The area of space in which a solar system is about to be developed has hitherto maintained its molecular constituents in a state of gradually increased unstable equilibrium, whether such augmented instability may have been induced by a gradual rise of temperature from emission of the solar energy of other galaxies, by gradual diffusion from constantly operative centers, from currents or vortices of space, or by some primal inherent constitution of space itself, with constantly increasing tensions relieved by successive discharges, of which analogous instances are found in various other processes of nature, as, for example, ovulation, fission, and gemmation in the reproduction of life, regularly recurring epileptiform convulsions, regularly repeated spark discharges from electrical machines, or the ebullition of viscous fluids with their slowly recurring bursting bubbles. At some focal point of this area a rupture of tension will finally occur, induced by some sudden current or vortical movement, as we see sometimes in a pool of water gradually reduced in temperature below the freezing-point, when its whole surface, by the passage of a breath of wind even, will be suddenly flashed into crystals of ice. At this point of space there will be instituted a rapid expansion among the molecules and a consequent fall of temperature, followed by an inrush of the vaporous material surrounding this center of agitation, and a vortical movement will be established, with currents of spatial matter attracted to this vortex in constantly increasing streams. The molecular tensions will be successively unlocked as the circles of agitation continue to widen, and a condensed nucleus will form, rotating upon its axis and exhibiting the combined phenomena of gravity and centrifugal force. As the nucleus continues to increase in mass and density its temperature will constantly rise, while its speed of rotation will gradually diminish as its volume increases, and the aqueous vapors of space, as they gather around this rotating center of attraction, will be forced outward by centrifugal action and the heat of the nucleus, and form vast attenuated clouds,—not necessarily visible, however, to human sight,—and these clouds, in their various stratifications and disturbances, will gradually come to partake of the rotatory movement of the center, such movements, however, gradually fading away as they recede in space and in density. The cyclonic movements of these clouds of aqueous vapor upon themselves, but principally against the surrounding gases of space still under tension, will generate enormous quantities of electricity, which flash like thunder-clouds as they approach each other, with incessant streams of lightning and rolls of thunder. The growing and heating central nucleus is thus thrown into a state of high electrical opposite polarity, and its own constituent elements become self-repellent, just as we see in the sun’s corona and in the phenomena of comets. The electrical tension of the central mass will gradually grow higher and higher, until a vast stream or streams of incandescent nebulous matter (for with double suns they may be multiple, or the internal repulsion may even cause division of the nucleus itself) will be suddenly driven outward in a radial direction along the lines of least resistance,—that is to say, in the plane of equatorial rotation, where centrifugal force is most effective. We can readily understand the self-repellent force of such an enormous mass of cosmical matter by considering that, in our own completed system, the repulsion of the solar electrosphere drove forth the tail of Newton’s comet, as before stated, to a distance of ninety million miles, and whirled it around a semicircle of this radius in less than four days. Our most distant planet, Neptune, is only thirty times this distance from the sun, and we see during every solar eclipse the coronal structure glowing to a distance of more than a million miles from the sun’s disk, and the radial streamers driven forth five million miles, and even farther. (See illustrations of solar corona in Guillemin’s “The Heavens.”) The vast stream of radiating nebulous matter thus forced out by solar repulsion will likewise be acted upon with equal energy by its own internal self-repellent force. If we conceive a stream of water thrown vertically upward by a powerful force-pump, in which every drop of the fluid is endowed with tremendous self-repulsive energy, we should find an analogy to the phenomenon in question. We can see an example of this in the “Crab Nebula,” illustrated in a previous chapter. The stream, acted upon by gravity downward, by the force of ejection upward, and by the internal force of repulsion both transversely and upward, would assume a pyriform shape, narrower beneath, largely swollen about its middle, and thence gradually decreasing in diameter to its termination in a rounded tuft, in advance of which would be driven forth detached sprays and wisps, while filaments and outlying parallel strands would mark its entire ascent, except towards its point of ejection, where the primal force which drove it out is greatly in excess of those of gravity and self-repulsion. It will be seen at a glance that these phenomena are precisely those which we observe in a comet’s tail. (See illustrations of many comets having these characteristics in Guillemin’s “The Heavens,” Lockyer’s edition.)
