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orbit is, no doubt, as stable as that of any other of the large planets, as the inclination is very small, but he will have periodical variations of very long duration from the reciprocal attraction between him and Uranus, one especially of an enormous duration, similar to those of Jupiter and Saturn, and, like them, depending on the time of his revolution round the sun, being nearly twice as long as that of Saturn. Mr. Adams has computed that Neptune produces a periodical perturbation in the motion of Uranus, whose duration is about 6800 years.

The equilibrium of the system, however, would be deranged if the planets moved in a resisting medium (N. 78) sufficiently dense to diminish their tangential velocity, for then both the excentricities and the major axes of the orbits would vary with the time, so that the stability of the system would be ultimately destroyed. The existence of an ethereal medium is now proved; and, although it is so extremely rare that hitherto its effects on the motions of the planets have been altogether insensible, there can be no doubt that, in the immensity of time, it will modify the forms of the planetary orbits, and may at last even cause the destruction of our system, which in itself contains no principle of decay, unless a rotatory motion from west to east has been given to this medium by the bodies of the solar system, which have all been revolving about the sun in that direction for unknown ages. This rotation, which seems to be highly probable, may even have been coeval with its creation. Such a vortex would have no effect on bodies moving with it, but it would influence the motions of those revolving in a contrary direction. It is possible that the disturbances experienced by comets, which have already revealed the existence of this medium, may also, in time, disclose its rotatory motion.

The form and position of the planetary orbits, and the motion of the bodies in the same direction, together with the periodicity of the terms in which the inequalities are expressed, assure us that the variations of the system are confined within very narrow limits, and that, although we do not know the extent of the limits, nor the period of that grand cycle which probably embraces millions of years, yet they never will exceed what is requisite for the stability and harmony of the whole; for the preservation of which every circumstance is so beautifully and wonderfully adapted.

The plane of the ecliptic itself, though assumed to be fixed at a given epoch for the convenience of astronomical computation, is subject to a minute secular variation of 45"-7, occasioned by the reciprocal action of the planets. But, as this is also periodical, and cannot exceed 2° 42′, the terrestrial equator, which is inclined to it at an angle * of 23° 27′ 28′′-29, will never coincide with the plane of the ecliptic: so there never can be perpetual spring (N. 79). The rotation of the earth is uniform; therefore day and night, summer and winter, will continue their vicissitudes while the system endures, or is undisturbed by foreign causes. Yonder starry sphere

Of planets and of fix'd, in all her wheels,
Resembles nearest mazes intricate,

Eccentric, intervolved, yet regular,

Then most, when most irregular they seem.

The stability of our system was established by La Grange: "a discovery," says Professor Playfair, "that must render the name for ever memorable in science, and revered by those who delight in the contemplation of whatever is excellent and sublime." After Newton's discovery of the mechanical laws of the elliptical orbits of the planets, that of their periodical inequalities, by La Grange, is, without doubt, the noblest truth in the mechanism of the heavens; and, in respect of the doctrine of final causes, it may be regarded as the greatest of all.

Notwithstanding the permanency of our system, the secular variations in the planetary orbits would have been extremely embarrassing to astronomers when it became necessary to compare observations separated by long periods. The difficulty was in part obviated, and the principle for accomplishing it established, by La Place, and has since been extended by M. Poinsot. It appears that there exists an invariable plane (N. 80), passing through the centre of gravity of the system, about which the whole oscillates within very narrow limits, and that this plane will always remain parallel to itself, whatever changes time may induce in the orbits of the planets, in the plane of the ecliptic, or even in the law of gravitation; provided only that our system remains unconnected with any other. The position of the plane is determined by this property—that, if each particle in the system be multiplied by the area described upon this plane in a

*The obliquity given in the text is for the year 1858.

