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41
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I
MAP OF THE WORLD. —-See p. 68.
im'
I
I
I
i 
GEON.OMY:
A THEORY OF THE OCEAN CURRENTS
AND THEIR AGENCY IN THE
ovmatiof the-  oitiltt t
TO WHICH IS ADDED
AS T R OGE NIE A:
A NEW THEORY OF
THE FORMATION OF PLANETARY SYSTEMS.
BY J. STANLEY GRIMES,
COUNSELLOR AT LAW; AUTHOR OF "PHRENO-GEOLOGY," "A NEW SYS          TEM OF NERVOUS PHYSIOLOGY;" ETC.
.o'
ALBION COMIERCIAL COLLEGE:
ALBION, MICH.
BOSTON: SAMUEL F. NICHOLS.
1866.
. r 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by
J, STANLEY GRIMES,
In the Clerk's Office of the Eastern District of Michigan.
DAILY 110r 2EZSS  DI)TO'T.
It- C'
l
-1..  
O/f
PREFACE.
In 1838 I published a small volume, in which I demonstrated that the organs of the brain are arranged in a certain
natural order, which had not been previously observed. In
1850 I wrote another work, in whlich I pointed out the fact
that the cerebral organs are added and superadded to each
other, in a manner that corresponds with the geological order of progressive creation. In 1857 I published a new system of nervous physiology, in which I demonstrated that
the functions of the body and of the brain are so intimately
related, that one cannot be understood except in connection
with the other; and that both must be studied by the light
of comparative physiology and geology. I was thus naturally led to the train of thought, which has resulted in the
production of several essays upon the origin of continents,
oceans and planetary systems. I ask no favor for the errors
which this book contains: they deserve none. But, though
the history of science affords me little encouragement, I confess that I am desirous that some of the new truths in these
pages may obtain a favorable reception.
DE,OTrr, June 1st, 1866.
I\
I) 
To the
Hon. IRA MAYHE W,
THIS VOLUMBE IS RBSP.CTFU.LLY DEDICATED.
When, a short time ago, I explained to the Professors and Students an
the Commercial College, in Albion, Michigan, some of the principles discussed in these pages, d wish was expressed that I would publish a book
upon the subject. Candor compelled me to answer that, in all probability, a publication so purely scientific could only be made at a pecuniary
os, which no professional publisher would willingly incur.   Under
these circumstances, the President of the College, the Hon. Ira Mayhew,
generously volunteered to bear the loss, whatever it might prove to be.
The least I can do is to make this public acknowledgement of his magnanimity. Indeed, I regard it as no small compliment, that this gentleman
-upon whom the mantle of Horace Mann seems to havefallen, who has
devoted his life to the wnoble cause of education, and served the State during eight years, as Superintendent of Public Instruction-should so
highly appreciate the results of my labors.
I sincerely hope time will prove that, by this act of liberality, he has
conferred afavor upon the public, as well as upon
His obedient servant,
THE AUTHEOR.
Information concerning the Albion Commercial College, has, at my
requet, been furnished, and will be found in the Appendix. 
CONTENTS.
GEONOMY.
Page.
SECTION I.-INTRODUCTION,.......................... 9
SECTION II.-CAUSE OF THE OCEAN CURRENTS AND
EFFECTS OF TiHE EARTH'S ROTATION,. 11
DISTINCTION BETWEEN LOCAL AND EL- 19
LIPTICAL CURRENTS - SIX TURNING
POINTS IN ELLIPSES,................ 32
SPOTS ON THE SUN AND THEIR CAUSE,... 33
PRIMITIVE PLAN,.................... 35-47
SECTION III.-SINKING OF THE OCEAN'S FLOOR BE              NEATH THE WEIGHT OF SEDIMENT,... 40
SECTION IV.-LOCAL CURRENTS.................... 48
SECTION V.-DERANGEMENT OF THE CURRENTS.......57
SECTION VI.-PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY,................61
EAST AND WEST RUNNING MOUNTAINS,. 71
MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON............. 87
GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS,...............  89
SECTION VII.-EcoNoMY OF VITAL FORCE............ 93
SECTION VIII.-DRIFT FORMATION AND ITS RELATION
TO THE LOCAL CURRENTS.............102
SECTION X.-SYSTEM OF THE WINDS,...............107
POLAR LIGHTS,.......................120
CYCLONES,............................ 122
RECAPITULATION OF GEONOMY.........128 
CONTENTS.
ASTROGENEA.
Page.
SECTION I.-ITRODUCTION,.........................183
SECTION II.-FORMATION OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM,..... 139
MAGNITUDES AND DENSITIES OF THE
PLANETS.......................... 145
SECTION III.-INTERVALS, AND COMMON DIFFERENCE
OF ORBITAL VELOCITIES,............. 153
FORMATION OF PLANETS FROM RINGS,...159
FORMATION OF ASTEROIDS.............. 161
NIBULAR HYPOTHESIS,................168
BODE'S LAW,..........................167
SECTION IV.-SERIAL RELATIONS OF THE PLANETS,... 170
SERIAL RELATIONS OF JUPITER'S SATEL               LITES................................179
SERIAL RELATIONS OF SATURN'S SATESL               ELLITES.............................181
SATELLITES OF URANUS................183
SECTION V.-CoMPARATIVE ASTROGENEA,............184
SECTION VI.-PHYSICAL CAUSE OF GRAVITATION,....190
RECAPITULATION OF ASTROGENEA,....206
viii 
OUTLINES OF GEONOMY.
SECTION I.
INTRODUCTION.
HE  word geonomy is derived from two Greek
words, ye, the earth, ancr nomos, a law, and
is analogous to astronomy, which is from the Greek
astron, a star, and nomnos.
Before entering upon an explanation of the principles of Geonomy, let us briefly review the progress of our race in their knowledge of the earth's
surface.
Previous to the discovery of America, what was
called "the civilized world," was principally confined to the borders of that series of land-locked
seas that extend eastward from Gibralter to the
Indian ocean.
This long intermediate region was denominated
by Humboldt "a great cleft in the earth's crust,"
the natural cause of which he regarded as inexpli
NOTE.-I took the liberty to coin the word Geonomy in 1857, and to
use it as the title to the small volume which 1 then wrote on the subject;
and I am pleased to see that the learned Dr. Worcester has adopted it
into his excellent quarto dictionary of the English language,
2 
INTRODUCTION.
cable. It appears to be well adapted by the Creator to the purposes for which it was undoubtedly
intended-a nursery of human genius, and a starting point in the march of our race to a higher
,plane of civilization.  There is abundant evidence
that Africa, western Europe, and eastern Asia
were'once separated by wide seas, which gradually
became narrower as the continents rose higher and
extended themselves toward each other. The navigation of those inland waters brought together the
various inhabitants of their shores for the purposes
of war and commerce. The result was that a
mixed and superior people were produced, who inherited, in combination, all the dominant traits of
their several ancestral tribes.
Civilization, so far as it can be traced back in
authentic history, commenced its career on the
banks of the Nile, which flows into the eastern
extremity of the Mediterranean. It is now impossible to determine whether the civilization of Egypt
did not originate ill India or China, but it is certain
that under the combined influence of commerce
and of arms, it directed its course from the eastern
towards the western borders of the Mediterranean.
The Phmenicians, the neighbors and allies of the
Israelites, and probably belonging to the same race,
were the successors of the Egyptians in enterprise
and intellectual advancement. They were the first
international and maritime merchants of whom we
have  any  account.   They  traded  in all the
countries between Britain and India, and made
10 
INTRODUCTION.
themselves acquainted with the arts of the various
peoples among whom they traveled. A short distance west of Phcenicia was the peninsula of
Greece, where the eastern merchants founded a
colony, and succeeded in infusing a portion of their
own spirit and intelligence among the natives,
whom they subdued. Thither they transplanted
all the arts, the learning and the enterprise which
they possessed. There grew the most remarkable
people the world has ever known. The very ruins
of their temples and their statues are still models
which the artists of modern times are proud to
imitate, but which have never been excelled.
The same may be said of their eloquence and
poetry.   The intellectual influence of this small
community is still felt wherever learning is appreciated, or science cultivated.  A few miles west
of Greece is another peninsula, that projects into
the Mediterranean, in the form of a boot, as if to
assert that it was pre-destined to trample upon the
rest of the world. This is Italy, and here is Rome,
where civilization took her next stand, with augmented  resources,  clothed  with  the  borrowed
learning and arts of the Greeks, whom they
equalled in bravery, and far excelled in political
wisdom. They extended their power from Britain
and Gibralter in the west to Egypt and India in
the east.
The vast undefined countries that lie north of
the great cleft, contained a numerous horde of barbarous people, whose interior geographical position
11 
INTRODUCTION.
prevented them fiom enjoying much  intercourse
with Southern Europe, or with each other. Thus
their civilization was retarded, while their physical
and animal powers were highly developed. The
necessary result was that these rude but vigorous
tribes overwhelmed the more refined nations near
the iediterranean, and produced the Dark Ages.
When the light of modern times began to dawn,
it was in Spain, France, and England, the western
outposts of the great continent, that it was most
conspicuous. Civilization had at length reached the
shores of the Atlantic, and seemed to be gazing
with prophetic vision toward the western world.
It was at this time that Columbus appeared agr
commenced a series of voyages, which were continued by AMagellan, Gama, Cabot, Hudson, Cook,
and finally by McClure, and Ross, and Wilkes,
until, at length, the outlines of all the continents
are made known, and a science of Geonomy has
become possible.
When sufficient knowledge had been obtained
of the earth's surface to enable geographers to
make even imperfect maps of the whole world,
there were several striking features of the continents that attracted their attention and demanded
an explanation. Some of the most prominent of
them are the following:
1. The continents terminate at the South in
points. Thus it is with South America, North
America, Africa and Australia.
12 
INTRODUCTION.
2. The Western sides of the tropical continents
are hollowed out.
3. The continents seem to be arranged in three
pairs, namely: North and South America, Europe
and Africa, Asia and Australia.
4. Each pair is connected by an isthmus; thus
North and South America are connected by the
isthmus of Central America; Europe and Africa
by the isthmus of Suez; and Australia and Asia by
a chain of islands and a submarine isthmus,.which
is only concealed by very shallow water.
5. Near each isthmus is an archipelago on its
eastern side.
6. The shore lines of the continents are loxodromic or oblique to the parallels and meridian lines.
None of the shore lines run north and south nor
east and west; they run north-west and southeast or north-east and south-west.
7. The slopes of the continents are most abrupt
on the sides toward the larger oceans, and more
gentle on the opposite sides: thus the American
and the Asiatic lands are highest toward the Pacific, and those of Africa toward the Indian Ocean.
8. Groups of mountains, in many places, are
found to consist of remarkably parallel ridges,
bearing a close resemblance to a succession of ocean
waves, though not so regular or uniform.
9. Volcanoes seem to be in most instances arranged in lines, upon a series of islands parallel
with the shore, or on the main land near the shore
and parallel with it.
13 
INTRODIUCTION.
10. The Northern hemisphere has three-fourths
of its surface above the sea, while the Southern
hemisphere has not more than one-fourth.
It was very natural that there should be a disposition manifested to theorize concerning these
remarkable arrangements and features of the continents.   Reinholdt Forster, the companion  of
Capt. Cook, and the early friend of Humboldt,
was the first to propose an explanation of any of
these peculiarities.  Ilesuggested that there may
have been a tremendous flood or rush of water,
from some unknown cause, in a north-east direction,
against the western sides of the southern lands,
which tore away the shores, and carried the fragments across from the western to the eastern sides
of the continent; thus furnishing the materials
from which the islands near the eastei-n shores
were created.
The discoveries which have been made in Geology since his time have demonstrated the fallacy
of Forster's hypothesis. - It has been proved that
the continents and islands have all been elevated
above the sea very gradually, by a force acting
under the earth's crust. The borders of the continents have been raised higher than the interiors.
In many instances the earth's crust has been raised
in a long mountainous ridge, until the crust has
broken, so that at the top of the ridge, the two
broken edges can be plainly seen, separated from
each other by the axis or median line of the ridge;
the succession of geological layers on one side of
14 
INTRODUCTION.
the line being merely repetitions of those on the
opposite side. All important mountains are in fact
made in this manner, though their broken edges
are not avlways visible.*
If we except this geonomic theory, no hypothesis has ever been suggested to account for the
directions in which the internal forces have acted;
nor has even a conjecture been ventured concerning the cause of the continents assuming the peculiar forms, number and proportions which they do.
The favorite, and generally received hypothesis
concerning the elevation of the continents, is that
first advanced by Leibnitz, and advocated by Buffon,
and more lately by Dana, Agassiz, and all the
modern geologists, except Lyell. It may be briefly
stated as follows:
The earth was primitively a globular mass of
melted and fluid matter, which was intensely hot.
The gradual cooling of the surface caused a crust
to form around the liquid mass. The continued
cooling of the internal lava made it contract to
*NOTE.-It is necessary to consider this argument, when discussing the
subject of geonomy with those who admit that the ocean currents have
had a great influence in forming the shore lines, but who do not acknowledge that the movements of the internal lava were dependent upon
the oeeanic sediment and the currents. For, if the shores agree in direction with the currents, so also do the mountains, which are certainly created by upward movements of the lava. If, therefore, the currents de
termined the directions of the shores and mountains, they must have done
so by by regulating the deposits of sediment upon the ocean's bed, which
deposits, by their weight, pressed the subjacent lava upward, and thus created the mountains. Any one who studies this subject thoroughly, will
I think, be forced to the conclusion that a true theory of the ocean currents must underlie a proper science of physical geography.
15 
INTRODUCTIO1.
such a degree that the enveloping crust became
too large for the internal mass. The consequence
was that the crust became corrugated; the lower
folds falling inward upon the lava formed the ocean
basins and the upper folds being left in elevated
positions constituted the continents. As the earth,
during the long series of geological ages, has still
further cooled, the internal folds, that is, the oceanic
basins, have sunk deeper, and the external folds or
continents, have become relatively more prominent,
until the present time.
It will be perceived that this hypothesis alone,
even if admitted to be true, gives no answer to
the questions which naturally force themselves into our minds, concerning the forms, number and
arrangement of the continents and oceans, the
loxodromic directions of the shore lines and mountain ranges; nor, indeed, of any other geographical circumstance, except the mere isolated fact of
gradual elevation and depression.
In 1857 I wrote a small volume in which I advanced the following propositions, all of which
were original except the first:
1. The ocean primitively covered the earth, and
was nearly of equal depth over the whole globe.
2. The ocean currents then constituted six ellipses or imperfect circles, three in each hemisphere,
corresponding with the north and south Pacific, north and south Atlantic, and north and'
south Indian. What caused these six elliptical
circuits I could not then understand.
16 
INTRODUCTION.
3. The elliptical circulation of the ocean currents
caused the sediment to collect within the limits of
each ellipse, on the ocean floor; which sediment, by
its weight, caused depressions of the earth's crust,
and, by crowding the subjacent lava upward, produced corresponding inter-elliptical elevations: thus
the oceans and continents were created.
4. If the six basins had sunk equally, the continental interspaces would have been nearly equal
and symetrical; but the basins sunk irregularly,
and thus produced the present unsymetrical map
of the world.
The principal defect of my theory at that time
was, that I could not give any philosophical reason
for the waters flowing in ellipses, and, of course, I
did not perceive the distinction between local and
elliptical currents.
I assumed that the currents must have moved in
six ellipses, because on that assumption I could
readily account, in a general manner, for the actual
forms, numbers and positions of the continents. Before my book was published, though it was stereotyped, I found that it could be improved in so many
particulars that I withheld it from the public, and
only distributed a few copies among my particular
friends.  By dint of continual investigation, I have
at length succeeded in discovering the reason why
the principal currents assume elliptical paths. This
has produced such radical changes in the geonomic
theory as to render my former book on the subject
obsolete, and to make this outline necessary.
2*
17 
SECTION II.
THIE GREAT OCEAN CURRENTS AND THE FORCES
THAT REGULATE THEM.
T is now admitted by the best authorities, that
the cause of the great and constant ocean currents is the difference of temperature between the
higher and the lower latitudes. The water, being
heated near the equator, expands and overflows
north and south toward the poles, constituting a
surface current, the water of which, as it gradually
cools, condenses and sinks until it becomes of the
same temperature as the polar waters. A large quantity of water is also evaporated in the equatorial
regions  and carried  poleward,  probably  from
five to thirty degrees of latitude, before it falls
again into the ocean; even then it is warm and fresh,
and adds to the surface current that flows poleward.
The loss of so much water in the equatorial region
is compensated by the cold under-currents that flow
fi'om the polar regions.  We  thus have a perfect
explanation of the fact that an interchange of cold
and warm currents is continually going on between
the equatorial and the polar zones of the earth.
At the first thought we should suppose that
these two currents would flow, one due south and
the other due north; but the truth is that they 
THE GREAT OCEAN CURRENTS.
are deflected eastward when moving toward the
pole, and westward when moving toward the equator. The reason of this fact is now of so much importance that, although it has been stated by many authors, and may be well understood by most of my
readers, I shall, notwithstanding, endeavor to explain it as clearly as possible, for the benefit of those
to whom the subject is not familiar.
EFFECT OF THlE EARTH'S ROTATION UPON THE OCEAN
CURRENTS SO FAR AS IT IHAS HITHERTO
BEEN UNDERSTOOD.
The poles of the earth are relatively immovable,
while each spot at the equator is moving eastward
about one thousand miles an hour around the
earth's axis. The nearer water, or any thing else,
is to the equator, the farther eastward it moves in
a given time; and, on the contrary, the nearer the
pole it is, the less is the distance which it travels
,eastward in the same time.  Of course, each degree
of latitude has its own rate of easterly velocity.
This will be best understood if we take a round
table and make it turn horizontally -upon its centre;
it will then appear that the nearer any object is to
the edge of the table the faster it moves; that is,
the farther it moves in a given time; and the nearer
it is to the centre of the table, the slower it moves.
In this case the centre of the table represents
the pole or axis of the earth, and the edge represents the equator. If we draw a straight line from
the edge of the table to its centre, and place a
19 
20     EFFECT OF THE EARTH'S ROTATION
billiard ball on the line, near the edge, and when
the table is still, give the ball an impulse directed
toward the centre, it will move along on the line to
the centre. Now set the ball again near the edge, as
before, and cause the table to turin rapidly upon its
centre; let the ball again receive an impulse directed toward the centre, and it will not now move
upon the same line that it did before, but will be
deflected, gradually, more and more from it to one
side, which we will call the eastern side.   The
reason of this deflection is that the ball carried
with it, toward the centre, the greater rate of rotary or easterly force which it had acquired near
the edge. The' water which moves from the equatorial toward the polar regions of the earth is in
the same predicament: therefore, when the difference  of temperature-the  warmth-impels  the
water in a current toward the pole, the different
rate of easterly velocity-the  inertise-impels it
eastward. The resultant of the two impulses is,
(in the northern hemisphere,) a movement northeastward, and, (in the southern hemisphere,) southeastward.
When water moves from the north polar to the
equatorial region, the difference of easterly velocity
causes it to move south-west. In reality it moves
due south, but the rotation of the earth makes it
seem to move south-west, because it moves relatively south-west. This will be understood if we place
the ball at the centre of the table already described,
and when the table is still, impel the ball toward the 
UPON THE OCEAN CURRENTS.
edge: it will move in a straight line in the direction
of the impulse. Now place the ball in the center
again, and while the table is in rapid rotation, impel the ball as before, toward the edge, and we
shall find that it does not pass along the line on
which it previously moved, but runs, or is deflected to one side of it, we will call it the west side.
The table, in fact, slips past, under the ball, in
what we will call an easterly direction, leaving the
ball on the west side of the line. Precisely so it
is with the current that moves toward the equator. The earth is continually slipping under it, and
leaving it relatively more and more westward.
As far as I have gone in this explanation, I have
merely illustrated the true doctrines of my predecessors, without advancing any peculiar ideas of
my own. The following views are of a different
character, having nothing to recommend them but
their own obvious merits.
NEW THEORY OF THE OCEAN CURRENTS.
TWO CLASSES OF CURRENTS.
It has been assumed by all writers on the ocean
currents that the water always leaves the equatorial, and also the polar regions, possessing the same
rate of easterly velocity as the earth does in the
latitude from which the current flows. This is not
only a great mistake, but it has been the source of
nearly all the errors with which this subject has
been embarrassed. The truth is that there are two
21 
22   NEW THEORY OF THE OCEAN CURRENTS.
distinct classes of currents in the ocean, one of
which may be denominated local and the other
elliptical.
The explanation of the currents already made
in the preceding pages, applies only to the local currents. The elliptical currents have hitherto never
been recognized as a distinct class, and the theoretical principles upon which they depend have
been entirely overlooked. The two classes of currents have been strangely confounded together.
The elliptical currents, when noticed, have been
regarded as ordinary local currents, deflected out
of their normal paths by accidental circumstances.
CAUSE OF THE ELLIPTICAL CURRENTS.
Prof. Joseph Henry, of Washington, D.C., in an
article in one of the Patent Office Reports, says, in
substance, that "there are five immense circuits,
or whirls of ocean currents, two in the north and
south Atlantic, and two in the north and south
Pacific, similar in situation, and analogous in
direction and motion.   In the Indian ocean  another whirl, or circuit, exists of the same general
character."
"It is not pretended," he remarks, "that the circular currents can be continuously traced, but by
attentively examining the maps the general outlines and directions can be made out." Prof. Dana,
in his Manual of Geology, makes the same general
statement, and illustrates it by an engraving.
ir 
ELLIPTICAL CURRENTS.
While these distinguished writers thus admit
that each great ocean possesses anl elliptical cur rent, no explanation of the fact has been proposed,
except that the currents, when moving north or
south in the mannelr already explained, are deflect ed out of their normal directions, and driven into
circular movwnents by adverse winds, or by being
forced against the opposing shores of the ocean
basins.  It never seems to have occurred to any
author or navigator that the normal path of a
great ocean current is necessarily elliptical, and
that it would pursue this path if no shores or winds
existed to deflect it from its true course.
According to the commonly received theory, a
current which moves alternately to and from the
equator and the north polar region, must flow
north-east from the equator all the way to its northern terminus, as a surface current, and then return as a deep under current, running south-west.
The only ellipse formed would be a vertical one;
the warm current flowing above and the cold current returning immediately below it to the equator.
This theory is contradicted in every ocean, by
more than half of the actual currents, and consequently, its adherents are repeatedly forced to resort to adverse winds and deflecting shores to account for the numerous discrepancies which they
encounter.
Let us take the eurrent that circulates around
the North Atlantic ocean as an example, by meafns
of which to explain our theory, and the principles
23 
CAUSES OF THE
involved in all the analogous cases of elliptical currents.
When a current runs in a circle or ellipse, it
cannot be properly said to have a beginning or an
end; but, for convenience of description, let us say
that this current commences in or near the Gulf
of Mexico, at the 25th degree of-north latitude,
and flows north-east to the banks of Newfoundland, in the 45th degree of north latitude; it then
turns and flows nearly due east, almost or quite
to the shores of Europe, then south-east to the
African coast, then south-west to near the equator,
thence due west to South America, and then northwest to the Gulf of Mexico, from whence it started.
When the water leaves the Gulf of Mexico-the
25th degree-(1 fig. 1) it doubtless possesses the
easterly velocity proper to the earth in that latitude. At all events let us, for the sake of illustration, assume that it does so. Of course, according
to the principles already explained, it must move
north-east. When it has proceeded five degrees of
latitude, and has arrived at the 30th degree, it has
brought with it a greater amount of easterly
velocity than the earth in the 30th degree possesses.  The water of the current diyers from the
proper water of the 30th degree. Let us represent
the d-ierence by the number 5.  This surplus, or
difference, the current retains, and proceeds on its
way north-east.  When it arrives at the 35th degree of north latitude, the difference has increased,
and now amounts to 10; at the 40th degree it is
24
lp 
ELLIPTICAL CURRENTS.
15; and when the current reaches Newfoundland,
or the 45th degree of north latitude (2 fig. 1), the
difference is 20.
Here the current meets the grand banks, which
are commonly supposed to deflect it eastward; but
when we know that it has been acquiring more and
more easting from the time that it left the West
Indies, and that it has now a surplus of it equal to
20; when-we further consider that its northerly
force has been, during the same time, diminishing,
-we can readily understand that it would move
almost due east from Newfoundland to the European coast, even if the grand banks did not exist.
In proceeding from the 25th to the 45th degree
the current is impelled by two distinct forces, one
of which acting alone would have carried it due
north, and the other acting alone would have carried it due east. The northerly force is at its maximum when the current starts from the 25th degree,
and gradually diminishes until it reaches the 45th
degree, when it is exhausted. The easterly force
-the difference-is nothing at starting from the
25th degree, but manifests itself immediately afterward, and gradually and continuously increases as
long as the current runs northward.  When, at the
45th degree, the current ceases to run northward,
it is subject to the easterly force only. It can
therefore only move due east. While moving eastward it is continually growing cooler, and therefore has an increasing tendency to move toward the
equator; in other words, it begins (3 fig. 1) to move
3
25
-1 
CAUSES OF THE
south-east, and continues in that direction until the
easting is exhausted. This happens near the 25th
degree of north latitude (4 fig. 1). The water of
the current has now become neutral, that is, it possesses no difference from the water of the earth in
that latitude; and therefore, as it continues its course
towards the equator, it flows south-west. When
the current reaches the equator it is in a condition
analogous to that in which it arrived at Newfoundland. It possesses a surplus of westerly force or
westing, which may be represented by 20. The
tendency to move south is gone, but the westing or
difference is at its maximum. In fact it has only a
tendency to move relatively westward; and it actually does move in that direction, from the western
point of Africa. (5 fig. 1) to the eastern point of
South America (6 fig. 1). By this time the water
has become so much heated that it overflows toward the north, that is, it moves north-west until
it reaches the Gulf of Mexico (1 fig. 1).  Its westing being now gone, it becomes neutral, that is, it
possesses the same easterly volocity as the earth in
the 25th degree of north latitude. Thus the elliptical circuit of the north Atlantic is completed.
The attentive and critical reader will now perceive that a current cannot flow alternately north
and south, in any ocean, without moving in an elliptical orbit, the diameter of which east and west,
will be in proportion to its diameter north and
south.
The two points in anl ellipse (1 and 4 fig. 1), where
26
*I 
ELLIPTICAL CURRENTS.
the easterly velocity of the current is the same as
that of the earth, may be called neutral points. A
local current is always neutral at its starting point.
When neutral water proceeds from'any point to a
higher or lower latitude, it accumulates a greater
and greater difference of easterly velocity the further north or south it flows; provided it does not
cross the equator.
FIGURE 1.
1
/ x
/                                   %
I~~~~~~~~~~~
!
i!
I!
I!
m
1
\                                   I
\                                 I
\1
We have here a perfect explanation of the fact
so well known to navigators, that the currents near
27
I
I
J1 
SIX TURNING POINTS
the equator run almost directly west, while those
near the polar regions run east. We can also understand why a portion of an elliptical current,
when it flows northerly from the equator, must flow
north-west, and why such a current which flows
southerly from the northern regions, must flow
south-east.
SIX TURNING POINTS IN ELLIPSES.
If we analyze an elliptical current we shall find
that it has six turning points which deserve to be
separately  considered.   In the  northern hemisphere they may be enumerated as follows:
1. The west neutral point (1 fig. 1)-which in the
north Atlantic is in or near the Gulf of Mexico, and
in the north Pacific, in or near the China Sea.
Here the waters of the current possess the same
velocity as the earth. From this point the water
runs north-east just as a local current would.
2. The due east point (2 fig. 1)-where the current has expended all its northern tendency, and
where its easterly surplus force is at its maximum
In the north Atlantic this point is probably very
near Newfoundland, and in the north Pacific near
Kamschatka.
3. The south-east turning point (3 fig. 1).-This
is where the current ceases to move due east, and,
growing colder, turns south-easterly. This point
is, in the north Atlantic, near the Bay of Biscay,
and in the north Pacific, near British Columbia.
8A 
IN ELLIPSES.
4. The east neutral point (4 fig. 1).-This is on
the eastern side of the ellipse, where the current
has the same easterly velocity as the earth has, and
from which it moves south-west to the equator, just
as a local cold current would. In the north Atlantic this point is near the west coast of northern
Africa. In the north Pacific it is near the coast of
California.
5. The due west or equatorialpoint (5 fig. 1)-is
where the current ceases to flow southward, but
moves due west. Having acquired a maximum of
easterly difference, or westing, and expended the
force that sent it southward, it can only move directly westward. In the north Atlantic this point
is near the western extremity of Africa, and about
five degrees north of the equator. In the north
Pacific it is about ten degrees north of the equator,
and several hundred miles west of Central America.
6. The north-west turning point (6 figo. 1)-is
where the current, being heated, overflows and
leaves the equator, and begins to move north-west.
In the north Atlantic this is near the point of Cape
St. Roque, in South America; and in the north
Pacific, it is in or near the East Indian Archipelago.
THE SIX TURNING POINTS IN THE ELLIPSES OF THE
SOUTHERX HEMISPHERE.
In the southern hemisphere, the six turning
points, though, of course, the directions are reversed, are repeated in each of the three great
29 
30      TURNING POINTS IN THiE ELLIPSES
oceans.  We are not practically as well acquainted
with the currents in the extreme south, as we are
with the northern currents; and we cannot, therefore, point out, in all cases, with as much precision
as we could wish, the localities where they turn.
