{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_56302/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_56302","id":"gutenberg_56302","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/56302","summary":null,"tags":["Bible and science","Category: Science - Physics","Cosmogony","Solar system"],"text":"THE\n                            SOURCE AND MODE\n                                   OF\n                              SOLAR ENERGY\n                        THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE.\n\n                                   BY\n                      I. W. HEYSINGER, M.A., M.D.\n\n\n\n                              ILLUSTRATED.\n\n                             PHILADELPHIA:\n                       J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY.\n\n                                 1895.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n                                                            PAGE\n\n    Introduction                                               7\n\n    CHAPTER I.\n\n    Statement of the Problem of Solar Energy                  17\n\n    CHAPTER II.\n\n    The Constitution and Phenomena of the Sun                 39\n\n    CHAPTER III.\n\n    The Mode of Solar Energy                                  70\n\n    CHAPTER IV.\n\n    The Source of Solar Energy                                96\n\n    CHAPTER V.\n\n    The Distribution and Conservation of Solar Energy        139\n\n    CHAPTER VI.\n\n    The Phenomena of the Stars                               162\n\n    CHAPTER VII.\n\n    Temporary Stars, Meteors, and Comets                     187\n\n    CHAPTER VIII.\n\n    The Phenomena of Comets                                  210\n\n    CHAPTER IX.\n\n    Interpretation of Cometic Phenomena                      225\n\n    CHAPTER X.\n\n    The Resolvable Nebul\u00e6, Star-Clusters and Galaxies        237\n\n    CHAPTER XI.\n\n    The Gaseous Nebul\u00e6                                       253\n\n    CHAPTER XII.\n\n    The Nebular Hypothesis: its Basis and its Difficulties   268\n\n    CHAPTER XIII.\n\n    The Genesis of Solar Systems and Galaxies                282\n\n    CHAPTER XIV.\n\n    The Mosaic Cosmogony                                     308\n\n    CHAPTER XV.\n\n    Conclusion. The Harmony of Nature's Laws and\n    Operations                                               341\n\n    Reference Index of Authorities Cited                     349\n\n    Classified Index of Subject-Matter                       353\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.\n\n\n                                                                  PAGE\n\n    Figs. 1 to 8. Types from nature, illustrating development\n             of a solar system from the attenuated matter of\n             space                                        Frontispiece.\n    Fig.  9. A typical sun-spot                                     57\n    Fig. 10. Structure of the sun, analytical illustration of       60\n    Fig. 11. Electrical polarities of sun and planets               82\n    Fig. 12. Ideal view of the generation and transmission of\n             planetary electricity                                  89\n    Fig. 13. The aurora borealis, view of                           91\n    Fig. 14. Diffused brush discharge of an electrical machine      91\n    Fig. 15. Planetary generation and transmission of electrical\n             energy to the sun, analytical illustration of         101\n    Fig. 16. Gradual discharge of electricity from one conductor\n             to another in a partial vacuum                        103\n    Fig. 17. Sudden electrical discharge through the atmosphere    103\n    Fig. 18. Position of planets with reference to the generation\n             of sun-spots; maximum and minimum of electrical\n             action                                                108\n    Fig. 19. Analysis of a typical sun-spot                        112\n    Fig. 20. Retardation of sun-spots in their travel across the\n             solar face; development to the rear and recession in\n             front                                                 114\n    Figs. 21 and 22. Complex lines of planetary electrical action\n             upon the sun produced by the inclination of the solar\n             axis to the plane of the ecliptic                     120\n    Figs. 23 to 29. Examples of electrical repulsion: Fig. 1,\n             similarly electrified pith-balls; Fig. 2, the\n             electrical windmill; Fig. 3, repulsion of a flame;\n             Fig. 4, self-repulsion around a conductor; Fig. 5,\n             attraction between opposite and repulsion between\n             similar electricities; Fig. 6, mutual repulsion\n             between similar + electrospheres of the earth and\n             the moon; Fig. 7, mutual repulsion between the\n             similar--electrospheres of sun and comet              124\n    Figs. 30 to 34. Spectra of solar light, incandescent sodium\n             and calcium, and the absorption and bright-line\n             spectra of hydrogen gas                               155\n    Figs. 35 to 37. Reversal and neutralization of spectroscopic\n             lines of hydrogen in the light of a variable star\n             like Betelgeuse                                       160\n    Fig. 38. A double-sun nebula in process of development into\n             a solar system                                        164\n    Fig. 39. Double stars with complementary colors,\n             interpretation of the phenomena of                    167\n    Fig. 40. A solar system which would explain the regular\n             variability of the star Mira                          178\n    Fig. 41. Lineal nebula in Sobieski's Crown which has been\n             affected by currents in the ocean of space            189\n    Figs. 42 to 45. Four stages in the phenomena of a new or\n             temporary star, a \"star in flames;\" reversal of the\n             hydrogen lines in its spectrum                        196\n    Figs. 46 and 47. Illustration of repulsion of the tail of a\n             comet by the similarly electrified solar\n             electrosphere; comparison with similar repulsion in\n             a vacuum-chamber experiment                           211\n    Figs. 48 and 49. The electroscope, and mutual electrical\n             repulsion in a bundle of dry straws                   225\n    Fig. 50. Experiment with a candle and currents of air from\n             between two disks, illustrating the radial\n             semi-rotation of a comet's tail during perihelion     230\n    Figs. 51 to 54. Four non-systemic gaseous nebul\u00e6: Fig. 1,\n             crab nebula; Fig. 2, dumb-bell nebula; Fig. 3, lineal\n             nebula in Sobieski's Crown; Fig. 4, Catherine-wheel\n             nebula. The latter illustrates the formation of a\n             planetary nebula with a hollow center, or else\n             dispersion into the elements of space again           263\n    Fig. 55. Great spiral nebula in Canes Venatici and a small\n             adjacent nebula affected thereby                      273\n    Figs. 56 to 59. Four gaseous nebul\u00e6 in process of development\n             into solar systems: Fig. 1, divergent spiral; Fig. 2,\n             later stage of a similar spiral; Fig. 3, subsequent\n             stage of rupture of the nearly circular convolutions\n             of a similar nebula; Fig. 4, the same stage in the\n             development of a solar system with a double sun        279\n    Fig. 60. Nucleated planetary nebula, showing its external ring\n             split and held apart, in part of its circumference,\n             by electrical repulsion                                288\n    Fig. 61. Divergent spiral nebula on cover of book.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION.\n\n\nThis work is not presented to the reader as a treatise on astronomy,\nalthough the different phenomena pertaining to that splendid science\nare reviewed with some detail, and the established facts bearing\nupon the subjects discussed are briefly cited in the very words of\nthe great writers upon whose authority they rest. A considerable\nexperience in chemistry, electricity, and the other allied physical\nsciences long since convinced the author of this work that some\nsimple and uniform principle must control the production of the\nphysical phenomena of astronomy,--some general law capable of being\nextended in its application to the widest, as well as applied to the\nnarrowest, limits of that science. Knowing the absolute certainty of\na magnetic and electrical connection between the sun and the earth,\nas evidenced by the reflected energy of sun-spots, auroras, etc.,\nand that no known cause except electricity could account for some,\nat least, of the cometic phenomena, it seemed that any comprehensive\nlaw must at all events include this mode of energy as an effective\ncause, and that if the law be uniform in its application, it must\nequally exclude all others which may be either antagonistic or not\nnecessary. A careful investigation was therefore made of those\nless generally known principles concerned in the generation and\ntransformations of electrical energy, in order to determine the\nsufficiency or insufficiency of this agency in the grander operations\nof nature (for, of course, mere currents of electricity could play no\npart in these phenomena), with the result that every line of research\nled irresistibly to the conclusions presented in this work. These\ninvestigations, specifically directed, at first, to the source and mode\nof the solar energy of our own system alone, were found to be equally\napplicable to others, and were successively extended to the whole\nsidereal, nebular, and cometic field, and finally to space itself,\nfor all the phenomena of which it seemed to furnish an adequate\nand harmonious interpretation. The fact, when once demonstrated,\nthat the true source of solar energy is not to be found in the sun\nitself, but in the potential energy of space, served as a guiding\nprinciple, and, by its continuously extended application, was found\nto cover perfectly the source and mode of all solar energy. Every\nstep of the investigation has been based on the established facts\nof science and the observations of eminent astronomers as laid down\nby the best authorities; and the quotations herein made from their\nworks are full and fair, and are properly credited in every case,\nand taken from books easily accessible to the general reader. It is\nhoped that further attention may be directed to this field of research\nby far more capable investigators than the author of this work, so\nthat systematic astronomy may no longer bear the reproach that it is\nlargely an empirical science, but that it may henceforth be based\nupon rational and comprehensive principles, capable of universal\nextension and of general scientific application.\n\nThe authorities cited in this work include many illustrious names:\nProctor, Tyndall, Helmholtz, Langley, Huggins, Newcomb, Young,\nFlammarion, Balfour Stewart, R. Kalley Miller, Herschel, Nichol,\nLord Rosse, Urbanitsky, Crookes, Fraunhofer, Ball, and many others,\nall of whom are known throughout the world as among the master minds\nof science. From them we have drawn the rich stores of knowledge\nof the phenomena with which this work deals, and which we have so\nfully and freely cited, as the basis of the splendid superstructure\nwhich astronomy to-day reveals. No one will venture to controvert the\nstatements of fact made by these eminent men, and, where conflict of\nopinion has arisen among them, we have quoted all parties, so that\nthe reader can form his own conclusion, in each case, for himself. So\ndiverse, apparently, are the phenomena reviewed that they present\nthe aspect of a great picture-gallery, in which the paintings totally\ndiffer from each other in subject, in treatment, and in origin, their\nonly common qualities being those of grandeur and fidelity to truth\nand to the principles of art. But they are not merely paintings, they\nare the moving panorama of creation, and, diverse as they may appear,\nthey will be found to show the same \"handling,\" which reveals the same\nuniversal artist; they have, in truth, a common mode of development and\na common principle of construction, obscure as these may seem to be.\n\nFor thousands of years \"Natural History,\" so called, was studied and\ntaught; zo\u00f6logy was a well-known science far back in old historic\ntimes. But it was left for modern biological research to turn\nfrom these fixed and fully-developed forms of life, and go back to\ntrace their primal development through what is now the science of\nembryology, and thus we have learned that nature traverses the same\npaths in forming a man as in producing a frog or a bird. The process\nis carried further along in one case than in another, but the lines\nof development are almost identical; and the tracing out of these\ncommon lines and their subsequent divergencies has shed a flood of new\nlight upon these dark and hitherto unknown places, so that we are now\nfairly on the true highway of physical life at last. When adult forms\nwere alone compared, animal with animal, no common ground of origin\nor development could be discerned; nature was believed to work by\n\"special creations,\" and vast cataclysms were devised to utterly\ndestroy the organic life of one terrestrial epoch after another,\nleaving a few hardy accidental survivors, or \"types,\" perchance,\nto trace back their lines of descent beyond such periods of cyclical\ndestruction. All this is now changed, and these views, so recently held\nand taught, have been abandoned forever, and continuously operative\nnatural processes of development, modified by environment and heredity,\nhave taken their place, and biology now has a future as well as a\npast. And so it must be with the less complex, but far more extended,\ncreations and transformations in the vast fields of astronomical\nscience with which this book is concerned. Hitherto we have here,\ntoo, dealt with \"special creations\" and cataclysms; henceforth we\nmust follow the uniform and eternal laws of progressive development.\n\nAmong the multitude of hitherto unsolved problems of astronomy we may\nenumerate the following: Why sun-spots travel faster around the sun\nwhen near his equator than when more distant from it. The physical\ncauses of sun-spots, facul\u00e6, and solar prominences. Why the number and\nsize of sun-spots seem to affect terrestrial magnetism. The rational\ninterpretation of the eleven-year and the long sun-spot cycles. The\norigin of the aurora borealis. The causes of the periodicity of\nregularly variable stars. How to explain, in accordance with the\nnebular hypothesis, why Algol and its companion, which are not\ngreatly different in mass and volume, and both obviously gaseous,\nshould so differ in character, one being a bright sun and the other\na dark planet. Whether there are great, compact, but dark bodies,\ncomparable to suns and planets in magnitude, and unconnected with\nany solar system, floating about in space. Why double and multiple\nstars are so frequently of contrasted or complementary colors. Why\nregularly variable stars are longer in decline than in growth of\nbrilliancy, since such decline is no criterion of loss of heat,\nbut rather the reverse. Why the sun and fixed stars have atmospheres\nlargely composed of free hydrogen, and the planets have atmospheres\nof free oxygen and nitrogen. Why a small and sometimes even scarcely\nvisible star occasionally is seen to suddenly blaze up, in a few\nhours, to hundreds of times its normal brilliancy, and then far more\ngradually fade, through months and years, back to its former state,\nin which thenceforth it continues to maintain its original lustre. Why\ncomets, when they have tails, always project these appendages radially\nfrom the direction of the sun. How to account for the presence of\ncyanogen, and how for the absence of oxygen and the constant presence\nof hydrocarbon vapors around the nuclei of comets. Why some comets\nsplit up into separate comets and others sometimes show multiple\ntails. Why comets, when they pass around and behind the sun, in\nsome cases reappear shorn of their splendor and in other cases with\ntheir splendor greatly enhanced. Whence comets are derived, where\nis their permanent abiding-place, and how did they originally reach\nthose distant regions which they occupy before entering our system,\nif merely the d\u00e9bris left behind from contraction of the mass of plasma\nout of which our solar system is supposed to have been formed. Why so\nmany of the irresolvable nebul\u00e6 present the appearance of divergent\nspirals of many different forms. How to account for the annular nebul\u00e6\nwith hollow centers and for those partially-completed planetary nebul\u00e6,\nso called, which afterwards appear to retrograde into diffused gaseous\nnebul\u00e6 again or gradually disappear. What is the ultimate constitution\nof interstellar space? Have the fixed stars planetary systems like\nour own, or not? Must they have such, or merely may they have? What\nprinciple of conservation of energy is it possible to apply to the\nvast quantities of light and heat which constantly disappear in\nthe interstellar realms of space? How to account for this enormous\nemission of solar energy during the long period of time requisite for\nthe development of the earth during its past geological ages. How to\nexplain why the moon always presents the same face to the earth. Why,\nif the law of gravity prevails there, there are no visible traces of\natmosphere or moisture in the moon. What is the basic principle on\nwhich depends the ratio of mean planetary distances, 0, 3, 6, 12, 24,\netc., always plus 4? What is the origin of the planetary satellites\nand the cause of their irregular distribution, and what the origin\nof Saturn's rings? How was the belt of asteroids formed between\nMars and Jupiter? Why is the orbit of Neptune relatively compressed\nagainst that of Uranus? Why is the mass of Neptune out of its proper\nproportion compared with those of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune\nin a diminishing series? What is the rational interpretation and what\nthe origin of the sun's corona and the cause of the coronal streamers?\n\nThere are many other problems equally difficult which are\nencountered in the study of this noble science, but the above are\nsurely sufficiently striking. Any complete interpretation of these\nvarious phenomena, even singly, would seem to be an important step in\nadvance; then how much more so if the explanation of one and all of\nthese is to be found in a single, all-embracing cause, a few simple\nand uniformly operative principles, as unquestionably operative here\nas in the other fields of science to which they pertain, and which,\nonce thoroughly comprehended and rigidly applied, will be found to\nelucidate all the multifarious phenomena of sidereal space so clearly\nand precisely that any intelligent observer and reasoner can determine\neach question finally for himself, and solve not only these, but all\nthe other astronomical problems and paradoxes which have from time to\ntime arisen? It is not to be understood that this sublime science and\nthese illimitable realms are to be laid off with the metes and bounds\nof a farmer's meadow, for all the lines of the different sciences are\nlinked together at a thousand points, but that the operative principles\nwhich nature constantly employs once firmly grasped, the intricacy of\neach series of phenomena encountered will become gradually lessened,\nlink by link, as observations and deductions are more closely and\nrationally made along these well-established lines of research,\ninstead of here and there, empirically, and at hap-hazard, as has been\nthe only method hitherto possible to pursue. When the relatively few\nfixed principles which control the operations of nature in the field\nof astronomy are thoroughly comprehended, for on this vast panorama\nshe lays her colors with a heavy brush, we can study her phenomena\nand interpret her processes even more readily than the kindred\nsciences have enabled us to do in the adjacent fields of biology,\nwherein the splendid achievements of less than a quarter of a century\npast have not only aroused the interest and enthusiasm of the world,\nbut already point the way to still grander triumphs yet to come.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE SOURCE AND MODE OF SOLAR ENERGY.\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nSTATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM OF SOLAR ENERGY.\n\n\nIn endeavoring to present a new and rational interpretation of\nthe source and mode of solar energy, based upon the established\nprinciples of recent science, it becomes necessary to briefly cite\nthe facts bearing upon the problem to be solved and the authorities\nfor their support, as well as to describe concisely the different\nhypotheses at present in vogue, and to point out the well-established\ninsufficiency of these theories, one and all, to account for or explain\nthe difficulties encountered, and which so far have remained as an\nunsolved enigma. And this problem of solar energy is the grandest and\nmost important question of all physics, for upon the light and heat\nof the sun depend all physical life and its consequences, animal\nand vegetable, past, present, and future. If within finite time,\nand relatively, compared with the enormous vistas of the past, a very\nbrief time, this source of energy is to cease, and our whole system\nbe involved in darkness and death, such darkness and death must be\neternal; for the dead sun in his final stage of condensation will be\nas fixed and unchangeable as the operation of eternal laws can make\nit, and henceforth there can be no revival or reversals, no turning\nback of the hand upon the dial, while the laws of nature continue;\nand outside the uniform operation of the laws of nature there is no\nsource, or mode, or continuance of solar energy conceivable. It is true\nthat when our system shall have ran down to its culmination in death,\nother present systems may continue for a time to exist and new ones\nspring into being; but these, too, must inevitably follow the same\ncourse, and likewise end in eternal darkness, until finally the great\nexperiment of creation shall have ended in eternal failure. The changes\nwe see in progress around us, however, are not of this nature. The\nindividual dies, but the forces which gave life and strength to the\nrace persist, and others will take his place, and the same forces will\ncontinue to operate with constant renewals, since we draw our light\nand heat and life from without; but in the death of suns and their\nattendant planets there is no analogous process, for such suns are\nconstantly expending their enormous energies in the support of life\nexternal to themselves, and only the smallest part of this energy,\neven, can ever be utilized by themselves or by other suns or planets\nunder any mode of interpretation now in vogue, the boundless realms\nof so-called inert and empty space receiving the same proportionate\nquota of light and heat as the almost microscopic points in the sky\nwhich constitute the suns and systems we see, and practically all,\nor nearly all, of this enormous energy is an absolute dead waste; so\nthat whether receiving new supplies from a constant rain of adjacent\nmeteor streams, or from the gradual contraction of the solar volume,\nthe vast realms of space are the useless recipients of what can never\nreturn to the sun again, and, of course, in such case the inevitable\nend can be predicted; for contraction of volume, with a given mass,\nmust have an effective limit, and meteoric aggregation must also find\nan effective limit, if the planets are not to be thrown out of place\nas they continue to revolve around the sun.\n\nAll accepted theories begin with a primordial impulse, the energies\nof which are of necessity constantly frittered away and wasted,\nuntil finally all light and heat and life must cease to exist,\nand that at a stage in which no further impulse can ever be given,\nsince the whole universe will have passed through every possible\nstage of degradation down to the final one of universal and eternal\ndeath. And yet this is the best that science has to suggest; the only\ncomfort offered us is that it will not happen in our time, and so,\n\"after us the deluge.\" The nebular hypothesis, so called, of Laplace,\nhas required much modification, in the light of more recent science,\nbut the essential principles of this theory are still generally\naccepted, for they fairly well account for the primal connection of\nthe sun and planets, and the position of the central sun within,\nwith the orbital and rotational planetary movements, as no other\ntheory has yet done. By this theory the limits of our solar system\nwere once occupied by an attenuated gaseous nebula containing within\nitself all the matter which now forms our solar system. This great\nnebular mass, primordially assumed, was given by gravity a slow but\ngradually increasing rotation upon its center; the force of gravity\nacted more strongly upon this rotating body as it contracted, so\nthat rings of nebulous matter were successively thrown off, which\ncoalesced into single masses and these finally into planets. These\nplanetary globes themselves, as they coalesced and contracted, left\nbehind or threw off rings of their outer matter, which, in turn,\nbecame moons, and finally our solar system with its central sun was\nevolved as we now see it; development continued, the planets cooled\nand condensed, life appeared when the conditions became suitable,\nand the original progressive condensation of the central mass--the\nsun--still continuing, the evolution of light and heat continues,\nand will continue in a correlative degree. As our moon has passed,\napparently, beyond the stage of life, and is cold, airless, waterless,\nand dead, so will the earth pass; and the larger planets, such as\nJupiter and Saturn, which have not yet reached the life stage of\ncondensation, are still hot, but they, too, will pass through the\npresent stage of the earth, then through that in which the moon now\nis; and the central sun, still glowing, but more and more dimly, will\nitself pass through the stages in which Jupiter and Saturn now are,\nthen through that of our present earth, and finally into that of the\nmoon, long before which time the emission of all light and heat will\nhave ceased from the sun to its encircling planets, and finally the\nsun itself will sink into eternal frigidity, and all its store of\nlight and heat will have been dissipated into boundless space, and\nthe possibility of anything resembling what we know as life will have\nbeen forever extinguished. In considering the question of the sun's\nenergy, the author of the article \"Sun,\" in Appleton's Cyclop\u00e6dia,\nsays, \"How to account for the supply of the prodigious amount of heat\nconstantly radiated from the solar surface has offered a boundless\nfield of hypothesis. One conjecture is that the sun is now giving\noff the heat imparted to it at its creation, and that it is gradually\ncooling down (1). Another ascribed it to combustion (2), and a third\nto currents of electricity (3). Newton and Buffon conjectured that\ncomets might be the aliment of the sun (4); and of late years a\nsomewhat similar theory (first broached by Mr. Waterston in 1853)\nhas been in vogue,--viz., that a stream of meteoric matter constantly\npouring into the sun from the regions of space supplies its heat,\nby the conversion into it of the arrested motion (5). As the sun may,\nindeed, derive a small amount of heat from this cause, it deserves more\nattention than previous conjectures. But conjecture and hypothesis\nmay be said to have given place to views which claim a higher title,\nas it is now becoming generally recognized, in accordance with modern\nphysical theories of heat, that in the gravitation of the sun's mass\ntoward its center, and in its consequent condensation, sufficient\nheat must be evolved to supply the present radiation, enormous as this\nundoubtedly is. It appears to be susceptible of full demonstration that\na contraction of the sun's volume of a given definite amount, which\nis yet so slight as to be invisible to the most powerful telescope,\nis competent to furnish a heat-supply equal to all that can have been\nemitted during historical periods. According to this theory, then\n(which is largely due to the development by Helmholtz of Mayer's\ngreat generalization), the sun's mass remains unaltered, and its\ntemperature nearly constant, while its size is slowly diminishing as\nit contracts; so slowly, however, that the supply may be reckoned on\nthrough periods almost infinite as measured by the known past of our\nrace, and which are in any case to be counted by millions of years\n(6).\" To these must be added the hypothesis of Dr. Siemens, fully\ndescribed in Professor Proctor's \"Mysteries of Time and Space.\" This\ningenious theory, in brief, is that the rotation of the sun on its axis\ncauses a suction in the manner of a fan, at the poles, and a tangential\nprojection, at the equator, of a disk-like stream of gaseous matter\ninto space. The light and heat of the sun, dispersed through space,\nslowly but continuously act upon the compound gases with which space\nis universally pervaded to disassociate them into their elements. The\ndisassociated gases thus sucked in at the solar poles at an extremely\nlow temperature are brought into a state of combustion by friction\nand condensation, thus generating new supplies of light and heat, and\nthe gases thus reunited by combustion are again projected into space,\nto be again slowly disassociated by the operation of the sun's light\nand heat. The result of this combustion is to form aqueous vapor and\ncarbonic acid and carbonic oxide, and these gases, when disassociated\nin space, are resolved into carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, which again\nand again are thus recombined and again and again decomposed as they\npass over the sun's surface (7).\n\nThe seven hypotheses above described are the only ones now in vogue,\nand a brief analysis will show that no single one of them, nor all\ncombined, will give sufficient results to account for the essential\ndifficulties or known conditions of the problem. The first and second\nhypotheses are answered by the fact set forth by Helmholtz (Popular\nScientific Lectures, article \"On the Origin of the Planetary System\"),\nthat, if the mass of the sun were composed of the two elements capable\nby combination of producing the greatest possible light and heat,--to\nwit, hydrogen and oxygen in the proportions in which they unite to\nform water,--\"calculation shows that under the above supposition the\nheat resulting from their combustion would be sufficient to keep up\nthe radiation of heat from the sun three thousand and twenty-one\nyears. That, it is true, is a long time, but even profane history\nteaches that the sun has lighted and warmed us for three thousand\nyears, and geology puts it beyond doubt that this period must be\nextended to millions of years.\"\n\nThe third hypothesis relates to currents of electricity. We have no\nknowledge of currents of electricity which could produce, however\nmultiplied or intensified, such light and heat as are constantly\npoured forth from the sun into all space. That electricity is the\nintermediate cause of our sun's energy, and of all solar energy, it\nis the purpose of this work to demonstrate, but not electric currents,\nwhich find their attractiveness to theorists in the vague suggestion of\nwhich Professor Proctor speaks, referring to comets, in his article on\n\"Cometic Mysteries,\" \"that perhaps this is an electrical phenomenon;\nperhaps that other feature is electrical, too; perhaps all or most\nof the phenomena of comets depend on electricity.\" But he adds, \"It\nis so easy to make such suggestions, so difficult to obtain evidence\nin their favor having the slightest scientific value. Still, I hold\nthe electrical idea to be well worth careful study. Whatever credit\nmay hereafter be given to any electrical theory of comets will be\nsolely and entirely due to those who may help to establish it upon\na basis of sound evidence,--none whatever to the mere suggestion,\nwhich has been made time and again since it was first advanced by\nFontanelle.\" It will be seen that the present work, in demonstrating\nthe true source and mode of solar energy, in itself presents a full\nand sufficient explanation of all the cometic mysteries referred to,\nas well as all those pertaining to other solar systems in space, and\nthe multifarious phenomena which they present. Indeed, the philosophic\nmind will not be satisfied with the sufficiency of any hypothesis\nwhich will not unlock the mysteries and clearly explain the phenomena\nof other systems,--of comets, variable and temporary stars, double\nstars, and all the complicated celestial economy which to the eye\nof the mere observer presents a bewildering scene of the operation\nof independent and inscrutable forces. The fifth hypothesis cited,\nthat of meteoric impact, doubtless plays a part, as we know from the\ngeneration of light and heat by the constant passage of similar bodies\nthrough our own atmosphere. And we know, of course, that the sun, by\nits vastly-increased attraction, must be subjected to the constant\nimpact of such meteoric bodies in enormous numbers. But the fatal\ndefect in the theory is that such impacts, to produce the radiant\nenergy of the sun, must constantly add to its mass in like proportion,\nand as the motions and distances of the planets in their orbits are\nregulated and preserved by virtue of the substantially constant mass\nof the sun, any progressive and considerable increase in its mass must\nconstantly bring the planets nearer and nearer, and thus increase\ntheir orbital velocity. Helmholtz quotes from Sir William Thomson's\ninvestigation, that, \"assuming it to hold, the mass of the sun should\nincrease so rapidly that the consequences would have shown themselves\nin the accelerated motion of the planets. The entire loss of heat from\nthe sun cannot, at all events, be produced in this way; at the most a\nportion, which, however, may not be inconsiderable.\" R. Kalley Miller,\nin \"The Romance of Astronomy,\" says, \"But more recent observations\nhave led Sir William Thomson to a modification of his theory. He\nhas calculated that if the meteoric shower were sufficiently heavy\nto make up for the sun's whole expenditure of heat, the matter\nof the corona must be so dense as seriously to perturb the orbits\nof certain comets which pass very close to his surface,--a result\nwhich is found not to be the case. But the meteoric theory is only\nthrown back a step. If the sun's mass were originally formed, as is\nnot at all improbable, by the agglomeration of these particles, Sir\nWilliam Thomson has calculated that the heat generated by their thus\nfalling together would be sufficient to account for a supply of twenty\nmillion years of solar heat at the present rate of emission. And thus,\nthough the meteors are not sufficient to maintain the energy of our\nsystem unimpaired, they may yet have been the original storehouse\nfrom which all that energy was derived.... But if the economy of our\nsystem be spared long enough, the day must come when the sun with age\nhas become wan; when the matter of the corona has all been drawn in\nand used up without avail; when the lavish luxuriance with which he\nhas showered abroad his light and heat has finally exhausted all his\nstores. He has still power, aided by the resisting medium, to drag his\nsatellites one by one down upon his surface; and the shock of each\nsuccessive impact will, for a brief period, give him a fresh tenure\nof life. When the earth crashes into the sun it will supply him with\na store of heat for nearly a century, while Jupiter's large mass will\nextend the period by nearly thirty thousand years. But when the last\nof the planets is swallowed up, the sun's energies will rapidly die\nout and a deep and deathly gloom gather about nature's grave. Looking\ninto the ages of a future eternity, we can see nothing but a cold\nand burnt-out mass remaining of that glorious orb which went forth\nin the morning of time, joyful as a bridegroom from his chamber,\nand rejoicing as a strong man to run a race.\"\n\nThe sixth hypothesis is that to which most credence is now given. It\nis that of evolution of energy by condensation of volume. Professor\nProctor (\"The Sun as a Perpetual Machine\") says, \"In company with this\ngreat mystery of seeming waste comes the yet more difficult problem,\nhow to explain the apparent continuance of solar light and heat during\nmillions of years. We know from the results of geological research\nthat the earth has been exposed to the action of the solar rays with\ntheir present activity during at least a hundred million years. Yet it\nis difficult to see how, on any hypothesis of the generation of solar\nheat, or by combining together all possible modes of heat generation,\na supply for more than twenty millions of years in the past and a\npossible supply for as long a period in the future can be accounted\nfor.\" Of these vast periods of terrestrial existence in the past we\nquote the following from a recent publication:\n\n\"Professor C. D. Wolcott expresses the opinion that geologic time\nis not to be measured by hundreds of years, but simply by tens of\nmillions. This is widely different from the conclusion arrived at\nby Sir Charles Lyell, who, basing his estimate on modifications of\ncertain specimens of marine life, assigned 240,000,000 years as the\nrequired geological period; Darwin claimed 200,000,000 years; Crowell,\nabout 72,000,000; Geike, from 73,000,000 upward; McGee, Upham, and\nother recent authorities claim from 100,000,000 up to 680,000,000.\"\n\nHelmholtz (\"On the Origin of the Planetary System\") says, \"It is\nprobable rather that a great part of this heat, which was produced by\ncondensation, began to radiate into space before this condensation\nwas complete. But the heat which the sun could have previously\ndeveloped by its condensation would have been sufficient to cover\nits present expenditure for not less than 22,000,000 of years of the\npast.... We may therefore assume with great probability that the sun\nwill still continue in its condensation, even if it only attained the\ndensity of the earth, though it will probably become far denser in\nits interior, owing to its far greater pressure; this would develop\nfresh quantities of heat, which would be sufficient to maintain for\nan additional 17,000,000 of years the same intensity of sunshine\nas that which is now the source of all terrestrial life.\" Of this\nprocess of condensation Professor Ball, in his recent work, \"In\nthe High Heavens,\" says, \"It goes without saying that the welfare\nof the human race is necessarily connected with the continuance\nof the sun's beneficent action. We have indeed shown that the few\nother direct or indirect sources of heat which might conceivably\nbe relied upon are in the very nature of things devoid of necessary\npermanence. It becomes, therefore, of the utmost interest to inquire\nwhether the sun's heat can be calculated on indefinitely. Here is\nindeed a subject which is literally of the most vital importance,\nso far as organic life is concerned. If the sun shall ever cease\nto shine, then it must be certain that there is a term beyond which\nhuman existence, or indeed organic existence of any type whatever,\ncannot any longer endure on the earth. We may say once for all that\nthe sun contains just a certain number of units of heat, actual or\npotential, and that he is at the present moment shedding that heat\naround with the most appalling extravagance.\" Quoting from Professor\nLangley, he says, \"We feel certain that the incessant radiation\nfrom the sun must be producing a profound effect on its stores of\nenergy. The only way of reconciling this with the total absence of\nevidence of the expected changes is to be found in the supposition\nthat such is the mighty mass of the sun, such the prodigious supply\nof heat or what is the equivalent of heat which it contains, that\nthe grand transformation through which it is passing proceeds at a\nrate so slow that, during the ages accessible to our observations,\nthe results achieved have been imperceptible.... We cannot, however,\nattribute to the sun any miraculous power of generating heat. That\ngreat body cannot disobey those laws which we have learned from\nexperiments in our laboratories. Of course no one now doubts that the\ngreat law of the conservation of energy holds good. We do not in the\nleast believe that because the sun's heat is radiated away in such\nprofusion it is therefore entirely lost. It travels off, no doubt,\nto the depths of space, and as to what may become of it there we have\nno information. Everything we know points to the law that energy is\nas indestructible as matter itself. The heat scattered from the sun\nexists at least as ethereal vibration, if in no other form. But it\nis most assuredly true that this energy, so copiously dispensed, is\nlost to our solar system. There is no form in which it is returned,\nor in which it can be returned. The energy of the system is as surely\ndeclining as the store of energy of the clock declines according as\nthe weight runs down. In the clock, however, the energy is restored\nby winding up the weight, but there is no analogous process known in\nour system.\" The purpose of the present work, however, is to clearly\ndemonstrate that just such a process is actually being carried on, and\nhas been so carried on from the beginning, and will be forever. This\nwriter continues reviewing the suppositions formerly entertained,\nthat the sun was a heated body gradually cooling down, or that it\nwas undergoing absolute combustion, and shows that they were utterly\ninsufficient. He then refers to the theory of meteoric supply, of\nwhich he says, \"It can, however, be shown that there are not enough\nmeteors in existence to supply a sufficient quantity of heat to the\nsun to compensate the loss by radiation. The indraught of meteoric\nmatter may, indeed, certainly tend in some small degree to retard the\nultimate cooling of the great luminary, but its effect is so small\nthat we can quite afford to overlook it from the point of view that we\nare taking in these pages. It is to Helmholtz we are indebted for the\ntrue solution of the long-vexed problem. He has demonstrated in the\nclearest manner where the source of the sun's heat lies.... A gaseous\nglobe like the sun, when it parts with its heat, observes laws of a\nvery different type from those which a cooling solid follows. As the\nheat disappears by radiation the body contracts; the gaseous object,\nhowever, decreases in general much more than a solid body would do for\nthe same loss of heat.... The globe of gas unquestionably radiates heat\nand loses it, and the globe, in consequence of that loss, shrinks to\na smaller size.... In the facts just mentioned we have an explanation\nof the sustained heat of the sun. Of course we cannot assume that\nin our calculations the sun is to be treated as if it were gaseous\nthroughout its entire mass, but it approximates so largely to the\ngaseous state in the greater part of its bulk that we can feel no\nhesitation in adopting the belief that the true cause has been found.\"\n\nRegarding the constitution of the sun, it may be stated, however,\nthat we only see its photosphere, which is the visible sun, and\nthe whole volume has a density about that of water; but no man\nhas ever seen the body of the sun itself. In this respect it is\nlike the planet Jupiter: we only know that its density cannot be\nless than one-fourth the density of the earth's solid globe. If\nthe photosphere extend to a depth of one thousand, ten thousand,\nor a hundred thousand miles, the density of the sun's body or core\nwill be correspondingly increased. Even computing the whole visible\nvolume, the density is far greater than that of any gas we know, even\nwith the solar pressure of gravity; with the sun's metallic vapors,\nif the whole core were already vaporized, we would not, to say the\nleast, be likely to observe the sun-spots and other solar phenomena\nas we find them actually to occur; this, however, will be more fully\nconsidered later on. The author continues, \"But there is a boundary\nto the prospect of the continuance of the sun's radiation. Of course,\nas the loss of heat goes on the gaseous parts will turn into liquids,\nand as the process is still further protracted the liquids will\ntransform into solids. Thus, we look forward to a time when the\nradiation of the sun can be no longer carried on in conformity with\nthe laws which dictate the loss of heat from a gaseous body. When this\nstate is reached the sun may, no doubt, be an incandescent solid with\na brilliance as great as is compatible with that condition, but the\nfurther loss of heat will then involve loss of temperature.... There\nseems no escape from the conclusion that the continuous loss of solar\nheat must still go on, so that the sun will pass through the various\nstages of brilliant incandescence, of glowing redness, of dull redness,\nuntil it ultimately becomes a dark and non-luminous star.... There\nis thus a distinct limit to man's existence on the earth, dictated\nby the ultimate exhaustion of the sun.... The utmost amount of heat\nthat it would ever have been possible for the sun to contain would,\naccording to this authority (Professor Langley), supply its radiation\nfor eighteen million years at the present rate.... It seems that the\nsun has already dissipated about four-fifths of the energy with which\nit may have originally been endowed. At all events, it seems that,\nradiating energy at its present rate, the sun may hold out for four\nmillion years or for five million years, but not for ten million\nyears.... We have seen that it does not seem possible for any other\nsource of heat to be available for replenishing the waning stores of\nthe luminary.\" He concludes by saying that the original heat may have\nbeen imparted as the result of some great collision, the solar body\nhaving itself been dark before the collision occurred, and that it\nmay be reinvigorated by a repetition of a similar startling process,\nbut indicates in general terms that such an operation would be bad\nfor the round world and all contained therein. It would, in fact,\nbe rough treatment for even a hopeless case.\n\nCondensation of the solar volume is unquestionably a source of heat,\nfor we know that the solid or liquid interior of the earth increases\nin temperature at a definite ratio as we descend through its crust;\nbut long before the sun shall have become contracted to the density of\nthe earth all its heat will have become substantially internal heat,\nand it can then supply no more by radiation to its surrounding planets.\n\nIt will be seen that the radiant energy of the sun on any of the above\nhypotheses is not sufficient to account even for the life period of the\nearth in the past, and that its future period of energy must be still\nmore brief. Professor Ball (\"In the High Heavens\"), basing his views\non Laplace's \"Nebular Hypothesis,\" says, \"Looking back into the remote\nages, we thus see that the sun was larger and larger the further back\nwe project our view. If we go sufficiently far back, we seem to come\nto a time when the sun, in a more or less completely gaseous state,\nfilled up the surrounding space out to the orbit of Mercury, or,\nearlier still, out to the orbit of the remotest planet.\" According\nto this hypothesis, all these brilliant suns, the author says, will\n\"settle down into dark bodies like the earth,\" and that \"every analogy\nwould teach us that the dark and non-luminous bodies in the universe\nare far more numerous than the brilliant suns. We can never see the\ndark objects; we can discern their presence only indirectly. All the\nstars that we can see are merely those bodies which at this epoch\nof their career happen for the time to be so highly heated as to be\nluminous.... It may happen that there are dark bodies in the vicinity\nof some of the bright stars to which these stars act as illuminants,\njust in the same way as the sun disperses light to the planets.\" One\nwould naturally suppose, however, that there must be some sort of\nlaws to govern such stupendous operations, and that nature is not\nmerely engaged in blowing bubbles. To quote Professor Newcomb: \"At the\npresent time we can only say that the nebular hypothesis is indicated\nby the general tendencies of the laws of nature; that it has not been\nproved to be inconsistent with any fact; that it is almost a necessary\nconsequence of the only theory by which we can account for the origin\nand conservation of the sun's heat; but that it rests on the assumption\nthat this conservation is to be explained by the laws of nature as\nwe now see them in operation. Should any one be sceptical as to the\nsufficiency of these laws to account for the present state of things,\nscience can furnish no evidence strong enough to overthrow his doubts\nuntil the sun shall be found growing smaller by actual measurement,\nor the nebul\u00e6 be actually seen to condense into stars and systems.\"\n\nWhile the validity of the views set forth in the present volume\ndoes not depend on the sufficiency or insufficiency of the nebular\nhypothesis, and in fact requires the condensation as well as the\nexpansion of the solar volume under the influence of heat to be\nrecognized and its extreme importance pointed out, yet it must not\nbe supposed that this great generalization of Kant and Laplace,\nbased on the views presented originally by Sir William Herschel, is\nestablished, or that the difficulties in its way are not so enormous\nas to be almost insuperable. Professor Ball points out that thousands\nof bodies occupy our solar system, and together compose it as a whole;\nthat these have orbits of every sort of eccentricity and direction,\nand occupying all possible planes which can pass through the sun; that\nthe bodies circle around the sun, some backward and others forward,\nand that only the planets seem to conform to some common order; and\nwithout this order, which may be accidental, so far as our knowledge\ngoes, the system would have been disrupted long since, if it ever\ncould have begun its operations; and that in this view the heavens\nmay be strewn with wrecks of systems which failed to survive from\ninherent want of harmony,--that is to say, as based on observation\nonly. Whether the nebular hypothesis be a universal or a partial law\nof development, or whether the real processes be quite different,\ncannot, however, depend on the continued maintenance and evolution\nof the sun's energy, as this source must in truth be sought for in\nquite a different direction.\n\nThe remaining hypothesis (the seventh) is considered in detail in\nProfessor Proctor's work, \"Mysteries of Time and Space.\" The fatal\ndefect in Dr. Siemens's theory is, that his gases will not be projected\nfrom the sun's equator. Professor Proctor says, \"Thus the centripetal\ntendency of matter at the sun's equator is very much greater (many\nhundreds of times greater) than its centrifugal tendency, and there\nis not the slightest possibility of matter being projected into space\nfrom the sun's surface by centrifugal tendency. Nor is there any part\nof the sun's mass where the centrifugal tendency is greater than at\nthe surface near the equator. So that, whatever else the sun may be\ndoing to utilize his mighty energies, he is certainly not throwing\noff matter constantly from his equatorial regions, as Dr. Siemens's\ntheory requires.\" There are other difficulties which Professor Proctor\nconsiders, such as the doubt as to the power of the sun's rays to\ndisassociate combined gases in space, and also that, since both light\nand heat must be utilized in this work, if the sun's energies are to\nbe perpetually renewed, these forces would sensibly disappear in work,\nand the result would be that the fixed stars would be invisible beyond\ntheir domains, and their light, when not totally cut off, would be\ngreatly diminished, in any event, as distances increased, which is\nnot the case. Besides, these gases thus disassociated could never be\nentirely used by the sun, and the remainder would be wasted, and the\npart wasted would vastly exceed that utilized, probably in as great\nproportion of waste as that of the sun's light not utilized by the\nplanets, which gather but one two-hundred-and-thirty-two-millionths\nof the whole. It may be further added that these gases would be\nmechanically mixed, the combined and the disassociated, and this\nwould be mostly the case in those parts nearest the sun, so that large\nvolumes of spent and useless gases would have to be carried in to no\npurpose whatever. In fact, these gases would gradually form a closed\ncircuit of supply and discharge, and surrounding space would be but\nslightly affected. Professor Proctor concludes, \"We have, in fact,\nthe fallacy of perpetual motion in a modified form.\"\n\nIt will be apparent that under any single one, or all, of these\nhypotheses, the future prospect for created forms and continued\nexistence is hopeless, and that the inevitable result must do\nviolence to every conception of either an intelligent creative\npower or the operations of universal law. The mind revolts from\nthe continued degradation and destruction of all organic creation,\nwhile the malevolent and iconoclastic forces of nature hold high\nrevel over final ruin and eternal destruction, brought about by their\nown incessant efforts, striking out blindly to make or mar, and they\nalone the deathless survivors, the half-blind fates and furies of the\neternal future. It betokens, not the processes of orderly government,\nbut the reign of anarchy.\n\nNote.--Since this work has been in press, at the annual meeting of the\nBritish Association, August 8, 1894, Lord Salisbury, the President,\ndelivered a powerful and lucid address on the present status of\nscientific knowledge and its limitations. With reference to the\nantiquity of the earth we quote the following: \"It is evident,\nfrom the increase of heat as we descend into the earth, that the\nearth is cooling, and we know, by experiment within certain wide\nlimits, the rate at which its substances--the matters of which it is\nconstituted--are found to cool. It follows that we can approximately\ncalculate how hot it was so many million years ago; but if at any\ntime it was hotter at the surface by fifty degrees Fahrenheit than it\nis now, life would then have been impossible upon the planet, and,\ntherefore, we can without much difficulty fix a date before which\norganic life on earth cannot have existed. Basing himself on these\nconsiderations, Lord Kelvin limited the period of organic life upon\nthe earth to a hundred million years, and Professor Tait, in a still\nmore penurious spirit, cut that hundred down to ten.\" If a period of\nanything like ten million years, even, has been requisite to cool the\nearth's surface only fifty degrees in temperature, what time must have\nelapsed since the terrestrial globe had a temperature high enough to\neffect the difficult chemical combinations of many of the elements\nwhich compose its structure? And even this must have been far less\nthan the vast cycles of time during which original consolidation was\neffected. Through all these ages the sun must have been pouring out\nhis radiant energy at at least his present rate. Radiation of heat\nfrom the earth may have been relatively less rapid from a denser\ncarbon-laden atmosphere in times past than at present, but it never\ncould have been more so. The whole address cited is, indeed, strongly\ncorroborative of the facts upon which the present work is based.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nTHE CONSTITUTION AND PHENOMENA OF THE SUN.\n\n\nThe various theories thus reviewed, while not sufficient in themselves\nto account for the facts of our own solar system, are fatally defective\nin another respect. While they aim to account for the sun's light\nand heat, they all fail to consider the active medium of the solar\nlight and heat in the sun itself. It is not simply a highly-heated\ncentral mass glowing in space. It is a vast orb surrounded by\ndifferent envelopes of incandescent vapors or gases, and by far\nthe most vast in volume, as well as in light and heat-radiating\npower, are the photosphere and its superincumbent chromosphere,\ncomposed almost entirely of free hydrogen gas in a state of intense\nincandescence. Whence comes this enormous mass of hydrogen? And\nhow explain the entire absence of free hydrogen gas from our own\natmosphere and its replacement by oxygen? There is a recent theory\npropounded by Mr. A. Mott, which is set forth in detail in Professor\nBall's \"In the High Heavens,\" and which endeavors to account for the\nremarkable absence of free hydrogen gas from the earth's atmosphere,\nfor, as the author states, \"It is a singular fact that hydrogen in\nthe free state is absent from our atmosphere.\" The theory, in brief,\nis that the molecules of hydrogen gas have an average speed of about a\nmile a second,--which, however, is only one-seventh that required to\nshoot them off into space,--but that these molecules are continually\nchanging their velocity, and may sometimes attain a speed of seven\nmiles a second; the result is that \"every now and then a molecule\nof hydrogen succeeds in bolting away from the earth altogether\nand escaping into open space.\" During past ages the molecules of\nhydrogen would thus have gradually wiggled up through the air, and\nfinally disappeared into outer darkness for good and all; and thus\n\"the fact that there is at present no free hydrogen in the air over\nour heads may be accounted for.\" Since the molecules of oxygen have\nonly a velocity of a quarter mile a second, that unfortunate gas\nremains behind and is consumed.\n\nThe first difficulty with this theory is to explain how, if the\nhydrogen wiggled off in this unceremonious manner, it ever wiggled\non. There is no objection to a gait of this rapidity, however; it\nis highly creditable, in fact; but we have a right to expect some\ndegree of consistency in even so light-headed a body as hydrogen\ngas. The article quoted thus continues: \"If the mass of the earth\nwere very much larger than it is, then the velocities with which\nthe molecules of hydrogen wend their way would never be sufficiently\nhigh to enable them to quit the earth altogether, and consequently we\nmight in such a case expect to find our atmosphere largely charged with\nhydrogen.\" It will be seen that, according to this theory, hydrogen is\nable to achieve a speed of seven miles per second under exceptional\nexcitement, and that this molecular velocity is just enough, and no\nmore than enough, to give it egress. We know that Jupiter's mass is\nthree hundred times as great as that of the earth, and the attraction\nof gravity is so powerful on the surface of that planet that, as the\nwriter just quoted says, \"Walking, or even standing, would involve the\nmost fearful exertion, while rising from bed in the morning would be a\ndifficult, indeed, probably, an impossible, process.\" We also know that\nthe atmosphere of this planet is laden with enormous clouds floating\nat various altitudes and with incessant movements. We are told that\n\"the molecular speed of aqueous vapor averages only one-third of that\nattained by the molecules of hydrogen.\" Of course, on the planet\nJupiter, hydrogen would have no chance of escape at all: it would\njust have to stay and take it, like the rest of us. Jupiter must thus\nhave an atmosphere like our own, except that it is \"largely charged\nwith hydrogen.\" Of the clouds upon this planet, Professor Ball says,\n\"In fact, the longer we look at Jupiter the more we become convinced\nthat the surface of the planet is swathed with a mighty volume of\nclouds so dense and so impenetrable that our most powerful telescopes\nhave never yet been able to pierce through them down to the solid\nsurface of the planet.\" With the densities, molecular velocities,\nand specific gravity of the oxygen, nitrogen, and the hydrogen, with\nwhich latter the atmosphere of Jupiter must be \"largely charged,\" as\nit is said, it is difficult to understand how such enormous clouds\nof aqueous vapors, themselves composed of oxygen, which is a very\nslow-footed gas, and hydrogen, could travel about with such facility;\nwe ought to find them packed down like London fog, to say the least,\nupon the surface of that planet, with the supernatant gases all\nadrift overhead. Jupiter is a hot body; it has not yet cooled down;\nand if it is provided with volcanoes, such as its great red spot and\nthe analogies of the earth and moon would suggest, we can tell pretty\nnearly what would have happened long ago with a Jovian atmosphere like\nours; but \"largely charged with hydrogen,\" if we compare it with,\nsay, an equal mass of dynamite touched off by a volcanic explosion;\nthere would not have been enough of old Jupiter left to swear by, and\nwhat was left would not have had any atmosphere at all. On Mars, the\nsame writer thinks the oxygen would still cling, like the fragrance of\nthe rose, but that all the molecules of the fleet-footed and excitable\nhydrogen would long since have taken French leave, as it did from the\nearth; but at the moon, on account of its small size and mass, both\ngases would have gone off incontinently together. \"It is now easy,\"\nthe author says, \"to account for the absence of atmosphere from the\nmoon.... Neither of the gases, oxygen or nitrogen, to say nothing of\nhydrogen, could possibly exist in the free state on a globe of the\nmass and dimensions of our satellite.... Indeed, the weight of every\nobject on the moon would be reduced to the sixth part of that which\nthe same object has on earth.\" Nevertheless, it may be said that\nthe moon has considerable weight, as weights go, but with a comet\nit is quite a different matter. \"These bodies,\" the author says,\n\"demonstrate conclusively that the quantity of matter even in a\ncomet is extremely small when compared with its bulk. The conclusion\nthus arrived at is confirmed by the fact that our efforts to obtain\nthe weight of a comet have hitherto proved unsuccessful.... It has\nthus been demonstrated that, notwithstanding the stupendous bulk of\na great comet, its mass must have been so inconsiderable as to have\nbeen insufficient to disturb even such unimportant members of the\nsolar system as the satellites of Jupiter.\" Now, here is a state of\nthings; for the spectroscope shows that comets are fully provided with\na large supply of hydrogen, enough and to spare for ornament, even,\nand of nitrogen also, while it is the abnormally fugacious oxygen\nwhich has, apparently, taken its departure. Of course, such facts\ndemonstrate the untenability of the theory, which is, besides, in\ndirect contradiction with the laws governing gaseous diffusion. Gases\npass into each other with the same velocity as into a vacuum, and\nit is not to be imagined that the molecules of hydrogen could thus\nmove individually off, unless forced upward by the pressure of some\nother gas, which the law of gaseous diffusion makes impossible. We\nshould as readily expect to see a tumbler full of iron balls, into\nthe interstices of which loose sand has been poured, manifest a\nsimilar phenomenon by the wiggling out of the less dense sand at the\ntop of the glass. One might also ask whence, if this theory had any\nsubstantial basis, could come the enormous volumes of hydrogen gas\nin the atmosphere of a new or temporary star, in a few hours, or the\nchanges manifested in the atmospheres of the variable stars. So, also,\nthe nebular or any other hypothesis of creation would be impossible\nunder this theory, as the heavier and less mobile gaseous elements\nwould remain behind, or be condensed nearest the center of gravity of\nthe aggregating nebula, while the more rapid gases would disappear\noutwardly, and in consequence the sun would be found to be composed\nof the heavier elements exclusively, and each of the planets, in\nturn, would consist of only one or two elements, in accordance with\nthe more and more mobile character of their molecular movements, and\nthe uniformity of chemical constitution between the sun and planets,\nas well as the fixed stars, would not be found to exist. The theory,\nin fact, is an example of the endeavor to explain an easily understood\ndifficulty by a less easily understood impossibility.