New-York tribune., 1873-04-15
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
GEOLOGY oE TIE STARS.
THE GEOLOGY OF THE STARS. BY Prof,


the doctrine Of evolution TO the exposition of the
planetary world in its most comprehensive bearings
According to his luminous statements, the whole
family of planets has had common experience
Every object in the visible universe belongs to one
system of matter The respective bodies of which
il Is composed are each in particular stage of
an evolution that is more characteristic of the
earth than of Mars cr Sirius the itself the
pale nebula on the verge of the universe. The
methods Of geology therefore apply to all the celes
tial bodies. The science of the earth becomes the
geology Of the stars.
Every system Of effects attains its completion
through an evolution. This. argues Professor Win
che is a universal fact in the terms of science
natural law No complex result is brought about
through single instantaneous causation The plant
ErOws; the animal grows; continents undergo
mechanical Development even the planets nave
history which can be traced with minutenesS ana
certainty.
Our knowledge of phenomena which are not the
subject Of immediate observation, depends on TWO
specific laws of uaturc The first Us the law OF eyO-
luton This is the law of organized history III inc
individual II is illustrated in the changing phases
Of every progressive system of results, as organic
structure. human civilization. or the formation OF
vVo,lds The second is the law of parallel history
in many individuals II is illustrated in the stimuli
tneous changes which take place in different stages
of maturity as the degree of development attained
by an individual on any day of his life, is exhibited
at the same time in the different persons of large
city
BY virtue of these two laws each individual finds
al the same moment his entire past and future in
the present of other individuals belonging to the
same category. The man of mature years can study
IN one direction the stages which he has passed
through from his earliest infancy. In the other
H. Nvl,io fhp
course Of nature. he will pass through TO the re-
metest old age. In like manner we follow the
oak in the forest through the entire history Of It's
life from the acorn in the soil TO the veteran of three
hundred years An ephemerOn intelligence could
thus write the history of tree that destined TO
endure for a millennium. The same law holds IN
the history Of planet. Man is ephemeron COM
pared with the lifetime of a world. But while he
endures he notes thousands Of worlds in all the diff
ferent stages of their existence. Arranging series
of examples on continuous thread he has history
Of evolutiOns which run through million OF years
Our earth has reached certain stage of develop
rnent At the present epoch it is in the stage OF
being a habitable world. A history is in progress
and the mind demands the past of this history.
Now, observing the law of parallel history we find
in the phenomena of beach erosion and detrial
accumulation series of geologic changes which
occurred thousands of years before the exist
ence of our race This the domain of pure geology
But nothing the actual phases of the earth can re-
veal the history of events by which it arrived at the
present condition. Geology can perpetuate the his
tory of the planet only by the fixed forms of endur-
ing rocks. We learn that earth is but one of a
series of planets which have had a common history.
Before they were planets they belonged to an order
ofexstence of which the is the type and the REM
nant In some remoter period of the past eternity it
is probable that all the belonged to an order of
existence, of which the examples are now found IN
irresolvable nebule-
If we now glance at the data of this comparative
science OF the growth of worlds, we discover that
the first group which unites the earth, the planets
and the satellites in single order of existence is
their revolution about the They all revOlve in
one direction, from west to east They ali move APP
Iuoximatyely il plane the ecptic. Their orbits
are all ellipses They all have Of their fOci at
common point occupied by the SUM- They all revolve
with accelerated velocity they approach the sun,
and with retarded velocity as they recede. Hence
the hne which connects each planet with that body
passes equal areas i'll equal times. Their periods
of revolution increase with their distances from the
sun and this relation is so exact that it can be meas
nred with mathematical precision. Eight major
planets and one hundred and twentyfOur asteroids,
OF minor planets tthe number stated by the author
having been increased by the discovery Of three new
asteroids at the Clinton Observatory IN July and
August 1872 all conform TO these conditions, attest
ing the presence of common actuating power
throughout the limits of the system. In the next
place so far as we have been able ascertain every
BODY belonging to our system, not excepting the
itself has rotation upon its axis, and from west 10
east Finally. each body has spheroidal form
Now this community Of conditions, this unanimous
obedience to code Of physical laws implies that
all these bodies are urged onward through com
mon history, and have probably had their starting
point in one common state of matter. These indi-
cations early attracted the attention Of astronomers
The elder Herschel reduced bis conjectures to a
definite FORM and announced the theory that the
primitive matter of the world was TO be found in
the irresolvable nebule. Lzplace, then fresh from
his demonstrations of the harmony of the universe,
adopted the suggestion Gf it not also original in
his own mind and gave it further elaboration. Ac-
eording TO the conception of Herschel and Laplaoe,
the primitive matter of the system existed at such
temperature as 60 be III the condition of vapor of
great tennity il stretched across wider limit
than the orbit Of the Temotest planet. The cooling
and contraction of this yapOr produced "a rotation
which was accelerated to such an extent that pc
Tpheral ring was detached and became planet
Other rings were detached by the process. and
became planets III their turn. 10 like manner tho
planetary masses detached rings winch became their
satellites The uniform characters of the solar sys
tenn according 70 this theory. are thus due to the
original impulse which started the grand rotation.
Like the doctrine of universal gTaytation hun-
,red wears before this account of planetary genesis
was at first set forth only All hypothesis. But
like that il has since gained acceptance because 1t
secords with all the phenomena, and is rapidly TAX
ing an unchailcnged place among established doc
trines Many late discoveries afford unexpected