I have no other means of obtaining positive information concerning the actual currents than those
possessed by all my readers; but, it appears to me,
that when the laws that govern them are well understood, the existence and direction of a current
may be indicated theoretically, in any locality,
the general geography of which is known, even if
no actual observations have been made. Just as an
accomplished astronomer, when he is correctly. informed from actual observations concerning a few
points in the path of a comet, can predict its course
in regions of space far beyond the scope of human vision-so the geonomer, when the principles
and laws of oceanic circulation are well understood,
can predict, with equal accuracy, in what direction
the elliptical or the local currents must necessarily
flow in any unexplored sea.
1. The west neutralpoint, in the southern hemisphere, from which the elliptical current flows southeast like a local current, appears, in the south
Atlantic, to be near the mouth of the La Plata.
If we rely upon theoretical principles, we must presume that the current flows south-east from the
neutral point near the mouth of the La Plata, and
that it afterwards turns east and then north-east.
But the truth is that we have only vague and con
0 
*
OEF THIE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE.
tradictory accounts of the currents in the southern
parts of the south Atlantic; and our actual knowledge of the corresponding parts of the south Pacific
is equally limited. I have a strong suspicion that
the regular elliptical currents are greatly interfered
with, in each of the southern oceans, by powerful
local currents, which flow north-west from the unexplored Antarctic regions.
In the Indian ocean ellipse, the west neutral
point, where the current turns to flow south-east,
must be near the Cape of Good Hope, and perhaps
it is within the limits of the Atlantic ocean. The
current of warm water that flows south along the
east coast of Africa, carries so much westing with
it that it turns at least half round the Cape of
Good Hope, into the Atlantic, before its westing is
exhausted.   Then it turns and flows south-east
toward  the Antarctic coast.-(See map  of  the
world.)
2. The clte east point, in the southern hemisphere
is where the current takes an eastern direction, analogous to the current from Newfoundland in the
north Atlantic. It is admitted, by all navigators,
that all the currents that arrive near the Antarctic
coast flow directly eastward.
3.. The north-east turning point.-Wb know positively that there are three currents of warm water,
one in each southern ocean, which flow towards
the Antarctic coast. We know that along that
coast the currents all flow eastward, and we also
know that from the Antarctic region three currents
31 
32      TURNING POINTS IN THE ELLIPSES
of cold water flow north-east,-one to the west coast
of South America, another to the west coast of
Australia, and a third to the west coast of Africa.
4. The west neutral point.  It is well known
that a current flows north-west from the west
coast of Australia, another, north-west from the
west coast of south Africa, and a third north-west
from the west coast of South America. All three
of these currents approach very near or quite to
the equator.
5. The due west, or equatorial point, is where the
current has a maximum amount of westing which
it expends by moving relatively due westward.
6. The southwest turning point, is where the
current in each of the three southern oceans, turns
from the equator, and flows south-west, until it
reaches the neutral point; one runs along the east
coast of South America, another along the east
coast of Australia, and a third along the east coast
of Africa.
I have remarked that the further a current moves
northward the further it must also move eastward.
When this fact is realized, it becomes plain that
the elliptical currents could not approach nearer
the poles than they do. A current starting from
the 25th degree of north latitude and impelled
toward the north pole, could not get within a
thousand miles of that place before it would be
moving directly eastward, (see polar view, fig. 3.)
and as soon as it cooled it would begin to move
south-eastward. This easterly tendency of the
I 
A
OF THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE.
poleward currents render large polar interspaces
inevitable.
I have described the currents as if they move in
straight lines from point to point, but the truth is
they must move in curves. The current from the
west neutral point in the northern hemisphere begins by moving almost due north, then a little to
east of north, then more and more easterly, until
at length the easting is so great that the current
moves due east.  As it cools it begins to turn a
little to the south of east, then flows more and
more southward, until it ceases to move eastward
at all, and for a very short distance it moves almost due south. But soon it begins to turn a little
westward, then more and more westward, until at
length it moves due west. It now begins to be
heated and to turn a little northerly, then more
and more northerly until it ceases to move westward and has reached its neutral point.
From this brief review it is plain that all the
NOTE.-The spots on the sun are believed, from their appearance, to
be caused by whirlpools in the solar atmosphere. They are generally
arranged near the thirtieth degree of the sun's latitude, and on each side
of his equator. Is it not reasonable to suppose that these whirls are
produced by north and south movements of currents in the sun's atmosphere? Those who have heretofore speculated upon the subject,
have not been aware that an interchange of currents between different
latitudes necessarily produces a whirling or elliptical movement.
In viewing the drawings which have been published, of the appearances of the surface of the planet Mars, we perceive the curved outlines of
what may, perhaps, be continents and oceans, produced by currents
analogous to those of our oceans.
Some of the nebulae seen by our best telescopes, also present interior
curves and ellipses, which may possibly be accounted for on the same
principle.
4
a
33 
34      TURNING POINTS IN THE ELLIPSES
currents tend to move in curved lines. We can
now perceive the absurdity of the idea, which is
expressed inu so many of our books, that the trade
winds cause the equatorial currents to move westerly. The fact is that the equatorial currents
generally move more westerly than the trade winds
do; and the elliptical currents on their polar side,
are more easterly than the winds that blow in the
same latitude. This could not be the case if the
winds caused the currents. In the Pacific, about
10 degress north of the equator, a counter current
runs easterly, while, on each side of it, the main
currents run west. If the currents here depend
upon the winds blowing westward-what produces the counter current which flows directly against
the wind? It should be remarked that the wind
only affects the ocean a few feet below the surface,
whereas many of the currents extend thousands of
feet below.
Fig. 2. represents the primitive plan or symetrical map of the world as it would appear if the six
ellipses had operated equally and uninterruptedly
from the beginning to the present time.   The six
elliptical currents are represented by connected arrows, and the directions of the local inter-elliptical
currents represented by arrow heads. It will be
seen in this and the other maps that the local currents run counter to the elliptical currents. The
local currents are represented as running only in
the inter-elliptical spaces. 
OF THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE.
FIGURE 2.
Primitive Plan.
I   
VitTDRJA     
I~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CRAHAM~~ S   -       sOUi
L1NTO             AME/&JA /j-"       A
A1
~~~~~~~/1
! ~   ~        ~I
I                      -   ASIA
\I               I
\!
~~~~~~~I,
II                I
I/             I
I
%  ~~~~      II
11
I
I
t
44,
I
35
4.
I
?0 
SYMMETRY OF THE OCEANS
THE SYMIMETRY OF THE OCEANS RELATED TO
THE SEASONS.
Let us enquire why the north and south Atlantic, north' and south Pacific, and north and south
Indian oceans were arranged in such a symmetrical
manner that each northern ocean had a southern
ocean directly opposite to it. Was this merely accidental? or was there some physical or dynamical cause which rendered this symmetrical juxtaposition of the oceans necessary? The answer is
that it resulted as a necessary consequence of the
changes of the seasons. If the axis of our planet
were, like that of Jupiter, at right angles to its
orbital path, I have no idea that the north and
south oceans would have been arranged symmetrically opposite. The northern and southern hemispheres would have been perfectly independent of
each other; so that an ocean in the northern hemisphere might have had a continent, instead of an
ocean, opposite to it iil the southern. But the axis
of the earth is inclined to its orbital path; so
that the thermal equator, instead of constantly
coinciding with the geographical equator, travels
north and south several degrees, as the seasons
change, and the sun moves north and south in the
ecliptic.
In mid summer the sun is 231 degrees north of the
equator; and the cold water of the southern hemisphere is poured in under currents, into the northern oceans, while the warm water in return, over
36 
RELATED TO THE SEASONS.
flows, in compensating quantities, into the southern oceans.  In mid-winter the reverse happens:
the sun is 231 degrees south of the equator, and
the cold northern currents are forced into the southern oceans.  Duringr the equinoxes, there is, all
else equal, an equilibrium of the waters in the two
hemispheres; neither intrudes upon the other. But
at all other times of the year, there is a continual
interchange.  The whole  current of one hemisphere does not enter the opposite ocean, but only
so much of it as may be necessary to restore the
equilibrium which has been disturbed by the change
of the seasons; the remainder continues to circulate in its own hemisphere.
The course which the intruding current pursues,
after it crosses the equator into an opposite ocean,
is, all else equal, the same as that of the proper
current of that ocean. The course of the circulation of the two oceans together, therefore, may be
illustrated by a figure 8, the crossing being at the
equator.
After this explanation, the reason is evident why
the three oceans were placed symmetrically opposite to each other, and why the continents are
regularly arranged in three meridional series.
It should be observed that there is no isthmus, or
connection by dry land, east and west, between
the tropical continents, as there is north and south
between the tropical and the northern continents.
While North and South America are connected by
the isthmus of Central America, and Asia and
37 
SYMMETRY OF THE OCEANS
Australia by a chain of islands and a submarine
isthmus,-there is no isthmus, nor is there any
chain of intermediate islands, between South
America and Australia,  or between Africa and
South America. The reason is that the changes of
the seasons caused a movement of the waters
north and south, between the two oceans, and thus
prevented lands from rising; but no such movements occurred in an east and west direction.. If
the changes of the seasons, or any thing else, had
caused a similar annual movement of the ocean
east and west, between North and South America,
the connecting dry land of Central America would
never have existed.
The northern continents are nearly connected,
east and west, in the polar regions, because the
elliptical currents did not extend beyond the 60th
degree north. Besides, the three northern continents are normally but three points, or projections
of a triangle, the centre of which is at the pole.
This will readily be seen if we take a polar view
of the primitive map of the world.-(See fig. 3.)
38 
SECTION III.
SINKING OF THE OCEAN'S FLOOR BENEATH THE
WEIGHT OF THE ACCUMULATED SEDIMENT.
HAT the central portions of the oceans have
sunk, and that their borders have risen, is proved
beyond all question. The evidence accumulated
upon this subject by Darwin and by Dana, in connection with the coral reefs and islands, is highly
instructive.   It shows that the depressions have
been gradual and continuous, in the same localities, from the earliest geological ages. Many of
the geological formations also afford the most positive proofs that they were deposited while the
crust of the earth-the ocean's floor-was slowly
subsiding.  Mr. Lyel, in his Manual of Geology
says:
"The structure and organic contents of some of the ancient marine formations, point to the conclusion, that the
floor of the ocean was slowly sinking at the time of their
origin. The downward movement was very gradual, and in
Wales and the contiguous parts of England, a maximum
thickness of 32,000 feet (more than six miles) of carboniferous, devonian and silurian rock was formed, while the bed
of the sea was all the time continuously and tranquilly subsiding, The sea remained shallow all the while."
"Prof. Ramsay has given me, (says Darwin,) the maximum
thickness, in most cases from actual measurement, in a few 
SINKING OF THE
cases from estimates, of each formation in different parts of
Great Britain, and tlis is the result:
Feet.
Palezoic strata, not including igneous beds................ 57,150.
Secondary................................................. 13,190.
Tertiary.................................................. 2,240.
Making nearly thirteen and three-fourths British miles."
Again, Darwin says "I am convinced that all our ancient
formations which are rich in fossils, have been formed during subsidence. Since publishing my views on this subject
in 1845, I have watched the progress of geology, and have
been surprised to notice how author after author in treating
of this or that formation, has come to the conclusion that it
was accumulated during subsidence."
Mr. Dana thinks there is proof that a portion of the Appalachian region subsided not less
than seven miles, before it was elevated to its pressent position.
Sir John Herschell and Mr. Babbage have suggested that possibly the weight of the sediment,
derived from the abrasion of the shores by the
ocean currents, may, in some places, produce depressions of the ocean's floor and crowd the subjacent lava up under the dry lands, thus producing
volcanoes, and perhaps adding to the elevation of
lands already raised above the sea.  They have
not proposed to account in this way for the original formation and elevation of the continents, nor
have they pointed to any particular locality which
they propose to prove to have been elevated in
this manner. They have merely thrown out the
idea as a plausible conjecture, which is not incon 
OCEAN'S FLOOR.
sistent with known facts, nor with dynamical principles.  Mir. James -Hall, the distinguished geologist of New York, in his latest official report, has
expresssed his approval of this speculation.
Without knowing anything of the opinions expressed by these distinguished authors, I was led
to the conclusion that all elevations, including the
continents, were caused by the weight of oceanic
sediment.  I inferred it from the remarkable relations which I found to exist between the directions
of the currents and of the shores, and also the relative positions and number of the oceans and continents.
It should be remarked, that if it were perfectly
demonstrated that the weight of the sediment had
produced depressions, and consequent elevations,
this fact alone would be of but little value; since it
would throw no light upon the forms, number, and
arrangement of the continents.   But when the
true theory of the ocean currents comes to be understood, the fact of the distribution of the sediment, and the depressions produced by its weight,
assumes vast importance. If it is objected that I
cannot directly prove that elevations are produced
in this manner, and that therefore the idea is a
mere conjecture I answer, that it is true we cannot
see the lava moving beneath the pressure of the
ocean's floor, and therefore it may be said that the
geonomic theory does not admit of direct occular
proof; but, at the same time, to a philosophical
mind, the evidence is of such a nature as to be
4*
41 
SOURCES OF
quite as irresistable as occular demonstration.
Herschell quotes from Lord Bacon, the observation
that "the confirmation of theories relies on the
compact adaptation of their parts, by which, like
those of an arch or dome, they mutually sustain
each other, and form a coherent whole." When
we consider what a vast number and variety of
facts are accounted for by the geonomic theory and
by no other, while not a single known fact can be
found opposing it, our minds are so constituted
that we cannot resist the conviction that it must
be true.
SOURCES OF THE SEDIMENT.
It is supposed by some authors that the ocean
currents do not abrade the bottom of the deep sea;
and therefore, it may be objected to the geonomic
theory that, when the ocean covered the whole
earth, there could not have been enough sediment
collected to cause the depression of the earth's crust
by its weight. It must, however, be considered,
that the ocean contains an abundance of other materials for sediment besides those obtained by the
mechanical abrasion of its floor. The Iimestone
formations, some of them several miles in thickness,
are composed, almost entirely, of the organic re
As soon as an ocean washed the consolidated crust of the
globe, it would begin to abrade the surfaces upon which it
moved, gradually loosening and detatching the materials to
deposit them again.-AGASSIZ' GEOLOGICAL SKETCHES.
42 
THE SEDIMENT.
mains of creatures that have lived and died in the
ocean. If it be admitted that a very small quantity of' chemico vital sediment annually settled upon
the bed of the primitive sea, geology steps in with
its countless ages, and magnifies the total amount
to more than enough for all the purposes of our
theory.
Prof. Philips, in his Manual of Geology, 1859, London edition, p. 633, remarks:-" Nothing is more certain than that of
all the strata yet discovered, limestone is exactly that which,
by the regularity and continuity of its beds, by the extreme
perfection of its organic contents and by the absence of proofs
of mechanical action, gives most completely the notion of a
chemical precipitate. It appears sufficiently probable, in
several instances, that the quantity of limestone deposited in
a given geological period was least toward the shores, and
greatest toward the deep sea; exactly the reverse of what
happens with the mechanical deposits of sandstone and
shale; it may therefore be viewed as an oceanic deposit resulting from a decomposition of sea water, aided in many instances to a wonderful extent, by the vital products of zoophitic and moluscous animals."
Page 65 he says: "The deposition of limestone by chemicovital precipitation would probably happen over a large por
tion of the bed of the sea, and be abundant in proportion to
the depth, clearness and tranquility of the water; hence strata
of limestone would thicken toward the center of tfhe oceanic
basin. They would be of more uniform texture, and perhaps
of purer composition, in that direction."
Page 50: "The attentive observer soon learns to consider
the operations by which sandstones and clays were accumulated, as of short duration, and intermitting action; while
43 
SOURCES OF
the production of limestone is regarded as the result of one
continuous and almost uninterrupted series of chemical
changes.
"The carboniferous system in South Wales, which is principally limestone, is more than two and a half mile in thickness."
If any critic still insists that the weight of the
sediment is insufficient to account for depressions
of the earth's crust, and prefers the theory of Leibnitz, that the radiation of heat caused the internal
lava to contract and the external crust to ifall by
its own weight;-I reply, that both theories may be
true, since one of them does not necessarily exclude
the other. We may admit that the internal molten
lava did cool and shrink so that the crust fell down
upon it, and then ask-would it not be certain to
fall, in preference, in those places where the oceanic
sediment added most to its weight?
When to this consideration we add the fact that
the elevations and depressions coincide with the
ocean currents, is not the proof conclusive? 
NOTE.-RELATION OF OCEANIC DEPRESSIONS TO THE MAGNETIC LINES
OF NO VARIATION. —The mariner's compass is commonly supposed to point
north and south, but this is not the case in all places. It has been found to
vary to the east or west, though much more in some placcs than in others.
It has been discovered, however, that there is a line extending irregularly
east and west across Europe and the Atlantic to America, on which the
compass does not vary, but points due north and south. This line, called
"the line of no variation," is not permanent, but, from some unknown
cause, slowly changes its location, moving in one direction forty or fifty
years, and then returning again to nearly its former position.
May it not be that these changes of the line are owing to the alternate
movements of the lava beneath the earth's crust, consequent upon the
varying weight and pressure of the ocean's bed?
44 
PRIMITIVE PLAN.
PRIMITIVE PLAN OR SYMMETICAL MAP OF THE
SURFACE OF THE GLOBE, ACCORDING TO
THE GEONOMIC THEORY.
The forces which produced the elliptical currents,
namely, the sun's heat and the earth's rotation,
were definite, fixed and unchangeable in amount.
Each ellipse must therefore have had a definite diameter north and south, as well as east and west;
and the six primitive ellipses were probably nearly
equal to each other. It might, without experience,
be a difficult, though perhaps not an unanswerable
question, as to how many ellipses could, under the
circumstances, occupy the surface of the globe.
Fortunately, howvever, we are saved the trouble of
making the calculation. The actual map of the
world, especially the geological map, affobrds abundant evidence that there were three pairs of oceans,
and no more. If the six oceanic depressions had
been equal, the intervening elevations would also
have been equal, and the map of the world would
have been perfectly symmetrical (see fig. 2); there
would have been three meridional series of elevations, three continents in each series, namely: a
northern continent, shaped like North America,
though smaller; a tropical continent, resembling
South America; and a southern continent, projecting firom the antarctic region, as North America
does from the arctic, and resembling North America in form.  The borders of the continents would
have been elevated into mountains, and their inte
45 
PRIMITIVE PLAIN OF THE
riors depressed, constituting shallow interior basins.
The northern continents would, in form, all have
been pointed toward the south, and the southern
continents pointed toward the north. The tropical
continents would have been pointed north, south,
east and west; they would be hollowed out on the
western sides, one hollow on each side of the equator, produced by local currents moving obliquely
eastward (see fig. 2), and they would be connected
by ithsmuses with the arctic and also with the antarctic continents.
I cannot well understand why the north and
south Atlantic pair was made smaller than the
other two pairs of oceans. Was it because there
was not room enough east and west, in each hemisphere, for three fully developed ellipses? and
was it therefore necessary that one of the three
pairs of oceans should be forced to take a smaller
division than the others?
I have described North America, north-west
Europe, and north-east Asia, as three distinct continents; but, taking a polar view of the primitive
plan, we perceive that there was really but one
north polar continent, (see fig. 3,) of a triangular form; North America being one of the projections of the triangle, north-west Europe another,
and north-east Asia a third.  Strictly speaking,
therefore, there were but five primitive continents,
namely: one northern, with three projections pointing southward; one southern, with three projections pointing northward; and three tropical con
46 
0         I        I
~~~~~~~~I
il 
SECTION IV.
LOCAL CURRENTS.
F two currents proceed from near the equator
(or from any lower latitude to a higher,) one of
which is local and the other a part of an ellipse,
they will not both run in the same direction.  The
elliptical current will, in the northern hemisphere,
move north-west, and the local current north-east.
If two such currents proceed from  the  north
towards the equator, the elliptical current will run
south-east, and the local current south-west. In
the southern hemisphere the same is true, but the
directions are reversed. If two such currents proceed from one of the neutral points in an ellipse,
they will both run in the same direction.  Any one
who doubts the correctness of these principles, has
only to apply them to the cases of the actual currents to find that they encounter no exceptions, but
that every ocean current known is perfectly accounted for by them.
I can understand that there mfight be a semiielliptical local current, under peculiar local circumstances. If, for instance, the warm Norway current that enters the Arctic sea, moving in a northeast direction, could move unobstructed, it would
I 
LOCAL CURRENTS.
flow out of the Arctic again in a south-east direction, thus pursuing a semi-elliptical path.
Each of the five great oceans contains one elliptical current, besides its local currents. The latter
are necessary to give circulation to the water which
is located between the ellipses, or between the
shores and the ellipses. I know of no instance
where a local current exists within the boundaries
of an ellipse. Before the continents emerged from
the sea, the water above them, not being included
within the ellipses, must all have possessed local
currents, the operations of which must have somewhat modified the forms of the continents.
Each of the tropical continents must have had
two local counter currents; one on the north side of
the equator, which moved north-east; and another
on the south side, which moved south-east.   The
tendency of these two currents was to hollow out
the tropical continents  on  their western  sides.
Thus one of the hitherto puzzling problems of
physical geography is solved.
The waters over the rising polar continents must
also have possessed local currents before the dry
land appeared; and they must have made terrible havoc with the lands that were about emerging from beneath the sea. I imagine that each
of the three great northern ellipses must have sent
offsets, or local currents, into the polar sea. These
currents were each analogous to the Norway current that now enters the Arctic. One similar to
the Norway current entered through Behring's
5
49 
LOCAL CURRENTS.
Strait, when that passage was unobstructed; and a
current of the same character entered from the
North Indian ocean.
ACTUAL LOCAL CURRENTS.
NORWAY CURRENT.
The current that runs north-east along the coast
of Norway, is generally regarded as a continuation
of the, so called, gulf stream, or north Atlantic
ellipse. But it appears to me to be only a local
current, produced by the wants of the land-locked
Arctic sea. The cold waters that flow oQut of that
sea, along the coast of Greenland, render it necessary that a warm current should flow into it
from the Atlantic. The Norway current would
therefore exist, even if the gulf stream were to stop,
or if it were to flow west instead of east.
If the communications of the Atlantic with the
Arctic were cut off, all the water that now flows
into the Arctic, through the Norway channel, would
flow south-east to the African coast, and thence to
the equator; in a word it would be analogous to
the north Pacific current. But, as it now is, the
water flows north-east into the Arctic, and would
flow out again south-east, producing another "drift
period," if the elevation of the coast did not present an impassible barrier. The current is forced
to turn upon itself and flow out of the Arctic southwest, through the channel between Greenland and
Iceland. Some writers describe the current that
50 
LOCAL CURRENTS.
flows out of Baffin's sea as coming from the Arctic
sea; and perhaps a very small portion of it has
come through the strait of Fury; but I suspect
that most of the water that flows out of Baflin's
sea is the same as that which previously entered
it from the Atlantic. In other words Baffin's sea
is a mere repetition of the Arctic sea; which has
a current flowing in on its eastern side, and another
flowing out on its western side.
GUINEA LOCAL CURRENT.
On the west coast of Africa, a local warm current is generated, which is called the Guinea current. It flows south and east into the Gulf of
Guinea, beyond which it cannot now be traced.
Lieut.  Iaury says that it goes to the Falkland
islands, and warms the Patagonian coast.   This
is incredible.   Why  should a warm current like
this, flowing fi-on the equator, move  westward
across the south Atlantic? It is contrary to Lieut.
AIaury's own principles.
CAPE HORN LOCAL CURRENT.
A current, which may be denominated the Cape
Horn local current, is generated near the coast of
Chili and Peru. It is analogous to the Guinea
local current, and runs south to Cape Horn, between the coast and the cold elliptical current.
When this warm local current reaches Cape Horn,
it has acquired so much easting that it is impelled
51 
LOCAL CURRENTS.
to flow eastward, around the Cape, into the south
Atlantic and among the Falkland islands.
The cold current from the antarctic, which, near
Peru, is known as the Humboldt current, flows
north along the South American coast to Chili and
Peru, chilling the climate of those shores; while
the local current flows in the contrary direction,
and warms the shores of the Patagonian and Fuegean coasts.
All the writers on this subject describe this great
current as flowing cold from the antarctic, and
"dividing into two branches," one of which, after
reaching Chili and getting warm, turns back, and
flows around Cape Horn. According to our theory
this cannot be true. The Humboldt and the antarctic currents are parts of the south Pacific ellipse,
and cannot flow back. The Cape Horn counter
current is distinct, independent and local.
There is a remarkable local counter-current, in
the triangular space between the west coast of Central America and the two great elliptical currents
of the Pacific ocean, about 10 degrees north of the
equator. It seems to be generated in mid-ocean,
and flows east and north, as a warm local current
in that situation must.  It has hitherto seemed
strange and anomalous, that two great equatorial
currents, one north of the equator and the other
mostly south of it, should be flowing constantly
due west, and yet that between the two (but nearer
to the American than to the Asiatic coast) a warm
counter current be flowing east and north-eastward.
52 
LOCAL CURRENTS.
Our theory solves the enigma, by showing the distinction between elliptical and local currents. An
elliptical current must always flow westward near
the equator, while a local current must, in the same
latitude, flow eastward. There is a local current
flowing in and out of the Ochotsk sea, analogous to
that which flows in and out of Baffins sea; and
doubtless there are other interior currents of a similar character in the Alleutian, Japan, Chinese, and
other minor seas along this coast.
In the Indian ocean, the elliptical current, according to the authorities, is all south of the equator.
It flows from a point near the equator, and south
of it, along the east coast of south Africa. It is
divided by the island of Madagascar, a part flowing between the island and the continent, and the
rest flowing outside of the island; but, before
reaching the Cape of Good Hope, the two divisions
unite, and are then called "the Lagullas current."
It has long been supposed that this current passes
entirely around the Cape into the Atlantic, and
then flows north. According to the principles of
geonomy, this is impossible.  The current possesses
so much westing that it flows into the Atlantic a
short distance, and then turns and flows eastward
and southward to the antarctic coast.  The actual
observations of navigators seem to have convinced
Lieut Alaury that this was the true state of the
case, and our theory of the currents confirms the
idea. Prof. Guyot has also, in his map of the world,
53 
LOCAL CURRENTS.
indicated that this current flows in the manner I
have described.
There is a large land-locked space north of the
equator, in the Inffdian ocean, the water of which
does not 6btain its needed circulation by means of
the south Indian ocean ellipse, and must therefore
depend upon its local currents. It is said by Lieut.
Maury that the Lagullas current "has its genesis
in the Arabian sea," but this cannot be true. A
current that is generated in that sea must flow
south-east, if it crosses the equator, and north-east,
if it does not. It cannot manifest the westerly
tendency that the Lagullas current does, unless it
has previously flowed a considerable distance southwest. Probably the Arabian and Bengal seas send
a very large proportion of their warm waters
into the north Pacific, where they flow northeastward along the Asiatic coast. Prof Guyot represents the current as flowing south-west from the
Arabian sea across the equator, and along the east
African coast. But according to our theory, this
must be a mistake-unless the current first enters
the Arabian sea fromn the south, and brings its
westing with it.
According to the received theory, the warm
current that flows south along the east coast
of Africa, should  flow south-east.   Its warmth
tends it toward the pole, and the earth's rotation
tends to force it eastward. Why, then, does it
show such a strong westerly tendency, keeping
close to the eastern shore of Africa, and, as it were,
54 
LOCAL CURRENTS.
attempting to escape westward around the Cape of
Good Hope?  The old theories give no reason for
this, though all authors state the fact.  According
to the geonomic theory, the reason is plain enough.
The current comes from the antarctic region to the
equator, and brings a large quantity of westing
with it; and when returning northward it exhibits
this westing by forcing itself against the African
coast, and partially turning around the Cape of
Good Hope. Probably the peculiar form of the
Cape-rounded onl its eastern side-was caused by
this current. On the same principle, Cape Horn
received its form from the local current that passes
around it in an eastern direction.
SEASON CURRENTS OF THE INDIAN OCEAN.
There are currents in the Indian ocean, north of
the equator, which flow alternately in a northerly
and a southerly direction. These changes have
been generally attributed to the influences of the
monsoon or season winds; and it is possible that
they have some agency in producing them, but I
very much doubt it. I suspect that the same
causes that produce monsoon or season winds, also
produce monsoon or season currents, in the landlocked seas that wash the shores of Arabia and
India. WVhen the sun is in the north, the Indian
waters north of the equator are the most heated
of all the seas on the globe.   They  are much
warmer than the waters at the equator. Under
55 
LOCAL CURRENTS.
these circumstances, there will naturally be a current from the equator northward, the water of
which will ultimately find its way north-east into
the Pacific. In mid-winter, when the sun is in the
south, the waters at the equator must be warmer
than those along the south Asiatic coast; and local
currents therefore flow south-east toward the equator. I do not believe that there is a single instance
in which a constant or periodical current of the
ocean is produced by the wind. The fact that the
winds frequently coincide with the ocean currents,
merely proves that the currents of the ocean and
of the atmosphere are both produced at the same
time by a common cause.
56 
SECTION V.
DERANGEMENT OF THE CURRENTS AND THE
CONSEQUENT CHANGES IN THE SHORES
AND CONTINENTS.
