92 THE REIGN OF LAW. 



would dash them against the Sun. The orbits, 

 therefore, of the Planets, with all that depends 

 upon them, are determined by the nice and per- 

 fect balance which is maintained between these 

 two Forces ; and the ultimate fact of astronomical 

 science is not the Law of Gravitation, but the 

 adjustment between this law and others which 

 are less known, so as to produce and maintain 

 the existing Solar System. 



This is one example of the principle of Adjust- 

 ment ; but no one example, however grand the scale 

 may be on which it is exhibited, can give any idea 

 of the extent to which the principle of Adjustment 

 is required, and is adopted in the works of Nature. 

 The revolution of the seasons, for example — seed- 

 time and harvest — depend on the Law of Gravita- 

 tion in this sense, that if that law were disturbed, 

 or if it were inconstant, they would be disturbed 

 and inconstant also. But the seasons equally 

 depend on a multitude of other laws, — laws of 

 heat, laws of light, laws relating to fluids, and to 

 solids, and to gases, and to magnetic attractions 

 and repulsions, each one of which laws is invariable 

 in itself, but each of which would produce utter 



