The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-11-07

Exposition de Systeme du Monde was
received as authority. The nebular hy-
pothests has been credited to him, and
mas taken another name from. him.
Among scientists the hypothesis is gen
orally. spoken of5as the Laplacian theory.
According to Laplace's theory there
We're five distinctive steps in the deveI-
opment of our system. First, he sup
posed that at some past time, which is
considered sF azstarting point in the sys-
ten history Though not considered as
the begfnni&gzo of existence of the sub
stance of which 1t is composed the
matter now collected in the sun and
planets wasS ih9eXistence in the form of
great nebula-that IS, in the form of
a wonderfully wide spreading cloud This
hebula was cloud of intensely heated
gas, perhaps hotter than the sun Is
now: Laplace supposed that this Hebuia
under the action of it's own grayitation
assumed approxima tely the form Of
globe with "a efotation around an axis.
10 account for this motion Of rotation
he supposed that before the Tina V hich
lie considered as the starting POINT the
different bortions of the nebulae had mo-
tic MS of their, own. Then, unless these
motions happened. to be balanced in the
most imperfect and imp, ohable manner,
motion of rotation would set in of IT.
self as the Gebula con rHcted, just as
water whirls in a basin when '1rawn OH
by hole in the bottom. The velocity OF
this rotation would necome continually
sWifter as the vol,Ilne IF the nebula grew
smaller, the .so-callad moment of mo-
mentum' remaining constant.
FLATTENED AT THE POLES.
AS result Of the rotation of the neh-
ula the mass, instead of keeping its form
as perfect sphere, would become fat
q \,
AS the rotation went on and the motion
became accelerated The time would ccme
when the centrifugal force AT. the e4ua-
tor would become Just equal to the force
or gravity. Then rings Of r9buious mat
ter would be abandoned. Scientists OBJ
Ject to the words thrown OFF, in tbs
connection. The rings OF matter would
not be forced eff, but wound not be kept
with the spherical cloud because the
force of gravity would not be sufficient.
This ring feature of the theory is con-
siGered as one of the most interesting
parts. These rings would resemble the
rings Of Saturn. In fact, this part Of
the theory, and a most essential STEP
was suggested by the rings of Saturn.
The fourth step explains why the ring
of nebulous matter abandoned by the ro-
tating nebula would then do A ring
would revolve for a while as a whole,
but in time would break. Then the ma
terial would conect into a single globe.
According to the superstition of Laplace,
the ring would revolve as If it were d
sold, the outer edge moving at much
more rapid rate than the inner. AS a
consequence he:deciared that the lobe of
matter formed from the collection of the
broken ring would rotate on its axis in
the same direction as NE ring had re-
voived. This would be a planet
IT fifth step explains the action OF
the planet. According to the theory the
planet thus formed would continue to
revolve arOunds the central mass, and
might in turn abandon rings which might
break, and ithus the planet would get a
retinue of satellites.
This theory in its details explains the
many questions which arise about the
way in which, the present condition of the
universe ame%tabout. 1t tells how the
moons and earths and Jupiters and Sat-
urns came to their present state and in
to their relation to the sun 1t gives their
past history and indicates their future,
and gives an explanation for the nebulae,
star-clusters and stars seen in the hea-
VenS.
TWENTY MILLION YEARS.
Taking into consideration the Lapiacia.l
theory, astronomers have asserted that
the suns past history must cover 15.000,-
600 or 20,000.000 years. Then looking for
ward they have prophesied that at the
present rate of contraction and radiation
the sun must within 10,000,000 years be-
come so dense that life on the earth will
become impossible
Even before Laplace formulated his
theory, Herschel hat showed the exist
ence' in the Sky of all''tf1e intermediate
forms between the nebulae and the star
However, upSte the middle of the pres
ent century it was generally believed
that all the nebulae were nothing but
star-clusters too remote to be resolved |
into individual stars by existing tele-
scopes. But the Introduction of the spec
troscope into astronomical research has |
proved Herscels supposition, and demon !
strated that there are substantial diff !
between the gaseous nebulae
and star-clusters. The result is that |
many are disposed to believe that the
rarest even of nebulous matter, instead |
of being purely gaseous, is full of solid
and liquid particles like cloud or smoke,
so that probably the original nebulae was
rather a cloud of dust than a "fre-mist,'
and each particle was enveloped in gas.