Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation
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Robert Chambers >> Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation
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18 Transcribed by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk, from the
1844 John Churchill edition.
VESTIGES OF THE NATURAL HISTORY OF CREATION
THE BODIES OF SPACE, THEIR ARRANGEMENTS AND FORMATION.
It is familiar knowledge that the earth which we inhabit is a globe
of somewhat less than 8000 miles in diameter, being one of a series
of eleven which revolve at different distances around the sun, and
some of which have satellites in like manner revolving around them.
The sun, planets, and satellites, with the less intelligible orbs
termed comets, are comprehensively called the solar system, and if we
take as the uttermost bounds of this system the orbit of Uranus
(though the comets actually have a wider range), we shall find that
it occupies a portion of space not less than three thousand six
hundred millions of miles in extent. The mind fails to form an exact
notion of a portion of space so immense; but some faint idea of it
may be obtained from the fact, that, if the swiftest race-horse ever
known had begun to traverse it, at full speed, at the time of the
birth of Moses, he would only as yet have accomplished half his
journey.
It has long been concluded amongst astronomers, that the stars,
though they only appear to our eyes as brilliant points, are all to
be considered as suns, representing so many solar systems, each
bearing a general resemblance to our own. The stars have a
brilliancy and apparent magnitude which we may safely presume to be
in proportion to their actual size and the distance at which they are
placed from us. Attempts have been made to ascertain the distance of
some of the stars by calculations founded on parallax, it being
previously understood that, if a parallax of so much as one second,
or the 3600th of a degree, could be ascertained in any one instance,
the distance might be assumed in that instance as not less than
19,200 millions of miles! In the case of the most brilliant star,
Sirius, even this minute parallax could not be found; from which of
course it was to be inferred that the distance of that star is
something beyond the vast distance which has been stated. In some
others, on which the experiment has been tried, no sensible parallax
could be detected; from which the same inference was to be made in
their case. But a sensible parallax of about one second has been
ascertained in the case of the double star, alpha alpha, of the
constellation of the Centaur, {3} and one of the third of that amount
for the double star, 61 Cygni; which gave reason to presume that the
distance of the former might be about twenty thousand millions of
miles, and the latter of much greater amount. If we suppose that
similar intervals exist between all the stars, we shall readily see
that the space occupied by even the comparatively small number
visible to the naked eye, must be vast beyond all powers of
conception.
The number visible to the eye is about three thousand; but when a
telescope of small power is directed to the heavens, a great number
more come into view, and the number is ever increased in proportion
to the increased power of the instrument. In one place, where they
are more thickly sown than elsewhere, Sir William Herschel reckoned
that fifty thousand passed over a field of view two degrees in
breadth in a single hour. It was first surmised by the ancient
philosopher, Democritus, that the faintly white zone which spans the
sky under the name of the Milky Way, might be only a dense collection
of stars too remote to be distinguished. This conjecture has been
verified by the instruments of modern astronomers, and some
speculations of a most remarkable kind have been formed in connexion
with it. By the joint labours of the two Herschels, the sky has been
"gauged" in all directions by the telescope, so as to ascertain the
conditions of different parts with respect to the frequency of the
stars. The result has been a conviction that, as the planets are
parts of solar systems, so are solar systems parts of what may be
called astral systems--that is, systems composed of a multitude of
stars, bearing a certain relation to each other. The astral system
to which we belong, is conceived to be of an oblong, flattish form,
with a space wholly or comparatively vacant in the centre, while the
extremity in one direction parts into two. The stars are most
thickly sown in the outer parts of this vast ring, and these
constitute the Milky Way. Our sun is believed to be placed in the
southern portion of the ring, near its inner edge, so that we are
presented with many more stars, and see the Milky Way much more
clearly, in that direction, than towards the north, in which line our
eye has to traverse the vacant central space. Nor is this all. Sir
William Herschel, so early as 1783, detected a motion in our solar
system with respect to the stars, and announced that it was tending
towards the star ?, in the constellation Hercules. This has been
generally verified by recent and more exact calculations, {5} which
fix on a point in Hercules, near the star 143 of the 17th hour,
according to Piozzi's catalogue, as that towards which our sun is
proceeding. It is, therefore, receding from the inner edge of the
ring. Motions of this kind, through such vast regions of space, must
be long in producing any change sensible to the inhabitants of our
planet, and it is not easy to grasp their general character; but
grounds have nevertheless been found for supposing that not only our
sun, but the other suns of the system pursue a wavy course round the
ring FROM WEST TO EAST, crossing and recrossing the middle of the
annular circle. "Some stars will depart more, others less, from
either side of the circumference of equilibrium, according to the
places in which they are situated, and according to the direction and
the velocity with which they are put in motion. Our sun is probably
one of those which depart furthest from it, and descend furthest into
the empty space within the ring." {6} According to this view, a time
may come when we shall be much more in the thick of the stars of our
astral system than we are now, and have of course much more brilliant
nocturnal skies; but it may be countless ages before the eyes which
are to see this added resplendence shall exist.