Suppose, now, that this stream of water or the tail of a large comet were gradually wrapped around its point of emission by the rotation of this nucleus upon its axis. A spiral would form, very open or flaring at first, but gradually growing closer and more circular as the force of gravity drew its convolutions downward upon the interstratified clouds of aqueous vapor occupying, in compressed layers, the spaces between the adjacent coils of the spiral. There would be a composite action of forces observed: gravity would attract the convolutions and their interstratified layers of cloud equally, according to their densities, while the central repulsive force would repel the convolutions of the spiral along the same lines of force, but would not act at all upon the strata of clouds, and the force of internal self-repulsion would also tend to disrupt the convolutions of the spiral by expanding them outwardly. The outer convolution, however, would have no backward thrust from any internal repulsion beyond, while, within, gravity and solar repulsion would be more equally balanced, so that the outer coil would be relatively compressed in its rotation against the next inner convolution, and its ratio of distance would not be maintained. We find this exemplified in the case of Neptune’s, orbit in our own system. The inner convolution would also be abnormal, since the primal force of ejection must have been sufficient to carry the outward thrust of the whole spiral, and in consequence its flare would offer much greater resistance to the deflection of rotation, and it would have a more radial direction than those beyond. We shall find that the planet Mercury, and the inner convolution which was eventually reabsorbed into the solar mass, exhibit these phenomena. Between the outer and these inner convolutions the curve of the spiral would be approximately regular, with a fixed ratio of increase. In the planets of our solar system this ratio is that produced by constantly doubling the preceding number, the series being 0, 3, 6, 12, 24, etc. In other solar systems, however, the ratio may be quite different. In this abnormal flare of the inner convolution is doubtless to be found the rational basis of Bode’s empirical law of planetary distances, in which the arbitrary number 4 must be added to each term of the above progression, making the series 4, 7, 10, 16, 28, etc. The inner coil between Mercury and the sun was drawn into the solar mass on the disruption of the spiral, leaving, from the abnormally radial curvature of the inner portions of the spiral and its absence from the series, a vacant place which must be represented by the relatively fixed increment to be added to each term of the series.
As the convolutions of the spiral become more and more compressed towards each other and more and more flattened against the interstratified cloud-layers, the force of internal repulsion becomes more and more active in its tendency to disrupt the spiral, since its forces are more direct and concentrated along lines nearly at right angles to the force of gravity. During the formation of the spiral we can easily conceive that—like a stream of water shooting over a cascade, or the multiple tails of some comets, or even a whole comet, as, for example, Biela’s, which was split up into two separate bodies by this force—some convolution, perhaps a single one of the series, will be laterally divided into a large number of nearly parallel strands, mutually held apart by their internal self-repulsion, and with cloud-layers interposed between these lateral strands. Such a series of small planets as these would finally produce we find in the belt of our asteroids, the bulk of the convolution, probably, for the most part, however, scattered in space, since their aggregate mass is so small, and possibly, in part, coalesced into the mass of Jupiter, to which Mars, by his position, may also have contributed.
Nebula in Canes Venatici, showing central nucleus and external ring split and held apart by electrical self-repulsion. (From Helmholtz’s “Popular Lectures.”)
Not only may a whole convolution be thus split up, but along the spiral at many points the outer margins may be thrust outward, forming partially detached parallel strands, which may thus coalesce to form the satellites of the completed planets; while at the outer extremity of all, where the backward thrust of self-repulsion is wanting, enormous wisps, sprays, and tufts of nebulous matter would be driven entirely forth into the illimitable realms of outer space, but not necessarily, or even probably, into the space of other systems, which are so enormously distant; and there, in those unoccupied realms, they will remain to gyrate “in the solitude of their own originality,” in the form of comets, until, at long intervals, they may chance to revisit the scenes of their earliest youth, to warm their frozen limbs for a brief period at the old and well-remembered parental fire, or finally, worn out with toil and travel, “come home at last to die.”
Driven forth from the society of their fellows by their own unbalanced energies, these anarchists of the sky may form loose aggregations, granulated about multitudes of self-constituted minor centers; but, cut loose from all effective solar control during their period of coalescence, they must forever lack the consolidated form and complex organization of their prosperous and rotund brethren, the planets and their satellites, or even the tiny asteroids, who stayed home and, like the little pig, had bread and butter for breakfast.