N examining the north and south Pacific, we find
that there is a permanent cause of disturbance
between the two oceans. The land near Behring's
strait is elevated, so as to prevent any effectual
communication with the cold waters of the Arctic
sea; consequently, the elliptical current does not
approach within 35 degrees of the north pole, while,
in the south Pacific, it reaches within at least 25
degrees of the south pole. The consequence is
that when the two currents meet at the equator,
one from the north and the other from the south,
they differ in temperature, even during the equinoxes; and therefore, the warmer current from the
north must overflow into the south Pacific, and the
colder south Pacific current underflow in the contrary direction.
Whether this inequality of the two oceans was
caused by the elevation of the Arctic lands, or the
depression of those in the Antarctic, or by both
combined, it is not very easy to conjecture, but the
immediate effect was to produce a permanent derangement or obliquity of the circulation in both
oceans and a corresponding' change in the shore
6 
DERANGEMIENT OF
lines. Let us assume that the land in the north
prevented the current from going beyond the 35th
degree of north latitude, while the depression in
the Antarctic region allowed it to flow to the 70th
degree of south latitude. What course did the current necessarily pursue? and in what respects did
its path differ from that of the normal and primitive
current when the two oceans were equal?
1. Commencing at Behring's strait it did not
move as far south-east, and therefore it promoted
the elevation of the western side of North America.
2. After crossing the equator it had less westing,
and therefore it probably did not reach the coast
of Australia, but turned south and south-east near
the east side of New Zealand; possibly it was the
means of causing the elevation of that island; for
its geology indicates that it was elevated subsequently to Australia.
3. The invading current, not having communicated with the Arctic sea, was abnormally warm
when it crossed the equator, and therefore approached nearer to the south pole to get cooled.
We will assume that it reached the 70th degree of
south latitude.  It had now acquired an abnormal
quantity of easting, and, of course, it moved an
abnormal distance south-east, thence due east, and
then north-east. It could not do this without
overflowing the then rising and normal continent
of Graham's Land in antarctic America, and also the
rising continent of tropical (South) America. Did
not this cause the present continent of South
58 
THE CURRENTS.
America to be placed further east than it would
otherwise have been? And was not this one cause
of the narrowness of the south Atlantic?
4. When the current on its return reached the
equatorial region, it had travelled 70 degrees of
latitude, and, therefore, possessed a great amount
of westing; consequently, it moved an abnormal
distance westward before it re-crossed the equator,
and also after it had re-crossed it. Of course it must
have overflowed the rising and normal continent
of tropical Australia, which was then divided into
two equal halves by the equator. (See the symmetrical map.)  Is not this the reason why the present Australia is crowded so far south? and why the
archipelago between it and Asia has the appearance of a wrecked continent?
5. When the current had re-crossed the equator,
moving in a north-west direction, did it give form
and a westerly direction to the islands that lay
in its path through the East Indies? Did it intrude upon the domain of the north Indian ocean,
and contribute to the destruction of that basin?
It certainly must have moved an abnormal distance
west, and north-west; and the actual departure of
the present Pacific outlines from the primitive symmetrical map, are precisely such as this deranged
current would produce. If, on a symmetrical map'
we mark the path of this current, thus deranged, and
observe where it varies from the primitive path,
we shall find that we have unconsciously drawn the
actual outline of the Pacific.
59 
THE CURRENTS.
FIGURE 4.
I x                     2. 
N P~~~~~~~....
-'~~~~~~~~~~~
In fig. 4, the normal and primitive currents of the north
and south Pacific are represented by continuous lines, and
the present deranged currents by dotted lines. The land is
represented as elevated in the north so as to exclude the
warm current from the Arctic, and to cause it to vary as already described, and as the dotted line represents. S. P.
south Pacific, N. P., north Pacific. The reader will of course
understand that fig. 4 is merely a diagram, used to convey a
complicated general idea, and is not intended to represent
the actual currents.
60 
SECTION VI.
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND ITS RELATIONS
TO THE NEW THEORY OF THE
OCEAN CURRENTS.
T-HE study of physical geography has hitherto
been little more than what the word literally
implies, that is, a description of the principal na tural features of the earth's surface, without a phi losophical explanation of their causes. We are
now enabled to look deeper into the matter, and to
study the terrestrial masses and oceanic basins, with
a better knowledge of the dynamical agencies that
created them and gave them their relative posi tions and forms. The continents, mountains and
islands are no longer unmeaning objects, with
varying elevations and outlines, that impress our
minds with vague wonder. They are historic
monuments of the events of ages so vast, that
human generations are but as moments in the com parison. The surface of the globe is covered with
ancient hieroglyphics, the alphabet of which is
now known; and which, when properly translated,
are found to contain the divinest poetry of nature.
To understand the present actual map of the
world, we must regard it as a distortion of the primitive map. In comparing the two, we find in the actual map some remarkable departures and discrepan 
PHYSICAL
cies; so great indeed are they, in some places, that
the original features are scarcely discernable, except
to the eye of science. In studying any science, we
are frequently obliged to discriminate between the
normal and the abnormal results of nature's laws.
When accounting for any natural production, we
must first inquire what form or mode it would assume if no disturbing causes were interposed. This
being determined, we are better able to account
for the forms and conditions that actually exist.
Thus, physiology is the science of the functions of
organs in their normal and healthful state; and that
must be well understood before the diseased conditions of these same organs, and their departures
from health, can be comprehended
Applying this principle to the actual continents
and oceans, we first ascertain that the ocean
primitively covered the globe. We next demonstrate that the oceanic waters must necessarily
have become divided into a definite number
of ellipses;  and  we  find, by  a mere  inspection of the common and geological maps, that
there actually were three ellipses in the northern
and three in the southern hemisphere, and that
they were arranged symmetrically opposite each
other.  We  now make a diagram map as a standard, or representative of the primitive plan in all
its simplicity; and we say-such would have been
the present map of the world if nothing had interfered with the equal operation of the six ellipses
of currents. (See fig. 2.) We next consider the
62 
GEOGRAPHY.
local currents that must have been generated in
the inter-elliptical spaces, and take into account
the effects which they must have had upon the
forms of the primitive continents. We find that
they would naturally tend to hollow out the tropi cal continents on their western sides, and to pro duce much more serious effects upon the polar con tinents. Next we consider the changes of the sea sons and their effects upon the currents, and con sequently upon the relative positions of the north
and  south  continents  and  oceans.    We  find
that they tend to produce symmetry, by bring.
ing each northern ocean directly opposite a south.
ern ocean, and each northern continent opposite a
southern continent. Having thus settled these
principles, ascertained the primitive forms and
positions, and made them standards of comparison,-we are prepared to enquire how far the
present actual map of the world, and of each
continent  and ocean,  is a departure from the
primitive  plan.   We  can also form some idea
of the nature of the deranging processes, by the
influence of which the present distorted map was
produced.
The three tropical continents (see fig. 2,) of the
primitive map are now imperfectly represented by
South America, Africa, and Australia. The three
northern continents by North America, northwestern Europe,  and  north-eastern Asia.   The
three Antarctic continents, or projections of the
primitive plan, have but a few vestiges remain
63 
PHYSICAL
ing. Graham's Land and South Shetland, projecting from the Antarctic, opposite Patagonia, is a
poor apology for a continent that should be the
counterpart of North America. When viewed,
however, on a polar projection map, Graham's
Land, though small, has nearly the same form as
North America. It should be remarked that it is
pointed toward the north, as all the Antarctic
projections are, and as, according to the geonomic
theory, they should be.
The other two primitive Antarctic continents, or
projections, are much more defective.   The Tasman sea, which separates Australia from the Antarctic coast, is probably very shallow compared
with the great oceans east and west of it; and,
therefore, when the physical map of the whole
sea bed is completed, perhaps it will appear that
a deformed submarine continent exists there.
The southern side of Australia is probably hollowed out by local currents that flow north-west
from the Antarctic coast.
64 
~~~~I e                                 2
I I-                                                         
0
10
ol
0
0
p
0
a,
I p 
PHYSICAL
Figures 5 and 6 are well calculated to give a good idea
of the geonomic theory. Figure 5 is a repetition of figure 3,
and represents the northern hemisphere according to theory,
while figure 6 represents the southern hemisphere as it
actually exists.   The form of the Antarctic continent is
copied from Dr. Hitchcock's Geology of the Globe. The
arrows on figure 6 represent very nearly the actual courses
of the great southern currents.   Their agreement with
theory is remarkable. The positions of the lands in the inter.
spaces are almost equally in harmony with geonomy.
The northern continents seem to be developed to
an enormous extent at the expense of those in the
southern hemisphere. Is it not reasonable to suppose that the depression of one hemisphere was
the cause of the greater elevation of the other?
Not only is there a disproportion and irregularity
in the relative magnitudes of the continents, but
also in their forms and relative positions.   Compare Africa and Europe, with their short connecting isthmus or neck, and the narrow Mediterranean
betweeen them, with Australia and Asia, their long
disjointed neck, and the wide expanse of intervening water.
The true primitive characters of Europe and
Asia are also very much disguised. They are frequently spoken of as the "great continent," but
geononiy informs us that this "great continent,"
includes not only two primitive continents, but
also a large portion of the bed of the north Indian
ocean,
66 
GEOGRAPHY.
FIGURE 7. —.Map of the World.
/
7"
;;<')
0 
67 
PHYSICAL
Fig. 7 is a map of the world drawn on Mercator's projection, representing, in a general manner, the ocean currents, very nearly as they run. The local currents are
represented by mere arrow heads,-one moves north-west
from the Antarctic; another around Cape Horn; another
south-east into the Gulf of Guinea.   One runs north-east
along the Norway coast into the Arctic, and another southwest out of it along the east coast of Greenland. Notice
that the directions of the local currents in the tropics are
calculated to hollow out the western sides of the continents.
These currents must have been very powerful and effective
when the continents were rising, and were only one or two
hundred feet beneath the surface of the sea. It should be
observed that Australia is hollowed out on its southern
rather than its western side; and this harmonizes with the
fact that the south side of this continent is exposed to the
effects of the cold local currents, that flow north-west from
the Antarctic; and in this respect it differs from South
America and Africa, which are hollowed out on the west, by
the warm local currents of the tropics, which flow easterly.
Observe the remarkable triangular space formed by the
mountains where north-east Asia is marked on the map. This
is the proper geonomic form of the primitive continent according to our theory. It is analogous to North America and to
Graham's Land. Notice the general parallelism of the elliptical currents to the mountains on the borders of the continents.   The mountains are represented by zigzag lines.
Observe the east and west running mountains of southern
Europe and Asia, while the more primitive mountains run
more nearly north and south.
The dotted line on the great continent represents, in a
general manner, the primitive course of the elliptical current. It flowed north-west through what is now the Red
Sea, just as the analogous current in the Atlantic now
flows north-west through the Caribbean Sea. It turned
and flowed north and north-east on the east side of
68 
GEOGRAPHY.
the Scandinavian mountains, just as now the gulf stream
flows north-east on the east side of the Alleghanies.
It moved east to northeast Asia, just as the gulf stream
now  flows east to  Europe.   It turned south-east and
then south-west, and flowed to the equator, just as the
analogous Atlantic current now does. It is well known
to geologists, that, in the carboniferous period, more
than three-fourths of the land within the dotted circle on
the map was  beneath the sea.   The  northern half of
Africa, and the southern half of Europe was in the same condition: of course a "gulf stream" must then have circulated
in the north Indian ocean.
Prof Guyot remarks that there is a north and
south Pacific, and a north and south Atlantic,
but, he adds, "the Indian is only half an ocean."
This is true, but the other half existed (geologically speaking) but a short time ago. To satisfy ourselves of this, we have only to study a geological
map.  We there find that a short time before the
tertiary period, more than two thirds of Europe
and Asia were covered by a north Indian ocean.
The Alps and the Himalaya mountains were mostly beneath the sea.   In a word, three double
oceans then existed.
The progress of the elevation of the land around
the ancient north Indian ocean, was from the north
toward the south and east, in Europe; and from
the north toward the south and west, in Asia.
Scandinavia, and a part of north-western Russia,
were the first portions of Europe that were raised
above the sea. The elevation next extended to
69 
'HYSICAL
Germany, Britain, France and Spain.  Westeri
Europe was advancing toward Africa,  and the
Mediterranean  was  becoming  narrower.   The
Euxine, the Caspian, the Persian, the Red, the
Arabian, and the Mediterranean, were one great
connected ocean; into the midst of which islands
were beginning to rise, and peninsulas to project,
some of which were destined to become the bases
of the Pyranees, the Juras, the Appennines, the
Caucasian and the Alpine mountains of our age.
The Scandinavians constituted, at first, the western boundaries of the north Indian ocean. But,
as the elevated plains extended eastward, the
bounds were transferred to the Urals, which were
elevated by the subsidence of the Siberian basin.
The northern part of the north Indian ocean was,
at one time, divided into east and west basins by
the Ural mountains, which were then islands; but
after Europe became elevated, this ocean was limited to the Siberian basin.  At length, that also
was elevated and drained. In Asia it was the
north-eastern part, where the mountains run north
erly, that rose first: an independent, isolated continent, of a triangular form, wide at its northern
base, and pointed southward, if we may judge by
its present mountains. It was washed on the east
by the Pacific, and on the west by the north Indian ocean. India and southern China were probably volcanic islands. The tropical waters of the
Arabian sea poured a warm "gulf stream" northeast, and along the eastern side of the Urals, into the
70 
GEOGRAPHY.
arctic; giving to Siberia a temperate climate, where
now perpetual winter reigns.
EAST AND WEST RUNNING MOUNTAINS.
The remark is frequently made by geographers,
that the principal mountains of southern Europe
and Asia run nearly east and west, while those of
all other parts of the world run more nearly north
and south. Why are the mountains in this part of
the great continent an exception to those of all
the rest of the globe? We know that the mountains of north-west Europe and north-east Asia
were created first, and these run north and south.
The locality where the mountains run east and
west is where geonomy teaches us that the north
Indian ocean once existed. This is the only one of
the six great ocean basins that has been elevated;
and it is to be expected that it should therefore be
exceptional in its physical structure.   Geology
demonstrates that the east and west running
mountains of the great continent were not created
until after the normal continents of Europe and
Asia were. The Ural mountains, that run nearly
north and south, were created after the Scandinavians were: probably the Altai mountains were elevated at nearly the same geological time. Siberia
was thus made a separate basin; bounded by the
Stanovoi mountains on the east, the Urals on the
west, and the Altai on the south. Nearly the
whole of southern Europe and Asia was then beneath the sea. We learn from geological surveys,
71 
EAST AND WEST
that although the Ural and the Altai mountains
were among the first that were elevated, the Siberian basin remained beneath the sea until the latter
part of the tertiary period, and probably a portion
of it still later. I believe that the Altai mountains
have abrupt slopes on their northern sides; thus indicating that the Siberian basin, relatively, sunk
beneath its weight, while the Altai mountains were
rising. The Siberian basin was probably analogous to the Mississippi valley, in this respect, that
while the depressions of the great oceans caused
the gradual elevation of the whole continent, the
sinking of the Siberian basin, in its central parts,
caused relative interior depressions, and abrupt
slopes.
For the same reason that the depression of the
north Atlantic caused the Scandinavians to run
nearly north and south, and the depression of the
north Pacific and the Ochotsk sea, caused the Stanovoi mountains to run in the same direction-the
depression of the western extremity of the Siberian basin, caused the Urals to run north and south.
Reasoning in the same manner in regard to the
Altai, and the other mountains that run east and
west, we say that they necessarily run in that direction, because the basins that created them did
so. The Altai had on their north side the Siberian
sea, and on the south the southern two-thirds of
the ancient north Indian ocean, which then extended east and west from Britain and France to
China. The depression of this ocean would of
72 
RUNNING MOUNTAINS.
course produce east and west mountains. From
that time to the present this ocean has been retreating southward, followed by the succession of
east and west mountains and plateaus that now
constitute the principal portions of southern Asia
and Europe. These elevations were the consequences of the repeated depressions of the Indian
ocean south of them.*
In the north Atlantic, between Newfoundland
and Ireland, is an elevated region beneath the
sea, which has lately been called the telegraphic
plateau. It runs irregularly east and west; and
was undoubtedly created by the depression of the
ocean's bed at the south of it. It is probably still
rising. The volcanoes upon the northern islands, between Europe and America, and the gradual elevation of the north of Sweden, while the southern
part is sinking; the depression of the southern part
of Greenland, while Iceland is overflowing with
rivers of lava;-all this indicates that thie process
which has gone on to consummation in the north
Indian ocean, is being repeated in the north Atlantic. The same process is also going on, and
is much further advanced, in the north Pacific.
Between Asia and America the mountain ranges run
*NOTE.-"It is hardly to be doubted, from the geological evidence already
collected, that the whole mountain-range from western Europe through
the continent of Asia, including the Alps, the Caucassus and the
Himalayas, was raised at the same time. A convulsion that thus made
a gigantic rent across the continent, giving egress to three such mountain ranges, must have been accompanied by a thousand fractures in
contrary directions."-AGAssIz's GEOLOGICAL SKETCHES.
7
73 
PilYsIcAr,
nearly east and west; so do the Aleutian islands,
and their chain of active volcanoes, that extend
in a curve around the borders of a basin which,
when elevated, may be regarded as the analogue of
the Siberian basin; while the Aleutians will resemble the Altai.
Assuming that there were originally six-sinking
ocean basins, the lava crowded from beneath them
would be forced to rise by elevating those neighboring intermediate parts of the earth's crust,
upon which the deposits of sediment were least
weighty. As the sediment would mostly fall beneath the paths of the currents, or be collected
within the limits of the  elliptical circuits, the
smallest amount of deposits would be made in the
angular inter-elliptical spaces; these therefore would
become elevated, and constitute the normal continents. If, in consequence of the derangement of
the currents, one or more of the rising continents,
or parts of continents, should become included in
the circuits of the currents-then such included
parts would be loaded with sediment, and caused to
subside again, and the subjacent lava be forced to
rise in other places, beyond the limits of the aqueous ellipses. Again, if, from any cause, one of the
six sinking basins did not accumulate as much
weight of sediment within its limits as the other
five did, it would not sink as deep; and the others
would, by virtue of their superior weight, force
their subjacent lava underneath the lighter basin,
and thus produce its elevation above the sea. This
74 
GEOGRAPHY.
is evidently what has happened to the north Indian basin.
The land in the northern hemisphere, is, when
compared with that in the southern, as three to
one. - The lava that has been forced from under
the southern basins, has been driven up under the.
northern continents, which have thus been made
of more than twice the normal size. As the lava
came from the south, it forced itself under the
nearest, or extreme southern parts of the northern
continents, and thus caused their extension in a
southern direction. The progress of elevation in
America and in Asia was south and west, in Europe it was south and east: in all three cases the
continents were abnormally extended in a southern
direction. The elevation and draining of the north
Indian basin was commenced by enlarging, in a
southern direction, the two northern continents
which then partially bounded it. Asia extended itself south and west to Africa, and Europe extended
itself south and east to Africa; so that between the
three continents, the north Indian ocean became
land locked; and the former free communication
with the waters of the equatorial region was cut
off. Its elliptical circulation being thus rendered
imperfect, or entirely destroyed, the accumulation
of sediment became gradually less; until at length,
like the weaker power in all contests, it was forced
NOTr.-ARAGo has suggested that the bottom of the Indian ocean must
be composed of very weighty materials, to counter-balance Asia in the
opposite hemisphere.
75 
PHYSICAL
to succumb to the greater weights in the three
neighboring ocean basins.
In Europe, the southern progress of the continent was arrested by the vicinity of Africa, which
served as a protection to the IMediterranean, and
prevented its bed from being entirely elevated.
To understand this, we must consider that Africa
was elevated simultanously with north-western Europe. When, therefore, the three neighboring great
oceans began to encroach upon the north Indian
basin, by crowding lava under it from beneath
themselves, the continent of Africa prevented, by
its position, any lava from being crowded under
that side which bordered upon Africa. The lava
from under the Atlantic could elevate Spain and
NOTE.-"Recent researches have shown that an immense region around
the Black, Caspian and Aral seas, and extending on the east side of the
Uralian mountains, through Siberia to the North sea, was, during the
latter part of the tertiary period, covered by brackish water, such as
that which now fills the Caspian. In other words, that sea, during a
long period, had that immense extent, and was not directly connected
with any ocean.
It is probable that during the tertiary period the water of the ocean
flowed through the valley of the St. Lawrence, so as to separate the Alleghanies from the hypozoic region around Hudson's Bay, as well as from
the Rocky mountains, forming, in fact, three large islands of North
America.
During the period in which the palaezoric rocks were in the course of
deposition, America was divided into six large islands-three in North
and three in South America. The Ozark mountains also formed a small
island, or bank, in advance of the long island of the Rocky mountains.
In Africa, a large part of the continent formed a single island. In Europe,
Scandinavia constituted the largest island, while the Urals formed another, and six or eight smaller ones existed. In Asia, there were from
three to five, though one of them was vastly the largest.-HITCHCOCK'S
GEOLOGY OF THE GLOBE."
76 
GEOGRAPHY.
France at the western extremity of the Mediterranean; and that from under the Arabian sea could
elevate Arabia, at the eastern extremity; while
the lava from-beneath the sinking basin of the
Mediterranean itself, elevated the Atlas mountains,
the Appenines, and the Alps, around its own
borders; but it was not practicable for the great
ocean basins to force their lava in -tire proper direction to undermine this sheltered basin. If the
place of Africa could have been occupied by an
ocean like the Indian, I have no doubt that the
place of the Mediterranean would have been filled
by a range of mountains like the Himalayas.
77 
-. I                               SO      -,,//" 
L                       LA~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ID
I
i
I
.i 
GEOGRAPHY.
Fig. 8 is a representation of the American series of three
continents. The antarctic continent of Graham's Land being represented as extending to the south pole and the arctic
to the north pole. I requested the artist to otherwise preserve the forms and proportions as they actually exist; my
object being to show that Graham's Land is merely an imperfect repetition or counterpart of North America; and Patagonia a counterpart of Central America, so called. In reality, according to geonomy, Graham's Land is South
America, and South America, so called, is Central America.
The hollowing out of the tropical continent on its western
side is well exhibited, so also are the local currents which
probably caused it. On the eastern side, there being no
local currents, but only the great elliptical currents, the
pointed form of the continent at cape St. Roque, corresponds
with this fact, and harmonizes with theory.
The large arrows represent the great elliptical currents;
and it will be readily conceived that were it not for the
effects of the local currents, the western sides of the tropical
continents would have been pointed just as the eastern sides
are.
The American series of continents has departed
less from the primitive plan than the other two
series have. This is doubtless owing to the fact
that the American is the only one of the three series that has had two great oceans on the east, and
two others on the west of it. Had the north Indian ocean maintained its integrity, instead of
having its bed elevated and drained, the other two
series of continents would have exhibited a much
more striking resemblance to the Americas.
The triple series of continents is so plainly indicated, that it has been recognized, and is men
79 
PHYSICAL
tioned, by several eminent geographers. Johnson,
in his great physical atlas, speaks of all the continents as being "equal to three Americas."  Guyot
denominates them "three double worlds."   Geonomy demonstrates, that primitively they were
three triple worlds; and this would now be evident
enough if the antarctic projections were normally
developed.
Fig. 9 is made to represent the outlines of the three series
of continents as they would appear if the north Indian
ocean basin had not been elevated. This simple illustration
conveys a better idea of the geonomic theory than a hundred
pages of verbal explanation. The analogy between the
eastern points of Africa, of Australia and of South America
is here apparent. So also is the relation of these three points
to the elliptical currents that turn from the equator and flow
north-west and south-west.
We can now readily perceive the analogy of the Red sea
and the Mediterranean, to the Caribbean sea and the Gulf
of Mexico; and the analogy of both to the East Indian seas.
This diagram enables us to appreciate the remark that "all
the continents together are equal to three Americas."
Is it not evident that instead of the currents being turned
aside by the eastern projection of America, that projection
was originally created by the currents? The primitive
function of the Red sea can now be perceived. The current
formerly ran through it into the Mediterranean, and thence
north-east into the Arctic. Observe how much the form of
Asia, in the diagram, resembles that of North America.
Observe that Australia now appears to be only the southern
portion of a continent, of which the islands north of it were
once a part; its analogy to South America and to Africa is
thus made more apparent.
80 
GEOGRAPIIY
FIGURE 9.
x\ I~~~~
'       i
Ij'
'1%
I
I  I
..   \?
l
,             I..N
-1\
8
I
81
)I' 
-'',.
Is
t
?..I
I 
PHYSICAL
Professor Hitchcock, in his geology of the globe,
says:
"The form of North and South America appears to be the.
type of all the other continents, if we unite Africa to Europe,
and New Holland to Asia. This renders it probable that
their forms are not accidental, but resulted from the mode in
which the internal forces acted."
If the Atlantic had been as large as the Pacific,
the Americas would have been still nearer to the
primitive type; and the mountains on the eastern
sides would have been as high and regular as those
on the western.
The mountainous edges of the continents rose
first, and the lava was not crowded under their in
teriors until a long time afterwards. The whole
rose gradually but irregularly; more upon one
side than upon another. Naturally any land would
rise most on the side next to the largest ocean.
Every mountain has its abrupt slope toward
the basin, the subsidence of which produced the
elevation of that mountain. When a continent, or
any large area of the earth's crust, was rising, the
central portion generally became depressed-or relatively depressed-while the exterior edges were
rising; that is to say, the exterior and surrounding
parts rose more rapidly than the interior. The
great interior seas, and large lakes, can be accounted for on these principles. The Caspian is in
a basin, the bottom of which is protected from the
82 
GEOGRAPHY.
invasion of lava waves by its distance from the
great oceans. This whole middle region, however,
firom Portugal to China, has, during the historic
period, and indefinite ages before, been liable to be
disturbed by earthquakes, produced, as all earthquakes are, by movements of lava from beneath
the great ocean basins. These earthquakes tend
to adjust the balance, which must be constantly
maintained, between the continents and the heavy
ocean beds, whose weights maintain the dry lands
in their elevated positions.
The American lakes seem to puzzle geologists;
but, by the light of geonomy, they appear to result naturally, from the depressions of tle two
great oceans east and west of them.
I presume that Hudson's Bay was the interior of
the primitive North American continent. A small
part of the Atlantic ocean current flowed northeast through lake Erie, lake Ontario and the river
St. Lawrence. The lands at the east of this channel were large continental islands, which gradually
rose and obstructed the channel, until only the
present lakes and the St. Lawrence river were left.
On the west side of Hudson's Bay was another
channel, in which a small portion of the cold current flowed south-east along the line of lakes Winnepeg, the lake of the Woods, Superior and Michigan. The Gulf of Mexico then extended north
nearly as far as the great lakes; and western North
America was a continental island. The lava from
under the Atlantic has not elevated the beds of
8 
84     CURVES OF MOUNTAINS AND ISLANDS
Erie, of Ontario or of the St. Lawrence, nor
that from under the Pacific, the beds of Winnepeg,
Superior and Michigan. These regions are, however, frequently disturbed by earthquakes, and will
probably continue to be so until the lakes shall
cease to exist.
CURVES OF MOUNTAINS AND ISLANDS AND
THEIR CAUSE.
It has been remarked by geographers that no
mountain range, and scarcely a single mountain,
is straight. The long ranges of mountains curve
toward the great oceans. If we attentively study
the 8hain of continental islands, that extend along
the eastern coast of Asia-the Aleutians, the Kurile,
the Japan-we observe that each is convex toward
the great ocean, and concave toward the minor
sea that divides it from the Asiatic continent.
The explanation is, that a large area of the bed
of the ocean, along the eastern shore of Asia, is
rising. This rising area is broken up into a chain
of minor basins, the centres of which are relatively
depressed, and the islands constitute the outer
edges of the basins. Of course, it is natural that
the islands, under these circumstances, should be
concave towards the interiors of the minor basins.
The same explanation applies to Cuba and the Antilles.
Bringing these principles to bear upon the moun
tains in the interiors of the continents, we are en —
abled to form some idea of their origin, and the 
AND THEIR CAUSE.
causes of their slopes and curvatures. Many of
them were primitively continental islands, concave
toward a basin which is now elevated and drained
to constitute a plateau.
The Asiatic and European systems of mountains
that run east and west, are the boundaries of several chains of basins, analogous to the series of
basins that now exist along the eastern shore of
the great continent.  The origin of the spurs or
transverse mountains, can now be understood.
They result from depressions of the extremities of
long minor basins while the continent as a whole
was rising.
HOLLOWING OUT OF THE WESTERN SIDES OF TIIE
TROPICAL CONTINENTS.
I have remarked that the local currents would
hollow out the western sides of the tropical continents. If the oceans and continents had remained perfectly symmetrical, each tropical continent would have been hollowed out, symmetrically,
oil each side of the equator. There would have
been a hollow on the western side of Africa, north
of the equator, similar to that on the south of it
which is known as the gulf of Guinea. So also,
there would have been a hollow on the western
side of South America, north of the equator, similar to that now existing in Peru.
The greater development of the oceans in the
southern hemisphere has caused the hollows to
be more strongly marked there than in the north.
85 
HIOLLOWING OUT
The Guinea local current, and the analogous
South American current are powerful and decided in their effects, but their counterparts in the
northern hemisphere are of inferior importance.
The "counter current" in the north Pacific, which
runs eastward toward the coast of California, is
unquestionably the imperfect representative of the
local tropical current which once impinged on the
western coast of tropical Central America.  An
analogous current, but still more imperfect and
slight, exists on the shores of France, and in the
vicinity of the Bay of Biscay.
