CERTAIN HARMONIES OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM. 89 



bith. Other harmonies may be gathered from the Memoir on the Secular Varia- 

 tions of the Elements of the Orbits of Eight Principal Planets, by John N. Stock- 

 well, M.A., from which the positions of the planes of the planetary orbits, alluded 

 to in Consistency 56^/i, are taken ; which harmonies are to some extent described 

 in (99). These, like Consistencies 22cZ and 31s<, seem to indicate a common origin 

 of the bodies concerned — under restricted circumstances. 



58;!^. As stated in (100), the orbits of the outermost satellites of Saturn and 

 Jupiter have very considerable inclinations to the equators of their respective pri- 

 maries ; as though their development had an earlier history than that of the other 

 satellites and appendages. 



And the orbit of our oion moon has a mean inclination of something less than 

 5°9' to the othit of the Earth; while the variable inclination of the Earth's equator 

 is more than four times as great ; as though the moon in the nebulous state had 

 been separated in the form of a spheroidal shell, before the axis of the Earth was 

 established. 



The like, withal, would seem, (100), to have happened in the instance of the 

 satellites of Uranus and their primary planet: with additional varieties, themselves, 

 as it were, confirmatory of the supposition of the rending away and absorption by 

 Saturn of the mass due to the (now missing) half-planet, which was once connected 

 with tliat of Uranus. 



b%th. In our explanation of the appearances of certain of Jupiter's satellites as 

 dark sp6ts, while they were in transit across the disk of their primary; the con- 

 clusion was arrived at, (69), that the phenomena were due to absorption, and pos- 

 sible interference, of the light proceeding from Jupiter and encountering that of 

 the satellite ; as is explained in (69). The circumstances also seemed to indicate : 



(a) A confirmation of the supposition that the satellites, in their revolution, 

 continue to present, respectively, each nearly the same face to its primary. 



(h) That the phenomena of absorption, etc., indicate, as a reasonable probability, 

 that the satellites are colder than their primary. 



(c) That, therefore, the satellites, like our moon, have very possibly little or no 

 atmosphere. 



((/) That, in view of the Laplace Nebular Hypothesis, the satellites may, then, 

 possibly have lost their atmospheres, in the same way in which M. Laplace supposes 

 the moon's atmosphere may have been carried away; which was already alluded 

 to in Consistency YZtli, and explained in (69). 



All this bears upon the question of a similar origin and development of all the 

 bodies (comets excepted) of the solar system. 



60(57*. In Articles (70) to (95) inclusive we have a discussion of the phenomena 

 of the Zodiacal Light ; which, in (78), are regarded (in modification of Chaplain 

 George Jones's hypothesis) as due to a girdle encompassing the Earth. It is further 

 indicated, in (79), that the girdle is preserved from destruction by having its peri- 

 odic time coincident with that of the moon ; and the limits of the girdle, (82), are 

 computed in accordance with that subsidiary hypothesis, and the variations, (83), 

 in the size of the girdle are distinctly stated. Also tidal actions at the ends of the 



12 February, 1S75. 