The disruptive energy of internal repulsion, as above stated, increases in force as the convolutions of the spiral become more and more compressed and the spiral becomes more and more circular in form. Suddenly the coils of the spiral will be burst asunder, and this will occur along that particular radial line of gravitation where the central nucleus acts with its most effective force. The disruption will be simultaneous, as a general rule, in accordance with the principles which control ruptures of tension of bodies in a state of unstable equilibrium, and which we see exemplified in multiplied centers of crystallization, the simultaneous formation of mud-cracks, the Giant’s Causeway, and other like phenomena. Each convolution will now become a detached open ring, one of its broken extremities, however, being millions of miles farther from the central nucleus than the other. What occurs when a cometic body, negatively electrified, impinges upon the positive electrosphere of a planet, or when an electrical induction machine like Voss’s is touched by an oppositely electrified body, will now necessarily occur with these disrupted convolutions. Their connection with the negatively electrified nucleus being broken, a reversal of electrical polarity will ensue from contact with the adjacent positively electrified clouds of aqueous vapor, and, instead of self-repulsion, mutual attraction will now prevail along the length of each of the open rings. Held apart from the central nucleus by the interstratified cloud-layers, and acted upon by the double force of gravity and internal attraction, the component elements of these open rings will rapidly lose their luminosity and heat, and coalesce by a retrograde movement down the lines of their direction, thus approaching the sun along the segment of an ellipse, the nucleus, or sun, occupying one of the foci, the eccentricity of the ellipse being measured by the differential between the nearest point of the open ring and the part of the convolution which lies directly opposite and beyond the sun. In other words, the form of the spiral will determine the eccentricity of the ellipse, subject to perturbations, however, of various sorts. During this stage of coalescence from an open ring into a sphere, these bodies will take on, by cooling and condensation, their planetary forms; and as the forming spheres, by the retreat of their masses down the lines of approach to the sun, advance, their forward and nearer extremities will be more powerfully acted upon by gravity than those parts in the rear, and a forward plunge or axial movement of rotation will be set up. Viscous matter,—pitch, for example,—molten by the sun’s heat and flowing down a steep roof, exhibits a similar forward movement, the outer layers tending to roll over the inner ones in convoluted folds, the adhesion to the roof of the under surface corresponding to the retarding pull of the sun’s attraction. In like manner are produced rotating eddies in streams of water having crooked channels, eddies of air under water-falls, and other analogous atmospheric disturbances. During the stage of coalescence of the planetary spheres the adjacent clouds of aqueous vapor will condense around them, and their hitherto diffused electrical energies will be concentrated by rotation in currents of enormous quantity and potential directly upon the sun, and a disassociation of the elements which compose these watery vapors will ensue, the result of which will be the deposit of hydrogen gas as an atmospheric envelope around the sun’s body, and of oxygen around and through the bodies which constitute the planets. These gases will be disassociated in their combining proportions, two volumes of hydrogen at the sun for one volume of oxygen, distributed according to their relative electrical energies among the planets. This nascent oxygen will rapidly combine with the consolidating elements of the planets and, interpenetrating their solidifying bodies, form the vast mass of oxides which we find to constitute the bulk of our terrestrial mass, the residue, mechanically commingled with the condensed ever-present nitrogen, forming the planetary atmospheres. The condensation of volume of the planets will give rise to great elevation of temperature, while their currents of electricity, poured into the sun, will, by their passage through its enormously compressed hydrogen atmosphere, produce intense heat, and this, rapidly communicated to the solar core within, will raise its temperature to that of the sun as we now see it, and permanently maintain it in that state of incandescence.
During the stage of coalescence of the planetary bodies, outlying strands of the spiral will follow the course of their adjacent masses in a nearly parallel movement, and will gradually coalesce into smaller bodies more directly under the influence of the gravity of their own adjacent planets, by their proximity, than of that of the sun. These bodies will thus rotate as satellites around their planets, and the forward shift of their centers of gravity, by their advance along their lines of coalescence, may result in a permanent displacement, of which we see an example in the moon, which constantly presents the same face to the earth, while having an axial rotation of its own with reference to the sun. (In this case the action of gravity may have been assisted, however, by the mutual repulsion of the lunar and terrestrial electrospheres forcing the atmosphere and moisture of the lunar mass to its opposite side and maintaining it there, where it would remain as a buffer against rotation.) In some cases we might find certain outlying strands of a convolution which, perturbed by external influences, may have been delayed in its conversion into spherical form, and this subordinate strand, pyriform itself, as it must have been, in shape, would thus form a spiral of minute discrete bodies, probably like the nucleus of a comet, finally assuming the shape of a series of rings, and rotating like a satellite around the neighboring planet, the inner and outer strands more attenuated and the middle ones more condensed, as we find to be the case with the rings of Saturn.
In the original spiral we have seen that, as a whole, it was of necessity pyriform in shape. The planets formed therefrom would thus be found to increase in size from within outward to a maximum, after which they would again decrease, but not to the original minimum, while the extreme outer planet would also be unduly enlarged by increment from partially dissipated terminal filaments, gradually attracted thereto from surrounding space. There is such an undue enlargement of the planet Neptune, and this, with its relatively compressed orbit, before alluded to, renders it almost certain that Neptune is in reality the outermost member of our planetary system. We find this gradation of size to be the case in our solar system, except where the series has been broken by the multitudinous separation, from violent internal repulsion, of one of the convolutions into parallel strands showing all sorts of perturbations, this being the convolution which occupied the region between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, and which, by the coalescence of these numerous parallel strands into small planetary bodies, has filled the space with a belt of asteroids hundreds and perhaps thousands or even tens of thousands in number. It is probable that a law regulating the ellipticity of planetary orbits can be deduced from a consideration of the principles which have governed their inception, and with these are doubtless closely related those laws of Laplace which have demonstrated that “in any system of bodies travelling in one direction around a central attracting orb, the eccentricities and inclinations, if small at any one time, would always continue inconsiderable.” (Appleton’s Cyclopædia, article “Planet.”)