The southern part of Australia was probably
hollowed out by the local currents that flow northwest from the Antarctic coast. I presume that
there is a tropical local current, analogous to the
Guinea current, that flows south-east among the
islands north of Australia; this, however, is only
a theoretical inference, founded upon the analogy
of their positions.
NOTE.-THE MOUNTAINs OF THE MoON.-The mountains of the mo6n
are not analogous to those of the earth, nor to the volcanic craters to
which they are often compared. Most of the elevations are called ring
mountains, because they are circular in form. The external part of the
ring is elevated considerably above the general surface of the moon;
but the interior is a deep pit, the sides of which are almost perpendicular; and its bottom, instead of being depressed, is more or less elevated
into a cone shaped mass, like the bottom of the inside of a wine bottle.
Some of these pits are hundreds of miles in diameter, while others are
too small to be distinctly seen, except under very favorable circumstances. The longest ranges of lunar mountains are curved, the concave sides being toward the centre of the moon's face. The only reasonable theory which I can conceive, to account for these
mountains, is the following:
In one part of her orbit the moon approaches 26,000 miles nearer to
86 
OF THE CONTINENTS.
the earth than in another part. In her primitive state, the moon was
composed of a liquid substance. When she was nearest to the earth, the
attraction of our planet caused her face to protrude; and when it retired
26,000 miles, the protrusion receded. When we consider that the moon
keeps the same face constantly turned toward the earth, we can readily
conceive that the alternate monthly protrusions and recessions would
produce the very appearances which it now presents; and which, as the
moon gradually hardened, would become permanent. The convex bottoms of the pits were probably produced by the last efforts made to
protrude. If the earth's attraction had no agency in the matter, and the
mountains were made by an internal force, acting in all directions
toward the surface, the mountains and the pits would all have appeared
oblique to us, excepting those in the central parts of the moon's face.
Near the edges of the moon the pits would have all had their mouths
turned outward. This is not the case. The elevations and depressions
are made in the very directions which they would be if the force that
made them had proceeded directly from the earth.
87 
SECTION VI.
GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS.
ACH  rising continent was a plateau, or table
beneath the sea, upon the top of which successive layers of sediment were rained during a
long series of ages. This sediment, pressed and
baked into rocks, folded into mountains and valleys, and abraded by the ocean currents, now constitutes what are called geological formations.
The organic remains which are mingled with the 
sediment, indicate the relative age and elevation of
each formation. When the continents commenced
rising, the animals that existed, and whose remains
fell upon them, were of the lowest and most simple
forms. It seems that the elevation of animals in
the scale of beings, kept pace with the elevations
of the continents from the bottom of the sea; as if
there was some causal connection between the two
classes of phenomena. As the continents rose higher,
the submarine climates, scenery and circumstances
become more various and complex; and adapted
to sustain, if not to create a greater variety of organic beings. When the continents rose above the
sea, and the dry land came in direct contact with
the atmosphere, it was like the creation of a new
and higher world, adapted to beings of a nobler 
FORMATIONS.
order. This land was at first low, warm, moist and
insular; fitted only for reptilian life: but the lands
continued to rise, and with them rose the scale of
organic beings. The digestive, respiratory, prehensive, intellectual and emotional organs became
more and more special and complex, until at length
man was introduced to wield the scepter of the
world.
It has been believed by a majority of geologists
that the primitive earth was inconceivably hot,
and has been constantly cooling and contracting to
the present time. I agree with Sir Charles Lyell,
that there is not sufficient evidence to warrant the
admission of this hypothesis; and that the probability is that the gradual cooling of the continents
has been caused by their gradual elevation. If all
the lands were now to sink, except a few small
islands, I have no doubt that the climate of the
world would be such as geology indicates that it
was in the carboniferous period. Those geologists
who believe that the surface of the earth has
gradually cooled from a molten state, regard the
succession of geological changes as the natural results of the cooling process.   Their idea is that
the whole earth, including the polar regions, once
possessed a hot climate, on account of the radiation
of internal heat; and the succession of geological
formations, together with oceanic depressions and
continental elevations, are all the necessary consequences of the cooling process.
Mr. Lyell thinks that the differences of climate
8*
89 
GEOLOGICAL
indicated by geology may be explained by the
changes of level in the earth's crust. I would go
fuirther and say, that all the geological phenomena
may be regarded as the direct or remote effects of
the same cause. The primary formations were
probably deposited before the continents began to
rise.  While they were rising to the surface of the
sea, the silurian formation was being created. The
old red sandstone formation was produced when
the edges of the continents were emerging from the
ocean, and were subjected to the powerful abrasion
of the currents, and the storms that agitated the surface of the sea. The carboniferous and coal formation was produced when large areas of low, swampy
lands had just risen a little above the sea, and were
in some degree protected from the ocean by the
higher rocky shores. The succeeding formations
were produced in local basins, lagoons, or inland
seas, where the materials derived firom the land
were mingled with those in the sea; and where the
terrestial productions predominated more and more'
over the marine, as the continents rose higher and
higher.
I regard all geological and all organic changes
as the direct or indirect results of depressions and
elevations of the earth's crust.   The same  conditions which were necessary to the production of
the lowvest geological formations, were also favorable to the creation of the lowest forms of organic
life. When the continents rose higher, the natural
and organic forces acted under different conditions,
90 
FORMATIONS.
and, therefore, produced different organisms. If
all those conditions are not now understood, that is
a sufficient reason why we cannot yet account for
the progressive elevation of organisms in a perfectly satisfactory manner.
91 
SECTION VII.
ECONOMY OF VITAL FORCE AND ITS RELATION TO
THE ORGANIC SCALE AND TO THE ELE            VATION OF CONTINENTS.
T is certain that from the earliest geological
ages to the present time, there has been a
gradual improvement of organisms. Not only has
there been an advance in the intellectual and emotional characters of conscious beings, but a similar
progression is demonstrable in every department
of organic nature. They have all made successive
advances from the lowest, most general, and simple
modes alid forms, to the most complex and specialized. So much is this the case that some modern
philosophers assume that there is, in the very nature of all organisms, a mysterious principle of
progress, a law of developeinent, by virtue of
which certain inherent, latent powers, faculties and
organs are evolved in a natural succession and order of creation.   Another class of reasoners attribute the progress of organic beings to the influence of external circumstances, operating upon
organs during a succession of generations, and
stimulating them to special developements; the
improvements of one generation being retained, and
transmitted with additions to the next, and so on,
during a long series of ages;  the present  ex 
VITAL FORCE.
isting organisms being the results of those accumulations. A strong indication of the insufficiency of this doctrine is found in the fact, that
the progressive principle pervades some departments of organic nature, where no circumstances,
with which we are acquainted, appear to be capable of producing such effects. It is not difficult to
understand that the intellectual and emotional natures of conscious beings might advance from generation to generation, in consequence of the stimulus of associations, contests and natural selections.
But this will not apply to the changes in the constitution of the blood, the developement of the
lymphatics, the spleen, or mammilary organs in
the higher animals; nor to the changes of motionless plants, from flowerless, seedless, fruitless forms,
to those possessed of the highest characters of
beauty and complication, with the addition of
instincts that seem to rival the sexual and parental affections of the higher animals.
The differences among animals of the same
species are termed varieties, and are admitted by
all writers to be the results of various physical influences, such as climate, food, and scenery. But
the differences of species, are by many of the ablest
naturalists, believed to have been coeval with the
creation of the first ancestors of the several species, and to continue in spite of the external influences that produce varieties.
A powerful argument in favor of this doctrine is
drawn from the fact that in examining the suc
93 
ECONOMY OF
cessive geological formations, new species appear
to be suddenly introduced, so widely differing
from any previously known, that it is thought
their existence cannot possibly be accounted for by
those gradual and progressive changes, by which
external influences are supposed to affect organisms.
It has been observed that those apparently
sudden catastrophes, as they are called, by which
new mountain ranges have been elevated, have invariably been followed by the introduction of new
and higher species of organisms. Are we to infer
from these facts, that gradual elevations caused
those slight changes only which constitute varieties, while catastrophes-produced by sudden great
depressions of the ocean's floor-originated species?
Is a new species a perpetuated and multiplied quasi
monstrosity, engendered and developed under new
and peculiar conditions, and economically adapted
to them?
A large and highly respectable class of thinkers,
despairing of any natural solution of the problem,
attribute the succession of advances in organisms
to the repeated miraculous interpositions of the
Supreme Creator. It appears to be natural for a
religious mind to explain all the mysterious phenomena of nature in this manner; and when, afterwards, it is found that the facts thus supposed to
be explained, result from the operation of a natural
law, it almost seems as if the Creator is deprived
of a part of his glory; and our religious feelings are
prone to rebel against scientific advances that thus
94 
VITAL FORCE.
appear to be made at the expense of our theological
opinions. But, in our zeal, we must not forget that
the Supreme Being is as much the author of the
natural laws by which material beings are formed,
as He is of the results which we denominate miraculous.  To my mind it is a much more wonderful
exercise of Almighty power and wisdom to establish an eternal law by the operation of which,
under certain conditions, a given result must always follow, than to perform a single and exceptional act, on a special occasion, in contravention of his own natural laws. If a single act of the
Creator is a miracle, each one of his natural laws
is continually producing miracles.
There appears to be a natural law, hitherto unrecognized, which underlies all the phenomena of
organic progression. I denominate it the law of dynamical economy, or, the economization of organic
force.  The advantage which is gained by any advance in the organic scale is that it economizes
force. It produces a given result in a superior,
because more economical, manner. In the lower
organisms a great number of supernumerary parts
abound, which, in the higher organisms of the
same class are dropped, and only the few that are
absolutely necessary are retained. Upon these few
the vital energies are concentrated, rendering them
highly effective. As an instance, contrast the
lowest insects with the highest-the centipede and
the caterpillar, and their indefinite number of locomotive appendages, with the spider, the bee and
95 
ECONOMY OF
the butterfly that have but six. Again, contrast the
great number of eggs produced each year by the
lowest fishes, to perpetuate their species, with the
few produced by the shark to accomplish the same
object. It would not be difficult to prove that all
the instances of the developement of special organs,
and the additions of special functions, which distinguish the higher from the lower classes of animals, has economy for its purpose. But in this
brief article I only wish to announce the general
law, and leave its more particular illustration to
some future occasion.
The advance of animals in intelligence, seems to
be but one of the modes in which this economic
law is manifested. The advantage gained by the
more intellectual animals over those of lower
grades, is that they can accomplish the same ends
with a lesser expenditure of force, or of time, or
with less difficulty or danger. Intelligence is economic of physical force. Animals are organic machines, and the higher animals are labor saving
machines. Dynamical laws underlie the scale of
organic beings. The brains of animals are laborsaving in proportion to their complication, and the
degrees of their developement. The brain of the
philosopher saves labor by creating machinery as
a substitute for muscular power. The ability to
economize force and use it to the best advantage,
constitutes the difference between the ape and the
savage, the savage and the philosopher. The
question now arises-whence came the necessity
96 
VITAL FORCE.
for the higher organisms economizing force? why
must they economize it more than the lower? The
answer is, that the whole quantity of available
force has been constantly diminishing; and in many
situations organisms have been forced to perish, or
to undergo economic changes of structure and
function. Organic force, in its primitive nature, is
the same as any other natural force. All the forces
of nature are identical, though they assume diffeient forms or modes of manifestation.   Heat,
light, electricity, muscular force, machine force and
vital force, are all one and the same force in different
disguises. All the force in the earth exists under
these and analogous forms. It is distributed unequally to different substances. Some substances
have a large quantity of latent force, others have
but little.  The same substance  may contain a
great quantity under some circumstances, and lose
it under others.  Some elastic substances retain
force with great tenacity, and others part with it
readily. No substance can acquire force except
from other substances. All the force acquired by
organic bodies, therefore, is taken from other bodies
which resist the change with greater or less tenacity.
As the continents rose from the bottom of the
sea, their heat was radiated away. The continents
became colder. Free force was scarcer, and latent
force was retained more tenaciously. Now, when
we consider that the functions of organisms caused
them to abstract the latent force from surrounding
97
9 
VITAL FORCE.
things, and convert it to organic force,-it is plain
that as force became more and more difficult to obtain, that which was acquired would be used more
and more economically and advantageously.
This I conceive to be the secret of the progressive advancement of organized beings. Moisture
contains a large quantity of latent force, which
organisms can appropriate. As the continents have
risen higher, moisture and free heat have become
less in quantity, and have been retained with more
tenacity; organisms have therefore obtained it with
more difficulty, and administered it with greater
economy.
If the continents were all to sink gradually, so
that in a thousand human generations the lands
were reduced to a few low, moist islands,-I have no
doubt that all the higher organisms would become
degraded: and if even those islands shoiuld disappear, and the ocean's bed resume its original level
-during all this long period of depression, the
scale of organic beings would indicate a corresponding depression, until only the lowest possible
grades would remain in existence.
98 
SECTION VIII.
DRIFT FORMATION.
FTER the northern continents had assumed
nearly their present forms and elevations, and
the present geological period was about to commence, a sudden change occurred in the climate,
which had always previously been warmer than it
is now. It became so cold as to destroy nearly all
the land animals in the northern half of the temperate zone. The hills were covered with glaciers,
the fields were clothed with ice and snow, and currents of water from the Arctic region overflowed a
large portion of the temperate zone. These currents
carried south-eastward such an immense quantity of
gravel and boulders, that it would seem that nothing less than the wreck of a continent could have furnished the materials. It was only the tops of the
highest mountains that were out of the reach of this
wonderful invasion.   The duration of the drift
period is unknown, but it is believed to have continued many thousand years; and when it ceased
the climate assumed its present condition.
The causes of the drift are unknown. Several
ingenious theories have been suggested in relation
to it, but none that accounts for all the facts. It
seems to be proved that a large portion of the 
DRIFT FORMATION.
drifted territories were covered by glaciers, analogous to those which abound at the present time in
some of the Alpine regions of Europe. The surfaces of many rocks, over which the drift passed,
are smoothed, and some of them scratched, in precisely the same manner as those rocks are which
glaciers are well known to have acted upon in
Switzerland. In many places the ground is furrowed, or raised into groups of oblong mounds
which glaciers alone could produce. Any proper
theory of the drift must show: 1st, the condition
of things previous to its commencement; 2d, the
nature of the changes which caused the drift; 3d,
the changes which brought it to a close. It must
also explain the existence of glaciers, boulders and
gravel; and, above all, why the course of the drift
was south-east.
I shall endeavor to show that the drift was
caused by the operation of the ocean currents,
while the Arctic lands were rising above the sea.
Let us first endeavor to form a correct idea of
the polar currents, before any of the land rose to
interfere with them. There were three elliptical
currents in the northern hemisphere, all of which
approached within twenty-five degrees of the pole;
consequently there was a polar interspace, nearly
three thousand miles in width, which had a ten
NOTE.-We have no clue to this great change.    *    *    *   A
sudden winter that was also to last for ages fell upon the globe.    *
*    *    An Arctic climate prevailed in the temperate zone, and
that of the temperate zone extended much farther south.-AGAssIz's GEo.
LOGICAL SKETCHES.
100 
DRIFT FORMATION.
dency to rise, and through which local or semielliptical currents flowed.   Each  of the elliptical currents sent warm offsets, analogous to
the present Norway current, north-east into
the  Arctic  sea.  These three local currents all
passed out of the polar interspace in a south-east
direction as cold currents. Thus three semi-elliptical local currents were created.   Reasoning theoretically, we have good reason to conclude that
such was the state of things at that time. When
the lands began to rise, they interfered with this
arrangement. The elevation of the north Indian
basin stopped the current from that ocean long
before the drift commenced. The offsets from the
Atlantic and from the Pacific were probably continued until the drift period. The Norway current
is now the only one of importance that circulates
through the Arctic sea. It enters in a north-east
direction, and finding no outlet south-east, is forced
to become neutral and to escape between Greenland and Iceland.
If the shores of the Arctic sea could now be
lowered five hundred feet, what course would the
currents pursue? Geononmy answers that a powerful warm current would enter the polar sea from
the Pacific in a north-east direction, between Asia
and America, and pass out south-east through Baffin's sea. If the passage from Baffin's sea should
afterwards be gradually shallowed by the elevation of the earth's crust, the current would overflow the northern lands for a vast distance around,
and repeat all the phenomena of the drift.
101 
DRIFT FORMATION.
Geonomy demonstrates that the drift was produced by warm currents entering the Arctic sea
north-east, and flowing from it in a south-east direction. All geologists agree that the drift, whatever was its cause, moved in a south-east direction
across both Europe and America. This fact, which
is of vital importance now that the laws of the
ocean currents are understood, has been, hitherto,
regarded as of no special value, except as a proof
that the drift currents moved from the Arctic regions.   But the south-east direction of the drift
proves that it was the complement or continuation
of a warm current, that entered the Arctic in a
north-east direction; for no other current would
move south-east. The easting of the drift currents
must have been acquired while they were warm,
and before they began to flow into the Arctic sea.
If a mountain were suddenly to rise at the north
pole, the waters would not move from the disturbed
centre south-east, but south-west; or, if an immense quantity of ice and snow should melt in the
northern regions, the resulting currents would
move south-west and not south-east.
It must be recollected that the Arctic ocean was
about 3,000 miles in diameter, and could, therefore,
if disturbed, readily furnish the immense quantity
of gravel, boulders, cold water and ice, which the
drift theory and the actual facts require.
The drift floods were probably annual. The
polar lands were, in the mean time, gradually rising
to the surface, and being abraded by the powerful
102 
DRIFT FORMACIONS.
currents that coursed through the Arctic sea.
When all this is considered, we need not wonder
that an enormous quantity of gravel and rocks
were transported south-east, or that glaciers
abounded during the drift period.
To explain the drift in a general way, it is only
necessary to say that the warm currents which
passed into the Arctic from the Pacific, or from
the Atlantic, or from both, were prevented, by the
elevation of the ocean's floor, from passing out
through their former channels; they, therefore,
overflowed the surrounding countries, and carried
ice, gravel and boulders a great distance south-east,
turning summer into winter, and causing immense
quantities of snow and ice to accumulate upon
lands that, both before and since, have been free
from them during three-fourths of the year.
The north-east direction of the Scandinavian
mountains, proves that they were indirectly created by the Norway current that now runs northeast, and near them, into the Arctic sea. The regular elliptical current would have made them run
north-west, like the mountains in north-western
America. This shows that the Norway current is
very ancient, and has probably always supplied the
Arctic sea with most of its warm water. It is remarkable, and worthy of special consideration that
Baffin's sea, and several accessory channels, run
south-east. This channel must, therefore, have been
created by a powerful current which once poured
through it, into the Atlantic, in a south-east direc
103 
DRIFT FORMATION.
tion. Was it, then, the complement or continuation of the Norway channel? Did nearly all the
Arctic waters pass out through Baffin's sea? and
did the elevation of the northern part of the floor
of that channel produce the drift? Was there
also a warm, powerful current that entered from
the Pacific before the drift period, and which has
since then been excluded?  However, these questions may be answered after the geology of the
Arctic regions is better understood-the undoubted
fact must still remain, that the drift was caused by
warm currents flowing into the Arctic sea northeast, and flowing out again south-east as cold currents.
If the drift was caused by the rising of the
Arctic land, it was also brought to a close by the
elevation of the shores of the Arctic sea, and the
formation of a sufficient channel through which
the currents can now move without overflowing
their proper bounds.
Is another drift period impossible?   Suppose
that the channel between Greenland and Iceland
should be obstructed by the elevation of its bed,are the Arctic shores high enough to prevent
the consequent flood from sweeping and spreading
over the northern parts of the temperate zone?
Much has been said of the north polar sea, but I
have no where seen it suggested that there is also
:t polar sea in the southern hemisphere, though this
is undoubtedly the case. There can, however, be
no doubt that it is entirely and permanently frozen.
104 
DRIFT FORMATION.
The lands around the south polar continent are
high and bluff, but probably the interior, near the
pole, is a plain or basin, which can be easily
traversed when once the mountainous borders of
the continent are surmounted.   I should rather
undertake to reach the south pole than the north;
and I have no doubt that the journey might long
since have been accomplished if half the sacrifices
had been made for that purpose that have been
made to reach the north pole.
Dr. Hitchcock says:
In Terre del Fuego is a deposit of boulders which were
derived from ledges lying from sixty to one hundred and
twenty miles to the south-west and west.-HITCWCOCK'S
GEOLOGY OF THE GLOBE.
From this extract, and from other authorities,
we learn that a drift period occurred in the south- ern hemisphere. Possibly it happened simultaneous with the one in the north. That it was produced by similar causes may be inferred from the
fact that the direction in which the boulders were
carried was north-east and east.   No mere local
current could flow easterly from the polar region.
It was, therefore, a warm current that entered the
polar region, and returned, flowing north-east, car rying boulders with it. I do not believe that it
was an elliptical or a local current, purely, but a
semi-ellipse, which partakes of the nature of both.
From the best information that I can obtain, I
am convinced that the elliptical currents are in no
10
105 
DRIFT FORMATION.
cases the bearers of icebergs. They are conveyed
by local currents only. Maury says that icebergs
are conveyed from the southern part of the Indian
ocean into the south Atlantic as far as the thirtyseventh degree of south latitude. They must move
north-west to reach the Atlantic, and this is the
very direction in which a local current would necessarily flow from the Antarctic. (See the map.)
106 
SECTION X.
THE SYSTEM OF THE WINDS.
T IHE  study of the oceanic circulation has natu    rally led me to reflect upon that of the atmosphere, and to enquire what different principles
are brought into operation in the two systems. In
order to make this theory more clear to our minds,
let us first present it in its simplest form, divested
of all the circumstances that render the problem
complicated.
Let us suppose the earth to be entirely covered
with water; and thus leave out of our calculation
all the disturbances now produced by the elevations
of the continents. Let us also overlook the effects
produced by the changes of the seasons, and, for
the time, suppose the days and nights to be always
equal. Under these circumstances the sun's heat
would be greatest exactly at the equator, and progressively less in each successive parallel of latitude to the very poles. The dynamical problem
now to be solved is,-what must necessarily be
the system of the winds under these conditions?
The rays of the sun pass through the atmosphere
without communicating much warmth to the air;
but, after striking the earth, the rays rebound, and
warm the lowest portions of the atmosphere, 
THE SYSTEM OF
FIGURE 10.-SYSTEM OF THE WINDS.
causing the air to expand
and rise until it reaches
a point where the atmospheric air is of the same
density as itself. At the
equator, where the earth
is hottest, the greatest
quantity of air is heated,
and rises to the greatest
height. From the elevated position which the
most heated air attains,
it moves, as if down an
inclined plane, to t h e
thirtieth degree, on each
side of the equator; here
it reaches the earth, and
moves again to the equator to repeat the circuit.
The air also moves
from the thirtieth degree
t o a b o u t the sixtieth,
where it rises and returns, as an upper current, to.the thirtieth degree. It there sinks to
the surface of the earth,
-.P
It'
II I
H         iirr   -    -,
'I            u
Is,          \~~~~~~~
t )P
and returns again to the sixtieth degree to repeat
the circuit.
From the polar regions the air moves along the
108 
THE WINDS.
surface to the sixtieth degree, where it rises and
returns, as an upper current, to the polar regions,
and there sinks to the earth's surface and repeats
the circuit.
This theory seems to be sustained by all the facts
which are known concerning the actual directions
in which the winds blow in the different zones. Ill
the northern hemisphere, according to the best authorities, the winds blow as follows: in the torrid
zone, from the north-east; in the temperate zone,
from the south-west; in the frigid zone from the
north, north-east, and north-west. In the southern
hemisphere, reversing the directions, the same rule
seems to obtain, and three zones of wind exist, the
essential counterparts of those in the northern
hemisphere. If there were no lands to produce diversities of temperature, and no change of seasons,
these three erial zones of each hemisphere would
be developed with perfect uniformity and regularity; and even now their prevalence in their respective limits, would seem to be sufficient to prove
the existence of the general law beyond all reasonble doubt.
EXTRACT FROM NICHOLS' CYCLOPEDIA OF THE PHYSICAL
SCIENCES.-On the north of the equator, between the parallel
of the 30th and 60th degrees north, the wind is variable to the
west and south-west. Between Europe and America the southwest prevail in the ratio of two to one. The mean direction of
the prevailing winds in this zone, deduced from numerous
observatiorns, is, for England, south 68 degrees west; France,
south 88 degrees west; Germany, south 76 degrees west;
109 
0THE SYSTEM OF
Denmark, south 62 degrees west; Sweden, south 50 degrees
west; Russia, north 87 degrees west; North America, south
86 degrees west.  Russia is the only country in which the
mean direction of the wind is a little to the north of west.
In the north Atlantic, the most prevalent direction of the
winds is between south 45 degrees west and south 10 degrees
west. When the sun is in the northern hemisphere, they
prevail from south-west to west south-west, but when he is
in the southern hemisphere, they blow from west north-west
to north-west. On the south of the equator it is observed
that between the parallels of 30 and 50 degrees south, the
winds blow periodically south-west and north-west, that
they vary west to north-west when the sun has south declination; whilst during the rest of the year they are in general
from west to south-west. In the frigid zone of the Atlantic
north winds are the most regular and dominant. The coldest winds are those from the north-north-east, but in June
and July they frequently blow from the south south-west,
and sometimes with violence. At Spitzbergen, during the
earlier part of the year, the winds blow from the south, and
they are northerly during the remainder. On the coast of
Greenland, from May to July, the weather is fine with
changeable winds mostly from the south south-west.  The
coldest winds are from the north-east. In Hudson's Bay it
has been remarked that from October to May the winds are
from the north to north-west, and from June to October
south-east to east. Capt. McClure found the prevailing winds
from the north-east along the American shore of the polar
sea.  Parry found that the wind in the arctic region blew
from the northerly direction 215 days in a year, from the
southerly direction 52 days, variable 100 days.
If we reflect upon the subject, we must conclude
that there are three zones of counter currents in
the upper regions of the atmosphere: that there is
in fact an upper counter current corresponding to
110 
THE WINDS.
each lower current; and that the two together constitute an ellipse, the position of which is not horizontal nor vertical, but between the two-that is,
oblique to the plane of the earth's surface.
It seems that two currents flow in opposite directions from the 30th degree, at the earth's surface. The air that supplies both these currents
must come from opposite directions above; for, the
current that flows on the surface toward the pole,
does not reach there before it is met by an opposing current coining along the surface from the pole.
There is no outlet below for either. They must rise
near the 60th degree, and, having risen, they must
overflow in the same manner and for the same
reason that the rising column at the equator does:
one portion goes to the pole sinks and returns, the
other portion goes to the tropic (30th degree) and
there sinks and returns. The air overflows north
and south at the equator and also at the 60th degree, and itnderfiows toward the equator, at the
poles and at the 30th degree. The air rises and
overflows because it is expanded and rendered
lighter by heat below, and it sinks and underflows
because it has been condensed and made heavier
by the cold above.
In confirmation of this theory are the facts
revealed by the barometer concerning the differences in the weight of the atmosphere in the different zones. Near the equator, and near the 60th
degree, the atmosphere appears to be lighter than
elsewhere. These are the very places where, ac
ill 
THE SYSTEM OFP
cording to our theory, the air is ascending in consequence of its lightness. At the 30th degree, and
also near the poles, the barometer testifies that the
atmosphere is heaviest; and it is in these places
where, according to our theory, the heaviness of
the air causes it to descend. The circulation of
the atmosphere, according to this theory, is contradictory to our traditional ideas, and to all our
authorities concerning the geographical sources of
cold and warm currents. In the ocean the cold
currents of water, in all cases, move toward the
equator, and the warm currents in the opposite
direction, but in the atmosphere a different rule
obtains. Warm currents of air are generated at the
surface of the earth, and move upward; cold currents are generated in the upper regions, and move
downward. This is true in all latitudes. The
circulation of the air, therefore, is not so much between different latitudes as it is between different
altitudes. It is not necessary for a current of air
to move toward the polar regions  to  become
cooled; for it is as cold four or five miles above the
surface at the equator, as it is at the surface in the
polar circle. Now, when we consider the natural
tendency of heated air to expand and rise, we may
NOTE.-At the equator, and its neighborhood, the average height of
the mercury in the barometer is 29.84 inches. At latitude 10 deg. the
pressure or heighth begins to increase visibly, augmenting on toward
latitude 30 or 40 deg. when it seems to reach its maximum, being there
30.08 inches. Beyond this zone the mean height diminishes, descending
in the arctic regions to 29.76 inches. According to some observations
it would appear that the pressure once more increases on nearer approach to the pole.-NICHOLS' CYCLOPEDIA OF THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES.
-112 
THE WINDS.
well discard the common idea that the air moves
poleward because it has been warmed, or toward
the equator because it has been cooled.
FROM  MRS.  SOMERVILLE'S  PHYSICAL  GEOGRAPHY.The mean height of the barometer between the tropics at
the level of the sea is 30 inches, with very little fluctuation,
but, owing to the ascending currents of air from the heat of
the earth, it is less under the equator than in the temperate
zones. It attains a maximum in western Europe between
the parallels of 40 and 45 degrees; in the North Atlantic the
maximum is about the 30th parallel, and in the southern
part of that ocean it is near the Tropic of Capricorn. It is a
singular fact, discovered during Sir James Ross' last voyage,
that the mean height of the barometer is an inch lower (the
atmosphere is less heavy) throughout the Antarctic ocean
and at Cape Horn (55th to 60th degree) than it is at the
Cape of Good Hope (30th to 35th degree) or Valparaiso. M.
