G, Hinrichs on Planetology. 285 
We referred to (38) as our “law” because it is a consequence of 
our law, and certainly our formula; we did not intend to oblit- 
erate the merit of Titius, as will be seen wherever we have men- 
tioned his name. 
There is yet another circumstance which makes our demon- 
_ stration of the law of planetary distances so important. It is 
_ the touchstone of the nebular theory ; for as this ascribes the 
a 
fom thence toward the sun, their falling motion being turned 
- ttide into a transverse one whenever they arrived at their sev- 
 ttalorbits.” Galileo was the first who subjected this “concetto 
_ Platonico” as he calls it toa numerical calculation based upon the 
ie ‘4 falling bodies as discovered by him. He finds an admir- 
- ind distances as they were known at his time.’ Next after him, 
Newton took the matter in hand, and in his third letter to Dr. 
_ Ptley he gives as his result, that it is impossible to account for 
“Me configuration of the system in the manner of Plato and Gal- 
leo This result is based upon his assumption of a vacuum. 
by taking the influence of a resisting medium into account, we 
;_.- Proved that the Platonic idea as embodied in the nebular 
“Wypothesis does lead to the present configuration of the solar 
vorld. We make these remarks to show that the idea we advo- 
. is old and venerable; we hope, at some other time, to give 
Me highly interesting history of the law of planetary distances, 
: rapa the application of the Phyllotaxis, (Pierce, Agassiz,) 
a ke tadius of gyration, (Kirkwood,) the regular polyhedra, 
— Mepler, Plato,) ete. 
. vorld! grand and beautiful is the harmony of the planetary 
; ; at : . . E 
gp oS System of the solar world with all its multiform as- 
a and dependencies fit to support life throughout almost end- 
eh *8—nothing but a collection of matter endowed with its 
bag heey Life of Newton, Ch. 16. : , 
Giomata 7 t!°rno ai due massimi Sistemi del Mondo, Tolemeico e Copernicano. 
ieee? (0 Opere, Firenze, 1842. Vol. i, p. 84-35.) He finds: le grandezze 
comp a »! le velocitd dei moti s’accostano tanto prossimamente a quel che ne dan- 
Ae " > che Cosa maravigliosa. 
wt Jour, Sc1r—gecoxp Sgrres, Vou. XXXIX, No. 117.—May, 1865. 
37 
