OCR Text |
Show 212 JCXPLAN ATt0folf1. of Venus towards her orbit 75 degrees, may have turned that of Uranus a little further along, a~d s~ re~ersed the positic.n of his poles. The admitted I~~clma~w.n of the axis of Uranus towards the plane of hiS orbtt. IS. 79 ~egrees, the greatest found in any·ofthe pla~ets .. Th~s Impltes only the necessity for an increase of Inchnabon to thP. extent of 22 degrees, or about o~e-fourth of the quadr~ n:, in ordet· to account for the surmised reverse arrangement. Nor are ca-uses for such a phenomenon far to seek In tht~ revolution of the presumed nebular n1ass, there would be o-reat undulations as I venture to say there would be fou~d in any simila; body which we 1night set into a similar rotatory motion. Such I. esteem as the c~uses of the departure of the planetar~ axis from t.he vertical. A curve in the outermost portwn, amounting to a foldlike the curl of a high wave-would cause the bottleverse· 1nent of Uranus, and the consequent (apparent) retro· gression' of his satellites. . . It appears, then, that, over~oo1nng a few minor unex-plained difficulti~s, the obJections to the nebular hypoth·. esis are not formidable to tt. It approaches the regwn ot ascertained truths, and may reasonably be held a~~ strong corroboration of what first appears from the rpatenallaws of the universe, that the whole UranographiCal arrang.e· ments were effected· in the manner of natur~llaw. I.t Is, however, altogether a mistake to regard thts .conclusi~n~ as far as it is one, as equivalent to a superse~Ing of Dotty in the history of creation. It propos~s. noth1~1g beyond a view of the mode in which the D1v1ne Wlll has been pleased to act, in this first and mo3t important of its works. The formation of worlds and their arrangement now ap· pear but as steps in a Historica~ Progress, fm: matte~ is .ne• cess:1rily presumed to have ex1sted be~ore In a d1tre1ent form. By what means and under what ctrcumstanc~s crea• tion in the true sense of the word, took place-that Is, how exis'tcnce was given to the matter which we suppose tc have been capable of such evolutions-no one can ~s yet t.ell ; we only are sure, if any trust can be placed tn the laws of our minds, that it had a Cause, or an Author. J ... eavinO' such an inquiry as one in ·which we have not at present ground for a single step, it is surely ~ great gratific:1tion that we can at least t1:a~e the operatiOns ?f the Great F!rst Cause from a cond1hon of matter anterJ· or to 1ts pl'esent forms: and learn with certainty that these / NEBULAR HYPOTHESIS. 213 operations ~ere in no way arbitrary or capricious, that thQy were not stngle and detached phenomena but the result of principles flowing from the Eternal a~d Immutable and which prevailed over all the realms of Infinity 11.t once' We have fixed mechanical laws .. at <;me end of the system of nature. If we turn to the m1nd and morals of man, we find t~at we have equally fixed laws at the other. The human being, a mystery considered as an individual becomes a simple natural phenomenon when taken in th~ mass, for a regularity is observed in every peculiarity of our. constitution and every form of thought and deed• of \Vh1ch we a~e capa~le, when we only extend our view over a sufficiently Wide range. It is to M. Quetelet, of Brus~els., that w~ are indebted for the first satisfactory exphcatwn of this great truth; it is presented in his wellknown and very able treatise, Sur L' Hmnme, et le Developl! ement d_e ses Facultes.. He first shows the regularity which pres1des over the btrths and deaths of a commun~ ty, liable to be affected in some degree by accidental Circumstances, but fixed again when these are uniform. He then makes. it clear t~at. t~e stature, weight, strength, and other physical pecuhanttes of men are likewise rep·. ulated by fixed principles of nature. Afterwards the moral qu~lities-the impulses of all our variou~ senti~ents an~ passw~s-e.ven ~he tendency to yield to those temptatwns wh1~h give buth to crime-are proved to be of no less det.ermtnate character, however impossible it may be to pr~d!Ct the conduct .of any single person. These are doctn~es not to be resisted by inconsiderate prejudices They rest on the most powerful of all evidence, that of numbers. If they appear to take from the personal responsibility of individuals, it is merely an appearance for the do~trine immedia~ely steps forward to show that l~ws, education, and moral Influences of every kind exercise an equally determinate control over men· so that the need for their bfling called into use become~ even more palpable than before. \Ve ar~ not, however, required at this m?ment to argue respecting the bearing which this doctrine may have upon human interests. What we are at present concerned with is the simple fact that Moralsthat part of the system of things which s~emed least under natural regulation or law-is as thoroughly.ascertained to be wholly so, as the arrangements of the heavenly bodies |