The evidence of the existence of other astral systems besides our own
is much more decided than might be expected, when we consider that
the nearest of them must needs be placed at a mighty interval beyond
our own. The elder Herschel, directing his wonderful tube towards
the SIDES of our system, where stars are planted most rarely, and
raising the powers of the instrument to the required pitch, was
enabled with awe-struck mind to see suspended in the vast empyrean
astral systems, or, as he called them, firmaments, resembling our
own. Like light cloudlets to a certain power of the telescope, they
resolved themselves, under a greater power, into stars, though these
generally seemed no larger than the finest particles of diamond dust.
The general forms of these systems are various; but one at least has
been detected as bearing a striking resemblance to the supposed form
of our own. The distances are also various, as proved by the
different degrees of telescopic power necessary to bring them into
view. The farthest observed by the astronomer were estimated by him
as thirty-five thousand times more remote than Sirius, supposing its
distance to be about twenty thousand millions of miles. It would
thus appear, that not only does gravitation keep our earth in its
place in the solar system, and the solar system in its place in our
astral system, but it also may be presumed to have the mightier duty
of preserving a local arrangement between that astral system and an
immensity of others, through which the imagination is left to wander
on and on without limit or stay, save that which is given by its
inability to grasp the unbounded.
The two Herschels have in succession made some other most remarkable
observations on the regions of space. They have found within the
limits of our astral system, and generally in its outer fields, a
great number of objects which, from their foggy appearance, are
called nebulae; some of vast extent and irregular figure, as that in
the sword of Orion, which is visible to the naked eye; others of
shape more defined; others, again, in which small bright nuclei
appear here and there over the surface. Between this last form and
another class of objects, which appear as clusters of nuclei with
nebulous matter around each nucleus, there is but a step in what
appears a chain of related things. Then, again, our astral space
shews what are called nebulous stars,--namely, luminous spherical
objects, bright in the centre and dull towards the extremities.
These appear to be only an advanced condition of the class of objects
above described. Finally, nebulous stars exist in every stage of
concentration, down to that state in which we see only a common star
with a slight BUR around it. It may be presumed that all these are
but stages in a progress, just as if, seeing a child, a boy, a youth,
a middle-aged, and an old man together, we might presume that the
whole were only variations of one being. Are we to suppose that we
have got a glimpse of the process through which a sun goes between
its original condition, as a mass of diffused nebulous matter, and
its full-formed state as a compact body? We shall see how far such
an idea is supported by other things known with regard to the
occupants of space, and the laws of matter.
A superficial view of the astronomy of the solar system gives us only
the idea of a vast luminous body (the sun) in the centre, and a few
smaller, though various sized bodies, revolving at different
distances around it; some of these, again, having smaller planets
(satellites) revolving around them. There are, however, some general
features of the solar system, which, when a profounder attention
makes us acquainted with them, strike the mind very forcibly.
It is, in the first place, remarkable, that the planets all move
nearly IN ONE PLANE, corresponding with the centre of the sun's body.
Next, it is not less remarkable that the motion of the sun on its
axis, those of the planets around the sun, and the satellites around
their primaries, {9} and the motions of all on their axes, are IN ONE
DIRECTION--namely, from west to east. Had all these matters been
left to accident, the chances against the uniformity which we find
would have been, though calculable, inconceivably great. Laplace
states them at four millions of millions to one. It is thus
powerfully impressed on us, that the uniformity of the motions, as
well as their general adjustment to one plane, must have been a
consequence of some cause acting throughout the whole system.