\n\nNone of the different theories even attempt to account for the\nprodigious volumes of hydrogen in the solar atmosphere, and without its\npresence the sun, so far as we know, would be almost an inert mass,\nconsidered as a source of energy for the supply of our planetary\nsystem. We know, of course, that meteors contain sometimes as much\nas six volumes of gases, largely composed of hydrogen, at our own\natmospheric pressure. But the pressure at the sun's surface is more\nthan twenty-seven times that at the surface of the earth, and yet the\nvolume of hydrogen there existing visibly is vaster beyond computation\nthan any possible mass of meteoric material could supply. So, also,\nwhile it may be granted that condensation of volume must vastly raise\nthe solar temperature, how could it produce the enormous masses of\nhydrogen, the lightest of all the elements, unless they have been\ntemporarily occluded and finally thrown out from within, which is\nimpossible? These vast volumes of hydrogen are to be considered first\nof all in any attempt whatever to solve the problem of the source\nand mode of solar energy.\n\nConsidering the phenomena presented within the limits of our own solar\nsystem alone, we find that the earth is one of a single family of\nplanets, each of which very closely resembles it, and all of which\ncircle, in slightly elliptical orbits, at various distances around\nthe sun, their orbits occupying substantially the same plane,\nthus making our solar system a flat disk of space occupied by\nthe sun as a center, with the planets and their satellites moving\nharmoniously around it. The planets differ from each other in size,\nmass, and temperature, but each is surrounded by an envelope of\naqueous vapor, suspended in an atmosphere substantially like our\nown. Professor Proctor, in his \"Light Science for Leisure Hours,\"\nsays of the planet Jupiter, \"His real surface is always veiled by\nhis dense and vapor-laden atmosphere. Saturn, Venus, and Mercury\nare similarly circumstanced.\" Of Mars he says that it is \"distinctly\nmarked (in telescopes of sufficient power) with continents and oceans\nwhich are rarely concealed by vapors.\" Now, whence comes this aqueous\nvapor surrounding all the planets? Whether received originally from\nthe diffused nebular mass from which our solar system is supposed\nto have been condensed, or attracted by the force of gravity from\ninterplanetary space, like the meteors which fall upon the earth's\nsurface, it is evident that interplanetary space must once have been\npervaded with aqueous vapor, since the nebular mass from which our\nsolar system was constituted must have occupied at least the space\nembraced within its largest planetary orbit, and doubtless much more;\nand if so, such aqueous vapor, and other vapors also, must still\npersist in space, just as the meteoric particles which so constantly\nmanifest themselves in our atmosphere. If the planets had no common\norigin, the evidence is equally conclusive, since then this identical\nsubstance could only have been derived from a common source, which\ncan only be interplanetary space. This also is in accordance with\nthe laws of attraction, which would operate to gather and condense\nthe rarefied aqueous vapor of space around the planetary masses in\ndefinite proportions. In his \"Familiar Essays on Scientific Subjects,\"\nProfessor Proctor says, \"In fact, we do thus recognize in the spectra\nof Mars, Venus, and other planets the presence of aqueous vapor in\ntheir atmosphere;\" and in his \"Mysteries of Time and Space\" he says,\n\"We may admit the possibility that the aqueous vapor and carbon\ncompounds are present in stellar or interplanetary space.\" But\nin addition to this aqueous vapor which surrounds the planetary\nbodies, we find free oxygen in vast quantities, and, with this, free\nnitrogen in mechanical admixture, and these together constitute the\natmosphere we breathe, and which sustains organic life by a process\nof slow combustion. But we find no free hydrogen either in our own\natmosphere or in that of other planets. Turning now to the sun, we\nfind that it is surrounded by an atmosphere as well as the planets,\nbut that this atmosphere is composed not of free oxygen, but of free\nhydrogen. In his article, \"Oxygen in the Sun,\" Professor Proctor says,\n\"Fourteen only of the elements known to us, or less than a quarter\nof the total number, were thus found to be present in the sun's\nconstitution; and of these all were metals, if we regard hydrogen as\nmetallic.... But most remarkable of all, and most perplexing, was the\nabsence of all trace of oxygen and nitrogen, two gases which could\nnot be supposed wanting in the substance of the great ruling center\nof the planetary system.\" The researches of Dr. Draper indicated,\nhowever, that oxygen could be found in the sun; not in his external\natmosphere but far down within his surface. Professor Proctor says,\n\"Dr. Draper mentions that he has found no traces of oxygen above the\nphotosphere.\" Such free oxygen cannot be associated with the hydrogen,\nhowever, even if its presence be finally determined, but it may be\ndue to the deoxidation of solid compounds precipitated upon the sun\nfrom space, and held at a temperature above that of disassociation,\nas hydrogen is sometimes generated at the surface of the earth.\n\nThe vast mass of the solar atmosphere is composed of hydrogen gas, with\nwhich are found commingled vapors of the various elements which enter\ninto the sun's constitution, and this solar atmosphere corresponds\nin proportion, speaking generally, with our own atmosphere, except\nthat the volume of solar hydrogen is vastly greater than that of\nterrestrial oxygen, for the reason, as will be explained, that water\ncontains two volumes of the former to one of the latter.\n\nIn Appleton's Cyclop\u00e6dia the sun is thus described, (article by\nProfessors Langley and Proctor): \"To sum up briefly the received\nhypotheses of the physical constitution of the sun: of its internal\nstructure we know nothing, but we can infer, from the low density of\nthe solar globe as a whole, that no considerable portion is solid or\nliquid. The regions we examine appear to consist of cloud layers at\nseveral levels floating in a complex atmosphere, in which probably\nmost of the elements are known to us, and certainly many of them\nexist in the form of vapor. Outside this complex atmosphere extend\nenvelopes of simpler constitution, though into them occasionally\narise the vapors which ordinarily lie lower down. The sierra, for\ninstance, consists in the main of glowing hydrogen gas and that gas,\nwhatever it may be, which produces the line near the orange-yellow\nsodium lines. The prominence region may be regarded as simply the\nextension of the sierra.\" Of these prominences, Professor Ball says,\n\"The memorable discovery made by Janssen and Lockyer, independently, in\n1868, showed that the prominences could be observed without the help of\nan eclipse, by the happy employment of the peculiar refrangibility of\nthe rosy light which these prominences emit.... We can now obtain, not,\nas heretofore, merely isolated views of special prominences through\nthe widely opened slit of the spectroscope, but we are furnished,\nafter a couple of minutes' exposure, with a complete photograph of\nthe prominences surrounding the sun.... The incandescent region of\nthe chromosphere from which these prominences arise is also recorded\nwith accuracy.\" Resuming our quotation from Appleton's Cyclop\u00e6dia:\n\"The inner corona is still simpler than the sierra, so far as its\ngaseous constitution is concerned; but here meteoric and cometic matter\nappears, extending to the outer corona and to great distances beyond\neven the visible limits of the zodiacal. Returning to the photosphere,\nwe find it subject to continual fluctuations, both from local causes\nof agitation and from the subjacent vapor acting by its elasticity to\nburst through it; the facul\u00e6, which are found to be above the general\nlevel of the photosphere, are taken to be heapings up of the luminous\nmatter like the crested surges of the sea. All the strata are subject\nto great movements, which sometimes have the character of uniform\nprogression analogous to our trade-winds, and sometimes are violent,\nand resemble in their effects our tornadoes and whirlwinds. Eruptive\naction appears to operate from time to time with exceeding violence,\nbut whether the enormous velocities of outrush are due to true\nexplosive action (which would compel us to believe that the sun is\nenclosed by a liquid shell, so as to resemble a gigantic bubble) or to\nthe uprising of lighter vapors from enormous depths, as heated currents\nrise in our own atmosphere, is not as yet certainly known.\" The\nsierra, or chromosphere, is thus described in the same article:\n\"The sierra presents four aspects: 1, smooth with defined outline;\n2, smooth but with no defined outline; 3, fringed with filaments;\nand, 4, irregularly fringed with small flames. The prominences may\nbe divided into three orders,--heaps, jets, and plumes. The heaped\nprominences need no special description. The jets ... originate\ngenerally in rectilinear jets either vertical or oblique, very bright\nand very well defined. They rise to a great height, often to a height\nof at least eighty thousand miles, and occasionally to more than twice\nthat; then bending back, fall again upon the sun like the jets of our\nfountains. Then they spread into figures resembling gigantic trees\nmore or less rich in branches. Their luminosity is intense, insomuch\nthat they can be seen through the light clouds into which the sierra\nbreaks up. Their spectrum indicates the presence of many elements\nbesides hydrogen. When they have reached a certain height they cease\nto grow, and become transformed into exceedingly bright masses, which\neventually separate into fleecy clouds. The jet prominences last but\na short time--rarely an hour, frequently but a few minutes,--and they\nare only to be seen in the neighborhood of the spots. Wherever there\nare jet prominences there also are facul\u00e6. The plume prominences are\ndistinguished from the jets in not being characterized by any signs of\nan eruptive origin. They often extend to an enormous height; they last\nlonger than the jets, though subject to rapid changes of figure; and,\nlastly, they are distributed indifferently over the sun's surface. It\nwould seem that in the jets a part of the photosphere is lifted up,\nwhereas in the case of plumes only the sierra is disturbed.\" Of these\neruptions Professor Ball says, \"Vast masses of vapors are frequently\nexpelled from the interior of the sun by convulsive throes with a\nspeed of three hundred, four hundred, and sometimes nearly a thousand\nmiles a second.... The spectroscope enables the observer actually to\nwitness the ascent of these solar prominences.\"\n\nThe corona, which extends beyond the chromosphere, has been determined\nby its continuous spectrum to be a vast envelope extending at\nleast a million miles from the sun's surface. \"It cannot be a solar\natmosphere,\" Professor Proctor observes in his article on this subject,\nin his \"Mysteries of Time and Space.\"... \"It will be seen, then,\nhow inconceivably great the pressure exerted by a solar atmosphere\nsome eight thousand times as deep as ours would necessarily be,\nlet the nature of the gases composing it be what it may.\"... \"If a\nman could be placed on the solar surface, his own weight would crush\nhim as effectually as though while on earth a weight of a couple of\ntons were heaped upon him.... Now, it happens that we know quite well\nthat the pressure exerted by the real solar atmosphere, even close\nby the bright surface which forms the visible globe of the sun, is\nnothing like so great as it would be if the corona formed part of\nthat atmosphere.\" In the article \"Sun,\" in Appleton's Cyclop\u00e6dia,\nit is stated that \"Mr. Arthur W. Wright, of Yale College, has\nsucceeded in showing that this light (the zodiacal) is not emitted\nfrom incandescent gas, but reflected from particles or small bodies,\nand hence derived from the sun.\"... \"There is reason to believe that\nthe true solar corona extends much farther (than a million miles),\nand that, in reality, the zodiacal light forms the outer part of the\nsolar corona.\" Proctor, again, in his article on the corona, says,\n\"It would seem to follow that the corona is due to bodies of some sort\ntravelling around the sun, and by their motion preserved either from\nfalling towards him (in which case the corona would quickly disappear)\nor from producing any pressure upon his surface, as an atmosphere\nwould.\" In his article on \"The Sun as a Perpetual Machine,\" he says,\n\"There is every reason for regarding the zodiacal as consisting in\nthe main of meteorolithic masses, a sort of cosmical dust, rushing\nthrough interplanetary space with planetary velocities. To such\nmatter, assuming, as we well may, that space really is occupied\nby attenuated vapors, ... the luminosity of the zodiacal would be\nattributable to particles of dust emitting light reflected by the sun\nor by phosphorescence (this last may be seriously questioned). But\nthere is another cause for luminosity of these particles which may\ndeserve a passing consideration. Each particle would be electrified\nby gaseous friction in its acceleration, and its electric tension\nwould be vastly increased in its forcible removal, in the same way\nas the fine dust of the desert has been observed by Werner Siemens\nto be in a state of high electrification on the apex of the Cheops\nPyramid. Would not the zodiacal light also find explanation by slow\nelectric discharges backward from the dust towards the sun?\" It may be\nobserved in passing that such electrical glow is much more prominently,\nand more likely to be, the result of induction than of friction. In\nthe article \"Sun,\" previously quoted, Professor Young says, \"There is\nsurrounding the sun, beyond any further reasonable doubt, a mass of\nself-luminous gaseous matter, whose spectrum is characterized by the\ngreen line 1474 Kirchhoff. The precise extent of this it is hardly\npossible to consider as determined, but it must be many times the\nthickness of the red hydrogen portion of the sierra, perhaps, on an\naverage, 8' or 10', with occasional horns of twice that height. It\nis not at all unlikely that it may even turn out to have no upper\nlimit, but to extend from the sun indefinitely into space.\" In the\nsame article the sun's apparent diameter is placed at about 32',\nso that the thickness of the above gaseous envelope would be not\nless than one-fourth the sun's diameter, or more than two hundred\nthousand miles. This coronal envelope, extending out from the solar\nbody until gradually merged into the attenuated matter of space, has\na light so feeble that it can only be clearly observed during total\neclipse. Professor Ball (\"In the High Heavens\") says, \"The sunlight\nis so intense that if it be reduced sufficiently by any artifice,\nthe coronal light also suffers so much abatement that, owing to its\ninitial feebleness, it ceases altogether to be visible.\" During the\ngreat eclipse of 1893 it was photographed, and of these photographs\nthe same author says, \"One of the most remarkable features in the\nstructure of the corona is the presence of streamers or luminous\nrays extending from the north and south poles of the sun. These\nrays are generally more or less curved, and it is doubtful whether\nthe phenomena they exhibit are not in some way a consequence of the\nrotation of the sun. This consideration is connected with the question\nas to how far the corona itself shares in that rotation of the sun\nwith which astronomers are familiar. I should perhaps rather have\nsaid that rotation of the sun's photosphere which, as the sun-spots\nprove, is accomplished once every twenty-five days. Even this shell\nof luminous matter does not revolve as a rigid mass would do. By some\nmysterious law the equatorial portions accomplish their revolution in\na shorter period than is required by those zones of the photosphere\nwhich lie nearer the north and south poles of the luminary. As to how\nthe parts of the sun which are interior to the photosphere may revolve,\nwe are quite ignorant.... We have no means of knowing to what extent\nthe corona shares in the rotation. It would seem certain that the\nlower parts which lie comparatively near the surface must be affected\nby the rapid rotation of the photosphere; but it is very far from\ncertain that this rotation can be shared to any great extent by those\nparts of the corona which lie at a distance from the sun's surface\nas great as the solar radius or diameter.... The corona presents a\ncurious green line that seems to denote some invariable constituent\nof the sun's outer atmosphere, but the element to which this green\nline owes its origin is wholly unknown.\" The same author quotes from\nDr. Huggins as follows: \"It is interesting to read what Dr. Huggins\nhas to tell us about the solar corona. The nature of this marvellous\nappendage to the sun is still a matter of uncertainty. There can,\nhowever, be no doubt that the corona consists of highly-attenuated\nmatter driven outward from the sun by some repulsive force, and it is\nalso clear that if this force be not electric, it must at least be\nsomething of a very kindred character.... So far as the spectrum of\nthe corona is concerned, we may summarize what is known in the words\nof Dr. Huggins: 'The green coronal line has no known representative\nin terrestrial substances, nor has Schuster been able to recognize any\nof our elements in the other lines of the corona.'\" The account given\nby General Myer--quoted in Professor Proctor's article, \"The Sun's\nCorona\"--of the great eclipse of 1869, as viewed from an altitude\nof five thousand five hundred feet above sea-level, is as follows:\n\"As a centre stood the full and intensely black disk of the moon,\nsurrounded by an aureola of soft bright light, through which shot out,\nas if from the circumference of the moon, straight, massive silvery\nrays, seeming distinct and separate from each other, to a distance\nof two or three diameters of the lunar disk; the whole spectacle\nshowing as upon a background of diffused rose-colored light. The\nsilvery rays were longest and most prominent at four points of the\ncircumference, ... apparently equidistant from each other. There was\nno motion of the rays: they seemed concentric.\" Three diameters would\nmake these rays extend two and a half million miles at least from the\nsun's photosphere, or even its chromosphere. The coincidence between\nthese rays and those observed (see above) in the eclipse of 1893 must\nbe noted, since these latter were conceived at one time to be meteor\nstreams. As those seen in 1893 radiated from the poles, and were curved\nin form, while those last noted radiated at four equidistant points,\nnone polar, and were straight, it will be seen that, if both phenomena\nwere of the same class, they could not have been due to meteor streams.\n\nThe sun's spots, which we will next refer to, are deep,\nrelatively dark, but in fact extremely bright depressions in the\nphotosphere. \"Many spots are of enormous size\" (see article, \"Sun\");\n\"one had a diameter exceeding fifty thousand miles, and many far larger\nthan this have been seen. The spots are not scattered over the whole\nsurface of the sun, but are for the most part confined to two belts\nbetween latitude five degrees and thirty degrees, on either side of the\nsolar equator. An equatorial zone six degrees wide is almost entirely\nfree from spots.... The inclination of the solar equator is about\nseven degrees.... The spots on the sun usually have a dark central\nregion called the umbra, within which is a still darker part called\nthe nucleus, while around this there is a fringe of fainter shade than\nthe umbra, called the penumbra. Although the umbra and nucleus appear\ndark, however, it is not to be supposed that they are really dark;\n... though the nucleus looks perfectly black by contrast with the\ngeneral surface, it shines in reality with a light unbearably brilliant\nwhen viewed alone, while his thermal measurements show that the heat\nfrom the nucleus is even greater proportionately than the light, and\nnot very greatly below the heat of the surrounding surface.... The\nrecognition of a nucleus within the umbra would seem to indicate that\na third cloud layer (besides the outer or photosphere and a darker\ncloud layer beneath) exists within the second or internal layer of\nHerschel's theory. But the observations of Professor Langley show that\nmost probably all the features of the solar photosphere yet observed\nare phenomena of cloud envelopes, since he has been able to recognize\ncloud forms at one level floating over cloud forms at a lower level,\nwhile even in the (relatively) darkest depths of the nucleus clouds\nare still to be perceived, though so deep down that their outlines\ncan be barely discerned.\" Professor Ball says of the heat-wave of\n1892, \"As to the activity of the sun during the past summer, a very\nstriking communication has recently been made by one of the most\nrising American astronomers, Mr. George E. Hale, of Chicago. He has\ninvented an ingenious apparatus for photographing on the same plate\nat one exposure both the bright spots and the protuberances of the\nsun.... On the 15th of July a photograph of the sun showed a large\nspot. Another photograph taken in a few minutes exhibited a bright\nband; twenty-seven minutes later a further exposure displayed an\noutburst of brilliant facul\u00e6 all over the spot. At the end of an\nhour the facul\u00e6 had all vanished and the spot was restored to its\noriginal condition. It was not a mere coincidence that our magnetic\nobservatories exhibited considerable disturbances the next day, and\nthat brilliant auroras were noted.\" Carrington's observations have\nshown that spots in different solar latitudes travel at different\nrates. \"Taking two parts of the visible solar surface in the same\nlongitude, but one in latitude forty-five degrees (say), the other on\nthe equator, the latter will advance farther and farther in longitude\nfrom the former, gaining daily about two degrees, so that in the\ncourse of about one hundred and eighty days it will have gained a\ncomplete revolution. That is to say, the sun's equator makes about two\nrevolutions more per annum than regions in forty-five degrees north\nand south solar latitude.\" The sun is about 850,000 miles in diameter;\nits density is one-fourth that of the earth; its mass is 316,000 times\ngreater, and its volume 1,253,000. Gravity at its surface is 27.1 times\nthat of the earth; its distance is approximately 92,000,000 miles;\nit rotates upon its axis, which is inclined to the planetary plane at\nan angle of seven degrees, once in twenty-five and one-third days,\napparently increased to thirty days by the earth's orbital advance\nin the same direction around the sun; and it has a motion around its\ncenter,--a true orbital motion,--due to displacement by gravity of\nthe planetary masses, which, however, is always within its own mass.\n\nThe above, in brief, is, so far as we know, the constitution of\nthe sun and its appendages. Its internal globe is surrounded by\na glowing gaseous envelope, the photosphere, which is the visible\norb, composed of cloud masses of glowing hydrogen gas intermingled\nwith vapors of many of our terrestrial elements, all in a state\nof apparent disassociation. Of the constitution of the sun's mass,\nProfessor Ball says, \"Professor Rowland has shown that thirty-six\nterrestrial elements are certainly indicated in the solar spectrum,\nwhile eight others are doubtful. Fifteen elements have not been\nfound, though sought for, and ten elements have not yet been compared\nwith the sun's spectrum. Reasons are also given for showing that,\nthough fifteen elements had no lines corresponding to those shown in\nthe solar spectrum, yet there is but little evidence to show that\nthey are really absent from the sun. Dr. Huggins epitomizes these\nvery interesting results in the striking remark, 'It follows that\nif the whole earth were heated to the temperature of the sun, its\nspectrum would resemble very closely the solar spectrum.'\" Outside\nthe photosphere is the simpler chromosphere, composed largely of\nhydrogen, and merging into the corona at a distance of hundreds of\nthousands of miles from the sun's apparent surface, and this corona\nextends outward to a vast distance, and is itself largely composed\nof self-luminous matter, the action of gravity being counterbalanced\nby the centrifugal force of orbital rotation, or more probably by\nelectrical repulsion. The metallic vapors in the sun's photosphere\nare suspended in glowing hydrogen, which vastly preponderates over\nall the others in mass and volume, the incandescence of which is\nthe principal source of solar light and heat. The planets revolve\nin elliptical orbits around this central sun, and crossing these\norbits at various angles rush streams of cometic matter and comets\nand meteoric bodies, in streams and clouds, which, swiftly sweeping\naround at various distances, are again thrown off into space. Meteors\nconstantly fall into the sun's mass, as they do upon the earth; but the\ngrand key-note of all his life and energy, so far as we can perceive,\nis the vast envelope of glowing hydrogen gas.\n\nConversely, the planetary envelopes are of relatively cool oxygen\nmixed with nitrogen gas, which hold in suspension diffused aqueous\nvapors. If our own aqueous vapors are derived by the attraction of\ngravity from the interplanetary space, as they must have been, we can\nbe sure that, were the sun at a sufficiently low temperature, he, too,\nwould gather to himself a surrounding envelope of aqueous vapor, larger\nthan our own in proportion to his mass, and larger than that of all\nthe planets together, the combined mass of which he exceeds by seven\nhundred and fifty times. We should also expect similar aggregations\nof aqueous vapors to surround all the fixed stars in proportion to\ntheir various masses, yet we do not find aqueous vapor there, but\nhydrogen instead. And in the distant telescopic nebul\u00e6 we still find\nhydrogen and nitrogen; even in the comets we find free hydrogen in\nvast predominance, but not free oxygen; so that we may roughly divide\nthe bodies of stellar space into two grand categories,--those with\natmospheres of hydrogen and those with atmospheres of oxygen. It is\ntrue that the latter are limited to the planets of our own system, so\nfar as direct observation goes, for we cannot see such dark planets\nas exist beyond our own solar system; but if such planets exist,\nas they must, for reasons stated later on, and revolve around their\nown central suns, we may infer, with the strength of demonstration\nalmost, that if their suns correspond to our sun in this respect, their\nplanets will correspond to our planets in a similar respect. But the\nbodies with atmospheres of oxygen are those which rotate around the\nsun substantially as a center, while with reference to themselves the\nsun is more or less a fixed body in space. It is true that our whole\nsystem is drifting through space, at present in the direction of the\nconstellation Lyra, and directly away from that portion of space\noccupied by Sirius and Canopus, with an annual motion of probably\nhundreds of millions of miles. Professor Ball (\"In the High Heavens\")\nsays, \"In conclusion, it would seem that the sun and the whole solar\nsystem are bound on a voyage to that part of the sky which is marked\nby the star Delta Lyr\u00e6. It also appears that the speed with which\nthis motion is urged is such as to bring us every day about 700,000\nmiles nearer to this part of the sky. In one year the solar system\naccomplishes a journey of no less than 250,000,000 miles.\" A speed of\neight miles per second gives an annual rate of 252,288,000 miles. This\nspeed, however, is greatly exceeded by many stars (as determined\nby displacement of the lines of the spectrum); the star No. 1830,\nof Groombridge's catalogue (see \"In the High Heavens\"), has a rate\nof two hundred miles per second. The author says, \"Indeed, in some\ncases stellar velocities are attained which appear to be even greater\nthan that just mentioned. We do not, therefore, make any extravagant\nsupposition in adopting a speed of twenty miles per second,\" which\nhe takes as the average. \"I have adopted this particular velocity as\nfairly typical of sidereal motions generally. It is rather larger than\nthe speed with which the earth moves in its orbit.\" The distances,\nof course, are equally enormous. This author says, \"The nearest star,\nas far as we yet know, in the northern hemisphere is 61 Cygni.... I\nthink we cannot be far wrong in adopting a value of fifty millions\nof millions of miles.... In the course of a million years a star with\nthe average speed of twenty miles a second would move over a distance\nwhich was about a dozen times as great as the distance between 61\nCygni and the solar system.\" This assuming that the solar system is\nat rest, which is not the case, as the author says, \"Unless binary,\nstars do not remain in proximity, so far as we know; the general rule\nappears to be that of universal movement through space.\" This drift\nthrough space, however, no more affects the terms of the problem than\nthe rotation of the earth upon its axis or its orbital motion affects\nthe operations of an electric machine as the handle may be rotated to\nor from the direction of these motions. Both machine and reservoir\nof energy occupying a fixed relation with reference to each other,\nthe positions of each are the same as though absolutely fixed. This\nis true of gravitation, likewise, as well as of all other natural\nand universal forces.\n\nThe fact established, then, that attenuated aqueous vapor is\ndiffused throughout the interplanetary space occupied by our own\nsolar system, and that it tends to surround our sun and planetary\nbodies with aqueous envelopes of increased density, proportionate to\nthe action of gravity, the question arises, Is there any known force\nwhich will act through such interplanetary space to decompose such\naqueous vapor into its constituent elements and deposit hydrogen gas\naround the sun and oxygen gas around the planets, and which, while\nmaintaining a planetary temperature such as we find on the planets,\nwill at the same time raise the hydrogen envelope of the sun to such a\ntemperature of incandescence that it will become a glowing sphere of\nheated hydrogen, in which other constituents of the sun's mass will\nbe raised to incandescence and partially volatilized in the intense\nheat of that incandescent gas; in which, in fact, the phenomena of\nthe sun will become manifest? If so, two vastly important corollaries\nare inevitable: first, that the fixed stars, which also shine with\nthe light of their own glowing hydrogen, are themselves surrounded by\na similar aqueous vapor, diffused through their own adjacent space,\nand that, in consequence, not only our own planetary distances, but all\ninterstellar space, as far as the utmost distance of the faintest fixed\nstars, is likewise pervaded by the same attenuated aqueous vapor, and\nthat this is the grand source from which is derived all solar energy,\nnot only of our own sun, but of all the other flaming orbs of space;\nand, second, which is still more important to us as citizens of the\nuniverse, that each flaming hydrogen sun must have surrounding it a\ncorrelative dark planetary system of its own, and that the complement\nof glowing hydrogen, as an incandescent envelope of the central\norb, necessitates the corresponding supplement of cool oxygen as\nan envelope for each of such planetary bodies; in other words, that\nwithout such planets as our system possesses, there can be no suns such\nas our own and the other suns we see. Vast orbs might be conceived\nof as rotating in eternal darkness without associated satellites,\nbut the incandescent atmosphere of hydrogen must have--not may have,\nbut must have--subordinate planets substantially similar to ours,\nsurrounded by atmospheres substantially similar to our own (for we\nfind free nitrogen in comets, in meteorites, and in the faintest\nnebul\u00e6), and these planets are thus fitted, so far as we can know,\nfor the support of organic life and for the same orderly courses\nof nature as we see manifest around us. They must be cool, for at\nthe planetary poles there must be a moderate temperature in contrast\nwith the solar pole, which becomes, of necessity, highly heated; they\nmust have an atmosphere of oxygen in order that the solar center may\nhave an atmosphere of hydrogen; these planetary atmospheres must be\nsupplied with nitrogen, because nitrogen is universally available,\nand similar causes operating under similar circumstances will produce\nlike effects; these atmospheres must be charged with condensed aqueous\nvapors, and, if cool enough, must have deposited water in liquid form,\nfor aqueous vapors when condensed by gravity are the correlated sources\nof supply of their respective gaseous components at both solar and\nplanetary poles; and these planets must rotate in orderly periods\naround their central suns, or the aqueous vapors cannot be regularly\nand continuously disassociated into their elemental gases. These\nplanets may be few or many--perhaps even a single one sometimes--for\neach sun, but they must be large enough or numerous enough to operate\nby their aggregate mass, so as to disassociate around the planets\nas much oxygen as their central sun disassociates of hydrogen in\ntheir combining proportions,--that is, two volumes of hydrogen for\neach one of oxygen. We will therefore find in such planets all the\npotentialities of life--we can see and study these planets, though\nphysically invisible, as easily and as thoroughly as we do our own,\nfor having the relationship of constitution between our own planets\nand our sun, we may thereby learn the essential relationship between\nany fixed star and its planets by directly studying the constitution\nof such star alone. Among the planets of our own system Neptune and\nMercury, and those which exist adjacent to their boundaries, can be\nstudied with difficulty and uncertainty; but what astronomer doubts\nthat they are constituted much like the other planets, and have passed,\nor will pass, through such stages of progress as we find apparent among\nthose more directly under our observation? While we shall thus find\nuniversality and harmony among all the starry systems, we shall not\nfind identity; but with the guiding light of demonstrated scientific\nprinciples, we may apply our knowledge as a key to unlock the mysteries\nof the most distant stars. The Milky Way will gleam with new meaning,\nSirius, Aldebaran, the Pleiades, will send us messages of fellowship,\nand the established sphere of creative energy will have expanded,\nwith all its wondrous mechanism, to fill the universe. When we see\nat night a vast factory building with every window lighted, one\nwho understands the operation and mechanism essential to the work\nof a mill sees not alone the illuminated windows, but the looms\nin motion, the flying shuttles, the spindles humming, the wheels\nturning, and all the complicated machinery in active operation. And\nhe can even picture operatives at work in their various avocations,\nand the flashing windows, though themselves silent, are the visible\nindex of the light within which illuminates and makes possible the work\nthere performed. And so, when thus comprehended, the flaming stars,\nbut points of light in the archways of the sky, themselves will reveal\nto us the wondrous workings within the realm which they illuminate\nand warm and vivify. We may also reasonably infer, as will be more\nfully explained further on, that there can be no actual basis for the\nopinion sometimes expressed, that great, dark, solid orbs--independent\nworlds, in fact--are drifting about through space at random, as it\nwere, like homeless vagabonds. In these sparsely-occupied domains\nthe head of each household, as in every well-regulated family, has\nall its different members gathered around in strict subordination,\nto aid in the support of the establishment. No sun no planets; no\nplanets no sun, is the general statement of the sidereal formula. Like\na sexual duality, the mutually correlated parts constitute a single,\ncomposite, and interdependent whole: one generates, concentrates,\nand transmits; the other receives, transforms, and delivers.\n\n\n    Note.--Regarding the absence of oxygen from the sun's atmosphere\n    we quote the following from Lord Salisbury's very recent address\n    (see note at end of Chapter I.): \"It is a great aggravation of\n    the mystery which surrounds the question of the elements, that,\n    among the lines which are absent from the spectrum of the sun,\n    those of nitrogen and oxygen stand first. Oxygen constitutes the\n    largest portion of the solid and liquid substances of our planet,\n    so far as we know it; and nitrogen is very far the predominant\n    constituent of our atmosphere. If the earth is a detached bit\n    whirled off the mass of the sun, as cosmogonists love to tell\n    us, how comes it that in leaving the sun we cleaned him out so\n    completely of his nitrogen and oxygen that not a trace of these\n    gases remains behind to be discovered even by the sensitive\n    vision of the spectroscope?\" We shall find that the absence of\n    oxygen in the solar envelope is a necessary corollary of its\n    presence in those of the planets. The same is true, possibly, of\n    nitrogen. Ammoniacal vapors are decomposable into hydrogen and\n    nitrogen, and hydrocarbon gases into hydrogen and carbon, just\n    as aqueous vapors are resolvable into hydrogen and oxygen. In the\n    earlier stages of the earth's development we have abundant evidence\n    of an atmosphere heavily laden with carbonic vapors, which have\n    disappeared, to remain stored as fixed carbon, and the oxygen\n    has also largely disappeared, to constitute the enormous mass of\n    oxides in the earth's mass, while the nitrogen remains to dilute\n    the remaining oxygen and constitute the air we breathe. Their\n    common correlative, hydrogen, intermingled with metallic vapors,\n    composes the vast atmosphere of the sun.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nTHE MODE OF SOLAR ENERGY.\n\n\nBut is there such an available force? There is one, and only\none,--electricity, when properly generated and suitably applied. It\nis an axiom of electrical science that any fluid which will at all\nconduct a current of electricity can be decomposed by a current of\nelectricity. (See Urbanitsky's work, \"Electricity in the Service of\nMan,\" Cassell's edition, page 154.) It is there stated (page 152),\n\"We have frequently had occasion to mention certain chemical effects\nof electricity,--namely, the decomposition of gaseous compounds\ninto simple gases.\" Page 157, \"Whatever the substances we expose\nto the action of the galvanic current, decomposition takes place\nproportional to the strength of the current.\" Page 152, \"Hydrogen is\nalways evolved at the negative pole of the battery and oxygen at the\npositive pole. The gases can then be collected in different tubes,\nthe hydrogen tube receiving twice as much gas as the oxygen tube;\nsince water consists of two volumes of hydrogen and one volume\nof oxygen, it follows that the galvanic current decomposes water\ninto its constituents. As chemically pure water has so great a\nresistance as almost to force us to consider it a non-conductor,\nit is generally acidulated with sulphuric acid. The smallest amount\nof acid diminishes the resistance considerably. The silent discharge\nis far more effective in bringing about this transformation than the\nspark discharge.\" Page 37, \"Gases are bad conductors of electricity;\nif it had been otherwise, we should never have become acquainted with\nelectricity, as it would have been conducted away by the air as fast\nas it was generated. The vacuum also does not conduct electricity,\nbut moist air becomes a partial conductor. Moist air also will spoil\nthe insulation of non-conducting supports. All bodies are more or\nless hygroscopic, and the moisture condensed on their surfaces thus\nturns the best insulators into conductors. Change of temperature also\ninfluences conductivity.\" Page 63, \"When using induction machines, the\nmoisture of the air often causes experiments to fail, especially before\nlarge audiences. The atmosphere becomes saturated with moisture, and\nit is often impossible to get the machine in working order.\" Several\ndesiccating devices are mentioned by the authors of this work, as\nused with such machines, to prevent such dissipation or conduction\nof electricity from the machine into space by the aqueous vapor of\nthe atmosphere. In describing the aurora borealis (page 93), these\nauthors say, \"The rarefied air is nearer the earth at the poles than\nthe equator, in consequence of the earth's centrifugal motion, and,\nthe earth being negatively electrified, negative electricity will flow\nfrom this point, directed against the positively electrified upper\nlayers of rarefied air.\" Same work, pages 127, 128, \"The resistance\n(in liquids) diminishes as the temperature increases, a result which\nis exactly opposite to what occurs with metals. Conductivity for\ncarbon increases with the temperature, thus agreeing with the action\nof liquids.\" Page 133, \"To determine the resistance in liquids,\nthe above methods cannot be employed, liquids being decomposed by\nthe electrical current.\" Referring to the voltaic arc and the spark\nof the induction apparatus (page 200), it is said, \"Dry air under\ngreat pressure offers a high resistance, but a perfect vacuum is a\nperfect insulator, and between these extremes there are degrees of\nrarification which admit of a flow of electricity.\" In general, it\nis said that electrical decomposition requires that the electrolyte\nbe in liquid form, but this is not universally true, and throughout\ninterplanetary space may not be true at all. In Ferguson's work on\nElectricity, it is stated that, \"The passage of electricity through\ncompound gases in a state of great rarity, as in the so-called vacuum\ntubes, frequently separates them up into their constituents.\" So, also,\nthe opinion that electricity cannot be readily conducted through\ndry gases is refuted by the play of the auroral streamers. The\ndistance from the surface of the earth of these electrical waves\nand the auroral arch is variously estimated at from seventy to two\nhundred and sixty-five miles, and in one instance \"at a height of\nfrom four thousand to six thousand miles;\" see article in Appleton's\nCyclop\u00e6dia. Certainly there could be no sensible moisture at the\ntemperatures there prevalent, and especially at night and during the\nfall and winter months when these displays are very frequent. Whether\nthe currents be due to induction, as between neighboring bodies one of\nwhich is electrified, or from direct emission, as in brush discharges,\nthere must obviously be some medium of contact and continuity for\nthe free transference of electrical energy through space. Regarding\nthe rationale of electrolysis (\"Electricity in the Service of\nMan\"), after discussing certain other theories, the authors say,\n\"Clausius, too, assumes an electrified condition of the molecules\nof each electrode, but he neither attributes to the galvanic current\nthe force of direction nor power of decomposing. He points out that\nboth the molecules of fluids and also their atoms are in continual\nmotion. The atoms in molecules of fluids are held together but by a\nmoderate force, and the molecules themselves constantly undergo changes\nboth of synthesis and analysis. The galvanic current merely effects a\nregulated motion of the atoms; the positive ions are attracted by the\nnegative electrode, and the negative ions by the positive electrode,\nand by this means are separated out from the liquid.\" Page 91, \"The\nupper layers of air are more or less electrified, so as to have a\npotential differing from that of the earth, but how their electrical\ncondition has been produced is not at present known. Condensation of\nwater-vapor is supposed to produce electricity. Close to the earth\nthe air has little or no electricity; the farther from the earth\nthe greater the amount of electricity in the air.\" Referring to the\nsparking discharge, it is said, page 75, \"The density of the air,\nhowever, has to be taken into account; the sparking distance is\nlessened in denser air, and becomes greater when the atmospheric\npressure is diminished. Not only the density, but also the chemical\ncomposition of the medium influences the sparking distance. Faraday\nfound the distances considerably less in chlorine gas, but twice\nas long in hydrogen gas as in air.\" Page 74, \"The sparking distance\nincreases at a somewhat greater rate than the difference of potential\nof the discharging bodies.... When the sparking distance becomes very\ngreat ... it is proportional to the difference of potential.\" Page 91,\n\"There is a difference of potential between the earth and points in the\nair above. In fine weather the potential is higher the higher we go,\nincreasing usually at the rate of twenty to forty volts for each foot.\"\n\nIt will be seen that, continued upward at this rate, the increased\nelectrical pressure for each mile of elevation would be between 100,000\nand 200,000 volts, or for each one hundred miles more than 10,000,000\nvolts; and at an altitude of one thousand miles, if carried so far,\nthe potential would be between one and two hundred million volts,\nan electrical pressure quite inconceivable to us. Such a potential\nin currents of enormous quantity continually flowing from the earth\nto the sun would certainly decompose any aqueous vapors condensed\naround these bodies. But the question at once arises, What reason\nis there to suppose that such currents could possibly flow between\nthe earth and the sun, across that vast intervening region of space,\na distance of more than 90,000,000 miles? And would not the resistance\nto such currents in transit be so enormous that the entire potential,\nhowever great, would have been practically lost long before reaching\nthe sun? To this there is a complete and irrefutable answer, not\nbased upon any abstract theory, but upon established fact. It is an\nabsolute certainty that electrical currents of enormous quantity and\nhigh potential are constantly passing between the earth and the sun,\nand that these currents have so free a passage--far more free than\nthrough any metallic circuits that we know of--that they pass over\nthis enormous distance absolutely without appreciable resistance. We\nmay note in this connection the well-known facts, now being largely\nutilized, though the art is still in its infancy, of telegraphing and\ntransmitting all sorts of electrical currents over large distances\nwithout wires or any conductors, except those furnished by nature.\n\nOf the currents between the earth and the sun, Professor Proctor,\nin his \"Light Science for Leisure Hours,\" says, \"Remembering the\ninfluence which the sun has been found to exercise upon the magnetic\nneedle, the question will naturally arise, Has the sun anything to do\nwith magnetic storms? We have clear evidence that he has. On the 1st of\nSeptember, 1859, Messrs. Carrington and Hodgson were observing the sun,\none at Oxford and the other in London. Their scrutiny was directed to\ncertain large spots which at that time marked the sun's face. Suddenly\na bright light was seen by each observer to break out on the sun's\nsurface and to travel, slowly in appearance, but in reality at the rate\nof about seven thousand miles in a minute, across a part of the solar\ndisk. Now, it was found afterwards that the self-registering magnetic\ninstruments at Kew had made at that very instant a strongly-marked\njerk. It was learned that at that moment a magnetic storm prevailed\nin the West Indies, in South America, and in Australia. The signal\nmen in the telegraph stations at Washington and Philadelphia received\nstrong electric shocks; the pen of Bain's telegraph was followed by\na flame of fire; and in Norway the telegraphic machinery was set on\nfire. At night great auroras were seen in both hemispheres. It is\nimpossible not to connect these startling magnetic indications with\nthe remarkable appearance observed upon the sun's disk. But there is\nother evidence. Magnetic storms prevail more commonly in some years\nthan in others. In those years in which they occur most frequently\nit is found that the ordinary oscillations of the magnetic needle\nare more extensive than usual. Now, when these peculiarities had been\nnoticed for many years, it was found that there was an alternate and\nsystematic increase and diminution in intensity of magnetic action,\nand that the period of the variation was about eleven years. But at\nthe same time a diligent observer had been recording the appearance\nof the sun's face from day to day and from year to year. He had\nfound that the solar spots are in some years more freely displayed\nthan in others, and he had determined the period in which the spots\nhad successively presented with maximum frequency to be about eleven\nyears. On a comparison of the two sets of observations it was found\n(and has now been placed beyond a doubt by many years of continual\nobservation) that magnetic perturbations are most energetic when the\nsun is most spotted, and vice versa. For so remarkable a phenomenon\nas this none but a cosmical cause can suffice. We can neither say\nthat the spots cause the magnetic storms nor that the magnetic storms\ncause the spots. We must seek for a cause producing at once both sets\nof phenomena.\" It will be observed that the phenomena seen in the sun\nwere marked at the same instant by violent electric perturbations on\nearth. Hence something must have passed with the velocity of light,\nwhich we know to be at the rate of 188,000 miles per second, or in\nabout eight minutes from the sun to the earth. But it is stated in\n\"Electricity in the Service of Man,\" page 82, that, \"According to the\ntheoretical calculations of Kirchhoff, as well as of Ayrton and Perry,\nthe velocity of electricity in a wire without resistance would be\nequal to the velocity of light.\" Hence we perceive that the apparent\ndifficulty has vanished in the light of observed fact, and that\ncurrents of electricity do pass and are constantly passing between\nthe earth and the sun without the slightest loss of speed,--that\nis to say, without resistance. We shall find in the sequel that the\nabove phenomena were caused most probably by a partial interruption\nof a constant direct current from the earth to the sun, instead of\nby an opposite return current from the sun to the earth. In further\nillustration of the above facts we quote the following, page 172,\n\"Electricity in the Service of Man:\" \"Many attempts have been made\nto find a connection between the spots and prominences in the sun and\nthe electrical phenomena on the earth. Professor Forster says that by\nnumerous magnetic observations of the last thirty or forty years it\nhas been proved that the formation of black spots on the surface of\nthe sun, and the generation of pillars and clouds of glowing gases\nin the immediate neighborhood of the sun, stand in close connection\nwith certain deviations in direction and intensity of the earth's\nmagnetic forces.\" Professor Proctor, in his \"Light Science for Leisure\nHours,\" says, \"From all this it appears, incontestably, that there\nis an intimate connection between the causes of auroras and those\nof terrestrial magnetism.... The magnetic needle not only swayed\nresponsively to auroras observable in the immediate neighborhood,\nbut to auroras in progress hundreds and thousands of miles away. Nay,\nas inquiry progressed, it was discovered that the needles in our\nnorthern observatories are swayed by influences associated even with\nthe occurrence of auroras around the southern polar regions.... Could\nwe only associate auroras with terrestrial magnetism, we should\nstill have done much to enhance the interest which the beautiful\nphenomenon is calculated to excite. But when once this association\nhas been established, others of even greater interest are brought\ninto recognition; for terrestrial magnetism has been clearly shown\nto be influenced directly by the action of the sun.... We already\nbegin to see, then, that auroras are associated in some mysterious\nway with the action of the solar rays. The phenomenon which had been\nlooked on for so many ages as a mere spectacle, caused perhaps by some\nprocess in the upper regions of the air of a simple local character,\nhas been brought into the range of planetary phenomena. As surely as\nthe brilliant planets which deck the nocturnal skies are illuminated\nby the same orb which gives us our days and seasons, so are they\nsubject to the same mysterious influence which causes the northern\nbanners to wave respondently over the starlit depths of heaven. Nay,\nit is even probable that every flicker and coruscation of our auroral\ndisplays correspond with similar manifestations upon every planet\nwhich travels round the sun.\" In Professor Ball's late work, \"In the\nHigh Heavens,\" the author says, \"Dr. Schuster suggests that there may\nbe an electric connection between the sun and the planets. In fact,\nwith some limitations, we might even assert that there must be such a\nconnection. It is well known that great outbreaks on the sun have been\nimmediately followed, I might almost say accompanied, by remarkable\nmagnetic disturbances on the earth. The instances that are recorded\nof this connection are altogether too remarkable to be set aside as\nmere coincidences. Dr. Huggins has not referred in this connection\nto Hertz's astonishing discoveries; but it seems quite possible that\nresearch along this line may throw light on the subject, at present so\nobscure, of the electric relation between the sun and the earth.\" Of\nthis common electrical relationship between our sun and the different\nplanets, and of these with each other, Professor Proctor says, in\nhis article, \"Terrestrial Magnetism,\" \"Interesting as are the bonds\nof union which Copernicus and Kepler and Newton have traced in the\nrelations of our system, it would seem as though we were approaching\nthe traces of a yet more wonderful law of association. We see the\nearth's magnetism responding to the solar influences, not merely\nin those rhythmic motions which belong to the periodic variations,\nbut in sudden thrills affecting the whole framework of our globe. The\nmagnetic storms which are called into action by such solar disturbances\nas the one of September, 1859, are, we may feel sure, not peculiar\nto our own earth. The other planets feel the same influence,--not,\nperhaps, in exactly the same way, but according to the constitution\nand physical habitudes which respectively belong to them. So that one\ncan scarce conceive a subject of study at once more promising and more\ninteresting.\" Of these prophetic shadows which science often seems to\ncast before, Professor Nichol, in his \"Architecture of the Heavens\"\n(referring to Sir William Herschel), says, \"Without difficulty or\npretence he there casts aside an idea which had not been questioned\nbefore, unless in a few of those obscure, indefinite speculations\nwhich, strangely enough, often prelude important discoveries.\" These\nfacts are thus incontestably established: that electric currents of\nenormous energy and vast quantity are constantly passing without\nappreciable resistance and with the speed of light between the\nearth and the sun; that such currents cannot be conducted through\nvacua, or through dry gases, or through a dense medium; and that,\nwhatever other matter may exist in the intervening space, such space\nis pervaded throughout by an attenuated vapor of such constitution\nand density that it will transmit such electrical currents with the\nhighest conceivable efficiency. We know that such passage of these\ncurrents cannot depend upon the ether of space which is acted upon by\nthe sun to produce the ethereal undulatory vibrations of light and\nheat, for, after we have produced the most perfect vacuum possible,\nwe find that the rays of light continue to pass through it as freely\nas they pass through space, while currents of electricity cannot be\nmade to pass at all. Hence we know to a certainty that the medium\nwhich transmits these enormous currents of electricity must be a vapor\ncapable of conducting electricity, that it must hence be decomposable\nby the electric current, and that when decomposed one of its elements\nmust consist of hydrogen gas and the other of oxygen; in other words,\nthat this conducting medium must consist of attenuated aqueous vapor,\ncommingled doubtless with other vapors which themselves, like the acid\nof the acidulated water used in electrolysis, aid in the conduction\nof these enormous currents. We also know that such vapors in space\nwill be necessarily attracted, by gravitation, around the solar and\nplanetary bodies immersed therein, and must form condensed vaporous\natmospheres or cloud masses, and if these are decomposed by the passage\nof such currents of electricity, that hydrogen gas will be liberated\nat the solar galvanic pole and oxygen at the terrestrial or other\nplanetary pole, precisely as we find to be the case in nature. Will\nsuch gaseous envelopes, then, have the same temperature for each\ngas when thus liberated, or will the hydrogen envelope of the sun be\nheated to incandescence, due to the passage of the electrical current?\n\nThe temperature of interplanetary space is probably very low. Of this\nProfessor Ball says, \"What this may be is a matter of some uncertainty,\nbut from all the evidence available it seems plain that we may put it\nat not less than three hundred degrees below zero;\" and the same author\nadds, \"The temperature is taken to be sixty-four degrees below zero,\nbeing presumably that at the confines of the atmosphere.\" Whatever\nthe temperature of space, or its variations, may be, the passage of\nthe planetary electricity through the condensed hydrogen envelope of\nthe sun will produce great changes in the heat of that body and of\nthe solar core within. While with a small electrolytic apparatus we\nfind no special differences of temperature in the gases, with large\nquantities of electricity, driven at a high potential, we find that\na new and startling result ensues. Something of this sort is seen\nin the operation of electric arc-light lamps, now in common use,\nin which two slightly separated carbon points are traversed by a\ncurrent of considerable potential. The current is driven across the\nintervening space between the points, carrying with it an atmosphere\nof disintegrated carbon, through which the electricity is carried\nat its highest speed, and a most brilliant light is produced. In\n\"Electricity in the Service of Man,\" page 151, it is said, \"We may\nconclude from this that the current does not cease when the arc\nof light is formed. The resistance of the arc seems to be only very\nslight; in fact, the current must be conducted by it.\" Of the structure\nand constitution of the luminous electrosphere, or arc, produced in\nthese lamps, \"Professor J. A. Fleming,\" says the Scientific American,\n\"has shown that the well-known color of the light of the electric\narc from carbon points is due to the incandescence of the carbon\nfilling the space between the positive and the negative rods. The true\narc is here, and exists in a space filled with the vapor of carbon,\nwhich has a brilliant violet color. Examined by the spectroscope, the\ncentral axis of the carbon arc gives a spectrum marked by two bright\nviolet bands. Outside this is an aureole of carbon vapor of yellow or\ngolden color. The electrical strain of the arc occurs chiefly at the\nsurface of the crater which forms at the end of the positive rod,\nwhere, in fact, the principal work of generating light is done;\nfor eighty per cent. of the total light of the arc comes from the\nincandescent carbon at this place. Thus, in a sense, the arc light is\nmainly an incandescent light, the effect being produced by the layer of\ncarbon which is being constantly evaporated at an extremely elevated\ntemperature. Hence the light of the carbon arc is not, and can never\nbe, white, as it is sometimes described as being, but must always be\ntinted violet by the carbon vapor normally present between the rods.\"\n\nThe significance of the above-quoted extract will be readily perceived\nwhen we come to consider the action of the direct planetary electrical\ncurrents upon the solar envelope, the effects in both cases being\nsubstantially identical. The quantity and intensity of the electric\ncurrent, as it passes through the incandescent arc to the negative\npole, and thence back to the dynamo, are diminished exactly in\nproportion to the energy expended in the generation of the light\nand heat of the arc. It is precisely the same as in the operation\nof a turbine water-wheel; if working at its highest efficiency, the\ndischarged water is almost deprived of force: its gravity has been\nconverted into work. In the electric light this conversion is only\npartial, owing to atmospheric and other conditions; but in the case\nof the solar envelope and its core, it is nearly, if not altogether,\nperfect, so that the currents of electricity are almost entirely\nconverted into light and heat, or expended in the electrolytic\ndecomposition of the surrounding aqueous vapors, and do not reappear\nas electricity, but as converted solar energy. Brilliant, however,\nas the light rays are in a powerful arc lamp,--perhaps the nearest\nto solar light we can produce,--the obscure heat rays are far more\nnumerous and powerful. On page 476 of the work just cited a table is\ngiven, showing the proportion of visible and invisible rays emitted\nby different illuminants, and with the electric lamp, even, ninety per\ncent. of all the rays emitted by the voltaic arc are heat rays, which\nare obscure and invisible. But the startling effects of electricity\nof large quantity and high potential, in the decomposition of water,\nare far more strikingly exhibited by an apparatus shown in 1893 at the\nChicago Exhibition by a firm from Brussels, and which is described\nin the Electrical Review as follows: \"An ordinary wooden pail is\nthree-quarters filled with water slightly acidulated; a lead plate\nabout nine inches broad by sixteen inches long dips to the bottom of\nthe pail and is connected to an incandescent dynamo machine capable of\ngiving over one hundred and fifty amp\u00e8res. The iron rod, or article to\nbe heated, is connected to the pole of the dynamo and simply dipped\ninto the water; it immediately becomes heated and rapidly rises to a\nmelting temperature; only that portion of the metal completely immersed\nbecomes heated, and the heating is so rapid that neither the water nor\nthat portion of the metal out of the water becomes very warm. Wrought\niron and steel actually melt if long enough held under water. A carbon\nrod subjected to this process becomes amorphous carbon, proving that\na temperature of at least four thousand degrees Centigrade has been\nreached, and it is stated that with two hundred and twenty volts'\npressure a temperature of eight thousand degrees Centigrade has been\nreached. There are various theories to account for this phenomenon,\nbut from close observation it appears to be a case of arc heating. The\nmoment the metal is plunged into the water it is enveloped in hydrogen\ngas decomposed from the water. This envelope of gas parts the water and\nmetal, forming an arc, which raises the surrounding gaseous envelope\nto an enormous temperature; the metal surrounded by this arc is almost\nimmediately raised to the same temperature. A flame of burning hydrogen\nappears around the metal on the surface of the water. The principle of\nthe method is the same as that on which the burning of an arc light\nbetween two carbon points under water depends. An arc lamp will burn\nquite steadily under water if the connections are made water-proof;\nthe arc itself requires no protection.