The Story of Creation as Told By Theology and By ScienceAckland, T. S. (Thomas Suter)
Religion
The Story of Creation as Told By Theology and By Science
Ackland, T. S. (Thomas Suter)
Bible and science; Creation; Religion and science
The third defect noticed in the Nebular Hypothesis was, that it
did not account for this motion of rotation. This defect, then,
like the two preceding ones, is supplied by the Mosaic Record, and
the hypothesis thus supplemented becomes complete. It is capable
of giving a satisfactory account of the phenomena to which it
applies. But as it is only a theory, and only points out a way in
which the universe might have been constructed, it does not in
itself exclude the possibility that some other plan might in fact
have been adopted, and we have now to examine into the reasons for
supposing that it was the method which was actually employed.
These divide themselves into two classes:--those which render it
probable that similar processes are now in progress; and those
which render it probable that the solar system has passed through
such a process.
It has already been pointed out that the great nebulae in Orion
and Argo seem to represent the condition of our system on the
first appearance of light, and that changes are strongly suspected
to be taking place in both; but we cannot expect to trace any
single nebula through the stages of its development, since that
development must occupy untold ages. All we can do is to inquire
if there are other nebulas which seem to be in more advanced
stages. It must at once be recognized, that if this be one of the
processes now going on, it is not the only one. There are many
nebulas "which have assumed forms for which the law of
gravitation, as we know it, will not enable us to account--such as
the Ring Nebula in Lyra, the Dumb-bell Nebula in Vulpecula, or the
double Horseshoe in Scutum Sobieski. But some nebulas can be found
which arrange themselves so as to illustrate the stages through
which we may suppose our world to have passed. These are chiefly
to be found among the planetary nebulse, which in a small
telescope exhibit a faint circular disc, but in larger instruments
frequently show considerable varieties of structure. Some of them
present the appearance of a condensation of light in the centre,
which gradually fades off; in others there is a bright ring
surrounding the central spot, but separated from it by a darker
space. The Nebula Andromeda 49647, [Footnote: The numbers are
those given by Sir J. Hersohel.] as seen in Mr. Lassel's four-foot
reflector appears as a luminous spot, surrounded by two luminous
rings, which, in the more powerful instrument of Lord Bosse,
combine into a spiral. Its spectrum is gaseous, with one line
indicating some element unknown to us. In another nebula, Draco
4373, there is a double spectrum, the one gaseous, indicating the
presence of hydrogen, nitrogen, and barium; the other, apparently
from the nucleus, continuous, and so representing a solid or fluid
mass, but so faint that the lines belonging to particular elements
cannot be distinguished. [Footnote: Hugging, Philosophical
Transactions, 1864.] Bridanus 846, and Andromeda 116, are probably
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