given time, by the projection of its radius vector about the common centre of gravity of the whole, the sum of all these products will be a maximum (N. 81). La Place found that the plane in question is inclined to the ecliptic at an angle of nearly 1° 34′ 15′′, and that, in passing through the sun, and about midway between the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn, it may be regarded as the equator of the solar system, dividing it into two parts, which balance one another in all their motions. This plane of greatest inertia, by no means peculiar to the solar system, but existing in every system of bodies submitted to their mutual attractions only, always maintains a fixed position, whence the oscillations of the system may be estimated through unlimited time. Future astronomers will know, from its immutability or variation, whether the sun and his attendants are connected or not with the other systems of the universe. Should there be no link between them, it may be inferred, from the rotation of the sun, that the centre of gravity (N. 82) of the system situate within his mass describes a straight line in this invariable plane or great equator of the solar system, which, unaffected by the changes of time, will maintain its stability through endless ages. But, if the fixed stars, comets, or any unknown and unseen bodies, affect our sun and planets, the nodes of this plane will slowly recede on the plane of that immense orbit which the sun may describe about some most distant centre, in a period which it transcends the power of man to determine. There is every reason to believe that this is the case; for it is more than probable that, remote as the fixed stars are, they in some degree influence our system, and that even the invariability of this plane is relative, only appearing fixed to creatures incapable of estimating its minute and slow changes during the small extent of time and space granted to the human race. "The development of such changes," as M. Poinsot justly observes, "is similar to an enormous curve, of which we see so small an arc that we imagine it to be a straight line." If we raise our views to the whole extent of the universe, and consider the stars, together with the sun, to be wandering bodies, revolving about the common centre of creation, we may then recognise in the equatorial plane passing through the centre of gravity of the universe the only instance of absolute and eternal repose.

All the periodic and secular inequalities deduced from the law

of gravitation are so perfectly confirmed by observation, that analysis has become one of the most certain means of discovering the planetary irregularities, either when they are too small, or too long in their periods, to be detected by other methods. Jupiter and Saturn, however, exhibit inequalities which for a long time seemed discordant with that law. All observations, from those of the Chinese and Arabs down to the present day, prove that for ages the mean motions of Jupiter and Saturn have been affected by a great inequality of a very long period, forming an apparent anomaly in the theory of the planets. It was long known by observation that five times the mean motion of Saturn is nearly equal to twice that of Jupiter; a relation which the sagacity of La Place perceived to be the cause of a periodic irregularity in the mean motion of each of these planets, which completes its period in nearly 918 years, the one being retarded while the other is accelerated; but both the magnitude and period of these quantities vary, in consequence of the secular variations in the elements of the orbits. Suppose the two planets to be on the same side of the sun, and all three in the same straight line, they are then said to be in conjunction (N. 83). Now, if they begin to move at the same time, one making exactly five revolutions in its orbit while the other only accomplishes two, it is clear that Saturn, the slow-moving body, will only have got through a part of its orbit during the time that Jupiter has made one whole revolution and part of another, before they be again in conjunction. It is found that during this time their mutual action is such as to produce a great many perturbations which compensate each other, but that there still remains a portion outstanding, owing to the length of time during which the forces act in the same manner; and, if the conjunction always happened in the same point of the orbit, this uncompensated inequality in the mean motion would go on increasing till the periodic times and forms of the orbits were completely and permanently changed: a case that would actually take place if Jupiter accomplished exactly five revolutions in the time Saturn performed two. These revolutions are, however, not exactly commensurable; the points in which the conjunctions take place are in advance each time as much as 80.37; so that the conjunctions do not happen exactly in the same points of the orbits till after a period of 850 years; and, in consequence of this small ad

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vance, the planets are brought into such relative positions, that the inequality, which seemed to threaten the stability of the system, is completely compensated, and the bodies, having returned to the same relative positions with regard to one another and the sun, begin a new course. The secular variations in the elements of the orbit increase the period of the inequality to 918 years (N. 84). As any perturbation which affects the mean motion affects also the major axis, the disturbing forces tend to diminish the major axis of Jupiter's orbit, and increase that of Saturn's, during one half of the period, and the contrary during the other half. This inequality is strictly periodical, since it depends upon the configuration (N. 85) of the two planets; and theory is confirmed by observation, which shows that, in the course of twenty centuries, Jupiter's mean motion has been accelerated by about 3° 23′, and Saturn's retarded by 5° 13′. Several instances of perturbations of this kind occur in the solar system. One, in the mean motions of the Earth and Venus, only amounting to a few seconds, has been recently worked out with immense labour by Professor Airy. It accomplishes its changes in 240 years, and arises from the circumstance of thirteen times the periodic time of Venus being nearly equal to eight times that of the Earth. Small as it is, it is sensible in the motions of the Earth.

It might be imagined that the reciprocal action of such planets as have satellites would be different from the influence of those that have none. But the distances of the satellites from their primaries are incomparably less than the distances of the planets from the sun, and from one another. So that the system of a planet and its satellites moves nearly as if all these bodies were united in their common centre of gravity. The action of the sun, however, in some degree disturbs the motion of the satellites about their primary.

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