the plane of the original equator
of the solar rotation, and in the direction of that rotation. But there
are exceptions; the comets, which intersect the equatorial plane in
every angle of direction form one, and the most distant of the planets
forms another. The satellites of Uranus are retrograde. They move from
east to west in orbits highly inclined to that of their primary, and on
both accounts are exceptions to the order of the other secondary bodies.
Our author is so perplexed by this inconsistency that he first doubts
the fact, and next tries to explain it by alleging that "it may be owing
to a _bouleversement_ of the primary." What is meant by the
_bouleversement_ of a planet none of his critics seem to apprehend, nor
do we. But that the moons of Uranus are contrariwise to those of the
other planets, Sir JOHN HERSCHEL has indubitably established; so that
the author at any rate upon this point has sustained a bouleversement.

Our own moon forms a third exception to his theory. According to his
system, this satellite is a slip or graft from our planet, and in
constitution, it might be inferred, would partake of the elements of the
parent. But the fact is otherwise. The moon has no atmosphere, no seas,
or rivers, nor any water, and of course totally unfit for human
inhabitants, or organic life of any kind. It must, then, have had a
different origin, or be in some earlier stage of development than that
through which our earth has passed.

Leaving these exceptions, we may next inquire into the relevant purposes
of the nebular hypothesis, supposing its assumptions acquiesced in. Like
the fanciful theories of the ancient philosophers, it seems only to
involve a profitless topic of controversy, without solving natural
phenomena. It does not unravel the mystery of the beginning, brings us
no nearer to the first creative force. Like a good chemist, previous to
analysis, the author first throws all matter into a state of solution;
but granting him his fire-mist and nuclei in the midst, how or whence
came this condition and arrangement of nature? What was its pre-existing
state? or, if that be answered, how or whence was that preceding state
educed, for it, too, must have had one prior to it? So that the mind
makes no advances by such inquiries, is lost in a maze that can have no
end, because it has no beginning; and, like Noah's messenger, for want
of a resting place, is compelled to return to the first starting point.
Ea