202 The American Geologist. -"^J""- ^^^^ 
THE NEBULAR AND PLANETESIMAL THEORIES OF THE 
EARTH'S ORIGIN.* 
By Wauuen UniAM, St. Paul, Minn 
Astronomy and geology, chemistry and physics, with 
their very useful arm or ally, spectroscopy, seek together 
to discover the origin and development of the earth and 
the moon, of the sun and his retinue of planets, and of the 
starry universe : 
"In the beginning how the heavens and earth 
Rose out of chaos." 
While we are assured that they "declare the glory of 
God," and that "all things were made by Him," it has also 
been learned not less surely that He has worked by His 
established physical and chemical laws in the creation of 
suns and worlds. \\c may partially discern the laws, or 
methods of working, through which the Creator has made 
and upholds the myriads of stars and our relatively small 
but yet vast solar system ; but beyond all that we know, 
as, for example, of the laws of gravitation, everywhere lies 
mystery which bafifles our comprehension. How all mat- 
ter is influenced by all other matter and drawn toward it, 
how the earth began and came to its present condition, 
how the crystal or the plant or the animal grows, "great 
things and unsearchable, marvelous things without num- 
ber," proclaim an omnipresent and omnipotent Creator and 
Ruler. 
To learn continually more and more of His thoughts, 
as revealed in His works, is the highest reward of the 
student of nature ; and increased powers of vision, whether 
with the telescope or the microscope, open ever widening 
fields of knowledge and new problems to be solved. In 
every direction the search for truth reaches no limit : and 
in the themes of this paper, although much has been ascer- 
tained, infinitely more remains for inquiry. 
The nebular hypothesis or theory may well be called 
the grandest generalization in all the range of the natural 
sciences. As most elaborately stated by the eminent as- 
tronomer and mathematician, Laplace, in his MctJuinique 
Celeste (published in five volumes, 1799-1825), this theory 
* Presented before the Victoria Institute, London, Ivlarch 20. 1905. 