\"\n\nIt will be seen that the process above described is precisely\nanalogous to that involved in the problem of the sun's energy. The\nplanets correspond with the leaden plates, upon which oxygen is\ndisengaged from the water, while at the same moment the liberated\nhydrogen necessarily appears at the opposite pole. The generation\nof hydrogen gas forms an envelope or atmosphere of hydrogen around\nthe sun which forces back the aqueous vapor. The current, in passing\nthrough this gaseous envelope to the metal core within, intensely\nheats the hydrogen, which rapidly communicates its rising heat to the\ncentral core. If this core is composed of metals, and the temperature\nbe raised sufficiently high, which only depends upon the quantity and\nworking pressure of the electricity employed, the metal core will be\nvolatilized in whole or in part, and, if of mixed metals, we will\nfind the presence of these elements revealed in the spectroscopic\nlines corresponding thereto, and the flames and flashes of hydrogen\nat the surfaces beyond the envelope, at the surface of contact with\nthe matter of space, will be also seen. In fact, such an experiment,\nproperly prepared, could be made to show roughly most of the phenomena\nof solar light and heat as they actually appear, such as sun-spots,\nprominences, jets, plumes, facul\u00e6, the photosphere, chromosphere,\nabsorption bands, vortical disturbances, metallic vapors, and the\ncomplete solar spectrum, with the different Fraunhofer lines. In\nthe case of the sun, these currents must be measured by millions of\namp\u00e8res, and possibly by hundreds of millions of volts, instead of by\nmere hundreds, while the hydrogen envelope extends outward from the\nsun's surface hundreds of thousands of miles until, perhaps, finally\nmerged into the corona. As the currents pass from the planets and\nplanetoids (for not only the larger planets, but all the planetary\nbodies of our system must contribute, if any of them contribute) to\nthe sun, or rather to the sphere of its electrical action, without\nresistance, so long as these planets generate constant currents of the\nsame, or nearly the same, potential, so long will the sun maintain\nhis constant light and heat; if these are increased or diminished,\nthe sun's light and heat will be temporarily, but only temporarily,\nincreased or diminished; and this process must continue, without\nfurther loss or change, indefinitely into the future. Whatever the\nsun may gain by increment of meteoric masses may pass for what it\nis worth, but the gradual contraction of his volume cannot proceed\nwhile his present temperature is maintained by the passage of such\ncurrents,--that is to say, his light and heat will remain constant,\nand also his mass and volume, so long as the electric currents which\npass from the planets to the sun and the constitution of space which\nsurrounds the sun and planets themselves remain constant.\n\nIt now remains to consider how such enormous currents of electricity\ncan be generated and maintained. We know, of course, that chemical\nchanges cannot operate to produce them. They must be derived from\nsomething contained in or diffused through interplanetary space,\nand the planets themselves must be the means by which such currents\nof electricity are brought into effective operation. On our own\nearth we have many kinds of mechanically-constructed electrical\napparatus which generate electricity, to use a popular expression,\nor which, more properly, separate the opposite potentials from\nan unstable electrical tension or equilibrium of the matter of\nspace. These machines practically take positive electricity from\nthe mutually-balanced electric potentials of which the earth and\nits surrounding gaseous envelope are the vast common storehouse,\nin such manner that the positive electricity thus drawn out from and\nagain passing into the common storehouse shall, during such transit,\nbe compelled to pass through channels which will cause it to do work,\nat the expense of its potential or pressure, during its passage,\nor in which electricity is raised in its electro-motive force from\na lower to a higher potential or pressure, just as the pressure of\nwater is increased when delivered from a greater or a still greater\nheight, or steam, when confined in space under higher and still higher\ntemperatures. But none of these machines actually generate electricity\nab initio; they merely put into effective operation the pre-existing\nforce. The mass of the earth is of irregularly negative polarity, the\nair above is positive, and as we ascend, the potential, or voltage,\nor pressure increases at a nearly uniform rate of from twenty to forty\nvolts for each foot. The earth is thus surrounded by an electrosphere\nas well as an atmosphere, and the two are not coincident, for while\nthe pressure of the atmosphere diminishes as we ascend, that of the\nelectrosphere increases. The moon, too, and each planet must have\nits electrosphere, and around the sun's core we can see the solar\nelectrosphere in its visible glory. Thus, all our planets rotate upon\ntheir axes and revolve around the sun, each surrounded by an enormous\nelectrosphere, just as an electrical induction machine is surrounded,\nwhen in operation, with an electrosphere of its own, and which,\nby breaking connection with the conductor which carries away its\ncurrent, becomes, when shown in a darkened room, clearly visible. In\n\"Electricity in the Service of Man\" it is said, page 63, \"The inductive\naction of the machine is quite as rapid and as powerful when both\ncollectors are removed and nothing is left but the two rotating\ndisks and their respective contact or neutralizing brushes. The whole\napparatus then bristles with electricity, and if viewed in the dark\npresents a most beautiful appearance, being literally bathed with\nluminous brush discharges.\" This is a true aurora.\n\nLet us now examine some of these more recent electric machines,--the\nlater induction, not the older frictional machines, for it is\nobvious that the rotation of the planets, if they operate as\nelectric generators, or separators, must act by induction and not by\nfriction. The frictional machines are of the old type and are well\nknown from the books; in these a glass disk or cylinder is rubbed\nupon in its rotation by an amalgamated (so called) friction pad fixed\nsecurely to the bed of the machine. But more recently these have\nbeen replaced by far more powerful and simple machines which operate\nentirely by induction, like approaching thunderclouds, for instance,\nand in which one or more glass disks are merely rotated rapidly and\nfreely in the air, these disks having a number of light metallic\nsectors, such as bits of tin-foil, pasted on their outer sides at\nequal radial intervals, and with metallic collecting brushes which,\nhowever, barely graze the surfaces of the rotating disk. There is\nno pressure and no friction, except that of the disks as they freely\nrevolve in the atmosphere.\n\nIn the above-quoted work, page 61, is a description of Wimshurst's\ninfluence machine, one of the most recent and most powerful, which we\ncondense as follows: This machine was produced about 1883. It consists\nof two circular disks of thin glass fourteen and one-half inches in\ndiameter in the sample described, attached at their centers to loose\nbosses, so as to be rotated by cords and pulleys operated by a handle,\nin opposite directions. The disks rotate parallel with each other and\nare not more than one-eighth of an inch apart, and have their surfaces\nwell varnished; and attached by cement to their outer surfaces are\ntwelve or more radial, sector-shaped plates of thin brass- or tin-foil,\ndisposed around the disks at equal distances apart. These sectors\ntake the place of the \"inductors\" of Holtz's instrument, and appear\nto act also as carriers, though the exact nature of their action is\nsomewhat mysterious. It appears, however, probable that those acting\nfor the time as carriers on the one disk act at the same time as\ninductors on the other. The two sectors on the same diameter of each\ndisk, at opposite sides of the center, are twice in each revolution\nmomentarily placed in metallic connection with one another by means of\na pair of fine wire brushes attached to the ends of a bent metal rod\nloosely pivoted at the center of each disk, the metal sectors just\ngrazing the tips of the wire brushes as they pass. There is one of\nthese bent rods on the outside of each disk, and their position as\npivoted on their center can be varied at will, both with reference\nto the one on the opposite side and to the position of the fixed\ncollecting combs. The efficiency of the machine varies with their\nposition, and the maximum appears to be generally when the brushes\ntouch the disks on diameters crossing the position of the collecting\ncombs at about forty-five degrees, and with the bent rods on opposite\nsides at right angles to each other. The collecting combs are simple\nforks with collecting points turned inward, which forks embrace the\nopposite sides of the disks outside, which freely rotate between them,\nand they are supported on insulated posts. These supports may be small\nLeyden jars or condensers, with discharging knobs, or may be connected\nwith similar condensers at a distance, or arranged in batteries or\notherwise. The presence of the collecting combs is not necessary to\nthe operation of the machine, their sole function being to carry away\nthe positive electricity as generated. The machine is self-exciting,\nand it is believed that the initial action must be due to friction in\nthe layer of air contained between the plates, which, as above stated,\nare only about one-eighth of an inch apart. It is nearly independent\nof atmospheric conditions, and not liable to reverse its polarity,\nas are the Voss machines. The Voss machine uses a larger glass disk\nwhich does not rotate, but is fixed, and which has a central opening\nthree inches wide, with a different arrangement of tin-foil disks or\nsectors, and a smaller glass disk rotates parallel with it. The Holtz\nmachine is somewhat similar, using a single rotating, well-varnished\nglass disk revolving opposite a well-varnished larger disk, the latter\nprovided with three sector-shaped openings or windows, with varnished\npaper inductors or flaps passing through these windows so as to touch\nthe revolving disk. There are also two series of fine metal points held\nby brass bars provided with insulated handles and discharging knobs.\n\nIt is only necessary to give a general idea of the construction and\noperation of such machines, as their specific construction can be\nreadily learned from the books. Of the mode of operation, however,\nit is said, \"What takes place when the machine is in action is of\na very complicated nature, and can hardly be said to be perfectly\nunderstood.\" With a Wimshurst machine having disks of a diameter\nof fourteen and one-half inches \"there is produced under ordinary\natmospheric conditions a powerful spark discharge between the knobs\nwhen they are separated by a distance of four and one-half inches,\na pint size Leyden jar being in connection with each knob (one on each\nopposite diameter of the two disks), and these four-and-one-half-inch\ndischarges take place in regular succession at every two and a half\nturns of the handle. It is usual to construct the machine with small\nLeyden jars or condensers attached to conductors, by which the spark\nis materially increased. A machine has been constructed with plates\nseven feet in diameter, which, it was believed, would give sparks\nthirty inches long; but no Leyden jars have been found to withstand\nits discharge, all being pierced by the enormous tension.\" Three\nof Toepler's induction machines (see page 59, \"Electricity in the\nService of Man\"), connected together, gave a current which maintained\na platinum wire one-fifth of a millimeter thick continually at a red\nheat, and was also capable of decomposing water.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nTHE SOURCE OF SOLAR ENERGY.\n\n\nThe remarkable resemblance between the mode of operation and effects of\nthese electrical induction machines and the vast rotating electrosphere\nof the earth must be at once apparent. The operation is precisely\nthe same, and the results must, pari passu, be substantially\nsimilar. We need not seek for precise parallelism of structure,\nbecause these machines themselves, it has been shown, widely differ\nin structure among themselves. But the almost infinitely more vast\nterrestrial electrosphere, which cannot be less than ten thousand\nmiles in diameter, and perhaps much more (if we may form an opinion\nfrom the relative magnitude of the field of action of the hydrogen\nenvelope which constitutes the solar electrosphere), rotating in the\nattenuated vapors of space, among which vapors that of water plays a\nmost important part, and which vapors constantly impinge with various\ndisturbances of contact against the more and more attenuated layers of\nthe terrestrial atmosphere, and which gradually, from within outward,\nless and less partakes of the earth's rotation until, finally, its\nrotatory movement is lost in the vast ocean of space, establishes\nthe certainty that enormous quantities of electricity must there be\ndisengaged, precisely as in the machines which we have described,\nand to learn the potential or active pressure of this electricity\nwe have only to consider the fact that we find a rise so rapid,\nas we ascend through our atmosphere, that the potential increases\nby from twenty to forty volts for each foot. That these currents\nare transmitted to the sun without appreciable resistance we already\nknow, and that they are there transformed into light and heat we can,\nfrom the previously cited experiments, see.\n\nBut it may be urged that the resistance of such attenuated vapors in\nspace, and the generation of electricity in such quantities, would\ninevitably retard and finally destroy planetary motion. The sufficient\nanswer to this is found in the consideration that the same facts must\nexist under any possible mode of organization of our solar system,\nand that such interference, besides, must have absolutely prevented\nits formation at all, if such were the case. All the matter of our\nplanetary system together is only one seven-hundred-and-fiftieth\nthat of the sun; if this were added to the sun's bulk it would but\nslightly enlarge it. But all this solar and planetary matter together,\nif distributed over the space occupied by our planetary system,--and,\nby the nebular hypothesis of the organization of our solar system,\nthis is requisite,--and having an axial diameter one-half that\nof its equatorial (see Proctor's \"Familiar Essays on Scientific\nSubjects,\"--\"Oxygen in the Sun\"), would have had a density of only\nabout one four-hundred-thousandth that of hydrogen gas at atmospheric\npressure. This nebular mass must have had a diameter at least sixty\ntimes that of the distance of the earth from the sun and a depth\nof thirty times its distance. That this enormous mass of attenuated\nmatter should ever have been made to rotate as a whole by any force of\nattraction, repulsion, or rotation, with a tenuity so great that, if\nmeasured by an equal volume of hydrogen gas,--the lightest substance\nknown to us,--it would have furnished material for four hundred\nthousand such systems as ours, presupposes a resistance so slight\nthat the planets themselves, when coagulated out of such a mass,\ncould never in any conceivable time exhibit retardation from such\na source; and we know to a certainty that such attenuated vapors do\nexist in space, for electricity cannot be transmitted through a vacuum,\nand it is transmitted with perfect freedom between the earth and the\nsun. But it may be said that the laws were then different. If they\nwere different then, they are doubtless different now. If, on the\nother hand, we assume that the bodies of which our solar system is\ncomposed were simply aggregated into concrete masses from meteoric\ndust, the difficulty is not lessened; for if the resistances to their\noperation now are such as to perceptibly retard their motions, they\nmust have operated still more powerfully to originally prevent them;\nwhile, if hurled forth by an almighty fiat, complete from the hand\nof creative energy, the same force which impelled them forward must\nhave also established the laws under which they now move.\n\nIt is calculated that our earth must be losing time, by tidal\nretardation, at the rate of one-half the moon's diameter in each twelve\nhundred years (see Proctor, \"Light Science for Leisure Hours,\"--\"Our\nChief Timepiece Losing Time\"), and that \"the length of a day is now\nmore by about one eighty-fourth part of a second than it was two\nthousand years ago.\" Perhaps, however, we may discover that these\nchanges are themselves periodic and increase in cycles to a maximum,\nand then diminish, as is the case with magnetic, planetary, and stellar\nvariations, and other similar changes, when sufficiently long observed;\nfor while such changes may very well accompany a theory under which\nour system and all other systems are slowly running down to decay and\ndeath, it is entirely incompatible with the primal forces under which\nthey must have been originally formed. In other words, if the tides\nare dragging back our earth without compensation, this dragging back\ncan only come from the oceanic deposit of water on the earth from\nthe aqueous vapors of space which do not partake of the planetary\nrotation and orbital movement of the earth. But if these can now\nretard the earth's motion, they must have originally prevented it in\nthe beginning. This loss of time is, moreover, merely inferential from\nmathematical computations, and its basis is found in the belief that\nall the operations of nature are in a slow process of degradation,\nand the calculated loss itself may be merely theoretical, and not true\nin fact. Professor Proctor himself concedes the uncertainty of this\nalleged retardation when he says in the same article, \"At this rate\nof change our day would merge into a lunar month in the course of\nthirty-six thousand millions of years. But after a while the change\nwill take place more slowly, and some trillion or so of years will\nelapse before the full change is effected.\"\n\nWhile the processes of nature are generally believed to be running\ndown, everything is bent to that belief; but the forces of nature\nmust, nevertheless, be uniform and supreme, for it is by these forces\nthat the expected results are to be achieved. That changes occur\nconstantly is inevitable, but the source of these must be looked for\nin the interaction of original forces, and not in the degradation\nof systems. There is reason to believe, in fact, that the repulsion\nof the terrestrial electrosphere by that of the moon may itself\nbe sufficient to counteract such retarding force of lunar gravity,\nfor the tides upon earth are not merely oceanic, but atmospheric,\nand on the latter the electrical repulsion of the moon must act very\npowerfully and with directly counteractive effect.\n\nLet us now apply the preceding principles to the problem under\nreview. All planetary space is pervaded with attenuated vapors or\ngases, among which aqueous vapor occupies a leading place. The planets\nand all planetary bodies, having opposite electrical polarity from\nthe central and relatively fixed sun, by their orbital motions around\nand constant subjection thereto act as enormous induction machines,\nwhich generate electricity from the ocean of attenuated aqueous vapor,\neach planet being surrounded by an enormous electrosphere, carried\nwith the planet in its axial and orbital movements, the successive\natmospheric envelopes gradually diminishing in rotational velocity\nuntil merged into the outer ocean of space. As the planets advance in\ntheir orbits they plunge into new and fresh fields, and, as the whole\nsolar system gradually moves onward through space, these fields are\nnever re-occupied. These electrospheres, by their rotation, generate\nenormous quantities of electricity at an extremely high potential,--so\nhigh that we can scarcely even conceive it,--and this electricity flows\nin a constant current to the sun, where it disappears as electricity,\nto reappear in the form of solar light and heat. These planetary\ncurrents also flow towards such other negatively electrified bodies\nas may exist in space--the comets and fixed stars, for example--in\nproportion to their distance; for, since resistance is not appreciable\nbetween ourselves and the sun, as is also the case with light, so, like\nlight, our electricity must pass outward as well as inward to take part\nin the harmonious operations of the whole universe. But it should be\nnoted that the distribution of electric energy in the form of currents\nis quite different from that of light or other radiant energy; for\nwhile light is diffused from a center outward through space, electric\ncurrents, on the contrary, are concentrated and directed along lines\nof force to concrete centers of opposite polarity. As a consequence,\nthe intensity of light decreases according to the squares of the\ndistances traversed plus the resistance to the passage of the light\nitself, while the electric current is only diminished by the resistance\nof the medium through which it passes. As the light of the sun has a\nvelocity of one hundred and eighty-eight thousand miles per second,\nand the electric current between the earth and the sun the same,\nit will be seen that the resistance is practically alike for these\ntwo forms of energy. Indeed, the striking resemblance between the\nethereal vibrations which constitute light and heat and exceedingly\nrapid alternating currents of electricity through molecular media may\nsuggest that the transformation of one force into the other is some\nsort of a \"step-up\" or \"step-down\" process, much higher in degree,\nbut of the same character as the well-known analogous electrical\ntransformations used in the arts. It should also be borne in mind\nthat, while the intensity of light diminishes according to the above\nlaw, the quantity remains the same, less resistance, as the area\ncovered increases precisely in the same proportion as the intensity\ndiminishes,--that is, in the ratio of squares.\n\nAround the earth and other planets gravity attracts the aqueous vapors\nin increased density, the same as around the sun; but the electric\ncurrents passing between the planets and the sun decompose this aqueous\nvapor into its constituent gases, hydrogen and oxygen. The oxygen is\ndeposited within the positive electrospheres of the planetary bodies,\nwhere it mingles with nitrogen to form our atmosphere and those of\nthe other planets. In this float the aqueous vapors condensed from\nspace, which are lighter than air. (See Tyndall, \"The Forms of Water:\"\n\"It also sends up a quantity of aqueous vapor which, being far lighter\nthan air, helps the latter to rise.\") These aqueous vapors, condensed\ninto clouds and precipitated upon the earth, form our oceans and their\naffluents. The hydrogen gas disengaged upon the sun's surface forms\na similar envelope, which is penetrated by the planetary electric\ncurrents, and is thus highly heated and rendered incandescent; the\nglowing hydrogen transmits its heat to the sun's mass within, which\nis thus raised to, and permanently maintained in, a liquid or densely\ngaseous state, its metallic constituents being volatilized in part,\nand these metallic vapors mingle with the lower strata of hydrogen\nto form the sun's photosphere, while, above, the glowing hydrogen\ngrows more pure, and finally, at a distance of hundreds of thousands\nof miles, is merged into the corona, which is composed, in part at\nleast, of cosmical dust rotating around and repelled by the sun,\nand which shines partly by reflected light, partly by that of the\nrelatively cooler hydrogen, and partly, perhaps, by electrification\nof its constituents by the powerful currents passing through it. Each\nof the planetary bodies, large or small, takes its proportionate part\nin the generation and transmission of electricity, according to its\nvolume, mass, and motion. As an adjunct to this electrical sequence\nwe have learned that any interruption of such currents between the\ngenerator and the receiver will cause the generating apparatus to glow\nwith diffused electrical light, as is the case with the Wimshurst\nmachine already described. When such connection is removed, it is\nsaid, \"the whole apparatus bristles with electricity, and if viewed\nin the dark presents a most beautiful appearance, being literally\nbathed with luminous brush discharges.\" Such a phenomenon recalls at\nonce the aurora borealis; and when we find this as a sequence of the\nelectrical storm of the first of September, 1859, before described\n(\"at night great auroras were seen in both hemispheres\"), and connect\nwith this the persistence of electricity upon insulated surfaces (see\n\"Electricity in the Service of Man,\" page 53: \"Glass being a bad\nconductor, the electricity does not spread all over the plate, but\nremains where it is produced\"), we shall inevitably conclude that there\nwas some partial interruption in the current flowing from the earth\nto the sun at that moment; and if we recall that at that very instant\n\"suddenly a bright light was seen by each observer to break out on the\nsun's surface and to travel across a part of the solar disk,\" we shall\nlearn that the processes connected with the production of such a bright\nlight will interrupt in part the terrestrial current. We can readily\nunderstand that if this bright light exceeded in electrical intensity\nthat due to the earth's current, it might temporarily reverse the\npolarity of the afferent current or retard its flow, like the so-called\n\"backwater\" of a mill. It would be like attempting to discharge steam\nat sixty pounds' pressure into a vessel filled with other steam at\nsixty-one pounds. Whence, then, came this bright light? Perhaps from\nthe conjoint action of some other planet, perhaps from sudden chemical\ndisassociation beneath the surface, perhaps by the abnormal piling up\nof depths of transparent glowing hydrogen or other local disturbance.\n\nAnd this leads to the consideration of the uniformity of solar\naction. The planetary electrospheres will be constant in their\noperation if the constitution of surrounding space remains uniform;\nbut we shall find reason to believe that there are currents in\nthe ocean of space, as there are currents in our own seas, and\nelectrical generation will necessarily vary when such currents are\nencountered. The sun itself in such case, however, will become an\nautomatic regulator, for his density being but one-fourth that of the\nearth, and the spectroscope having shown his chemical composition\nto a large extent, we know that his mass must be either liquid or\nvaporous, and perhaps in part both. Such masses readily respond to\nvariations of temperature, expanding as it rises and contracting as\nit falls. Hence, if a portion of space were reached where the action\nof the planetary electrospheres was increased by relative increase of\ntemperature in some interstellar \"Gulf Stream,\" the sun's volume would\nexpand and compensation be at once established, while, conversely,\nwith diminution of such planetary action, the solar volume would\ncontract and an increased supply from his reserve store be given out\nthereby. In this way the condensation relied upon to give us heat for\nseven or seventeen million years becomes a compensating mechanism,\nself-operative through the most distant cycles of time. We shall\nalso find in such electric currents an explanation of sun-spots. It\nis not meant that a full knowledge can be obtained of their minute\nconstitution, nor is it necessary; but the equatorial belt of six\ndegrees, nearly free from sun-spots, we can readily understand to be\ncaused--since sun-spots are depressions in the photosphere down to\nthe deeper and denser cloud strata beneath--by the equatorial piling\nup of the sun's atmosphere by its rotation. Any point on the sun's\nequator travels at four times the rotational velocity of one on the\nearth's equator, but the sun's attraction of gravity is twenty-seven\nand one-tenth times that of the earth, so that the piling up of an\natmosphere of hydrogen would be considerable, and such depressions\nwould not ordinarily exist there. Similarly, near the sun's poles we\nshould find a gradual darkening, as is the case; but from five degrees\nto thirty degrees latitude, the sun, in its rotation, by reason of\nthe inclination of its axis, passes at every point directly beneath\nthe planets, or within their area of control, and here we find the\nsolar spots in their greatest number, size, and intensity. These\nsun-spots cross the face of the sun in about fifteen days, and vary\nin development from year to year, having a cycle of 11.11 years from\nmaximum to maximum. They also have a long cycle of about fifty-six\nyears. (See article \"The Sun,\" in Appleton's Cyclop\u00e6dia.) \"Wolf, in\n1859, presented a formula by which the frequency of spots is connected\nwith the motions of the four bodies, Venus, the earth, Jupiter, and\nSaturn. Professor Loomis, of Yale College, has since advocated a theory\n(suggested by the present writer [Proctor] in 1865, in 'Saturn and\nhis System,' page 168, note) that the long cycle of fifty-six years\nis related to the successive conjunctions of Saturn and Jupiter. But\nthe association is as yet very far from being demonstrated, to say the\nleast.\" Should such fact be established, an explanation for it will\nbe found in the direct impact of the condensed electric currents from\nseveral planets approaching conjunction, and raising a portion of the\nsun's atmosphere suddenly to a higher temperature and volatilizing an\nabnormal proportion of the semi-vaporous metallic core beneath. This\nwould form an upburst piling the intensely heated facul\u00e6 up on the\nsides and revealing the relatively darker masses of cloud beneath, the\ncooler supernatant hydrogen pouring in from the upper layers to fill\nthe returning void. This is precisely what is seen in such spots and\ntheir surrounding disturbances. In the article \"The Sun,\" above quoted,\nwe read, \"Mr. Huggins has found that several of the absorption bands\nbelonging to the solar spectrum are wider in the spectrum of a spot,\na circumstance indicative of increased absorption so far as the vapors\ncorresponding to such lines are concerned.... Near the great spots or\ngroups of spots there are often seen streaks more luminous than the\nneighboring surface, called facul\u00e6. They are oftenest seen towards the\nborders of the disk.\" This writer also describes \"luminous bridges\nacross spots which sink into the vortex and are replaced by others\nof the numberless cloud-like forms from one hundred to one thousand\nmiles in diameter, the brilliancy of which so greatly exceeds that of\nthe intervening spaces that they must be recognized as the principal\nradiators of the solar light and heat.\" The apparent retardation of\nthe spots most distant from the sun's equator may also be partially,\nat least, explained by planetary currents of electricity, as the\nequatorial atmosphere is deeper and more likely to carry forward\nsuch vortices when formed, while the planets act more directly on\nthe sun's mass beneath their direct influence.\n\nLet us consider this retardation of sun-spots somewhat more in\ndetail. Take, for example, the case of a large planet at such orbital\nposition that its direct line of electrical impact will penetrate\nthe photosphere at (say) seven degrees north solar latitude, which\nis about fifty-two thousand miles from his equator. During its annual\nrevolution this planet will traverse, with its line of energy, every\npoint of the sun's surface down to seven degrees south latitude and\nback again to its initial point, thus tracing a close spiral around\nthe sun for fourteen degrees, or about one hundred and four thousand\nmiles in width. The centrifugal force of the solar rotation piles\nup the photosphere and the chromosphere around the sun's equator,\nprecisely as our atmosphere is piled up around our own equator. If\nthe planet be a large one (for distance has but little to do with\nthese electrical currents at planetary distances, in which they\ndiffer entirely from light, heat, and gravity), or if there be two\nplanets nearly in conjunction, the body of the chromosphere and\nthe surface of the photosphere will gradually become highly heated,\nfor currents of electricity, of themselves, do not directly heat the\nsolar core any more than a like current heats the under carbon of an\narc lamp, the high temperature in both cases being altogether due\nto the incandescent heat of the interposed arc or envelope. Facul\u00e6\nof intense brightness will then appear upon the photosphere, and\nthese will be driven forward and also outward in the direction of\nthe higher latitudes, producing an oblique forward movement from\ndifference of rotational speed at different portions of the sun's\nsurface. Similar phenomena are constantly observed on the surface\nof the earth in the generation and behavior of cyclones and other\natmospheric disturbances. They may be compared to the wake of a vessel\nanchored in a strong tide-way. These facul\u00e6 will slowly raise the\ntemperature of the surface of the sun's core beneath to the point\nof eruptive volatilization, and particularly so if the planet is\nreceding from, instead of advancing towards, the solar equator. At\nsome point in advance of the line of planetary energy an eruption of\nvolatilized metals will suddenly occur, first thrusting up a vast\narea of the photosphere and then bursting it asunder, which will\ndrive these ruptured masses with enormous speed forward and obliquely\noutward from the equator. Such facul\u00e6 (see Proctor's \"Light Science\")\nsometimes reach a velocity of seven thousand miles per minute, while\nthe sun's rotational movement at the equator is less than seventy\nmiles per minute. This sudden eruption will be almost immediately\nsucceeded by great expansion and consequent fall of temperature, so\nthat within a few hours the heavy volatile metals begin to condense\nand rapidly recede into their crater, and the facul\u00e6 in front and at\nthe sides will now stream inward to occupy this vacuum with constantly\naccelerated velocity, pouring over the edges like the rush of waters\nat the Falls of Niagara. As they sweep downward over the inner rim of\nthe funnel, these streams of facul\u00e6 will glow with increased whiteness,\nand appear to be sharply cut off at their inner ends; but this is only\napparently so, and is due to the position of the observer, who looks\nalmost directly downward upon these descending streams. It is for\nthe same reason that the facul\u00e6 appear more brilliant when near the\nborders of the solar disk (see page 109). Any good view of a sun-spot\nwhen analyzed will show the streams of facul\u00e6 thus pouring inward,\nand they are among the most peculiar and conspicuous phenomena\nto be observed. The drawings of Professor Langley, reproduced in\nthe Popular Science Monthly for September, 1874, and July, 1885,\nare particularly striking in their illustration of these effects,\nthough their significance and interpretation were not then at hand.\n\nBut while these heavy metallic vapors so rapidly condense and subside\nin the forward or initial portion of the sun-spot under observation,\nnew depths of intensely-heated facul\u00e6 are generated behind, and these\noperate with renewed energy upon the fresh surface of the solar core\nin rear of the original seat of eruption; so that each sun-spot,\nwhile in an active state, will exhibit two entirely distinct aspects,\nthe forward portion of the crater in a state of rapid condensation\nand subsidence of the recently erupted metallic vapors, and with\ninflowing streams of incandescent hydrogen from the front and sides,\nand the rear portion of the crater up to its rearward wall, and even\nstreaming forth from beneath it, in a state of violent eruption. The\nlarge volcanic craters of the Hawaiian Islands exhibit similar\npartial eruptions and subsidences progressing simultaneously in the\nsame depths. The sudden formation of the great incandescent loops and\nplumes to which Professor Langley calls especial attention, and which\nhave hitherto been so perplexing, can now be readily understood and\nexplained. If one of these inflowing streams be carried partially\ndown into and across the crater, and then caught, in its advance,\nby the uprush in the central or rear portions of the cavity, it will\nbe at once swept upward alongside the ascending eruption, and either\nscattered at its forward extremity into sprays and plumes, or else\nthrown forward bodily in the form of a more or less complete loop. In\na sun-spot fifty thousand miles in diameter, such a loop, having a\nlong diameter of twenty thousand miles, if we give a speed to the\nfacul\u00e6 of seven thousand miles per minute, would be formed in about\nseven minutes, during which the sun-spot would itself have advanced\nless than five hundred miles across the face of the sun. The luminous\nbridges which form so suddenly across portions of the crater may be\nexplained in a similar manner: they are streams of facul\u00e6 floated on\nthe nearly balanced uprush of metallic vapors from beneath.\n\nIt will thus be seen that a sun-spot is not merely a fixed eruption,\nlike a volcano, but rather a continuous series of eruptions, like\na line of activity following, for example, the great terrestrial\nvolcanic curve which extends up the western coast of America, across\nthe Pacific Ocean and Asia, and into Central and Southern Europe,\nfor during its progression its scene of action is constantly being\nshifted to the rear; it is like a furrow cut by a plough, in which\nthe upturned sod is constantly falling in at one end of the furrow\nwhile the plough is cutting a new furrow at the other, except that\nin this case the plough is relatively fixed overhead, and the field\nitself passes along beneath it. Consequently, the center of activity\nof a sun-spot is only in its rear portions, generally considered, and\nthe whole sun-spot is gradually retreating, by successive filling up in\nfront and opening out behind, farther and farther to the rear,--that is\nto say, to the east,--so that retardation relatively to the rotational\nadvance of the photosphere necessarily ensues.\n\nBut when the sun-spot is developed upon or near the equatorial\nline this retardation is not so considerable, for the deeper layers\nof the photosphere in those regions are slower to act and require\ngreater energy to affect them, so that all except deep and violent\neruptions fail to show themselves at the surface at all, and the\nheated facul\u00e6 are carried directly forward along the surface of the\nequatorial swell, so that the center of activity is driven forward\nmore rapidly than in the higher latitudes, and the rate of progression\nis more nearly coincident with that of the photosphere. But if these\nfacts are correctly stated and explained, we may have to revise our\ncalculations of the sun's rotational period, for retardation to some\nextent must occur in all cases, if in any.\n\nA sun-spot, we thus perceive, is an elongated wave or ridge of eruption\nalong the rotational direction of the sun's body. Why, then, it may\nbe asked, is not this line of eruption continuous entirely around the\nsun? For the same reason, it may be answered, that our own cyclones\nare not continuous, though caused substantially in the same manner,\nand that volcanic eruptions only occur at long intervals, though\nthe forces at work are continuous. Lowering of temperature follows\nswiftly after eruption, and as the deeper structures of the solar\nnucleus become gradually affected, instead of volatilization of the\nouter layers of the surface, we will have diffused gaseous expansion\nof large portions, and finally of the entire solar mass, which cannot\nas a whole be volatilized by any conceivable planetary energy. We see\nthese operations exemplified in heating a bar of copper in a Bunsen\nflame; the latter first turns green from surface volatilization of\nthe copper, but as the heat is communicated to the deeper structures\nthe green flame disappears, and the whole additional heat goes to\nraise the temperature of the mass.\n\nThese processes in the sun are thus seen to be self-compensatory in\ntheir nature. They are the means provided to distribute the restricted\nareas of abnormally heated photosphere over the solar surface, and\nfinally to cause the absorption of the whole excess of heat in the\nsun's central mass. The balance is so evenly maintained, however, that,\nwere all the planets equally distributed with reference to the sun's\nsurface, such sun-spots would be the exception and not the rule, and\ntheir distribution would be equal and constant; but, as the planets\ncontinually change their positions with reference to the sun and to\neach other, only by some such provision of nature could the internal\nstructure of the sun be maintained without serious derangement, or,\nindeed, final disruption. So nature distributes her stores of heat\nupon the earth. These beautiful self-compensations we shall find\nsuddenly appearing, as we advance, in all parts of the field of\nastronomical research.\n\nIt may seem like temerity to advance statements so positive and\nspecific as to the cause, constitution, and progression of sun-spots,\nin the absence of any considerable accumulation of observations\nto sustain them, but the few examples which we have noted are in\naccordance with these views, and when attention is once called to the\nbasic principles on which they depend, observations will doubtless be\nmade in abundance to prove or disprove what has been here stated. The\nmere fact of a differential rate of advance among sun-spots, as they\npass across the solar face, of itself demonstrates that the active\ncauses of these phenomena must be extra-solar, and if so, their only\npossible dynamic source must be looked for in the planets, and the\nremaining conclusions will of necessity follow as a corollary. We may\neven, by merely examining an accurate drawing of a sun-spot, determine\nits position and direction upon the solar sphere from which it was\ndelineated by its lines of active eruption and influx of facul\u00e6,\nand also whether it be a new spot or one which has passed entirely\nbeyond its active stage and is about to finally disappear.\n\nAs for the facul\u00e6 which striate the photosphere, the mottlings and\nso-called \"willow-leaves,\" any one who will quietly gaze downward\nupon the turbid surface of the Mississippi or other similar river,\nin mid-channel, will see plenty of such facul\u00e6: the river is full of\nthem. The heavier, intermingled clay, slowly subsiding, is caught up in\nthe turmoil beneath the surface and swept upward in elongated ovals and\neddies, the larger swells nearly colorless, and others of all shades\nof ochre and yellow, and the whole as richly mottled, sometimes, as\nthe variegated pattern of a Persian carpet. If we substitute for the\nsubsiding clay the rapidly sinking heavy metallic vapors, and enlarge\nthe scale from the dimensions of the river to those of the sun, we\nwill have the mottled solar surface with its kaleidoscopic changes,\nthe so-called \"willow-leaves,\" and the facul\u00e6 in all their glory. A\ncareful study of the sun will show most clearly that only in some\nsuch explanation as the present view affords can a rational basis\nfor its varied phenomena be found.\n\nIf the sun's equator were coincident with the plane of the planetary\norbits, it is obvious that all the planetary energies would be\ndirected, whatever the position of the planets around the sun,\nimmediately upon this equatorial great circle, and that, at each\nrevolution upon his axis, corresponding nearly to our calendar month,\nthe same part of his sphere would be exposed to these direct currents,\nso that the intensity would be, in its aggregate, nearly a constant\nquantity. But, by reason of the sun's axial inclination of seven\ndegrees to the plane of the planetary orbits, a far more complex and\nimportant condition of affairs ensues. It will be seen at once that\nthe plane of the planetary orbits intersects the sun's equator at\nopposite sides, and that, from a minimum of nothing, this line reaches\na maximum, twice in each circumference, of seven degrees, one north\nand the other south of the equator, and that this arc of fourteen\ndegrees, thus traversed by every planet in its orbital rotation\naround the sun, measures more than one hundred thousand miles from\nnorth to south upon the solar surface, nearly one-half the distance\nwhich separates the earth from the moon. If all the planets were in\nconjunction or nearly so, on one side of the sun, for example, and in\nthe vertical plane of the sun's axis, they would continue to deliver\ntheir electrical currents with their greatest intensity upon a single\npoint of his surface fifty-two thousand miles north of his equator,\nwhile the opposite point, one hundred and four thousand miles distant,\nwould be unaffected by any direct currents at all. Conversely, if\nin conjunction on the opposite side of the sun, they would continue\nto deliver these currents upon a corresponding point fifty-two\nthousand miles south of the equator; but if in conjunction in the\nvertical plane transverse to the sun's axial inclination, these\ncurrents on either side of the sun would be delivered directly upon\nthe solar equator. The importance of this will be understood when\nit is considered that for many of our years such planets as Jupiter\nand Saturn must continue to direct their currents upon a very slowly\nchanging point of the sun's surface, by reason of their vast annual\nrotational period, while with the earth and the interior planets these\nvarious points are struck with ever-increasing rapidity as the year\ndecreases in length with the different planets, the earth, Venus,\nand Mercury. There is a solar equinoctial, so to speak, just as there\nis a terrestrial equinoctial in which the sun crosses the line twice\neach year, and the meteorological disturbances faintly shown on the\nearth at such times are vastly increased on the sun, and rendered\nfar more complex by the interaction of many planets upon the sun,\ninstead of a single sun upon each planet. While our equinoctial has\nto do with gravity and light and heat, and probably magnetism, the\nsolar equinoctial deals with the vast electrical streams which feed\nits fires and set it boiling with furious energy, first at one point,\nthen at another, until the increment has been absorbed and adjusted,\nand thus equalized throughout his mass. What a new interest this must\narouse in our study of sun-spots, facul\u00e6, prominences, sun-storms,\nand the vast panorama of solar action hung up before our astonished\neyes! A new world here awaits its Columbus.\n\nBut not only the planets thus gather, so to speak, electricity for\nthe sun's support from space; the moon also must do its part, as it\nrotates in the same manner, subject to the sun, and has its own motion\nthrough space. But an examination of the moon shows no atmosphere\nand no aqueous matter visible to us, and also the singular fact\nthat it constantly presents one side only to the earth. R. Kalley\nMiller, in his \"Romance of Astronomy,\" article \"The Moon,\" says,\n\"After an elaborate analysis, Professor Hausen, of Gotha, found that\nit could be accounted for only by supposing that the side of the moon\nnearest us was lighter than the other, and hence that its center of\ngravity was not at its center of figure, but considerably nearer\nthe side of it which is always turned away from us. He calculates\nthe distance between these centers to be nearly thirty-five miles,\nevidently a most important eccentricity, when we remember that the\nradius of the moon is little over a thousand miles. It must have been\nproduced by some great internal convulsion after the moon assumed its\nsolid state; but the forces required to produce this disruption are\nless than might at first sight appear necessary, owing to the fact\nthat the force of gravitation and the weight of matter are six times\nless at the moon than with us.\" Those who are fond of the so-called\n\"Argument of Design\" will be gratified to learn that, if the moon\nhad a rotation upon its own axis similar to that of the earth,\nall life--past, present or future--would have been impossible on\nthat satellite or planet; and that, on the contrary,--provided she\nalways turns the same side of her surface to the earth,--it is quite\npossible that air, water, and life may exist, or may have existed,\non the opposite side of the moon, but not otherwise. In fact, air and\nwater must now exist on the opposite side; and, since her whole supply\nwill thus be condensed upon half her surface or less, even with her\nsmall force of gravity, it may be quite sufficient in quantity and\ndensity for the support of animal, vegetable, or even human life. By\nreason of this difference in the lunar center of gravity, the side\npresented to the earth in physical position is similar to the summit\nof a mountain upon the earth's surface two hundred miles high, and\nsurely we would not expect to find much air or water or life at that\naltitude. But the opposite side would resemble a champagne country\nat the foot of this enormous mountain, and might be well fitted for\nhuman existence. Now, we know that similar electricities repel each\nother, and air or gases charged with similar electricities are equally\nself-repellent. Professor Tyndall, in his \"Lessons in Electricity,\"\nsays, \"The electricity escaping from a point or flame into the air\nrenders the air self-repulsive. The consequence is, that when the\nhand is placed over a point mounted on the prime conductor of a good\nmachine, a cold blast is distinctly felt.... The blast is called the\n'electric wind.' Wilson moved bodies by its action; Faraday caused\nit to depress the surface of a liquid; Hamilton employed the reaction\nof the electric wind to make pointed wires rotate. The wind was also\nfound to promote evaporation.\"\n\nWhile electrical repulsion is doubtless analogous to, and correlative\nwith, the attraction of gravitation, this force, and even gravity\nitself, has been sometimes interpreted as derived from the mutually\ninteracting molecules of space itself. We may even learn somewhat\nof how such repulsions of similar and attractions of opposite\nelectrospheres might occur. We constantly speak of positive\nand negative electricity as though these were different fluids,\nbut such expressions are employed only in the same manner as the\nanalogous terms, heat and cold. We know, of course, that cold is the\nrelative absence of heat, the dividing line being not a fixed, but a\nconstantly changing one, so that one body is cold to another by reason\nof relative, and not absolute, deprivation of heat. It is well known,\nhowever, that cold, which is purely a negative state, manifests the\nsame apparent radiant energy as heat. A vessel near an iceberg is\nexposed to a wave of cold, precisely as of heat from a heated body at\nthe same distance. This, of course, is due to abstraction and not to\nincrement. All space being occupied by attenuated matter in a state\nof unstable electrical equilibrium, as we say, which simply means\na condition ready to be raised or lowered in tension by absorption\nfrom or into outside media, all concrete bodies floating in that\nspace must have an electrical potential either equal to, or higher,\nor else lower than that of their surrounding space. A solitary body in\nspace, if we can conceive of such, in either a higher or lower state\nof electrical tension, would be drawn upon from all sides to equalize\nthe distribution and restore the general average. But if two bodies\noccupy the same field, and are widely different from each other in\nelectrical potential, one higher and the other lower than that of\nspace, this distribution will be towards each other, and must be\nmanifested by mutual attraction. But if, on the contrary, these two\nbodies are both equally higher or lower than the spatial average,\nthey have nothing to give to each other, but have this difference\nto give to or receive only from outer space, and hence they will be\ndrawn apart or, as we say, mutually repelled. The case is similar to\nwhat we see in the case of bodies of water at various levels. Suppose\nthere be a lake of a fixed level, and communicating with it and with\neach other, by open channels, two ponds of water occupying an island\nin the middle of the lake. If one of these ponds be higher in level\nand the other lower than the lake, their waters will rapidly converge,\nthe higher flowing into the lower; but if both are at the same level,\nand higher than the lake, they will flow apart into the lake. Or, if\nboth are at the same level, and lower than the lake, the water of the\nlatter will equally flow from outside into both ponds, and their waters\nwill still be held separate from each other. The analogies of these\nvarious levels may be pursued to any desired extent, as electrical\ntensions find their most exact analogies in the pressures of bodies\nof water at different levels and of different quantities, and these\nanalogies are those most constantly used in the interpretation of\nsuch electrical phenomena.\n\nThe great electrical activity of the electrospheres of the earth and\nmoon, while they discharge their tremendous currents directly into\nthe sun, at the same time must cause their similarly electrified\natmospheres to mutually repel each other, while gravity continues\nto operate to maintain the earth and moon at their fixed distances\nfrom each other, and to retain their gaseous envelopes around their\nown bodies. The result must be that these similarly electrified\natmospheres repel each other with a force proportioned to their masses\nof atmosphere and the intensity of the electricities of each. The\nmoon's axial rotation being completed but once in twenty-eight days,\nand that of the earth once in each day, and the moon's mass and volume\nbeing so much less than those of the earth, whatever of electrified air\nor moisture she may have (and she must have both, proportionate to her\nattributes) would have been driven as by a cyclone to the opposite side\nof the moon and there retained. Now, with an atmosphere and water only\non one side of the moon, and that the side opposite the earth, it is\nobvious that a rotation on her axis at all resembling that of the earth\nwould carry every part of her surface, at each complete rotation, from\na region of air and moisture into one deprived of both, and in such\na condition she would of necessity be deprived of both life and its\npossibility; hence, as the laws of nature compel the lunar atmosphere\nand moisture to reside permanently on the side always opposite the\nearth, a co-ordinate arrest of the moon's axial motion with reference\nto the earth could alone compensate for such a state of things,\nand, curiously enough, we find as a solitary exception, compared\nwith the planets, that such is the case. The moon unquestionably has\nboth atmosphere and water on its opposite side. In his recent work,\n\"In the High Heavens,\" Professor Ball reviews the physical conditions\nof the other planets as possible abodes of life. He pronounces against\nthe moon because night and day would each be a fortnight in length;\nbut this is surely no objection, for even in Norway and Greenland such\nnights and days are not uncommon at different seasons, and thousands\nof human beings, even as at present constituted on earth, spend their\nlives there in content and happiness. That the moon also would be\nterribly scorched by the long day and frozen by the long night does\nnot necessarily follow, for the atmosphere of Mars, that author says,\n\"to a large extent mitigates the fierceness with which the sun's rays\nwould beat down on the globe if it were devoid of such protection.\" As\nthe moon's opposite face must have a double quota both of atmosphere\nand clouds, the difficulty will be correspondingly less than on Mars;\nand as for the \"lightness\" of bodies on the moon, they would probably\nget along quite as well as mosquitoes and like \"birds of prey\" in the\nmarshes along our coasts. The author refers constantly to our bodies;\nfor example, \"Could we live on a planet like Neptune?\" No, we could\nnot; we would be dead before we got there. Nor could we live in the\nbark of a tree, or at the bottom of the ocean, or in a globule of\nserum; but living beings are found there nevertheless. The principle\nis that wherever life is possible there we may expect to find life;\nand surely life is, or has been, or will be possible, not only on\nthe moon, so far as our knowledge of physical conditions can go, but\nalso on some of the other planets. Of course each planet has its life\nstage, but this applies not only to the earth, but to all the other\nplanets as well, and not only to the planets of our own system, but\nto those of all other solar systems. Each has had, or will have, its\nstage in which life is possible, and these planets may be like human\nhabitations, in which whole races at times migrate from one home to\nanother. There is no conceivable reason why this may not be the general\nlaw of creation, and every analogy leads us to believe that it is so.\n\nIt has been recently announced that, from telescopic observations,\nthe atmosphere of Mars must be at least as attenuated as that among\nthe highest mountainous regions of the earth, if this planet has any\natmosphere at all. That it must be far less dense than that of the\nearth at sea-level is obvious, for the mass and volume of Mars are\nvery much less than those of our own planet; but that Mars is devoid\nof a gaseous envelope or atmosphere is contrary to what we know of all\nsidereal physics. The sun, the fixed stars, the comets, the nebul\u00e6,\nand even the meteorolithic fragments which fall upon the earth, all\nshow the same elementary chemical constitution as the earth itself,\nand we cannot believe that Mars alone is differently constituted from\nevery other body we have been able to examine. We have direct evidence,\non this planet, of polar snows and their melting away under the sun's\nheat; we see the apparent areas of sea and land; it has its moons as\nthe earth has hers, and exhibits all the characteristic phenomena of\nthe earth and other planets. All sidereal bodies that we know of,\nexcept, perhaps, our moon, which exception we have fully accounted\nfor, are found to be surrounded by gaseous envelopes or atmospheres\nof some sort. The sun, the fixed stars, the nuclei of comets, the\ncondensing nebul\u00e6, the planets Jupiter and the earth, which are\nthose under our most direct observation, and even the meteorites,\nwhen examined, reveal the presence of many times their own volumes of\nindependent atmospheric gases; and whatever may be the theory of the\norigin or development of Mars, it must have been subjected to the same\ninfluences, the same environment, and the same processes of creation as\nthose of our solar system generally; and that this body alone should\npossess no gaseous envelope--for the denial of atmosphere denies,\nat the same time, the presence of any or all surrounding gases--is\nquite incredible. Only the most positive, direct, and long-continued\nproofs of such fact could be accepted, and even then the history of all\nscientific progress shows that what are believed to be facts themselves\nfluctuate like fancies till, by their accumulated force, they solidify\ninto universally accepted demonstration. The fact, moreover, that\nthe atmospheres of the smaller planets are more attenuated than our\nown and those of the larger ones denser has no bearing, in itself,\non the probability of the existence of life on these other planets,\nfor in our own atmosphere oxygen, which is the efficient element,\nis diluted with four times its quantity of inert nitrogen. These\nproportions doubtless vary largely in other atmospheres, so that\nthe oxygen may be much richer in some and far poorer, relatively,\nin others. The mere fact that the presence of nitrogen, probably, and\naqueous vapor, certainly, depends on the gravity of the mass of each\nplanet, while the oxygen is due to electrolytic decomposition induced\nby the combined volume, mass, and rotation, and other causes,--such\nas the axial inclination of such planets, for example,--renders\nthese variations in the constitution of planetary atmospheres a\ncertainty. As Mars has a diameter much more than one-half that of\nthe earth, and a diurnal rotational period nearly the same, while his\nmass, which controls the action of gravity, is only about one-ninth\nthat of the earth (see Appleton's Cyclop\u00e6dia), it is obvious that his\noxygen-gathering power, compared with that for accumulating nitrogen\nand aqueous vapor, is much higher than that of the earth, and we should\nexpect to find there an attenuated atmosphere very rich in oxygen,\nand with a relatively smaller proportion of aqueous vapor, or even\nwater, on his surface. Such seem to be the facts as far as observed.\n\nIn operating an electric machine the strength of the current is\ndirectly proportionate to the speed of rotation,--that is to say,\nto the velocity of the generating surface; for example, of the\nWimshurst induction machine it is stated (page 63, \"Electricity\nin the Service of Man\"), \"These four-and-one-half inch discharges\ntake place in regular succession at every two and a half turns of\nthe handle.\" It is also a well-established law of electrolysis that\n\"The amount of decomposition effected by the current is in proportion\nto the current strength.\" Professor Ferguson (\"Electricity,\" page\n225) says of the voltameter, an instrument devised by Faraday,\nand used for testing the strength of currents by the proportionate\ndecomposition of acidulated water, \"Mixed gases rise into the tube,\nand the quantity of gas given off in a given time measures the\nstrength of the current.\" Roughly estimating the diameter of Mars at\nfive-eighths, the surface velocity at three-fifths, and the mass at\none-ninth those of the earth, this planet should have an atmosphere\ncontaining about sixty per cent. of oxygen and forty of nitrogen, with\na barometric pressure at sea-level of about six and one-half inches of\nmercury. This would be an excellent atmosphere,--about equal in its\nquota of oxygen for each respiration to that of the higher areas of\nPersia, a great country for roses. The aqueous vapors lying low and\nnear the surface would serve as a vaporous screen to concentrate and\nretain the sun's heat and retard radiation from that planet. Nothing\nin particular seems to be the matter with Mars.\n\nOn the contrary, the mass of Jupiter is so great, and his attraction\nof gravity so powerful, that it is only by his exceedingly rapid\ndiurnal rotation (once in less than ten hours) that it is possible\nfor him to accumulate any effective percentage of oxygen at all. But\nthere is certainly plenty of water there.\n\nWe may approximately compute, in general terms, the proportion\nof oxygen in the atmospheres of the other planets in the same\nway. Neptune, it is true, is so far distant from the sun that the\nsolar orb only \"appears about the same magnitude as Venus when at\nits greatest brilliancy, as viewed from the earth,\" but we must not\nforget that \"the intensity of the sun's light would be more than ten\nthousand times greater than that of Venus\" (Professor Dunkin, in \"The\nMidnight Sky\"). Unless the moon gathers a portion of the earth's oxygen\n(the planetary satellites, like Saturn's rings, thus constituting\nin their rotations a constituent part of the planets themselves),\nthe percentage of this gas in her atmosphere must be exceedingly\nsmall, for her axial rotation has a period of a whole lunar month,\nbeing the same as that of her revolution around the earth as a center.