Erman observed a similar depression not far from the sea of
Os.chotsk, in eastern Siberia (near the 60th degree). Sir John
Herschell has observed that on account of the upper flow of
heated air not being immediately compensated by polar
currents, the barometer is two-tenths of an inch higher at
the tropics than at the equator.
My idea is that in every instance in which a surface current of air moves toward the pole, it does
so because it is cold. The column which rises at the
equator acquires its coldness and heaviness above,
before it begins to move to the 30th degree. The
column that moves from the 30th degree poleward
does so because it is cold. It has descended from
above, and is seeking the vacuum which the heat
at the surface is producing there, between the 30th
10*
113 
THE SYSTEM OF
and the 60th degrees. The current in the upper
regions, which moves from the 60th degree to the
pole, does so because when it has risen high enough
to become chilled it begins to sink, by its own
weight, to the polar surface, which is comparatively warm.   A  vacuum  is being constantly
produced there by radiations from the land, the
water, and even from the ice and snow; for, however cold it may be within the polar circle at the
surface, it is still colder a few hundred feet above.
FROM  MRS. SOMERVILLE'S PHIYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.-As
there are eighty-two degrees difference between the equatorial and polar temperature, the light warm air at the
equator is constantly ascending to the upper regions of the
atmosphere and flowing north and south to the poles, from
whence the cold heavy air rushes along the surface of the
earth to supply its place between the tropics. * *
The current from the north pole becomes a north-east wind
before arriving at the Tropic of Cancer, and that from the
south pole becomes a south-east wind before it comes to the
Tropic of Capricorn, their limit being about the twentyeighth parallel of latitude on each side of the equator. In
fact, the difference of temperature puts the air in motion,
and the direction of the resulting wind, at every place, depends upon the difference between the rotary motion of the
wind and the rotary motion of the earth. The whole theory
of the winds depends upon these circumstances. There is a
perpetual change between the different masses of the atmosphere, the warm air tempering the cold of the higher latitudes, and the cold air mitigating the heat of the lower.
MIrs. Somerville, in her excellent treatise on
physical geography, gives a correct idea of the
114 
THE WI.NDS.
opinions current in the highest circle of philosophical society in Europe; and the preceding extracts
show what those opinions are in relation to the
sources of the wind. It will be noticed that she
confounds together two things which are entirely
distinct, namely, the effects produced by the difference of elevation, and those produced by the
difference of latitude. She says in onec place that
"the light warm air at the equator is constantly
ascending to the upper regions of the atmosphere
and flowing north and south to the p)oles, from
whence the cold heavy air rushes along the surface
ofthe earth to supply its place between the tropics."
In another place she says: "The average direction
of the winds, in England, France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and North America, is from some
point between south and west. Northwesterly
winds prevail in the corresponding latitudes in the
southern hemisphere." This statement is doubtless correct; how then is it possible for her other
remark to be true that "from the poles cold heavy
air rushes along the surface to the tropics?"
The learned Professor Tyndall, in his beautiful
work on heat, gives the same explanation that Mrs.
Somerville does; and it must certainly be admitted
that all the highest authorities are opposed to this
theory. Are they not also opposed to well known
facts?
If the wind blew as the water flows, firom the
equator to the polar regions before it began to return, it would possess so much casting when it
115
I 
THE SYSTEM OF
arrived that there would be a constant current
blowing toward the east in both polar regions.
This is not the case. We may, therefore, from this
fact alone infer that these winds have traveled
over but few degrees of latitude.
We have hitherto proceeded upon the assumption that the sun remains at the equator, and the
days and nights are equal. During the summer
solstice, when the sun is in the north, more than
half of the frigid zone becomes temperate, and
more than half of the temperate zone torrid. The
thermal equator being many degrees north, of
course the three zones of wind are crowded in the
same direction, and the north winds scarcely blow
southward beyond the polar circle; while the winds
from the south and south-west blow across the
borders of the arctic, and take possession of the
abandoned territory in the frigid zone. In the
winter, the reverse takes place. The frigid zone,
in turn, invades the temperate regions, and cold
northern and north-eastern winds blow for months
over countries that during the rest of the year
know only southern breezes.   In  a word, the
changes of the seasons merely transfer the tllree
zones alternately north and south, without permitting either to be entirely conquered. The lines
that divide the three erial zones from each other
are still preserved unbroken and even unbent, except from local causes. These lines advance and
retreat northward and southward with the changing seasons, like the parallel columns of two opposing armies.
116 
THE WINDS.
The irregularities of the winds which are the
most complicated, are produced by the greater or
lesser elevations of the land. In the tropics the
land is hotter, that is, it communicates more heat
to the air than the sea does. In the frigid zones,
on the contrary, the land is colder and the sea communicates more heat to the air. The regular trade
winds do not blow upon the land, nor within 100
miles of the continents. This fact shows the great
modifying influence of the land upon the normal
system of the winds. The elevation of some portions of the land into mountains also has an effect
upon the winds, by deflecting them from their
proper courses, by intercepting and chilling the
warm moist winds that blow against them, or by
preventing the cold winds from sweeping over a
particularly favored region.   In order properly
to estimate these modifying circumstances, we
must first learn, by theory, the normal and primitive course of the winds in each and every locality;
and then look upon all departures from these directions as the results of irregular elevations, and
other local causes which are to be specially investigated. In the tropics, the normal trade winds
should continually blow obliquely toward the
equator, with more or less of westing in them; but
the extreme heat of some lands in the tropics
causes the wind to vary from its normal course,
and blow northward during one period, and southward during the next, so that these alternate or
periodical winds are called monsoons or season
winds.
117 
THE SYSTEM OF
As the object of this essay is not to give a detailed account of all the local winds, but to establish a true general theory of the normal winds, as
a basis and point of departure, from which to
reason concerning local and irregular winds, I shall
not give any particular account of the monsoons or
local season currents of air. Some of the winds
which have hitherto been regarded as local and
capricious, are probably owing to the northern and
southern movements of the sun, causing a corresponding transfer of the limits of the respective
zones of winds farther toward the north and the
south alternately. These same changes would take
place, but with much greater regularity, if the
ocean covered the entire earth, and there were no
land to produce irregularity: thus in England, and
in Northern Europe generally, there is a contention
of the north-east and the south-west winds, each prevailing alternately, though the southwest wind is
the most continuous. The same is true in the corresponding latitudes of North America, excepting
that here the northerly winds are more prevalent.
So also in Russia the coldness of the land, acting as
an auxiliary to the northerly wind, causes it to prevail during most of the time, while, in the same
latitude, in western Europe, southerly winds predominate. The great quantities of heat derived
from the neighboring continent of Africa, and the
influences of the warm waters of the so-called
Gulf stream, must be taken into the account of the
European winds, and left out when considering
those of America and Russia.
I
118 
THE WINDS.
When the upper current of air from the equator
descends at the 30th degree, another current from
the opposite direction descends near the same place
at the same time: one moves north and the other
south. I have described the currents from the south
as all returning to the south again, and the currents
from the north as all going again northward. But
this may not necessarily be always the case; for,
if the two currents should be very unequal in temperature or humidity, I can easily conceive that
they might mingle, in some degree at least, so as
to produce an equilibrium. There would probably
be a collision and a partial interchange of currents,
and in this way air, and even volcanic ashes, may
perhaps be transferred from one zone or hemisphere
to another.
THE AURORA BOREALIS OR POLAR LIGHTS AND
THEIR RELATION TO THE ATMOSPHERE.
The phenomena of the polar lights have never
been reduced to a consistent theory.  I have often
thought, as I watched their fitful changes, that
they must be in some way connected with the atmosphere. They seem to be associated with light,
thin, silver-grey clouds, that arrange themselves in
rays, which are not as changeable as the lights
themselves. I have lately been led to suspect that
they may be produced by the sudden condensation
of the moisture, in the column of warm air that
rises near the 60th degree of north and also of
south latitude. "The auroral arch is always east
119 
AURORA OR
and west, never north and south," and in this it
agrees with the zones of the winds. M. Struve
and Admiral Wrangel assign a moderate elevation
to the aurora. Thiereman, in Iceland, regarded
the clouds as the substratum of the aurora. Franklin, Richardson and Wrangel confirm this idea.
The clouds are thin and light, and it has been
noticed that the rays are most abundant near them.
Humboldt remarks that "these clouds seem to arrange themselves like rays in the day time. After
a display during the night, the same clouds are
sometimes seen in the morning that before were
luminous." "The most modern observers place the
aurora in the region of the clouds; they believe it
to be blown to and fro by the wind. Capt. Franklin saw an aurora illuminate the lower surface of a
cloud." 
It has been observed that the aurora is most
frequent and brilliant near the sea coast. Does
not this indicate that the condensation of the moisture derived from evaporation is concerned in producing the phenomena? It is well known that
thunder is seldom heard in the polar regions. Why
is this? Is it not because the moisture is condensed and frozen before it has time to collect into
large clouds? It is known that the aurora is displayed in the most remarkable manner during the
changes of the seasons. This is what might be
expected if it is produced by the column of air
that rises from the zone of the 60th degree.
At the equator, the immense quantity of moisture
120 
POLAR LIGHTS.
that rises is formed into vast clouds, the condensations of which produce tremendous thunder claps,
and terrific flashes of lightning. At the 60th degree the rising column of warm air contains comparatively little moisture, and that is probably
condensed as it rises, and before it has had time to
form into large clouds, or to unite into rain drops.
The heat thus suddenly set fiee is probably converted into electricity, which leaps firom particle to
particle, producing the auroral light, and disturbing the magnetic needle.
This theory of the northern lights could not have
been advanced before it was known or even suspected that a column of warm air rises at the 60th
degree.
I suppose that lightning is nothing but latent
heat, suddenly converted into electricity by the
condensation of the clouds; and that the aurora is
merely a subdivided and diffused lightning storm,
the separate flashes being too minute to produce
thunder. Some observers have declared that they
have heard crackling noises issuing from the aurora
-but this, though probable, does not seem to be
fully confirmed.
CYCLONES.
Cyclones are whirlwinds which originate in
certain localities near the equator. In the northern
hemisphere they generally commence 10 or 15 degrees north of the equator, and move north-west to
11
121 
CYCLONES.
near the 30th degree when they change their
course and travel north-east. In the southern hemiphere they proceed in the same manner, but their
directions are reversed: that is to say, they commence a few degrees from the equator, and travel
south-west to about the 20th degree, and then
change their course and travel south-east. They
obey a double movement: one a gyratory or rotatory, and the other a movement of translation. North
of the equator this gyratory movement is from
right to left by the north, or in a direction contrary to the hands of a watch. South of the equator
the movement is in a direction coincident with the
hands of a watch. The movement of translation
is from 2 to 40 miles per hour. The whirlwinds
vary in diameter from 50 miles to 1000.
Several questions have long been asked concern.
ing these cyclones without receiving any reasonable answer:
1. Why do they originate in both hemispheres
at about 10 or 15 degrees from the equator?
2. Why do they never cross the equator, or even
approach very near to it?
3. Why do they infest certain particular locali
ties?
4. Why do they, in the northern hemisphere,
move north-west a certain distance, and then
change their course to the north-east?
5. Why do they, in the southern hemisphere,
pursue exactly the contrary course?
6. Why are these whirlwinds most frequent at
the change of the seasons?
122 
CYCLONES.
A true theory of the cyclones will answer all
these questions.
A whirlwind is a body of air, whirling like a
top, which may be driven in any direction by a
force that impels it by acting on one side of the
mass, while on the opposite side it meets with but
little resistance. The question then is: what force,
in the northern hemisphere, acts upon the whirling
mass to drive it in a north-west direction a certain
distance and no farther? and why does it then
turn and move north-east? We must consider that
the trade wind in the southern hemisphere blows
toward the north-west, and when a particular
locality a short distance north of the equator is
abnormally heated, the trade wind from the southern hemisphere crosses the equator into the northern hemisphere. It does not proceed far without
encountering opposite currents, and a whirlwind is
created, which receives an impetus from the intruding currents in a north-west direction, the direction in which the intruding trade wind itself is
moving.  The north-west impulse, not being continued or repeated, is soon exhausted, and, therefore, the whirlwind no longer moves north-west.
From this turning point, which may be considered
a neutralpoint, it moves north-east for the same
reason that the normal wind and the ocean currents both move in the same direction between the
30th and 60th parallels. There is a perfect analogy
between the path of the cyclone and that of the
elliptical ocean current. They both pursue the
123 
CYCLONES.
same course in the same localities. The elliptical
current in the north Atlantic moves north-west
from the equator to near the 30th degree, and then
turns and moves north-east. The reason of this
has been explained in another place, and the same
principles apply to the course of the cyclones.
RECAPITULATION OF GEONOMY.
1. The ocean waters primitively covered the
whole globe. The difference of temperature caused
warm currents to flow poleward, and cold currents
to flow from the poles.
2. A current calnnot flow alternately to and from
the polar and equatorial regions without pursuing
an elliptical path. The reason is that the easterly
force which the water possesses in the lower latitudes is carried with it when it flows to the higher,
and causes it to flow more and more easterly; and
when the current is cooled and begins to return to
lower latitudes, the casting is not yet exhausted;
therefore, in the northern hemisphere the elliptical
current moves south-east from the polar region;
but before it reaches the equator it turns and
moves relatively south-west. After reaching the
equator it moves nearly due west until its warmth
causes it to overflow toward the pole; and then it
runs north-west a considerable distance before its
124 
RECAPITULATION.
westing is exhausted, and it begins to flow northeast.'
3. The casting which a current acquires in movilig poleward, and the westing which it acquires in
moving toward the equator are both so great that,
a current moving to and from the equator and the
sixtieth degree of latitude, must necessarily move
in an ellipse, the diameter of which, east and west,
is so great that not more than three such ellipses
can exist in one hemisphere. This is the reason
why, when there was no dry land, there were just
three elliptical currents in the northern hemisphere,
and the same number in the southern.
4. The sediment of the ocean, which at first was
mostly of a chemical or an organic character, fell
in the largest quantities upon the ocean floor within the limits of the ellipses, or immediately beneath the currents. The weight of the accumulated sediment caused the crust of the earth to
sink, and thus created an oceanic basin. Thus it
was that six immense basins were formed, namely:
the north and south Atlantic, the north and south
Pacific, and the north and south Indian oceans.
5. The lava crowded away from beneath these
six basins was forced to rise in the angular spaces
between  them.   These  inter-spaces constituted
three series of continents: North and South America and Graham's Land constitute one series;
north-east Asia, Australia and Victoria constitute
a second series; Europe and Africa, and an indefi
125 
RECAPITULATION.
nite and partially submarine portion of the Antarctic continent, constitute the third series.
6. Five of the six primitive ocean basins still
exist; but the sixth, namely, the north Indian,
has been mostly elevated and drained. The Mediterranean, Euxine, Caspian,  Red,  Persian,  and
Arabian seas are vestiges of the ancient north
Indian ocean. The east and west running mountains of Asia and Europe were produced by the
repeated depressions of the ocean south of them,
after the north and south running mountains were
elevated.
7. The primitive and normal mountains, on the
borders of the continents, run in loxodromic or
oblique directions,-that is, north-east and south
west, or south-east and north-west; and not directly north and south, nor directly east and west; in
this respect they harmonize with the currents that
indirectly produced them.
8. The reason why the continents are connected,
north and south, by narrow necks of land, and are
not thus connected east and west, and also the reason why each northern ocean has a southern ocean
directly opposite,-is because the changes of the
seasons caused an annual interchange of currents
between the northern and southern hemispheres;
and no such currents moved east and west.
9. There are two classes of ocean currents,
namely: the elliptical and the local. The local
differ from the elliptical in the fact that they do
not move alternately north and south; they either
126 
RECAPITULATION.
move north or south in a local and limited region,
and do not return; or, if they partially return, the
course they pursue is a semi-elliptical curve.
10.  Local currents produced the hollowing out
of the western sides of the tropical continents.
11. The cold south-east currents from the Arctic
sea, by which the drift formation was produced,
were the complements of warm, north-east local
currents, that previously entered that sea while the
Arctic lands were rising.
12. If the six ocean basins had sunk equally,
the continents would have been equally elevated,
and the map of the world would have been perfectly symmetrical.
13. The latest formed mountains are the highest;
because the loads of sediment on the ocean's floor
have been constantly increasing from the beginning; and consequently the later depressions have
been deeper and more sudden.
14. The atmospheric circulation differs from
that of the ocean in this, that the air becomes
chilled by rising three or four miles into the higher
regions of the atmosphere; whereas, the water is
compelled to flow three or four thousand miles for
the same purpose.
15. When the column of warm air that rises at
the equator becomes chilled, it gradually moves
down an inclined plane to the earth, which it
reaches at the thirtieth degree of latitude, and
flows along the surface to the equator. From the
thirtieth degree a current flows to the sixtieth de
127 
RECAPITULATION.
gree, along the surface, and then rises and returns
as an upper current, to the thirtieth degree, when it
sinks and repeats the circuit. From the polar region a current moves to the sixtieth degree, where
it rises and flows to the polar region, and there
sinks and repeats the circuit.
16. The polar lights are probably caused by
the column of air that rises at the sixtieth
degree; the heat in the air, and in the moisture,
being converted into electricity.
17. The cyclones, or traveling whirlwinds, that
occur in certain limited localities near the equator, and which, in the northern hemisphere, always move first north-west and then north-east,
are probably caused in each instance, by the normal current of one hemisphere overflowing into the
opposite, to fill a vacuum produced by great local
heat. When the westerly impulse given to the
cyclone by the intruding current is exhausted, it
moves easterly for the same reason that all the
other poleward currents do,
128 
ASTROGENEA:
A
THEORY OF THE FORMATION
OF
PLANETARY SYSTEMS.
BY
J. STANLEY GRIMES. 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by
J, STANLEY GRIMES,
In the Clerk's Office of the Eastern District of Michigan.
)DAILY POST PRESS, DETROIT. 
CONTENTS.
SECTION I.-INTRODUCTION.
SECTION II.-FORMATION OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM; CAUSE
OF THE RELATIVE MAGNITUDES AND DEN             SITIES OF THE PLANETS.
SECTION III.-INTERVALS; COMMON DIFFERENCE OF
THE ORBITAL VELOCITIES OFIP PLANETS.
SECTION IV.-SERIAL RELATIONS OF THE PLANETS.
SECTION V.-COMPARATIVE ASTROGENEA.
SECTION VI.-PHYSICAL CAUSE OF GRAVITATION; CAUSE
OF THE SUN'S HEAT; CAUSE OF THE IN             TERNAL HEAT OF THE EARTH. 
I 
ASTROGENEA.
SECTION I.
INTRODUCTION.
HE  ancients possessed some correct ideas con  cerning astronomy; but the first important
step toward a true theory of the solar system was
taken by Copernicus. In the year 1543 he gave to
the world the evidences, which he had long been
accumulating, that the earth rotates upon its axis;
and that all the planets revolve, in concentric orbits, from west to east, around the sun. The proofs
of this new doctrine were, however, so incomplete,
that Tycho Brahe, fifty years afterward, rejected
it; and Lord Bacon regarded Copernicus as "a
man who thinks nothing of introducing fictions of
any kind into nature, provided his calculations turn
out well." But the revelations of the telescope,
which Galileo first applied to astronomy in 1609,
literally shed a flood of light upon the subject.  It
was found that the sun and all the known planets revolve on their axes; and that both Jupiter
and Saturn are centers, around each of which a
-0 
INTRODUCTION.
family of secondary planets revolve. The next
great discovery was that made by Kepler. He
demonstrated that the distances of any two planets from the sun are so mathematically related to
their orbital revolutions, that when one is known
the other can readily be calculated; the squares of
-the periods of two planets being, to each other, in
the same ratio as the cubes of their mean distances.
The reason of this intimate relation between the
periods and the distances, was the next great discovery. It was made, or rather completed, by
Newton. With the aid of suggestions and discoveries previously made by Kepler, Galileo, Descartes
and Picard, he demonstrated that the planets
move in orbits around the sun, because they are
acd upon by two different forces; one of which
is cavitation, and is directly as the mass of the
sun, and inversely as the square of his distance.
He did not pretend to give any theory of the origin, or physical cause of gravitation; but he proved
that it operates in all known bodies by one invariable law. The other force, which antagonizes gravitation, and modifies its effects upon the motions of
planets, is called centrifugal or tangential. The
origin of this force is also unknown; but it is supposed to result from a primitive impulse, received
by each planet in the following manner: the nebulous matter of which planatary systems were primitively composed, was collected from a diffused
state, into comet-like masses, situated not very distant from each other in the regions of space. These
134 
INTRODUCTION.
masses, by mutually attracting one another, came
into collision. The necessary result was a whirling or rotatory motion of the united mass, and the
consequent generation of centrifugal force.
If this was the origin of all axial rotations, as it
probably was, it is not to be expected that any
common law, or serial relation, will be found to
exist among them, analogous to the other serial re lations, which are discussed in a subsequent part
of this essay. It is true that the known axial rotations of the planets are nearly in the same ratio
as their magitudes; but this coincidence is probably fortuitous.
By means of these discoveries of Kepler, Newton and others, astronomers are. now enabled to
account for all the motions, periods and purturbations of the planets. There are, however, several
prominent facts in regard to the solar system that
have remained still unexplained. No reason has
been given why the planets differ as they do in
their magnitudes, their densities, or their intervals;
nor why they all agree in moving in the same direction, and in the same plane. It has, however,
been suspected that these peculiarities are in some
way related to the circumstances in which the
planets were originally formed.
The idea was vaguely expressed by Tycho,
Kepler, Galileo, and even by Newton, that the
sun and planets may be merely precipitations and
aggregations of matter which had previously existed, in a diffused state, in the regions of space,
135 
INTRODUCTION.
But Sir William Herschell was the first astronomer
who remarked that the appearances assumed by
some of the siderial masses, indicated that they
may be planetary systems in a nebulous, mist-like,
imperfect state of condensation, rotating upon
their axes.  He  suggested that possibly a vast
rotating globe, or wheel, of nebulous matter, may
ultimately resolve itself into a sun and planets.
Taking up the subject where Herschell had left it,
Laplace undertook to conjecture concerning the
manner in which the planets of our system became
detached from the primitive nebulous wheel, of
which they had once formed a part. He supposed
that the nebulous matter was kept in a vaporous
and expanded condition, by means of the great
heat which it possessed; and that the radiation of
the heat caused the nebula to shrink into a smaller
space. On mechanical principles, he knew that all
the rotatory force possessed by the nebulous wheel
in its expanded condition, would be retained in its
more condensed state; and therefore, the centrifugal force would gradually increase, an at
length become so great as to overcome the sun's
attraction; consequently, the outer rim of the
nebulous wheel would be detached from the main
body, and constitute a separate rotating ring. In
the same manner a second ring, and then a third
was detached; and this was repeated until the sun
alone remained. Each ring afterward became
concentrated into a planet, in a manner which
Laplace does not very clearly describe.
136 
INTRODUCTION.
Notwithstanding some glaring defects in this
"nebular hypothesis," it has been regarded as
reasonable, and probably in the main true, by some
able astronomers; while, on the other hand, it has
been unmercifully condemned by many others.
That the solar system has been evolved out of a
single nebulous wheel, there are, to my mind, the
most satisfactory proofs. The concentric, and almost circular orbits in which the planets move, all
in one direction, from west to east, in nearly the
same plane as the sun's equator,-can be accounted
for upon no other rational theory. But, while we
must admit that the sun and planets were originally a single mass, it does not follow that we
must adopt the hypothesis of Laplace, concerning
the mannger in which the nebula was transformed
into rings and planets.
Independent of the new theory advanced in
this essay, the most serious objection to the hypothesis of Laplace, is one which I have never
seen mentioned.   It is founded upon  the  distribution of matter in the solar system. If we
suppose all the matter to be divided into 768
parts, 767 of these are in the sun, and one part
alone includes all the matter of the planets and
satellites.  Again, if we estimate all the matter of
the planets, exclusive of the sun, as consisting of
475 parts, 338 of these parts are in Jupiter alone,
and 101 parts are in Saturn. These two planets
are included within the inner third of the distance
from the sun to the orbit of Neptune: only 36 parts
12*
137 
INTRODUCTION.
are found in the outer two-thirds of the radius
of the system. Surely centrifugal force could not
have prevailed and thrown off the planets from
the central part, while so large a proportion of the
matter was moving toward the centre. It is clear
that centripetal force must have predominated during the formation of the planets, and that it came
very near carrying the whole of the matter to the
centre; it came so near that it actually did carry
767 out of 768 parts of it there. We now begin
to wonder what process it could be, that concentrated so large a portion of the nebulous matter in
a central space less than one million of miles in
diameter, and yet allowed so small a portion as the
768th part to be scattered over a space about 6000
millions of miles in diameter.
138 
SECTION IL
FORMATION OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM.
CAUSE OF THE RELATIVE M'AGNITUDES AND DEN          SITIES OF THE PLANETS.
The new theory which I propose concerning the
formation of the solar system is all embraced in the
following proposition:  Tlte relative magnitudes,
densities and distances of the sun and planets, are
such as would necessarily result from the axial rotation of a nebulous mass in a resisting medium.
If we admit the existence of an etherial fluid,such as that, the vibrations of which produce light
and heat,-we must also admit that it will present
a slight resistance to the passage of a body through
it.  By regarding the etherial fluid as analogous to
atmospheric air, we can readily understand that
the lighter a body is the greater will be the retarding effect of the resistance. We can also understand that the resistance of the medium will be
in a direct ratio to the velocity of the body that
moves through it. One of the objections, which it
is said that Newton made to the now received
theory of light, namely, that it is the vibratory or
undulating motion of an etherial fluid, was, that
such a fluid medium would deflect the planets from 
FORMATION OF THE
their normal and proper orbits, and cause them to
move by spiral paths to the sun. The undulatory
theory of light is now firmly established; and the
existence of a resisting medium cannot, therefore,
be denied. Indeed, it seems impossible to avoid
the conclusion that the fact of gravitation, itself,
demonstrates the necessary existence of a medium
through which that force is communicated from
one planet to another: for it is certain that force
cannot be communicated except through a material
medium.
When it was found that Encke's comet approached nearer the sun with each revolution,-so that in
thirty thousand years it must fall into it,-the
ablest astronomers in Europe, after exhausting all
other modes of explanation, finally concluded that
the comet, being exceedingly light, is deflected inward by the resistance of the etherial air which it
encounters in space; and that it is, therefore, actually pursuing a spiral path toward the sun.
"Now it appears probable'that this comet is approaching
the Sun: on every successive appearance, its orbit appears
somewhat contracted; and there is reason to believe that
the contraction will go on until it is either absorbed in that
luminary, or altogether dissipated by its beams. And after
searching earnestly for some other cause, most'inquirers are
inclined to refer this extraordinary and hitherto unparalleled
change, to a RESISTING MEDIUM OR ETHER occupying the
planetary spaces. "I cannot but express my belief," said
Professor Airy, "that the principal part of the theory-viz.,
an effect exactly similar to that which a resisting medium
would produce-is perfectly established by the reasoning in
140 
SOLAR SYSTEM.
Encke's memoir;" and similar opinions have been offered by
other great authorities.    X    *    *    How  singular is
it that we should have been guided to a truth so remote and
difficult-one concerning which the grander phenomena of
our system are silent-by the motions of a wandering object,
in comparison with whose etherial nature, even one of these
light flocculi or flakes of cloud, which scarce stain the sky
of a summer evening, is heavy and substantial!"-NICHOLs.
When the nebulous wheel, from whence the solar
system was formed, commenced its rotation, it must
have been composed of matter which was exceedingly attenuated; quite as much so as that of any
comet, and, if possible, more so: it is, therefore,
perfectly reasonable to presume that it was subjected to the influence of the same resisting medium
which now has such a decided effect upon Eneke's
comet.
If, at the commencement of its rotation, the
nebula was no more dense or massive in the centre
than elsewhere, the first effect of the resisting medium would be to cause a large portion of the
lighter matter to accumulate there, and assume the
office of a primary body-a sun. The attraction
of this central mass would at once establish orbital
motions in all the surrounding nebulous matter,
whatever might be its form or condition. The
laws of Kepler, so called, that now govern the
motions of all secondary planets, must have controled the motions of the secondary nebulous matter, that was thus necessarily forced to move in
orbits or rings around the central body. Accord
141 
FORMATION OF THE
ing to these laws, the portions that were nearest
to the centre, but not actually attached to it, must
have moved around it with the greatest velocity;
and those portions which were most remote, with
the least velocity.
Sir Charles Lyell, in his "Principles of Geology,"
objected to the prevailing opinions concerning geological catastrophes; and insisted that it was more
philosophical to account for the changes which the
earth has undergone, by referring them to the
operation of still existing causes. I am not only a
convert to his doctrine, but I would apply it to the
formation of the planets. The same causes which
now produce the differences of orbital velocities,
were in operation before the planets were formed,
and caused differences in the velocities of the
chaotic materials of which the planets were subsequently composed. If all the planets could now
be crumbled to dust, and that dust be scattered
equally between the orbit of Neptune and that of
Mercury,-each separate particle of the dust would
have a tendency to move in an orbit of its own.
