the
nebulae, commit their promulgators to sundry absurdities; while, on the
other hand, we see that the various appearances these nebulae present,
are explicable as different stages in the precipitation and aggregation
of diffused matter. We find that the immense majority of comets (_i.e._
omitting the periodic ones), by their physical constitution, their
immensely-extended and variously-directed paths, the distribution of
those paths, and their manifest structural relation to the Solar System,
bear testimony to the past existence of that system in a nebulous form.
Not only do those obvious peculiarities in the motions of the planets
which first suggested the Nebular Hypothesis, supply proofs of it, but
on closer examination we discover, in the slightly-diverging
inclinations of their orbits, in their various rates of rotation, and
their differently-directed axes of rotation, that the planets yield us
yet further testimony; while the satellites, by sundry traits, and
especially by their occurrence in greater or less abundance where the
hypothesis implies greater or less abundance, confirm this testimony. By
tracing out the process of planetary condensation, we are led to
conclusions respecting the physical states of planets which explain
their anomalous specific gravities. Once more, it turns out that what is
inferable from the Nebular Hypothesis respecting the temperatures of
celestial bodies, is just what observation establishes; and that both
the absolute and the relative temperatures of the Sun and planets are
thus accounted for. When we contemplate these various evidences in their
totality--when we observe that, by the Nebular Hypothesis, the leading
phenomena of the Solar System, and the heavens in general, are
explicable; and when, on the other hand, we consider that the current
cosmogony is not only without a single fact to stand on, but is at
variance with all our positive knowledge of Nature, we see that the
proof becomes overwhelming.

It remains only to point out that while the genesis of the Solar System,
and of countless other systems like it, is thus rendered comprehensible,
the ultimate mystery continues as great as ever. The problem of
existence is not solved: it is simply removed further back. The Nebular
Hypothesis throws no light on the origin of diffused matter; and
diffused matter as much needs accounting for as concrete matter. The
genesis of an atom is not easier to conceive than the genesis of a