\n\nThe absence of apparent atmosphere and moisture from the visible lunar\nsurface has already been mentioned and explained. The means by which\nthis fact has been approximately determined are described by Professor\nDunkin, in \"The Midnight Sky,\" as follows: \"Among the many proofs of\nthe non-existence of a lunar atmosphere, it may be mentioned that\nno water can be seen; at least there is not a sufficient quantity\nin any one spot so as to be visible from the earth. Again, there are\nno clouds; for if there were, we should immediately discover them by\nthe variable light and shade which they would produce. But one great\nproof of the absence of any large amount of vapor being suspended over\nthe lunar surface is the sudden extinction of a star when occulted by\nthe moon. The author has been a constant observer of these phenomena,\nand, though his experience is of long standing, he has never observed\nan occultation of a star or planet, especially at the unilluminated\nedge of a young moon, without having his conviction confirmed that\nthere is no appreciable lunar atmosphere.... Professor Challis has\nsubjected the results of a large number of these observations to a\nsevere mathematical test, but he has not been able to discover the\nslightest trace of any effect produced by a lunar atmosphere.\"\n\nIn Appleton's Cyclop\u00e6dia, article \"The Moon,\" it is stated that\n\"Schr\u00f6ter (about 1800) claimed to have discovered indications of\nvegetation on the surface of the moon. These consist of certain traces\nof a greenish tint which appear and reappear periodically; much as\nthe white spots covering the polar regions of Mars.... As we are able,\nunder the most favorable conditions, to use upon the moon telescopic\npowers which have the effect of bringing the satellite to within one\nhundred and fifty to one hundred and twenty miles of us, we should\ndoubtless notice any such marked changes on her surface as the passage\nof the seasons produces, for example, on our own globe.\" Very recently\n(August 12, 1894), it has been stated, Professor Gathmann has observed\na peculiar green spot about forty by seventy miles in area near the\ncrater of Tycho Brahe, \"on the northwestern edge of the satellite's\nupper limb,\" which had disappeared twenty-two hours afterwards.\n\nWe understand, of course, that the moon's librations, by the variation\nof position of the lunar body, enable us to see, at times, around\nthe edge of this satellite somewhat, so that, instead of observing\nonly one-half, we can in this way see nearly six-tenths of her\nsurface, but not at the same time, of course. When the moon is dark\nit occupies a position between the earth and the sun, and only its\nopposite face is illuminated. In this position the attraction of\nsolar gravity and the attraction of the electrically opposite solar\nelectrosphere both accumulate their forces upon the moon's atmosphere\nin the same line as the repulsion of the earth's similar electricity,\nso that the lunar moisture and atmosphere are, at this part of her\nsubordinate orbit, most powerfully forced away from the direction\nof the earth. As the moon now proceeds towards her first quarter,\nthe terrestrial repulsion drives her atmosphere radially outward,\nwhile solar gravity and electrical attraction tend to hold it in the\ndirection of the sun. The result will be an electrospheric libration,\nso to speak, and the moon's atmosphere and moisture will be carried\naround towards its illuminated face and, to some extent, will overlap\nthe area of terrestrial repulsion. But as the moon advances this will\ngradually diminish, soon cease, and finally be reversed as it again\napproaches darkness. We can now understand why the green surface, if\nit really was due to vegetation, appeared along the lunar margin at\nthe time described above, and also that the observation of planetary\noccultations \"at the unilluminated edge of the young moon\" was the\nvery worst part of the moon and its orbit in which to look for air\nor moisture; as the sun's influence is then directly away from the\nunilluminated surface of the moon, and his \"pull\" would have, in fact,\nstill further denuded the very portion most persistently examined,\nand where this absence of atmosphere was especially noted.\n\nWhen considering the transference of energy from the peripheral\nregions of the solar system to the center, its conversion there into\na new form of molecular force, and its subsequent distribution, we\nfind a curious and instructive parallel in the action of the reflex\nnervous system of animal life. This system is one in which the brain\nor other conscious center of nerve-energy takes no part. Tickle\nthe foot of a child, for example, and its whole muscular system is\nthrown into uncontrollable convulsions of laughter. Here an exciting\ncontact with the terminal filaments of the afferent or sensory nerves\nis rapidly carried into the local nerve-center of this part of the\nsystem,--that is, the sensory column of the spinal cord. This center\nof ganglionic nerve-matter lies directly against the corresponding\nmotor mass, both freely communicating with each other. The sensory\ncurrent passing into its central ganglion undergoes some peculiar\nchange of character, probably one of intensification, such as is\nobserved in the action of the condenser of an electrical machine,\nthrough which sensory ganglion, thus raised in potential, it passes to\nthe motor ganglion adjacent, where it is instantly transformed into\nan entirely different form of energy. The sensory character has now\nentirely disappeared, and it has been converted into and is flashed\nforth as motor energy to the different muscles of the body, which are\nimmediately contracted, the violent molecular motion of the fibres\nbeing at once converted into muscular motion in mass. The changes are\nentirely analogous to those we see in the different conversions of\nenergy in our solar system. Considering the surface of the body as a\nplanetary electrosphere, it is acted upon by excitation from without;\ncurrents of energy are engendered, which are at once transmitted to\nthe sensory ganglion, corresponding to the hydrogen atmosphere or\nelectrosphere of the sun; intensification of action here ensues, the\ncurrent passing through this ganglion or atmosphere into the solar body\nitself, which corresponds to the motor ganglion; both ganglia are now\nhighly excited; the electrical force is converted into the radiant\nmolecular motor energy of heat and light in the sun and muscular\nexcitement in the body, and these are flashed forth and find scope\nfor their action within the body of the subject or upon the surface\nof the planets, which lie, like the muscular structure of the body,\nwithin the genetic electrosphere where, acted upon from without and\nby agencies entirely external, moving contact has induced the primary\nmolecular action, which was then instantaneously transferred to the\ncenter, there converted into another form, that of motor energy,\nand thence sent forth to produce action in the muscles of the body\nin the one case, and in the other upon the planetary bodies and their\nsatellites and other structures which occupy surrounding space.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nTHE DISTRIBUTION AND CONSERVATION OF SOLAR ENERGY.\n\n\nWhat, then, becomes of the light and heat flashed forth with\neternal energy from the fiery waves of the sun's incandescent\natmosphere? Professor Ball (\"In the High Heavens\") says, \"Much\nof what has been said with regard to light may be repeated with\nregard to heat. We know that radiant heat consists of ethereal\nundulations of the same character as the waves of light. Hence we\nsee that the heat or the light radiated from a glowing gas is mainly\nprovided at the expense of the energy possessed by the molecules\nin virtue of their internal oscillations.\" Conversely, of course,\nthe ethereal undulations thus induced by high molecular motion in\nthe heated gas or vapor must disappear in so-called absorption or\ntransference by contact with other molecules, themselves devoid of\nsuch specific internal oscillations. The heat motion then disappears\nas heat by its conversion into work, just as the motion of a belt\nin a mill disappears in the work of the machine which it drives. One\ntwo-hundred-and-thirty-two-millionth part of the radiant solar energy,\nwe know, is caught by the flying planets of our system in the forms of\nheat and light, adapted to sustain life and its continued potentiality,\nand we know that this solar energy is the sole source of all the\ndevelopment and maintenance of the planets as the possible abodes of\norganic life, past, present or future.\n\nBut what of the vast total, of which we consume so minute a\nfraction? It is true that, in addition to the planets, space is\noccupied by many small meteoric bodies, which manifest themselves to us\nas shooting stars and meteorites, but the mass of these is too trifling\nto be estimated. Professor Helmholtz, in his \"Popular Scientific\nLectures,\" says, \"According to Alexander Herschel's estimates, each\nstone is, on an average, at a distance of four hundred and fifty miles\nfrom its neighbors.\" When these bodies enter our atmosphere by force of\nthe earth's attraction they are heated by its atmospheric friction to\nincandescence, and in most cases are even volatilized before reaching\nthe earth's surface. The vast volumes of solar heat and light, however,\nare poured forth from the sun indiscriminately in all directions into\nillimitable space, wherein all the masses of concrete matter, including\nthe stars, are relatively far less in volume than the flying motes of\nthe purest morning air which sparkle in the flood of light sent forth\nby the rising sun. Is all the rest wasted? Professor Balfour Stewart,\nin his work \"The Conservation of Energy,\" says, \"If this be the fate of\nthe high-temperature energy of the universe, let us think for a moment\nwhat will happen to its visible energy. We have spoken already about\na medium pervading space, the office of which appears to be to degrade\nand ultimately extinguish all differential motion, just as it tends to\nreduce and ultimately equalize all difference in temperature. Thus,\nthe universe would ultimately become an equally heated mass, utterly\nworthless as far as the production of work is concerned, since such\nproduction depends upon difference of temperature.\"\n\nIt is obvious that the starting-point taken by the author last\nquoted, but which, nevertheless, is in accordance with the views\nnow generally prevalent, is diametrically opposed to that sought\nto be established in this work. Professor Stewart takes the sun's\ninherent energy as the initial point of departure, and reasons from\nthat as to the final consequence when all its light and heat shall\nhave been distributed or dissipated into the attenuated medium which\noccupies space, and which will be thus slowly heated until all space\nhas been raised in temperature to that of the last dying sun, when\nall will thenceforth remain unchanged and unchangeable, silent, dark,\nand dead, to all eternity. On the contrary, the purpose of the present\nwork is to establish a directly opposite principle, based, however, on\ndemonstrated scientific facts and not on theory, that the medium which\npervades all space was originally in the same equally and universally\npotential state (with its molecules raised to a tension constituting\nan unstable equilibrium) in which, practically, Professor Stewart's\nargument leaves it finally, and that this universal molecular energy\nof position was permanently maintained by the employment of the forces\nwhich afterwards, transformed into light and heat, were shed abroad\nby the sun in the work of again overcoming the intermolecular tension\nof cohesion, and that the light and heat of the sun are merely caught\nup again by these same or other molecules and successively employed in\nthe same manner, while the planetary electrospheres utilize these same\nforces of internal tension in the generation of electricity, which,\nsent to the sun, is converted into light and heat, and these are again\ntransferred to their original source. The rotation of the planets is\nthe grand exciting cause, and the process, in its complete cycle of\ndevelopment, has live stages: first, planetary generation; second,\ntransference by currents of electricity to the sun; third, conversion\ninto light and heat; fourth, emission; and, fifth, reabsorption and\nconversion again into molecular energy of position. All space is thus\nfound to be pervaded by extremely attenuated vapors, which contain\nthe elemental constituents out of which suns and planets are evolved\nunder favorable circumstances of development, and, among other vapors,\naqueous vapor, and that these are the agency upon which the planetary\nelectrospheres operate in their generation of electrical currents, and\nwhich vapors, in turn, by absorption of the solar energy of radiation,\nagain transform this energy into mutually balanced electric potential,\nuntil it is once more disengaged as electricity by the rotating\nplanetary electrospheres, and so on in a constant circuit forever\nrepeated. It differs from perpetual motion, however, in that the\nplanetary rotation is the external and not the internal generative\ncause, since the electrical forces neither cause nor control these\nmotions; they belong to the realm of gravity. The disassociation,\nmoreover, is electrical and not chemical disassociation. The tensions\nare against cohesion and not against chemical affinity; are, in fact,\nsimilar to those which constitute our atmosphere a vast electrical\nreservoir; and the aqueous vapors, through all their changes,\npermanently remain as aqueous vapors, except those condensed portions\ndisassociated by electrolytic action at the electrospheric poles, and\nwhich have no relation to the attenuated vapors of space, except in\nthat the latter are their sources of supply. The process is analogous\nto what we see around us at all times in the atmosphere. While the\nprocess described by Professor Stewart resembles the emptying of the\ninherent water of a cloud, in the form of rain, into an ocean which\nnever yields up its water again, so that, when the cloud has rained\nitself out, it is gone forever, the processes here sketched are like\nthe vapors which are caught up by the heated air, carried over the\nthirsty lands, distributed in rain to fertilize and vivify them,\nthen gathered in a thousand tiny rills from countless fountains,\nagain descending to the sea and again carried up in vapor, and so on\nover and over in unceasing round. It is the difference between an\nold-fashioned flintlock musket and a modern magazine rifle, except\nthat the magazine is always full.\n\nThis great ocean of space was primordially charged with these\npotential vapors; it is the constitution of space itself. We are so\naccustomed to consider space as empty, and that it is nothingness,\nthe antithesis of something or anything, that it is a negation or\na blank, that it requires an effort to even think of it as a fully\nstocked establishment with all the goods necessary for use or ornament,\nin the latest styles and of prime quality, only not made up, and that\nall our suns and worlds are merely tailoring establishments where\nthe operatives cut and fit and make them up to order. When more goods\nare wanted they have to go to the store.\n\nIs space, then, eternal, and is this constant round of energies to\nbe eternal? If one is eternal, so is the other, and surely nothing\ncan be more eternal than space, and we cannot conceive of any\nother space than this space. Out of it came all created things,\nand so long as the orbs rotate without retardation, so long will\nthese interchanges go on without impairment, and that they do so\nrotate is the necessary corollary of the fact that they ever began\nto rotate. If rotation, on the contrary, was imparted by special\ncreative power, then the same power established the laws by which\nthey rotate, and took cognizance of resistance as well. Whatever the\nimpulse was, it still remains; whatever caused the rotation to begin\nmaintains it; if the cause is eternal the rotation may be eternal;\nand, in any case, its period must be measured by cycles of \u00e6ons,\nto which the allotted lifetime of a dying sun--a few million years,\nperhaps--is but as the sunburst of a morning-glory flower to the\nhoary age of a mighty planet. Compared with the popular view of the\nsun's life-period, we may formulate the terms of an equation in which\nthe sun's mass, compared with the realms of infinite space, is as\nthe sun's lifetime--on a basis of contraction of his volume--to the\nlifetime which actually is to be. As one of the terms is practically\ninfinite, so must be the answer to the problem. Professor Stewart says,\n\"We cannot help believing that there is a material medium of some\nkind between the sun and the earth; indeed, the undulatory theory\nof light requires this belief.\" It has already been shown that the\ntransmission of electricity also requires it, but that there must be\na medium quite different from the undulatory ether. Professor Proctor\n(\"Mysteries of Time and Space\") says, \"We may admit the possibility\nthat the aqueous vapor and carbon compounds are present in stellar\nor interplanetary space.\" Again he says, \"Assuming, as we well may,\nthat space is really occupied by attenuated vapors.\" The same writer\nsays further, \"To this end all thoughtful study of the mechanism\nseems to tend (associating, perhaps, our visible universe with others,\npermeating it as the ether of space permeates the densest solids, and\nin turn with others so permeated by it); there may be that constant\ninterchange, that perpetual harmony, of which Goethe sung:\n\n\n       'Balanced worlds from change defending,\n        While everywhere diffused is harmony unending.'\"\n\n\nThe light and heat poured forth from the sun are, as stated, in\nthe form of radiated energy. They penetrate the attenuated vapors\nas far as vision extends, and doubtless farther, but they cannot\nreach the boundaries of space, for even the mind of man cannot reach\nthose limits. Aqueous vapor absorbs heat; we know this without any\ndemonstration, for the radiated heat of the earth is arrested by\na veil of clouds, so that on cloudy nights frost will not form. So\nalso the sun shining into water will raise its temperature, as in\na glass globe, and such absorption of heat by aqueous vapors or\nwater would be much more manifest were not a large part employed in\nloosening the tension of the constituent molecules, since, when thus\nemployed, it is not manifest as sensible heat. Professor Tyndall, in\n\"The Forms of Water,\" states that \"The quantity of heat which would\nraise the temperature of a pound of water one degree would raise the\ntemperature of a pound of iron ten degrees.\" Professor Stewart, in\n\"The Conservation of Energy,\" says, \"That peculiar motion which is\nimparted by heat when absorbed into a body is, therefore, one variety\nof molecular energy.... Part of the energy of absorbed heat is spent in\npulling asunder the molecules of the body under the attractive force\nwhich binds them together, and thus a store of energy of position is\nlaid up, which disappears again after the body is cooled.\n\n\"Heat will only be changed into work while it passes from a body of\nhigh temperature to one of low.... At very high temperatures it is\npossible that most compounds are decomposed, and the temperature\nat which this takes place, for any compound, has been termed its\ntemperature of disassociation. Heat energy is changed into electrical\nseparation when tourmalines and certain other crystals are heated.\" It\nmay be added that it is also changed into electrical energy by the\noperation of all electrical machines, as molecular motions are all\nmutually interconvertible, and heat itself is only a mode of such\nmotion. Of radiant energy, the same writer says, \"This form of energy\n[radiant heat] is converted into absorbed heat whenever it falls upon\nan opaque substance ... and heats it. It is a curious question to ask\nwhat becomes of the radiant light from the sun that is not absorbed\neither by the planets of our system or by any of the stars. We can\nonly reply to such a question that, as far as we can judge from\nour present knowledge, the radiant energy that is not absorbed must\nbe conceived to be traversing space at the rate of one hundred and\neighty-eight thousand miles a second.\"\n\nWe know, of course, that aqueous vapors are partially opaque to heat\nrays, as the radiated heat of the earth is partially arrested by\nsuch vapors in the atmosphere, but they are apparently transparent to\nthe rays of light. But we know that this cannot be entirely true in\nfact, for light rays only differ from heat rays in the comparative\nlength of their waves or impulses, while rays of light are always\naccompanied--when emitted by a thermally incandescent body--by a much\nlarger number of those of heat. As a body is raised in temperature\nradiant dark rays first appear; these being raised higher, become\nvisible as light, and new dark rays are radiated behind them, and this\ncontinues till after the state of highest incandescence is reached\nand the invisible chemical rays beyond the spectrum appear. It is\nlike a crowd surging forth in flight from the doors of a building;\nas the speed of those in front increases to a run, others follow more\nslowly in the mass, and as these gain speed others continue to follow,\nwhile the great mass of laggards still trails along in a lengthening\nline to the rear. The perception of light is itself merely due to the\nconstitution of the optic apparatus of the observer, which only takes\ncognizance of vibrations radiated from the middle portion of the scale,\njust as the ear does with sounds, and not to any actual difference in\ntheir mode of production. That heat rays and light rays are identical\nin constitution can be readily shown by the experiment described by\nProfessor Tyndall in his \"Forms of Water,\" in which an opaque screen\nof iodine solution in bisulphide of carbon was employed to arrest, in\na beam of light, all the light waves (to which it is entirely opaque),\nwhile transmitting the dark rays. These non-luminous rays are then\nconverged by a lens: \"Let us, then, by means of our opaque solution,\nisolate our dark waves and converge them on the cotton. It explodes\nas before.... At the same dark focus sheets of platinum are raised\nto vivid redness; ... a diamond is caused to glow like a star, being\nafterwards gradually dissipated.\" Sir William Herschel (see article\n\"Spectrum,\" Appleton's Cyclop\u00e6dia) says, \"If we call light those rays\nwhich illuminate objects, and radiant heat those which heat bodies,\nit may be inquired whether light be essentially different from radiant\nheat. In answer to which I would suggest that we are not allowed by the\nrules of philosophizing to admit of two different causes to explain\ncertain effects, if they may be accounted for by one.\"... \"Tyndall,\nby similar experiments, found that the thermal energy of the invisible\nradiation of a very powerful electric light is eight times that of\nthe visible.... Seebeck showed that the position of maximum heat\nin the spectrum changes with the nature of the prism and sometimes\noccurs in the red.\" Melconi, with prisms of alcohol and water, found\nit in the yellow. Athermic bands are also found in the heat-spectrum,\ncorresponding to the Fraunhofer lines seen in the visible spectrum.\n\nWe may illustrate this successive development of more and more rapid\nlight-waves by conceiving of a harp having musical strings of various\nlength and thickness, but not strung up, so that, when swept by the\nhand, the vibrations are felt, but no musical tones are produced. If,\nnow, all the strings are simultaneously and gradually stretched\nwhile under continuous vibration, we will first hear the hum of\nthe lighter strings, but deep down in the scale; and as the tension\ngradually increases the pitch of these will rise higher and higher\nand be succeeded by other new tones below, until the whole register\nis simultaneously sounded. And if the tension be further increased,\nthe vibrations of the upper strings will gradually grow so rapid\nthat the ear can take no cognizance of them, corresponding to the\ninvisible chemical rays of the spectrum, while the middle strings\nwill be sounding loudly, and others will be slowly vibrating below the\nmusical scale, but without sound, corresponding to the invisible heat\nrays. In addition to this gradual ascent of pitch along the scale,\nhowever, there is reason to believe that sympathetic vibrations are\ninduced in the spectrum of thermal and chemical light corresponding to\nthe over-tones in music and to those hidden rhythms which differentiate\nthe \"timbre\" of one kind of musical instrument from that of another,\nso that a definite wave-length will not only repeat itself among\nadjacent molecules, but will give rise to harmonious vibrations\nquite different in amplitude and velocity. An example of this is\nfound in some of the phenomena of phosphorescence and fluorescence,\nin which chemical rays totally invisible are able, under suitable\nconditions, to excite molecular movements corresponding to parts\nof the visible spectrum, and quite different in wave-lengths and\nin rapidity. This process is precisely the converse of what we\nperceive in thermal light; in the latter case the colors ascend,\nloaded with invisible heat rays; in the former they descend, loaded\nwith invisible chemical rays, only noted, perhaps, by their actinic\naction on the photographic plate. Others, as the sulphide of calcium\npaints and the like, repeat their own vibrations for many hours, and\nwe find in certain chemical salts of some rare metals, as lanthanum\nand cerium, the curious property of suddenly raising the whole scale,\nas in a recently introduced gas-lamp, in which a skeleton mantle of\nthese oxides glows with a wondrously beautiful white light under the\nrelatively low temperature of a small Bunsen burner; similar phenomena\nare manifested in the behavior of electric discharges in attenuated\ngases, as well as in what is known to children as \"fox-fire,\" wood\nundergoing slow decomposition in damp places, or in the self-luminous\nsecretions (corresponding, perhaps, to ptomaines or like products)\nof glow-worms and other animals. If we ever--as we probably soon\nshall--reach that point where we can illuminate our dwellings with\n\"cold candles,\" as the inhabitants of tropical countries carry about a\nfew fire-flies in a paper box for a lantern on dark nights, it must be\nby the study of these phenomena. But meantime \"Old Sol\" will continue\nto discharge his accumulating stores of both heat and light, for both\nthese are essential, not only for use upon the planets, but throughout\nall the realms of space. In the transformation into and emission of\nhis radiant energy the sun is not a chemical engine, but a mill,--one\nof those which \"grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small.\"\n\nThe difference between radiated thermal light and heat is obviously\none of degree only and not of kind. The undulations of light may\nbe compared to the thrust of a rapier, and the more massive waves\nof radiant heat to the blow of a bludgeon, but the same resistance\nwhich arrests the advance of the one must retard and finally arrest\nthat of the other, if sufficiently extended. Within the limits of\na space in which Professor Stewart conceives that the first rays of\nlight which ever flashed forth at the dawn of creation, in the primal\n\u00e6ons of the universe, are still to this day, along their original\nlines of radiation, \"traversing space at the rate of one hundred\nand eighty-eight thousand miles per second,\" there must certainly\nbe room enough and absorption enough (which even a few yards of mist\nwill supply) to curb these runaway steeds somewhere along their lines\nof flaming passage. At that very point they are at work acting upon\nthe molecules of the attenuated vapors of space, and assisting to\nre-establish the potential energy which has there been converted, into\nanother form of force by the planetary rotations of the solar systems\nof those distant regions. By the law of the diffusion of gases, and\nthat of the diffusion or transference of heat-energy from molecule\nto molecule, the vast realms of interstellar space must tend to be\nall brought into approximate uniformity of tensions, and the force\nabstracted at those points of space occupied by the relatively few\nand insignificant solar systems will be returned, not directly at\nthe identical places where such solar systems may exist, but at every\npart of space to which their radiant energy extends. As we give from\nour own supplies to other systems for their support, so they, in turn,\ngive back again to us. It is said that in the earliest days of creation\nthe stars sang together; they still sing together, planets and suns, as\n\n\n       \"Jura answers from her misty shroud\n        Back to the joyous Alps, who call to her aloud.\"\n\n\nWhen old Earth lifts his brimming beaker from the great crystal sea\nand drains it to the good health of all the stars of heaven, they each\nrespond with fiery energy, and by their merry twinkle we may know\nhow highly they appreciate the toast. We are all one family,--but\nwhat a family! Comets, planets, double stars, variable stars, stars\nof complementary colors, blue, yellow, orange, and red stars, stars\nwhich blaze up in sudden conflagration, apparently new stars, nebul\u00e6\nhalf star and half vapor, nebul\u00e6 all vapor and others all stars, the\nvast milky-way like a wondrous river of hundreds of millions of solar\nsystems, the insulated stars scattered through space like watchmen\non the distant hills beyond the city walls, streams of stars, stars\nwhich are parting from each other in space like scattering families,\nand those which travel together in groups like pioneers in a strange\ncountry,--all these and doubtless other unknown types and forms\ncompose this sidereal family. Will they fall into their categories as\nlawful subjects, so as to be properly classified in a single scheme\nof the visible order of creation, or shall we fail to interpret their\napparent mysteries when we apply the same principles which have been\nsuccessfully applied to the phenomena of our own solar system? Let\nus see.\n\nIn examining the sun, we find that a beam of its light passed\nthrough a prism is thrown upon the wall in a wedge-shaped streak of\nrainbow-tinted colors. Fraunhofer, many years ago, found that this\nspectrum was crossed at irregular intervals by a series of dark lines,\nof variable width and distance apart, of which he catalogued more\nthan five hundred. These lines were subsequently found to correspond\nin the aggregate, in their position in the spectrum, with a series of\nbright lines of different colors which formed the separate spectra\nof various metals when burned, in vapor or powder, in the flame of\nan alcohol lamp. Each of these transverse lines was found to have a\nfixed and invariable position in the extended scale of the spectrum,\nand scarcely any lines of the different elements are alike; so that,\nwhen the spectrum is properly magnified under telescopic observation\nand the lines identified, we have the means of determining the\npresence or absence of such elements in the vaporous constitution\nof any incandescent body by examination of its spectrum. In this way\nmany of our terrestrial elements are found to exist in the sun,--so\nmany, in fact, that we know that the sun's nucleus, or core, must\nbe composed substantially of the same elements, the same sort of\nmatter, as exists on earth,--that we are, in fact, \"a chip of the\nold block.\" But it was found--and this is the real basis of spectrum\nanalysis--that if a certain metal or other element be burned in the\nflame of an alcohol lamp, and a more brilliant flame of the same metal\nor element burned in another lamp be observed through the first flame,\nit will be seen that, \"while the general illumination of the spectrum\nis increased, the previous bright lines characterizing the element\nare now replaced by dark lines or lines relatively very faint; in\na word, the spectrum characteristic of the given element is exactly\nreversed\" (Appleton's Cyclop\u00e6dia, article \"Spectrum Analysis\"). We have\nreferred to this fact above in considering the origin of sun-spots,\nshowing that they are due to increased heat acting upon the core of\nthe sun so as to volatilize an abnormally large proportion of the\nelements usually in a more condensed state upon the surface of the\nsolar body beneath its hydrogen envelope. These vapors, thus raised\nin temperature, are driven upward by their volatilization into the\nincandescent atmosphere of hydrogen, and the vaporous matters in the\nhigher strata thus produce the characteristic absorption bands of\nthese elements, while the overheated vapors, by a vast uprush from\nbeneath, hurl aside the more highly heated hydrogen above to appear\nas facul\u00e6 around the sun-spot, the cooler upper layers of hydrogen\nfollowing downward the subsiding vaporous metallic uprush as it sinks\nback beneath the photospheric level.\n\nIt is obvious that by similar spectrum analysis we may determine\nto a large extent the constitution of the fixed stars and other\nself-luminous bodies of space and interpret the phenomena which they\nexhibit. We quote the following from the previously cited article\nin Appleton's Cyclop\u00e6dia, by Professor Proctor: \"Spectroscopic\nanalysis applied to the stars has shown that they resemble the sun in\ngeneral constitution and condition. But characteristic differences\nexist, insomuch that the stars have been divided into four orders\ndistinguished by their spectra. These are thus presented by Secchi,\nwho examined more than five hundred star spectra: The first type is\nrepresented by Alpha Lyr\u00e6, Sirius, etc., and includes most of the\nstars shining with a white light, as Altair, Regulus, Rigel, the\nstars Beta, Gamma, Epsilon, Zeta, and Eta of Ursa Major, etc. These\ngive a spectrum showing all the seven colors, and crossed usually\nby many lines, but always by the four lines of hydrogen, very dark\nand strong. The breadth of these four lines indicates a very deep,\nabsorptive stratum at a high temperature and at great pressure. Nearly\nhalf the stars observed by Secchi [more than two hundred out of five\nhundred] showed this spectrum. The second type includes most of the\nyellow stars, as Capella, Pollux, Arcturus, Aldebaran, Alpha of Ursa\nMajor, Procyon, etc. The Fraunhofer lines are well seen in the red\nand blue, but not so well in the yellow. The resemblance of this\nspectrum to the sun suggests that stars of this type resemble the\nsun closely in physical constitution and condition. About one-third\nof the stars observed by Secchi [more than one hundred and fifty\nout of five hundred] showed this spectrum. The third type includes\nAntares, Alpha of Orion, and Alpha of Hercules, Beta of Pegasus,\nMira, and most of the stars shining with a red light. The spectra\nshow bands of lines; according to Secchi, there are shaded bands,\nbut a more powerful spectroscope shows multitudes of fine lines. The\nspectra resemble somewhat the spectrum of a sun-spot, and Secchi has\nadvanced the theory that these stars are covered in great part by\nspots like those of the sun. About one hundred [out of five hundred]\nof the observed stars belong to this type.\" (It should be noted that\nthe presence of sun-spots is no evidence of diminished heat in a sun;\nsee Professor Proctor in his \"Myths and Marvels of Astronomy,\" article\n\"Suns in Flames:\" \"It may be noticed, in passing, that it is by no\nmeans certain that the time when the sun is most spotted is the time\nwhen he gives out least light.... All the evidence we have tends to\nshow that when the sun is most spotted his energies are most active. It\nis then that the colored flames leap to their greatest height and show\ntheir greatest brilliancy, then also that they show the most rapid and\nremarkable changes of shape.\") ... \"The fourth type differs from the\npreceding in the arrangement and appearance of the bands. It includes\nonly faint stars. A few stars, as Gamma of Cassiopeia, Eta of Argus,\nBeta of Lyra, etc., show the lines of hydrogen bright instead of dark,\nas though surrounded by hydrogen glowing with a heat more intense\nthan that of the central orb itself around which the hydrogen exists.\"\n\nAll the above five hundred stars reveal the presence of hydrogen under\nprecisely such conditions as conform to the general principle involved\nin the source and mode of solar energy as herein stated. But a single\nstar (Betelgeuse) was observed by Huggins and Miller in England which\nshowed the lines of sodium, magnesium, iron, bismuth, and calcium,\n\"but found those of hydrogen wanting.\" Of the spectrum of this gas,\nProfessor Ball says, \"The hydrogen spectrum appears to present a\nsimplicity not found in the spectrum of any other gas, and therefore\nit is with great interest that we examine the spectra of the white\nstars, in which the dark lines of hydrogen are unusually strong and\nbroad.\" Referring to the new star in the Northern Crown, which burst\nforth in 1866, the same writer says, \"The feature which made the\nspectrum of the new star essentially distinct from that of any other\nstar that had been previously observed was the presence of certain\nbright lines superposed on a spectrum with dark lines of one of the\nordinary types. The position of certain of these lines showed that\none of the luminous gases must be hydrogen.\" Of this particular star\n(Betelgeuse) it is said (Proctor's \"Familiar Essays\"), \"Red stars\nand variable stars affect the neighborhood of the Milky Way or of\nwell-marked star-streams. The constellation Orion is singularly rich\nin objects of this class. It is here that the strange 'variable'\nBetelgeuse lies. At present this star shows no sign of variation,\nbut a few years ago it exhibited remarkable changes.\" We thus see\nthat Betelgeuse is a variable star, and it must have passed in its\ndifferent variations between the limits of extreme brilliancy, in which\nthe lines of hydrogen appear bright, and that of a less brilliant\nstage, in which they appear dark,--that is, as absorption bands. It\nhas thus, in fact, run the gamut, so to speak, of color changes, and\nnow occupies an intermediate position in the scale. In his article\n\"Star unto Star,\" the same writer says, \"On this view we may fairly\nassume that the darkness of the hydrogen lines is a characteristic\nof stars at a much higher temperature than our sun and suns of the\nsame class.\" We have already seen that the spectra of stars of the\nfourth type--Appleton's Cyclop\u00e6dia, \"Spectrum Analysis\"--\"show the\nlines of hydrogen bright instead of dark, as though surrounded by\nhydrogen glowing with a heat more intense than that of the central\norb itself.\" Professor Dunkin says, in his work \"The Midnight Sky,\"\n\"One of the conclusions drawn by Kirchhoff from these experiments\nis that each incandescent gas weakens, by absorption, rays of the\nsame degree of refrangibility as those it emits; or, in other words,\nthat the spectrum of each incandescent gas is reversed when this gas\nis traversed by rays of the same refrangibility emanating from an\nintensely luminous source which gives of itself a continuous spectrum\nlike that of the sun.\" ... \"The third division, including Betelgeuse,\nAntares, Alpha Herculis, and others of like color, seems to be\naffected by something peculiar in their physical composition, as if\ntheir photospheres contained a quantity of gas at a lower temperature\nthan usual. The stars in this class have generally a ruddy tint,\nprobably owing to their light having undergone some modification\nwhile passing through an absorbing atmosphere.... A great number of\nthe stars in the third division are variable in their lustre.\" We may\ntherefore readily conclude that midway between the inverted lines which\nconstitute the dark absorption bands and the faint spectra which show\nthe bright lines of hydrogen direct there must be an atmosphere of\nglowing hydrogen superposed upon a deeper one in such proportion that\nit will not reveal its presence in the spectroscope at all; for when\nthe dark and light bands, which occupy precisely the same position in\nthe spectrum, are of approximately equal intensity the result will\nobviously be the neutralization of both. That among a myriad suns,\nsome with dark hydrogen lines and some with bright, there should occur\noccasionally an example corresponding to this point of divergence,\nand especially among variable stars, is not only to be expected, but\nis, in fact, confirmatory of the general hypothesis itself. It is an\nexception which emphatically proves the rule, when we can trace the\noperative cause which has produced it.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nTHE PHENOMENA OF THE STARS.\n\n\nLet us now consider the phenomena of the double stars. These\nwere formerly believed to be single orbs, but the more powerful\ntelescopes of recent years have shown them to consist of two suns,\neach substantially similar to our own sun, revolving around each\nother at a relatively small distance apart. In Appleton's Cyclop\u00e6dia,\narticle \"Star,\" we read, \"It is noteworthy that few simple stars\nshow such colors as blue, green, violet, or indigo; but among double\nand multiple star systems not only are these colors recognized, but\nsuch colors as lilac, olive, gray, russet, and so on. A beautiful\nfeature in many double stars remains to be noticed: it is often found\nthat the components exhibit complementary colors. This is oftener\nseen among unequal doubles, and then the larger component shows a\ncolor from the red end of the spectrum, as red, orange, or yellow,\nwhile the smaller shows the corresponding color from the blue end,\nas green, blue, or purple. The colors are real, not merely the result\nof contrast, for when the larger star is concealed the color of the\nsmaller remains (in most cases) unchanged. Spectrum analysis shows\nthat the colors of many double stars are due to the absorptive vapors\ncutting off certain portions of the light.... The components are\ncircling around each other, or rather around their common center of\ngravity.\" Professor Ball, in his work \"In the High Heavens,\" says,\n\"There is no more pleasing phenomenon in sidereal astronomy than\nthat presented by the contrasted hues often exhibited by double\nstars.... It seemed not at all impossible that there might be some\noptical explanation of colors so vividly contrasted emanating from\npoints so contiguous. It was also remembered that blue stars were\ngenerally only present as one member of an associated pair.... When,\nhowever, Dr. Huggins showed that the actual spectrum of the object\ndemonstrated that the cause of the color in each star arose from\nabsorption by its peculiar atmosphere, it became impossible to doubt\nthe reality of the phenomena. Since then it has been for physicists\nto explain why two closely neighboring stars should differ so widely\nin their atmospheric constituents, for it can be no longer contended\nthat their beautiful hues arise from an optical illusion.\"\n\nOf these double stars with complementary colors we quote the following\nfrom Professor Dunkin (who, in turn, quotes from Admiral Smyth, the\nauthor of \"Sidereal Chromatics\"): \"In Eta Cassiopei\u00e6 the large star\nis a dull white and the smaller one lilac; in Gamma Andromed\u00e6, a deep\nyellow and sea-green; in Iota Cancri, a dusky orange and a sapphire\nblue; in Delta Corvi, a bright yellow and purple; and in Albiero,\nor Beta Cygni, yellow and blue. In most of the remaining stars of\nthe list the contrasting colors are equally marked, and also in many\nothers which are not included in it.\" Some of these double stars are\nvariable in their colors, as are the ordinary single variables, and,\nof course, for a similar reason,--to wit, the varying intensity of\nmore or less cumulative planetary impacts.\n\nThe interpretation, of course, as explained below, is that these suns,\neach one of different mass and consequently of different electrical\nresistance, are arranged in parallel circuit along a single line of\nelectric current; a pair of different-sized arc or incandescent lamps,\nsimilarly arranged, would exhibit precisely the same phenomena. A\ncompound solar system of this sort, apparently, with double sun and\nsingle planetary system in process of formation, nearly completed\nfrom a spiral nebula, is shown in a gaseous nebula within the\nconstellation Ursa Minor, illustrated in Lord Rosse's drawing (see\nNichols \"Architecture of the Heavens,\" Plate X., lower figure).\n\nMore than three thousand of these binary stars have been catalogued,\nand some of them make a complete revolution about their common\ncenters of gravity--so distant are they from each other--in periods\nof not less than sixty, or even eighty, years. Of the double star\nMizar,--the middle one of the three which form the tail of the Great\nBear,--Professor Ball states that, by new methods of spectroscopic\nanalysis, the component stars which form this double have been found\nto be one hundred and fifty millions of miles apart, while Alcor, a\nsmaller star, visible to the naked eye, and enormously farther from\nMizar than are the components of the latter from each other, moves\nthrough space in a parallel direction and with the same velocity as\nits double companion. What the connection may be, if any, we do not\nknow, but their identical course is obviously related to some common\ncircumstance of origin, as is the probable case with those other\ngroups of stars which drift through space together. They show that\nsolar systems are not necessarily individual creations, but may be\nformed in groups at the same period of time, and by the operation of\nnatural laws simultaneously directed upon or into the creative matter\nfrom which solar systems are built up and sent along their way. It\nhas been already shown that our sun has a motion around the center\nof gravity of our own solar system, as a whole, similar to that of\nthe binary stars around each other, but that, by reason of his vast\nrelative mass (seven hundred and fifty to one for all the planets),\nthis center is always within the confines of his own volume. If,\nhowever, our sun were divided into two suns one, two, or five million\nmiles apart, each revolving around a common center of gravity situated\nbetween the two, and the planets revolving around the same center\nof gravity, but relatively more distant, the planets would thus\nrotate around both suns as a common center, and with the electric\npolarity of both suns the same, as must necessarily be the case,\nthey would present phenomena precisely similar to those exhibited by\nthe double stars. And such might very easily be the case in even a\nsystem so small as our own, for the planet Mercury has so elliptical\nan orbit that its distance from the sun varies in different parts\nof its annual movement from twenty-eight to forty-five millions\nof miles. There would then be mutual electric repulsion of the two\nsolar electrospheres, such as we see in the case of comets and in\nthe sun's corona and long streamers. Professor Proctor, article\n\"The Sun's Long Streamers,\" says, \"These singular appendages, like\nthe streamers seen by Professor Abbe, extend directly from the sun,\nas if he exerted some repellent action.... I cannot but think that\nthe true explanation of these streamers, whatever it may be (I am not\nin the least prepared to say what it is), will be found whensoever\nastronomers have found an explanation of comets' tails.... Whether\nthe repulsive force is electrical, magnetic, or otherwise, does not\nat present concern us, or rather does concern us, but at present we\nare quite unable to answer the question.\" A similar example is to\nbe found in the self-repellent positive electrospheres of the earth\nand moon, illustrated on a previous page, which, in fact, are types\namong planets of precisely what we find in double stars. Now, if\nthese double central suns, with a common system of planets revolving\naround them both, differ one from the other in size, they will differ\nalso in the depth and density of their hydrogen atmospheres, and the\nelectric forces directed against them will produce different results\nin each. In one we will have high temperature, great volatilization,\nand wide absorption bands; in the other, a shallow atmosphere,\na temperature below that of an extensive volatilization of its\nmetallic components, and a spectrum rich in light at the blue end,\nwhile the former one will be correspondingly richer in the yellow\nand red rays at the opposite and lower end of the spectrum. One,\nin fact, will manifest the phenomena of blue-white stars, the other,\nthose of orange-red, but variously modified in a chromatic series. The\ncase may be extended to multiple stars, and complementary colors,\nmore or less perfect, may be almost predicated as the law of compound\nsolar bodies having cores like that of our sun, but each of different\nmass, and surrounded by hydrogen atmospheres of different depths and\ndensities, both acted upon by the same exterior planetary electrical\ncurrents. It is certainly true of double stars, and probably so of all\nthe others. Of course such enormously massive double suns presuppose\nenormous planets, rotating around them at enormous distances; but\nwhen we compare the distance of our own satellite, the moon, from\nthe earth with the distance of Neptune from the sun, and consider\nthat the light of the sun will reach Neptune in about four hours, and\nthen compare this distance with the inconceivable distances of space\nrequisite to retard and merge all radiant energy into the diffused\nmolecular energy of position, our wonder will cease.\n\nWe have also to consider those single stars which (see Appleton's\nCyclop\u00e6dia, article \"Star\") are variable in their brilliancy. \"These\nstars may be divided into periodic variables, irregular variables,\nand temporary stars. Periodic variable stars are those which undergo\nincrease and diminution of light at regular intervals. Thus, the\nstar Mira, or Omicron of Cetus, varies in lustre, in a period of\nthree hundred and thirty-one and one-third days, from the second\nmagnitude to a faintness such that the star can only be seen with\na powerful telescope, and thence to the second magnitude again. It\nshines for about a fortnight as a star of the second magnitude,\nand then remains invisible for five months, the decrease of lustre\noccupying about three months, the increase about seven weeks. Such\nis the general course of its phases. It does not always, however,\nreturn to the same degree of brightness, nor increase and diminish\nby the same gradations; neither are the successive intervals of its\nmaxima equal. From recent observations and inquiries into its history,\nthe mean period would appear to be subject to a cyclical fluctuation\nembracing eighty-eight such periods, and having the effect of gradually\nlengthening and shortening alternately those intervals to the extent\nof twenty-five days one way and the other. The irregularities in\nthe degree of brightness attained at the maximum are probably also\nperiodical.... It suggests a probable explanation of these changes of\nbrightness, that when the star is near its minimum, its color changes\nfrom white to a full red, which, from what we know of the spectra of\ncolored stars, seems to indicate that the loss of brightness is due\nto the formation of many spots over the surface of this distant sun.\n\n\"Algol is another remarkable variable, passing, however, much more\nrapidly through all its changes. It is ordinarily a second-magnitude\nstar, but during about seven hours in each period of sixty-nine hours\nits lustre first diminishes until the star is reduced to a fourth\nmagnitude, and after it has remained twenty minutes at its minimum its\nlustre is gradually restored. It remains a second-magnitude star for\nabout sixty-two hours in each period of sixty-nine hours. These changes\nseem to correspond to what might be expected if a large opaque orb\nis circling around this distant sun in a period of sixty-nine hours,\ntransiting its disk at regular intervals.\"\n\nOf this star, Professor Ball says, \"Applying the improved spectroscopic\nprocess to Algol, he [Vogel] determined on one night that Algol\nwas retreating from the earth at a speed of twenty-six miles per\nsecond.... When Vogel came to repeat his observations, he found that\nAlgol was again moving with the same velocity, but this time towards\nthe earth instead of from it.... It appeared that the movements were\nstrictly periodic; that is to say, for one day and ten hours the star\nis moving towards us, and then for a like time it moves from us, the\nmaximum speed being ... twenty-six miles a second.... It is invariably\nfound that every time the movement of retreat is concluded the star\nloses its brilliance, and regains it again at the commencement of the\nreturn movement.... The spectroscopic evidence admits of no other\ninterpretation save that there must be another mighty body in the\nimmediate vicinity of Algol.... Algol must be attended by a companion\nstar which, if not absolutely as devoid of intrinsic light as the\nearth or the moon, is nevertheless dark relatively to Algol. Once in\neach period of revolution this obscure body intrudes itself between\nthe earth and Algol, cutting off a portion of the direct light from\nthe star and thus producing the well-known effect.\" This is, in fact,\na periodic transit or eclipse of Algol by a planet, such as we see in\neclipses of our own sun by the moon and the inner planets, except that\nAlgol's planet is apparently single like our moon with reference to\nthe earth, and that it is relatively much larger than any of our own\nplanets, as we would necessarily suppose it to be, if solitary. Its\nmass has been computed by the effects which it produces, and we learn\nthat it is not a dark sun with a brilliant planet, but a brilliant\nsun with a dark planet, just as our solar system presents. \"Algol,\nat the moment of its greatest eclipse, has lost about three-fifths\nof its light; it therefore follows that the dark satellite must have\ncovered three-fifths of the bright surface.... The period of maximum\nobscuration is about twenty minutes, and we know the velocity of the\nbright star, which, along with the period of revolution, gives the\nmagnitude of the orbit.\" From these data it has been computed that\nthe globe of Algol itself is about one-fourth larger than that of\nour visible sun, but its mass is so much less that its weight is only\none-half that of our sun, so that its body is probably gaseous. The\nauthor concludes, \"No one, however, will be likely to doubt that it\nis the law of gravitation, pure and simple, which prevails in the\ncelestial spaces, and consequently we are able to make use of it to\nexplain the circumstances attending the movements of Algol's dark\ncompanion. This body is the smaller of the two, and the speed with\nwhich it moves is double as great as that of Algol, so that it travels\nover as many miles in a second as an express train can get over in an\nhour. The companion of Algol is about the same size as our sun, but\nhas a mass only one-fourth as great. This indicates a globe of matter\nwhich must be largely in the gaseous state, but which, nevertheless,\nseems to be devoid of intrinsic luminosity. Their distance [apart]\nis always some three million miles. This is, however, an unusually\nshort distance when compared with the dimensions of the two globes\nthemselves.\" With this exception, the author says, \"the movements of\nAlgol and its companion are not very dissimilar to movements in the\nsolar system with which we are already familiar.\" It will be seen that\nthe want of luminosity in the dark companion of Algol finds a ready\nexplanation in the fact that it is a planet, acting precisely as our\nown planets do, and that the luminosity of Algol itself is directly\nattributable to the electricity developed by the presence of this\nplanet rotating axially and orbitally around it, and the darkness of\nthe planet itself is the necessary correlative of the heat and light\nof its sun. The planet has about one-half the density of Saturn, while\nAlgol has one-half the density of the sun, and hence we should expect\nto find on Algol an atmosphere largely composed of glowing hydrogen,\nand on its planet an atmosphere largely composed of oxygen, in which,\ndoubtless, float enormous clouds of aqueous vapor. The interpretation\nis direct and conclusive, and upon no other hypothesis can the facts\nbe explained, for their close connection with each other demonstrates\ntheir common origin, and their masses are not so different one from the\nother as to permit, on any theory of their coequal origin as suns, one\nto glow with the fires of youth and energy and the other to have grown\ndark and dead from old age and exhaustion, and especially so if still\nin its gaseous stage, which is that which must characterize its highest\nstate of incandescent energy from the most active condensation of its\nvolume, if the nebular hypothesis has any validity whatever. In fact,\nthis example alone, if the constitution of Algol's dark satellite is\nreally gaseous, must go very far to throw the gravest doubt, in itself,\non the validity of this hypothesis.\n\nThe star Beta, of the constellation Lyra, has a full period of twelve\ndays and twenty-two hours, divided into two periods of six days and\neleven hours, in each of which the star has a maximum brightness of\nabout the three and one-half magnitude, but in one period the minimum\nis about the four and one-third magnitude, while in the other it\nis about the four and one-half magnitude. This peculiarity points,\nit is said, to an opaque orb with a satellite, the satellite being\nocculted by the primary in the alternative transits, and therefore\nthe loss of light is less.\n\nThe star Delta of Cepheus is quite different, however, for, while it\ntakes only one, day and fourteen hours in passing from its minimum\nto maximum of brightness, it occupies three days and nineteen hours,\nor somewhat more than double this time, in passing from maximum to\nminimum. Two or three hundred of these variable stars are already\nknown. The above examples are cited in detail because they furnish\nthe strongest possible proof of the truth of the hypothesis which we\nare endeavoring to present. While the movements of the stars Algol\nand Beta Lyr\u00e6 may find an adequate interpretation in the one case\nin a large occulting planet, and in the other in an occulting planet\nwith a satellite, it is obvious that Mira and Delta Cephei cannot be\nexplained except by the presence of planetary bodies or satellites\nwhich do not mechanically occult the light of their suns. In these\nregularly variable stars it is the light which varies, but of course\nthe solar heat must vary also,--that is to say, the solar energy varies\nregularly, but with unequal periods of growth and decline and with\nlarger periods of cyclical variation in addition. Such variations can\nonly be produced by the action of permanently connected and orbitally\nrotating planetary bodies, acting dynamically through space, to\nregularly increase and diminish the solar energy, and such bodies can\nonly do this by their orbital positions with reference to each other\nand to the central sun itself. In this case, since the activity of\nsolar energy is most unquestionably varied by the planetary energies,\nby their position and movements, at least a portion of solar energy\nmust be due to planetary action, and if this be so, it may be affirmed\nwith certainty that substantially all solar energy may be produced in\nthe same way; for, otherwise, we seek for two diverse causes to produce\na single effect, which may be produced by one. We have no knowledge,\nhowever, of any planetary energy which could operate to increase or\ndiminish the energy of the central sun in its emission of light, except\nthat which we have already presented, and no theory of our own sun's\nenergy hitherto advanced has ever taken cognizance of the planetary\nenergies of our system as an effective cause for those of the sun. But\nwhile the sun's energy is--as it must be in this case--the outcome of\nthat of the planets, it is equally obvious that the planets themselves\ncan have no permanent, inherent energy of their own to generate or\nmodify such energy of the sun, since they are in fact supplied by\nthe solar energy, and their motions are controlled and regulated by\nthe sun itself. Hence the inference is irresistible that the planets\nmust derive their primary force from an external source not solar,\nand this they can only do by means of their rotation in space, and\nthe only force derivable from space of which we have any knowledge\nis electricity, so that the circle thus becomes complete. How now\nshall we explain these periodical aberrations of energy? The color\nof a star, as we know, is no criterion of its age or size. The color\nis due to atmospheric absorption of the radiant light. The double\nstars, for example, revolve around each other at regular periods,\nand they are necessarily of nearly the same age, as sidereal ages\nare computed, but they frequently differ one from the other in color,\nand multiple stars may be all different each from the others; and the\ncolor, as before stated, is no criterion of size, for a small sun,\nwith its glowing hydrogen in a state of high incandescence, and with\nfew absorption bands in its spectrum, will appear bluish-white, or of\nthat specific type of stars, without reference to size, while a much\nlarger sun, with its light darkened by broad absorption bands and\nsun-spots, will appear orange or red; and, consequently, difference\nof color can be no criterion of distance, since a blue-white star of\nsmall size will outshine a red orb of much greater magnitude, whether\nit be more or less distant. The variable stars, for these reasons,\nbelong to the order of red stars mostly, if not altogether. We must\nalso bear in mind that sun-spots do not diminish the solar heat, as\nthey are the result of increased and not of diminished energy. Electric\ncurrents of high potential pass directly, as we know, along the lines\nof least resistance to their opposite center of polarity, so that two\nplanets nearly in conjunction with each other transmit their currents\nalmost directly towards the sun's center, and upon the same point\nof solar latitude, while, if at right angles with the sun, they must\ndeliver their electricity along converging lines and thus strike the\nsolar surface at different points. Currents of electricity of high\npotential also (see \"Electricity in the Service of Man,\" page 75),\nby their own passage, facilitate the passage of succeeding currents,\nso that generators discharging along the same lines find less and\nless resistance. It is true that we find no appreciable resistance\nin the passage of these currents between the earth and the sun, as\ntheir velocity is that of light, but both light and electricity may\nbe equally retarded by resistance in a small degree. We know also\nthat in the condensed hydrogen atmosphere of the sun there must be\nresistance, and also that the resistance in fluids diminishes as the\ntemperature rises. Considering now the variable star Mira, as above\ndescribed, we observe, as is the case with Delta Cephei, also cited,\nthat the period between its greatest light, in a descending scale,\nand its least is about twice as long as its rise from minimum to\nmaximum. During a period of four years (1672 to 1676) it is said that\nit was not visible at all.