Ancient astronomers having observed that the moon, and the planets visible to them, were never seen at more than a small angular distance north or south from the plane of the earth's orbit, they drew two circles parallel to the ecliptic, at the distance which experience had shown them to be sufficient for comprehending the apparent places of those heavenly bodies at all times; and to the intervening space they gave the name of _zodiac_. But there is no law of matter, or, in other words, it is no necessary consequence of gravitation or planetary action, which confines the planets' orbits within the zodiac. The fact can only be ascribed to the will of Him who first projected them into their intended paths; though that will had doubtless some wise and calculated end in view. It was further observed, in the last century, that the increasing distance of each successive planet {212} from the sun would follow an uniform rule, if there were not one wanting between Mars and Jupiter, to fill up the series. This put astronomers upon the search, and led to the discovery, in 1801, of four small planets, all at nearly the requisite distance, but moving in paths inclined to the ecliptic at such large angles as carry them beyond the zodiac, though they necessarily move across it. From hence it was inferred that they were portions of a planet originally harmonising, in size, position, and orbitual path, with the rest of our system, but burst into fragments by an internal explosion, at some time prior to man's recorded observations of the heavenly bodies. This supposition gains strength from the continued discovery of more and still smaller fragments, each still moving as a planet at nearly the same distance from the sun; and each seeming to proclaim that there was a world, probably larger than our earth, amongst whose inhabitants sin entered, as amongst us; but for whom mercy was not in like manner procured.