New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-12-28

through the nebuar hypothesis for It, In fact only
moved the cause further back The only escape was
that the nebula always turned from west to east and
never had beginning But be would ask the question
Of any metaphyscian If existing through all
eternity-a prnciple-could develop itself in timel
The idea appeared absurd to him that the
cause could be eternal yet produce effects from time to
time Aprimitive first cause appeared to him indis-
penssble-witheut II how could the nebule have been
directed In Its progress He Che lecturer) was not
believer in the nebular hypothesis and when be said
that he did co. entertaining the highest respect for his
brethren Of the profession who held that idea in favor
He would conclude his observations by advancing
some reasonst TO show that the hypothesis not true
IN the first place II was mere hypothesis, and an
hypothesis merely claimed explained, phenomena
but OF which there was no independent evidence
of lite existence. There was independent evidence
of the existence Of gravitston-i. was fact Then
again we often saw two hypothesis advanced
to explain certain phenomena. Suppose you take up
newspaper (ssid Prof Olmsted) and perceive riddle
suggested TO wit "There is an agent capable Of eff.
fectng great variety Of things" You make the hypo-
thesis tina. 1t letter of the alphabet and apply
a." and ii will explain several parts, but not all Of
the proposition; then "B,' and soon down 10 on"
which you think explains the whole thing But 90
down further to "S" and find that ct" explains it
equally well. So in science two hypothesis may ex.
ploin all phenomena yet butsne Of them be true.
The lecturer did not desire to be understood con-
tending that the hypothesis did explain phenomena
(Which was claimed for i) but did it explain all phen.
onenai did not Why had the satellites Of Uranus
a different motion from that Of the rest Of the
plsnets That phenomena (wsnting an ex-
planaon) was directly in the teeth of the nebular by
pothesis and would remain SO, and strong enough
to subvert IT, until this singular movement was ex.
planned Again, If the nebular theory were true, why
should there not be rings existing between the planets
There was space of nearly thousand million Of
miles Intervening between Neptune and Uranus why
not then, rings between them, thrown out from the
nebulous mass by the centrifugal force whenthe entire
mass is undergoing process of Condensation Again
1t was claimed for this theory that the nearer we ap
preached the sun, the greater became the density
matter. But that was not true, for Uranus was
denser than Jupiter the earth than Venus and the sun
was only one half the density Of the earth There were
other objections which might be urged against the nv
pohesis, did time allow For the reasons assigned he
was compelled, notwithstanding the celebrity of the
distinguished author, and others who favored it, 10
withhold his assent from the nebular hypothesis
The lecturer them in some very graceful valsdctory
remarks took his leave Of the audience thanking them
for the attention evincedby his auditory throughout the
course and at the conclusion Of his observations was
very warmly applauded.