— a 
Prof. D. Kirkwood on the Nebular Hypothesis. 165 
And finally, it presents an obvious explanation of the rings of 
Saturn. It would almost seem, indeed, as if these wonderful an- 
nuli had been left by the Architect of Nature, as an index to the 
creative process. 
The argument derived from the motions of the various mem- 
bers of the solar system is not new, having been forcibly stated 
by Laplace, Pontécoulant, Nichol, and other astronomers. Its 
fall weight and importance, however, have not, we think, been 
y 
2. The fact that this theory of the genesis of the solar system 
‘ay be extended to the binary and multiple systems oe the 
so-called fixed stars, may be urged as no inconsiderable evidence 
r even seventy fect high. Now in regard to 
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Similar result, This high temperature of the earth’s surface du- 
ning the earlier stages of its physical history, 1s attributed by 
Most geologists to a central heat,* which diffused itself through- 
* A different theory i jent hi f th 
t theory in d to the ancient high temperature of the sarth has 
been developed by the celebrated Poisson, Starting with the fact—established be- 
