We have no reason to look upon the rings of Saturn otherwise than as in process of being converted into one or more satellites, most probably more than one; because if the matter they are composed of has been separated from the planet in the form of a sheet, the same as we have seen must have been the case with the matter separated from the original nebula for the planets, the sheet has been already divided into at least three distinct parts, and surely that cannot have been done without some object. If these rings have been left, as has been said, in order to show us how the solar system has been formed, that does not authorise us to conclude that they will always remain in the form they have. There is no reason why the lesson should not be carried out to the very end, through the breaking up of the rings, formation of spherical nebiculæ, and finally satellites. It would be rash to assert that the matter of which any one of them is composed--be it atoms, molecules, meteorites, or brickbats--cannot, through friction and collisions of its particles among themselves, come to revolve around Saturn as if it were one solid piece. But should anyone do so, and adopt M. Faye's condemnation of Laplace's mode of forming rings, he must confess that when Saturn's rings are converted into satellites, their rotations must be retrograde; and it might be, for him, an interesting inquiry to find out whether the rotations of the existing satellites are direct or retrograde.
Astronomers have learnt the lesson as far as it has gone, have noted and registered the state of affairs as it is at present, and their successors will no doubt do the same as changes succeed each other. The day may be inconceivably remote, but it will inevitably come for the rings to be changed into satellites, unless they are disposed of in some other way. It has been said that were the rings to break up, in consequence of their being in a state of unstable equilibrium, they would fall back upon the planet, but that would depend on circumstances. If the motion of their revolution were stopped altogether, they would certainly fall back upon the planet; but if it were not stopped then each molecule would retain its centrifugal force, and would revolve around the primary on its own account, just as, according to very general opinion, it does at present. We do not see why, or for what purpose, these rings could have been separated from Saturn merely to fall back upon him again. It would be rather a strange way of giving a lesson if it were stopped, by a cataclysm of some kind, just when the most interesting part of it was in a fair way of being exhibited. Such a proceeding would assuredly not suit the ideas of those who believe that the solar system has been self-formed by a simple process of evolution.