From the table we see that the region of greatest density of our
original nebula was at 6·26 per cent. _within_ the distance of
Neptune's orbit from the sun, a state of matters which precludes the
idea of condensation during, at least, a great part of the act of
abandoning the ring for the formation of that planet. But it will be
remembered that we gave it the diameter of 6,600,000,000 miles without
assigning any adequate reason for doing so, and, we can say with
truth, with the idea, more than anything else, of not increasing the
almost unimaginable tenuity of the matter composing the nebula; and
the position of Neptune in the system is so peculiar compared with the
other planets, that it cannot be properly used as a standard for any
kind of inquiry. The result obtained above can therefore be of no use
for the investigation we have undertaken. Not only so, but the almost
similar result in the case of Uranus is also rendered useless from the
same cause, in which we find that the region of greatest density of the
nebula is only 1·92 per cent. beyond the orbit of the planet. If the
mean distance from the sun of Neptune's orbit had been what was used
by Leverrier in the calculations which led to his discovery, namely,
36·152 radii of the earth's orbit, the region of greatest density of
the Uranian nebula would have been 14·48 per cent. beyond his orbit, as
may be seen from the addition to Table IX., in finding which we have
used the same system as in all our work.
In the next four nebulæ of the table--including the one we introduced
to represent the Asteroids--we see that their regions of greatest
density are respectively 19·58, 12·47, 13·56 and 12·63 per cent.
farther out from the centre of the sun than the orbits of the planets
formed from them. Here, then, we see a very apparent approach of
uniformity, and can say with much reason that planets could certainly
be formed out of the matter abandoned, through centrifugal force, by
hollow nebulæ similar in construction to what we have demonstrated
that of the original nebula to have been; each of them occupying the
position corresponding to its orbit.
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