\n\nIf Mira be considered a relatively small sun, with its axis strongly\ninclined to the planetary plane, and having three planets only, two of\nthem constituting a double planet, like the earth and moon, but nearly\nequal in size, and having a rotation about the sun in nearly eleven\nmonths and a rotation about each other in the same period, and, besides\nthese, a much more distant large planet, something like our Jupiter,\nwith an orbital period of many years, so that the cycle of relative\npositions is complete in about eighty-eight of the shorter periods of\nvariation, we would have such results as we see in Mira. Twice in each\nrevolution of the double planet its two members and their sun would be\nin conjunction, and we would have great brilliancy and whiteness until\nthe metallic elements began to volatilize in increased proportions;\nthen an era of wide absorption bands and redness, gradually increasing\nto a maximum after its periods of greatest light, and then slowly\ndiminishing as the double planet advanced in its rotation; and,\nfinally, as it again approached conjunction, the brilliant hydrogen\nillumination, subsequently followed by the gradually darkened spectrum,\nand so on, while the large outer planet by its various positions\nwould first relatively retard and then accelerate the variation\nuntil its grand cycle was complete. The permanent disappearance for\nyears, if true, may be due to other causes, which will be referred\nto in considering the phenomena of new and temporary stars. Many of\nthe irregular variables may doubtless be similarly explained,--our\nown sun, in fact, being a variable with a period of about eleven\nyears,--and doubtless the apparent irregularity in most cases is\ndue to lack of sufficient time for observation. Those stars which\nare in fact really irregular in their variation owe their changes,\ndoubtless, to the same causes which produce new stars, so called,\nand \"suns in flames,\" which will be next considered.\n\nAmong the countless stars of heaven a great catastrophe seems\noccasionally to occur. A star bursts out into sudden flame, to all\nappearance, or a great fixed star appears where no star had ever been\nseen before. In Professor Proctor's article, \"Suns in Flames\" (\"Myths\nand Marvels of Astronomy\"), we will find an extended discussion of\nthese wonderful phenomena. The astronomer Tycho Brahe described the\none which appeared in 1572 as follows: \"It suddenly shone forth in\nthe constellation Cassiopeia with a splendor exceeding that of stars\nof the first magnitude, or even Jupiter or Venus at their brightest,\nand could be seen by the naked eye on the meridian at full day. Its\nbrilliancy gradually diminished from the time of its first appearance,\nand at the end of sixteen months it entirely disappeared, and has never\nbeen seen since. During the whole time of its apparition its place in\nthe heavens remained unaltered, and it had no annual parallax, so that\nits distance was of the same order as that of the fixed stars.\" Tycho\ndescribed its changes of color as follows: first, as having been of a\nbright white; afterwards of a reddish-yellow, like Mars or Aldebaran;\nand, lastly, of a leaden white, like Saturn. In 1604 a first-magnitude\nstar suddenly appeared in the right foot of Ophiucus. \"It presented\nappearances resembling those shown by the former, and disappeared\nafter a few months.\" Many other cases are cited by astronomers, and\nin 1866 \"a star appeared in the Northern Crown, the observations of\nwhich threw great light on the subject of so-called new stars. In\nthe first place, it was found that where this new star appeared there\nhad been a tenth-magnitude star; the new star, then, was in reality\na star long known, which had acquired new brilliancy. \"When first\nobserved with this abnormal lustre, it was shining as a star of the\nsecond magnitude. Examined with the spectroscope, its light revealed a\nstartling state of things in those remote depths of space. The usual\nstellar spectrum, rainbow-tinted and crossed by dark lines, was seen\nto be crossed also by four exceedingly bright lines, the spectrum of\nglowing hydrogen.... The greater part of the star's light manifestly\ncame from this glowing hydrogen, though it can scarcely be doubted\nthat the rest of the spectrum was brighter than before the outburst,\nthe materials of the star being raised to an intense heat. The maximum\nbrightness exceeded that of a tenth-magnitude star nearly eight hundred\ntimes. After shining for a short time as a second-magnitude star,\nit diminished rapidly in lustre, and it is now between the ninth\nand tenth magnitudes\" (Appleton's Cyclop\u00e6dia). Of this new star,\nProfessor Ball says, \"Another memorable achievement in the early part\nof Dr. Huggins's career is connected with the celebrated new star that\nburst forth in the Crown in 1866. It seemed a fortunate coincidence\nthat just at the moment when the spectroscope was beginning to be\napplied to the sidereal heavens a star of such marvellous character\nshould have presented itself.... The feature which made the spectrum\nof the new star essentially distinct from that of any other star\nthat had been previously observed was the presence of certain bright\nlines superposed on a spectrum with dark lines of one of the ordinary\ntypes. The position of certain of these lines showed that one of the\nluminous gases must be hydrogen.... The spectroscope showed that there\nmust have been something which we may describe as a conflagration\nof hydrogen on a stupendous scale, and this outburst would account\nfor the sudden increase in luminosity of the star, and also to some\nextent explain how so stupendous an illumination, once kindled, could\ndwindle away in so short a time as a few days.\" It will be seen that\nthese new stars leap suddenly into great brilliancy: it is a matter\nof a few hours only. After remaining a very short time in this stage\nof abnormal incandescence, they gradually die out again in lustre and\nrevert to their original condition; they are not consumed either in\nbody or atmosphere.\n\nSeveral theories have been advanced to account for these remarkable\nphenomena; see \"Suns in Flames,\" by Professor Proctor. One is, in\neffect, that by some sudden \"internal convulsion a large volume of\nhydrogen and other gases was evolved from it, the hydrogen by its\ncombination with some other element giving out the lines represented\nby the bright lines, and at the same time heating to a point of\nvivid incandescence the solid matter of the star's surface.... As the\nliberated hydrogen gas became exhausted the flame gradually abated,\nand with the consequent cooling the star's surface became less vivid\nand the star returned to its original condition;\" which, by the way,\nit never could have done if its atmosphere had been exposed to such a\ndisintegration, without the construction of an entirely new atmosphere\nprecisely similar to the one just destroyed. The process would be one\nof simple combustion. It requires the evolution of enormous volumes\nof hydrogen from within the planet, and of other enormous volumes of\nsomething else, by which to burn it up and yet not burn up the original\nhydrogen envelope. This other element could not have previously\nexisted outside the solar body and contiguous thereto, or it would\nhave burned up the ordinary hydrogen envelope of the sun long before,\nas well as the metallic vapors floating therein. Both these mutually\nhostile gases must have come from within, and this is manifestly\nimpossible, as we should thus have explosion and solar destruction,\nbut not combustion. There is no reason to believe that hydrogen,\nthe lightest of elements, could have remained occluded within the\nsolar mass, to the exclusion of the heavier metals, if disassociated,\nand if held combined no such sudden liberation could occur. Besides,\nsuch convulsion would be impossible in any sun at all resembling ours,\nas any further liberation of gases from internal condensation must be\ndue to solar contraction, hence gradual, and not sudden. Moreover,\nsuch liberation of hydrogen gas from within would show its spectrum\nloaded, at its earliest eruption, with absorption bands; and, finally,\nthe convulsion presupposes as great an activity, and consequently as\ngreat a difficulty, before the phenomenon as the phenomenon itself\npresents; for such vast disturbance of mass would be more difficult\nto account for, and require more energy to produce, than the results\nthemselves. Moreover, the whole mass of the star appeared to increase\nequally in temperature, as shown by the spectrum, and, if produced by\nan internal convulsion, this must have extended to, if not proceeded\nfrom, its core; so that while the combustion of hydrogen might have\nceased in a very brief time, the intense heat of the solar mass could\nnot have been dissipated for thousands of years. It would, in fact,\nhave disrupted the whole orb.\n\nAnother theory is that this vast incandescence was caused by the\n\"violent precipitation of some mighty mass--perhaps a planet--upon\nthe globe of that remote sun, by which the momentum of the falling\nmass would be changed into molecular motion; in other words, into\nheat and light.\" This theory is no more plausible than the other,\nsince it fails to account for the enormous volume of hydrogen, with\nbright lines, as a result of such contact; while Professor Proctor\nvery clearly shows that such contact would have been preceded,\nnecessarily, by repeated partial grazings, as the outside body\nrepeatedly passed in swifter and closer passage by the sun in its\ngradually approaching orbital revolutions, and that the increase\nof light and heat must have been measured by years instead of by\nhours. The same difficulties exist in the supposed passage of the star\nthrough nebul\u00e6 or star clouds, of which Professor Proctor says, \"As\nfor the rush of a star through a nebulous mass, that is a theory which\nwould scarcely be entertained by any one acquainted with the enormous\ndistances separating them.... All we certainly know suggests that the\ndistances separating them from each other are comparable with those\nwhich separate star from star.\" In fact, no tenable theory has been\nadvanced which will cover the phenomena. Professor Proctor describes\na star which flamed out in 1876. At midnight, November 24, a star\nof the third magnitude was noticed in the constellation of the Swan;\nits light was very yellow; its brilliancy rapidly faded. On December\n2 it was equal to a star of the fifth magnitude only, and the color,\nwhich had been yellow, was now greenish-blue. \"The star's spectrum\nat this time consisted almost entirely of bright lines. December 5 he\nfound three bright lines of hydrogen, the strong double line of sodium,\nthe triple line of magnesium, and two other lines. One of these last\nseemed to agree exactly in position with a bright line belonging\nto the corona seen around the sun during total eclipse.\" The star\nafterwards faded away gradually until quite invisible to the naked\neye. It will be noticed that none of the above elements--sodium,\npotassium, or magnesium--are such as would combine with hydrogen\nto produce the phenomena in question. Professor Proctor concludes,\n\"This evidence seems to me to suggest that the intense heat which\nsuddenly affected this star had its origin from without.\" He suggests\npossible meteoric flights; but meteoric stones themselves are separated\nin space by enormous distances, and these, if converged in orbital\nflight, would present the same phenomena of successive grazings as\na small planet approaching under like circumstances, and by their\ngradually increasing incandescence we should certainly have other\nelements visible in the spectroscope besides those observed. And these\nmeteoric bodies, if projected into the sun, would pass in a very brief\ntime through the hydrogen envelope, producing only local phenomena,\nso that their first blow would be manifested in volatilization of the\nouter portions of the mass and broad absorption bands, and consequent\nredness of the planet, exhibiting great heat, but not great light. In\nsuch case the bright lines of hydrogen, if they appeared at all, would\nonly be visible as an after-consequence, and not at the earliest moment\nof conflagration,--that is, the star might grow from red to white,\nbut by no possibility the reverse. It is, however, characteristic\nof these new stars that their first flash, as it were, is into the\nincandescence of directly glowing hydrogen, with its bright lines,\nthen through a series of gradually increasing sun-spots, and finally\na slow return to their original condition and apparent magnitude. It\nis obviously a surface phenomenon of the solar atmosphere, primarily,\nthen followed by consequences involving only the outer surface of the\nsolar core, but with no observable permanent change in the character\nor constitution of the mass of the sun itself. These characteristics\nare invariable, and the sequence of phenomena is the same in all the\ncases observed.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nTEMPORARY STARS, METEORS, AND COMETS.\n\n\nWhat, then, is the probable cause of these terrific conflagrations,\nas they appear to us? Take an ordinary electric induction machine,--a\nHoltz or a Wimshurst,--and, if the surrounding air is moist, as we\noperate it we will find that the results are poor, the sparks short\nand relatively few; but let us take the machine into another room\nin which the atmosphere is dry and crisp. A wondrous change will\noccur, and instead of a current which could scarcely flash across\na few inches of space, we will now have so great an increase of\nenergy that its tension will even cause the spark to perforate and\ndestroy the glass walls of the heavy Leyden jars in which it is\ncondensed. The vast realms of space, with their attenuated vapors,\nare the field in which the planetary electric generators operate,\nand into which, likewise, myriads of suns constantly pour their\nlight and heat. We may consider this space, according to the popular\nview, to be uniform in constitution and density throughout all its\nparts,--that it is, in fact, like a vast, silent, and motionless dead\nsea. But this cannot possibly be true, any more than throughout the\nvast compass of our own atmosphere; for while some parts of space are\npeopled by millions of solar systems, others, as we can plainly see,\nso far as telescopic vision extends, are comparatively vacant. Far\nmore electricity is being abstracted (so to speak) in some parts of\nspace than in others, and far more heat and light are being poured\nback to restore the equilibrium in some than in others. We have\nalready seen that the temperature at the exterior surface of the\nterrestrial atmosphere is estimated to be more than two hundred\ndegrees higher than in the realms of open interplanetary space;\nhence there must be currents,--currents of rotation like cyclones,\nvortical currents like whirlwinds, currents of transmission like our\nland- and sea-breezes and the trade-winds,--and, in fact, all space\nmust be in a state of constant displacement and replacement, and, if\nvisible, we should see it like a vast room filled with smoke, in which\ncurrents of every shape and direction and of all velocities would be\nmanifest. Such currents could throw nebul\u00e6 during their condensation\ninto rotation which could never rotate of their own motion, or gather\nto centers of aggregation vast whirling clouds of spatial matter,\nand in the spiral nebul\u00e6 we may see many such movements of rotation in\napparent active progress. Of these we read in Appleton's Cyclop\u00e6dia,\n\"They have the appearance of a maelstrom of stellar matter, and are\namong the most interesting objects in the heavens.\" In Professor\nNichol's splendid work (\"The Architecture of the Heavens,\" 1850)\nwe may see magnificent engravings of these wonderful phenomena,\nfrom the drawings by Lord Rosse, and no one can study these figures\nwithout realizing the presence of vast currents in space.\n\nIn the great spiral nebula in the constellation Canes Venatici (see\nillustration in Chapter XII.) we perceive that the tail of the smaller\nnebula has been drawn into the outer convolution of the great spiral,\nagainst the radial repulsion of the latter nebula, as we can see by\nits curvature. This can only be due to a tremendous inflowing current\nin space. Were the deflection due to gravity the trend would be to the\ncenter and not to the outer convolution of the larger nebula. Professor\nNichol says, \"The spiral figure is characteristic of an extensive\nclass of galaxies.\" Not only in the spiral, but in other forms of\nnebul\u00e6 we may observe these currents of space, so that we cannot fail\nto perceive that they exist, and we should even conclude, a priori,\nthat these must exist.\n\nIn the elongated linear nebula in Sobieski's Crown, illustrated\nabove, its length is deflected into irregular curves apparently due\nto counter-currents of space. These gaseous nebul\u00e6, Flammarion says,\n\"appear like immense vaporous clouds tossed about by some rough winds,\npierced with deep rents, and broken in jagged portions.\" It may be\nsaid generally that every sun, as it drifts through space, must leave\na wake of increased electric potential among the molecules which\nline its pathway. Beyond the limits of every vortex extend radial\nor tangential, polar or equatorial, streams of space, and these\nmust extend without limit until deflected or neutralized by other\nconditions. Throughout all space, just as in our own atmosphere,\nbut vastly more slowly, there must be an infinitude of movements in\nevery direction,--movements in lines, circles, vortices, ellipses and\nirregular curvatures, and of all possible varieties of mass and volume.\n\nSuppose, now, a sailing vessel lighted with incandescent lamps,\nthe electrical currents for the support of which are derived from\nthe chemical action of sea-water on multiple pairs of suitable\nmetallic plates arranged to extend downward as a galvanic battery\ninto the ocean as the ship sails along, and that these plates,\nby the chemical action of the sea-water at ordinary, temperatures,\nshould furnish a sufficient current to properly light the vessel. If\nthe constancy of such current depended on the average temperature\nof the sea-water, at, say, sixty degrees Fahrenheit, we should find\nthat, on suddenly crossing into the Gulf Stream, with a temperature\ntwenty degrees higher, the energy of the battery would be rapidly\nincreased and the lights would glow with increased brilliancy until,\non emerging from the Gulf Stream at its opposite side, the original\nstatus would be gradually restored. If these distant solar systems,\nin their drift through space, should encounter a corresponding stream\nunder an increased molecular tension, more highly heated, for example,\nor charged with electrical potential by the surrounding solar systems,\nor otherwise, we should expect a similar result to ensue,--that the\ncurrents would be increased suddenly, both in quantity and intensity,\nand all the phenomena of \"blazing\" stars be revealed in the precise\norder in which we see them. Professor Proctor seems to have had\nsome such idea of space vaguely in his mind when he says, in his\n\"Familiar Essays,\" \"One is invited to believe that the star may have\nbeen carried by its proper motions into regions where there is a more\nuniform distribution of the material whence this orb recruits its\nfires. It may be that, in the consideration of such causes of variation\naffecting our sun in long-past ages, a more satisfactory explanation\nthan any yet obtained may be found of the problem geologists found\nso perplexing,--the former existence of a tropical climate in places\nwithin the temperate zone, or even near the arctic regions. Sir John\nHerschel long since pointed to the variation of the sun as a possible\ncause of such changes of climate.\" In confirmation of the view that\nsuch changes may be due to the passage of a solar system into or\nthrough such a \"Gulf Stream\" of space, we quote the following from\nProfessor Proctor's \"Suns in Flames:\" \"It is noteworthy that all the\nstars which have blazed out suddenly, except one, have appeared in\na particular region of the heavens,--the zone of the Milky Way (all,\ntoo, in one-half of that zone). The single exception is the star in\nthe Northern Crown, and that star appeared in a region which I have\nfound to be connected with the Milky Way by a well-marked stream\nof stars; not a stream of a few stars scattered here and there, but\na stream where thousands of stars are closely aggregated together,\nthough not quite so closely as to form a visible extension of the Milky\nWay.... Now, the Milky Way and the outlying streams of stars connected\nwith it seem to form a region of the stellar universe where fashioning\nprocesses are still at work.\" In just such regions of potential energy\nshould we look for such currents in space, as, on our own earth,\nthe Gulf Stream and the trade-winds, as well as cyclones and other\natmospheric movements, find their origin under precisely parallel\ncircumstances,--to wit, the outpour upon and direct precipitation of\nincreased quantities of heat at the tropics or other local centers\nof such development. The effects of such an increase of quantity and\npotential in an electrical current are clearly illustrated in the\ndevice previously referred to, in which electrolytic decomposition\nwas effected in a pail of water; we find it also in the burning out\nof the brushes and commutators in dynamo-electric machines and in\ntelegraphic apparatus during thunder-storms and the like. Allowing a\nsolar system a drift through space only equal to that of our own, which\nhas a relatively slow movement, it would traverse such a \"Gulf Stream\"\nof space seven hundred thousand miles wide in a single day. But it may\nnot even have passed through; it may merely have grazed the margin of\nsuch a current; for the motions of solar systems are not controlled by\nthe same forces as those upon which their electrical energies depend.\n\nProfessor Ball, in his chapter on the great heat-wave of 1892, says,\n\"Towards the end of July an extraordinarily high temperature, even\nfor that period of the year, prevailed over a very large part of the\nNorth American continent. The so-called heat-wave then seems to have\ntravelled eastward and crossed the Atlantic Ocean; ... a fortnight\nafter the occurrence of unusually great heat in the New World there\nwas a similar experience in the Old World.... This discussion will at\nall events enable us to make some reply to the question which has often\nbeen asked, as to what was the cause of the great heat-wave.... It is,\nhowever, quite possible that certain changes in progress on the sun\nmay act in a specific manner on our climate.... It cannot be denied\nthat local, if not general, changes in the sun's temperature must be\nthe accompaniment of the violent disturbances by which our luminary\nis now and then agitated. It is, indeed, well known that there are\noccasional outbreaks of solar activity, and that these recur in a\nperiodic manner; it is accordingly not without interest to notice that\nthe present year has been one of the periods of this activity. We\nare certainly not going so far as to say that any connection has\nbeen definitely established between a season of exuberant sun-spots\nand a season remarkable for excessive warmth; but, as we know that\nthere is a connection between the magnetic condition of the earth\nand the state of solar activity, it is by no means impossible that\nclimate and sun-spots may also stand in some relationship to each\nother.\" These local deviations are doubtless due to planetary positions\nwith reference to the sun, but more general variations must depend upon\nthe constitution of such parts of space as the solar system may occupy;\nbut even then they will be but temporary, since the sun's volume will\nrapidly expand or contract so as finally to restore the normal emission\nof solar heat, as will be further explained later on in this work.\n\nThere are other causes also, readily conceivable, for such increased\nelectrical action; for instance, in that thickly-peopled region of\nspace, two solar systems adjacent might easily have their exterior\nplanets so related to each other as suddenly, at their points of\nnearest approach, to cause one or more to direct an abnormally large\nelectrical current into the sun of the adjacent system; this would\ncorrespond in electric energy, in fact, to a violent \"perturbation\"\nin its orbit by the action of gravity produced by a neighboring\nplanet or system. No reversal of polarity could take place between\nthese planets under these circumstances, any more than between the\nearth and the moon. In some portions of the Milky Way, doubtless,\nsuns blaze by dozens across the sky at night, and by day as well,\nto which, in our more solitary skies, we are strangers. Revolving\nin perfect harmony, perturbations must nevertheless be frequent, and\nto what limits they may there be confined we shall never know until\nwe realize the extent of these galaxies and the relative contiguity\nof their solar systems to each other. It is enough to show how such\nvariations may occur; in what particular way they do occur does not\naffect the question of their origin. Even if such increased energy\nwere to continue by permanently increased planetary action, it is not\nnecessary to suppose that a corresponding permanent increase of light\nand heat would result on the part of the sun, for its density is such\n(only one-fourth that of the earth) that, under the tremendous force\nof its gravity (twenty-seven and one-tenth times that of the earth),\nits constituents cannot be maintained in solid form, but must be,\nas before stated, either liquid or gaseous, and perhaps in part\nboth. Now, as it has been computed that the sun, by contraction to\nits present density, would have evolved its present light and heat\nfor a period of millions of years, it is obvious that any increase in\nits present volume, without increase of mass, would produce precisely\nopposite and compensated results, so that the sun could receive from\noutside sources as much heat as would expand its present volume\nto that at the initial point of such assumed condensation without\nincreased emission of light and heat. The sun is thus, in effect,\na self-compensating machine, and its passage through a region of\nincreased electrical generation would first manifest itself in\na vast increase of brilliancy, due to higher incandescence of its\nhydrogen envelope; this, in turn, would be communicated to the deeper\nstructures of the sun, producing increased volatilization and dark\nabsorption bands, and finally to the whole solar mass, expanding\nits volume in proportion to the heat absorbed. Hence we should see\nprecisely the phenomena that we do see in flaming stars or so-called\nnew stars. We find such compensations all through nature, and it is\nsimply in accordance with her universal laws that they occur. It is a\nsingular circumstance that the catastrophe which is foretold in the\nbiblical record as the termination of all human life on earth, for\nthe present cycle, at least, should be almost literally in accordance\nwith the phenomena characteristic of such an increase of solar energy,\nand one produced in some such manner. If the temperature of the solar\natmosphere were rapidly raised by increased planetary action to a\npoint which would reverse the lines of hydrogen from dark to bright,\nsay to a brightness eight hundred times that of the normal, as in\nthe case of the temporary star cited, though the heat would not, of\ncourse, be increased in any such proportion, yet the heavens would be\nindeed rolled up as a scroll, and all life would be extinguished in a\nvery brief period. But the planets would continue to roll along their\norbits, the integrity of the earth's mass would still be intact, and\nafter a few days or weeks the sun would begin to decline in brightness,\nthe volatilized vapors would slowly recede within the solar atmosphere,\nand the temperature would gradually fall again to its normal, leaving,\nhowever, a lifeless world to roll on its way henceforth, but as bright\nand cheerful in all its possibilities, when the former conditions had\ngradually become restored, as before. Perhaps some distant astronomer\nin the neighborhood of Sirius--if we shall have travelled so far away\nby that time--might send a note to the morning papers to announce\nthat the temporary star near Alpha Centauri had again receded to the\ntenth magnitude. In due time--perhaps a thousand years--all would be\nready for a new development of life, and the cycle would continue as\nbefore. Perchance, too, in some deep abyss, or buried far beneath\nthe surface, some germs of life might still continue to exist;\nand from these, like the seeds resurrected from buried mummies,\na new life might again begin, guided along once more through vast\nages in a progressive ascent from development to development until,\nin some new and strange forms, the higher types of life might again\nappear. To these there would indeed be revealed a new heaven and a\nnew earth. Who knows how many such cycles of life may have come and\ngone on earth, in which, like the dwellers of Jerusalem, new peoples\nhave built new cities, one above another, upon the unknown graves of\nthe past? In the words of Tennyson,--\n\n\n   \"A wondrous eft was of old the Lord and Master of earth,\n    For him did his high sun flame, and his river billowing ran,\n    And he felt himself in his force to be Nature's crowning race.\n    As nine months go to the shaping an infant ripe for his birth,\n    So many a million of ages have gone to the making man:\n    He now is first, but is he the last?\"\n\n\nWhatever the coming, the progress, or the going of life on earth,\nthe course of our solar system will go on the same, the processes of\ncreation unchanged and her mechanism unimpaired. It is obvious that\nno such conditions could prevail in the return to unorganizable chaos\nwhich must be the consequence of any possible planetary collisions\nin space. No conceivable process of creation could return a system\ndisrupted into meteorites to an operative solar system again. Even\nthe nebular hypothesis contemplates nothing of that sort as, by the\nwildest conjecture, ever possible. But with us the danger is far\ndistant. Professor Proctor says, in his article \"Suns in Flames,\"\n\"As Sir William Herschel long since pointed out, we can recognize in\nvarious parts of the heavens various stages of development, and chief\namong the regions where as yet nature's work seems incomplete is the\nGalactic zone,--especially that half of it where the Milky Way consists\nof irregular streams and clouds of stellar light. As there is no reason\nfor believing that our sun belongs to this part of the galaxy, but,\non the contrary, good ground for considering that he belongs to the\nclass of insulated stars, few of which have shown signs of irregular\nvariation, while none have ever blazed suddenly out with many hundred\ntimes their former lustre, we may fairly infer a very high degree of\nprobability in favor of the belief that, for many ages still to come,\nthe sun will continue steadily to discharge his duties as fire, light,\nand life of the solar system.\" The passage of our system through\ngradually changing regions of space, as contrasted with streams\nor vortices, could not affect our sun's light even temporarily, as\nthe contraction and expansion of its volume would fully compensate\nfor any such gradual or partial variation, and, by position, he is\nfar from likely to pass into any of those whirlpools or torrents of\nspace which seem to mark at irregular intervals the region of the\nirregularly variable stars.\n\nAllied in appearance to such stars which suddenly flame out in space,\nbut totally different in reality, are comets. These strangers to our\nown system have excited the wonder and astonishment of mankind from\nthe earliest ages. They seem to defy all rules and all explanation;\nbut, when properly examined, they will fall inevitably into the\ngeneral scheme of the source and mode of solar energy which we\nhave endeavored to present. These bodies enter our solar system\nfrom without. Appleton's Cyclop\u00e6dia says, \"Schiaparelli, to whom\nthe discovery is in part due, considers the meteors to be dispersed\nportions of the comet's original substance,--that is, of the substance\nwith which the comet entered the solar domain.\" Professor Proctor,\n\"Meteoric Astronomy,\" says, \"A word or two may be permitted on the\nquestion of the condition of comets freshly arriving on the scene of\nthe solar system. It is assumed sometimes that the train of meteors\nalready exists when the comet first comes within the solar domain.\" In\nthe \"Romance of Astronomy\" (R. Kalley Miller, M.A.) it is said,\n\"In a sort of debatable territory between our own solar system and\nthe infinite stellar universe around we come upon these erratic\nand anomalous bodies--the comets; some of which have accidentally\nbecome permanent attendants upon our sun; others have only paid it a\nsingle casual visit in the course of their wanderings through space,\nand are not likely again to come within the range of its attracting\ninfluence; while countless millions are doubtless scattered throughout\nthe realms of the infinite, whose existence will never be revealed\nto human ken at all.\" Professor Helmholtz, in fact (see addendum\nto his lecture on the origin of the planetary system), advanced the\nidea in a speculative way, that our terrestrial life might have had\nits origin in one of these meteoric bodies by the \"transmission of\norganisms through space.\" In Professor Proctor's article on comets\n(\"Mysteries of Time and Space\") he says, \"The paths followed by\ncomets show no resemblance either to the planetary orbits or to each\nother. Here we see a comet travelling in a path of moderate extent\nand not very eccentric; then another which rushes from a distance\nof two or three thousand millions of miles, approaches the sun with\never-increasing velocity until nearer to him than parts of his own\ncorona (as seen in eclipses), sweeps around him with inconceivable\nrapidity, and makes off again to where the aphelion of its orbit lies\nfar out in space beyond the most distant known planet,--Neptune. Some\ncomets travel in a direct, some in a retrograde path; a few near the\nplane of the earth's orbit, many in planes showing every variety of\ninclination. Some comets regularly return after intervals of a few\nyears; some after hundreds of years; others are only seen once or\ntwice, and then unaccountably vanish; and not a few show by the paths\nthey follow that they have come from interstellar space to pay our\nsystem but a single visit, passing out again to traverse we know not\nwhat other systems or regions.... When we have said that these objects\nobey the law of gravity, we have mentioned the only circumstance--as\nit would appear--in which they conform to the relations observed in\nterrestrial and planetary arrangements. And even this law--the widest\nyet revealed to man--they seem to obey half unwillingly. We see the\nhead of a comet tracing out systematically enough its proper orbit,\nwhile the comet's tail is all unruly and disobedient.... The fact,\nthen, is demonstrated that two of the meteor streams encountered by the\nearth are so far associated with two comets as to travel on the same\norbits. We may not unsafely infer that all the meteor systems are in\nlike manner associated with other comets. Nor is it very rash to assume\nthat all comets are in like manner associated with meteor systems.\"\n\nConcerning the influence of gravitation of the planets, the same\nauthor says (\"Meteoric Astronomy\"), \"Now, the circumstances under\nwhich a comet approaching the sun on a parabolic or hyperbolic orbit\ncan be thus affected must be regarded as exceptional. The planet's\ninfluence must, in the first place, be very energetically exercised;\nin other words, the arriving comet must pass very close to the planet,\nfor under any other circumstances the sun's influence so enormously\noutvies the planet's that the figure of the cometic orbit would be\nvery little affected. Moreover, the planet's attraction must produce an\nimportant balance of retardation. The planet will inevitably accelerate\nthe comet up to a certain point, and afterwards will retard it; the\nlatter influence must greatly exceed the former. To show how greatly\nthe comet must be retarded, it is only necessary to mention that the\nactual velocity of the November meteors when they cross the orbit\nof Uranus is less than one-third of the velocity with which Uranus\nhimself travels, but their velocity at the same distance from the\nsun, when they were approaching him from some distant stellar domain,\nexceeded the velocity of Uranus in his orbit in the proportion of about\nseven to five.... It follows, not merely as a probable inference, but,\nI think, as a demonstrated conclusion, that if the November meteors\ncame originally into our system as a comet travelling sunward from\ninfinity, then either that comet was very compact or else Uranus\ncaptured only a small portion of the comet, the remaining portions\nmoving thenceforth on orbits wholly different from the path of the\nNovember meteors.... No other planet than Uranus can have brought\nabout the subjection of this comet to solar rule.\" In his article on\ncomets he says, \"It may be well here to consider a case in which some\nactive force (other than gravity) exerted by the sun seems to have\nbrought the destruction of a comet, or at least to have broken up\nthe comet into unrecognizable fragments.\" He refers to Biela's comet,\nwith an orbital period of six and two-thirds years, and a path which\nwas found to approach very near to the path of the earth. In 1832 the\ncomet crossed the earth's track several weeks before the arrival of\nthe earth at the same point without appreciable interference. On its\nsecond return, in 1845-46, it was found to be divided into two comets\ntravelling side by side; in 1852 they reappeared, still divided,\nand gradually diverging from each other. Since then they have never\nreappeared, though diligently sought for at every period. Professor\nProctor adds, \"It has been seen again, though not as a comet; nay, the\noccasion on which it was seen in the way referred to was predicted,\nand the prediction fulfilled, even in details. For a full account of\nits reappearance--as a meteor stream--I refer the reader to my essay\non Biela's comet in 'Familiar Science Studies.'\"\n\nIn Miller's \"Romance of Astronomy\" we read, \"Encke's comet, which\npossesses the smallest orbit of any connected with our system, is\nsensibly drawing nearer and nearer to the sun at every revolution.\" In\nProfessor Proctor's \"Cometic Mysteries,\" the author says, \"We hear\nit stated that the nucleus of a comet is made up of meteoric stones\n(Professor P. G. Tait says--for unknown reasons--that they resemble\n'paving stones or even bricks') as confidently as though the earth had\nat some time passed through the nucleus of a comet, and some of our\nstreets were now paved with stones which had fallen to the earth on\nsuch an occasion. As a matter of fact, all that has yet been proved\nis that meteoric bodies follow in the track (which is very different\nfrom the tail) of some known comets, and that probably all comets\nare followed by trains of meteors. These may have come out of the\nhead or nucleus in some way as yet unexplained; but it is by no means\ncertain that they have done so, and it is by many astronomers regarded\nas more than doubtful. The most important point to be noticed in the\nbehavior of large comets as they approach the sun is, that usually the\nside of the coma which lies towards the sun is the scene of intense\ndisturbance. Streams of luminous matter seem to rise continually\ntowards the sun, attaining a certain distance from the head, when,\nassuming a cloud-like appearance, they seem to form an envelope\naround the nucleus. This envelope gradually increases its distance\nfrom the sun, growing fainter and larger, while within it the process\nis repeated and a new envelope is formed. This, in turn, ascends\nfrom the nucleus, expanding as it does so, while within it a new\nenvelope is formed. Meanwhile the first one formed has grown fainter,\nperhaps has disappeared. But sometimes the process goes on so rapidly\n(a day or two sufficing for the formation of a complete new envelope)\nthat several envelopes will be seen at the same time,--the outermost\nfaintest, the innermost most irregular in shape and most varied in\nbrightness, while the envelope or envelopes between are the best\ndeveloped and most regular. The matter raised up in these envelopes\nseems to have undergone a certain change of character, causing it no\nlonger to obey the sun's attractive influence, but to experience a\nstrong repulsive action from him, whereby it is apparently swept away\nwith great rapidity to form the tail. 'It flows past the nucleus,'\nsays Dr. Huggins, 'on all sides, still ever expanding and shooting\nbackward until a tail is formed in the direction opposite to the\nsun. This tail is usually curved, though sometimes rays or extra\ntails sensibly straight are also seen.'\"\n\nIn \"The Sun as a Perpetual Machine,\" Professor Proctor says,\n\"Take, again, the phenomena of comets, which still remain among the\ngreatest of nature's mysteries. We have reason to believe ... that\nthe nucleus of a comet consists of an aggregation of stones similar\nto meteorites. Adopting this view, and assuming that these stones\nhave absorbed somewhere gases to the amount of six times their volume\n(taken at atmospheric pressure), we may ask, What will be the effect\nof such a mass of stones advancing towards the sun at a velocity\nreaching in perihelion the prodigious rate of three hundred and\nsixty-six miles per second (as observed in the comet of 1843), being\ntwenty-three times our orbital rate of motion?\" Professor Ball says,\n\"One of the most important results of the great shower of 1866 was the\ndemonstration that the swarm of little bodies to which that shower\nowed its origin was connected with a comet. The swarm was found, in\nfact, to follow the exact track which the comet pursued around the\nsun.... Of this connection between the cometary orbits and revolving\nswarms of meteors many other instances could be cited. I may refer to\nthe remarkable lists published by the British Association, in which,\nbeside the name of the comet or the designation which astronomers had\naffixed to it, the meteoric swarm with which the comet is associated\nis also given.... On these grounds it appears to be perfectly certain\nthat the origin of the shooting stars which appear in swarms cannot\nbe disassociated from the origin of the comets by which those swarms\nare accompanied.\" The author makes a distinction between such ordinary\nshooting stars and meteorites, and attributes the appearance of the\nlatter on earth to masses thrown forth from some volcano somewhere, but\nthis has nothing to do with the special phenomena to be interpreted. It\nmay be said, however, that the presence of olefiant gas as one of\nthe occluded gases in a meteorite (four and fifty-five-hundredths per\ncent., as stated by Professor Proctor, in his article \"The Sun as a\nPerpetual Machine\"), and the remarkable fact, stated in the article\n\"Spectrum Analysis\" in Appleton's Cyclop\u00e6dia, that, in Winnecke's\ncomet of 1868, \"the bands agree in position with those obtained as\nthe spectrum of carbon, by passing the electric spark through olefiant\ngas, \"would lead one to consider a cometic origin, for this particular\nmeteorite at least, to be highly probable. Professor Ball further says,\n\"There have been several instances in which a comet has approached\nso close to a planet that the attraction between the two bodies must\nhave had significant influence on the planet, if the cometary mass\nhad been at all comparable with that of the more robust body. The\nmost celebrated instance is presented in the case of Lexell's comet,\nwhich happened to cross the track of Jupiter. The effect upon this\nbody was so overwhelming that it was wrenched from its original path\nand started afresh along a wholly different track.\" The same writer,\nspeaking of the tails of comets, says, \"I have no intention to discuss\nhere the vexed question of the tails of comets. I do not now inquire\nwhether the repulsion by which the tail is produced be due to the\nintense radiation from the sun, or to electricity, or to some other\nagent. It is sufficient for our present purpose to note that, even if\nthe tails of comets do gravitate towards the sun, the attraction is\nobscured by a more powerful repulsive force.... Nor do the directions\nin which the comets move exhibit any conformity; some move round the\nsun in one direction, some move in the opposite direction. Even the\nplanes which contain the orbits of the comets are totally different\nfrom each other. Instead of being inclined at only a very few degrees\nto their mean position, the planes of the comets hardly follow any\ncommon law; they are inclined at all sorts of directions. In no respect\ndo the comets obey those principles which are necessary to prevent\nconstitutional disorder in the planetary system.... Now, all we have\nhitherto seen with regard to comets tends to show that the masses of\ncomets are extremely small. Attempts have been made to measure them,\nbut have always failed, because the scales in which we have attempted\nto weigh them have been too coarse to weigh anything of the almost\nspiritual texture of a comet. It is unnecessary to go as far as some\nhave done, and to say that the weight of a large comet may be only\na few pounds or a few ounces. It might be more reasonable to suppose\nthat the weight of a large comet was thousands of tons, though even\nthousands of tons would be far too small a weight to admit of being\nmeasured by the very coarse balance which is at our disposal.\" In\nthe chapter \"Visitors from the Sky,\" the same author says, \"As such\na comet in its progress across the heavens passes between us and\nthe stars, those stars are often seen twinkling brilliantly right\nthrough the many thousand miles of cometary matter which their rays\nhave to traverse. The lightest haze in our atmosphere would suffice\nto extinguish the faint gleam of these small stars; indeed, a few\nfeet of mist would have more power of obstructing the stellar light\nthan cometary material scores of thousands of miles thick. It is\ntrue that the central portions of many of these comets often exhibit\nmuch greater density than is found in the exterior regions; still,\nin the great majority of such objects there is no opacity, even in\nthe densest part, sufficient to put out a star. In the case of the\nmore splendid bodies of this description, it may be supposed that the\nmatter is somewhat more densely aggregated as well as more voluminous;\nstill, however, it will be remembered that the great comet of 1858\npassed over Arcturus, and that the star was seen shining brilliantly,\nnotwithstanding the interposition of a cometary curtain millions of\nmiles in thickness. So far as I know, no case is known in which the\nnucleus of a really bright and great comet has been witnessed in the\nact of passage over a considerable star. It would indeed be extremely\ninteresting to ascertain whether in such case the star experienced\nany considerable diminution in its lustre.\"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nTHE PHENOMENA OF COMETS.\n\n\nFrom the extracts thus cited we may form a fairly clear idea of the\nphenomena which comets present, and these facts represent about all\nthat we know of these mysterious objects. They approach the sun\nin a nearly radial direction, thus cutting the planetary orbits\ntransversely. They approach the sun from all directions and at\nall angles, without reference to the common plane in which all the\nplanetary orbits lie. They have no rotation on their own axes, as the\nplanets have, but, like an aggregated mass of meteorites or cosmical\ndust, rush inward from the exterior realms of space, so that their\ncourse is diametrically opposite that of the planets and the other\ncosmical bodies which constitute our solar system. Such a body as a\ncomet, in fact, would present in its approach to our solar system very\nmuch the phenomena of an approaching exterior sun, corresponding far\nmore closely in appearance and behavior to our own sun than to any\nof the planets. Such a body could not generate positive electricity,\nas the planets do, but, on the contrary, must have an electrosphere\nof negative, or at least neutral, polarity. On its approach to our\nplanetary system the batteries of all the planets would be at once\nturned upon the intruder, and it would be rapidly thrown into the\nsame state of active electrical polarity as the sun. The aqueous\nvapor condensed around its nucleus by gravity in its approach through\nspace, or buried among the meteoric particles constituting the\ncomet, would be necessarily decomposed into its constituent gases,\njust as in the case of the sun, by the positive electrical currents\nfrom the planetary electrospheres, and the disassociated hydrogen\nwould form the negative electrosphere of the comet, glowing with its\nown luminosity, by gaseous incandescence. \"We should then observe,\nduring its continued approach to the sun, phenomena similar to those\nwhich we might expect to manifest themselves during the approach\nof a minute solar body towards the sun, characterized by a rapid\nincrease of velocity, due to attraction of gravity, and tremendous\nmutual repulsion between the solar and cometic electrospheres. We\nshould see the luminous hydrogen and associated gases boiling upward,\nand thence drawn forward from the nucleus by the combined gravity\nof the sun's mass, that of the planetary masses, and the opposite\npolarity of the planetary electrospheres, while they would be, at\nthe same time, repelled backward by the enormous repulsive force of\nthe negative electrosphere of the sun. As a result, we should find\nthese gases in a state of ebullition, forced forward under great\nexcitement and disturbance, boiling, eddying about, driven to and fro\nin all directions until the sun's repulsive force had overcome the\ndifferent attractions, when these luminous clouds or envelopes would\nbe swept swiftly off to the rear, as by a powerful current of wind,\naround the margins of the nucleus, and they would be seen to stream\nbackward from the sun as an elongated envelope or tail. New volumes of\ngas would pour to the front, attracted from deeper depths, and these,\non reaching the cometary electrosphere, would be again repelled by\nthe solar activity and driven to the rear, while the gases thus driven\nbackward, themselves similarly electrified, would mutually repel each\nother as they streamed backward around the margins of the nucleus.\n\nLet us now see what these gases are: if they are such as appear\nin the sun's electrosphere, we will know that such must be their\naction; if, on the contrary, they are such as appear in planetary\nelectrospheres, we will find any such attempted explanation to be\na failure. Quoting largely from Dr. Huggins, Professor Proctor, in\nhis \"Cometic Mysteries,\" says, \"The spectrum of the brightest comet\nof that year was partly continuous, and on this continuous spectrum\nmany of the well-known Fraunhofer lines could be traced. This made it\ncertain that part of the comet's light was reflected sunlight, though\nDr. Huggins considers also that a part of the continuous spectrum of\nevery comet is due to inherent light. On this point some doubt may\nbe permitted. It is one thing for special bands to show themselves,\nfor some substances may become self-luminous under special conditions\nat very moderate temperatures; it is quite another thing that the\nsolid parts of a comet's substance should become incandescent. I\nventure to express my opinion that this can scarcely happen, except\nin the case of comets which approach very near to the sun. Besides\nthe continuous spectrum with dark lines, the photograph showed\nalso a spectrum of bright lines. 'These lines,' says Dr. Huggins,\n'possessed extreme interest, for there was certainly contained within\nthis hieroglyphic writing some new information. A discussion of\nthe position of these new lines showed them to be undoubtedly the\nsame lines which appear in certain compounds of carbon. Not long\nbefore Professors Liveing and Dewar had found from their laboratory\nexperiments that these lines are only present when nitrogen is also\npresent, and that they indicate a nitrogen compound of carbon,--namely,\ncyanogen. Two other bright groups were also seen in the photograph,\nconfirming the presence of hydrogen,--carbon and nitrogen.' It is\nworthy of notice that only a few days later Dr. H. Draper succeeded\nin obtaining a photograph of the same comet's spectrum. It appeared\nto him to confirm Dr. Huggins's statements, except only that the dark\nFraunhofer lines were not visible, the photograph having probably\nbeen taken under less favorable conditions.... But the latest comet\nhas brought with it fresh news. Its spectrum is not like that given\nby the comets we are considering. The bright lines of sodium are\nseen in it, and also other bright lines and groups of lines which\nhave not yet been shown to be identical with any belonging to the\nhydrocarbon groups, but probably are so.... The cyanogen groups are\nnot seen.... But it is manifest that this comet underwent important\nchanges.... In April was found simply a faint continuous spectrum; in\nMay the three bands associated with carbon were present, though faint,\nwhile there was no trace whatever of the sodium band. On the contrary,\nin June the nucleus of the comet gave a very strong and extended\ncontinuous spectrum with an excessively strong bright line in the\norange-yellow identical with the well-known double sodium line of the\nsolar spectrum. On this ... it is necessary to conclude that during\nthe last fortnight of May the spectrum of Wells's comet had changed\nin a manner of which the history of science furnishes no precedent.\"\n\nIt should be observed that the elements carbon and hydrogen closely\nresemble each other, not only in their multifarious chemical\naffinities and reactions, but in their electric polarities, and the\nhydrocarbon compounds, like their constituents, carbon and hydrogen,\nare electrically similar to each other, an example of this similarity\nof the elements being found in the identical action of the carbon\narc and hydrogen envelope in the heating and lighting experiments\nwith electrical currents hereinbefore described.\n\nWe have already seen that carbon follows quite a different law from the\nother concrete elements, in the fact that its electrical resistance\ndiminishes as the temperature rises; it also differs widely from\nthe other solid elements in its atomic heat, which has a value much\nless than one-half the mean constant, which is 6.4. Of this matter of\nspecific heat, Professor Fownes, in his work on chemistry (Bridges'\nedition), says, \"Dulong and Petit observed in the course of their\ninvestigation a most remarkable circumstance. If the specific heats\nof bodies be computed upon equal weights, numbers are obtained all\ndifferent and exhibiting no simple relations among themselves; but if,\ninstead of equal weights, quantities be taken in the proportion of the\natomic weights, an almost perfect coincidence in the numbers will be\nobserved, showing that some exceedingly intimate connection must exist\nbetween the relations of bodies to heat and their chemical nature; and\nwhen the circumstance is taken into view that relations of even a still\ncloser kind link together chemical and electrical phenomena, it is not\ntoo much to expect that ere long some law may be discovered far more\ngeneral than any with which we are yet acquainted.... Nevertheless,\nthis law must not be understood as perfectly general, for there are\nthree elements--namely, carbon, boron, and silicon\" [these form a\nsingle group of elements in chemical classification]--\"which exhibit\ndecided exceptions to it.\"\n\nOrganic chemistry is substantially based upon the almost infinitely\ninterchanging relations among carbon-hydrogen radicals, supplemented\nby a few other elements. According to Professor Fownes, \"Organic\nchemistry is in fact the chemistry of carbon compounds.\" The position\nof carbon among the elements is something like that of camphor among\nthe oils, the latter being a volatile oil, but concrete in form. With\na concrete element having the peculiar character of carbon we can\nwell understand its universal chemical and electrical relationship\nwith gaseous hydrogen in the grandest operations of nature.\n\nCyanogen is an electrically similar compound of carbon with the\naddition of nitrogen. Of these elements it will be seen that nitrogen\nand hydrogen are found to exist also in the gaseous nebul\u00e6, and with\nthe probable addition there of oxygen; but in comets the quota of\nactive oxygen must be sought for in the correlated planetary, and\nnot in the cometic, atmospheres, as is the case with the sun. Of\nthe presence of the vapor of carbon in comets Professor Ball says,\n\"This is a very singular fact, when it is remembered that carbon is\none of the substances essentially associated with life in the forms in\nwhich we know it.\" Professor Huggins says, \"Since that time the light\nfrom some twenty comets has been examined by different observers. The\ngeneral close agreement in all cases, notwithstanding some small\ndivergencies, of the bright bands in the cometary light with those\nseen in the spectrum of hydrocarbons justifies us fully in ascribing\nthe original light of these comets to matter which contains carbon\nin combination with hydrogen.\"\n\nWe may learn something further of the constitution of comets,\nperhaps, by considering the chemical reactions which their spectra\nseem to indicate. The following extract is from a recent article on\nthe manufacture of illuminating gas: \"Ammonia contains 82.35 parts\nof nitrogen and 17.65 of hydrogen. It is not produced by a direct\ncombination, for nitrogen can be caught and wedded only by a hot and\nskilful wooing. In the gas retort, at a temperature of 2200 degrees\nand in the presence of lime, soda, or potash, it will combine with\ncarbon and form cyanogen, and then further combine with the alkali\nto form a cyanide. There is steam in the retort, and, as nearly\nas the gas chemists can make out, the nitrogen promptly divorces\nitself, gives up the carbon to the oxygen of the steam, and, taking\nthe hydrogen to itself, becomes, for the time at least, a fixed, if\nvolatile, substance, but ever ready to enter into new alliances.\" It\nwill be remembered that in the comets examined by Professors Huggins\nand Draper the spectroscope revealed both cyanogen and the double\nline of sodium. The function of the sodium is readily understood,\nas by its presence it enables the nitrogen in the cometic atmosphere\nto combine with a part of the carbon of the gaseous hydrocarbons\nwhich constitute this atmosphere, and thus produce the cyanogen. But\nto effect this combination requires in the retort a temperature of\n2200 degrees. If the combining temperature around the nucleus of a\ncomet is the same, it will show that the temperature of this comet's\nnucleus must be very high, and, while many times less than that of\nthe sun's photosphere, it still clearly illustrates the powerful\ncharacter of the impact of the planetary electrical currents upon\nthe comet, and its tremendous repulsion by the similarly electrified\nsolar electrosphere. The second one of the above reactions, that\nfrom cyanogen to ammonia, is due to the steam or aqueous vapor in\nthe retort. But in the case of the comet all the aqueous vapor and\nits constituent oxygen have disappeared by electrolytic decomposition\nlong before the combining temperature of cyanogen has been reached;\nso that the sodium, the hydrocarbons, and the cyanogen alone appear,\nand the oxygen compounds are missing. But on the reversal of polarity\nof this comet by contact with a planetary electrosphere, should such\never occur, and its consequent assumption of positive electricity,\nthe oxygen would again appear, and, if the temperature had not yet\nreceded below that of the reaction which produces ammoniacal vapors,\nwe might expect, should a fragment of this comet enter our atmosphere\nas a meteorite, to find ammonia as well as sodium as a constituent\nthereof; otherwise the ammonia would be replaced by carbonic oxide\nand carbonic acid, by the action of oxygen upon the hydrocarbons,\nand water by the action of oxygen upon the hydrogen of the same,\nat much lower temperatures than would suffice for the generation of\nammonia. The cyanogen would then perhaps remain as cyanide of sodium,\nunless decomposed by contact with the meteoric metallic iron at a\nhigh temperature, as occurs in the operation known in the arts as\n\"case-hardening.\" The presence of microscopic diamonds in meteorites\nmay be accounted for by a somewhat similar reducing reaction under\nheat and the active force of the planetary and solar voltaic arc.\n\nIn the popular view comets are always associated with tails, but,\nin fact, comets without tails are far more numerous than those to\nwhich these appendages pertain; the tails, when such exist, are the\ndirect result of the repulsive energy of the solar electrosphere,\nand are only manifested when their proximity to the sun has aroused\nsufficient activity to swiftly sweep backward from the sun with\ninconceivable velocity the gaseous matter concentrated in and around\nthe nucleus. As these tails owe their formation to the sun's repulsive\nenergy, they must always extend radially outward from the sun, and by\nthe self-repulsive energy of the diverse constituents of the tails\nthemselves these will be broken occasionally into two, four, or six\nlateral strands, and (possibly by the attraction of the different\nplanetary electrospheres) curvatures may be apparent along the sweep\nof the comets' tails corresponding, in effect, with perturbations\nproduced by gravity in the orbit of the nucleus. Of these various\nphenomena, Professor Proctor, in his article on comets, says, \"A very\nlarge number of comets have no visible tails. When first seen in the\ntelescope a comet usually presents a small, round disk of hazy light,\nsomewhat brighter near the center. As the comet approaches the sun the\ndisk lengthens, and, if the comet is to be a tailed one, traces begin\nto be observed of a streakiness in the comet's light. Gradually a tail\nis formed, which is turned always from the sun. The tail grows brighter\nand larger, and the head becomes developed into a coma surrounding\na distinctly marked nucleus. Presently the comet is lost to view\nthrough its near approach to the sun; but after a while it is again\nseen, sometimes wonderfully changed in aspect through the effects of\nsolar heat. Some comets are brighter and more striking after passing\ntheir point of nearest approach to the sun than before; others are\nquite shorn of their splendor when they reappear.\" This change of\naspect is not due to solar heat, but to the energetic repulsion of\nthe solar electrosphere. The force of gravity irresistibly impels\nthe comet forward to the sun's electrical vortex, and the change of\naspect is due to the repulsion of its entire stock of free gaseous\nmatter into space in case its supply is small, or to its increased\ndevelopment and pouring forth in case the supply is large. It is\nlike the volatilization by a heated atmosphere of ammoniacal gas,\nfor instance, absorbed in water. The ebullition is vastly increased\nby the heat, but if the entire stock of ammonia has been driven off\nin its passage through the heated medium, it will emerge with the\nresidual water quiescent; otherwise, in a state of increased agitation.\n\nThe same author, in \"Cometic Mysteries,\" says, \"Repulsion of the\ncometary matter could only take place if this matter, after it has\nbeen driven off from the nucleus, and the sun have both high electric\npotentials of the same kind.