Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-10-09
pothesjs derives the primuna mobile or the
power which first gave the planets the mo.
ton in their orbits.

pothesjs derives the primum mobile or the
power which first gave the planets the mo-
tion in their orbits.
Such, in brief, are the ASSUMPTIONS of
Laplace, and, being granted, the rest is
philosophical de luction. Newton's laws
took no notice Of the great first cause that
sent the planets wheeling round the sun in
their peculiar orbits, and sent them all re-
v@ivlng and rotating in the same direction
on their axes nor did his laws attempt to
account for the satellites and rings which
attend some OF the planets.
In going beyond gravity and graphing
with first causes and p7'imuna mobile, the
Frenchman stalked forth into dark regions
and travelled proudly upon grounds which
the Englishman, as great and as gigantic
as was his intellect, had not ventured to
essay. To explain the nebulfe hypothesis
upon the basis of these assumptions, let us
avail ourselves of familiar instances for IL
lustration. You have observed, while
driving fast along a muddy road, that the
carriage wheels threw tho mud, not straight
off from the carriage to the side of the
road, but forward and nearly in the place
in which the wheels turn. If you will
watch the larger pieces of mud closely you
will discover that they have rotary mo-
ton, like the wheel, and in the same di-
rection. Bearing in mind this homely IL
| 1ustratlon, let us return to the original ne
bulous mass. It is highly heated and
easier of attraction by being globular in
| form. Consider it to be at rest and the
process Of cooling to have commenced, and
see when it takes place. The cooling is
from the outside, the condensing is conse-
quently on the outside-wherefore move
ment commences from the circumference
towards the centre and because it is from
the circumference towards the centre. it is
q rotary motion.
It is such motion as we see in the whirI-
wind on land and in the whirlpool in the
water. This begets revolving motion
either to the right OR to the left, and in
the nebul8 of the solar system, it was from
the right to the left. Thus the nebulous
mass was set in motion.
AS it continued to cool and contract, the
outer particles continued to flow inward,
and, as in all revolving bodies, the par
ticles at the circumference travel faster
than the particles near the centre-these
in-rushing particles carried their momen-
tum from the circumference to the centre,
impressed it there, and gradually acceler-
ated the revolving motion to such an ex-
tent that the centrifugal force at the cir
cumference became greater than the CEN
tripedal, and SO lump or a ring was
thrown off, first one and then another !;
for, as the nebulous mass continued to cool
and contract, it's velocity of rotation con-
tinued to increase, and SO, first the matter
for Neptune and his satellites then for
Uranus, then for Saturn and his rings, was
thrown off all in and near the plane in
which the great central mass itself was re-
volving.
These fragments were not thrown off in
the solid state, but rs 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 revolving about it's 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 attest this mode of sloughing of matter !;
nor is the sun altogether without them.--
These rings-so holds the theory-were
afterwards broken up into one or more
planets with Or without moons-with or
without rings all of which continued to
move nearly in the same plane, and to ro-
tate on their axis they revolve, every one
with the exception already mentioned, in
the same direction around their prima-
ries.
The stream of the asteroids between
Mars and Jupiter now stand out under this
grand and sublime hypothesis, not as frag-
ments of a broken planet. but as pieces of
a severed ring.
November and August meteors constitute
ring. The zodiacal light is also ring,
and some of the most remarkable nebule
in the sky are rings. Striking analogies
are afforded by some of them in favor of
Laplace's hypothesis, as the nebul@ in
Canes Venatici with it's central agglomera-
tion, its rings and planetary nebulous mass
in the distance.
Then again, in Leo, Lord Ross telescope
reveals nebul@ that make still more plausi-
BILE the great Frenchman's hypothesis.
In other parts of the sky, and as if to
show that nebule do grow into stars
and suns, that monster telescope has picked
up planetary nebul@ that are apparently
stars in the process of formation.
But Saturn presents the most grand and
striking example of all, though we find in
the heavens nebulfe of more fantastic forms
and curious shapes than Saturn with his
rings and moons.
THE PUBLIC DEBT INCREASING.