474 
ON A RECENT ELECTRICAL THEORY. 
tation, but b^f a train of physical events — a 
succession of phenomena in ihe animate and 
inanimate worlds — signs which convey to 
our minils more definite ideas, than figures 
can do, of the immensity of time,’’* 
By the discoveries of a new science, 
(the very name of which has been but a few 
years ingrafted on our language,) we learn 
that the manifestations of God’s power on 
earth have not been limited to ihe few thou- 
sand years of man’s existence. The geo- 
logist tells us, by the clearest interpretation 
of the phenomena which his labours have 
brought to light, that our globe has been 
subject to vast physical revolutions. He 
counts his time, not by celestial cycles, but 
by an index which he has found in the solid 
framework of the globe itself He sees a 
long succession of monuments, each of which 
may have required a thousand ages for its 
elaboration. He arranges them in chrono- 
logical order, observes on them the marks of 
skill and wisdom, and finds within them the 
tombs of ihe ancient inhabitants of the earth. 
He finds strange and unlooked-for 
changes in the forms and fashions of organic 
life during each of the long periods he thus 
contemplates. He traces these ehanges 
backwards through each successive era, till 
he reaches a time when the monuments lose 
all symmetry, and the types of oiganic life 
are no longer seen. He has then entered on 
the dark age of nature’s history; and he 
closes the old chapter of her records. This 
account has so much of what is exactly true, 
that it hardly deserves the name of figurative 
description. ”t 
(To be continued.) 
ELECTRICAL THEORY OF THE UNI- 
VERSE. 
By Mr Thomas S. Mackintosh. 
{^Continued from page 359.) 
In the concluding part of our last paper 
we remarked, that in treating of the moon’s 
appi’oximation we should be enabled to draw 
our arguments and inferences from two 
sources, astronomy and geology. Let us 
examine, in the first place, what support our 
theory derives from astronomy. We have 
laid it down, that if two or more comets settle 
into the planetary state about the same 
period, the larger attracts the smaller to its 
sphere, and these become its secondaries. 
Now, a slight glance at the planetarium, or a 
scheme of the planets , will at once convince 
us of the extreme probability of this assump- 
tion. Here we see the planets and satellites 
in the following order and_ proportion ; the 
number of moons are found in regular grada- 
tion, corresponding with the age of each 
planet, with only one exception, but even 
this disappears when viewed in connexion 
with the other parts of our theory ; this ex- 
ception is Mars, and the asteroids or minor 
* LyelL’s Principles of Geology, vol. i, pp, 
106, i07. 
+ Discourse on the Studies of the University, 
by Adam Sedgwick, M. A F. R. S., Wood- 
wardian Professor, and Fellow of Trinity 
College, Cambridge, 1834, pp. 25, 26 
planets. Mars has no satellite : and the 
asteroids, which are no larger than satel 
lites, and appear, from their situation, as if 
they ought to have been attached to Mars, 
revolve in orbits round the sun like the 
primary planets. According to our hypotliesis, 
this exception to the general rule admits of 
an easy explication. From the relative situa- 
tions of Mars and the asteroids, the former 
appears to have settled at a period too remote 
to admit of the latter coming within the 
sphere of his attraction ; nor are they, from 
their equal magnitudes, capable of attracting 
each other. If we allow this explication, the 
whole series will stand as follows, taking 
Mars and the asteroids as a planet and his 
satellites : — 
rnmaiies. ni^ijiure irom No. of 
Sun III Milf!-. JJooiis. 
Mercury 36 000,000 0 
Venus 68,000,000 0 
Earth 95,000 000 1 
Mars 144 000.000 asteroids.... 4 
Jupiter .... 494 000 000 4 
Saturn .... 906,000,000 7 
Uranus.. . . 1822,000,000 6 
Had the minor planets been attached as 
satellites to Mars, it is probable, judging by 
his distance from the sun as compared with 
the earth and Jupiter, we should not at this 
time have found more than two remaining. 
We should also remark, that it is by no 
means improbable that Mars was attendedby 
one or two satellites during the early stage of 
his planetary existence. It is further to be 
remarked, that Uranus, the most distant, 
and, according to our theory, the most recent 
of all the known planets, is represented as 
having only six satellites to accompany her, 
being one less than Saturn. But this number 
only represents the satellites of Uranus that 
have been discovered hitherto. Astronomers 
are agreed, that, with more powerful instru- 
ments, it is extremely probable that several 
more might be discovered. Upon the whole, 
we are satisfied, if this, table be considered 
attentively, in conjunction with the fore- 
going hypothesis, that the truth, or extreme 
probability of our theory, is a conclusion that 
must press itself very closely upon the mind. 
In the older astronomical works we find 
the moon’s mean distance from the earth set 
down at 240 000 miles ; whilst in the more 
recent worts it is valued at 235,000. It is said 
that this difference has arisen from the imper- 
fect means of observation possessed by the 
early astronomers ; and that the moderns, 
with rnoie correct instruments and improved 
modes of observation, have been enabled to 
calculate the meandistancewith more accura- 
cy, and that, therefore, the modern calculation 
is a much nearer approximation to the truth. 
To a certain extent this may be the case ; 
but when we consider that Thales, the philo- 
sopher, was enabled to calculate and foretell 
an eclipse 600 years before Christ, it would 
appear that the ancients had a more extended 
knowledge of astronomical science than is 
generally conceded them by the moderns. It 
is inconceivable that the early a.stronomers, 
excelling as they did in mathematical know- 
ledge, should, in computing the moon’s mean 
distance, have committed an error amounting 