This tendency would, in some degree, be overcome
by the mutual attraction of the particles for each
other; and the result would be the formation of a
series of concentric rings, differing in width and
velocities: the width of the rings would increase,
and the velocities decrease, in accordance with
their increasing distances from the sun. In fact,
the same law prevailed during the formation of the
planets as that which now determines their relative
velocities.
142 
SOLAR SYSTEMI.X.    -' 143
The velocity of Mercury is nine times greater
than that of Neptune,-five times greater than that
of Saturn; three and a half times greater than that
of Jupiter; and twice as great as that of Mars. At
the distance of nine millions of miles from the sun,
the velocity of a body would be twice as great as
that of Mercury; and at the distance of four millions it would be four times as great, or more than
four hundred thousand miles an hour. It is plain,
therefore, that the resisting medium would produce its greatest effects between the sun and the
orbit of Jupiter; and that its effects wOdld be
gradually less as the orbital velocities decreased
with the distances from the sun.
To form a correct idea of the actual effects of the
resisting medium, upon the form and proportions of
the embryo solar system, or nebulous wheel,-we
must consider what would necessarily have been
the form of the nebula, if the resisting medium had
not produced any effect upon its proportions.
It is well known to mechanical philosophers that
a fluid mass, rotating rapidly on its axis, must necessarily tend to assume the form of an oblate
spheroid,-a double convex lens-a wheel, thickest
in the centre, and gradually thinner to the outer
edge. This would have been the form of the embryo solar system, had it not been for the resisting
etherial medium, and the greater orbital velocities
of the secondary matter near the sun. In the very
place (between the sun and Jupiter) where the
planetary matter would otherwise have been most 
FORMATION OF THE
abundant, the resisting medium caused it to be the
least in quantity.  The nebulous wheel, instead of
being thickest at the centre and gradually thinner
from the centre outwards, was, by the resisting
medium, made thickest at the centre and at the
orbit of Jupiter, and very thin between the sun
and Jupiter, where the four small, dense planets
are now situated.
FIGURE 1.
The eter lines in figure 1 represent the primitive form
which the nebulous mass would have possessed if there
had been no resisting medium.  The
spaces A and B represent the matter
which was swept into the centre, in
:4   consequence of its great velocity in               creasing the resistance.   After the
['         nebula had been denuded of most of
its matter near the centre, it was
I    Ad~  thickest at the place (J) where Jupiter
0";'"   A,      was formed, and much thinner be'''I  tween the orbit of Jupiter and the
i A..-..         sun, where the four small, interior
-     ^        planets  are located.   Beyond  the
orbit of Jupiter it gradually became
thinner, so that Uranus and Neptune are very much smaller
than Saturn,
144'
VA 
SOLAR SYSTEM:.
CAUSE OF THE RELATIVE DENSITIES OF
THE PLANETS.
Let us consider the effect of the resisting medium, combined with the differences of orbital
velocities, upon the relative densities of the planets.
The matter comprising the embryo solar system
was undoubtedly possessed of different degrees of
density. The natural tendency of the condensing
nebulous matter would be to form itself into a
countless number of meteoric or comet-like masses;
each separate mass consisting of a dense central
nucleus, and a less dense atmospheric envelope.
Such, in fact, is now the actual constitution of the
comets. The nebula became a vast wilderness of
comets.   As  the resisting medium  affected the
lighter and more expanded matter more than it
did the denser, it follows that there was a tendency
of the atmospheric envelope, or outer portion of
each mass, to become separated from the denser
nucleus, and to move to the sun; leaving the denser
portions behind to constitute planets and planetettes. The greater orbital velocities of the nebulous.
matter near the primary, caused all but the very
densest portion of it to be swept into the sun. As
the distance from the sun increased, the influence
of orbital velocity was lessened, and the densities
tended to decrease in the same ratio.
Let us examine a table (1) of the densities, (according to Humboldt,) and compare them with the
velocities of the same planets, to see how far they
confirm this theory.
13
145 
FORMATION OF THE
TABLE 1.
Orbital
Velocities.
110
81
68
55
30
22
15
12
'  ~~~~~~~~~  Densities.
Mercury.........................123
Venus......................... 94
Earth...........................100 
Mars........................... 96
Jupiter.......................... 24
Saturn.......................... 14
Uranus.......................... 18
Neptune........................ 23
It will be seen that from Mercury to Saturn the
actual densities are generally accordant with our
views; beyond this point they increase in density,
and thus appear at first thought to contradict
theory. But, upon a more careful examination, we
find that this apparent discrepancy is in reality a
confirmation. The matter swept into the sun from
the interior parts of the system was, in some degree, replaced by that swept inward from the middle regions; and that swept inward from the middle regions was replaced by that from the outer
regions: but the light matter swept inward from
the outer regions could not be replaced; and, therefore, the outer planets would be more dense than
those in the middle, while those in the interior
would be the densest of all.
The internal heat of celestial bodies must make
some difference in their densities. The density of
the sun is about the same as that of Jupiter; and
this is readily accounted for by the amazing heat
which counteracts the vast force of gravity that
presses toward his centre. In anothler essay, I have
146 
SOLAR SYSTEM.
attempted to show that all celestial bodies generate
heat internally, in the direct ratio of their masses, by
the assimilation and condensation of etherial matter, and the conversion of its expansive force into
radiant force. If this is true, the larger planets
will, all else equal, be less dense than the smaller
ones.  The mutual attractions and purturbations of
of the embryo planets, during the countless ages
of their progressive formation, must have had some
influence upon their relative magnitudes and densities, and, perhaps, also upon their intervals. The
attraction of an immense exterior mass, like Jupiter, would certainly prevent much of the light matter from reaching the orbit of Mars; this would
not only account for the anomalous smallness, but
also for the great density of Mars. The second
satellite of Jupiter occupies an analogous relative
position, and, like Mars, it is remarkably small and
dense.  At the first thought, it would seem that,
according to this theory, the magnitudes of the
planets should be successively greater from Mercury
to Neptune; whereas, they only increase outwardly
to Jupiter, and then decrease. A little examination will show us that the facts are in strict accordance with the requirements of theory.   It
should be recollected that the tendency of rotation
was to make the nebulous wheel thickest in the
centre and gradually thinner to the outer edge;
and that the influence of the resisting medium did
not change this form, except between the orbit of
Jupiter and the sun. Beyond Jupiter the form re
147 
FORMATION OF THE
mained the same as if there had been no resisting
medium: that is to say, the wheel became gradually thinner from Jupiter to the outer edge. This is
in accordance with the fact that Saturn is smaller
than Jupiter, and Uranus and Neptune smaller than
either.
This theory is doubly confirmed by the satellitic
systems of Jupiter and Saturn. In each of these
the distribution of matter is essentially the same
as in the solar system. There is, first, a central
primary, containing many times more matter than
all the secondaries together; second, there are
several small secondaries near the primary; third,
there is one giant secondary, containing more matter than all the other secondaries of that system together; fourth, beyond the giant are one or more
smaller bodies with wide intervals.
Figures 2, 3 and 4 represent very clearly the analogies of
the three systems, and are well calculated to impress our
minds with the idea that a common law operated in their
formation, though modified by the peculiarities of each system. The dotted line around the solar system represents
the primitive nebula from which it is supposed that the
planets were formed.
A single glance at the figures is sufficient to show that as
Jupiter is a giant among the planets, so is Ganymede a giant
among Jupiter's satellites, and so also is Titan a giant among
the satellites of Saturn.  The analogies would doubtless appear much more striking if all the undiscovered bodies in
all the systems could be represented. In the present systems of Astronomy, these common points of resemblance
are entirely meaningless.
148 
SOLAR SYST23f.14
FIGURE 2.-SOLAR SsT.
Neptune................
all
0'
I
I
I
I
Mars...............................
E        a         rt................
Venus...............
M1ercur...........................j#
149
Uranus............................
Satum,.. -... 
*           0
0
0                                                 0~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.I
0
0                     *~~~~~~  -~~
CD.    1
E 0 ~   0           90                                                                                                                                    0
89       4                                       *R
I 0
CD
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Olt CA
91
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ci
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a 0 
SOLAR SYSTEM.
INTER-PLANETARY SPACES, AND THE RELATIVE
ORBITAL VELOCITIES OF THE PRIMITIVE
RINGS AND PLANETS.
I agree with Laplace, that the nebula was first
divided into rings, and that each planet was formed
by the concentration of the matter of a single ring
into a globular mass; so that the intervals, could
they all be accurately known, would indicate the
width of the rings that once filled the same spaces.
But I propose to give a very different explanation
from that of Laplace, of the manner in which the
rings were separated from the parent nebula and
from each other. My idea is that a nebula could
not rotate in a resisting medium, without having a
large proportion of its lighter matter drawn into
its centre. The great central mass, thus accumulated, would necessarily assume the office and power
of a primary planet, and compel all the nebulous
matter in the neighborhood to perform the offices
of secondary bodies: that is to say, the matter
near the sun would either rush into its bosom, or
revolve in concentric orbits around the centre.
The mutual attraction of all the parts of the
nebula would tend to bind it together, in rigid connection with the central mass, like the parts of a
vast planet. This aggregating tendency would be
opposed by the tendency of the matter, at different
distances from the sun, to move with different
orbital velocities. The greater the difference of
any two portions of the nebulous matter in their
151 
FORMATION OF THE
distances from the sun, the greater must have been
their tendencies to a difference of orbital velocities.
If the cohesive or aggregating tendency could have
been sufficiently powerfiul, the whole nebula would
have remained in a single mass. If, on the contrary, the tendency to differ in orbital motion could
have been unopposed, there would have been a division of the nebula into an almost infinite number
of concentric rings, each of which would have
moved with a greater velocity the nearer it was to
the sun. These two forces antagonized each other;
one tending to prevent the formation of any rings,
and the other tending to the formation of a countless number of rings of extreme narrowness: the
necessary result of the antagonism was a compromise.  A limited number of rings were formed,
which were wider the farther removed they were
from the central primary. Let us illustrate this
proposition. If a row of bodies could be arranged
so as to extend in a radial line from the sun to the
orbit of Neptune, the mutual attraction of those
bodies would tend to preserve the line unbroken;
but the differences in their orbital velocities would
not permit this. The line would be broken up into
a definite number of shorter lines; the longest line
in the series being the one most distant from the
sun, and the shortest the one nearest to the sun.
The length of the lines would be regulated by the
ratio in which the velocities decreased with distances. This is a perfect illustration of the manner
in which rings were formed.
152 
SECTION III.
INTERVALS, AND COMMON DIFFERENCE OF THE
ORBITAL VELOCITIES.
ET us denominate the nebulous matter that
moved around the embryo sun, secondary matter. Let us represent the force of aggregation, or
mutual attraction between the particles of the secondary matter, by the number 1,582. This aggregating tendency was the same in all parts of the
disk of secondary matter; it was equal to 1,582 in
the inner, the middle and the outer parts. The
tendency of this cohesive force of 1,582 was to prevent the formation of rings. Of course, no rings
could be formed without overcoming it. The differences in orbital velocities were opposed to it.
But it required a certain difference of distance from
the sun to obtain a difference of velocities sufficient
to antagonize 1,582. Not only so, it required a
greater difference of distance to overcome 1,582,
the further the secondary matter was situated from
the sun. Whenever the difference of distance was
so great, in any place, as to cause a difference of
orbital velocities equal to 1,582 miles per hour, aggregation or cohesion was overcome, and a separate
ring was formed. It follows, that since there was
a common force of 1,582 to overcome, there must
14 
INTERVALS AND
have been a common force at least equal to 1,582
to overcome it; and any two consecutive rings
must, all else equal, have differed in orbital velocities 1,582. If all the rings had been formed into
planets, they also would have differed 1,582. If
several rings, from any cause, were prevented from
becoming planets, then those planets that were
formed would differ in their orbital velocities twice
1,582, or thrice, or four times, or some greater multiple of 1,582. By referring to the following tables,
it will be seen that the actual velocities of the
known planets and satellites are in remarkable accordance with this theory. It will be noticed that
each system has a different number for its common
difference, though all are subject to the sAme law.
EXPLANATION OF TABLE 2.
In the following table, the difference between the velocity
of Mercury and that of Venus is put down as 1,582, multiplied by 19, which is equal to 30,058. This being deducted
from the velocity of Mercury, leaves 80,682 for the velocity
of Venus. Again, 1,582 is multiplied by 8, and the product,
12,656, is deducted from 80,682, leaving 68,026 for the velocity of Earth. Proceeding in this manner, I show that 1,582
comes very near being a common divisor of all the differences of the orbital velocities; so near, indeed, as to force
upon us the belief that the rings, from which the planets
were formed, must have originally had a common difference
of their orbital velocities of very nearly 1,582.
In a parallel column I have placed the actual velocities,
taken from Dr. Lardner's hand book of Astronomy, to show
how closely they agree with those derived from theory.
154 
DIFFERENCE OF VELOCITIES.
TABLE 2.
RELATIVE ORBITAL VELOCITIES.
Theoretical
Velocities.
Miles per hour.
1.-Velocity of Mercury..............110,740
Subtract 1,582 x 19..........  30,058
2.-Velocity of Venus................ 80,682
Subtract 1,582 x 8=............ 12,656
3.-Velocity of Earth................ 68,026
Subtract 1,582 x 8=.............. 12,656
4.-Velocity of Mars................. 55,370
Subtract 1,582 x 16=........... 25,312
5.-Velocity of Jupiter.............. 30,058
Subtract 1,582 x 5=.............. 7,910
6.-Velocity of Saturn................ 22,148
Subtract 1,582 x 4=............  6,328
7.-Velocity of Uranus............... 15,820
Subtract 1,582 x 2=............ 3,164
8.-Velocity of Neptune.............. 12,656
Actual
Velocities.
Miles per hour.
110,725
TABLE 3
RELATIVE ORBITAL VELOCITIES OF THE SATELLITES
OF JUPITER.
Act ual
Velocities.
Miles per hour
38,772
Theoretical
Velocities.
Miles per hour.
1.-Velocity of lo,.................. 38,772
Subtract...................... 7,000
2.-Velocity of Europa............... 31,772
Subtract.....................7,000
3.-Velocity of Ganymede............. 24,772
Subtract..................... 7,000
4-Velocity of Calisto.............. 17,772
155
81,000
68,090
55,812
30,203
22,306
15,730
12,570
30,716
24,513
17,743 
INVERVALS AND
TABLE 4.
RELATIVE ORBITAL VELOCITIES OF THE SATELLITES
OF SATURN.
Theoretical  Actual
Velocities..  Velocities.
Miles per hour.    Miles per hour.
1.-Velocity of Mimas............... 34,986     34,986
Subtract 714 x 5............. 3,570
2.-Velocity of Enceladus............ 31,416   30,975
Subtract 714 x 5.............   3,570
3.-Velocity of Tethys............... 27,846   27,776
Subtract 714 x 5............. 3,570
4.-Velocity of Dione................ 24,276   24,516
Subtract 714 x 5............. 3,570
5.-Velocity of Rhea................. 20,706   20,763
Sabtract 714 x 10=............   7,140
6.-Velocity of Titan................. 13,566  13,635
Subtract 714 x 2.............. 1,428
7.-Velocity of Hyperion............. 12,138   12,215
Subtract 714 x 6............. 4,284
8.-Velocity of Japetus............... 7,854    7,968
TABLE 5.
RELATIVE VELOCITIES OF THE SATELLITES OF
URANUS.
Actual
e t Velocities.
M:les per hour.
12,500
Theoretical
Velocities.
Miles per hour.
1.-Velocity of the ist,................. 12,500
Subtract 600 x 2=............. 1,200
2.-Velocity of the 2nd............... 11.300
Subtract 600 x 2............. 1,200
3.-Velocity of the 3rd............... 10,100
Subtract 600 x 2.............1,200
4.-Velocity of the 4th............... 8,900
Subtract 600.................. 600
5.-Velocity of the 5th............... 8,300
Subtract 600.................. 600
6.-Velocity of the 6th............... 6,700
156
11,200
10,056
8,828
8,178
7,636 
DIFFERENCE OF VELOCITIES.
I was led to discover the law of common dif ference of planetary velocities in the following
manner. In 1857 I printed a small volume, en titled "Geonomy, or the Creation of tlhe Conti nents." In writing an introduction to a proposed
new edition of that work, I attempted to make a
brief statement, and a plausible defense, of the
nebular hypothesis of Laplace. Being thus led to
examine the subject critically, I convinced myself
that the hypothesis is erroneous. I therefore endeavored to frame a more reasonable theory in its
stead. After many unsuccesful experiments, I at
length succeeded in producing the theory, that the
relative magnitudes and densities of the planets are
owing to the rotation of the nebula in a resisting
medium; and that the rings were separated by the
antagonism between the aggregating tendency and
the differences of the orbital velocities. I gave
the substance of this theory in a public lecture, in
the winter of 1860, bef6re the members of the Mercantile Library Association, in Boston. Shortly
afterward it occurred to my mind that if this
theory is true, there should be some evidence of it
found in the actual relative velocities of the known
planets and satellites. I proceeded at once to construct tables of the orbital velocities, and was, of
course, much gratified to find my theory confirmed
in such a remarkable manner. A brief and imperfect statement of this discovery was published at
the time in the Scienti,c American; but I have
not, until now, been able to present the subject to
157 
INTERVALS AND
the friends of science in a systematic form, and in
connection with the serial relations of the square
roots of the distances.
DEFINITE WIIDTH OF THE RINGS OR INTERVALS, AND
THE LAWS OF THEIR INCREASE WITH
DISTANCE FROM THE SUN.
I have said that the rings must have been narrower the nearer they were to the sun. The reason
is that it requires less difference of the distances near
the sun to obtain a given difference (1,582) of orbital velocities. This will be seen by inspecting the
tables which represent the velocities and distances
of the planets. The two known planets that differ
most in orbital velocities, are those nearest to the
sun and to each other, namely, Venus and Mercury;
they differ in their velocities nearly 30,000 miles
per hour, yet they differ in distances from the sun
only 27 millions of miles. The two known planets
that differ least in their velocities, are those most
distant firom the sun and from each other, namely,
Neptune and Uranus; they differ in distances about
1,000 millions of miles, but in orbital velocities they
differ only 3,160 miles per hour, which is nine
times less than the difference between Venus and
Mercury.  Since the nearer bodies are to the sun
the less difference of distances was required to obtain 1,582 difference in orbital velocities, it necessarily follows that the rings must have been wider
the further they were from the sun.
158 
DIFFERENCE OF VELOCITIES.
FIGURE 5.
COMMON DIFERENCE IN I —-   INTERVALS OF THE
ORBITAL YELOCITIES.                             PLANETS.
864 millions of miles from
Miles per hour.......... 1582              Hercules to Neptune.
Miles per hour.......... 182... 592 from  Neptune to Pluto.
p
Miles per hour.......... 1582.... 424 from Pluto to Uranus.
U
Miles per hour..............1582..... 313 from Uranus to Apollo.
Miles per hour.............18...239 from Apollo to Minerv a
Miles per hour..............1582..... 185 from Minerva to Vulcan.
Miles per hour...............1582.......137 from Vulcan to Saturn.
This figure illustrates at a glance the idea that while the
planets may have a common difference of 1582 miles  per
hour in their orbital velocities, they have an increasing difference in their intervals of space which is represented by
the numbers increasing from 137 to 864 millions of miles.
FORMATION OF PLANETS FROM RINGS
The nebula must have become divided into rings
as soon as the sun was sufficiently large and attractive to establish orbital motions in the sur
159 
FORMATION OF ASTEROIDS.
rounding secondary matter.   We  have already
seen reason to conclude that the resisting medium
caused the nebulous matter to move interiorly
by spiral paths toward the sun. This proceeding
did not stop when the rings were formed; on the
contrary, it was probably the means of forming
rings into planets. A large mass of the lighter
portions of nebulous matter, situated in the outer
part of a ring, would be certain to move spirally
to the inner edge; in doing this it would, of course,
attract to itself nearly all the matter of the ring,
and thus form a globular planet. Two masses,
moving in the same orbit, at a great distance from
each other, would never come together. But let
one of the masses be composed of much lighter
materials than the other, and the resisting medium
would have a greater effect upon it, and cause it to
move in more open spirals, and thus enable it to
get the inside tract and overtake the other; or, at
least, come so near to it as to attract it to itself
and add it to its own mass. It was in this manner
that I suppose that the rings were transformed
into planets.
FORMATION OF ASTEROIDS.
We can readily understand how, on this hypothesis, many of the rings were prevented from
becoming planets. If one of the rings were very
massive, as in the case of that from which Jupiter
was formed, its attraction would prevent the next
160 
FORMATION OF ASTEROIDS.
interior ring or rings from undergoing the process already described as necessary to the formation of a planet: that is to say, the spiral inward movement of the light matter in the outer
part of the ring, would be retarded, or entirely
prevented, by the attraction of the massive exterior
ring. This retardation would be the most likely
to take place in the interior parts of the system,
where the rings were very narrow. We know that
there is a zone of asteroids, about one hundred
millions of miles wide, in the interval between the
orbits of Jupiter and Mars.   According to the
theory here advocated, there were originally fifteen
rings in this interval. The attraction of Jupiter
has rendered them all asteroids; that is to say, it
has prevented the inward spiral movement which
was necessary to form each of them into a normal
planet; and thus it forced them to become aggregated into a great number of planetettes, which
are abnormally small and near each other. Is it
not a strong presumptive proof of the truth of
this theory that the regular planets are all solitary? In no instance do we find two moving in
the same orbit, or the same zone; nor does any
planet come near the orbit of another.   If the
rings had been broken up by any such accidents as
the advocates of the nebular hypothesis commonly
imagine, the inevitable consequence would have
been that, in some instances, several planets, or
fragments, would have the same or nearly the same
orbit.
14*
161 
FORMATION OF ASTEROIDS.
The following somewhat poetical account of the
nebular hypothesis is from Nichol's Cyclopedia
of the Physical Sciences:
Has our reader walked in a mood of tranquil thought
along the side of a quiet river, whose waving banks reflect a thousand currents, by the intermingling of which
numerous: dimples or whirlpools are produced-their easy
course only marking the river's stillness?  Has he followed
these dimples as they pursue each other in gambol, and
watched the phenomenon of the near approach of two or
three? Then may he have witnessed the secret of the
mystery of the double and triple stars! When one of these
dimples approaches the vortex of another, the two begin
to revolve around each other; and in fact they must, on approximation, act upon each other as TWO WHEELS; so that
a revolution of each around the other must immediately
supervene, and increase in rapidity, until by external pressure
they are forced into one. If such single neighboring nuclei
were rotating, it would be precisely a case of two contiguous
whirlpools; and how could revolutionary motion be prevented?
Two such masses in approximate contact must originate such
a motion: as the principle of gravity draws the nuclei nearer
each other, the velocity of revolution must manifestly increase; and the two bodies would constitute themselves into
a stable system when the rapidity of revolution sufficed to
counterbalance their mutual attraction.
It is known to mechanics, that a grindstone may be made
to revolve with a rapidity sufficient to cause splinters to fly
from its rim, and even the whole rim to break in piecesindicating that the centrifugal force of the rim with that
velocity, more than counterbalances the mutual attraction or
cohesion of the particles of the stone. Now if the rim, instead of being formed of brittle stone, had consisted of
an elastic belt, say of caoutchouc, what would result in such
a case? Clearly a separation of the rim from the mass of the
162 
FORMATION OF ASTEROIDS.
rotating body; it would expand somewhat, just as the orbit
of a planet in a similar position; and, if other circumstances
permitted, it would revolve around the stone as a separate
ring at a distance where the balance or equilibrium of the
forces would be restored.
First, As the separation of the rings resulted from the
centrifugal tendency of the particles composing them, and
as this centrifugal tendency must always be greatest at the
equatorial region of the rotatory mass, the rings must all lie
nearly in the plane of that equator. Therefore, we are entitled to conclude, that into whatever forms or bodies these
rings may ultimately be resolved these bodies must all lie
in nearly one plane-the plane, viz., of the equator of the
central globe.
Secondly, The rings being circular, or, what is the same
thing, the motion of each particle composing them being
circular, the orbits or paths of whatever bodies are ultimately formed out of them, must also be nearly circular.
Thirdly, As the rings must continue to move as the nebula
was moving when they were abandoned, the planets into
which they may be resolved must all move in the same directithat viz., of the rotation of the central orb or sun. Our
subject is thus rapidly simplifying. We have alreadyeven at this stage-deduced from this memorable hypothesis
the necessity of the principal three of those fundamental
arrangements which gravity could not explain. But let us
proceed.
Resuming our direct investigation, we inquire now what
forms would such rings most probably ultimately assume?
There are three possible forms:-1. The mass, if tolerably
equable in its original constitution, and undisturbed from
without, might settle down into a rotating RIN'G; but the
chances against such a result are so numerous, that we
would expect the phenomenon to be very rare in the Universe. 2. If the mass broke up or separated while condensing-as its own internal irregularities would, in all probabi
163 
164        FORMATION OF ASTEROIDS.
lity, constrain it to do-it might divide into a number of portions so equal in attractive energy, that none of them would
have any tendency to coalesce with, or fall into the others;
so that the ring would ultimately be transformed into a number of distinct small solid bodies, revolving around the central
mass at nearly the same distance from it. 3. Even this
second supposition, however, is not a very probable one, inasmuch as its essential condition-the separation of the
mass of the ring into equally balanced nuclei-could, in
the nature of things, occur but rarely. By far the likeliest
result is the division of the ring into nuclei of unequal
power-the larger of which would, by its superior attraction, assume the others into its mass-the whole solidifying
into one considerable globe.
According to our theory, asteroids would be certain to be formed in the interior parts of the system where the rings were narrow, and where an
exterior ring or planet was very massive.  If we
examine the table, we shall see that fifteen rings
have been rendered asteroidal by the powerful attraction of Jupiter exterior to them.   If our
reasoning may be relied upon, there are asteroids
within fifty millions of miles of Jupiter's orbit,
though none have yet been found within two hundred millions; there are also asteroids within ten
millions of miles of the orbit of Mars,  though
none have been seen within fifty millions of miles.
The same influence of Jupiter which prevented the
known asteroids from becoming planets, came very
near preventing the creation of Mars. It has evidently prevented a large portion of the matter,
that normally belonged to him, from reaching him. 
FORMATION OF ASTEROIDS.
It has thus rendered him abnormally small and
dense, besides depriving him of a moon, and nearly
preventing him from inheriting even an atmosphere.
It is difficult, now, to determine how much the attraction of Jupiter influenced the formation of the
earth; but, in conjunction with Mars, our theory
indicates that it has rendered seven rings asteroidal
between the orbits of Mars and of our planet. It
also indicates that one of the primitive rings was
within four millions of miles of the earth. Does
not this agree with the observations which have
been made in relation to the zodiacal light? Between the earth and Venus seven rings existed, one
of which was within three and a half millions of
miles of the earth's orbit. The large mass and the
great density of Venus probably prevented that
planet from being rendered asteroidal by the attraction of the earth. The formation of a moon was
actually prevented, in all probability, by the
earth's influence, together with that of the nearest
rings. Between Venus and Mercury are eighteen
rings: nor is this surprising when we consider that
the rings in this interval were only from one to
three millions of miles wide; and that Venus, a
large exterior body, aided by the earth, was opposed to their concentration. Of course, Mercury,
under these circumstances, could not have a satellite. Between Mercury and the sun the rings became so rapidly narrowed, and so numerous, that
normal planets were out of the question. We can
now understand the reason of the greater space be
165 
FORMATION OF ASTEROIDS.
tween the sun and Mercury than between Mercury
and Venus, or between Venus and the earth. The
same fact exists in Jupiter's system of satellites,
and also in that of Saturn: the space between the
primary and the nearest secondary is greater than
between the first and second satellites. Our theory
indicates that there were four primitive rings between the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn, which
must have all been rendered asteroidal. Between
Uranus and Saturn there were three rings, all of
which may now exist in the form of planets, though
as yet they are undiscovered. The influence of
Saturn may possibly have prevented the ring nearest to his orbit from forming a planet; but I cannot doubt that the other two (denominated Apollo
and Minerva in the tables) actually exist, and that
they will yet be discovered in the orbits indicated
in the tables. Between Uranus and Neptune there
is probably another planet, Pluto, whose velocity,
14,238 miles per hour, is a mean between that of
Neptune, 12,570, and that of Uranus, 15,730 miles
per hour. The distance of Pluto from the sun is'
2,230 millions of miles. Being 600 millions from
Neptune, and 400 from Uranus, it could not have
been made asteroidal by their influences. If, therefore, a ring ever did exist in this interval, a planet
is moving in it now.
166 
BODEFS LAW.
BODE'S LAW OF THE PLANETARY DISTANCES.
Kepler was the first astronomer who noticed the
fact that the intervals between the planets become
greater as we proceed outward from the centre.
He also noticed that the interval between Jupiter
and Mars, and also that between Venus and Mercury, was too great for the rule. He therefore
suggested, or rather predicted, with the bold enthusiasm that characterized him, that a new planet
would be discovered in each of those intervals.
Prof. Bode, of Berlin, has expressed the idea of
the increasing intervals, by a scheme of numbers,
which is known as "1 Bode's Law." It is as follows:
Mer. Ven. Earth. Mars. Ast. Jup. Sat. Uran. Nept.
