An Endogenous Planetary System: A Study In Astronomy (1898) - Paperback

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: AN ENDOGENOUS PLANETARY SYSTEM. BY FRANK BUESLEY TAYLOR. The Nebular hypothesis affects me as a standing challenge to try again. Eesting on pure conjecture, it has no claim to respect, except so far as it explains things. One conjecture which will explain things is as permissible as another. While the Nebular hypothesis offers a plausible explanation for a number of facts and covers a wide range of phenomena, yet, in the realm of the Solar or Planetary system it leaves many important things unexplained or only partially, and therefore unsatisfactorily, accounted for. In all probability it would never have existed but for the shortcomings of theoretical astronomy. It is the proper province of that science to explain the motions, perturbations and stabilities of the heavenly bodies. While it has explained many things and its apparent perfection is the admiration of all men, it has nevertheless left many other important things which lie plainly within its sphere unexplained; and it was in effect to supplement this deficiency that the Nebular hypothesis was invented. The limited scope of the effective application of the doctrines of theoretical astronomy show a condition of imperfection which must be recognized as evidence of immaturity and which is therefore, in all probability, temporary. Such a condition augurs future change and progress. It therefore invites further investigation and reflection, and when to this obviously immature state of the science is added the fact that the store of trustworthy information gathered from observation has grown prodigiously in recent years, it is apparent that never before has the opportunity to speculate or to generalize to good purpose been so inviting and so promising as itis now. It can not be that our present knowledge of the Planet...