204 



EXPLANATIONS. 



matter, and the steps of the process by which it acquired 

 its present forms. 



It would nevertheless strengthen the presumption, and, 

 indeed, place it near to ascertained truths, if we were to 

 obtain strong evidence for what has hitherto been called 

 the nebular hypothesis. The evidence for it is sketched 

 in the Vestiges : it is exhibited with greater clearness, and 

 in elegant and impressive language, in Professor Nichol's 

 Views of the Architecture of the Heavens. The position 

 held by this hypothesis in the philosophical world when 

 my book was written, is shown with tolerable distinct- 

 ness in the Edinburgh Review for 1838, where it is spok- 

 en of in the following general terms : " These views of 

 the origin and destiny of the various system of worlds 

 which fill the immensity of space, break upon the mind 

 with all the interest of novelty, and all the brightness of 

 truth. Appealing to our imagination by their grandeur, and 

 to our reason by the severe principles on which they resl^ 

 the mind feels as if a revelation had been vouchsafed to it 

 of the past and future history of the universe." It may also 

 be remarked, that this writer considered the hypothesis a*. 

 " confirming, rather than opposing the Mosaic cosmogo- 

 ny, whether allegorically or literally interpreted." With 

 this testimony to the mathematical expositions of MM. 

 La Place and Comte, I rest content, as the expositions 

 themselves would be unsuitable in a popular treatise. 

 But the hypothesis has been favorably entertained in 

 many authoritative quarters during the last few years, 

 and probably would have continued to be so, if no attempt 

 had been made to enforce by it a system of nature on the 

 principle of universal order. 



The chief objection taken to the theory is, that the ex- 

 istence of nebulous matter in the heavens is disproved by 

 the discoveries made by the Earl of Rosse's telescope. 

 By this wondrous tube, we are told, it is shown to be " an 

 unwarrantable assumption that there are in the heavenly 

 spaces any masses of matter different from solid bodies 

 composing planetary systems."* The nebulae, in short, 

 are said to be now shown as clusters of stars, rendered 

 apparently nebulous only by the vast distance at which 

 they are placed. There is often seen a greater vehemence 

 and rashness in objecting to than in presenting hypothe- 

 ses, and we appear to have here an instance of such hasty 

 * North British Review, in., 477 



