84 STATEMENT AND EXPOSITION OF 



found interior to TJranv,s ; viz., that its mass loas ahsorhed hy what previously con- 

 stitihted the mass of Saturn, we have : — 



f 37;!^. That the mutual attractive force of the missing mass and the then- 

 existing Saturn was adequate in measure to the effect supposed; as is explained 

 in 1 of (43). 



38t7i. That the limit to which the same mutual attraction extended is itself 

 not very far short of the limit (U) at which the whole-jjlanet mass would be 

 likely to be rent; as in the Earth- Venus case [4 of (39)]; as is farther explained 

 in 2 of (43). 



[The mass of the missing planet is found in (41) by the application of the 

 formula for the centre of gyration; which has its reference in Consistency 21th.'\ 



'6dth. The very inferior density of Saturn [below that due to his place in the 

 system, and the least in all the series of densities of planets in Table (A) in 

 (3)], is here a special fact in place ; so much of the material of the existing 

 Saturn being derived from the region outside. [See 4 of (43).] 



^Oth. All this would contribute to give the forming nebulous Saturn a very 

 ohlate figure ; the ellipticity being even greater than that of the forming Earth 

 — for the outer satellite Japetus is at the distance of more than sixty-three 

 radii of its primary; and the very faint light of that satellite in certain posi- 

 tions may be accepted as one condition not in itself inconsistent with a low 

 density. 



41st. All this would permit the formation of satellites to begin and advance, 

 some time before that of the rings ; and so the conse7-vative influence of the 

 ^ satellites be exerted, in those early times, to preserve those rings and keep 

 them concentric with the shrinking planet; and thus make it possible for 

 Saturn to be adorned with those remarkable appendages which make him an 

 instantia soUtaris in the system. [See explanations and qxiotations in 7 of (43) 

 and its Note 3.] 



42fZ. The great mass of the ancient Saturn \, (notwithstanding its low density), 

 would seem to have been efficient in bringing about the great inclination of the 

 equator of Uranus to the plane of its orbit, as well as to that of the ecliptic, 

 [and also that of the whole Uranian system, specially described in 3 of (43) ;] the 

 whole so like the eff"ect on the inclination of the equator of Venus, insisted on 

 in Consistency SScZ. Thus these two phenomena, so like, but which present 

 themselves in regions of the system remote from one another, are found to be 

 referable to the action of not unlike causes. 



43tZ. The very considerable inclination of the Saturnian system (equator of the 

 planet, rings, and orbits of satellites) — so unlike in that respect to the system 

 of the other great planet Jupiter — would seem itself to be referable to the same 

 disturbance which so tilted up the equator and all the system of Uranus. 



44<7i. It is not inconsistent with all this, that on a comparison of the column 

 of Fact with the column of Law in Table (B) in (14), Uranus would almost 

 seem to have perceptihly fallen in ; and Saturn perhaps have been drawn a little 

 outward. [See 5 and 10 of (43)]. And it may be that Consistency '^\st is also 

 to be found here [see 9 of (43)]. 



