An Expository Outline of the Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation | Page 6

a
diffused mass of nebulous matter, extending through the space which it
still occupies. So also, of course, must have been the other astral
systems. Indeed, we must presume the whole to have been originally in
one connected mass, the astral systems being only the first division into
parts, and solar systems the second.
"The first idea which all this impresses upon us is, that the formation of
bodies in space is still and at present in progress. We live at a time
when many have been formed, and many are still forming. Our own
solar system is to be regarded as completed, supposing its perfection to
consist in the formation of a series of planets, for there are
mathematical reasons for concluding that Mercury is the nearest planet
to the sun, which can, according to the laws of the system, exist. But
there are other solar systems within our astral systems, which are as yet
in a less advanced state, and even some quantities of nebulous matter
which have scarcely begun to advance towards the stellar form. On the
other hand, there are vast numbers of stars which have all the
appearance of being fully formed systems, if we are to judge from the
complete and definite appearance which they present to our vision
through the telescope. We have no means of judging of the seniority of
systems; but it is reasonable to suppose that among the many, some are
older than ours. There is, indeed, one piece of evidence for the
probability of the comparative youth of our system, altogether apart
from human traditions and the geognostic appearances of the surface of
our planet. This consists in a thin nebulous matter, which is diffused
around the sun to nearly the orbit of Mercury, of a very oblately
spheroidal shape. This matter, which sometimes appears to our naked
eyes, at sunset, in the form of a cone projecting upwards in the line of
the sun's path, and which bears the name of the Zodiacal Light, has
been thought a residuum or last remnant of the concentrating matter of
our system, and thus may be supposed to indicate the comparative
recentness of the principal events of our cosmogony. Supposing the
surmise and inference to be correct, and they may be held as so far
supported by more familiar evidence, we might with the more

confidence speak of our system as not amongst the elder born of
Heaven, but one whose various phenomena, physical and moral, as yet
lay undeveloped, while myriads of others were fully fashioned, and in
complete arrangement. Thus, in the sublime chronology to which we
are directing our inquiries, we first find ourselves called upon to
consider the globe which we inhabit as a child of the sun, elder than
Venus and her younger brother Mercury, but posterior in date of birth
to Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus; next to regard our whole system
as probably of recent formation in comparison with many of the stars of
our firmament. We must, however, be on our guard against supposing
the earth as a recent globe in our ordinary conceptions of time. From
evidence afterwards to be adduced, it will be seen that it cannot be
presumed to be less than many hundreds of centuries old. How much
older Uranus may be, no one can tell, far less how much more aged
may be many of the stars of our firmament, or the stars of other
firmaments, than ours."
All this is ingenious and fluently expressed. The author has an easy
way of surmounting his difficulties by the use of such little auxiliary
phrases, as "of course," "it may be surmised," "it is reasonable to
suppose," and so on; which, though trifling in themselves, help him in
their connecting inferences through many embarrassing perplexities.
But his hypothesis is yet unproved; his fire-mist is only a conjecture;
his nuclei, scattered like so many eggs in space out of which future
suns and worlds are in process of incubation, is of the same description,
and rotation, the first step in his process of creation, would not ensue
under the conditions he has assigned. Without dwelling on these
shortcomings, we shall terminate this portion of the author's inquiry
with a few general strictures. First, on its inconsistency with what we
know of the solar system; and, secondly, on its inadequacy to explain
the facts of which we are cognizant on our own globe.
In the first place, for the hypothesis to be applicable to our system, it is
requisite that the primary and secondary bodies should revolve, both in
their orbits and round their axes, in one direction, and nearly in one
plane. Most of the bodies of the system observe these laws, their orbits
are nearly circular, nearly in the plane of