\" His further guess, however, that it is\nanalogous to the aurora, is wide of the mark; it is due, in fact,\nto the mutual repulsion of their similar negative electrospheres,\nthe cometic electrosphere, however, being so much smaller than that\nof the sun that the latter shows no appreciable disturbance, as\nis the case, under similar circumstances, with the electrospheres\nof the earth and moon. In the article last quoted it is said,\n\"There is a dark space immediately behind the nucleus,--that is,\nwhere the nucleus, if solid, would throw its shadow if there were\nmatter to receive the light all round so that the shadow could be\nseen.\" This presents, it is stated, a great difficulty. The author,\nby a happy guess,--almost an inspiration, in fact, of which this\nsplendid writer and observer was so full,--suggests in a foot-note a\npossible explanation, which, while not in itself correct, suggests an\nanalogous process very like what we actually see. \"If the particles\nforming the envelopes are minute flat bodies, and if anything in the\ncircumstances under which these particles are driven off into the\ntail causes them to always so arrange themselves that the planes in\nwhich they severally lie pass through the axis of the tail (which,\nif the tail is an electrical phenomenon, might very well happen),\nthen we should find the region behind the nucleus very dark or almost\nblack, for the particles in the direction of the line of sight there\nwould be turned edgewise towards us, whereas those on either side or\nin the prolongation of the envelopes would turn their faces towards\nthe observer.\" As a matter of fact, the envelope streaming backward\nfrom the nucleus forms a hollow tube, the opposite sides of which\nexhibit the same mutual repulsion as both exhibit towards the sun;\nhence the phenomenon would be similar to that exhibited by blowing\ninto a closed bag of porous material covered with wisps of cotton, for\nexample, and the gases, in addition to their rush backward from the\nsun, would also exhibit a radial rush outward from the longitudinal\naxis of the tail. This is what we actually observe, and sufficiently\naccounts for the phenomenon, be it altogether or only partially real,\nand not merely, as that author thinks it may be, apparent. It is said,\nin the same article, that \"Bredichen has shown that where there are\nthree tails to a comet their forms correspond with the theory that\nthe envelopes raised from the head are principally formed of hydrogen,\ncarbon, and iron; but this ... seems open at present to considerable\ndoubt.\" At all events, these separate tails are self-repulsive, or\nthey would be merged into each other by the sun's repulsive energy;\nin fact, they occupy the resultant of the direction produced by the\nline of the sun's repulsion and those of their own mutually repellent\nforce,--that is to say, radial or divergent.\n\nIt must not be supposed that these tails are of insignificant\nproportions. \"When we see the tail of a comet occupying a volume\nthousands of times greater than that of the sun itself, the question\nnaturally suggests itself, 'How does it happen that so vast a body\ncan sweep through the solar system without deranging the motion of\nevery planet?' Conceding even an extreme tenuity to the substance\ncomposing so vast a volume, one would still expect its mass to be\ntremendous. For instance, if we supposed the whole mass of the tail of\nthe comet of 1843 to consist of hydrogen gas (the lightest substance\nknown to us), yet even then the mass of the tail would have largely\nexceeded that of the sun. Every planet would have been dragged from\nits orbit by so vast a mass passing so near. We know, on the contrary,\nthat no such effects were produced. The length of our year did not\nchange by a single second.... Thus we are forced to admit that the\nactual substance of the comet was inconceivably rare.... From what we\nhave already seen, it will be manifest that the formation of comets'\ntails is a process of a very marvellous nature, apparently involving\nforces other than those with which we are acquainted. The tail, ninety\nmillion miles in length, which was seen stretching from the head of\nNewton's comet nearly along the path which the retreating comet had\nto traverse, must, it would seem, have been formed by some force\nfar more active than the force of gravity. The distance traversed\nby the comet in the last four weeks of its approach to the sun under\ngravity was no greater than that over which the matter of the tail,\nseen after the comet had circled around the sun, had been carried in a\nfew hours. Yet we have no other evidence of any repulsive force at all\nbeing exerted by the sun,--at least no evidence which can be regarded\nas demonstrative,--and still less have we any evidence of a repulsive\nforce exceeding in energy the sun's attracting power.\" (Proctor.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nINTERPRETATION OF COMETIC PHENOMENA.\n\n\nNow, curiously enough, we have in constant use in our laboratories a\nlittle instrument called the electroscope, in which we have manifested\nvery clearly a repulsive force exceeding in energy the earth's\nattracting power, and very greatly exceeding it. It is described in\n\"Electricity in the Service of Man\" as follows: \"If we rub a large\nglass rod with a silk pad, we observe that it will attract light\nbodies, then, after contact, repel them. During the process we may\nnotice a peculiar noise, and if the experiment be carried out in\nthe dark we may further notice sparks passing between the rod and\nthe rubber, and also that the rod becomes luminous. If we suspend\na pith-ball by means of a silk thread, on bringing the rubbed rod\nnear the pith-ball it will move towards the rod, touch it, and then\nbe repelled. If the glass rod be again brought near the pith-ball, it\nwill move away from the glass rod, and continue to be repelled until it\nhas been touched by some other body.... In order to ascertain whether\nelectricity is communicated by electrified bodies to non-electrified\nbodies when brought into contact, let us suspend two pith-balls from\nthe same point of support by threads of uniform silk, and touch the\npith-balls with the rubbed glass rod. The balls fly from the rod and\nalso from one another. On bringing near them a third pith-ball or\nany other light body, we find that, though they repel one another,\nthey are attracted by the light body, showing that they have become\nelectrified by contact with the rubbed glass rod. From this we\nconclude that an unelectrified body may be electrified by contact\nwith an electrified body, and also that there is repulsion after\ncontact. There is mutual repulsion between two electrified bodies,\nbut there is attraction between a single electrified body and one\nthat is unelectrified.\" The mutual repulsion of these pith-balls\nis the exact measure of the strength of electrification. Hung\nside by side to the knob of a prime conductor of an electrical\nmachine, the mutual repulsion of the similar electrospheres of\nthese pith-balls drives them apart against the earth's gravity\nand holds them extended, if the electrical tension be sufficient,\nto their widest limit of divergence. It is, in effect, precisely\nsimilar to the action of the solar and cometic electrospheres (see\nillustration in a previous chapter, page 124), each being similarly\nelectrified and communicating with the other across a space which,\nas before stated, is freely traversable by electric currents without\nappreciable resistance. That such electrospheres are flaming with\nheat does not interfere with such self-repellent action; in fact,\nit intensifies it. In Professor Tyndall's \"Lessons in Electricity\"\nwe read, \"Flames and glowing embers act like points; they also rapidly\ndischarge electricity. The electricity escaping from a point or flame\nrenders the air self-repulsive. The consequence is that when the hand\nis placed over a point mounted on the prime conductor of a machine in\ngood action a cold blast is distinctly felt.... Wilson moved bodies\nby its action, Faraday caused it to depress the surface of a liquid,\nHamilton employed the reaction of the electric wind to make pointed\nwires rotate. The 'wind' was also found to promote evaporation.\"\n\nLet us now apply these principles to the tails of comets. If\nwe conceive the sun and comet to be analogous to our pith-balls,\none enormously larger than the other, however, and hung by vaporous\nconducting cords from the combined generating planetary electrospheres,\nboth sun and cometic nucleus surrounded each by a vaporous envelope,\nand suspended so that they will hang from parallel cords, say a\ndozen million miles apart, and with no currents of electricity as\nyet in operation, we will find that the sun and comet will be simply\nattracted towards each other by the force of gravity, so that their\nsuspending cords will converge. If the planetary electrical machines\nnow commence their rotations, and currents of electricity begin to pass\nin quantity and intensity like those which pass between the earth and\nthe sun, both the solar and cometic pith-balls will become similarly\nelectrified, and their gaseous atmospheres, instead of drawing\ntowards each other, will become luminous and self-repulsive. The\natmosphere which surrounds the cometic pith-ball, by reason of\nits great tenuity, will be driven backward with extreme velocity,\nwhile the solar pith-ball electrosphere will be so little affected\nthat its repulsion will be imperceptible. All the gaseous matter,\nhowever, of the smaller pith-ball will be forced off in a direction\nopposite that of the larger one, and this repulsive energy will even\ncarry the pith-balls apart, causing the suspending cords to widely\ndiverge from each other, while the force of gravity of the earth\ntends to bring them nearer together. If the gravity of the larger\npith-ball, however, was equal, relatively, to that of the sun, the\nresult would be that the solid pith-balls would be mutually attracted\nby gravitation and only the electrified atmospheres, would be mutually\nrepelled. This experiment would present phenomena similar to those\nwe are now considering. (See illustration, page 211.)\n\nIn describing Newton's comet, with a tail ninety million miles long\nprojected backward both from the sun and the comet, when it disappeared\nin the light of the sun, and exhibiting a similar tail, also ninety\nmillion miles long, when, less than four days afterwards, it reappeared\nfrom behind the sun, but with the tail now directed forward from the\ncomet, but in both cases extended radially outward from the sun, it\nis obvious that this whole tail must have made a sweeping change of\ndirection of nearly one hundred and eighty degrees upon the nucleus\nas its center. Professor Proctor says, \"As Sir John Herschel remarks,\nwe cannot look on the tail of a comet as something whirled round\nlike a stick as the comet circles around its perihelion sweep. The\ntail with which the comet reappeared must have been an entirely new\nformation.\" It is true that a comet's tail cannot be conceived of as\nbeing whirled round like a stick, but we can very readily conceive\nof it as something like a flame composed of incandescent gases,\nand it may very easily be blown round a stick; and this is precisely\nwhat must happen in the case of a comet. Construct, for experiment,\na little apparatus consisting of a blow-pipe adapted to deliver a\ncurrent of air between two horizontal metal disks, say an eighth of\nan inch apart, one perforated at the center to admit the nozzle of\nthe blow-pipe. By directing a constant current of air through the\nlatter, it will be deflected so as to blow radially outward in all\ndirections and in the same plane. Now take a stick with a flame on\nthe end of it, or a lighted candle, and with it approach this center\nof repellent energy in the plane of the space between the disks and\nalong an ellipse representing the orbit of a comet. As the flame\napproaches the improvised solar center it will be driven backward\nfrom the wick of the candle almost along the line of its approach,\nand as it passes around the center it will be constantly blown outward\nin a radial direction until, when it recedes after perihelion, the\nflame will be seen pointed almost directly ahead. At all times the\ndirection of the flame will lie along the radial lines prolonged\noutward from the center through the wick of the candle, and it will\nnot be a new flame generated at every change of its direction, but\nthe same flame constantly forced outward by the repulsive force of\nthe central atmosphere in this case or the solar electrosphere in\nthe case of the sun. This experiment is an accurate and conclusive\nexhibit of the phenomena of solar repulsion in its action upon the\ntail of a comet. It is analogous in principle to the repulsion of\nthe pith-balls and the electric wind and (in application) to the\nphenomena presented by comets in their movements to, around, and\nfrom the sun. This repulsion is not operative in effect against the\nwick of the candle,--that is to say, it is not the repulsion of the\nnucleus which determines the direction of the tail, but the repulsion\nby direct outblow of the sun, so to speak, upon the incandescent\ngases of the tail itself. This fact clearly demonstrates that the\nrepulsion of like electrospheres is the cause of the phenomenon, and,\nwhen once understood, the process is quite as simple as that of the\noriginal formation of the tail itself, which no one disputes.\n\nThere is to be further considered the theoretical resistance of\nspace to the projection and deflection of such enormous volumes\nof attenuated matter as appear in comets' tails. While it may not\nbe absolutely necessary to offer an explanation of this apparent\ndifficulty, in view of the fact that such projection and deflection\ndo actually occur, still, the well-known laws of the diffusion of\ngases, in accordance with which any gaseous matter will traverse\nany other gaseous matter with the same velocity as, and with no more\nresistance than, in a vacuum, will show that this difficulty has been\nmuch overrated, while for the twin difficulty, how to account for the\npersistence of luminosity at such vast distances from its source, we\nmay quote from Professor Proctor, \"Cometic Mysteries,\" who, in turn,\nquotes as follows: \"Comets travel in what must be regarded as to\nall intents and purposes a vacuum. From Dr. Crookes' experiments on\nvery high vacua we may infer that there is very little loss of heat,\nexcept by radiation.\" By \"intents and purposes\" we understand, of\ncourse, as a cause of resistance, and certainly there is no reason to\nbelieve that the attenuated vapors of space are sufficient in density\nto cause any rapid diffusion of heat by convection, as contrasted\nwith that of radiation.\n\nWe have seen that comets of short period sometimes disappear, and\nthat their disappearance is frequently followed by the appearance\nof trains of meteors. In other words, they have apparently lost\ntheir cometic properties and become permanent adjuncts to our solar\nsystem. A curious confirmation of this fact is to be found in the\ncharacter of the occluded gases which are contained in such meteorites\nas sometimes fall upon the earth's surface. Of this Professor Proctor\nsays, \"We have reason to believe that the nucleus of a comet consists\nof an aggregation of stones similar to meteorites.\" Speaking of\nthe condition in which meteorites reach the earth, he says, \"They\nare known to contain as much as six times their own volume of gases\n(taken at atmospheric pressure). In one of these meteorites recently\nexamined by Dr. Flight, the following percentages of various gases\nwere noted: Of carbonic oxide, 31.88; of carbonic acid gas, 0.12; of\nhydrogen, 45.79; of olefiant gas, 4.55; and of nitrogen, 17.66.\" The\npresence of olefiant gas at once suggests the hydrocarbons of the\ncometic nucleus. The presence of this gas cannot be accounted for by\nthe passage of the meteorite through our atmosphere, nor can that of\nhydrogen, and these are two characteristic gases, together with the\nvapor of carbon, constantly found to exist in comets.\n\nAs before explained, the advent of a comet into our solar system\nis that of a stranger, with electric polarity the opposite of\nthat of the planetary electrospheres and identical with that of\nthe sun. Under the combined influence of the solar gravity and\nperturbation by the gravity of the planets these foreign bodies\ntend to shorten their periods, and finally fall into the ordinary\narray of the bodies which compose our own solar system. But when\nthis occurs they will, in turn, become contributors to, instead of\nantagonists of, the energy of the sun; in other words, they must then\nconform electrically to the condition of the family into which they\nhave married,--that is to say, the planets,--and a reversal of their\nelectrical polarity will take place. This reversal of polarity is no\nnovelty in the operation of electrical apparatus. In \"Electricity in\nthe Service of Man\" we read as follows of the Voss induction machine:\n\"This machine is exceedingly powerful in favorable weather, but has\nan important defect in a tendency to self-reversal, which is apt to\noccur at a stoppage. This defect can be produced in a Voss machine,\nwhen desired, by holding a metal point to the positive brush K. The\ntwo derived inductive circuits are beautifully manifested when this\nmachine is worked in the dark. A luminous stream is seen pouring\ntowards the collecting comb L on whichever side of the machine the comb\nis positive.\" It will thus be seen that simple contact of a neutral\n(or negatively opposite) body will reverse the electrical polarity\nof this machine, or even the interruption of its motion will do so\nat times. Possibly a similar reversal may be produced in a comet\nby the contact in whole or in part of its nucleus with a planetary\nelectrosphere, since the action of gravity is entirely independent\nof that of the attraction or repulsion of the electrospheres of both\nplanetary and cometic bodies. Such reversal of polarity in a comet\nwould at once extinguish its luminosity, and the generation of oxygen\nwould at once replace the prior generation of hydrogen, and herein\nwe may find explained the presence of carbonic oxide in large volume\nand carbonic acid in small volume in the meteorite above referred to,\nand of which gases Professor Proctor says, \"It is quite certain these\ngases were not taken up by the meteorolite during its flight through\nthe air.\" These aggregations of discrete meteoric bodies, loosely\nadherent by mutual gravity alone, would be gradually torn apart by\nplanetary interference and dragged into streams of small bodies,\nthenceforth traversing space in elliptical orbits around the sun,\njust as do the planets and planetoids. Cyanogen, also, the deadly gas\nso frequently found to exist in enormous quantities in the nuclei of\ncomets, would at once disappear, by double conversion into carbonic\nacid, or oxide, and ammonia, or nitrogen, so that this danger, as\nthe result of a comet's possible approach to the earth's atmosphere,\nmay be dismissed from apprehension.\n\nIt will be seen that all the enormous difficulties in the phenomena\nof comets find an explanation in the operation of the same universal\nlaws which we have endeavored to apply to the other sidereal bodies. In\nconclusion, we may cite the following from Dr. Huggins: \"Broadly, the\ndifferent applications of principles of electricity which have been\nsuggested group themselves about the common idea that great electrical\ndisturbances are set up by the sun's action in connection with the\nvaporization of some of the matter of the nucleus, and that the tail\nis probably matter carried away, possibly in connection with electric\ndischarges, under an electrical influence of repulsion exerted by the\nsun. This view necessitates the supposition that the sun is strongly\nelectrified, either negatively or positively, and, further, that in\nthe processes taking place in the comet, either of vaporization or\nof some other kind, the matter thrown out by the nucleus has become\nstrongly electrified in the same way as the sun,--that is, negatively\nif the sun's electricity is negative, or positively if the sun's is\npositive. The enormous disturbances which the spectroscope shows\nto be always at work in the sun must be accompanied by electrical\nchanges of equal magnitude, but we know nothing as to how far these\nare all, or the great majority of them, in one direction, so as\nto cause the sun to maintain permanently a high electrical state,\nwhether positive or negative.\" The above speculations will have thus\nbecome demonstrated facts (though not in the mode suggested by the\nabove writer) as soon as we clearly understand that, instead of the\nsun's \"enormous disturbances\" producing \"electrical changes of equal\nmagnitude,\" it is the electrical changes of equal magnitude which\nthemselves cause the sun's disturbances, and that the sun's negative\nelectrical polarity is permanently fixed by the opposite and positive\npolarity of the planetary electrospheres, and that all these various\nphenomena are but the normal expression of a single universal law,\nand are all due to the constant interaction of planetary, solar,\nand cometic electrospheres, in accordance with the well-established\nprinciples of electrical science. If, however, we consider, as is\ngenerally believed to be the case, the sun itself to be the sole\nprime source of its visible energy, nothing but difficulty and vague\nspeculation can be looked for on every hand; but by relegating the\nsolar orb to its proper place, and taking as the starting-point the\ntrue source of all energy,--to wit, the hidden forces embodied in the\nvapors or gases of interstellar space,--the whole process and mode of\naction will logically follow, and obscurity and difficulty together\ndisappear. This principle, properly understood, is a master-key which\nwill unlock every problem and interpret every enigma which the realms\nof interstellar space can present.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nTHE RESOLVABLE NEBUL\u00c6, STAR-CLUSTERS AND GALAXIES.\n\n\nWhen we come to consider the nebul\u00e6, and endeavor to learn what part\nelectricity has to play in the phenomena presented by these singular\nobjects, we must recollect, in order to give them their due importance,\nthat they are neither few in number nor uniform in constitution. Of\nthe nebul\u00e6, Professor Proctor (\"Star-Clouds and Star-Mist\") says,\n\"When the depths of the heavens are explored with a powerful\ntelescope a number of strange cloud-like objects are brought into\nview. It is startling to consider that if the eye of man suddenly\nacquired the light-gathering power of a large telescope, and if at\nthe same time all the single stars disappeared, we should see on the\ncelestial vault a display of the mysterious objects called nebul\u00e6 or\nstar-clouds exceeding in number all the stars which can now be seen\non the darkest night in winter. The whole sky would seem mottled\nwith these singular objects.\" As telescopes, with the advances of\nconstructive art, increased in power, these luminous clouds became\nmore and more clearly defined, and many of them became resolved into\nclusters of stars, galaxies of suns like the Milky Way, of which latter\nour solar system is a constituent part, but more distant from us than\nthe separately visible stars of that galaxy, and each separated from\nthe relatively adjacent clusters by intervals of space comparable only\nwith those which separate them from our own system. Of these glorious\nstar-clusters, says Flammarion, in \"The Wonders of the Heavens,\"\n\"In the bosom of infinite space, the unfathomable depth of which we\nhave tried to comprehend, float rich clusters of stars, each separated\nby immense intervals. We shall soon show that all the stars are suns\nlike ours, shining with their own light, and foci of as many systems\nof worlds. Now, the stars are not scattered in all parts of space\nat hazard; they are grouped as the members of many families. If\nwe compared the ocean of the heavens with the ocean of the earth,\nwe should say that the isles which sprinkle this ocean do not rise\nseparately in all parts of the sea, but that they are united here and\nthere in archipelagoes more or less rich.... They are all collected in\ntribes, most of which count their members by millions.\" Says Professor\nNichol, \"System on system of majesty unspeakable float through the\nfathomless ocean of space. Our galaxy, with splendors that seem\nillimitable, is only a unit among unnumbered throngs; we can think\nof it, in comparison with creation, but as we were wont to think of\none of its own stars. \"Of these glorious star-clusters the same writer\nsays, \"That no one has ever seen them in a telescope of adequate power\nwithout uttering a shout of wonder.\" These mist-like star-clouds were\nsuccessively resolved, nebula by nebula, until science settled into\nthe belief that with telescopes of adequate power all nebul\u00e6 might be\nso resolved, and the capacity of telescopes to thus resolve nebul\u00e6\nbecame a test of their power. But spectrum analysis finally entered\nthe lists with new methods of investigation, and the comparatively\ntiny spectroscope at a single leap passed far beyond the utmost\nlimits of the highest telescopic vision, and at one blow struck the\nwhole category of nebul\u00e6 into two widely different classes,--those\ncomposed of discrete stars grouped like the suns of our own Milky\nWay, and exhibiting the characteristic spectra of such bodies, and\nthose composed of diffused gaseous matter not yet condensed into\nsuns, and showing the disconnected spectral lines of simple elemental\ngases. The line of division was clear, direct, positive, and beyond all\ndispute. Yet beyond these two classes further research has disclosed\ncertain vast nebul\u00e6 in which some portions exhibit true solar spectra\nmore or less modified and others true gaseous spectra, each apparently\nmerging into the other by gradations so faint and delicate that the\ninference is irresistible that in these nebul\u00e6 we see the processes\nof galactic and solar creation at various stages of their development.\n\nOf these nebul\u00e6, Professor Ball says, \"In one of his most remarkable\npapers, Sir W. Herschel presents us with a summary of his observations\non the nebul\u00e6, arranged in such a manner as to suggest his theory\nof the gradual transmutation of nebul\u00e6 into stars. He first shows\nus that there are regions in the heavens where a faint diffused\nnebulosity is all that can be detected by the telescope. There are\nother nebul\u00e6 in which a nucleus can be just discerned, others again\nin which the nucleus is easily seen, and still others where the\nnucleus is a bright star-like point. The transition from an object\nof this kind to a nebulous star is very natural, while the nebulous\nstars pass into the ordinary stars by a few graduated stages. It\nis thus possible to enumerate a series of objects, beginning at one\nend with the most diffused nebulosity and ending at the other with\nan ordinary fixed star or group of stars. Each object in the series\ndiffers but slightly from the object just before it and just after\nit.\" And of these composite nebul\u00e6, he adds, \"The great nebula in\nOrion is known to be the most glorious body of its class that the\nheavens display. Seen through a powerful telescope, ... the appearance\nof this grand 'light stain' is of indescribable glory. It is a vast\nvolume of bluish gaseous material with hues of infinite softness\nand delicacy. Here it presents luminous tracts which glow with an\nexquisite blue light; there it graduates off until it is impossible\nto say where the nebula ceases and the black sky begins.\"\n\nWith reference to these distant galaxies of apparently complete solar\nsystems like our own, the same principles must regulate the conversion\nof this energy of planetary electricity into the energy of solar\nlight and heat as we see manifested in our own sun. The light of the\nindividual stars is sufficient evidence of this; but the question may\nbe asked, Is the electrical interaction between separate galaxies and\nbetween different solar systems in the same galaxy universal, or are\nthese operations merely local? In other words, Is the source and the\nmode of solar energy in accordance with a single universal law of and\nbetween all created universes, or is it limited in effective energy\nto the members of each individual solar system alone? The answer\nis, that it is not less universal than the law of gravitation and\nno more so. There is a prevalent popular fallacy that the force of\ngravity is such that the movements, not only of solar systems, but\nof whole galaxies, and of all the illimitable systems of galaxies,\nare under its effective control, and that the whole universe of\nboundless space acknowledges its overwhelming sway. But nothing can be\nfurther from the truth. We know, of course, that the law is universal,\nas expressed in the statement of its terms by Newton, but the mere\nstatement of the law itself, as applied to interstellar distances,\nrefutes the idea that solar systems and galaxies can rotate around\nany common center by virtue of the attraction of gravitation as a\ncontrolling force. The universality of the law itself has even been\ndoubted. Professor Ball says, \"In the first book about astronomy which\nI read in my boyhood there was a glowing description.... I allude to\nthe discovery, or the alleged discovery, of a certain 'central sun'\nabout which it was believed or stated that all the bodies in the\nuniverse revolved.... It was too good to be true. No one ever hears\nanything about the central sun hypothesis nowadays.... It must be,\nthen, admitted that when the law of gravitation is spoken of as being\nuniversal, we are using language infinitely more general than the\nfacts absolutely warrant. At the present moment we only know that\ngravitation exists to a very small extent in a certain indefinite\nsmall portion of space. Our knowledge would have to be enormously\nincreased before we could assert that gravitation was in operation\nthroughout this very limited region; and even when we have proved\nthis, we should only have made an infinitesimal advance to a proof\nthat gravitation is absolutely universal.\"\n\nAnyone who chooses may prove for himself that the force exercised by\ngravitation between the multitudinous suns of our own galaxy, the Milky\nWay, and our earth must be quite infinitesimal, and totally unable to\ncontrol the motions of our own solar system in a definite orbit through\nuniversal space. We know that the law which regulates the intensity of\nlight at various distances is the same as the law of gravity,--that\nis to say, the proportion is directly as the mass and inversely as\nthe square of the distance. We know also that the stars which compose\nthe Milky Way are similarly constituted, generally considered, to our\nown sun, and that under similar circumstances the emission of light,\nroughly speaking, will vary according to the magnitude of these distant\nsuns. Now, if any one will stand, at the darkest hour of the night,\nwhen the moon is absent and the sky perfectly cloudless, when the\n\n\n    \"Stars that oversprinkle all the heavens seem to twinkle\n              With a crystalline delight,\"\n\n\nand sweep with his gaze all the concave hemisphere of the sky, and\nthen compare the light which is radiated around him with the gorgeous\neffulgence of the noonday summer sun, he can pretty closely compare\nthe relative attraction of gravity which all those distant suns\ntogether can exercise upon our earth with that of our own sun. Under\ncontrol of the latter, the earth sweeps around in her orbit at the\nrate of about twenty miles per second; all these suns could not give\nour solar system even a minute fraction of that. Of this starlight\nProfessor Ball says, \"The sun certainly must receive some heat by\nthe radiation from the stars; but this is quite infinitesimal in\ncomparison with his own stupendous radiation.\" Any such attraction,\nof course, could not control the motions of our solar system, and\nmuch less that of many of the others.\n\n\n   \"The night has a thousand eyes, and the day but one,\n    But the light of the whole world dies when the day is done.\"\n\n\nWe can also demonstrate the fact mathematically by an exceedingly\nrough calculation, which, however, will be sufficient for our\npurpose. Of the Milky Way, which comprises only the stars of our own\nsidereal system, Professor Ball says, \"One hundred million stars are\npresumed to be disposed in a flat circular layer of such dimensions\nthat a ray of light would require thirty thousand years to traverse\none diameter.\" (The most recent estimates make the number of the\nstars which compose the Milky Way several times one hundred million,\noccupying a correspondingly greater amplitude of space. The number in\nany case is sufficiently stupendous.) Our solar system is located in\nspace at the apex of a vast transverse cleft, and nearly at the center\nof this disk. Let us leave out of consideration the lower half of the\nMilky Way, as we look upward on a starlit night, and conceive this\ngalaxy to extend only across the midnight sky above us like an archway,\nwith fifty million suns, visible and invisible, exposed in the field\nof our vision. The nearest of all the fixed stars to us is that known\nas Alpha Centauri,--not visible, however, in our northern skies. This\nstar is about two hundred and thirty thousand times as far from our\nsun as is the earth. If of the same mass as our sun, it must exert\nupon us an attractive force of gravity one fifty-three-billionth\nthat of our own sun. Next in distance is the star No. 61 of the\nconstellation Cygnus. This may be three times as distant, and is\ncertainly not less than twice. The light of the former will reach\nthe earth in three and one-quarter years; that of the latter in not\nless than six and one-half years, perhaps much more. These are our\nnearest stellar neighbors. While the former will attract us with only\none fifty-three-thousand-millionth that of the sun, the latter will\nattract us with less than one two-hundred-thousand-millionth that of\nour sun. Conceive, then, a square pyramid extending radially upward\nfor three thousand times the mean of these distances to the upper\nprobable limits of the Milky Way, a light-distance of fifteen thousand\nyears, and that this pyramid expands according to the squares of its\ndistances, so that it will contain within it, equally distributed,\nall the stars (fifty million) of the upper half of the disk of the\nMilky Way; the sum total of all these attractions could not reach one\ntwenty-millionth part of that of our sun upon the earth. If we continue\nto pile galaxies, in the same perpetual recession, behind each other\nto all infinity, we still could not engender sufficient attractive\nforce to control the observed movements of the multitudinous stars of\nspace. The very statement of the law of gravitation itself disproves\nit; for if we multiply orbs and systems according to any principle\nof aggregation that we know of in the way of distribution of such\nsystems, or anything possible, with due regard to their own mutually\ninteracting movements in space, we could never reach the inside limits\nof such a sphere of control, because the piling up of orb behind orb\nadds but an infinitesimal fraction to the force of gravity, for as\nthe orbs themselves multiply in distance progressively by hundreds,\ntheir relative attractions inversely diminish by ten thousands. No\npossible increase of suns directly in mass could compensate for such\nan inverse ratio of squares, even if all intergalactic space were\npeopled with suns, instead of being, in fact, like a vast ocean, with\na few small clusters of islands scattered here and there throughout\nits illimitable extent.\n\nOf these vast realms of space, Professor Ball asks, \"Is our sidereal\nsystem to be regarded as an oceanic island in space, or is it in\nsuch connection with the systems in other parts of space as might\nlead us to infer that the various systems had a common character? The\nevidence seems to show that the stars in our system are probably not\npermanently associated together, but that in the course of time some\nstars enter our system and other stars leave it, in such manner\nas to suggest that the bodies visible to us are fairly typical\nof the general contents of the universe. The strongest evidence\nthat can be presented on this subject is met with in the peculiar\ncircumstances of one particular star. The star in question is known\nas No. 1830 of Groombridge's catalogue. It is a small star, not to be\nseen without the aid of a telescope.... We shall probably be quite\ncorrect in assuming that the distance is not less than two hundred\nbillions of miles.... The velocity is no less than two hundred miles\nper second.... The star sweeps along through our system with this\nstupendous velocity.... The velocity being over twenty-five miles a\nsecond, the attraction can never overcome the velocity, so that the\nstar seems destined to escape.\" Of the star Alcyone he says, \"Doubtless\nthat star is thousands of billions of miles from the earth; doubtless\nthe light from it requires thousands of years--and some astronomers\nhave said millions of years--to span the abyss which intervenes\nbetween our globe and those distant regions.\" And yet these stars,\nthese galaxies, and even all the nebul\u00e6 we see or ever shall see, are\nmerely in the vestibule of space; we have scarcely even yet lifted the\nouter curtain at the entrance of those vast realms. That the popular,\nbut pseudo-scientific, idea of a series of ever-widening concentric\norbits, increasing at every new expansion by an inconceivable ratio,\nis incredible we can well understand, and it is a satisfaction to\nknow that such a wild hypothesis finds no warrant in the dicta or the\ndemonstrations of science. And it is in the failure of gravity to\ncontrol over the intervening space which lies between those vastly\ndistant centers that we may hope to find the inklings of a more\nfar-reaching law, by which nebul\u00e6 like that of Orion crystallize out\ninto separate star systems, just as in the rocks, whether igneous,\nmetamorphic, or sedimentary, we find the attraction of cohesion yield\nto that of crystallization, until the whole cleft rock blazes with\ncountless garnets in the schist and quartz crystals in the gneiss,\nor reveals the yellow specks of olivine in volcanic ejections.\n\nWe shall find in the processes concerned with the development of living\nthings the workings of a similar great law, perhaps the same. Wherever\nthere is the possibility of life, there we find life. There seems to\nbe an all-pervading vital tension, so to speak, an energizing force,\nwhich drives the evolution and ascent of life forward and upward by\nsuccessive leaps, as it were, from type to type, from race to race,\nand even from nation to nation. In this universal forward movement\nwe may dimly discern the primordial creative and developing impulse,\nconstantly acting, but manifesting visible change only at intervals\nas gathering forces accumulate and equilibrium is disturbed. It\nmanifests itself in all the fields of nature,--vital, chemical,\nmolecular, molar, systemic. It is the ever-acting, eternal past,\npresent, and future, the macrocosm and the microcosm, the panurgus,\nthe Brahma, the Ancient of Days, and cannot be silenced or evaded:\n\n\n           \"They reckon ill who leave me out,\n            When me they fly I am the wings.\"\n\n\nR. Kalley Miller, in his \"Romance of Astronomy,\" says, \"It would be\nhopeless to attempt expressing in ordinary language the vast distance\nat which these clusters of stars are situated from us. If we were to\nreckon it in miles, or even in millions of miles, figures would pile\nupon figures till in their number all definite idea of their value\nwas lost. We must choose another unit to measure these infinitudes of\nspace,--a unit compared with which the dimensions of our own solar\nsystem shrink into absolute nothingness. The velocity of light is\nsuch that it would flash fifteen times from pole to pole of our earth\nbetween two beats of the pendulum. It bridges the huge chasm that\nseparates us from the sun in little more than eight minutes. But the\nlight that shows us these faint star-clusters has been travelling\nwith this frightful velocity for more than two million years since\nit left its distant source. We see them to-day in the fields of our\ntelescopes, not as they are now, but as they were countless ages before\nthe creation of man upon the earth. What they are now who can tell?\"\n\nThe movements of solar systems through space are unquestionably\ncontrolled by some wider law than that of gravitation, and it still\nremains for science to seek its hidden principles and discover its\nmode of operation. We know that some stars travel alone, like the\nstar already noted, No. 1830 of Groombridge's catalogue; that others\ntravel in pairs, like the double star Mizar and its companion Alcor;\nand others in groups, like the stars Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon and\nZeta, of the constellation Ursa Major; that we are driving towards\nthe constellation Lyra and leaving behind us Sirius and its fellows,\nand that many, if not all, of the stars whose motions we can measure\nhave a rapid movement through space, but under what control, in accord\nwith what hidden harmony, and under what general plan they move,\nwe do not know; but the laws of electrical action of the circling\nplanets upon their central suns, and of these upon space, we can\nreadily account for by the similar operation of the same laws within\nour own solar domain; and we know by the similar terms of the ratio\nof distribution of light that this is commensurate in extent with the\nlaw of gravity, and operates in a like proportion of energy over all\nintervening distances; so that wherever our sun presents a visible\npoint of light, there it is pouring its energy into space, and every\nsun we can see, every galaxy, every star-cluster, nay, every nebula,\nis likewise pouring into the interplanetary space of our own solar\nsystem its proportionate quota of energy. The very fact that we can\nsee the star shine is itself the fullest evidence that this is so,\nand evidence also that the law of gravitation there, too, is still\nin force, operating over these same distances, and with the same\nproportionate energy.\n\nKnowing all this, we can read with a new light the grand vistas\nof the skies, with their starry denizens, and claim them all as\nparts of our own family; and the mutual interchange of attractive\nenergy and of light and heat will not fail between us until those\ninconceivable distances shall have been reached which human knowledge\ncan never span and where speculation fails; and even there, from out\nthose dark abysses,--dark to our human eyes,--the call will still\nfaintly reach us, and our response will reach them also, though we\nshall never have tangible evidence that such mutual ties continue to\nexist. Industriously our planets gather their mighty energies from\nthe surrounding springs of space, as one dips water from a crystal\nstream; we hand it over to our sun, and he, the royal high-priest,\nsprinkles it in glittering diamond-sprays over all those countless\nsuns and their subject worlds, and they are baptized with an eternal\nbaptism into our common brotherhood and we into theirs. Our familiar\nplanets, Mars, Jupiter, Neptune, the earth, and even our little moon,\nseem to raise their voices and take actual part in the councils of\nalmighty power, to move about as perpetual benefactors, gathering and\nspreading beneficence abroad, instead of cowering, a hapless few,\nlike storm-stayed travellers, around the dying embers of our poor\nold sun, passive recipients of the light and heat and life which we\nhave been taught to believe are slowly sinking into ashes and fading\naway in eternal darkness and death. One swift glance into these\nboundless truths is better for the human soul than the slow passage\nof whole hopeless centuries, which leave as their inevitable legacy\non earth a vast and final catastrophe, in which everything that gave\nus light and heat and being must perish forever. Has it, indeed,\ncome to this, that the last word which science has to offer is,\n\"After us the deluge\"? By no means. We have merely been endeavoring\nto measure the right hand of God by weighing and measuring a single\nisolated one of his countless multitude of suns.\n\nIt is as though one standing beside a great water-wheel should estimate\nits power and rotation by measuring the width and depth of the buckets\nand calculating the weight of water which its thirty-two receptacles\ncontain, saying, \"at its present rate in so many seconds it will cease\nto move.\" But we take him to the water-gate, and show it wide open;\nto the great dam above it which contains cubic miles of water; and\nstill beyond that to the mighty fountains bursting forth with their\nrush and roar from the rock-ribbed fastnesses of the eternal hills,\nand pouring their unfailing flood-tide down forever and ever. And we\ndo not pause even here: we show him the vapors rising from the spent\nwater again, condensing into clouds, pouring down in torrents of rain\namong the hills, and that these continuously feed the sources of the\nfountains, which in turn supply the wheel almost to bursting. And so\nit is with the glorious mechanism of the heavens.\n\nThe source of solar energy is not to be found in the sun itself,\nbut in his environment; and he himself, in all his glory, is but the\nking, crowned with gold, blazing with rich apparel, and scattering\nbenefits among his satellites, not from his own private treasury,\nbut who himself is enriched by the mighty tribute with which his\nwilling subjects continually endow him, and to whom alone he owes\nall his pride and power and wealth and magnificence, and which he, in\nturn, so freely expends, transmuted in form alone, in the perpetual\nimprovement and welfare of his domain. He is the faithful ruler,\nbut not the creator; the beneficent monarch, but not the god.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\nTHE GASEOUS NEBUL\u00c6.\n\n\nWhen we reach the irresolvable nebul\u00e6, we unquestionably have\napproached the creative period of solar systems and in many cases\nof whole galaxies. These are multifarious in form, but all can be\nreduced to a few comprehensive types. In determining the question\nas to whether these irresolvable nebul\u00e6 were composed of distinct\nstars like the Milky Way, but too distant to be resolved from their\nmist-like light into discrete stars by the most powerful telescopes,\nor whether they were gaseous in constitution,--that is, composed\nof diffused gaseous elements not condensed into solar bodies,--the\nspectroscope became the final and infallible test. Of this instrument,\nthus used, Professor Proctor, in his \"Star-Clouds and Star-Mist,\" says,\n\"A very few words will explain the whole matter to readers who remember\nthe three fundamental laws of this new mode of investigation,--viz.,\nthat, first, light from a burning solid or liquid source gives the\nrainbow-colored streak of light commonly known as the prismatic\nspectrum; secondly, when vapors surround such a source of light, the\nrainbow-colored streak is crossed by dark lines; and, thirdly, when the\nsource of light is gas, there is no longer a rainbow-colored streak,\nbut merely a finite number of bright lines.\" Dr. Huggins selected for\ninvestigation the small planetary nebula in the Dragon. He says, \"When\nI had directed the telescope armed with the spectrum apparatus to this\nnebula, I at first suspected that some derangement of the instrument\nhad taken place, for no spectrum was seen, but only a short line of\nlight. I then found that the light of this nebula, unlike any other\nextra-terrestrial light which had yet been subjected by me to prismatic\nanalysis, was of definite colors, and therefore could not form a\nspectrum. A great part of the light is monochromatic, and so remains\nconcentrated in a bright line occupying a position in the spectrum\ncorresponding to its color. Careful examination showed a narrower and\nmuch fainter line near the one first discovered. Beyond this point,\nabout three times as far from the first line, was a third exceedingly\nfaint line. From the position of one of the bright lines it is inferred\nthe gas nitrogen is one of the constituents of the nebula; another line\nindicates the existence of the gas hydrogen in that far-off system;\nthe third line has not yet been associated with any known terrestrial\nelement, though it is near one belonging to the metal barium, and\nstill nearer one belonging to oxygen; a fourth line occasionally seen\nbelongs to hydrogen.\" Professor Proctor says, \"Dr. Huggins examined\na large number of the planetary nebul\u00e6 (so called), obtaining in\neach case a spectrum which indicates gaseity. In some cases only one\nline could be seen, in others two, more commonly three, and in a few\ninstances four. When these lines were seen they invariably corresponded\nin position with those already described. The single line sometimes\nseen corresponded with the brightest line of the three; and when a\nsecond line was visible, this also was no new line, but agreed with\nthe second brightest line in the three-line spectrum. The fourth line\nwas seen only in the spectrum of a very bright, small, blue planetary\nnebula, but was later observed in other cases, and especially in the\ngreat Orion nebula.\" At this time the latter was not visible, but when\nDr. Huggins had opportunity to examine it, he says, \"The telescopic\nobservations of this nebula seem to show that it is suitable to a\ncrucial test of the usually received opinion that the resolution of\na nebula into bright stellar points is a certain indication that the\nnebula consists of discrete stars.\" Professor Proctor says, \"A simple\nglance resolved the difficulty. The light from the brightest part of\nthe nebula--the very part which under Lord Rosse's great reflector\nblazed with innumerable points of light--gave a spectrum identical in\nall respects with that which Huggins had obtained from the planetary\nnebul\u00e6. Thus, what had been deemed boldness in Herschel--namely,\nthat he should have associated the wildest and most fantastic nebula\nin the heavens with the circular and (in ordinary telescopes) almost\nuniformly luminous planetary nebul\u00e6--was unexpectedly confirmed.\" The\nspectrum of this nebula has more recently been photographed by a long\nexposure in the camera of the prepared plate. Of the result, Professor\nProctor thus speaks, \"The nebula is seen to be in great part gaseous,\nand, where gaseous, to shine in the main with the tints described\nabove; but parts of the nebula are not gaseous, and those portions\nwhich are so are not all constituted in the same manner.... That\nportion which is called the fish's mouth gives a continuous spectrum;\nin other words, the same spectrum which we obtain from a star or a\nstar-cluster. This is the spectrum arising from a glowing solid or\nliquid mass, or if from a gaseous body, then the gaseous body must be\nin a state of great compression.... But the stars thus forming must\nbe immersed in the glowing gas forming the general substance of the\nnebula.... It would be absurd to suppose that the nebula is a flat\nsurface; ... nebulous matter lies also, in all probability (certainly\none might fairly say), between us and the stellar aggregration as\nwell as on the farther side.\" Further, the same author says, \"If,\nas is probable, the luminosity of the gaseous portion of the Orion\nnebula is accompanied by but a relatively small proportion of heat,\nthen the rays from the violet and ultra-violet part of the spectrum\nare likely to give us much more complete information respecting the\nconstitution of these nebulous masses than can be derived from the\nvisible part of the spectrum.\"\n\nIn the recent work of Professor Ball, \"In the High Heavens,\" that\nauthor says, \"There are, however, good grounds for believing that\nnebul\u00e6 really do undergo some changes, at least as regards brightness;\nbut whether these changes are such as Herschel's theory would seem\nto require is quite another question. Perhaps the best-authenticated\ninstance is that of the variable nebula in the constellation of\nTaurus, discovered by Mr. Hind in 1852. At the time of its discovery\nthis object was a small nebula about one minute in diameter, with a\ncentral condensation of light. D'Arrest, the distinguished astronomer\nof Copenhagen, found in 1861 that this nebula had vanished. On the 29th\nof December, 1861, the nebula was again seen in the powerful refractor\nat Pulkova, but on December 12, 1863, Mr. Hind failed to detect it\nwith the telescope by which it had been originally discovered.... In\n1868, O. Struve, observing at Pulkova, detected another nebulous spot\nin the vicinity of the place of the missing object, but this also\nhas now vanished. Struve, however, does not consider that the nebula\nof 1868 is distinct from Hind's nebula, but he says, 'What I see is\ncertainly the variable nebula itself, only in altered brightness and\nspread over a larger space. Some traces of nebulosity are still to be\nseen exactly on the spot where Hind and D'Arrest placed the variable\nnebula. It is a remarkable circumstance that this nebula is in the\nvicinity of a variable star which changes somewhat irregularly from\nthe ninth to the twelfth magnitude. At the time of the discovery in\n1861 both the star and the nebula were brighter than they have since\nbecome.'... It must be admitted that the changes are such as would\nnot be expected if Herschel's theory were universally true. Another\nremarkable occurrence in modern astronomy may be cited as having\nsome bearing on the question as to the actual evidence for or against\nHerschel's theory. On November 24, 1876, Dr. Schmidt noticed a new star\nof the third magnitude in the constellation Cygnus.... The brilliancy\ngradually declined until, on the 13th of December, Mr. Hind found it to\nbe of the sixth magnitude. The spectrum ... exhibited several bright\nlines which indicated that the star differed from other stars by the\npossession of vast masses of glowing gaseous material.... September 2,\n1877, it was then below the tenth magnitude and of a decidedly bluish\ntint. Viewed through the spectroscope, its light was almost completely\nmonochromatic, and appeared to be indistinguishable from that which\nis often found to come from nebul\u00e6.... It would seem certain that\nwe have an instance before us in which a star has changed into a\nplanetary nebula of small angular diameter.... Professor Pickering,\nhowever, has since found slight traces of a continuous spectrum, but\nthe object has now become so extremely faint that such observations\nare very difficult.... For the nebular theory we require evidence\nof the conversion of nebul\u00e6 into stars.\" And not, it may be added,\nof stars into nebul\u00e6.\n\nOf the irregular nebul\u00e6, Professor Proctor says, \"It may well\nchance, as long since suggested by Professor Clark, of Cincinnati,\nand as more cautiously hinted by Dr. Huggins, that in the varieties\nof constitution observed in the irregular nebul\u00e6, and the evidence\nsuch varieties afford of progressive changes, we may find not merely\ndirect evidence of the development of suns and sun-systems from the\ngreat masses of nebulous matter, but even what would be a far more\nimportant and impressive result,--actual evidence of the development\nof so-called elements from substances really elementary, or, at any\nrate, one stage nearer the elementary condition than are our hydrogen,\nnitrogen, oxygen, carbon, and so forth. The peculiarity of the spectral\nindications of the presence of nitrogen and hydrogen in the nebula,\nthat only one line of nitrogen and two or three lines of hydrogen are\ndiscernible, instead of a complete spectrum of either element as seen\nunder any known conditions, seems suggestive of what may be called\na more elemental condition of hydrogen and nitrogen.\" Whether this\nbe so, or whether these peculiarities are due to self-obscuration, or\nmutual reversal of the familiar lines due to the enormous disturbances\nof the nebular mass which must exist, it is certain that there is one\nterrestrial substance, at least, which acts invariably, in combination\nand chemical affinity, as a simple element in inorganic chemistry,\nbut which is, in fact, compound,--to wit, the hypothetical radical\nammonium, which is closely allied with the simple alkaline metals\npotassium and sodium, forming with them a single group; and yet,\nwhile the others have always remained as fixed, primitive elements,\nthe hypothetical element ammonium alone is a composite substance\nconsisting of hydrogen and nitrogen, two of the invariable gaseous\nconstituents of all these nebul\u00e6. In comets we find, vaguely expressed,\nan occasional strongly marked sodium line, and also the spectrum of\ncarbon; in these gaseous nebul\u00e6 we find, as yet, no trace of carbon,\nand this element is so closely allied to hydrogen in its chemical\naffinities and reactions as to suggest that it may be the same element\nor some alloy of it, or in some allotropic form, as we find to be the\ncase with other simple elements under special conditions. In organic\nchemistry--the chemistry of organic life--we find almost innumerable\ncompound radicals which act as simple elements in combination, but\nwhich we can combine and separate into their constituents at will;\nto all intents and purposes, in their various reactions, they behave\nas elemental substances, and were it not that our analyses are able to\nresolve them, as the spectroscope resolves the nebul\u00e6, we might well\nbelieve that here also we were dealing with simple primary elements. It\nis almost certain that great discoveries in this field of chemistry\nare not far distant, which will recall with wondering surprise the now\nuniversally exploded fallacies of the \"Philosopher's Stone\" and the\n\"Universal Solvent.\" Indeed, we may find in the electrical energies\nof the planets and the self-repulsive force of the electrospheres\nof the earth and moon possible grounds for investigating anew some\nof the abandoned tenets of astrology, in the hope that the light of\nscience may disclose some basis, at least, for what, at one time,--and\nfor nearly all time, in fact,--was the universally accepted belief,\nnot only of the ignorant, but of those the wisest and most learned of\ntheir day and generation. If the planets by their position can cloud\nthe sun, nearly a million miles in diameter, with spots, or shed the\nbrilliance of the aurora borealis over all our skies, may they not\nalso cloud the embryonic intellect, or charge it with energies for\na career of prosperity or of disaster? May not the unseen currents,\nor the electric storms around us, or the vast electrical phenomena\nof the sun as well affect the sprouting germs of the husbandman or\nsome abnormally rapid development of an insect pest as the light,\nthe warmth, the moisture, or the cold, which, to our coarser vision,\nare alone apparent? Fancy and fallacy revel luxuriantly where science\nfails, but truth existed long before science was systematized, and the\nsupercilious condemnation of once generally accepted views without\nexamination is merely pseudo-science, and scarcely a single grade\nhigher in the scale than ignorant superstition itself. And every\nnew advance in knowledge requires a new overhauling of abandoned\nmaterial, just as a new advance in metallurgical knowledge enables\nus sometimes to work over again our once-rejected mining dumps\nwith decided profit. Indeed, science itself is but a collection of\nobserved facts reduced to system, and among the shrewd and practical\nminers there is a well-known saying, \"The ore is where you find it,\"\nwhich has frequently put scientific assertion to the blush.\n\nA study of the beautiful mezzotint plates, from the drawings of\nthe Earl of Rosse, contained in Professor Nichol's splendid work,\n\"The Architecture of the Heavens,\" will clearly disclose the forms, as\nrevealed by a powerful telescope, of many of these gaseous nebul\u00e6. Of\nsuch nebul\u00e6, Appleton's Cyclop\u00e6dia says, \"nebul\u00e6 proper, or those\nwhich have not been definitely resolved, are found in nearly every\nquarter of the firmament, though abounding especially near those\nregions which have fewest stars. Scarcely any are found near the\nMilky Way, and the great mass of them lie in the two opposite spaces\nfarthest removed from this circle. Their forms are very various,\nand often undergo strange and unexpected changes as the power of the\ntelescope with which they are viewed is increased, so as not to be\nrecognizable in some cases as the same objects.\" An example of this\nis shown in Plate X. (Figs. 1 and 2) of Professor Nichol's work,\nwhich gives a greatly enlarged view of those shown in Figs. 1 and 2\nof Plate IX. (For Fig. 2 of Nichol's Plate X., see illustration of\nnebula with double sun, in previous chapter.) Professor Nichol says,\n\"In every instance examined, save one, the planetary nebul\u00e6 are nebul\u00e6\nwith hollow centers.\" The inference which this writer makes, that such\na planetary nebula consists of \"a grand annular cluster of stars,\"\nhas been since disproved by the discoveries of the spectroscope,\nbut the telescopic form remains true, and still awaits further\ninterpretation. While the irresolvable nebul\u00e6 seem to seek some\nretired spot in space for their processes, like certain animals\nwhen incubating, this rule is not universal. Of this, Appleton's\nCyclop\u00e6dia says, \"The density of nebular distribution increased with\nthe distance from the galactic zone for the irresolvable nebul\u00e6,\nbut diminished with that distance for the clusters.... There is not a\ngradual condensation of nebul\u00e6 towards two opposite regions, near the\npoles of the galactic zone, but the nebul\u00e6 are gathered into streams,\nnodules, and irregular aggregations such as we find in the grouping\nof stars.... Between stars and nebul\u00e6 their arrangement follows the\nlaw of contrast. There are two remarkable exceptions to this law,--the\nMagellanic Clouds. In these, where stars of all orders, from the ninth\nmagnitude to irresolvable stellar aggregations, are as richly gathered\nas in the galactic zone, nebul\u00e6 of all orders are also gathered richly,\neven more so than anywhere else over the whole heavens.\" In the same\nwork, article \"Nebula,\" it is stated of the planetary nebul\u00e6, \"There\nare several which have perfectly the appearance of a ring, and are\ncalled annular nebul\u00e6.... Some appear to be physically connected in\npairs like double stars. Most of the small nebul\u00e6 have the general\nappearance of a bright central nucleus enveloped in a nebulous\nveil. This nucleus is sometimes concentrated as a star and sometimes\ndiffused. The enveloping veil is sometimes circular and sometimes\nelliptical, with every degree of eccentricity between a circle and a\nstraight line. There are some which, with a general disposition to\nsymmetry of form, have great branching arms or filaments with more\nor less precision of outline. An example of this is Lord Rosse's Crab\nnebula. Another remarkable object is the nebula in Andromeda, which is\nvisible with the naked eye, and is the only one which was discovered\nbefore the invention of the telescope. Simon Marius (1612) describes\nits appearance as that of a candle shining through horn. Besides the\nabove, which have comparatively regular forms, there are others more\ndiffused and devoid of symmetry of shape. A remarkable example is the\ngreat nebula in Orion, discovered by Huygens in 1656.... The great\nnebula in Argo is another example of this class.\"\n\nThe number of nebul\u00e6 recognized in all the heavens is upward of five\nthousand, and new ones are being constantly discovered. Of these\nobjects, Professor Nichol says, \"The spiral figure is characteristic\nof an extensive class of galaxies. Majestic associations of orbs,\narranged in this winding form, with branches issuing like a divergent\ngeometric curve from a globular cluster.