[ 29 ] 



III. On the Nebular Hypothesis. — III. Our Binary Star and 

 its attendants. By Pliny Earle Chase, Professor of Phi- 

 losophy in Haverford College. 



[Continued from vol. i. p. 510.] 



IN studying the special evidences of nebular action Ave find 

 various significant relations, based on the following car- 

 dinal planetary positions, for which Stockwell's * values are 

 taken : — 



Secular 



Mean 



Mean. 



Mean 



Secular 



Secular 



perihelion. 



perihelion. 



aphelion. 



aphelion. 



range. 



£ -29743 



•31873 



•38710 



•45546 



'47667 



17934 



2 -67224 



•69779 



•72333 



•74888 



•77442 



•10218 



© -93226 



■96613 



100000 



1-03387 



106774 



13547 



6 1-31105 



1-40322 



1-52369 



1-64416 



1-73633 



•42528 



11 4-88632 



4-97824 



5-20280 



5-42735 



5-51927 



•63295 



h 8-73445 



907764 



9-53885 



1000006 



10-34325 



1-60880 



6 1768803 



18-32298 



1918358 



20-04418 



20-67913 



2 99111 



"^ 29-59817 



2973221 



3003386 



30-33551 



30-46955 



•87138 



1. The minimum eccentricities of the principal planets, as 

 found by Stockwell, are : — Neptune, '00557 ; Uranus, -01176 ; 

 Saturn, -01237 ; Jupiter, '0255 ; Earth and Venus, each, 0. 

 The ratios, counting towards Sun, are, therefore, ty :§ = 

 1 : 2*11 ; h ' %■ = 1 ' 2*07. The closeness of these approxi- 

 mations to the fraction -J- suggests their probable dependence 

 on a fall through a half-radius, which would give the particles 

 of a nebulous ring the velocity of separation. 



2. The secular ranges of the planets preserve many sugges- 

 tive features. Jupiter's (*63295) corresponds with Earth's 

 orbital radius of spherical gyration ('63245) ; Saturn's (1*6088) 

 with the nucleal tendency of Earth's kinetic radius (1*4232^ 

 = 1-6009) ; Uranus's (2-99111) with the asteroidal belt, and 

 with a linear pendulum of which Earth occupies an oscillatory 

 centre ; the range-sum of Neptune and Earth (1-00685) with 

 Earth's mean vector radius, of Venus and Mars (-60462) 

 with the kinetic atmosphere (-60087) ; the sum-ratio of Earth 

 and Venus ('23765) with the ratio of Mercury's greatest 

 eccentricity ('23172). 



3. Stockwell's estimates for the maximum secular eccen- 

 tricity, Bessel's for the masses of Jupiter and Saturn, and 

 Newcomb's for those of Uranus and Neptune, give the follow- 

 ing values for the positions of centres of gravity, at secular 

 perihelion, mean, and secular aphelion, the unit being Sun's 

 radius : 



* Smithsonian Contributions, 232, pp. 37, 38. 



