Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-06-23
body, to De the future primary and future
"a Il ~ na&ollitna

ring might GHL COele9Ce lnJO as}n-
gle satellite. In one case, suggested
Lsplace, We should have such result as
we see in the ring Ct asteroids; in the
other he might have suggested, We should
have such result az we see in the Sa-
furnish ring system. But he did not
sugges. this fer the simple reason that, in
the ignorance CT physical laws which he
shared With his contemporaries, he sup
posed the rings Of Saturn might be con-
tinuous bodies ard had indeed already
based profound mathematical investige-
ton on that misleading and impossible
supposiIion.
The nebu!ous speculation OF Lsplsce is
open to two most serious objections. Ia
| tee first place, ss have already pointed
out,
| vAPoRoUs DISC
Of enormous size and OF Ihe exceeding
t3auity imagined could not possibly
:9r2.e IS single mass in
the manner suggested By Llplsc2.
In the second place, some Of the NEST
characteristic peculisrit'es Of She sclar
syslam Tsmsin altogether unSccounted
FIR by this speculation, irgeniOuslV
though it accounts for others.
To give en- idea Of the fatal strength of
| Tie ulSL VI -CGlOuy 1Cl ~ ~ -iC-SN lLCsO II
there were 6 disc OF solit steal, having
! the gun ST it's center and the orbit CT lhe
earth IS its circumference, tina cohesion
! by which tae outskirts OF that disc would
! be, as it were, bound mp with tia cen
trai par's would BE- very slight, and
would act most inetii:iently to mike the.
bounding portions respond to any move
meGts ECtuatlng the central portions.
! AboU: 800 days would eiapse before
the effects of such movements 3.
the center would be Communi-
Gated to the circumference. 1t will
| De understood then, how SLIGHT, how
| lp-acticallY) evanescent would DE the
cCnnec ion between The central and the
circumierentisl portions OF Z vaporous
disc Of this size, supposing the vspor no
! denser-tor eXample-tnJn our sir. Blu.
the primordial conditions OF the solar
system as imagined by Laplkce, supposed
vigorous disc to extend to the orbit Of
Uranus, some twenty times as FAR from
the sun as the earth's orbit. In our
time, of course, we should have
TO Expand the imsgiued disc
to the orbit of Neptune, and tie
vapor, instead of being as ueDse as our
sir. must be assumed to have less tnSn
| the mi iiopth part OF the density OF hydro
GA as we know that tenuous gas at the
sei level. There would practically be no
| cohesion at all in q nebUlous mass OF
such immense volume and extreme
rarity.
Let it be remembered that the whole
series Of processes imagined by La plsc9
depend on the existence OF continuity Of
substance and on the
/ TRANSMISSION OF ALL PRESSURES
and changes Of pressure throughout that
continuous disc. The disc would not
break into separate rings unless there
were cohesion operating throughout the
whole of each forming disc to separate il
from the neighboring zones on either side.
The breaking up OF each ring into dis
crete masses implies the existence OF CO.
heslon Throughout each ring in degree
requiring marked changes of pressure
for its conquest by contractive action.
And the way in which Laplace supposed
the difference in rates Of revolution OF psrt
of 8 gaseous ring transformed into rots
tional movement in the plsnet formed by
Inc eVentusl Coalescence of those parts,
implies cohesion originally Throughout;
the entire substance of each ring.
AS regards the second objection de-
pending on the Inconsistency OF the &C
tuaI features OF the solar system, with
the action II the processes imagined
this posteriori objection is almost ef
overwhelming as the priori objection de
pending on the possibility OF The occur
renee Of those processes.
What can be more remarkable, or at .
first view, inexplicsble, than the arrange
nent Of the masses composing the solar
system And on the other hand, Whist
can be clearer than that such processes
as Lsplace Unsigned would lead 70 6
symmetrical srralg 3ment OF the masses
OF the plsuets.
! find that few readers of books on IS
} tronomy have clear or defrite ideas Ell
Their about the proportions CT the pAthI
OF the p'sne's or about the errsngemel
Of the planetary masses. For instence
. few appreciate the fact that the distance
@! the psth OF Saturn from that Of hi!
! next neighb0r On one side, Jupiter, f.
bali as great IS the entire span of the or.
! bit Of Mars, within which are included
the orbits D: the Earth, Venus and M5f
, curry; while the distance separating tht
orbit OF Saturn from that OF his mex
neighbor OF the other side, Uranus, Il
equal TO
THRICE THE SPAN
| Oh INC VI lL VI kSL kLSsC siC6llI
: differing distances separating the orbit
of the planets from their neighbors arr
, represented in many books OF estronom'
= Ga ii they we're neerly equal. believe
e was the first to point out that no salts
] fEc:ory representation Of the orbits of TIL
p snets can possibly be made In single
: chart; we must hsve two charts at least
: one (ss in my article On astronomy n The
: Encyclopedia Bri,tsnics) representing tht
: Orbits Of the four ere srial planets, Mer
{ curry, Venus, the Earth, and Mars, liz
= other representing on one-twentieth th'
scale, the orbits of the giant planets.
: These great varieties Of distsnce are b!
? no means inconsistent with certain
! symmetry of proportions, which of itsel
would correspond well with Lsplace'
hypothesis-but equally well with an.
theory OF uniform process of. develop
: ment by which the solar system reached
: its present condition. Not only is thu
! system most symmetrical in it's proper
e tions when regarded as whole, put it i!
e noteworthy thst precisely as in tret
? (Which we snow TO be the product O