\" These nebul\u00e6, however, are\nnot associations of orbs; they are gaseous nebul\u00e6 apparently in process\nof evolution. This author (Professor Nichol) presents views of such\nspiral nebul\u00e6 either foreshortened to the view, so as to form a long\nellipse, or with the convolutions of the spiral apparently raised from\nthe horizontal plane into a conical form, and showing the black streaks\nof space which lie between the convolutions, others seen in side view,\nothers in front, and, in fact, presented to the eye in every position\nfor observation. The author wrote before the days of the spectroscope,\nand that he should conceive these vast objects to be spirals made\nup of blazing suns like our Milky Way--vast galaxies, in fact--was\nan inevitable conclusion at that time; but we now know that these\nspiral nebul\u00e6 are gaseous, are apparently in process of manufacture,\nand we can see them in their different stages of evolution, and\nmay perhaps learn something about the processes by which solar\nsystems and galaxies of suns are formed. Of one of these strange but\nexceedingly instructive objects, Professor Ball, in his work \"In the\nHigh Heavens,\" says, \"Fig. 3 represents one of the famous spiral nebul\u00e6\n(that of Canes Venatici) discovered many years ago by the late Earl of\nRosse. The object is invisible to the naked eye. It seems like a haze\nsurrounding the stars, which the telescope discloses in considerable\nnumbers, as shown in the picture. When viewed through an instrument\nof sufficient power, a marvellous spectacle is revealed. There are\nwisps and patches of glowing cloud-like material which shine not\nas our clouds do, by reflecting to us the sunlight. This celestial\ncloud is no doubt self-luminous; it is, in fact, composed of vapors so\nintensely heated that they glow with fervor. As I write, I have Lord\nRosse's elaborate drawing of this nebula before me, and on the margin\nof this stupendous object the nebula fades away so tenderly that it\nis almost impossible to say where the luminosity terminates. Probably\nthis nebula will in some remote age condense down into more solid\nsubstances. It contains, no doubt, enough material to make many\nglobes as big as our earth. Before, however, it settles down into dark\nbodies like the earth, it will have to pass through stages in which\nits condensing materials will form bright sun-like bodies. It seems\nas if this process of condensation might almost be witnessed at the\npresent time in some parts of the great object. There are also some\nvery striking nebul\u00e6 which are often spoken of as planetary. They\nare literally balls of bluish-colored gas or vapor, apparently more\ndense than that which forms the nebula now under consideration. Such\nglobes are doubtless undergoing condensation, and may be regarded as\nincipient worlds.\" Of these spiral nebul\u00e6 it is said, in Appleton's\nCyclop\u00e6dia, \"Many of them had been long known as nebul\u00e6, but their\ncharacteristic spiral form had never been suspected. They have the\nappearance of a maelstrom of stellar matter, and are among the most\ninteresting objects in the heavens.\" Of their spectra it is said,\n\"The bright-line spectrum is given by all the irregular nebul\u00e6 hitherto\nexamined and by the planetary nebul\u00e6.\" That is to say, these nebul\u00e6\nare gaseous in constitution, and have not yet reached the stage of\nsolar condensation which marks the existence of individual suns.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\nTHE NEBULAR HYPOTHESIS: ITS BASIS AND ITS DIFFICULTIES.\n\n                   \"There sinks the nebulous star we call the Sun,\n                    If that hypothesis of theirs be sound.\"--Tennyson.\n\n\nWhile the nebular theory of Laplace is now the generally accepted\nscientific hypothesis of the formation of our solar system and of\nall solar systems, it finds its strongest support in the mode in\nwhich it seeks to account for the heat and light of the sun,--that\nis, that the central orb, gradually condensing down from an original\nvolume as large as the orbit of Neptune, at least, after disengaging\nthe planetary rings, continued to condense to its present volume,\nand still so continues, the molecular motions arrested by condensation\nunder gravity reappearing in the form of the energy of light and heat,\nand that this process of degradation will continue until, finally,\nthe sun becomes a solid inert mass, incapable by further condensation\nof exciting the ethereal undulations in space which constitute heat and\nlight, when the whole process will finally cease, the sun will die out,\nthe planets continue to rotate in darkness, and the whole machinery be\nleft running through an eternal night, like a vast mill in the hands\nof a negligent watchman (or rather no watchman at all), left to run\nitself alone, dark, empty, lifeless, and deserted, through the long and\nsilent watches of the night. While the source and mode of solar energy\nset forth in this work are to be as readily accounted for if we accept\nas valid Laplace's nebular hypothesis as by any other theory, yet\nsuch basis is not essential for its support; for while the planetary\nrotations and the central sun are the necessary consequence, according\nto Laplace's hypothesis, of their mode of formation,--are, in fact,\njust what we actually find them to be under any hypothesis,--electrical\ngeneration and transformation will proceed just the same whether the\nplanets and sun were formed originally in one mode or in another. But,\nsince this generally accepted hypothesis accounts for the light and\nheat of the sun, to a certain extent at least, and for a certain\nrelatively brief period, while no other hypothesis has been able to\nsufficiently account for it at all, and while this hypothesis also\nfinds both support and contradiction in many observed phenomena of\nour solar system, it may well occur that this hypothesis itself,\nbased upon the necessity of accounting for the sun's light and heat,\nand which latter afford it its strongest basis of support, may,\nif the basis upon which the theory rests be found to be otherwise\nexplicable, still remain as an end, while originally presented only\nas a means, and thus be held as an obstacle to the acceptance of the\nwidely different interpretation of known facts herein presented, in\nthe absence of any other hypothesis capable of explaining the same\nfacts in accordance with this presentation of planetary electrical\ngeneration and the solar transformation of this energy into light\nand heat. Herbert Spencer mentions an instance of such perversion of\nmeans into an end as occurring during the agitation for the repeal\nof the corn laws in England, which extended over many years, during\nwhich organized efforts were made to influence Parliament. A permanent\ncommission was established, with official head-quarters permanently\nlocated in London, with clerks, secretaries, higher officers, and\nall the paraphernalia of a first-class establishment. The purpose of\nthis institution was to act in behalf of the popular interests upon\nParliament by every available means to secure this great reform. After\nyears of effort, he says, a clerk one day rushed, breathless, into the\noffice from the House of Commons and shouted, in accents of despair,\n\"We are ruined; the bill has passed!\"\n\nThe nebular hypothesis, while generally accepted in lieu of a better\none, has no actual primary basis beyond that of mere assumption. Of\nit Professor Ball says, \"The nebular theory ... seems, from the\nnature of the case, to be almost incapable of receiving any direct\ntestimony.\" We have already quoted from Professor Newcomb that it\nmust be accepted, with all its difficulties, until a different and\nsufficient explanation of solar energy shall be presented. As set\nforth in Appleton's Cyclop\u00e6dia, the theory is as follows: \"Assuming,\nfor the sake of the argument, a rare, homogeneous, nebulous matter,\nwidely diffused through space, the following successive changes will,\non physical principles, take place in it: 1, mutual gravitation of\nits atoms; 2, atomic repulsion; 3, evolution of heat by overcoming\nthis repulsion; 4, molecular combination at a certain stage of\ncondensation; followed by, 5, sudden and great disengagement of heat;\n6, lowering of temperature by radiation and consequent precipitation\nof binary atoms, aggregating into irregular flocculi and floating in\nthe rarer medium, just as water when precipitated from air collects\ninto clouds; 7, each flocculus will move towards the common center of\ngravity of all; but, being an irregular mass in a resisting medium,\nthis motion will be out of the rectilinear,--that is to say, not\ndirectly towards the common center of gravity, but towards one or\nthe other side of it,--and thus, 8, a spiral movement will ensue,\nwhich will be communicated to the rarer medium through which the\nflocculus is moving; and, 9, a preponderating momentum and rotation of\nthe whole mass in some one direction, converging in spirals towards\nthe common center of gravity. Certain subordinate actions are to\nbe noticed also. Mutual attraction will tend to produce groups of\nflocculi concentrating around local centers of gravity and acquiring\na subordinate vortical movement. These conclusions are shown to be in\nentire harmony with the observed phenomena. In this genetic process,\nwhen the precipitated matter is aggregating into flocculi, there will\nbe found here and there detached portions, like shreds of cloud in a\nsummer sky, which will not coalesce with the larger internal masses,\nbut will slowly follow without overtaking them. These fragments will\nassume characteristics of motion strikingly correspondent to those of\nthe comets, whose physical constitution and distribution are seen to\nbe completely accordant with the hypothesis.\" During this process,\nit is further stated, successive rings of nebulous matter will be\nthrown off and left behind, which are supposed to have coalesced\ninto planets and their satellites, and the motion of rotation will\nbecome more and more rapid as condensation proceeds, until, finally,\nthe last planet, Mercury, will be left behind in annular form,\nand the sun will then become the central orb of all the planets,\nand condensation afterwards will proceed without further delivery of\nplanetary rings. Professor Ball says, \"If we go sufficiently far back,\nwe seem to come to a time when the sun, in a more or less completely\ngaseous state, filled up the surrounding space out to the orbit of\nMercury, or, earlier still, out to the orbit of the remotest planet.\"\n\nThere is nothing in the actively developing nebula illustrated on\nthe following page which shows the slightest analogy, either in\nstructure or the forces at work, to what is demanded by the nebular\nhypothesis. On the contrary, these radiating, spiral convolutions,\nspringing from a center and extended, with interstratified dark spaces,\nout to the periphery, are entirely incompatible with that theory. There\nhave not, so far, been observed in all the heavens any gaseous\nnebul\u00e6 which lend the slightest support to the nebular hypothesis. We\nshould expect to find, if it were true, that many of the nucleated\nplanetary nebul\u00e6 show exterior concentric rings of luminous matter,\nclearly defined, two, three, or a dozen in number, left behind by the\ncontracting volume of the nebula, and coalescing into planets, and,\nwithin, the glowing disk from which new external rings are about to be\nleft as a residuum. On the contrary, these nebul\u00e6 gradually fade away\ntowards their margins, and imperceptibly disappear in the blackness\nof space. If they terminated abruptly, we might suppose that here,\nat least, was the orbit of a newly forming planet, but the regular\nand delicate gradation of luminosity from maximum to zero shows that\nno such sudden breaking off has occurred. In all these nebul\u00e6 we find\nevery definitely marked structure to exhibit the operation of combined\nforces of gravity and internal repulsion nearly equally balanced,\nbut each acting independently of the other. These phenomena are as\nuniversal as the forces of cohesion and repellent polarity in the\n\"attraction particles\" of cell-life which determine the segmentation,\ngrowth, and development of the living organism. We find here the\nprimal modification and differentiation of material structure under\nthe stress of directly opposite and interacting primitive forces,\nand it is doubtless the same whether in a cell or a system. It is\nnot a residuum, but the vis a tergo.\n\nIt is well known that there are many and great difficulties involved\nin the nebular hypothesis. As for the genesis of comets, it will be\nat once seen that the theory will only account for such comets as\nnever venture much beyond the orbit of Neptune, as well as those which\nhave an orbital plane nearly coincident with that of the planets. But\nmost comets come from illimitable space, far, far beyond Neptune's\ncircle and at all angles to the plane of the planetary orbits; and we\nhave already seen that a disk of space of the diameter of Neptune's\norbit and half as thick (see Proctor's \"Familiar Essays\") would,\nto contain all the matter of our solar system equally distributed,\nhave a density of only one four-hundred-thousandth that of hydrogen\ngas at atmospheric pressure,--that is to say, such a volume of the\nlightest substance we know of would make four hundred thousand solar\nsystems like our own. This author inquires if such a mass could,\nunder any circumstances, rotate as a whole, and adds, \"Has it ever\noccurred, I often wonder, to those who glibly quote the nebular theory\nas originally propounded, to inquire how far some of the processes\nsuggested by Laplace are in accordance with the now well-known laws of\nphysics?\" But the great primal difficulty is in the first assumption\nof the theory, which is not only entirely gratuitous, but physically\nimpossible. It is that this great plasma of nebulous material--in\nthe case of our own solar system not less than six thousand million\nmiles in diameter--should have in someway become aggregated into\na homogeneous mass of the requisite tenuity, complete and perfect,\nand ready for the succeeding stages of the process, in which, however,\nthe law of gravity has hitherto had no active operation whatever; for,\nif gravitation existed and operated therein, such homogeneous mass\ncould never have been formed, nor ever existed even if formed. The\nvery forces which alone could have brought this vast mass together\nmust have been the identical forces which afterwards broke it up into\nthe sun and planets, and the operation of the same force must have\nprevented its original formation at all. According to the theory, it\nwas like a horse-race, in which all the participants stood silent and\nmotionless until the judge cried, \"Go!\" But the judge was the great\ncreative force itself, and if the fiat reached to this extent, the\nsame power could just as readily--nay, far more readily--have shot the\nsun and planets forth into rotation, as children scatter dough-balls,\ninstead of holding in abeyance the control of universal law so as to\n(as a humorous writer speaks of the operations of a child in his\ninvestigation of a watch) \"see the wheels go round.\" This is not\nnature's plan, so far as human knowledge goes. Of course these masses\ngathering to this great nebulous center, if acted upon by gravitation,\nwould have at once condensed around the center as a nucleus, and\nif rotation ever commenced, it must have commenced then, millions\nof years, doubtless, before the outlying masses had even got within\nhailing distance. When masses of people assemble at a camp-meeting,\nthe first comers take the best places, and the late arrivals have to\ncirculate around in the woods; they do not all gather in a circle\nand then make a grand rush. That would be fair, perhaps, but it is\nnot nature. And this, unquestionably, is how, if ever formed at all,\nthese nebul\u00e6 must have formed into systems.\n\nThe fact that the orbital planes of very many of these asteroids are\ngreatly inclined to the common planetary plane, and still more greatly\ninclined to one another, points almost unerringly to the existence\nduring their stage of formation of some powerful force either of\ninternal repulsion or external attraction. That no sufficiently large\nbody could have been present to exercise such attraction so far outside\nthe general planetary plane is self-evident, and if there had been\nsuch source of attraction, while the orbital planes of the asteroids\nmight have been deflected from the common plane, they could not have\nbeen forced apart so as to differ largely among themselves. Certainly\nnothing pertaining to the nebular hypothesis could have produced any\nsuch effects under any conceivable circumstances, and especially at\nso late a period of its progress, after all the principal planets had\nbeen completed. The only alternative is self-repulsion, and this could\nonly have been due to the causes and their mode of operation already\ndescribed in this work. In a modified degree these planes exhibit the\nsame irregular orbital deflections as are so conspicuously visible in\nthe orbits of comets, and they must have been unquestionably produced\nin the same manner. The barren bands or stripes in the area occupied by\nthese asteroids, like the dark or vacant rings of the planet Saturn,\nmay have been largely affected by the perturbing attraction of the\nneighboring planet Jupiter; but certainly no influence of that great\nplanet (himself in the common planetary plane) could have operated\nto cast these forming planetoids into planes of diverse inclinations\namong themselves or to that of his own. On the contrary, his whole\nforce must have been exerted to bring them into the closest harmony\nwith his own orbital movements.\n\nOmitting discussion of the technical difficulties in the application\nof the nebular theory to demonstrated facts, which may be found in\nthe books, we may again repeat that this theory is not essential to\naccount for the heat of the sun, which finds its real source elsewhere,\nwhile, nevertheless, the theory in itself is not incompatible with\nthe views which we have endeavored to present and demonstrate. Certain\nphenomena, however, have been considered in prior quotations in this\nwork which may aid us to roughly indicate the successive processes by\nwhich the evolution of solar systems and galaxies may be explained on\nanother basis which requires no violent assumptions to be made and no\nsuspension of any of nature's universal laws. The same operations which\nwe see around us at the present time in our own system, if extended to\nthe dimensions of a nebular aggregation, would probably present the\nsame phenomena as those we find partially disclosed in the gaseous\nnebul\u00e6, particularly the spiral, and these would naturally determine\nthe final production of solar systems such as our own. The gaseous\nnebul\u00e6, not spiral, and the mixed nebul\u00e6 also, would fall into their\nappropriate categories in the same general plan, and a consistent\nmode of formation would be presented from the beginning to the end\nof the different processes.\n\nIt should be observed that the spiral required by Laplace's nebular\ntheory is essentially a centripetal spiral. The spiral nebul\u00e6 we see in\nthe heavens, however, are centrifugal spirals. This is clearly shown\nin Plates XV., XII., and the frontispiece of Nichol's \"Architecture\nof the Heavens,\" as well as in Plates XIII. and XIV. Plate XV.--the\nopen spiral--is directly contradictory of any phenomena which\ncould occur in accordance with the nebular theory of Laplace. The\nfrontispiece shows the only form which such a nebula could assume\nat any stage of its career,--that is, a close spiral with nearly\ncircular convolutions. But while this particular form is not only in\nentire accordance with the hypothesis which we are about to suggest,\nbeing in fact one of the later and necessary stages in its progress,\nany such spiral as that shown in Plate XV. is utterly out of the\nquestion in the application of the nebular theory of Laplace or in\nany of the more recent modifications thereof.\n\nThe only hypothesis by which the various phenomena can be adequately\nexplained must almost certainly be based upon the combined action of\ngravitation and electrospheric repulsion. We find in the corona of\nour own sun such phenomena manifested in the most striking degree,\neven in a completed system, and we can well understand that during\nthe early stages of systemic development such phenomena would vastly\ntranscend anything which we could now hope to observe around our\nown sun. We see this repulsion still more highly developed in the\nformation of the tails of comets. While these coronal rays are not\nvisible to a distance of more, perhaps, than five million miles\nfrom the sun's disk, we have seen that the tail of Newton's comet\nwas shot forth to a distance of ninety million miles in a few days,\nas it were in a moment, by the tremendous electrical repulsion of the\nsolar electrosphere, and that this enormous tail, which, if composed\nof hydrogen gas alone (it was, of course, enormously more attenuated),\nwould have contained a mass much more than equal to the weight of the\nsun, was swung around over an arc of one hundred and eighty degrees,\ngiving a radial sweep of the tail over a distance of two hundred\nand eighty millions of miles in less than four days. And the tails\nof many other comets have largely transcended in dimensions that of\nNewton, above cited. We have learned much of the laws which regulate\nthe development of storms, cyclones, whirlwinds, water-spouts,\nand other vortical phenomena in the atmosphere of our own earth,\nand can readily apply these principles to phenomena of vastly greater\nmagnitude. We know that the matter of comets' tails is self-repulsive,\nas shown in multiple tails, as well as that it is repelled by an\nadjacent similarly electrified electrosphere,--that of the sun, for\nexample,--as with pith-balls in the familiar class-room experiments;\nso that we can gather a very fair and complete idea of the processes\nof nature when dealing with such phenomena on a vastly more extended\nscale, in which our moments are measured by millions of years and our\nmiles by the almost infinite distances of sidereal and nebular space.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\nTHE GENESIS OF SOLAR SYSTEMS AND GALAXIES.\n\n\nThe processes of development of a solar system from the diffused\nelemental matter of space may then be roughly sketched as follows,\npremising that each stage may have possibly extended over vast periods\nof time, and the whole, perhaps, not been completed for millions of\nyears. With the processes of creation time is as nothing.\n\nThe area of space in which a solar system is about to be developed has\nhitherto maintained its molecular constituents in a state of gradually\nincreased unstable equilibrium, whether such augmented instability\nmay have been induced by a gradual rise of temperature from emission\nof the solar energy of other galaxies, by gradual diffusion from\nconstantly operative centers, from currents or vortices of space,\nor by some primal inherent constitution of space itself, with\nconstantly increasing tensions relieved by successive discharges,\nof which analogous instances are found in various other processes\nof nature, as, for example, ovulation, fission, and gemmation in the\nreproduction of life, regularly recurring epileptiform convulsions,\nregularly repeated spark discharges from electrical machines, or the\nebullition of viscous fluids with their slowly recurring bursting\nbubbles. At some focal point of this area a rupture of tension will\nfinally occur, induced by some sudden current or vortical movement,\nas we see sometimes in a pool of water gradually reduced in temperature\nbelow the freezing-point, when its whole surface, by the passage of a\nbreath of wind even, will be suddenly flashed into crystals of ice. At\nthis point of space there will be instituted a rapid expansion among\nthe molecules and a consequent fall of temperature, followed by an\ninrush of the vaporous material surrounding this center of agitation,\nand a vortical movement will be established, with currents of spatial\nmatter attracted to this vortex in constantly increasing streams. The\nmolecular tensions will be successively unlocked as the circles of\nagitation continue to widen, and a condensed nucleus will form,\nrotating upon its axis and exhibiting the combined phenomena of\ngravity and centrifugal force. As the nucleus continues to increase\nin mass and density its temperature will constantly rise, while its\nspeed of rotation will gradually diminish as its volume increases,\nand the aqueous vapors of space, as they gather around this rotating\ncenter of attraction, will be forced outward by centrifugal action\nand the heat of the nucleus, and form vast attenuated clouds,--not\nnecessarily visible, however, to human sight,--and these clouds, in\ntheir various stratifications and disturbances, will gradually come\nto partake of the rotatory movement of the center, such movements,\nhowever, gradually fading away as they recede in space and in\ndensity. The cyclonic movements of these clouds of aqueous vapor\nupon themselves, but principally against the surrounding gases of\nspace still under tension, will generate enormous quantities of\nelectricity, which flash like thunder-clouds as they approach each\nother, with incessant streams of lightning and rolls of thunder. The\ngrowing and heating central nucleus is thus thrown into a state of\nhigh electrical opposite polarity, and its own constituent elements\nbecome self-repellent, just as we see in the sun's corona and in the\nphenomena of comets. The electrical tension of the central mass will\ngradually grow higher and higher, until a vast stream or streams\nof incandescent nebulous matter (for with double suns they may be\nmultiple, or the internal repulsion may even cause division of the\nnucleus itself) will be suddenly driven outward in a radial direction\nalong the lines of least resistance,--that is to say, in the plane of\nequatorial rotation, where centrifugal force is most effective. We\ncan readily understand the self-repellent force of such an enormous\nmass of cosmical matter by considering that, in our own completed\nsystem, the repulsion of the solar electrosphere drove forth the tail\nof Newton's comet, as before stated, to a distance of ninety million\nmiles, and whirled it around a semicircle of this radius in less than\nfour days. Our most distant planet, Neptune, is only thirty times\nthis distance from the sun, and we see during every solar eclipse\nthe coronal structure glowing to a distance of more than a million\nmiles from the sun's disk, and the radial streamers driven forth\nfive million miles, and even farther. (See illustrations of solar\ncorona in Guillemin's \"The Heavens.\") The vast stream of radiating\nnebulous matter thus forced out by solar repulsion will likewise\nbe acted upon with equal energy by its own internal self-repellent\nforce. If we conceive a stream of water thrown vertically upward by\na powerful force-pump, in which every drop of the fluid is endowed\nwith tremendous self-repulsive energy, we should find an analogy\nto the phenomenon in question. We can see an example of this in the\n\"Crab Nebula,\" illustrated in a previous chapter. The stream, acted\nupon by gravity downward, by the force of ejection upward, and by the\ninternal force of repulsion both transversely and upward, would assume\na pyriform shape, narrower beneath, largely swollen about its middle,\nand thence gradually decreasing in diameter to its termination in\na rounded tuft, in advance of which would be driven forth detached\nsprays and wisps, while filaments and outlying parallel strands would\nmark its entire ascent, except towards its point of ejection, where\nthe primal force which drove it out is greatly in excess of those\nof gravity and self-repulsion. It will be seen at a glance that\nthese phenomena are precisely those which we observe in a comet's\ntail. (See illustrations of many comets having these characteristics\nin Guillemin's \"The Heavens,\" Lockyer's edition.)\n\nSuppose, now, that this stream of water or the tail of a large comet\nwere gradually wrapped around its point of emission by the rotation of\nthis nucleus upon its axis. A spiral would form, very open or flaring\nat first, but gradually growing closer and more circular as the force\nof gravity drew its convolutions downward upon the interstratified\nclouds of aqueous vapor occupying, in compressed layers, the spaces\nbetween the adjacent coils of the spiral. There would be a composite\naction of forces observed: gravity would attract the convolutions\nand their interstratified layers of cloud equally, according to\ntheir densities, while the central repulsive force would repel the\nconvolutions of the spiral along the same lines of force, but would\nnot act at all upon the strata of clouds, and the force of internal\nself-repulsion would also tend to disrupt the convolutions of the\nspiral by expanding them outwardly. The outer convolution, however,\nwould have no backward thrust from any internal repulsion beyond,\nwhile, within, gravity and solar repulsion would be more equally\nbalanced, so that the outer coil would be relatively compressed in\nits rotation against the next inner convolution, and its ratio of\ndistance would not be maintained. We find this exemplified in the\ncase of Neptune's, orbit in our own system. The inner convolution\nwould also be abnormal, since the primal force of ejection must have\nbeen sufficient to carry the outward thrust of the whole spiral,\nand in consequence its flare would offer much greater resistance\nto the deflection of rotation, and it would have a more radial\ndirection than those beyond. We shall find that the planet Mercury,\nand the inner convolution which was eventually reabsorbed into the\nsolar mass, exhibit these phenomena. Between the outer and these inner\nconvolutions the curve of the spiral would be approximately regular,\nwith a fixed ratio of increase. In the planets of our solar system\nthis ratio is that produced by constantly doubling the preceding\nnumber, the series being 0, 3, 6, 12, 24, etc. In other solar systems,\nhowever, the ratio may be quite different. In this abnormal flare of\nthe inner convolution is doubtless to be found the rational basis of\nBode's empirical law of planetary distances, in which the arbitrary\nnumber 4 must be added to each term of the above progression, making\nthe series 4, 7, 10, 16, 28, etc. The inner coil between Mercury and\nthe sun was drawn into the solar mass on the disruption of the spiral,\nleaving, from the abnormally radial curvature of the inner portions\nof the spiral and its absence from the series, a vacant place which\nmust be represented by the relatively fixed increment to be added to\neach term of the series.\n\nAs the convolutions of the spiral become more and more compressed\ntowards each other and more and more flattened against the\ninterstratified cloud-layers, the force of internal repulsion becomes\nmore and more active in its tendency to disrupt the spiral, since its\nforces are more direct and concentrated along lines nearly at right\nangles to the force of gravity. During the formation of the spiral\nwe can easily conceive that--like a stream of water shooting over a\ncascade, or the multiple tails of some comets, or even a whole comet,\nas, for example, Biela's, which was split up into two separate bodies\nby this force--some convolution, perhaps a single one of the series,\nwill be laterally divided into a large number of nearly parallel\nstrands, mutually held apart by their internal self-repulsion, and\nwith cloud-layers interposed between these lateral strands. Such a\nseries of small planets as these would finally produce we find in the\nbelt of our asteroids, the bulk of the convolution, probably, for the\nmost part, however, scattered in space, since their aggregate mass is\nso small, and possibly, in part, coalesced into the mass of Jupiter,\nto which Mars, by his position, may also have contributed.\n\nNot only may a whole convolution be thus split up, but along the\nspiral at many points the outer margins may be thrust outward,\nforming partially detached parallel strands, which may thus coalesce\nto form the satellites of the completed planets; while at the outer\nextremity of all, where the backward thrust of self-repulsion is\nwanting, enormous wisps, sprays, and tufts of nebulous matter would\nbe driven entirely forth into the illimitable realms of outer space,\nbut not necessarily, or even probably, into the space of other systems,\nwhich are so enormously distant; and there, in those unoccupied realms,\nthey will remain to gyrate \"in the solitude of their own originality,\"\nin the form of comets, until, at long intervals, they may chance\nto revisit the scenes of their earliest youth, to warm their frozen\nlimbs for a brief period at the old and well-remembered parental fire,\nor finally, worn out with toil and travel, \"come home at last to die.\"\n\nDriven forth from the society of their fellows by their own unbalanced\nenergies, these anarchists of the sky may form loose aggregations,\ngranulated about multitudes of self-constituted minor centers; but,\ncut loose from all effective solar control during their period of\ncoalescence, they must forever lack the consolidated form and complex\norganization of their prosperous and rotund brethren, the planets and\ntheir satellites, or even the tiny asteroids, who stayed home and,\nlike the little pig, had bread and butter for breakfast.\n\nThe disruptive energy of internal repulsion, as above stated,\nincreases in force as the convolutions of the spiral become more\nand more compressed and the spiral becomes more and more circular in\nform. Suddenly the coils of the spiral will be burst asunder, and this\nwill occur along that particular radial line of gravitation where the\ncentral nucleus acts with its most effective force. The disruption will\nbe simultaneous, as a general rule, in accordance with the principles\nwhich control ruptures of tension of bodies in a state of unstable\nequilibrium, and which we see exemplified in multiplied centers of\ncrystallization, the simultaneous formation of mud-cracks, the Giant's\nCauseway, and other like phenomena. Each convolution will now become\na detached open ring, one of its broken extremities, however, being\nmillions of miles farther from the central nucleus than the other. What\noccurs when a cometic body, negatively electrified, impinges upon the\npositive electrosphere of a planet, or when an electrical induction\nmachine like Voss's is touched by an oppositely electrified body,\nwill now necessarily occur with these disrupted convolutions. Their\nconnection with the negatively electrified nucleus being broken,\na reversal of electrical polarity will ensue from contact with the\nadjacent positively electrified clouds of aqueous vapor, and, instead\nof self-repulsion, mutual attraction will now prevail along the length\nof each of the open rings. Held apart from the central nucleus by\nthe interstratified cloud-layers, and acted upon by the double force\nof gravity and internal attraction, the component elements of these\nopen rings will rapidly lose their luminosity and heat, and coalesce\nby a retrograde movement down the lines of their direction, thus\napproaching the sun along the segment of an ellipse, the nucleus, or\nsun, occupying one of the foci, the eccentricity of the ellipse being\nmeasured by the differential between the nearest point of the open\nring and the part of the convolution which lies directly opposite and\nbeyond the sun. In other words, the form of the spiral will determine\nthe eccentricity of the ellipse, subject to perturbations, however,\nof various sorts. During this stage of coalescence from an open ring\ninto a sphere, these bodies will take on, by cooling and condensation,\ntheir planetary forms; and as the forming spheres, by the retreat\nof their masses down the lines of approach to the sun, advance,\ntheir forward and nearer extremities will be more powerfully acted\nupon by gravity than those parts in the rear, and a forward plunge\nor axial movement of rotation will be set up. Viscous matter,--pitch,\nfor example,--molten by the sun's heat and flowing down a steep roof,\nexhibits a similar forward movement, the outer layers tending to roll\nover the inner ones in convoluted folds, the adhesion to the roof of\nthe under surface corresponding to the retarding pull of the sun's\nattraction. In like manner are produced rotating eddies in streams\nof water having crooked channels, eddies of air under water-falls,\nand other analogous atmospheric disturbances. During the stage of\ncoalescence of the planetary spheres the adjacent clouds of aqueous\nvapor will condense around them, and their hitherto diffused electrical\nenergies will be concentrated by rotation in currents of enormous\nquantity and potential directly upon the sun, and a disassociation\nof the elements which compose these watery vapors will ensue, the\nresult of which will be the deposit of hydrogen gas as an atmospheric\nenvelope around the sun's body, and of oxygen around and through the\nbodies which constitute the planets. These gases will be disassociated\nin their combining proportions, two volumes of hydrogen at the sun\nfor one volume of oxygen, distributed according to their relative\nelectrical energies among the planets. This nascent oxygen will\nrapidly combine with the consolidating elements of the planets and,\ninterpenetrating their solidifying bodies, form the vast mass of\noxides which we find to constitute the bulk of our terrestrial mass,\nthe residue, mechanically commingled with the condensed ever-present\nnitrogen, forming the planetary atmospheres. The condensation of volume\nof the planets will give rise to great elevation of temperature,\nwhile their currents of electricity, poured into the sun, will, by\ntheir passage through its enormously compressed hydrogen atmosphere,\nproduce intense heat, and this, rapidly communicated to the solar\ncore within, will raise its temperature to that of the sun as we now\nsee it, and permanently maintain it in that state of incandescence.\n\nDuring the stage of coalescence of the planetary bodies, outlying\nstrands of the spiral will follow the course of their adjacent masses\nin a nearly parallel movement, and will gradually coalesce into smaller\nbodies more directly under the influence of the gravity of their own\nadjacent planets, by their proximity, than of that of the sun. These\nbodies will thus rotate as satellites around their planets, and the\nforward shift of their centers of gravity, by their advance along\ntheir lines of coalescence, may result in a permanent displacement,\nof which we see an example in the moon, which constantly presents the\nsame face to the earth, while having an axial rotation of its own with\nreference to the sun. (In this case the action of gravity may have been\nassisted, however, by the mutual repulsion of the lunar and terrestrial\nelectrospheres forcing the atmosphere and moisture of the lunar mass to\nits opposite side and maintaining it there, where it would remain as a\nbuffer against rotation.) In some cases we might find certain outlying\nstrands of a convolution which, perturbed by external influences,\nmay have been delayed in its conversion into spherical form, and this\nsubordinate strand, pyriform itself, as it must have been, in shape,\nwould thus form a spiral of minute discrete bodies, probably like the\nnucleus of a comet, finally assuming the shape of a series of rings,\nand rotating like a satellite around the neighboring planet, the inner\nand outer strands more attenuated and the middle ones more condensed,\nas we find to be the case with the rings of Saturn.\n\nIn the original spiral we have seen that, as a whole, it was of\nnecessity pyriform in shape. The planets formed therefrom would thus be\nfound to increase in size from within outward to a maximum, after which\nthey would again decrease, but not to the original minimum, while the\nextreme outer planet would also be unduly enlarged by increment from\npartially dissipated terminal filaments, gradually attracted thereto\nfrom surrounding space. There is such an undue enlargement of the\nplanet Neptune, and this, with its relatively compressed orbit, before\nalluded to, renders it almost certain that Neptune is in reality the\noutermost member of our planetary system. We find this gradation of\nsize to be the case in our solar system, except where the series has\nbeen broken by the multitudinous separation, from violent internal\nrepulsion, of one of the convolutions into parallel strands showing\nall sorts of perturbations, this being the convolution which occupied\nthe region between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, and which, by the\ncoalescence of these numerous parallel strands into small planetary\nbodies, has filled the space with a belt of asteroids hundreds and\nperhaps thousands or even tens of thousands in number. It is probable\nthat a law regulating the ellipticity of planetary orbits can be\ndeduced from a consideration of the principles which have governed\ntheir inception, and with these are doubtless closely related those\nlaws of Laplace which have demonstrated that \"in any system of bodies\ntravelling in one direction around a central attracting orb, the\neccentricities and inclinations, if small at any one time, would always\ncontinue inconsiderable.\" (Appleton's Cyclop\u00e6dia, article \"Planet.\")\n\nWe have thus traced the genesis of a solar system from its earliest\nstages forward through its various changes until, complete and in\nworking order, it is ready to be sent on its eternal course, either\nalone or as one of a vast congeries of similar systems, like the\nMilky Way. (See frontispiece for illustration of a series of types of\ndevelopment from a straight-tailed comet, through different curvatures,\nand spiral nebul\u00e6 of less and less divergence, until nearly circular,\nand finally terminating in a complete solar system.) These processes\nof creation may be isolated, or they may flash a hundred million solar\nsystems into being together, as crystals flash forth in the rock;\nbut, when once formed, they go forth each as eternal as space itself.\n\nBut can we not go back one step farther still in the progressive\nstages of creative energy? Whence came these powerful agencies by\nmeans of which all those distant regions became peopled with suns and\nworlds? The great source of all is to be found alone in space,--the\nso-called \"empty space.\" But it is far from empty; all through it\nare diffused the attenuated vapors which, condensed, constitute our\nsuns and planets, and all that is, or ever shall be, gaseous vapors,\nwhich are held poised, with their opposite tensions of cohesion and\nexpansion, like the Prince Rupert drops which glass-blowers make\nfor toys,--a little bulb of glass, chilled as it falls, molten,\nin a vessel of water. From one extremity projects a long, crooked\nstem, scarcely thicker at the end than a horse-hair, spun out from\nthe molten glass as it hung from the glass-blower's rod. The bulbous\nbody is as large, perhaps, as a nut; you can beat it with a hammer and\nit will not break; it is the hardest in structure of all glass. Now,\nwrap this bulb up in a thick handkerchief, or you may be injured; hold\nit firmly, and break off the very tiniest tip of the long stem three,\nfour, or even six inches from the bulb. There is a sudden shock; open\nyour handkerchief, and lo! instead of the solid bulb, there is only a\nloose mass of white powder. If you put the bulb in a heavy glass vessel\nfull of water and break off the tip of the tail, it will shatter the\nvessel into fragments. What is the explanation?--it is, of course,\nwell known--simply that the molecules of glass were instantly arrested\nin their motion of adjustment as the glass was suddenly chilled by the\nwater, and the molecular motion of shrinkage was arrested, leaving\nthe individual molecules under a tremendous strain of position in\ntheir endeavor to reach their true places. They are rigidly fixed\nin this position of unstable equilibrium, one balancing the other;\nbut let a single molecule be displaced,--a fragment so tiny that\nthe eye can scarcely see it,--and the molecules, thus thrown out of\nmutual support against each other, must now rearrange themselves from\nthe ruptured rigid mass, and, like a row of stood-up bricks, each of\nwhich thrusts the other forward, with a sudden explosive force the\nmolecules assume their true position of stable equilibrium, but it\nis at the cost of the whole structure. To this same cause we owe the\nexplosive force of our gunpowder, nitroglycerin, and all explosives;\nthe molecules are held in unstable equilibrium, and the tension once\nrelieved at a single point, be it ever so infinitesimal, the molecules\nof the whole mass rearrange themselves with explosive energy. Strange\nthat so harmless a substance as glycerin, by the mere replacement of\nan atom of nitrogen gas, should develop the energy of dynamite under\na trifling molecular shock.\n\nSo, also, the aqueous and perhaps other vapors of all space, attenuated\nthough they be, and perhaps by reason of this very tenuity itself,\nas shown by the experiments of Professor Crookes with attenuated\ngases when acted upon by electricity, are held in the same state\nof unstable equilibrium. We know the potency of this instability\nfrom the terrific explosive combination of the gases which combine\nto form aqueous vapor. We may again refer to one of the well-known\nexperiments of Professor Crookes with simple atmospheric air. Enclosed\nin a cylindrical glass vessel, the electric spark passed freely; as\nit became more rarefied under an air-pump, new phenomena appeared,\nuntil, at a stage of high rarefaction, the molecules of these gases\nwere driven forward by the electric current with such energy as\nfirst to raise the temperature of the opposite side of the cylinder\nto a red heat, then to melt, and finally to perforate the glass. The\nexplanation is that the movements of closely aggregated molecules\nmutually interfere with each other; as they gain elbow-room by being\nreduced in number, they act with more directness, and consequently\nwith more force: it is the difference between men fighting in a\ncrowded room and out in an open field. It is possible that these\nmolecular tensions of space, by the ready unlocking of the forces with\nwhich they are charged, may even aid in the rotation of the planets\nby acting upon their electrospheres in their drift through space,\nas charged thunder-clouds react upon each other, or the molecules of\natmospheric air, in moderately high vacua, under electrical excitement,\nact upon the walls of the containing vessel, as in the experiments\nof Professor Crookes and others. The riddles of nature are like those\nof the sphinx,--they have more than one meaning.\n\nThe tensions of the aggregated molecules of space are thus\ncounterbalanced only so long as all space is equally occupied and\na state of perfect quiescence exists in its every part. A molecular\ndisturbance in one part is immediately communicated to adjacent parts,\nand finally to all. With the first movement, gravity asserts itself,\nfor gravity exists and must exist in all parts, and must actively\nmanifest itself whenever the perfect mutual balance of space is\ndisturbed and a center of energy developed, and co-ordinately with\nthe action of gravity begins that of electricity. Movements among\nthe molecules are converted into movement of mass; centripetal motion\nbegets condensation, this begets sensible heat and vortical movement;\nthen come the phenomena of electrical generation by moving contact with\nthe gases of space, then repulsion and disassociation of the elements\nof the aqueous vapors, combination of simple into compound elements;\nand, the balance once disturbed, the state of unstable equilibrium\nis forever destroyed, and all space henceforth must exhibit constant\nchange. There are whole segments of space absolutely blank, so far as\nvisible systems are concerned, which seem to have been exhausted, for\nthe present \u00e6ons at least, to supply material for the vast adjacent\ngalaxies which extend along their borders; see illustrations in\nProctor's \"Essays on Astronomy,\" article \"Distribution of the Nebul\u00e6.\"\n\nIt need not be supposed that such stage of perfect and universal\nquiescence ever existed in fact; it is like the Nirvana of the Buddhist\nphilosophers,--a subjective and not an objective condition. We can\nhave no knowledge of the existence, even, of material things, save\nfrom their phenomena, the manifestation of interchanging forces,\nupon which rests our threefold basis of knowledge, perception,\ncognition, and comparison. We know nothing of matter, except as\naffected by internal or external force, nor of force itself, except\nas it acts in one mode or another upon matter. All beyond this is,\nfor us, without form and void.\n\nProgressive change has always, doubtless, been the universal law of\ncreation, and the great ocean of space is, and ever has been, and\never will be the highway through which perpetually plough the great\ncaravels which bear the fortunes of creative energy, laden with life\nand light and heat, in their eternal progression. The creative impulse\nonce given, if it, too, was not primeval in the eternal past, must\nhave gone on from development to development, like the transmission\nof life, from age to age and from realm to realm. \"The mills of the\ngods grind slowly;\" in these vast areas time is absolutely nothing;\nthe processes we see are but as the dip of a swallow's wing compared\nwith an inconceivable futurity; but all our energies, and all the\nenergies of planets and suns and systems and galaxies, and of whatever\nother and wider created forms may stretch onward to infinity, came\nforth from the ocean of space, and to this ocean all these energies\ncontinue to return again in ceaseless circuit.\n\nCan we indicate any relationship of periodicity for the genesis of\nsolar systems from space? There is a remarkable example of a somewhat\nsimilar periodicity in organic life for the rupture of tensions,\nso common that its analogous character and perfect regularity are\nscarcely even thought of. Among the highest species of mammalia we\nfind that, in a state of health, whether resident of the heights\nof the Andes, the deserts of Africa, the jungles of India, or the\nmost densely populated centers of London; among rich or poor, high\nor low, idle or industrious, virtuous or vicious, ancient or modern,\ncivilized or barbarous, black, white, red, or yellow, the ovum of the\nmature female rises to the surface of the ovary, and at intervals,\nalmost uniform, of twenty-eight days, organic excitement ensues, the\nenclosing vesicle is ruptured, and the ovum escapes. The remarkable\nfeature is not that these processes continuously succeed each other;\nbut that under such diverse conditions and opposite circumstances, and\nwith two separate ovaries operating at the same time, simultaneously or\nsuccessively, this almost miraculous interval of no more and no less\nthan twenty-eight days between the successive ruptures of tension and\ntheir attendant phenomena, should constantly persist. For its ultimate\ncause we must look back to the vis a tergo to which we have already\nalluded; and there may be, and doubtless is, a similarly acting remote\ncause which regulates the periodical development of solar systems or\nof galaxies, periods of intense activity, followed by intervals of\nexhaustion and recuperation, and again succeeded by another period\nof activity, and so on perpetually, for space is perpetual, infinite,\nand inexhaustible.\n\nIt will be observed that the processes above roughly sketched are\nsomewhat similar to those observed in the formation of so-called\nwater-spouts, which usually terminate in dissipation in the atmosphere,\nor else in terrific thunder-storms, but which occasionally reach\na sufficient energy of rotation to spin their central nuclei down\ntowards, or even to, the surface of the sea, or, in desert regions,\nto that of the ground. There is no analogy with the theoretical and\n\"assumed\" primal mass of attenuated plasma of the nebular theory,\nor with its slow initial rotation, with the successive casting off\nof rings of nebulous matter. It may sometimes happen, however, that\nthe repulsive electrical energy of the central nucleus may throw off\nits external envelopes with sufficient force to drive them entirely\nbeyond the effective limit of its attractive forces, as occurs\nin the formation of embryonic comets as above described; in such\ncase the nebula will be a variable one, with successively repeated\naggregations and successive outbursts, periodical like the active\nstages of volcanoes; and, even when the nucleus has already presented a\ncontinuous solar spectrum, its energies may be thus expended, or more\ngradually, and finally dissipated like the electricity of a highly\ncharged Leyden jar exposed to a moist atmosphere.\n\nAs a bottle of strongly effervescing liquid may blow itself empty,\nwhen suddenly opened, by the mutually repellent energy of its\ncontained molecules, so if such a phenomenon were manifested in\na radial direction from a central point, the repelled spray would\nshow itself as a nebulous ring with a hollow center. An example of\nthis sort is shown in the multiple-tailed \"Catherine-wheel\" nebula\n(Fig. 4 of a previous illustration). If such an annular nebula\nshould become ruptured into two portions by internal repulsion,\nthe electrical polarity of the smaller fragment would be reversed,\nand the two arcs would separately coalesce and consolidate into a\nsun and a single planet, forming a solar system like that of Algol,\nwhich has been already described. Otherwise, the nebula would probably\nretrograde and disappear, by diffusion, into space again. We may\nexpect to find abortive efforts of nature here, as we so constantly\nfind them elsewhere, not merely in inorganic matter, but even among\nthe processes of life.\n\nIn Professor Proctor's article (\"Essays on Astronomy\") on\nthe square-shouldered aspect of Saturn, he mentions a hitherto\nunexplained circumstance of the earth's atmosphere--the curious fact\nthat the barometrical pressure of the earth's atmosphere is somewhat\nhigher between the poles and the equator than immediately over the\nlatter, as might be supposed to be the case. This is a phenomenon of\nmutual repulsion similar to those manifested in the operations above\ndescribed. The rotation of the earth on its axis forces the terrestrial\natmosphere, by its centrifugal motion, in undue proportion, around\nthe equatorial belt, causing the same sort of atmospheric thinning at\nthe poles which we see in the solar photosphere at its corresponding\nparts. At the same time the highly electrified atmosphere, by its\nmutually repellent action, tends to force this swollen equatorial ring\nbackward toward the poles. The resultant of these two repulsions is an\narea of maximum density part way between the poles and the equator. It\nis probable that this self-repellent equatorial swell may play some\npart in the sun's atmosphere, in extending, and also in limiting,\nthe areas of eruptive sun-spots outward from his equator.\n\nWhile the nebul\u00e6 are more distant than many of the discrete stars\nrevealed to us by the telescope, there is no reason to suppose that\nthey are more distant than the star-clouds into which are merged\nthe separate stars of the Milky Way, or the star-clusters seen in\nother portions of the sky. We know, in fact, that this is not so,\nfor our telescopes show brilliant stars in very many cases which are\ncomponents of the nebul\u00e6 themselves; and the fact that the nebul\u00e6\ncan be seen as having visible form, and not as mere points of light,\nis itself conclusive as to their relative distances. Hence we need\nnot be surprised to learn that these forming spirals will result each\nin the production of a single solar system, and not a galaxy of suns,\nas was once supposed. Were such the case it would be impossible for\nus to observe the structure of the nebul\u00e6 at all, as their distances\nwould be far too vast. Of the forms of the gaseous nebul\u00e6 Guillemin\nasks, \"Is the spiral the original form of those gaseous matters,\nthe condensation of which may give, or has given, birth to each\nindividual of this gigantic association?\" The same author says of\nthese apparently regularly formed nebul\u00e6, \"It is impossible not to\nrecognize in them so many systems.\" Many of the spiral nebul\u00e6 were\nformerly supposed to be globular aggregations of nebulous matter only,\nand their spiral character came as a great surprise with the use of\nmore powerful telescopes; and many--nay, most--of these apparently\nglobular nebul\u00e6 have totally changed their appearance when viewed\nwith instruments of higher power, while the spirals have become more\nand more pronounced in character with every increase of telescopic\nvision. Of one of such apparently globular nebul\u00e6 Guillemin says, \"The\ncenter is like a large globular nebula with a very marked condensation,\nwhence radiate branches arranged in the form of spirals. In several\npoints of these branches other centers of condensation are noticed. Sir\nJohn Herschel had classed this among the nebul\u00e6 of rounded, globular\nform, doubtless because the central nebulosity was the only one\nrevealed by his telescope.\" The formation of the sub-centers in\nthis nebula (which is between the Great Bear and Bo\u00f6tes) should be\nparticularly noted in connection with the coalescence of planets as\nabove described. In a note to Guillemin's work, Professor Lockyer\nsays, \"The proper motion of nebul\u00e6 has not yet been inquired into,\nbecause everybody, looking upon them as irresolvable star-clusters,\nthought them infinitely remote. Now, however, that we know they are\nnot clusters of stars, properly so called, it is possible that they\nmay be much nearer to us than we imagine.\"\n\nIn connection with the double-sun spiral nebula shown in the preceding\nillustration, Guillemin says, \"We have noticed nebul\u00e6 accompanied\nby systems of double or multiple stars, placed in a manner so\nsymmetrical in the midst of the nebulosity that it is impossible to\ndoubt the existence of a real connection between the stars and the\nnebul\u00e6.\" And Flammarion says of these apparently globular nebul\u00e6,\nwhen under the observation of more powerful telescopes, \"In the place\nwhere pale and whitish clouds gave out a calm and uniform light, the\ngiant eye of the telescope has discerned alternately dark and luminous\nregions,\"--that is to say, they reveal the operation of the opposite\nforces of attraction and repulsion, and are spiral. While gaseous\nnebul\u00e6 may be of any conceivable form, the direction and operation\nof the forces which will determine their character as solar systems\nmust be similar, just as with the forms of organic life, and the only\nnebul\u00e6 which reveal a distinct systematic development in harmony with\na working solar system are the spiral. There is no difficulty whatever\nin tracing such a nebula through all its formative stages, as we have\ndone, and we can, in fact, see painted on the background of the sky\nevery step of the shifting tableau through which such forms must pass.\n\nBy the nebular hypothesis the whole course of development, of\nnecessity, is rigidly forward to its culmination; but by employing\nthe analogies presented to us in other operations of nature, we\ncan readily account for variations, haltings, ineffectual efforts,\nuncompleted processes, and even reversals and redistributions into\nother secondary sources of energy. They equally comprise the agencies\nfor the production of a single solar system or of a myriad, just as we\nsee the vortical water-spouts or sand-storms either single, double,\nor multiple; they are flexible, as are all the processes of nature,\nand require no violent assumption of a prior physical basis known to\nus \"ne'er before on sea or shore.\" They also account for the deviation\nfrom the normal of the orbits of Neptune and Mercury, for the formation\nof the asteroids and Saturn's rings, for the different eccentricities\nand inclinations of the orbits, for the forward axial rotation of\nthe planets and their satellites, and even for their perturbations\nand abnormalities; they furnish a basis for Bode's empirical law,\nfor the distribution of the planets in size, for the origin of comets\nand meteor streams, for Kepler's laws, for the equal and permanent\nrelation of eccentricities and inclinations, and for the fixed axial\nposition of the moon with reference to the earth; they account for the\nfree oxygen in the planetary and free hydrogen in the solar atmosphere,\nthey employ the variation of volume of the sun as a regulator instead\nof an independent generator of light and heat, and they are in entire\nconformity with the established principles which govern the electrical\ngeneration of active forces, their transmission to the sun, their\ntransformation into light and heat, and their return to the regions\nof space, where they continue to act with potential energy to all\neternity, as they must do if space itself is eternal; and we surely\nknow that, if anything whatever is eternal, space must be so. This\ngreat ocean--the home, the domain, the workshop of creative energy--is\nthe last retreat of the human intellect; here it may find rest, and\nhere alone. While solar systems may afford in their circling planets\na possible dominion for finite life, and in their suns their daily\nbread; in the infinite and all-embracing realms of space, filled with\nthe potentialities of all created forms, thrilled with the impulses\nof all creative force, is to be found the unfailing source of all,\nthe dominion of the eternal architect, before whom nature bends the\nobedient knee, waits to hear his mighty voice, or swiftly runs to do\nhis royal bidding.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\nTHE MOSAIC COSMOGONY.\n\n          \"One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh:\n           but the earth abideth for ever.\"--Bible.\n\n\nThus, as we have seen, through countless future ages will the sun,\nwith his incandescent envelope of hydrogen, and the planets, with their\nlife-sustaining atmospheres of oxygen, fulfil their appointed times\nand courses. But if we could conceive that all atmospheres, solar\nand planetary, were suddenly blotted out and forever annihilated,\nso that these great orbs thenceforth rolled along as they do now,\nbut only as black globes in an ocean of space of Stygian darkness,\nnew atmospheres would at once begin to be formed, and these would\nsoon again surround the sun and planets, precisely like those which\nnow exist.\n\nSweeping along in darkness, the force of gravity would gather around\neach of these bodies vast accumulations of aqueous vapor and other\ngases condensed from the attenuated matter of surrounding space. The\nplanets, by their axial rotations, would again generate from these\nregions, newly occupied as the system drifted along through space,\nelectrical energy of enormous quantity and potential. Earth would again\nhear the mighty mandate, \"Let there be light,\" and from her poles to\nher equator the skies would blaze with brush-light auroras. Suddenly,\nwith a mighty leap, the pent-up currents would flash across to their\nopposite electric pole, the auroras would gradually die away, and\ninstantly the molecules of hydrogen would begin to sift out at the\nsolar and those of oxygen at the planetary terminals. The electrical\ncurrents driving their furious pathway through the rapidly gathering\nhydrogen envelope, the sun would first begin to faintly flicker with\nhazy, nebulous light; the light would gather intensity, and soon\nflash and glow with energy; the solar nucleus within would become\nintensely heated and liquefied or partially volatilized, and again\nthe solar streams of incandescent heat and light would radiate forth\non every side; the commingled gases, oxygen and nitrogen, would once\nmore surround each planetary globe, and we should have a new solar\nenvelope just as we now see it, and new planetary atmospheres like our\nown; and then, and not till then, would the opposing generative forces\npermanently counterbalance each other and electrolytic decomposition\nbecome practically stationary, except to compensate for the slight\nvariations constantly liable to occur in the complicated running of\nthe mechanism. So the mutilated crustacean re-grows his lost claws,\nand so our own gaping wounds are healed by the great vis medicatrix\nnatur\u00e6. The most stable of all things is mutually balanced instability;\nperhaps there is no other form of stability.