Theories of Creation and the Universe [pp. 177-194]

THEORIES OF CREATION AND THlE UNIVERSE.
acting upon them), we will present the only exception to the uniformity of their movements from west to east, found in the motion of the
satellites of Uranus, which move in a retrograde course-from east to
w,;est: contradicting the idea of regularity in this particular. This
retrograde motion of the satellites of j Uranus, our author attempts to
explain by hinting at tne possible "bouleverseiment" of the whole
of that planet's system, which in our opinion weakenis his whole argument, as it admits an exception to the operation of laws, the regularity and universality of which he is strugglillg to sustain.
I-However firmly established that 1"well-known law of physics,"
which produces rotary motion, may be, it is somewvhat doubtful
whether our author is entitled to claim its influence in this theory.
Admitting that the contraction of the nebulous mass, by radiation
of heat and the attractive power of the nucleus, might pro(lduce a
rushing in of the outwvard particles, sufficient to give rotary imotioln
to the body, if the force of the particles fell upon its centre so
obliquely as not to neutralize the power of eachl other; yet we doubt
the possibility of the existence of the condition upon wvhiclh this
motion depends.'I'he motion of the planets is explained by the
whirlpools or dimples found by "the musing poet" in fantastic
eddies, where the current is forced out of its direction by some opposing power, which turns it back in a semi-circular course, bringing it
in contact with the current above, and this, carrying it (lown again to
tLe point of resistance, gives it a circular motion. We see this illustrated in the bends or curves of rivers, when the current rushes
against the bank, and at the meeting of streams flowing together
from oblique directions. But these phenomena are not fair illustrations of the motion of nebulous bodies. The first nebula must have
been a globe, the dimensions of which, according to the theory, were
contracted by radiation, and under the influence of this contraction,
the atoms were drawn to the centre. Now, as the radiation acted
equally upon all the agglomerating particles in the same circle, the
momentum of each must have been the same; their forces, then,
were neutralized by each other; therefore, their flowing together
produced no cause for rotary motion. Whirlpools are caused by
currents running to different points-the agglomerating particles are
a1l drawn to a single nucleus. The dlifferent currents are une(qual in
f:orce and velocity-the motion of the atoms is produced by the same
influences, and their forces are necessarily equal. But suppose the
external particles were thrown off by centrifugal force (resulting
from rotary motion), in the form of a ring around the primary, and
atfterward broken up; we would ask our author to explain the process by which they are attracted to the particular nucleus. These
fragments are scattered in an orbit too inconceivably vast for lhunan
computation, and around a globe (the primary) millions of times
larger than the nucleus which is to attract the widely-scattere(l particles together. "It is a wvell-known law it physics," that there is a
mutual attraction between all bodies in the proportion of their mass.
"It is this that causes all the disturbances wvhichl rend(er the celestial
motions so complicated and their investigation so (lifficult." Now,
by what means the attractive power of the great central mass was
overcome by that of the mere point, is left wholly unexplained. We
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