He conceived that this effect must result from the
force exerted by the tidal wave, as moving towards the west it
strikes the eastern coasts of Asia and America. An opposite
conclusion was reached by Laplace, who showed that the effect of
this force was neutralized by forces producing the wave and acting
in the opposite direction. And yet, nearly a century later, it was
shown that while Laplace was quite correct as regards the general
principles involved, the friction of the moving water must prevent
the complete neutralization of the two opposing forces, and leave
a small residual force acting towards the west and retarding the
rotation. Kant's conclusion was established, but by an action
different from that which he supposed.
The theory of Wright and Kant, which was still further developed
by Herschel, was that our stellar system has somewhat the form of
a flattened cylinder, or perhaps that which the earth would assume
if, in consequence of more rapid rotation, the bulging out at its
equator and the flattening at its poles were carried to an extreme
limit. This form has been correctly though satirically compared to
that of a grindstone. It rests to a certain extent, but not
entirely, on the idea that the stars are scattered through space
with equal thickness in every direction, and that the appearance
of the Milky Way is due to the fact that we, situated in the
centre of this flattened system, see more stars in the direction
of the circumference of the system than in that of its poles.
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