark, that the 

 power of gravitation would bring the whole to the centre 

 very nearly in the same period of time : a circumstance 

 without which, the formation of the system as explained 

 above, could not have been effected. The great length of 

 this period, probably about 28,000,000 years, seems at first 

 a very considerable objection to the theory : but when the 

 vast resources of eternity are opened to view, and when it 

 is considered, that the matter might as well be moving du- 

 ring that period, as to be at rest or not in existence, the ob- 



