Kant’s Cosmogony
It is maintained by Kant’s Cosmogony that every substance, be it solid or liquid, constituting the entire universe, was, inconceivable ages ago, in their homogeneous gaseous or nebulous condition. Owing to an impulse being given to the nebulous mass, it acquired a rotary movement, which divided the nebulous mass up into a number of masses which, owing to the rotation, acquired greater density than the remaining gaseous mass, and then acted on the latter as central points of attraction. Our solar system was thus a gigantic gaseous or nebulous ball, all the particles of which revolved around a common central point—the solar nucleus. This nebulous ball assumed by its continual rotation a more or less flattened spheroidal form. By the continual revolution of this mass, under the influence of the centripetal and centrifugal forces, a circular nebular ring separated (like the present ring around Saturn) from the rotating ball. In time the nebulous ring condensed to a planet, which began to revolve around its own axis. When the centrifugal force became more powerful than the centripetal force in the planet, rings were formed, which, in turn, formed planets which revolved around their axes, as also around their planets, as the latter moved around the sun, and thus arose the moons, only one of which moves around our earth, while four move around Jupiter and six around Uranus. This order of things was repeated over and over again until thereby arose the different solar systems—the planets rotating around their central suns, and the satellites or moons moving around their planets. By a continuous increasing of refrigeration and condensation, a fiery fluid or molten state occurred in these rotating bodies. They then emitted an enormous amount of heat by rapid condensation, and the rotating bodies—suns, planets, and moons—soon became glowing balls of fire, emitting light and heat. The 1⁄1000 part of a pound of magnesium wire, burning in the open air, will give a light which will last during one second, and can be seen at a distance of thirty miles; imagine, then, what the light would be from these huge balls of fire floating through space. The earth forms a small part—nay, even the sun whose mass is equal to 354,936 earths like ours, is but an infinitesimal portion of the whole. By the continual emitting of heat, however, these fiery balls had a crust form on the outside, which enclosed a fiery fluid nucleus. The crust for a time must have been a smooth sheet, but afterward very uneven, having protuberances and cavities form over its surface, owing to the molten mass within becoming condensed and contracted; the crust not following this change sufficiently close, must have fallen in, and thus produced the cavities.
| Mongolian. | Malay. | Ethiopian. | American Indian. |
| Facial Angle, by Prof. Nelson Sizer. 1, Snake; 2, Dog; 3, Elephant; 4, Ape; 5, Human Idiot; 6, The Bushman; 7, The Uncultivated; 8, The Improved; 9, The Civilized; 10, The Enlightened; 11, The Caucasian (highest type). | |||
| Caucasian (after Van Evrie). | Head of Nose-Ape (after Brehm). | Julia Pastrana (Photographed by Hintye). | Living Idiot (on Blackwell’s Island). |
All the time, by the condensation, the diameter of the earth was being diminished. The irregular cooling of the crust caused irregular contractions on the surface, and as the diameter of the molten mass within was continually diminishing, many elevations and depressions were caused, which were the foundations of mountains and valleys.
After the temperature of the earth had been reduced by the thickening of the crust—when it became sufficiently cool—the water which existed in steam was condensed and precipitated, falling in torrents, washing down the elevations, filling the depressions with the mud carried along, and depositing it in layers. It was not until the earth became covered with water that life was possible in any form, as both animals and plants consist to a very great extent of water. At this stage in the history of the earth, then, the little mass of protoplasm, which we have spoken so much about, came into existence in all probability, as has been stated, by spontaneous generation.