Some of the other relations of the bodies are not less remarkable.
The primary planets shew a progressive increase of bulk and
diminution of density, from the one nearest to the sun to that which
is most distant. With respect to density alone, we find, taking
water as a measure and counting it as one, that Saturn is 13/32, or
less than half; Jupiter, 1 1/24; Mars, 3 2/7; Earth, 4 1/2; Venus, 5
11/15; Mercury 9 9/10, or about the weight of lead. Then the
distances are curiously relative. It has been found that if we place
the following line of numbers, -
0 3 6 12 24 48 96 192,
and add 4 to each, we shall have a series denoting the respective
distances of the planets from the sun. It will stand thus -
4 7 10 16 28 52 100 196
Merc. Venus. Earth. Mars. Jupiter. Saturn. Uranus.
It will be observed that the first row of figures goes on from the
second on the left hand in a succession of duplications, or
multiplications by 2. Surely there is here a most surprising proof
of the unity which I am claiming for the solar system. It was
remarked when this curious relation was first detected, that there
was a want of a planet corresponding to 28; the difficulty was
afterwards considered as in a great measure overcome, by the
discovery of four small planets revolving at nearly one mean distance
from the sun, between Mars and Jupiter. The distances bear an
equally interesting mathematical relation to the times of the
revolutions round the sun. It has been found that, with respect to
any two planets, the squares of the times of revolution are to each
other in the same proportion as the cubes of their mean distances,--a
most surprising result, for the discovery of which the world was
indebted to the illustrious Kepler. Sir John Herschel truly
observes--"When we contemplate the constituents of the planetary
system from the point of view which this relation affords us, it is
no longer mere analogy which strikes us, no longer a general
resemblance among them, as individuals independent of each other, and
circulating about the sun, each according to its own peculiar nature,
and connected with it by its own peculiar tie. The resemblance is
now perceived to be a true FAMILY LIKENESS; they are bound up in one
chain--interwoven in one web of mutual relation and harmonious
agreement, subjected to one pervading influence which extends from
the centre to the farthest limits of that great system, of which all
of them, the Earth included, must henceforth be regarded as members."
{12}
Connecting what has been observed of the series of nebulous stars
with this wonderful relationship seen to exist among the constituents
of our system, and further taking advantage of the light afforded by
the ascertained laws of matter, modern astronomers have suggested the
following hypothesis of the formation of that system.
Of nebulous matter in its original state we know too little to enable
us to suggest how nuclei should be established in it. But, supposing
that, from a peculiarity in its constitution, nuclei are formed, we
know very well how, by virtue of the law of gravitation, the process
of an aggregation of the neighbouring matter to those nuclei should
proceed, until masses more or less solid should become detached from
the rest. It is a well-known law in physics that, when fluid matter
collects towards or meets in a centre, it establishes a rotatory
motion. See minor results of this law in the whirlwind and the
whirlpool--nay, on so humble a scale as the water sinking through the
aperture of a funnel. It thus becomes certain that when we arrive at
the stage of a nebulous star, we have a rotation on an axis
commenced.
Now, mechanical philosophy informs us that, the instant a mass begins
to rotate, there is generated a tendency to fling off its outer
portions--in other words, the law of centrifugal force begins to
operate. There are, then, two forces acting in opposition to each
other, the one attracting TO, the other throwing FROM, the centre.
