i88o.] 
A nalxses of Books. 
395 
The Constitution of the Earth. Being an Interpretation of the 
Laws of God in Nature, by which the Earth and its Organic 
Life have been derived from the Sun by a Progressive Deve- 
lopment. By Robert Ward. London : George Bell and 
Sons. 
We have here an exceedingly interesting work, which, though 
by no means free from errors, places before us bold and startling 
conclusions, and thus prompts its readers to research. The 
author propounds the following four laws : 
i Circumstances govern the creation of things, and therefore 
all things exist by virtue of their circumstances. 
2. As no two things can occupy the same place in the universe, 
therefore no two things can be exadlly alike. 
3. The differences or similitudes between two things must be 
in proportion to the differences or similitudes in the cir- 
cumstances under which they have come into existence, 
or by which they are sustained. 
4. A change in the circumstances of things necessarily in- 
volves a corresponding change in the things themselves. 
By means of these laws, applied to a variety of phenomena, the 
author arrives at conclusions strangely at variance with the 
teachings of our received scientific text-books. He holds that 
the earth and all the planets have been derived from the sun, 
and in like manner the satellites from their primaries. Each 
planet in the course of ages gradually recedes from the sun, in- 
creasing at the same time in size. The rotatory motion of each 
increases in a ratio having a relation to the distance. As the 
planets grow older and become more developed, they become 
more independent of the sun for both light and heat. “ We are 
justified in assuming that magnificent worlds, like Jupiter, are 
the abodes of life of corresponding importance, and that their 
quicker motions in some way compensate for the weaker rays of 
the sun, which they will ultimately dispense with altogether.” 
The southern portion of the globe, which is more immediately 
presented to the sun when the earth is nearest thereto, is in an 
inferior state of development to the northern. The moon has no 
rotatory movement ; it is a child of the earth, created long ages 
after the earth, and its want of air and water are not marks of 
decay, but of a development as yet imperfe(ft. Our world, in- 
stead of being united to the sun, “ is destined to a glorious 
future, in which it will expand in magnitude, increase in created 
splendour, evolve new properties, new laws, new elements, add 
satellite within satellite to its train, and ultimately become the 
centre of a system as magnificent as the sun’s!” When the 
earth was no older than the moon now is, it would be in a simi- 
larly undeveloped condition. 