4    4    4      4    4    4    4       4    4
0    3    6    12   24   48   96   192  384
4    7   10    16   28   52  100  196  388
3-9  7-3 10    15-2 27-4 52   95-4 192  300
The first line of figures is a repetition of 4; the
second line begins with 0, then 3, next twice 3,
then four times 3, and so on. The third line is obtained by adding the figures of the two upper lines
together. The fourth, or last line, represents the
actual distances of the planets from the sun.
Although Prof Bode could give no reason for the
law or relation of the distances, which he and others
had observed, we can now, by the light of the
principles which have been explained in this essay,
perceive that Bode's law has its foundation in na
167 
BODE'S LAW.
ture. The primitive rings, or (which is the sam6
thing) the planetary intervals, actually did increase in width by a regular law, though it was
not identical with that of Bode. The real cause of
the increase in the width of the rings with distance from the primary, was the rate of the decrease of the velocities. This rendered a greater
difference of distance necessary to produce a ing
in the outer part of the system than in the interior.
Had the decrease of the velocities been uniform,
that is, so much for each mile, the rings would have
been of a uniform width. The increase in the
width of the rings, therefore, was in the same ratio
as the departure of the decrease of the velocities
from uniformity.
Imperfect as Bode's law is, astronomers have
hitherto possessed no other means by which to
judge, or even to conjecture, concerning the probable distances of undiscovered planets. When astronomers found that the perturbations of Uranus
indicated the existence of an unknown planet, beyond the orbit of Uranus, they had no means
whatever of guessing its distance, except the mere
fact that from the Earth to Uranus the intervals are
about doubled. Leverrier and Adams, therefore,
predicted that Neptune would be found about
eight hundred millions of miles farther from the
sun than he actually is. If the law of common
difference of velocities had then been known, this
mistake would not have been committed. It is a
curious fact that our theory indicates that Hercules,
168 
BODE'S LAW.
the next planet (in the table) beyond the orbit of
Neptune, is very nearly the same distance from the
sun as Leverrier and Adams supposed Neptune
to be. May it not be that the calculations of those
two eminent astronomers were more correct than
has been supposed, and that Hercules, and not
Neptune was the planet for which they were looking? (See the tables.) Hansen, one of the ablest
astronomers in Europe, declared, before Neptune
was discovered, that the perturbations of Uranus
indicated two disturbing unknown planets: our
theory and tables indicate more than two.  Some
very distinguished mathematicians have expressed
doubts whether the calculations of Leverrier really
indicated the existence of Neptune; and are inclined
to look upon its discovery by Dr. Galle as a fortunate accident. If this is true, it follows that the
disturber or disturbers of Uranus, one or more, are
yet to be found.  Let us hope that the serial relations herein explained may contribute to their
discovery.
15
169 
SECTION IV.
SERIAL RELATIONS OF THE PLANETS.
HE velocity of Mercury, the planet nearest to
the sun, is, (according to Lardner,) 110,725
miles per hour, which is, of course, greater than
the velocity of any other planet. If a series of
rings originally existed that differed 1,582 miles
per hour in their orbital velocities, it follows that
each successive ring beyond Mercury had an orbi:
tal velocity of 1,582 less than its next interior ring.
If we call the orbital velocity of Mercury 110,740
miles per hour, and divide that number by 1,582,
we obtain a quotient of 70 without any remainder.
There could not, therefore, have been more than 70
rings, beyond and including Mercury; for the reason that beyond the 70th a difference of 1,582
could not be obtained. The outermost possible ring
had an orbital velocity of just 1,582 miles per hour;
the second ring just twice 1,582; the third thrice
1,582, and so on to Mercury, which must have a
velocity of just 70 times 1,582-equal tollO,740.
It is upon this principle that what I call the serial
relations, are founded.
In constructing the following tables, I have
adopted 1,582 miles per hour as the common difference of orbital velocities, because I thus avoid the 
OF THE PLANETS.
necessity of using fractions; though, perhaps, this
number is not as near the truth as 1580. For the
same reason I have assumed that 110,740 is the
orbital velocity of Mercury, instead of 110,725,
which is probably more  correct.   These slight
variations are, however, unessential.
EXPLANATION OF TABLE 6.
The first or left hand column of figures is a repetition of
1,582, the common difference. The second column contains
a series of numbers from 1 to 70, which I denominate the
serial numbers, because they represent the series of rings;
the most distant possible ring, or planet, (Chaos) being 1.
The third column contains the orbital velocities of the rings,
or planets, obtained by multiplying 1582 successively by the
several serial numbers. The fourth column contains the actual velocities, so placed that they can readily be compared
with the theoretical numbers in the third column.
Serial
Numbers.
x    1      =
*    2
*    3      *
11   4      *:
I 5,
*1   6      *:
*   7
*    8      *
1.    9
"11 1
..  1,1..
"  12       "
"   13      "
" 14
..  19.,
" 35
"  43       "
"   51      a
" 70    "
Common
Difference.
Miles per hour.
Chaos....... 1,582
Nox........ 1,582
Cerberus.... 1,582
Bacchus.... 1,582
Janus......  1,582
Atlas....... 1,582
Hercules......1,582
Neptune......1,582
Pluto....... 1,582
Uranus...... 1,582
Apollo....... 1,582
Minerva.... 1,582
Vulcan....... 1,582
Saturn...... 1,582
Jupiter....... 1,582
Mars........ 1,582
Earth....... 1,582
Venus..........1,582
Mercury.... 1,582
171
Th..,'ti'.l
V.1.iti..
Mil,,. p, h..,.
1,582
3,164
4,746
6,328
. 7,910
9,492
.11,074
12,656
14,238
15,820
17,402
18,984
20,566
22,148
30.058
55,370
68,026
. 80,682
110,740
A,,t..l k...
V.1.iti..
Mil.. p., ho.,.
12,570
15,730
22,306
30,203
55,812
68,890
81,000
110,725 
SERIAL RELATIONS
In table 6 it will be noticed that I have made
the serial number of Saturn 14, and that of Jupiter 19, thus omitting 4 serial numbers; the reason
is that theory indicates that there were 4 rings of
asteroids between the orbits of Saturn and Jupiter;
though in this table I have omitted them to save
space.   So also the serial number of Jupiter is
19, and that of the next planet, AIars, is 35, because
theory indicates that there were 15 rings between
the two orbits. There were also 7 rings between
Iars (35) and earth (43); 7 rings between earth
(43) and Venus, (51); and 18 rings between Venus (51) and Mercury, (70).
I have taken the liberty to give names to the
seven hypothetical planets beyond the orbit of
Neptune, and to the four between the orbits of
Neptune and Saturn, because it will render a reference to them more convenient.
SERIAL RELATIONS OF THE SQUARE ROOTS OF THE
MEAN DISTANCES OF THE PLANETS
FROM THE SUN.
It is well known to astronomers that one of the
consequences of the laws discovered by Kepler
and Newton is, that the mean orbital velocities of
theplanets are, one to another, inversely proportional
to the square roots of their mean d(listances from the
sun. This being the case, it follows, that if the
orbital velocities of invisible planets or rings are
ascertained by our theory of common difference of
172 
OF THE PLANETS.
velocities, their mean distances can readily be ascertained by the rules of simple proportion. The
following are illustrations of the application of this
rule:   The orbital velocity of the planet MAercury, in whole numbers of thousands of miles is
110.  The orbital velocity of Mars is half as much.
Upon examining the square roots of the the distances of these two planets, we find that the same
proportion (though inverse) exists between them;
that of Mars being 12 and that of Mercury 6,
which is half as much; in other words, as 110 is to
55 so is 12 to 6. Again, the velocity of Uranus is
is 15,800 miles per hour, that of Mercury is 110,725,
which is 7 times more; so also the square root of
the distance of Mercury is 6 and that of Uranus
42, which is 7 times more. In the same way the
mean velocities of any two planets in the series,
may be compared with the square roots of the
distances of the same two planets, and found to
be proportional.
This law of inverse proportion is of great practical value, in connection with our new theory; for,
when the law of common difference of velocities
indicates the existence of an undiscovered planet,
the law of proportion enables us to determine its
distance from the sun. For instance; in the space
between Neptune and Uranus, the law of common
difference of velocities indicates a planet, which,
in the table, I have named Pluto, the velocity of
which is 14,238 miles per hour. Now, as the calculated velocity of Pluto is to the known velocity
173 
SERIAL RELATIONS
of Mercury, so is the square root of the known
distance of Mercury to the answer required; that
is, to the unknown square root of the distance of
Pluto.
One important result of this perfect proportion
of the square roots to the orbital velocities, is that
some of the same serial relations exist between the
square roots that are found between the velocities.
This is illustrated by the following table:
EXPLANATION OF TABLE 7.
The first, or left hand column of figures in table 7 is a
repetition of 425, which is the square root of the mean distance of Chaos, the most distant possible planet in the series.
This 425 is obtained by multiplying 6,071, the square root of
36,857,000, (the mean distance of Mercury,) by its serial
number, 70. By successively dividing 425 by the serial
numbers in the second column, we obtain the square roots
of the distances of all the planets in the series, as they are
represented in the third column. The fourth column contains the mean distances the planets from the sun, obtained
by squaring the theoretical square roots in the third column.
The fifth column contains the actual mean distances, so
placed as to admit of easy comparison:
174 
OF THE PLANETS.
TABLE 7.
SI. Root   Serial No's  S.uare R't  Distances   Actual
of the distance  used as    of the  in millions distances in
of Chaos.   Divisors.   Distances.  of miles. mill. of miles.
Chaos........ 425   +   1  =   425.        180,625
Nox......... 425   "   2   "  212.5         45,156
Cerberus...... 425   "   3   "   141.67   20,069
Bacchus...... 425   "   4   "   106.25    11,289
Janus........ 425   "   5 "    85.            7,225
Atlas......... 425   "   6   "    70.83    5,018
Hercules...... 425   "   7   "    60.71      3,686
Neptune........ 425   "   8   "    53.125   2,822    2,854
Pluto........ 425   "   9   "    47.22    2,230
Uranus........ 425   "  10   "    42.5        1,806    1,822
Apollo........ 425   "  11   "    38.64    1,493
Minerva...... 425   "  12   "    35.41        1,254
Vulcan....... 425   "  13   "    32.69        1,069
Saturn....... 425   "  14   "    30.36         922       906
4 rings in this interval.
Jupiter....... 425   "  19   "    22.37        500      494
15 rings in this interval.
Mars...... 425   "  35   "    12.14            147       145
7 rings in this interval.
Earth....... 425   "  43   "         9.88       98        95
7 rings in this interval.
Venus....... 425   "  51   "         8.33        69       69
18 rings in this interval.
Mercury...... 425   "  70   "        6.071  36,857   36,770
175 
SERIAL RELATIONS
EXPLANATION OF TABLES 8 AND 9.
The law of proportion, and the serial relations, extend
not only to the velocities and the square roots of the distances, but also to the intervals or differences between the
square roots, and the differences between the velocities.
This is illustrated in the two following tables, (8 and 9),
which must be studied together as if they were one.
Table 8 gives the velocities of the planets, and their differences of velocities in serial order from Chaos to Saturn.
The table might have been extended to Mercury, but the
principle is sufficiently illustrated without occupying more
space. It will be seen that if we multiply the difference
(1,582) between any two consecutive planets' velocities, by
the greater serial number of the two, the product will be
the greater velocity of the two. The reason is that the
velocities and their differences are in a definite ratio to each
other. 1,582 is one-half the velocity of Nox, and the same
number (1,582) is one third the velocity of Cerberus, and onefourth that of Bacchus, and so on through the whole series.
Now, when we examine the corresponding series of square
roots of the distances in table 9, we find that the same ratio
exists there: that is to say, if we multiply the difference between any two consecutive square roots by the greater serial
number of the two, the product will be the greater square
root of the distance of the two. The reason is as follows:
the velocities and their differences, having a certain regular
ratio to each other, the square roots of the distances and
their differences (being in proportion to the velocities) have
the same ratio to each other.   Once more I remark that I
wish the critical reader to bear in mind, that the design of
these tables is, not to show how near the theoretical velocities or square roots agree with the actual, but to exhibit the
remarkable relations which exist between the velocities and
the square roots, when arranged in what I conceive to be
their true serial order.  I also wish to furnish the most de
176 
OF THE PLANETS.
cisive proofs that the relations which I have pointed out are
not mere coincidences, but are founded upon a law hereto
fore unknown.
TABLE 8.
Theoretical Known actual
Velocitien.    Velocities.
Miles p. h,our. Miles p. hour.,
1,582
3,164
4,746
6,328
7,910
9,492
11,074
12,656          12,570
14,238
15,820           15,730
17,402
18,984
20,566
22,148          22,306
Velocities and           Sertal
Common Difference.    Numbers.
Chaos........... 1,582
Difference.. 1,582
Nox............. 3,164
Difference.. 1,582
Cerberus......... 4,746
Difference... 1,582
Bacchus.......... 6,328
Difference.. 1,582
Janus........... 7,910
Difference.. 1,,582
Atlas........... 9,492
Difference.. 1,582
Hercules......... 11,074
Difference... 1,582
Neptune........12,656
Difference.. 1,582
Pluto........... 14,238
Difference.. 1,582
Uranus.......... 15,820
Difference.. 1,582
Apollo...........17,402
Difference.. 1,582
Minerva.......... 18,984
Difference.. 1,582
Vulcan........... 20,566
Difference... 1,582
Saturn........... 22,148
16
177
x 1 =
11 2 "
11            3,
11 4 "
11            5         11
11            6          11
11 7 "
11    8    "
11 9 11
11 10 11
11 11 11
11 12 "
11 13 "
11 14 " 
SERIAL RELATIONS
TABLE 9.
Square Roots
and Intervals.
Chaos, square root.......... 425.00
Difference or interval..212.05
Nox, square root............ 212.05
Interval............. 70.83
Cerberus, square root.......141.67
Interval............... 35.42
Bacchus, square root........106.25
Interval............. 21.25
Janus, square root.......... 85.00
Interval............. 14.17
Atlas, square root.......... 70.83
Interval............. 10.12
Hercules, square root....... 60.71
Interval............. 7.585
Neptune, square root........ 53.125
Interval............. 5.902
Pluto, square root.......... 47.22
Interval.............7                4.72
Uranus, square root........ 42.05
Interval............. 3.86
Apollo, square root......... 38.64
Interval............. 3.22
Minerva, square root........ 35.41
Interval............. 2.72
Vulcan, square root......... 32.69
Interval............... 2.33
Saturn, square root......... 30.36
If any doubts still linger in the mind of the
reader that this new theory is founded in nature,
I think they must be entirely removed when he
finds that the subordinate systems of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus give their united testimony in its
favor. Beyond all question, the same universal
laws of the Creator by which the solar system was
formed presided over the formation of every other
planetary system in the boundless regions of space.
178
Serial
Numbers.
x     2
"     3
"     4
"     5
"     6
"     7
"     8
"     9
"    10
"1   11
"    12
"    13
"    14
Square Roots.
=   425.00
"   212.05
"   141.67
"   106.25
"    85.00
"    70.83
"    60.71
"    53.125
"    47.22
"    42.05
"    38.64
"    35.41
"    32.69 
OF THE PLANETS.
JUPITERrS SYSTEM.
EXPLANATION OF TABLES 10 AND 11.
Proceeding in the same manner as we have with the
solar system, we take the velocity of Io, the satellite nearest
to Jupiter, which is 38,784 miles per hour, and divide it by
what we suppose to be the common difference of the primitive orbital velocities, which is 808 miles per hour. We find
the resulting quotient to be 48. We, therefore, infer that
the most distant possible satellite or ring of this series has
an orbital velocity of 808 miles per hour; and that the serial
number of Io is 48, that of Europa 38, that of Ganymede
is 30, and of Callisto 22. The first or left-hand column of
figures in table 10 contains the common difference, 808, repeated. The second column contains the serial numbers by
which the 808 is successively multiplied. The third column
contains the resulting theoretical velocities; and the fourth
column contains the actual velocities.
TABLE 10.
.     Theoreti cal
Serali     Velocities.
N.umbers.   Miles p. hour...
22  =   17,776
30 " 24,240
38     "    30,704
48    "    38,784
Common
Difference.
Callisto...............808
Ganymede............808
Europa...............808
Io....................808
SERIAL RELATIONS OF THE SQUARE ROOTS OF THE
MEAN DISTANCES OF THE SATELLITES OF
JUPITER.
The mean distance of Io, the nearest satellite to
Jupiter, is 269,000 miles; the square root of this
number is 518.651, which, if multiplied by the
serial number (48), gives a product of 24,895.3, the
square root of the most distant possible satellite of
179
A,,t..l
V.1.it'
mi,..h..
17,743
24,519
30,716
38,772
x 
SERIAL RELATIONS
the series. If we divide 24,853 by the serial number of any satellite in the series, we obtain the
square root of the mean distance of that satellite.
TABLE 11.
Square Roots    Squares or       Actual
Square R~t   Numbers     of           Thooroticat
'f                ~~~~~~Distance.
Distances.      Di      stanc.      es.
1,131.6045  1,280,529  1,152,000
829.843    688,639   680,000
652.771    425,100   426,500
518.651    269,000   269,000
The first, or left-hand column in table 11 contains 24,895.3
repeated. This number was obtained by multiplying 518.651,
the square root of the distance of Io, the nearest of Jupiter's
satellites, by its serial number, 48. The second column contains the serial numbers, by which 24,895.3 is successively
divided to produce the square roots in the third column; the
squares of which are the theoretical mean distances in the
fourth column.  The fifth column contains the actual mean
distances.
SERIAL RELATIONS OF THE ORBITAL VELOCITIES OF
SATURN'S SATELLITES.
EXPLANATION OF TABLE 12.
Let us now examine the system of Saturn's satellites, and
apply the foregoing principles to them. The orbital velocity
of Mimas, the satellite nearest to Saturn, is 34,986 miles per
hour. This number divided by 714, the common difference,
gives a quotient of 49, which is therefore assumed as the
serial number of Mimas. The most distant possible satellite
of this series has a theoretical velocity of 714 miles per hour,
which is the same as the common difference. Japetus, the
most distant known satellite of Saturn, has 11 for his serial
number, because his velocity is 11 times 714 miles per hour
The following table (12) will now be understood.
iso
M.t di,t-t Sii.1
,- Rp,t N..b...
. th.
Callisto.... 24,895.3 -.- 2 2 =
Ganymecle 24,895.3 " 30 "
Europa... 24,895.3 " 38 "
lo........ 24,895.3 " 48 " 
OF THE PLANETS.
TABLE 12.
Theoretical Veloities.
Names of known  common  ~~    Veloitis Atal V elocities.
lD e. Numbers. Mies p. hour. Mile s per hour.
x   1 =    714
"   2 "  1,428
"   3  "  2,142
"   4  "  2,856
"   5 "  3,570
"   66     4,284
7   7 7    4,998
"   88    5,712
"   9  "  6426
7  10  "  7,140
"  11"   7,854            7,968
'" 17    12,138          12,215
"  19  " 13,566          13,635
"  29  " 20,706          20,776
"  34  " 24,276          24,516
"  39  " 27,846          27,776
"  44  " 31,416          30,975
"  49  " 34,986          34,986
SERIAL RELATIONS OF TIlE SQUARE ROOTS OF
THE DISTANCES OF SATURN'S
SATELLITES.
EXPLANATION OF TABLE 13.
We will next examine table 13 of the square roots of the
distances of Saturn's satellites. The mean distance of Mimas, the nearest satellite, is 126,000 miles. The square root
of this number is 35.5, which, if multiplied by the serial
number 49, gives a product of 1,740, which is the square
root of the distance of the most distant possible satellite of
this series. 1,740 being divided by the serial number of any
sattelite of this series, gives, for'a quotient, the square root
of the mean  distance of that satellite.   The tables of
Saturn's serial relations are interesting on account of the
remarkable resemblance which they bear to those. of thg
solar system.
181
N-.. f k..
714
714
714
714
714
714
714
714
714
714
Japetus............... 714
Hyperion............. 714
Titan................. 714
Rhea................. 714
Dione................ 714
Tethys................ 714
Enceladus............ 714
Mimas................ 714 
SERIAL RELATIONS
TABLE 13.
SATURN'S SYSTEM.
Serial       Square roots of the  Theoretical          Actual known
Numbers.          mean distances.        dist ances.        distance.
1,740
1,740
1,740
1,740
1,740
1,740
1,740
1,740
1,740
1,740
Japetus.. 1,740
1,740
1,740
1,740
1,740
1,740
Hyperion. 1,740
1,740
Titan....  1,740
Rhea.... 1,740
Dione.... 1,740
Tethys...  1,740
Enceladus 1,740
Mimas... 1,740
2,496,000  2,414,000
SERIAL RELATIONS OF THE SATELLITES OF
URANUS.
EXPLANATION OF TABLE 14.
The satellites of Uranus are yet the subjects of discussion
and doubt, and their elements are generally regarded by
astronomers as unsettled. In constructing table 14, I have
put down four of the satellites according to Dr. Lardner.
The two nearest satellites to the primary are not mentioned
182
s.t.1lit.l.
N-...
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
29
34
39
44
49
1740.
870.
580.
435.
348.
290.
249.
217.
193.
174.
158.
145.
134.
124.
116.
109.
102.
97.
91.5
60.
51.
44.6
39.5
35.5
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
1,080,000
837,000
360,000
260,000
200,000
156,000
126,000
1,050,000
800,000
358,000
256,000
200,000
161,000
126,000 
OF THE PLANETS.
by him, and have been but lately discovered. I find their
distances stated in Nichol's Cyclopedia of the Physical
Sciences; and from this datum I have calculated their orbital
velocities. The agreement of the actual velocities of this
series of six satellites with those derived from theory, is,
under the circumstances, remarkable; and indicates that
the observations of astronomers are not far wrong.
There are two other and more distant satellites in this
system, the 7th and 8th from the primary, (A. and B.,)
which the elder Herschell announced that he saw through
his telescope; and although he recorded their elements, no
other astronomer has since been able to find them: it is consequently supposed that Herschell was mistaken. He puts
down the velocities of these doubtful satellites, (See Lardner's Hand Book of Astronomy,) one as 3,816 miles per
hour, and the other as 5,398 miles per hour. If the law of
common difference may be relied upon, Herschell was certainly mistaken, either in his record or in his calculations.
But it is possible that he was not mistaken in his observations.  He may actually have seen both of them, but committed an error in regard to their positions. Applying the law of common difference, we find that these two
satellites, if they exist, have, one a velocity of 4,036, (instead of 3,816,) and the other 5,236, (instead of 5,392), miles
per hour.
183 
SERIAL RELATIONS
TABLE 14.
SATELLITES OF IRANUS.
Theoretical velocities.
Miles per hour.
Velocity of A, a doubtful satellite  4,036
Add 600 x 2=............ 1,200
Velocity of. B, a doubtful satellite.   5,2326
Add 600 x 4=............ 2,400
Velocity of C, a known satellite...  7,636
Add 600.................. 600
Velocity of D, a known satellite...  8,236
Add 600.................. 600
Velocity of E, a known satellite..  8,836
Add 600 x 2=............ 1,200
Velocity of F, a known satellite.. 10,036
Add 600 x 2............ 1,200
Velocity of G, a known satellite.. 11,236
Add 600 x 2=............. 1,200
Velocity of H, a known satellite.. 12,436
NOTE.-I have, in the above table, put down the actual velocity of A
as 3,816, and of B, 5,398, but I only mean that these are their actual velocities according to the calculations of Sir William Herschell, which are
probably erroneous.
184
At..l
Mil.. p.-, h..,.
3,816(?)
5,398(?)
7,636
8,178
8,828
10,056
11,200
12,500 
SECTION V.
COMPARATIVE ASTROGENEA.
F we compare the solar and the several satellitic
systems with each other, we find that there are
not only many points of resemblance, but also
some particulars in which they are very different.
It would seem that the system of Jupiter, of
Saturn, of Uranus, and even of the Earth and her
moon, were formed by the operation of the same
general laws of nature which presided over the formation of the solar system. But the conditions
and circumstances under which those laws acted,
were different and peculiar in each system. After
reflecting much upon the subject, I find that all the
essential differences among the systems can be accounted for by supposing that the primitive
nebula, from which they were formed, differed
from each other in density, or in magnitude, or
both. Suppose two nebulae were at first exactly
alike in every essential particular, except that one
was twice as dense as the other. The rings formed
in the more dense system would, according to
theory, be just as numerous, as wide, and as near
to the primary as in the less dense; but being
twice as dense, they would possess twice as much
attractive power. They would, therefore, purturb
16*
W 
COMPARATIVE 
each other more, and cause a greater number of
rings to become asteroidal Oconsequently, the intervals between the normal secondaries would be
greater than in a less dense system.
Let us now compare Jupiter's satellites with
those of Saturn. We may fairly presume that the
present relative densities of the planets are a
proper criterion of the relative densities of the
primitive nebulaw from which they were formed.
According to this rule the Saturnian nebula was
the least dense. We can therefore understand
why the satellites of Saturn are smaller, more numerous, and nearer to the sun and each other than
those of Jupiter.   The bright rings of Saturn
have generally been regarded as anomalous and
exceptional.   I suspect, however, that there are
similar rings in every system; but that in Saturn's
system the matter of which the rings are composed has so little density, and therefore presents so
large a surface for the reflection of light, that we
can see them: whereas, in all other cases the
meteoric or asteroidal masses, though really arranged in rings, are invisible, because, instead of
being aggregated as in Saturn's rings, they are
formed into more widely separated bodies, so small
and dense that they have not yet been discovered.
What we call the zodiacal lights undoubtedly proceed from several rings of asteroids, which differ
from those between Jupiter and Mars, principally,
in being smaller and denser, so that they cannot
be as easily seen. Some of the asteroids which
186 
ASTROGENEA.
theory indicates, between Saturn and Jupiter, are
probably quite as large as Juno, and may yet be
discovered. We can now perceive why Saturn's
system, (included within the orbit of Japetus,) is
five millions of miles in diameter; while that of
Jupiter, (included within the orbit of Callisto,) is
only three millions. If the Saturnian system had
shrunk so as to be twice its present density, it
would doubtless have occupied less space than
Jupiter's system does.
The rings of the Jovian nebula were more dense
and attractive than those of the Saturnian; and
therefore purturbed one another to such a degree
that a large number were prevented from becoming
satellites, consequently the intervals between those
that were formed are very wide.
One of the consequences of our theory is that
the greater the mass of a primary, the narrower
the secondary rings were at a given distance from
the prhnary; for the larger the primary the greater
must be the orbital velocities of the secondaries at
given distances; and of course the narrower must
have been the rings.   At the distance of one
million of miles from Jupiter, the primitive satellitic rings were much wider than those formed in
the solar system one million of miles from the sun.
Saturn's rings, at the same distance, were still
wider; and the rings of our own terrestial system,
from the principal of which our moon was formed,
was the widest of all, when the distance firom the
primary is considered.
187 
COMPARATIVYE
Now let us compare two systems that are alike
in every thing, except that in one the primary
is many times the more massive. What difference
would that make in the secondaries? The larger
the primary the greater, all else equal, must be the
orbital velocities of the secondaries, and, consequently, the narrower the rings formed within a
given distance of the centre. The narrower the
rings the more they must have purturbed each
other, and tended to produce asteroids. This is the
reason why the interval between the primary and
the first secondary is greater the larger the primary
is, provided the densities are equal.   Jupiter is
both denser and larger than Saturn; so that there
are, in this case, two reasons why the the interval
should be greater between Jupiter and Io than
between Saturn and Mimas.
188
0 
D
SECTION VI.
PHYSICAL CAUSE OF ORAVITATION.
IR Isaac Newton discovered that the force of
gravitation is directly as the mass, and inversely as the square of the distance from the attracting
body; but neither Newton nor any other philosopher has given us even a plausible conjecture concerning the generation, origin, or physical cause of
this wonderful force. Descartes, without being
acquainted with the law of gravitation, attempted
to account for the fact by supposing that there is
an imperceptible and universal fluid or ether, almost
infinitely attenuated and subtle, the vortical motions of which caused bodies to gravitate toward
each other. Newton himself, at one time, partially
adopted this idea. In one of his letters to a friend
he says, "I seek in the ether for the cause of gravitation." He conjectured that the ether is less dense
in the interiors of bodies than at their surfaces, and
less dense there than at some distance beyond, and
thus the density increased with distance. This
being admitted, he thought that small bodies would
move toward larger ones because they would, on
mechanical principles, be forced to advance from a
denser medium to one less dense. After about
eight years of hesitation, he expressed his convic 
PHYSICAL CAUSE
tion that this hypothesis was untenable. There is,
however, no evidence that he abandoned the idea
that gravitation depends upon the etltr or etheriurm, with which the regions of space, and the interstices of all gross matter, are filled. Euler, the
celebrated mathematician, entertained the opinion
that gravitation is caused by a progressive movement of the etherial fluid toward the centres of
bodies; but he frankly confessed that he could not
conjecture what would cause such a movement. I
concur with Euler in his opinion that gravitation is
caused by a movement of the ether, or etherium,
(as I prefer to call it,) and I take the liberty to
offer the following hypothesis to account for it.
The particles of etherium, in common with those
of all other fluids, possess a wonderful degree of
motion among each other. It is this motion or
force that keeps the etherium in an expanded state,
and enables a very small quantity of matter to fill
a large space.  When the particles of etherial matter come into contact with gross planetary matter,
the etherial particles become condensed and assimilated to the gross matter: they loose their
etherial character and become a part of the planet.