While these remain exactly counterpoised, the mass necessarily
continues entire; but the least excess of the centrifugal over the
attractive force would be attended with the effect of separating the
mass and its outer parts. These outer parts would, then, be left as
a ring round the central body, which ring would continue to revolve
with the velocity possessed by the central mass at the moment of
separation, but not necessarily participating in any changes
afterwards undergone by that body. This is a process which might be
repeated as soon as a new excess arose in the centrifugal over the
attractive forces working in the parent mass. It might, indeed,
continue to be repeated, until the mass attained the ultimate limits
of the condensation which its constitution imposed upon it. From
what cause might arise the periodical occurrence of an excess of the
centrifugal force? If we suppose the agglomeration of a nebulous
mass to be a process attended by refrigeration or cooling, which many
facts render likely, we can easily understand why the outer parts,
hardening under this process, might, by virtue of the greater
solidity thence acquired, begin to present some resistance to the
attractive force. As the solidification proceeded, this resistance
would become greater, though there would still be a tendency to
adhere. Meanwhile, the condensation of the central mass would be
going on, tending to produce a separation from what may now be termed
the SOLIDIFYING CRUST. During the contention between the attractions
of these two bodies, or parts of one body, there would probably be a
ring of attenuation between the mass and its crust. At length, when
the central mass had reached a certain stage in its advance towards
solidification, a separation would take place, and the crust would
become a detached ring. It is clear, of course, that some law
presiding over the refrigeration of heated gaseous bodies would
determine the stages at which rings were thus formed and detached.
We do not know any such law, but what we have seen assures us it is
one observing and reducible to mathematical formulae.
If these rings consisted of matter nearly uniform throughout, they
would probably continue each in its original form; but there are many
chances against their being uniform in constitution. The unavoidable
effects of irregularity in their constitution would be to cause them
to gather towards centres of superior solidity, by which the annular
form would, of course, be destroyed. The ring would, in short, break
into several masses, the largest of which would be likely to attract
the lesser into itself. The whole mass would then necessarily settle
into a spherical form by virtue of the law of gravitation; in short,
would then become a planet revolving round the sun. Its rotatory
motion would, of course, continue, and satellites might then be
thrown off in turn from its body in exactly the same way as the
primary planets had been thrown off from the sun. The rule, if I can
be allowed so to call it, receives a striking support from what
appear to be its exceptions. While there are many chances against
the matter of the rings being sufficiently equable to remain in the
annular form till they were consolidated, it might nevertheless be
otherwise in some instances; that is to say, the equableness might,
in those instances, be sufficiently great. Such was probably the
case with the two rings around the body of Saturn, which remain a
living picture of the arrangement, if not the condition, in which all
the planetary masses at one time stood. It may also be admitted
that, when a ring broke up, it was possible that the fragments might
spherify separately. Such seems to be the actual history of the ring
between Jupiter and Mars, in whose place we now find four planets
much beneath the smallest of the rest in size, and moving nearly at
the same distance from the sun, though in orbits so elliptical, and
of such different planes, that they keep apart.
It has been seen that there are mathematical proportions in the
relative distances and revolutions of the planets of our system. It
has also been suggested that the periods in the condensation of the
nebulous mass, at which rings were disengaged, must have depended on
some particular crises in the condition of that mass, in connexion
with the laws of centrifugal force and attraction. M. Compte, of
Paris, has made some approach to the verification of the hypothesis,
by calculating what ought to have been the rotation of the solar mass
at the successive times when its surface extended to the various
planetary orbits. He ascertained that THAT ROTATION CORRESPONDED IN
EVERY CASE WITH THE ACTUAL SIDEREAL REVOLUTION OF THE PLANETS, AND
THAT THE ROTATION OF THE PRIMARY PLANETS IN LIKE MANNER CORRESPONDED
WITH THE ORBITUAL PERIODS OF THE SECONDARIES. The process by which
he arrived at this conclusion is not to be readily comprehended by
the unlearned; but those who are otherwise, allow that it is a
powerful support to the present hypothesis of the formation of the
globes of space. {17}
The nebular hypothesis, as it has been called, obtains a remarkable
support in what would at first seem to militate against it--the
existence in our firmament of several thousands of solar systems, in
which there are more than one sun. These are called double and
triple stars. Some double stars, upon which careful observations
have been made, are found to have a regular revolutionary motion
round each other in ellipses. This kind of solar system has also
been observed in what appears to be its rudimental state, for there
are examples of nebulous stars containing two and three nuclei in
near association. At a certain point in the confluence of the matter
of these nebulous stars, they would all become involved in a common
revolutionary motion, linked inextricably with each other, though it
might be at sufficient distances to allow of each distinct centre
having afterwards its attendant planets. We have seen that the law
which causes rotation in the single solar masses, is exactly the same
which produces the familiar phenomenon of a small whirlpool or dimple
in the surface of a stream. Such dimples are not always single.
