Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1868-09-22

lect, had not ventured to essay. To explail
the nebuse hypothesis upon the basis of these
assumptions, let US avail ourselves of familiar
instances for illustration: You have observed
while driving fast along a muddy road, thai
the carriage wheels throw the mud not straight
off, from the carriage to the side of the road,
but forward and nearly In the plane in which
| the wheels turn. If you will watch the larger
| pieces of mud closely you will discover that
they have rotary motion, like the wheel, and
In the same direction. Bearing in mind this
homely Illustration, let us return to the original
| bulous mass. 1t is highly heated and easier
of attraction by being globular in form. Con
slider it to be at rest and the process of cooling
to have commenced, and see what then takes
place. The cooling is from the outside, the
condenslng is consequently ON the outside
wherefore movement commences from the
circumference towards the centre, am because
1t is from the circumference towards the centre
1t Is rotary motion.
1t IS such motion as we see in the whirl-
wind on land and in the whirlpool in the water.
Ihls begetS revolving motion either to the
right or to the left, and in the nebule of the
solar system, 1t was from the light to the left.
thus the nebulous mass was set in motion
AS it continued to cool and contract, the out
er particles continued to flow inward, and as
IN all revolving bodies, the particles at the cir
cuniference travel faster than the particles near
the centre-these In rushing particles carried
their mouentnm from the circumference to the
centre impressed it there, and gradually accel-
Grated the revolving motion to such an extent
hat the centrifugal force at the circumference
became greater than the centripedal, and so a
lump or O ring was thrown of, first one and
then anoi her; for, As the nebulous mass con
tlnued to cool and contract, its velocity of rota
ton continued to increase, and 50, first the
matter for Neptune and his satellites then tor
Uranus, then for Saturn and his rings, was
thrown off all In and near the plane in which
the. great central mass itself vas revolving
These fragments were not thrown off in the
solid state, but as liquid or gaseous matter for
we know that Saturn, Jupiter, Mars and the
earth are all spheroids, and of such shape as
mass of matter only in the fluid condition re-
volvlng about its own axis could assume, and
we know that the Interior OF the earth is still
In fluid state, which is quite consistent with
the idea that the whole Was once fluid
Saturn is still in the sky with his rings to at
test this mode of sloughing off matter; +; nor is |
the sun altogel her without them. These rings
so holds the the0iy-were afterwards broken |
up Into one or more planets with or without |
moons-wlth OF without rings; all of which |
continued to move nearly in the same plane
and to rotate on their axis; they revolve, every
u
the same direction around their primaries
The stream of asteroids between Mars and |
Jupiter now stand out under this grand and |
sublime hypothesis, not as fragments Of bro |
ken planet, but as pieces of severed ring.
The November and August meteors consti- |
tute ring. The Zodiaca light is also ring,
and some Of the most remarkable nebula 10 |
the sky are rings. Striking analogies are af |
torded by some of them in favor of Laplace's |
hypothesis, as the Nebue in Canes Venatici |
with its central agglomeration, its rings and
planetary nebulous mass in the distance.
Then again, in Leo, Lord Ross telescope re-
veals Nehuse that make still more plausible !
the great Frenchman's hypothesis.
In other parts of the sky, aud as If to show
that nebule do grow into stars and suns, that
monster telescope has picked up planetary neb-
ule that are apparently stars in process Of for
nation.
But Saturn presents the most grand and stri- |
king example Of all, though We find in the
heavens nebule Of more fantastic forms and
curious shapes than Saturn with his rings and |
moons.