The force which kept the etherial matter in an expanded state, is set free, converted into heat and
light, and most of it radiated away. This condensation of etherium, and the conversion and radiation of its expansive force, cannot happen without
producing a vacuum at each point where the condensation takes place; and a converging or gravi
190 
OP GRAVIrATION.
tating movement of the surrounding etherial fluid
will necessarily follow to fill the vacuum. This
movement thus produced is the immediate cause of
gravitation.
The force of gravitation must be generated in
the attracting body itself, and not outside of it.
This is evident from the fact that the force is greatest near the body, and rapidly decreases with distance.
If the etherium moves toward bodies to produce
gravitation, it must remain with them, and it must
be continually condensed to make room for the
particles that are following, or else the stream
would stop.
The force of gravitation is analogous to light
and heat and other radiant forces in only one particular, and that is, that it decreases with distance
in the same ratio. We know that the reason why
radiant force decreases with distance is because it
is removed further from its source, is divided among
a larger number of the particles of the medium
through which it is moving, and diffused over a
larger area. The same must be true of gravitation.
Radiant force proceeds from celestial bodies,
while gravitation acts in the contrary direction.
Gravitation cannot be a force in the same sense
that light and heat and sound are forces. It is not
analogous to them in being liable to be modified
by the medium through which it passes; it cannot
be refracted, nor reflected, nor, by any known
means, can it be turned out of its course in the
101 
PHYSICAL CAUSE
slightest degree. It seems to operate through all
bodies and substances with equal impunity and
ease, undiminished in quantity by anything except
distance. If any substance is the agent or medium
of the force of gravitation, it must be that which
is the most universal, pervading, subtle and permeating in existence; in a word, it must be
etheriurn.
If we examine the phenomena of nature with
which.we are well acquainted, we find nothing analogous to gravitation, except condensation. Here
the analogy, so far as it extends, is perfect. When
a body collapses, condenses, or shrinks, the surrounding fluid concentrates, or gravitates, and
presses from all directions, toward the centre of
the condensing body, to fill the vacuum.
The force of gravitation is commonly said to decrease with distance, but in fact it is merely divided
or diffused through a larger space.
I have used the word assimilation in connection
with gravitation, because I really believe that there
is a perfect analogy, if not an identity, in the manner in which gross matter appropriates etherial
matter to itself, and that in which organic beings
appropriate their food and assimilate it.  Indeed,
it appears to me highly probable, that etherial assimilation is the first step in that wonderful march
of organic creation, from the lowest to the highest
types of beings, which is now exciting so much
interest among comparative physiologists. Vegetable and animal organisms result from more ad
192 
OF GRAVITATION.
vanced and complicated specializations, of the same
general process, as that by which etherial matter is
organized into planetary matter.
At the first thought it would seem that if this
theory is true, the planets, and all visible bodies,
must have increased to such a degree that their
growth would have been demonstrable. But this
objection becomes less formidable the more we
consider the wonderful minuteness of the etherial
atoms, and also the short period during which
philosophical observations have been recorded. If
a man of ever so much natural sagacity never had
seen a tree, except for a single day, it would be
impossible for him, by mere observation, to learn
that it was gradually growing larger. And we
must consider that a day in the life time of a tree
is relatively a much longer period than three
thousand years in the age of the earth.
In a company in which this theory was under
discussion, a few days ago, a gentleman made the
following objection: if the weight of a body, a
piece of gold for instance, is caused by a stream
of etherial particles, acting with a certain degree
of force on one side of the gold, it would be analagous in its effects to a wind; and if the-piece of
gold were beaten out into a thin sheet, and its
broadest side presented to the current, it should
weigh many times more than if its thin edge were
presented to the current. But the fact is that the
piece of gold will weigh just as much in one position as another; therefore this theory cannot be
193
17 
PHYSICAL CAUSE
true. This objection would seem to be well founded, if we were at liberty to assume that the constituent atoms of the gold were in perfect contact
with each other, so that the atoms of etherium
could not get between them; but the probability
is that none of the atoms of gold or of any thing
else are in actual contact; on the contrary, the
spaces between them are filled with etherial particles. This being the case, a movement of the
etherium must act upon each atom of gold separately, and the effect, therefore, will be the' same
whether the sheet of metal is presented in one position or another.
Since every known substance may be reduced in bulk by
pressure, it follows that the particles of matter are not in
actual contact, but are separated by interstices. * * *
It is evident that the smaller the interstitial spaces the
greater the density. As it is inconceivable that the particles
of matter should act upon one another without some means
of communication, there is every reason to presume that
the interstices of material substances contain a portion of
that subtle, etherial, and elastic fluid with which the regions
of space are replete. * * * As the particles are not in
contact, Prof. Mossoti supposes that each is encompassed by
an atmosphere of the etherial fluid. The celebrated Franklin was the first who explained the phenomena of electricity
in repose, by supposing the molecules of bodies to be surrounded by an atmosphere of electric (etherial) fluid.-MRs.
SOM-ERVILLE'S CONNECTION OF PHYSICAL SCIENCES.
In order to form a correct idea of the process of
etherial condensation, we must first consider. the
relation of matter to force and space. It may be
194 
OFGRAVITATION.
laid down as an axiom that, all else equal, the
quantity of matter and the quantity of force in any
given space are in inverse ratio to each other. The
greater the quantity of force or motion there is
among the constituents of any mass, the greater
space it must occupy. Physically speaking, there
is nothing in existence but matter, space, and force;
and neither of these can be destroyed, or its quantity ill any degree diminished. We may change
the form of matter, but it must, every atom of it,
continue in existence. So it is with force; it may
appear as heat and change to magnetism, galvanism, electricity, engine motion, or animal force, but
it is the same identical force under all these different names and modes of manifestation.
A mass of matter always occupies a certain
quantity of space which is invariable. It may
change from one space to another, but it cannot fill
more or less space. What is called expansion is
the effect of additional force causing the constituent particles to become farther separated from each
other; and what is called condensation is the effect
of the loss of force, causing the constituents to approach nearer to each other. It is atomic or molecular force which keeps the particles of etherial
matter from all condensing together into perfectly
solid masses.
According to the hypothesis of Iaplace, the nebula from which the solar system was formed was
expanded and attenuated by free heat, which was
constantly radiated away to the colder etherial
195 
PHYSICAL CAUSE
space by which it was surrounded; and in this manner the nebula became contracted and condensed.
I suppose, on the contrary, that the heat which
the nebula contained was not free but latent.  It
was like the heat that exists in oxygen gas; and
which is not set free until the oxygen has come in
contact with fuel, under the proper conditions to
produce combustion. I admit that the nebula was
expanded by force, which was susceptible of being
made to assume the form of free radiant heat, when
the nebulous matter became condensed, in consequence of the mutual collision of its constituents.
Most of the writers on astronomy and geology
adopt the idea that the heat of the sun, and the
internal heat of the earth, are merely the residue
of the primitive heat, which the solar system possessed when in its embryotic state; that the earth
and all the planets were once small suns, which
have gradually cooled down to their present condition. This, however, is a mere conjecture. The
only facts which lend it any support are derived
from geology; and these so imperfectly sustain the
hypothesis that Sir Charles Lyell, the most philosophical of geologists, rejects it altogether.
The organic remains found in-northern and even
in polar climates, prove beyond all question that a
temperate and equable climate once prevailed
there. But Mr. Lyell thinks that a similar climate
would prevail there again if the northern continents were reduced to a few islands, and the warm
tropical currents could have free course through
196 
OF GRAVITATION.
the polar regions, while the cold Arctic waters in
return could be freely and continually discharged
toward the tropics.
Just as the elevation of the mountains in the
tropical Andes and Alps can produce the climate
of winter there, so the sinking of the polar lands
would, by preventing them from accumulating
cold, and at the same time by allowing the warm
currents to flow freely among the few low islands
that remained, produce a climate similar to that indicated by the geological remains in the secondary
period. According to the theory of gravitation
which I am proposing, the earth, instead of growing coolor by radiation, has always been quite as
cool as it is now. If it has changed in this respect
-if its internal heat has varied in quantity-it is
more probable thiat instead of decreasing, it has
increased in the same ratio as the mass of the
earth has increased by the frequent additions of
meteoric stones, and by etherial assimulation; for,
according to our theory, the quantity of internal
heat possessed by any celestial body is, all else
equal, in the ratio of its mass.
The reason why the planets no not radiate light
while the sun does, is because the radiating surfaces are larger in proportion to their masses the
smaller the bodies are. If the sun could be broken
up into a thousand distinct bodies, the extent of
the radiating surfaces would be so much increased
that all the bodies would become opaque, and
their luminosity would cease. The reason why
197 
PHYSICAL CAUSE
suns give light and heat is because they are so
massive. The quantity of heat generated is in the
direct ratio of their masses, while their surfaces
are inversely as their masses.
I do not doubt that the interior of the earth is
filled, and always has been, with fluid matter, and
that it is now inconceivably hot; but it does not
follow that it was once still hotter, and has been
gradually cooling. The comets are all composed
of fluid, but no one pretends that they are hot.
There is no evidence that they radiate either heat
or light to a perceptible degree. I suppose that
our globe was once in an analogous condition. If
a comet exists any where in the regions of space
which contains as much matter as our sun, I have
no doubt that it is self-luminous and extremely hot.
Some philosophers have lately attempted to account for the sun's heat and light, by supposing
that the comets and meteors which fall upon his
surface convert their velocities into heat, and thus
compensate the sun for that which is lost by radiation. In proof of this, they declare that the most
careful mathematical estimates have established
the fact, that, unless replenished, the sun's radiations would be exhausted in four or five thousand
years. The objection to this hypothesis is, that
though it may be a true cause, it is an insufficient
one: and besides, it gives no explanation of the
internal heat of the earth. I would propose, therefore, to add the force of the etheri,l particles to
that of the comets. They may not strike with as
198 
OF GRAVITATION.
powerful a momentum as the comets, but they
surely compensate by their numbers what they
lack in magnitude; they also penetrate into the
utmost recesses, and enter the smallest pores and
interstices of planetary matter.
Every mechanical philosopher understands that
if a body, possessing great mass and momentum,
is overtaken by a vast number of small, inelastic
bodies, moving with great velocity, the small ones
will lose a portion of their velocites by communicating them to the large body; and after collision
they will assimilate their motions to those of the
large body. This, I conceive, to be a perfect illustration of the effect of the contact or collision of
etherial with planetary matter.  The etherial particles are the smallest in nature, and move with
greater velocity than any other. When they come
in contact with planetary matter, they become
assimilated to it in motion and in condensation.
Nebulous matter was doubtless the second form
which primitive matter assumed, in the progress of
creation; it was intermediate between etherial and
planetary matter.
I have spoken of nebulous matter and of the
planets as if the day of creation were over; but in
reality creation is proceeding now as rapidly as
ever. I can form no idea of a time when there
were less worlds in existence than there are now.
When the solar system began its career there were
probably an infinite number of systems quite as
much advanced in age as ours is now.
199 
PHYSICAL CAUSE
The force that is radiated away when condensation takes place is not lost, but proceeds to other
masses and worlds, and enters them, causing their
expansion; thus the balance of creation is maintained.   Condensation  and expansion, the two
great antagonistic forces of nature, are kept constantly equal to each other; if one mass is contracting in consequence of radiation, another is
expanding in consequence of the absorption of the
rays of force.
The precise manner in which force produces expansion can only be conjectured. It may be supposed that each of the constituent atoms of a body,
air for instance, has a motion in a circle or ellipse,
and that the addition of more force causes the
ellipse to enlarge, and thus each atom occupies, or
moves through, more space in a given time. When
a mass loses a portion of its force, the diameter of
the atomic orbits is dimninished, and, of course, the
whole mass becomes smaller.
Chemists and electricians have long disputed
concerning the manner in which electricity is
evolved when bodies in different conditions are
brought together, especially in galvanic batteries.
Some contend that mere contact is sufficient to
evolve electricity; others, that the electricity is the
result of chemical action. The most reasonable
theory, to my mind, is, that the component particles of all masses, even the most solid, are constantly moving in orbits, and that the particles of
each mass have their own particular velocity.
200 
OF GRAVITATION.
When two masses come into contact, there is instantly a struggle among the constituents; those
which move with the greater velocity are said to
possess positive electricity, and those that have
less velocity possess negative electricity. After
the struggle is over, the two electricities are said
to be alike, while, in fact, the velocities of all the
constituents are alike.   The  difference between
velocity and momentum is well known in regard
to the visible motions of bodies. I suspect that
what are called positive and negative electricities
and polarities depend upon the same law. If the
etherial particles in one body have greater velocity, and in another body greater momentum, they
are said to possess opposite electricities; one being
called positive and the other negative. If two
metals are brought into contact, which differ in
temperature or density, they differ in electricity;
that is to say, their etherial atoms differ in velocity.  What is chemical action?  It is a name for a
process which no one understands. All the processes of nature which we do really understand
are purely mechanical, and must be explained by
mechanical laws.
Combustion, or the burning of substances, is a
process which I conceive to be analogous to etherial assimilation and gravitation. The heat, or heat
force, that is evolved when fuel is burned, proceeds not from the fuel itself, but from the oxygen.
Where was the heat before it was radiated from
the fuel? Did it reside in the fuel? By no means,
18
201 
PIIYSICAL CAUSE
It existed in the oxygen. It was the force that
kept the particles of oxygen separated from each
other. When the oxygen came into contact with
the fuel it lost its expansive force and became condensed, while the force was set free and was radiated away, producing effects which we call heat.
The oxygen which previously occupied a thousand
cubic yards is now condensed so as to occupy less
than one cubic inch. The condensation takes place
at the point where the oxygen comes into contact
with the fuel. It is from this point that radiation
proceeds. It is here that a vacuum is produced by
condensation and radiation, and it is toward this
point that the surrounding air must converge or
gravitate to fill the vacuum. This is a beautiful
illustration of the process which, according to our
theory, is going on in the sun and all other planets
continually; that is to say, radiation, condensation,
assimilation and gravitation are constantly proceeding together, and mutually producing each
other.
The growing of a plant is produced by the condensation of the carbon which is in the atmosphere.
A plant is itself, principally, a condensed mass of
carbon drawn from the atmosphere, where it existed with oxygen in the form of carbonic acid. The
expansive force which it possessed is set free before it is condensed, and is radiated away. Thus
we see that the plant assimilates carbon, the fuel
assimilates oxygen, and the planets assimilate
etherium. These three processes are analogous in
202 
OF GRAYITATION.
all essential respects. If we could see the particles
of carbonic acid moving toward a plant, of oxygen moving toward fuels and of etherium toward
planets, we should no longer enquire concerning
the physical cause of gravitation.
RECAPITULATION OF ASTROGENEA.
1. The hypothesis of Laplace, that increasing
centrifugal force threw the exterior rim of the nebula off, is inconsistent with the fact that 667 parts
out of 668 are now in the sun; and 439 out of 475
parts of the remainder are now in the interior third
of the radius of the system, while only 36 parts are
in the outer two thirds.
2. The nebulous mass in rotation would tend to
become an oblate spheroid; and the most of its
matter would be located between the sun and Jupiter, where there actually is the least matter.
3. The effect of a resisting etherial medium
would be to cause the lightest portion of the nebulous matter to move in spiral paths to the sun.
The matter nearest to the sun, the orbital motion
of which was greatest, would be most affected by
the medium. The densities of the planets, and the
actual distribution of matter in the solar system,
and in each system of satellites, is such as this
theory requires. In each system there is, first, an
immense primary; second, several small seconda
NOTE.-Astrogenea is from the Latin aster, a star, and genesis; and
literally sig-ifies-the birth of the stars.
203 
I0RCAPITULATION.
ries with narrow intervals, the first interval, however, being greater than the next succeeding one;
third, there is one giant secondary, containing more
matter than all the others; fourth, beyond the
giant are one or more secondaries of intermediate
size, with very wide intervals.
4. It was long ago noticed that the intervals between the planets and satellites become greater
the further they are from the centre, and this fact
is represented by what is called Bode's Law; but
no reason for the fact has, until now, been discovered. I have found that the differences between the
orbital velocities of the secondaries, in each system, can be divided by a common divisor, without
any essential remainder. The divisor in the case of
the planets is 1,582; of Jupiter's satellites, 808; of
Saturn's satellites, 714; of the satellites of Uranus,
600. I account for this fact on the theory that the
parts of the nebula were held together by an attractive force, which, in the solar system, it required a difference of orbital velocities equal to 1,582
miles per hour to overcome. On account of the
increasing velocities, this difference was obtained
with less difference of distance (a narrower interval)
the nearer the matter was to the centre; consequently the rings decreased in width in the same
ratio as the velocities increased; and the primitive
rings had a common difference of velocities equal
to 1,582 miles per hour.
5. The movement of the nebulous matter in
spiral paths toward the centre, caused a large por
204 
RZCAPITULATION.
tion to accumulate at the inner edge of each ring
in a globular mass; and thus the rings became
transformed to planets.
6. In the interior parts of each system the rings
were extremely narrow, and the attraction of the
exterior rings prevented the inward spiral movement requisite to form normal planets: consequently, rings of asteroids or planetettes were produced
between all the interior secondaries.
7. In the outer parts of the system, where the
rings were very wide, and the planets not very large,
no asteroids were formed: therefore I infer the existence of a planet (Pluto) between Neptune and
Uranus, and several others between Uranus and
Saturn. I also infer the existence of several undiscovered satellites in Saturn's system.
8. The orbital velocities of unseen planets being
ascertained by the theory of common difference,
their distances can also be determined, by the rule
that the orbital velocities, one to another, are inversely proportional to the square roots of the
mean distances.
9. In carrying this new theory out to its consequences, an interesting relation has been discovered between the square roots of the distances,
which has never before been known, and whichi is
illustrated by several tables.
10. The more massive a primary, the narrower
at a given distance, must have been the primitive
rings or intervals, and therefore more likely to pur
turb each other, and produce asteroids.
205 
RECAPITULATION.
11. The less dense the nebula from which rings
were formed, the less massive the rings must have
been, and therefore less likely to produce asteroids
by their mutual purturbations.
12. The reason why Saturn's satellites are, some
of them, so near the primary, is because the primitive Saturnian nebula had so little density. The
same fact accounts for the narrow intervals between
Saturn's interior satellites.
13. Gravitation is caused by the planetary matter constantly assimilating and condensing etherium, and setting its expansive force free.  The radiation of this force accounts for the exhaustless
heat and light of the sun. The movements of surrounding etherium to fill the vacua produced by
radiation, is the physical cause of gravitation.
14. The internal heat of the earth, and of all
other planets, may be accounted for on the same
principle.
206 
CIRCULAR
ommevrlaJ             t,
AIBION, MICHIGII.
Ever since it was said to Adam, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou
eat bread," there has been a necessity laid upon man not only to labor,
but to EXCHANGE with others the products of his industry, in order to
obtain a comfortable supporu.'Deliver all things in number and
weight, and put all in writing that thou givest out or receivest in," is a
precept of universal application: and there is a special necessity for its
obserance in all business transactions between debtor an( creditor.
-Preface to iMayhew's Book-keeping.
IRA MAYHEW, A. M., PRESIDENT,
AUTHOR OF " MAYIEW'S PRACTICAL BOOK-KEEPING," " MEANS AND ENDS
OF UNIVERSAL EDUCATION," ETC., AND EIGHT YEARS SUPERIN         TENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN MICHIGAN.
DETROIT:
THE DAILY POST STEAM PRINT.
Or THB 
ALBION COMMERCIAL COLLEGE.
INTRODUCTORY.
The founder and proprietor of the Albion Commercial Col lege, has long been an advocate for practical education. He
believes with a former King of Sparta, that "boys should
learn those things which they will have occasion to prac tice when they become mnen." Certain it is, that while edu cation should be disciplinary, and be conducted with wise
reference to harmoniously developing all the human capabi lities, it should likewise have due regard to the training of
youth for the particular callings in which they expect to
engage. Young men expecting to become lawyers or phy sicians, hence appropriately attend the Law School or the
Medical College, in order to receive that necessary preliminary training without which they cannot reasonably hope
to attain success. So persons intending to become bookkeepers, or to engage in merchandise, or in any of the
numerous commercial pursuits of the country, should attend a well regulated Commercial College, and for a like
reason. And in their training here, students should not be
taught a fewforms and methods merely, as is too commonly
practiced, but they should be thoroughly instructed in the
principles that underlie all form8 and metowds, that they may
be prepared to develop new forms, and to modify old ones,
as varying circumstances arise; for they can in no other
way become adequate to the emergencies that are incident
to this world of change.
LOCATION OF THE COLLEGE.
The Albion Commercial College is pleasantly located in
the well regulated village of Albion, ninety-five miles west 
APPENDIX.
from Detroit, on the M. C. R. R. While thus easy of access,
it affords a home for the student, while pursuing his commercial studies, at much less cost than is attendant upon a
residence in large cities.
Commercial Colleges have generally been located in cities,
thus subjecting students from abroad to large expense for
board, and exposing them unnecessarily to the corrupting
influences incident to such situations. It has become an
established fact, that locations which are favorable for Seminaries of Learning are, for like reasons, desirable for Commercial-Colleges. A quiet and healthy location, commodious
buildings, competent instructors, and a thorough course of
study, are essential to success,-all of which, it is believed,
are here combined.
COURSE OF STUDY.
The course of instruction in the Albion Commercial Col
lege embraces Book-keeping by Single and Double Entry, in
all their numerous forms, and everything that is necessary
to the attainment of skill therein. It includes Penmanship,
Business Correspondence, and Commercial Calculations;
Fire, Marine and Life Insurance; Commercial Law and Conveyancing; the Philosophy and Morals of Business and
Political Economy, in their applications. Students, in taking this course, pass through a "Theory Department," in
which the principles of accounts are clearly explained and
practically applied, when they are advanced to the "Actual
Business Department," where they engage in actual business.
THEORY DEPARTMENT.
Mayhew's Practical Book-keeping is used as a text book.
This work oommences with the very alphabet of accounts,
and gradually advances from the simplest principles of Bookkeeping to the clear unfolding of Double Entry in its applications to the various business pursuits of the country. The
President of the College, who is the author of this popular 
APPENDIX.
work, daily meets students in the Lecture Room, where they
listen to exhaustive Lectures, with demonstrations upon the
Blackboard. A good foundation is thus laid for the student's
future success.
The text book completed, the student in the THEORY DEPARTMENT advances to the study of carefully prepared
Manuscript Work, embracing Consignments,  Shipments,
Merchandise Companies, Shipment in Companies, Jobbing
and Importing, Forwarding and Commission, Steamboating,
Banking, etc.  The course includes two Original Sets, prepared by the students themselves, and embracing the leading principles in which they have been instructed, including
the changing of Single to Double Entry. This work completed, the student passes to the
ACTUAL BUSINESS DEPARTMENT.
In the ACTUAL BUSINESS DEPARTMENT there are a Union
Store, two Banks, and several offices, in connection with
which students, before graduating, engage in actual business, and thus become familiar with approved business
usages. They deposit their cash receipts from time to time,
in one of the Banks, and check out money as they have occasion to use it. They give and take Notes, and deal in
Exchange, as their business requires. They engage as Merchants, and buy and sell and "get gain," using cards for
merchandise.   They purchase Real Estate, and execute
Deeds and Mortgages, and draw Contracts. They buy
Wheat, Wool, Fruits, and the surplus products generally of
the country, and ship and sell them through Commission
Houses, and otherwise. They likewise engage, in turn, as
Commission Merchants, receiving and selling merchandise
for others, rendering an Account Sales, and remitting proceeds, pursuant to instructions. The freshness of novelty
is in this way maintained throughout the course. And while
the student's work thus becomes highly attractive, all its
details are conducted with great care, and with scientific
iv 
APPENDIX.
accuracy, so that the slightest mistake is readily detected,
should one at any time occur. In this way, and as an aid
to the inexperienced in comprehending their business relations, the Actual Business Department becomes of great
practical value to the learner.
LADIES' DEPARTMENT.
Ladies are admitted to this Institution at reduced rates,
and enjoy the benefit of the full course of instruction, with
ample facilities for acquiring a thorough knowledge of accounts. They attend upon the Lectures of the President,
and the instructions of the Principals of Departments, as do
gentlemen, and enjoy in common with them all the privileges of the Lecture Room and Library of the Institution.
Becoming accomplished Book-keepers, the quiet duties of
the CoLunting-room are befittingly open to them.
BOOK-KEEPING IN SCHOOLS AND
SEMINARIES.
Book-keeping by Double Entry, when properly taught, is
at once attractive as a study, unsurpassed as a means of discipine, and of great practical value.  It must, hence, soon
become a common branch of study in Schools generally, and
a thorough knowledge of it will, of course, be essential to
the Teacher. The Albion Commercial College affords every
desirable facility to persons wishing to prepare themselves
for giving instruction in this important Science.
TEACHERS AND SCHOOL OFFICERS.
Teachers competent to give instruction in Book-keeping
are now sought in all our principal Schools, whose Officers
duly appreciate the importance of a thorough and practical
education. But teachers must learn Book-keeping as other
things, before they are prepared to instruct. While the
Albion Commercial College offers special facilities to Teachers who wish to prepare themselves for giving instruction
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APPENDIX.
in Book-keeping, it will generally be prepared to refer
School Officers desirous of employing such Teachers, to
those well qualified for giving instruction in this Science,
and who may hence be advantageously employed for that
purpose. The Board of Instruction of this Institution will
always take pleasure in thus serving both Teachers and
School Officers.
STUDENTS FROM OTHER STATES.
The management of the Albion Commercial College contemplates the perfect development of one Institution, which
shall be worthy of being sought by persons desirous of enjoying first class facilities for becoming accomplished accountants. As a consequence, our patronage is not merely
local, but is largely derived from the Canadas, and from
New England, New York and Pennsylvania, on the East;
from Illinois, Wisconsin and Missouri, and from Iowa, Minnesota and California, on the West; and from Indiana, Ohio
and Kentucky, on the South. We have preferred thus to
concentrate our energies upon onze good Sch&ool, to distributing them among several widely scattered and necessarily
enfeebled institutions.
COLLEGE LIBRARY.
Connected with this Institution is a well appointed
Library of about 700 volumes, embracing a wide range of
reading in Biography, History and Travels; numerous
works on Science, Literature and the Arts; valuable treatises on Agriculture, Horticulture and Landscape Gardening;
Standard Works on Government, Education, Political and
Moral Science, etc., which is free to students, and open to
the public at reasonable rates.
WHEN TERMS COMMENCE.
Ours is a Business College, and, like other business institutions, we keep open the entire year on all week days,
with the exception of national holidays. Students can
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APPENDIX.
therefore enter at such times as shall best suit their convenience. Teachers wishing to learn Book-keeping with a view
of introducing the study into their Schools, may do so during their vacations.
HOW WE TEACH.
Students are instructed singly, and receive the attention
of a Teacher from time to time during the day, as circumstances require, and as difficulties arise. Mayhew's Bookkeeping, is employed as a text book in the early part of the
course. After this is completed, full sets of carefully prepared Manuscript Work are employed, both in the "Theory
Department," and in the Department of "Actual Business."
LECTURES TO CLASSES.
While students receive individual instruction from the
Principals of Departments, who are accomplished teachers,
they have likewise the privilege of attending upon full
courses of Lectures by the President, and of being
thoroughly drilled in classes in the Lecture Room of the
College, while they listen to demonstrations from the blackboard. Our course thus combines the advantages of individual instruction and class drill.
QUALIFICATIONS FOR ADMISSION.
A common English education is all that is necessary preparatory to admission, though the more one is accustomed
to study, and the farther he is advanced, particularly in
mathematical studies, the more rapid and satisfactory will
be his progress. Many students, however, do well whose
preliminary education has hardly embraced more than the
fundamental rules of arithmetic, this being the most important of the preparatory studies, and, in addition to
reading and writing, the only one absolutely essential.
vii 
APPENDIX.
BOOKS AND STATIONERY.
All the Books and Stationery required in the Commercial
Course, may be obtained at the College Rooms at cheap
rates. The stationery used, and gold pens of an excellent
quality, are manufactured expressly for our use.
PHONOGRAPHY, OR SHORT HAND.
This Science enables those acquainted with it to permanently possess much valuable information which they
would otherwise be irable to record and preserve, sixsevenths of the time and labor required in the common
mode of writing being saved by its use. An opportunity is
here offered, at moderate cost, for learning the Corresponding Style-an acquisition of great value to both literary
and business men.
TUITION AND EXPENSES.
Scholarships for the full course, time unlimited,
with the privilege of review at any time,   -  - $30
Scholarships to disabled Soldiers,  -  -                 25
Scholarships to minor children of Clergymen,  -  -  -  25
Scholarships to Ladies,  -  -         -          -       20
Stationery for the course, about  -... ------    12
Board per week,  -  -       -------              $3.50 to 4
Graduating fee, including Diploma,  -  -  -  -  -  -   2
Penmanship alone, 30 Lessons,   -  -  -  -  -  -  -  5
Phonography, Corresponding Style,   -  -  -  -  -   10
Should the time not exceed fourteen weeks, the entire cost
to the student need be only about $100 for the full course.
For pamphlet circulars, giving full information in regard
to this Institution, and containing notices of Mayhew's
Book-keeping, and his work on Education, apply at the College Office, or address,
IRA MAYHEW, President,
ALBIONX, lfich.
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