Ebook: Note on the origin and formation of our planetary system

Laplace's remarks on the organisation of the Solar System were originally published at the end of his monumental Exposition du Système du Monde, first published in 1796. This material was reprinted by the Bureau des longitudes, an institution of which he was founding director, in their Annuaire of 1867, forty years after his death, making his work available to a wider public. This version being more easily accessible than the Exposition, notably at the website gallica.bnf.fr of the Bibliothéque Nationale Française, it is that form which is republished and translated here. Brief remarks in square brackets [] have been used occasionally to add clarity.