The Poetry of Creation; In Eight Parts (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1876. Excerpt: ... THE POETRY OF CEEATION. NOTES. (). Page 11. Creation--worlds with all their dress Of regal pomp and loneliness, And firmaments with wonders rife. The Nebular Hypothesis Of Creation.--The belief of distinct and independent creations, as regards the members of our Solar System, is opposed to the theory which maintains that the planets and sun had one common origin from nebulous matter. The latter is termed the Nebular Hypothesis of Creation. This famous theory, first propounded by the elder Herschel, and afterwards elaborated by Laplace, has still numerous advocates. So plausible does it appear to be, and at the same lime so important to those who study the astronomical laws of the universe; important also to the geologist seeking to trace the primary formation of our planet, that we cannot but advert to it here. The leading points of this theory may be stated in a few words. The entire space in which the Solar System now moves, is supposed to have been originally occupied by attenuated vaporous matter, which, when the Eternal Spirit, at some remote but distinct period, impressed upon it, for the first time, His mysterious and coercing laws, began to rotate from west to east, as all the planets do at the present hour. Heat was now produced by rapid motion, and, in obedience to gravitation, this thin fluid gradually contracted, and such contraction causing the velocity of rotation to increase, whereby the outer portion acquired a tendency to fly from the centre, it threw off concentric rings. These rings broke into detached portions, which through attraction coalesced, and formed globes, while the latter, in their turn, by a similar process, threw off satellites. This state of things proceeded, until the last planet, Mercury, was formed, when, the central ma...