Upon the face of a river where there are various contending currents,
it may often be observed that two or more dimples are formed near
each other with more or less regularity. These fantastic eddies,
which the musing poet will sometimes watch abstractedly for an hour,
little thinking of the law which produces and connects them, are an
illustration of the wonders of binary and ternary solar systems.
The nebular hypothesis is, indeed, supported by so many ascertained
features of the celestial scenery, and by so many calculations of
exact science, that it is impossible for a candid mind to refrain
from giving it a cordial reception, if not to repose full reliance
upon it, even without seeking for it support of any other kind. Some
other support I trust yet to bring to it; but in the meantime,
assuming its truth, let us see what idea it gives of the constitution
of what we term the universe, of the development of its various
parts, and of its original condition.
Reverting to a former illustration--if we could suppose a number of
persons of various ages presented to the inspection of an intelligent
being newly introduced into the world, we cannot doubt that he would
soon become convinced that men had once been boys, that boys had once
been infants, and, finally, that all had been brought into the world
in exactly the same circumstances. Precisely thus, seeing in our
astral system many thousands of worlds in all stages of formation,
from the most rudimental to that immediately preceding the present
condition of those we deem perfect, it is unavoidable to conclude
that all the perfect have gone through the various stages which we
see in the rudimental. This leads us at once to the conclusion that
the whole of our firmament was at one time a diffused mass of
nebulous matter, extending through the space which it still occupies.
So also, of course, must have been the other astral systems. Indeed,
we must presume the whole to have been originally in one connected
mass, the astral systems being only the first division into parts,
and solar systems the second.
The first idea which all this impresses upon us is, that the
formation of bodies in space is STILL AND AT PRESENT IN PROGRESS. We
live at a time when many have been formed, and many are still
forming. Our own solar system is to be regarded as completed,
supposing its perfection to consist in the formation of a series of
planets, for there are mathematical reasons for concluding that
Mercury is the nearest planet to the sun, which can, according to the
laws of the system, exist. But there are other solar systems within
our astral system, which are as yet in a less advanced state, and
even some quantities of nebulous matter which have scarcely begun to
advance towards the stellar form. On the other hand, there are vast
numbers of stars which have all the appearance of being fully formed
systems, if we are to judge from the complete and definite appearance
which they present to our vision through the telescope. We have no
means of judging of the seniority of systems; but it is reasonable to
suppose that, among the many, some are older than ours. There is,
indeed, one piece of evidence for the probability of the comparative
youth of our system, altogether apart from human traditions and the
geognostic appearances of the surface of our planet. This consists
in a thin nebulous matter, which is diffused around the sun to nearly
the orbit of Mercury, of a very oblately spheroidal shape. This
matter, which sometimes appears to our naked eyes, at sunset, in the
form of a cone projecting upwards in the line of the sun's path, and
which bears the name of the Zodiacal Light, has been thought a
residuum or last remnant of the concentrating matter of our system,
and thus may be supposed to indicate the comparative recentness of
the principal events of our cosmogony. Supposing the surmise and
inference to be correct, and they may be held as so far supported by
more familiar evidence, we might with the more confidence speak of
our system as not amongst the elder born of Heaven, but one whose
various phenomena, physical and moral, as yet lay undeveloped, while
myriads of others were fully fashioned and in complete arrangement.
Thus, in the sublime chronology to which we are directing our
inquiries, we first find ourselves called upon to consider the globe
which we inhabit as a child of the sun, elder than Venus and her
younger brother Mercury, but posterior in date of birth to Mars,
Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus; next to regard our whole system as
probably of recent formation in comparison with many of the stars of
our firmament. We must, however, be on our guard against supposing
the earth as a recent globe in our ordinary conceptions of time.
From evidence afterwards to be adduced, it will be seen that it
cannot be presumed to be less than many hundreds of centuries old.
How much older Uranus may be no one can tell, much less how more aged
may be many of the stars of our firmament, or the stars of other
firmaments than ours.
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