\n\nThe \"Nebular Hypothesis\" of Laplace concerns itself only with the\naggregate matter of which our solar system is composed, and the force\nof gravity, including cohesion, ignoring the action of the equally\npowerful force of repulsion. But there is another nebular hypothesis\nmuch older than that of Laplace and far more scientific, for it\nutilizes both the force of gravity and cohesion and the radiant force\nof repulsion in the generation of our solar system. We refer to what is\nknown as the Mosaic cosmogony. Whatever the origin of this magnificent\nnarrative may have been, whether written down by Moses originally,\nor by him derived from the sacred learning of Egypt, with which he\nwas fully acquainted, or by the Egyptian scribes drawn from Ethiopia,\nand still further back from the sacred traditions of India, it bears\ninternal evidence, when properly rendered from the Hebrew record, of a\nknowledge of these stupendous phenomena (which no human eye could ever\nhave beheld) which is most remarkable. The commonly accepted versions\ndo not clearly bring out the full meaning of the original,--indeed,\nit would have been impossible for the earlier translators to have\ndone so,--but when critically and etymologically rendered, very\nsurprising coincidences with the succession of events as they must\nactually have occurred, and the principles involved in the successive\nstages of creation, will be found in nearly every part of the record.\n\nThis record is embodied in the first chapter and first three verses\nof the second chapter of Genesis. The Hebrew was long believed to be\nan original, if not an inspired, language, but it is now well known to\nhave been a derivative or root language, made up much like the English,\nand, like it, having the meanings of its words primarily determined\nby those of the root-stems from which they have been formed. The\nroots of these Hebrew words are to be found among the languages of\nmany older peoples, and nearly all of them have now been traced to\ntheir immediate origin. Another source of error is in the so-called\nMasoretic pointing, which was not introduced for a thousand years\nafter the time of Moses, and which has often changed the signification\nof the older words, and even the form of the words themselves; but\nby critical researches the roots and their combinations have been\nisolated, so that we are now able to possess a much mere accurate\nknowledge of the Mosaic record than was possible in former times,\nfor, of course, no original copies have come down to us. It is not\na reconstruction of the record which has been made, but a careful\nediting by means of the derivation and true signification of the\nwords used, and by careful comparison among the most ancient versions\naccessible to modern research. The English version, while imperfect\nin its rendering of this ancient narrative, is not to be considered\nby any means a false translation, but it largely errs in failing to\ngive the full radical meaning of the words employed in the original.\n\nAs an illustration of this indefiniteness of rendering in the ordinary\nEnglish version let us consider the opening sentences of the narrative:\n\"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the\nearth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of\nthe deep.\"\n\nIn the \"beginning\" of what? Does it mean the beginning of our own solar\nsystem? or of all systems? or of all space? or of Jehovah (for He has\nnot yet been mentioned or described)? or of the Aleim themselves,--that\nis, did the work begin as soon as the forces began? and did the latter\noriginate spontaneously, or otherwise? What \"God\" is meant? Is it\nJehovah, or Aleim, or some other God not yet mentioned or described? If\nwe will take every name in the Bible which is translated God (and it\nmay be any of these according to the English rendering), we will have\nlegion. We shall even find that the same word which is translated \"God\"\nwas applied by Jehovah on one occasion to Moses. \"Created\"? What is\nmeant by this word? Was the creating a creation out of nothing? out\nof something pre-existing? or something coexisting elsewhere? Was\nthe creation a direct or an indirect one? by the use of the forces\nof nature, or by overriding the forces of nature? Was it a physical\ncreation by an inconceivable action of mere thought, or will? and if\nso, was this thought, or will, God himself, or one of his attributes\nor powers only? \"The heaven\"? What heaven? Was it that to which the\nvirtuous are supposed to go after death? or was it some more physical\nheaven? Was the heaven the atmospheric heaven, the interplanetary\nheaven, the heaven of interstellar space, or that more extended\nheaven which lies beyond our knowledge? Was the heaven one of these\nwhich He created, or did He create all the different heavens of all\nthe solar systems and nebul\u00e6 at the same time? \"Without form\"? Was\nthe earth without any form at all? or merely without its present\nform? or without some particular form not mentioned? If the earth was\na physical structure it must have had some form; what was it? \"And\nvoid\"? Was the earth void like a soap-bubble? or void like a ray of\nlight? or a vacuum? If it was empty, what was it that was empty? How\ncould the heaven and earth be void after they had been brought into\nexistence? \"Darkness was upon the face of the deep\"? What deep? Was\nit the sea not yet created? or the earth, which is anything but a\n\"deep\"? was it the atmosphere? or all space? If the latter, did\nall other systems of space wait for their light on ours? or did we\nwait on theirs? are there no new systems now forming, and none to be\nformed hereafter? If all space is meant, where was its outside, or\nits face? and what occupied the intervening regions? was it a physical\nface or the face of a vacuum? Were these statements to be accepted by\nfaith or reason? If the former, was it a faith which could only have\ncome from the experience of after-ages? or was it based on the ipse\ndixit of Moses? What was the basis of faith when the record was first\nwritten? was it from generally accepted tradition or by revelation? Is\nthe record anonymous or does it reveal the name of its author? If to\nbe endorsed by knowledge and reason, why should not the narrative be\nstrictly and accurately translated, even at the expense of conciseness\nand elegance of diction, in order that the exact force of every word\nshall be fully felt and recognized? If the record is from divine\nrevelation, it is still more essential to know precisely what was\nrevealed; otherwise we are no better than idolaters; we are worse,\nin fact, for we have changed and falsified the landmarks of religion,\nand bear false witness against God Himself. We must not interpret\nGenesis by records made long subsequently; it must speak for itself\nor not at all.\n\nWhen construed in accordance with the exact definition of the words\nthemselves quite a new and strange light is thrown upon the history of\nthe events thus recorded. The great importance of a strict construction\nof the translation and fidelity to the original is emphasized by\nthe fact that the same word was never used in this record to express\na different sense in different parts, nor were two different words\never used in different places to express the same meaning. It is,\ntherefore, necessary to give every word of the original its exact\nfulness and force. The basis of the following critical translation is\nto be found in \"Mankind: their Origin and Destiny\" (Longmans & Co.,\nLondon, 1872), but a careful comparison has been made with other\naccepted authorities, and the root-meanings of the separate words\nhave been carefully traced out, so that many necessary changes will\nbe found to have been made in order to bring out the precise sense\nof the original. There is no actual literal, critical, etymological,\nand scientific rendering embraced in a single translation known to us,\nand which is complete in itself; but that which follows will be found,\nit is believed, to give every word its particular etymological shade\nof meaning, and to employ the same word in the same place, for the same\npurpose, and with the same signification as it was understood to have,\nin its original form, when first recorded. The specific root-meanings\nof the most important words used are further explained in detail in\na separate section below.\n\nThe use of Aleim, \"the powerful Forces,\" in the plural, followed by\nthe verb in the singular, is a Hebraism, and indicates the collective\ncharacter of the forces as specially energized, sent forth, and\ndirected by Jeove (Jeova or Jehovah is the Chaldaic form of the word,\nthe original Hebrew being Jeove), who does not appear by name in this\nnarrative, though, as we shall see, specially delegated power from\nsome higher source is that characteristic which is most emphasized\nthroughout the record. These forces are personified, as is usual in\nancient records (and, indeed, in modern thought), but they are in\nreality the \"powers of God.\" The author of the work above referred\nto says, \"The idea of Moses was that there was a Supreme God ... and\nthat He only acts by means of his agents called Aleim, the Gods,\nin the plural and indefinite number, or embassadors, or voices.\" The\nancient belief in the unity of all forces in one creative individuality\nis also most clearly shown in some of the oldest Vedaic hymns of India\n(see Max M\u00fcller, \"The Veda\"). \"Self (Atman) is the Lord of all things,\nSelf is the King of all things. As all the spokes of a wheel are\ncontained in the nave and the circumference, all things are contained\nin this Self; all selves are contained in this Self. Brahman (Force)\nitself is but Self.\"\n\nOf the religion of the ancient Egyptians (see \"Evolution and\nChristianity,\" by J. F. York) it is said, \"The chief theological\ncharacteristic of this first of all known civilized religions is\nthe doctrine of the Divine Unity. As M. de Roug\u00e9 says, 'One idea\npredominates, that of a single and primeval God; everywhere and\nalways it is one substance, self-existent, and an unapproachable\nGod.'\" The Egyptian cosmogony, as the fragments have come down to us\n(see Professor Arnold Guyot, \"Creation\"), is as follows:\n\n1. The original gaseous form, and the darkness of matter.\n\n2. The successive transformations.\n\n3. Light, as the first step in this development.\n\n4. The separation of the waters below from the waters above the\n   expanse.\n\n5. Periods of development of indefinite length.\n\n6. The sun, moon, and earth organized last.\n\nThe word Mlactou, which occurs several times repeated in the summing\nup of this narrative, explains the character of Aleim most fully, as\nspecially energized and directed agencies or forces. This word never\nhas any other meaning. Even when applied to a king it was not a king\nas a monarch, but as the specially directed agent of God. I. Samuel\nxxviii. 17, \"The Lord hath sent the kingdom out of thine hand;\n... because thou obeydst not the voice of the Lord.\" When, in Exodus\nxiii. 21 it is said that \"Jeove went before them by day in a pillar\nof a cloud,\" this is explained, in chapter xiv. verse 19, to mean that\nthis pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night was Mlac, a messenger,\nor agent. It is translated \"angel\" in the English version, but it\nwas not a personal angel; it was a specially energized and directed\nforce. In the earliest times it was not the God of fire, or of force,\nor of justice which men feared, but fire, or force, or justice;\nthe anthropomorphic conception came later with the generalization\nof all fire, all force, or all justice. We say now that a malefactor\nfears the law; what he really fears, however, is punishment. In this\nrecord we are dealing with the primordial forces of God,--gravity,\nelectricity, attraction, repulsion, cohesion, vital force, etc., etc.,\nbut acting with special energy for a predetermined result. Of these\nforces Dr. McCosh says, in his work on Christianity and Positivism,\n\"One God, with his infinitely varied perfections,--his power, his\nknowledge, his wisdom, his love, his mercy; we should see that one\nPower blowing in the breeze, smiling in the sunshine, sparkling in\nthe stars, quickening us as we bound along in the felt enjoyment of\nhealth, efflorescing in every form and hue of beauty, and showering\ndown daily gifts upon us. The profoundest minds in our day, and in\nevery day, have been fond of regarding this force, not as something\nindependent of God, but as the very power of God acting in all action;\nso that in him we live, and move, and have our being.\" In more rugged\nand virile form this was precisely the old Mosaic philosophy, the\nphilosophy of the arcana of the Egyptian temples, and of the Vedaic\nage of the Aryans of India. Where was the radiant center of this\nunfailing search-light which has poured its broad belt of dazzling\nbrightness down to our day from those old, prehistoric ages?\n\nSo De Jouvencel, in his \"Genesis according to Science,\" says, \"We\nshould not place the works of nature on one side and nature on the\nother. Nature is a work and not a person.\"\n\nThe word which in the English version is translated \"rested,\" in the\nconcluding verses of the narrative, does not mean rested from fatigue,\nbut rested as a pendulum rests when it ceases to vibrate. Had the\nword been rendered \"came to a state of rest,\" it would have been far\nmore accurate and true to the sense of the original. What is meant is\nthat these pent-up forces had operated, under the guidance of Jeove,\nto rupture a state of unstable equilibrium in the attenuated matter of\nspace, just as similar forces are now said to gather energy to produce\na volcanic eruption of the earth's crust, preceded by earthquakes and\nother vast disturbances radiating from the center of rupture of these\ntensions between the molecules of matter, accompanied by explosive\nexpansion and all the phenomena of disorganization and repulsion, and\nsucceeded by condensation, development, harmony, and final quiescence\nof these specially energized and self-opposing forces in a newly\nformed state of molecular equilibrium. To quote from Professor Guyot,\n\"God rests as the creator of the visible universe. The forces of\nnature are now in that admirable equilibrium which we now behold,\nand which is necessary to our existence.\" In \"The Unity of Nature\"\nthe Duke of Argyle says, \"We strain our imaginations to conceive the\nprocesses of Creation, whilst in reality they are around us daily.\"\n\nThe words which conclude the third verse of chapter ii. are also\nimperfectly rendered in our English version, and this defect has led to\na popular misconception almost universal. They are construed to mean\n\"created--and made,\" as though marking a broad class distinction\nbetween the different processes before described. From this the\ninference has been drawn that while, for the more subordinate features,\nthe word rendered \"made\" indicated that these were stages in the\nprocess of creation merely involving the use of coexisting materials,\nin the grander features of the work it was supposed that there had been\na creation ab initio,--that is, out of nothing. Whole libraries have\nbeen written on this theme; but the words used bear no such meaning;\non the contrary, they signify the exact opposite. There is, however,\na broad distinction between the interpretation of the two words;\nbut it is that the word which is to be rendered \"fashioned like the\nwork of a sculptor\" is narrower and not broader in significance than\nthe simple word \"made;\" so that the former is included in, but is\nnot generically distinct from, the latter. The word Bra means that\nthese portions of creation were fashioned with the care and artistic\nskill of a sculptor, as contradistinguished from turning out the\nproductions in mass; this distinction does not relate to the origin,\nbut to the workmanship. However interstellar or primordial space\nwas formed, or when, if it ever was formed, there is nothing in this\nrecord which excludes a pre-existent space substantially like that\nwhich now is. What we see in the sky, among the nebul\u00e6, are later\ndevelopments of like solar systems, in like manner, from the midst\nof the substance of the same illimitable and eternal space.\n\nBut biology has an interest in this account of creation equally as\ngreat as has cosmology. The word Bra is first applied to the formation\nof the individualized substance of the heavens and the earth. They were\nfashioned or carved out like a sculpture from something on which the\nforces could operate. There was, of course, creation involved, but it\nwas a mental, not a physical process. When a sculptor has completed\nhis clay figure he has brought forth a great creation, perhaps, and\nthe \"creation\" is still his own, though the figure be cast in bronze\nby hired workmen in the foundry, who execute the sculptor's will at\ntwo dollars a day, it may be, each. Beyond this mental element there\nis no more creation, in its widest sense, than when a boy \"creates\"\na new point on his pencil by guiding his hand and knife to sharpen it.\n\nWhen the \"diffused light\" came, it is not said that it was \"fashioned\nlike the work of a sculptor,\" or that it was even \"made;\" but that it\n\"came into existence.\" \"Let there be light, and there was light,\"\nas the English version has it. But when the radiant energy of the\nsun came to be formed, on the fourth day, it did not \"come into\nexistence,\" nor was it \"fashioned like the work of a sculptor;\" it was\n\"made.\" The reason is that it was not a development from the preceding\n\"diffused light,\" but a new kind of light, made mechanically by the\nelectrolysis of aqueous vapor around the sun's body, forming a hydrogen\nenvelope, and by driving the furious torrents of electricity from the\nplanets through this atmosphere, while the auroral, \"diffused light\"\nof the earth was gradually dying away during the process. Hence\nthere was no room for the word Bra, or for the word Iei (came into\nexistence) here; the word to be used was Osh. And when life was first\nintroduced,--vegetable life, the primal life,--the word used is not\nBra; this life was not \"fashioned\" or developed from other life. But\nwhen animal life was afterwards introduced, the word used is Bra;\nit was a refashioning. What was this life fashioned out of? It was\nnot \"made;\" it did not \"begin to exist;\" it was developed. In this\nmanner the earth was finally filled with animal life. Then came\nthe introduction of the human race. Here we again have the word\nBra, thrice repeated; but when this introduction of mankind was\nfirst projected, and before it was executed, it was in these words,\n\"We will make [the root Osh] mankind;\" or, in the English version,\n\"Let us make man.\" There seems here to have been a gradual ascent of\nliving organisms by development, almost precisely in accordance with\nthe most recent teachings of science. Two essentially different kinds\nof light were successively produced, independently of each other;\nthe earlier kind \"came into being,\" and the later \"was made.\" The\nsubstance or entity of the heavens and of the earth, generically,\n\"was fashioned.\" Three successive introductions of organic life not\nessentially different from each other occurred; the first is described\nthus: \"Let the earth bring forth; ... and the earth brought forth,\"\nin the English version; or \"There shall be made to grow; ... and there\nwas caused to arise suddenly out of the ground ... vegetation,\" as\nmore accurately rendered. The second form of organic life, in order of\ntime, the animal, was \"fashioned.\" The third form, mankind, was also\n\"fashioned,\" and this was done long subsequently to the introduction\nof the second.\n\nIf the word Bra had any signification of original creation it would\nhave been applied to the first creation of life, for it was far more\nwonderful and original that there should be vegetable life which\ngrew and developed, which brought forth flowers and then fruit, which\nformed germinative seeds, and from these successively and continuously\nreproduced its multifarious species, than that animal life should\nhave been introduced long afterwards to repeat these same things\nwhich vegetation had been, in all its forms, from the lowest to the\nhighest, already doing for untold ages,--from the third period of the\nearth's long history to the fifth; and more especially still when we\nconsider that vegetable life and animal life, in their lowest forms,\nhave no positive line of division between them.\n\nAnd if Osh, which is applied to the genesis of solar light, be capable\nof the signification of original creation, then this word should have\nbeen applied to the generation of the \"diffused light\" of the second\nday, for the genesis of light is far more wonderful and original\nthan the subsequent production of sunlight, after the forming earth\nhad existed for two whole formative periods, from the second to the\nfourth, under the constant illumination of this universally diffused\nauroral light. If, on the other hand, the words applied to the first\ngeneration of light and the first generation of life be held to mark\nan original creation, then these words are never applied in this whole\nnarrative to the genesis of the entity of the heavens, or the earth,\nor the sun and moon, or to animal life, or the life of man.\n\nThe radiant light and heat of the sun were not made until the fourth\nday, while the introduction of vegetable life dates from the long\nantecedent third day of creation. Prior to the development of the\nsun's thermal light there could have been, as we have already shown,\nno free oxygen in the terrestrial atmosphere; and it is a remarkable\ncircumstance that vegetation, which is the only form of organic life\nwhich could have existed and propagated its species in an atmosphere\ncomposed of carbonic, nitrogenous, and aqueous vapors, devoid of\noxygen, is that particular form of life which has been selected for\nthis purpose, and its advent placed prior to the making of the sun. It\nwould have been far more reasonable (previous to our present knowledge\nof these things) to have placed the formation of the sun in advance\nof the introduction of life; it is surprising that this was not done,\nunless we give to these \"ancients\" a knowledge of the principles of\nnatural science far beyond anything hitherto attributed to them.\n\nIn the same connection there is described a stage preparatory to and\nleading up to the simultaneous development of the sun's light and\nheat, and the sifting out of hydrogen around the solar core, and of\noxygen in the terrestrial atmosphere, which is equally remarkable. The\n\"separation of the waters\" described in verses 6 and 7 has never been\nfully rendered into English, or even understood in the original, as\nthe words seemed meaningless in their literal sense until correctly\ninterpreted by the facts set forth in the present work.\n\nWe must first note that the separation of the waters of space to\ntwo opposite foci, with an intervening space of attenuated matter,\nand their condensation there into two entirely different bodies, was\nthe work of the second day, while the formation of the terrestrial\nrain-clouds and seas, as connected together, was a work of the\nthird day, and was not accomplished until then, which was long\nafterwards. These entirely different operations--different in time,\nplace, character, and circumstance--have always been confounded with\neach other; but one is in reality systemic and the other merely local.\n\nIn verse 6 there was decreed an expanse or thinning (an attenuated\nregion) in the center of the waters, and a separation was made by\nthe formation of two \"spots\" (verse 7), one under the expanse and\nthe other above the expanse; the expanse was space, interplanetary\nspace. Professor Arnold Guyot, in his book on Creation, says, \"It is\nto be regretted that the English version has translated the Hebrew\nword expanse by the word firmament.... The difficulties they [the\ncommentators] have created for themselves arose ... from depriving it\nof its cosmogonic character and belittling it by reducing the great\nphenomena there described to a simple modification of the terrestrial\natmosphere.... They forget that this thin covering of clouds is but\na temporary and ever-changing one, and that the clouds are in that\nheaven rather than above it.... They forget that this is not the true\nheavens in which are spread the sun and moon and stars.... This grand\nday, so dwarfed and misunderstood, is the one in which are described\nthe generations of the heavens, announced by Moses, which otherwise\nfind no place in the narrative of the creative week.\"\n\nThe two foci of waters were the solar and terrestrial; around these\nbodies were gathered by the attraction of gravity, and there condensed,\nthe aqueous vapors from the attenuated intervening matter of space; the\nearth by its rotation generated the enormous electrical currents which\nstill continue; when these made their mighty leap across to the sun,\nthe diffused auroral light around the earth gradually disappeared,\nhydrogen and oxygen began to be evolved at the opposite poles--the\nsun and the earth--from the condensed envelopes of aqueous vapor\nwhich surrounded them, the sun's hydrogen atmosphere was pierced,\nas in the pail-of-water experiment described in an earlier chapter\nof the present work, by the planetary electric currents, the sun\nbecame incandescent, and pari passu the earth became fitted, by the\ndevelopment of oxygen, for the abode of animal life. As taking part\nin this great mechanical transformation, the sun was said to have been\n\"made;\" it did not \"come into being.\"\n\nJust prior to the introduction of vegetable life--during the same\ncreative epoch, in fact, and for the support of which life it was\nnecessary--the waters under the expanse were condensed into rain-clouds\nand seas, and there is a curious reference (verse 9) to the appearance\nof the earth's dryness \"as produced by the action of an internal fire;\"\nthe gradual cooling of the earth by the radiation of its internal heat\nof condensation into space would account for this appearance, and, in\nconnection with the diffused auroral light throughout the whole sky,\nwould doubtless have sufficed for the support of vegetable life.\n\nIn verse 16 the fixed stars (the suns of other systems) are referred\nto, but in a parenthetical statement--almost deprecatory, in fact--that\n\"the dim and almost extinct lights\" the same forces created also,\nbut when they were created is not stated in the record. The occasion\nfor this incidental remark is to be found in the preceding statement\nthat the two new luminaries, the sun and moon, were the two \"superior\nbodies in size of the starry lights.\" Having mentioned the stars in\nthis comparison, the author feels called upon to add that the latter\nalso had been similarly created,--that is, that they were not original\nexistences, and of course they are not, but they were not created at\nthat epoch, and are not said to have been.\n\nIn chapter ii. verse 4, which opens the second narrative (quite a\ndifferent history, by the way), Jeove appears Himself, joined with\nthe Aleim, and henceforth this personal connection is maintained;\nthe English version translates this composite word \"The Lord God,\"\nwhich means the Master God; the correct reading is, however, the\n\"God of gods,\" or what we call the \"God of the forces of nature,\"\nor the \"God omnipotent.\"\n\nIn the whole Mosaic cosmogony there is nothing which can even\nsuggest a gradually closing nebulous mass; the element of rotation is\nabsent (and it would not have been understood by the people even if\npresented); but, with this exception, the processes of development\nare substantially in accord with what must really have taken place,\nand in the order described. But it is, as before stated, absolutely\nessential to understand the root-meanings of all the more important\nwords used in the original. A superficial translation is not only\nmeaningless, but misleading; whereas, when accurately understood,\nthe record is one of the most remarkable ever presented to human\nintelligence. The words used were selected deliberately for their\nspecific shades of meaning, and, unless these are properly rendered,\nto the uninformed the narrative will present a simple succession\nof startling phenomena, while to the educated student each of these\nchanges carries within its verbal index its origin, its mode, and the\nknowledge of the forces at work. To the one it is a dramatic spectacle\nperformed on the stage in front; to the other it is the same work\nas seen behind the curtain, with all the intermoving mechanism (the\nauthor's manuscript the sole guide), the interplay of complicated\nforces, the triumphant successes, the rapt attention, and even the\nsudden applause extorted at each wondrous climax from the skilled\nactors themselves, who are at the same time unceasingly engaged in\nworking out the mighty drama of creation. One might readily believe\nthat the original author of this record was thoroughly acquainted\nwith the processes involved in the development of a solar system like\nour own from the diffused primordial matter of space, substantially\nas we have endeavored, in the present work, to deduce them from the\nmost recent investigations and discoveries of science.\n\nOf the watery vapors condensed above the expanse of space many of\nthe ancient writers had a far more correct knowledge than had those\nwho translated these chapters from the original into the various\nmodern languages. In the Psalms we read, \"Praise him, ... ye waters\nthat be above the heavens;\" in the Song of the Three Holy Children,\n\"O all ye waters that be above the heavens.\" Theophilus speaks of the\n\"visible sky as having drawn to itself a portion of the waters of\nchaos at the time of the creation.\" Saint Augustine says that the\nfirmament has been formed \"between the upper and the lower waters,\"\nand quotes Genesis i. 6 and 7, as his authority.\n\nThousands of years ago, as far back as the days of the Pythagoreans,\nand even long before, mankind was acquainted with the mariner's\ncompass, telescopic tubes, and glass lenses; they knew that the moon\nreceives her light by reflection from the sun, of the presence of\nmountains and valleys on the lunar surface, that her day and night are\neach a fortnight in length, that there were other planets known to the\nEgyptians besides the seven known to the Greeks (the Brahmans reckoned\nfifteen of them), that the sun is the center of our planetary system,\nthat the earth and the other planets revolve around it, that the earth\nis round and rotates on its own axis daily, that weight is a principal\nelement in the maintenance of these rotations, that the fixed stars\nare suns, and that the Milky Way appears white from the number of\nstars which it contains. Kircher quotes from an ancient Syrian author\nthe philosophy of the sidereal system, dividing it into many layers\nor spheres attached to orbits, each presided over by a spirit. In\nthe eighth sphere are placed the fixed stars, \"still higher two other\nlayers of stars not less luminous, and of different sizes, the nebul\u00e6\nand the small stars of the Milky Way, and the whole is surrounded by\nthe celestial waters, which spread over the whole firmament, and which\ncompose the great sea of light and the boundless ocean.\" The sources\nof all this wondrous knowledge can be traced back through Chaldea,\nArabia, Egypt, Ethiopia, and, through the colony of Mero\u00eb, to India.\n\n\n\nROOT-MEANINGS OF THE PRINCIPAL WORDS USED IN THE MOSAIC NARRATIVE\nOF CREATION.\n\nAleim (\"corruptly called Elohim by the modern Jews, but always Aleim\nin the synagogue copies\") means the Strong Forces (or, by subsequent\nimpersonation, subaltern gods), operating to carry out the purposes and\nexecute the plans of Jeove. Al, the root, signifies Strong, strength,\na ram; Al-e means Strong in a personal sense; Aleim (plural) means\nthe Forces, the Strong-ones, the Powers, and in Egyptian mythology,\nthe subordinate, or executive, gods, the demi-urgi. Exodus vii. 1,\n\"And the Lord [Jeove] said unto Moses, See I have made thee a god\n[Aleim] to Pharaoh; thou shalt speak all that I command thee.\"\n\nBra, carved, cut, fashioned like the work of a sculptor, gave a new\nshape to, formed from unformed material. From Br, a knife; br-i,\nto carve, to cut.\n\nBrashit, in the commencement or beginning of individualized existence\n(with the initial preposition b-). B signifies in; it (which is\nrelated to at) signifies individualized existence; rash, a principle\nor beginning, or a commencement.\n\nAt, connected with the Chaldaic, signifies substance, essence,\nor individuality, \"the thing itself\" (Latin, ens); it is correctly\ntranslated \"individualized substance.\"\n\nEshmim, the combination of the preposition e with the substantive\nshmim, the word signifying of the visible heavens, or the planisphere.\n\nArtz, the earth in a state of aridity, or as a generalized expression\nfor the earth; ar signifies the earth, and the termination tz\nintensifies the signification of drought, whiteness, aridity; in\ncontrast with this is adme, red earth, or productive earth or soil.\n\nU- is a conjunction, signifying and or then, in the sense of succession\nof time, something like our phrase \"and then.\"\n\nTeou does not mean \"without form,\" nor does ubeou mean \"and void,\" as\nrendered in our English version, at least not in the ordinary sense\nof these words. \"Teou refers to extinct life, or to existence shut\nup as in a tomb and in darkness, while u-beou refers to life which\nis about reappearing, but still hidden in the egg or the ovary, and\nwaiting for the word which shall cause the dawn of creation to shine\nupon it.\" These words are more properly rendered \"tomb-like darkness\nand undeveloped.\"\n\nEshc means darkness; not merely an intense darkness, but what may be\ndenominated a \"thick darkness;\" it is an enshrouding darkness which\ncompresses and hinders. It is precisely such a darkness as would be\nproduced by the interstratified cloud-layers between the convolutions\nof a forming spiral nebula, or the cloud-strata surrounding the\nearth before electrolytic decomposition of the aqueous vapors had\nensued. With the advent of the sun, in the narrative, this darkness\nand the term which expresses it disappear.\n\nTeou-m is the word above explained, with the termination -m,\nexpressing the idea of arrested, doubtful, indefinite, as applied to\nall existence; the word \"undifferentiated nature\" properly interprets\nits vagueness and general character of an abyss of being, in the\netymological sense of \"nature\" as the totality of things at that time\nborn or produced.\n\nRove means breath, in the sense of an expanding, liberating, or\ndeveloping spirit; its literal meaning is \"the breath, the spirit\nwhich dilates and frees.\"\n\nMrepht, brooded with incubating love; reph is composed of re, \"to be\nfull of good-will, to be agreeable,\" and eph, \"to cover, to protect,\nto incubate, to brood.\"\n\nMim, the seeds of all beings, the waters. It is said, \"the choice of\nthis letter m, to signify water [the alphabetical Egyptian letter m\nis represented by the two undulatory lines which in the hieroglyphics\nrepresent water], is connected with the Egyptian ideas of the cause\nof the generation of living beings.\" Numbers xxiv. 7, \"He shall\npour the waters out of his buckets, and the seed [zro] in the waters\n[b-mim].\" The latter word is plural in form, but both singular and\nplural in sense.\n\nAour, diffused light; a light resembling the dawn, but quite distinct\nfrom the light of the sun. The latter was not established until the\nfourth day, and its advent is characterized by a new word, leair,\n\"to cause light to move above the earth.\"\n\nJoum is day, generically, and lile night.\n\nRqi\u00f4, the expanse; atrqi\u00f4, the individualized substance of the\nexpanse. Space, in the opinion of the Egyptians, \"not being a vacuum,\nbut a material substance, Moses could say, and was even compelled to\nsay, 'the substance of space, that which constitutes it.'\"\n\nOsh, made. This word first occurs in verse 7, and is there applied to\nthe making a separation between the waters or aqueous vapors condensed\naround the earth and those condensed around some similar spot \"above,\nas regards the individuality of the expanse,\"--to wit, the solar core\nor nucleus,--to which, attracted by gravity from the attenuated vapors\nof the space between, is due the subsequent establishment of the solar\nlight and heat, as in an electrical arc light, and the presence of\noxygen in the terrestrial atmosphere. These processes, involving\nthe constitution of our atmosphere and of the sun's photosphere\nand chromosphere, were not completed until two subsequent cosmical\nperiods had elapsed, from the third to the fifth. The word osh, in its\ndifferent combinations and inflections, is also used in verse 11, where\nit signifies \"making,\" as applied to fruit; \"yielding\" fruit, in verse\n12; \"they made,\" as applied to the sun and moon, in verse 16; \"made,\"\nas applied to the entity of quadrupeds and higher animals generally,\nin verse 25; \"we will make,\" as applied to man, verse 26; \"had made,\"\nas applied to \"every entity of creation,\" verse 31; \"had made,\" as\napplied to the specially directed work as mlactou, chapter ii. verse\n2; and finally, in the general summing up in verse 3 of the second\nchapter, as an element in a compound substantive phrase \"according\nto the making-act,\" or \"in accordance with the making of creation.\"\n\n\"Oshout,\" it is said, \"signifies a manual operation, carried on\naccording to a previously conceived idea, or model.\"\n\nWe find a similar use of the substantive infinitive with a preceding\npreposition in verse 21, chapter iii. \"Ctnout is derived from tne,\na consoling word. Tnout, the infinitive of the conjugation Piel, adds\nto the word the act of causing to be done, and of doing with care.\"\n\nA similar construction, lraout, is employed in chapter ii. verse\n19, translated in the English version, \"and brought them unto Adam\nto see what ...\"; more literally, \"as regards the act of seeing,\"\nor according to a vision, or show. That is, they were brought and\npresented to his sight.\n\nThe object in writing these two words, bra and l-osh-out, together at\nthe very end of the narrative was to conclusively establish the fact,\nbeyond all possible doubt, that the whole work of creation was an\norderly and harmonious progression.\n\nMlactou, which word is used twice in verse 2 and once in verse 3 of the\nsecond chapter, and not previously, is also introduced for specific\nemphasis. It means that the whole preceding work of creation was, in\nits nature, \"the work of Mlac,\" a messenger, or a specially energized\nand directed agency, sent to fulfil the appointed work of Jeove. Its\npurpose was to forever prevent the belief that the work of creation\nwas due to mere natural forces, on the one hand, operating by chance;\nand, on the other, that these forces were independent gods carrying\nout their own purposes, and of their own will. It was set up as a\ndouble barrier against rationalism on the one side and polytheism on\nthe other.\n\nIt may be incidentally added that the popular belief that \"Adam was\ncreated out of the dust of the earth\" is not in accordance with the\noriginal record. In the second narrative, chapter ii. verse 7, the\nword ophr is rendered \"dust\" in our English version, but it does not\nsignify ordinary terrestrial dust at all; \"its radical meaning is to\nvolatilize a substance, to sublimate it.\" The true signification of\nthe word used is analogous to a \"material essence.\" The same word is\nused in Numbers xxiii. 10 as a synonym for \"seed;\" it is said that\n\"the Septuagint version translates ophr by sperma.\"\n\nThe formation, described in the third chapter, of the female human\nbeing out of one of the ribs of Adam, excised for that purpose (which\nis a matter of almost universal popular belief), is not, in reality,\nwhat is stated in the original. In verse 21 of chapter ii. the words\nare rendered in our version, \"And he took one of his ribs.\" What is\nreally said, however, is \"And he brought out another one from his\nsides.\" So the similar expression in verse 22 in reality signifies,\n\"caused to be made according to womankind the individualized substance\nof his side.\"\n\nThe word translated \"of his ribs\" is precisely the same as is\nsubsequently used by the same writer (Exodus xxxvii. 27) to designate\nthe location of the supporting rings upon an altar of incense, and\nis there rendered, \"by the two corners of it, upon the two sides.\"\n\nThe defective translation is due to imperfect knowledge, at that\ntime, of the processes of organic development. The true signification\nis that given in the \"Institutes of Manu\": \"Having divided his own\nsub-sistence, the Mighty Power became half male and half female.\"\n\nThe words rendered \"help meet\" in verses 18 and 20 have a far\nhigher meaning; \"I will make him a help meet\" should be translated,\n\"I will cause to be made for him an overseeing help as a guide,\nan instructor, a revealer.\" And in verse 20 of chapter iii., \"And\nAdam called his wife's name Eve,\" the latter word is not translated;\nthe correct rendering is, \"And Adam called the symbolic name of his\nwife the female serpent-wise revealer, she who explains, points out\nthings, who instructs,\" for that is what the true root-meaning of Eve\nsignifies. The concluding words of this verse, \"because she was the\nmother of all living,\" are obviously mistranslated, for not only was\nshe not a mother at all, but she did not even conceive, as stated in\nthe next chapter, until she had left the garden finally. The true\nsignification is, \"because she was the mother of all [spiritual,\nsee verse 22, as contradistinguished from animal and vegetable] life.\"\n\nThe female human being, the word translated woman, has the generic\nroot-signification of \"flame,\" while, prior to Eve, that of the\nAdamic man is the \"red earth.\" As the male was formed from a material\nearthly essence, the female was created one remove further from the\ngross and material in the direction of the spiritual; and her powers\nwere distinctively subjective, those of intuition, while those of\nthe male were objective, those derived from instruction. Even in the\nfinal curse (so called) the man turns back to the earth to earn his\nsubsistence, while the woman turns forward to the instruction of\nthe future men and women, the children; for the words, \"In sorrow\nshalt thou bring forth children,\" have left one word of the original\nuntranslated, and by supplying this the sense is entirely changed,\n\"and conceiving, and bringing forth, in sorrow shalt thou bring up,\ncare for, and train children.\" In those countries childbirth was\nnever attended with much pain or sorrow.\n\nThe obvious effect of the whole inspired or traditionary second\nnarrative is to clearly differentiate the contrasted faculties of\nthe two sexes, and the root-meanings of the words employed, whether\nMoses himself perceived it or not, are a testimonial of the highest\npossible character for woman, instead of being, as rendered in the\nordinary versions, a mark of inferiority, or even of degradation. In\nthe garden scene, when she partook of the fruit of the tree of\nknowledge, she did not do it hastily or from mere temptation; it is\nsaid that \"she considered it attentively;\" the same word being used\nas was employed in the first narrative to mark the intense interest\nand almost superhuman character of the consideration by the Aleim\nof the work, as its successive stages appeared, which they were\ndelegated to perform, and which Jeove himself directed. The prize,\nto her, far outweighed the penalty, and the aspiring sibyl dared to\nlift the innermost veil in the adytum of the temple, and grasp the\nlofty truths which made her as one of the Aleim. So fell Prometheus.\n\nAnd then, no sooner had the flame-crowned seer won her precious prize,\nthan, woman-like, she turned and laid it before her husband, and he,\nthe innocent one, \"did eat.\"\n\nThe serpent was not a mere snake, be it understood; it was the Egyptian\nTyphon, the dark Spirit of doubt, the questioner, the tempter, the\neternal if, the why, whence, what, and whither?\n\nIt was her insatiable aspiration to reach the highest possible\nlimits of human knowledge which gave strength to her daring, and\nnot a childish fancy for an apple. All this, of course, is lost in\nthe translation. It is as though the national standard of a mighty\npeople had been disinterred from the remains of past ages, which had\nbeen borne aloft at the head of mighty armies for centuries, and for\nwhich thousands had gloriously died in battle in defence of a sacred\ncause, and which now, its past history untraced, has been catalogued\nas a brass bird of some sort mounted on a stick.\n\nIt is to be regretted that there is no plain, popular work by a\nthoroughly capable scholar, without theological or anti-theological\nbias, which treats of the origin, form, root-derivation, usage,\naccurate signification, and construction of the comparatively few\nwords employed in the ancient narratives which compose the first\nhalf-dozen chapters of Genesis, and, we may add, the book of Job;\nsomething like those inestimable works which deal with the ancient\ncosmogonic literature of Egypt, Babylonia, Persia, India, China,\nPhoenicia, and Central America. Nothing of this sort is to be found,\nat all events in a form accessible to the general reader, and such a\nwork, in small compass, would be of the highest importance to popular\ninstructors, to students, and to the public as well, for it would\nthrow a flood of light on these extremely valuable but, hitherto,\nso illy-comprehended records.\n\n\n\n    THE MOSAIC NARRATIVE OF CREATION.\n\n    1. Aleim, the Forces, fashioned like the work of a sculptor, in\n    the commencement of individualized existence, the individualized\n    substance of the heavens and the individualized substance of\n    the earth.\n\n    2. And the earth was in tomb-like darkness and undeveloped,\n    and there was compressive hindering darkness on the surface of\n    undifferentiated nature. And the dilating and liberating Spirit\n    of the Forces hovered with incubating love on the surface of the\n    seeds of all beings, the waters.\n\n    3. Then Aleim said, There shall be a diffused light; and a diffused\n    light was.\n\n    4. And Aleim regarded with attention the individualized substance\n    of the diffused light, because good. And Aleim caused a separation\n    to be made between the diffused light and between the compressive\n    hindering darkness.\n\n    5. Then Aleim exclaimed for the diffused light, Day! and for the\n    compressive hindering darkness exclaimed, Night! And there was a\n    transition from light to darkness, and then there was a renewal\n    of light; First Day.\n\n    6. Then Aleim said, There shall be an expansion obtained by a\n    thinning in the center of the waters, and there was that which\n    caused a separation to be made by occupying a spot, the waters\n    according to the waters.\n\n    7. And Aleim made the individualized substance of the expanse,\n    and caused a separation to exist by the occupation of the spot,\n    of the waters which are under as regards the expanse of space,\n    and by the occupation of the spot, of the waters which are above\n    as regards the expanse of space; and it was so.\n\n    8. Then Aleim exclaimed for the expanse of space, The Heavens! and\n    there was a transition from light to darkness, and then there\n    was a renewal of light; Second Day.\n\n    9. And Aleim said, The waters which are underneath the heavens\n    will tend directly, in order to meet in it, towards a single spot\n    fixed upon for their meeting; and of dryness produced by the action\n    of an internal fire the appearance shall be made; and it was so.\n\n    10. Then Aleim exclaimed for the dryness, Earth! and for the spot\n    fixed upon for the meeting of the waters exclaimed, Seas! Then\n    Aleim looked attentively at it, because good.\n\n    11. And Aleim said, There shall be made to grow from the earth\n    a dwarf vegetation which can be trodden under foot, a maturing\n    plant causing to be sowed around it a seed, the strong and woody\n    substance of fruit making fruit after his kind whose seed is in\n    itself above the earth; and it was so.\n\n    12. And there was caused to arise suddenly and full of strength\n    a dwarf vegetation, a maturing plant sowing around it seed after\n    his kind; and the woody substance yielding fruit whose seed is\n    in itself after his kind. Then Aleim considered it, because good.\n\n    13. And there was a transition from light to darkness, and then\n    there was a renewal of light; Third Day.\n\n    14. Then Aleim said, There shall be starry-lights in the expanse\n    of space of the heavens to separate between the duration of the\n    day and between the duration of the night; and they shall be for\n    signs, and for seasons, and for the days which make the year,\n    and for the repetitions of years.\n\n    15. And they shall be for luminous bodies in the expanse of\n    space of the heavens to cause light to move above the earth;\n    and it was so.\n\n    16. And Aleim made a double individualized substance, the superior\n    in size and excellence of the starry-lights, the individualized\n    substance which was the greater of the luminous bodies to represent\n    the rule of the day, and the lesser luminous body to represent\n    the rule of the night.\n\n    Of the dim and almost extinct lights [the stars] they made the\n    individualized substance also.\n\n    17. And Aleim established these individualized substances in the\n    expanse of space of the heavens to make light move above the earth.\n\n    18. And to be representatives of dominion during the day and\n    during the night, and to separate between the continuance of\n    diffused light and between the continuance of compressive hindering\n    darkness; then Aleim looked attentively at it, because good.\n\n    19. And there was a transition from light to darkness, and then\n    there was a renewal of light; Fourth Day.\n\n    20. Then Aleim said, The waters shall bring forth a swarm of\n    swarming creatures having living breath; and that which flies,\n    the birds, shall be made to fly with strength and fleetness above\n    the earth in the space extended of the heavens.\n\n    21. And Aleim fashioned like the work of a sculptor the\n    individualized substance of those which are superior in size of\n    the gigantic reptiles and every individualized substance having\n    living breath, that moveth, which they had produced, swarming\n    from the waters, according to their kind; and every individualized\n    substance of flying thing with wings, after his kind. Then Aleim\n    looked attentively at it, because good.\n\n    22. And Aleim blessed these individualities by saying, propagate\n    your species and multiply yourselves, and fill the individualized\n    substance of the waters in the seas; and as for the flying thing,\n    it shall multiply itself on the earth.\n\n    23. And there was a transition from light to darkness, and then\n    there was a renewal of light; Fifth Day.\n\n    24. Then Aleim said, From the earth shall be brought forth the\n    living breath according to its kind, the quadruped, and the being\n    which moveth about, and the terrestrial animal according to its\n    kind; and it was so.\n\n    25. And Aleim made the individualized substance of the animal of\n    the earth according to his kind, and the individualized substance\n    of the quadruped according to his kind, and every individualized\n    substance that moveth about of red earth according to his\n    kind. Then Aleim regarded it, because good.\n\n    26. Then Aleim said, We will make mankind of a like order of\n    intellect with ourselves, and they shall extend their dominion\n    over the fish of the sea, and over the bird of the heavens, and\n    over the quadruped, and over all of the earth, and over all the\n    moving beings that move about over the earth.\n\n    27. And Aleim fashioned like the work of a sculptor the\n    individualized substance of mankind in the exactness of a shadow\n    cast upon a wall; on this shadow Aleim carved the individuality;\n    male and female they fashioned the individualized substance.\n\n    28. Then Aleim blessed the individualized substance. And Aleim\n    said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the\n    individualized substance of the earth, and subdue it, and extend\n    your dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of\n    the heavens, and over all life of the being which moveth about\n    over the earth.\n\n    29. And Aleim said, Behold I have given for you every useful\n    plant-substance yielding seed, yielding seed which there is over\n    the surface of all the earth, and every individualized substance\n    of tree which has in it fruit pertaining to a tree yielding seed,\n    yielding seed for you, it shall be for food.\n\n    30. And for all animal life of the earth, and for everything\n    that flies in the heavens, and for every being that moveth over\n    the surface of the earth which has in it living breath, every\n    individualized substance which is a green maturing plant shall\n    be for food. And it was so.\n\n    31. Then Aleim looked at every individualized substance which\n    they had made, and behold it was as good as possible. And there\n    was a transition from light to darkness, and then there was a\n    renewal of light; Sixth Day.\n\n    (Chapter ii.) 1. Then the finishing was made of the heavens,\n    and of the earth, and of all the orderly arrangement.\n\n    2. And Aleim [the Forces] finished on the seventh day the divinely\n    appointed and directed work which they had performed; and they\n    came again to a state of rest on the seventh day from all the\n    appointed work which they had done.\n\n    3. Then Aleim blessed the individualized substance of the seventh\n    day and sanctified it, because in it they returned to their\n    primitive condition from all the divinely appointed and directed\n    work which the Forces had fashioned like the work of a sculptor,\n    in accordance with the making of creation.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\nCONCLUSION. THE HARMONY OF NATURE'S LAWS AND OPERATIONS.\n\n\nWe have passed before us the different orders of celestial phenomena;\nwe have called down the denizens of the starry skies and placed them\non the witness stand, and we have interrogated them in the light of\nthe evidence which they have given before; we have compared their\ndifferent statements, and have found that in their testimony they\nall finally agree. Instead of confusion, we find order; instead of\ncomplexity, simplicity; instead of discord, harmony; and through all\nwe see the orderly progress of nature with uniform step, from stage\nto stage, higher and higher, until at last she stands triumphant,\nthe handmaid of creative power, in the very center of the arch of\nthe universe. We have taken the simplest operations which we find\nin progress around us, and have extended them to larger operations,\nconstantly keeping in view their relevancy and the facts which form\ntheir sole support. Mere speculation has been excluded, and theory\nhas found its every step based on an established fact. In this way\nwe may hope to make place for further investigation in this field\nby abler minds, and that the conclusions of science may then become\nso well understood and so firmly established that to go back to the\n\"dead-and-dying\" theories of solar energies will be like going back\nto Ptolemy and Tycho for our astronomy.\n\nWe have considered the hypothesis which bases the energy of our\nsun upon his inherent heat, upon combustion, upon the accretion\nof meteoric streams, and upon his slow and gradual condensation\nof volume; and have found that all these hypotheses, singly or\ncombined, fail to account for his energy through the vistas of the\npast, during which we know he must have shone as he now shines,\nand fail to account for more than a slow but inevitable decline,\nin the relatively near future, into eternal darkness and death. We\nhave found that all these theories are alike, in that they recognize\nthe sun itself as the only source of his energy, that his enormous\nemission of light and heat is almost entirely wasted in empty space,\nand that this will go on with the same frightful waste until he has\nsquandered his whole patrimony and ends his melancholy career in the\npoor-house or the dungeon. We have, however, seen that even this will\nnot save the wretched client, for he has already spent far more than\nhe ever could have received originally by inheritance, and far more\nthan he could have gained by gifts pitched in in bulk--like the poor\ncolored brother's potatoes--through the window.\n\nWe have therefore gone over the case anew, and have learned that\nenormous electrical currents are constantly passing between the earth\nand the sun, with practically no resistance, and this irrespective of\nany hypothesis, actual or possible; and these facts have solved at the\noutset one of the greatest conceivable difficulties,--to wit, that of\nthe transmission through space of such essential currents. Turning\nour attention to the more recent advances in electricity and the\narts of electrical construction, we have found that induction\nmachines, as contradistinguished from the older friction machines,\noperate in a manner strongly suggestive of the rotation of a planet\nthrough space, and we learn that the electrical potential of the air\noverhead increases constantly by an enormous multiplying number as we\nascend, proving great electrical action in the regions immediately\nsurrounding the earth, and which we have called the terrestrial\nelectrosphere. We have also found that sun-spots and solar storms\nand other disturbances are at once reflected in our earth-currents,\nand are followed immediately by great electrical disturbances here\nand by extensive auroral displays at night. Experiment shows that\nsimilar auroral displays may be produced with an electrical machine by\ninterruption of the current leading to its principal condenser, thus\ndemonstrating that the currents are from the earth to the sun, and not\nthe converse. We have also found that while the solar atmosphere is\nlargely composed of hydrogen gas, that of the earth and other planets\nis largely composed of oxygen, and that these gases, the constituents\nof water, are separately disengaged at the opposite electrical\npoles by the electrolytic action of a powerful current of electricity\napplied to the decomposition of aqueous vapors, in accordance with the\nestablished electrical law that any fluid which will transmit a current\nmay be decomposed by it; hence we learn that our interplanetary space\ncontains attenuated aqueous vapors, which we have also learned to be\ntrue from other sources. As our other planets, as well as the earth,\nare found to be surrounded with an atmosphere of dilute oxygen, and\nwith aqueous vapors suspended in it, we know that their action upon\nthe sun must be similar to that of the earth, and that the congeries\nof planets thus unite in their supply of electricity to the sun in\nconstant and enormous currents. Examining now the effects of passing\npowerful electrical currents through a compressed envelope of hydrogen\ngas surrounding a conductor, we find that great heat ensues, that the\nhydrogen becomes highly incandescent, and that the metallic nucleus\nwithin is raised to an extremely high temperature, and we also observe\nthe same effects when the current is transmitted through the separated\ncarbons of an electrical arc light. We have thus accounted for the\nconstant supply of the energy which, transformed into light and heat,\nas in the last-mentioned experiments, the sun pours forth perpetually\ninto space. We have also learned that electrical induction machines\nderive their electrical currents from the surrounding air, and also\nthat no electricity can be generated in, or transmitted through,\na vacuum, and hence we learn that the planets, by the rotation of\ntheir electrospheres in contact with the attenuated vapors of space,\ngenerate these powerful electrical currents with which the sun is\nsupplied, and that the sun merely restores to the ocean from which,\nin another form, it was abstracted the light and heat which he emits,\nand that, instead of all being wasted except that which falls upon the\nplanets, in fact that is the only part which actually, in one sense\nat least, is wasted: all the rest is deposited in bank, but that is\n\"spent.\" The important generalization is thus arrived at, that the\ntrue source of solar energy is to be found in the attenuated vapors of\nspace, and that the mode is that of the generation of electricity by\nthe rotating planetary electrospheres, its transference through the\naqueous vapors of interplanetary space to the sun, its passage under\nresistance through the compressed hydrogen envelope, its transformation\nthere into light and heat, and its final emission or backpouring into\nspace again. The molecular motions which give rise to light and heat\nin their passage through the vast distances of space are finally\nretarded by and disappear as radiated energy in the restoration\nor increase of the intermolecular tension of the vapors of space,\nand these processes continue, and must continue, to all eternity,\nif the sun exists and his planets continue to revolve in orderly\ncircuit around him. If there be any permanent degradation of energy,\nit must be with reference to the total volume of infinite, or at least\nindefinite, space, and not with reference to the relatively minute\nspark of fire which we call the sun. We have also learned that the\nmoon's electrosphere is repelled by that of its neighbor, the earth,\nand that whatever vapor and atmosphere it may have can exist only on\nits opposite side; and we have also learned that, by reason of the\nmoon's peculiar axial rotation with reference to the earth, any other\narrangement of the lunar moisture and air, even if such were possible,\nwould have absolutely prohibited all life on that subordinate planet\nat any stage of its existence whatever. We have applied the above\nprinciples to the fixed stars, and have learned that, by the same law,\nthe resplendent star itself is proof conclusive that it, too, must\nhave planets rotating around it, and that these planets must have an\noxygen atmosphere and clouds of aqueous vapor like our own. We have\ninterpreted the double and multiple stars, and, by an extension of\nthe same law, explained their frequently contrasted or complementary\ncolors. The new stars which blaze up in sudden conflagration and\nthen die out have no secrets when this new light is turned upon them;\nthey, too, are but the faithful followers of the law; and the temporary\nand variable stars likewise fall into their appropriate categories and\nobediently move on with the procession. The comets,--the banner-bearers\nof the sidereal hosts,--which from the earliest ages have defied\nscience to read their cabalistic legend, find it now \"writ large\"\nand in plain English. Even the meteorites, the cosmical dust, the\nunorganized d\u00e9bris of space, are found to be amenable to the same\nlaw. When we turn in wider gaze to spy out the fantastic nebul\u00e6 on the\nvery outer fringe of visible things, after we have separated out the\nstar-clusters and organized galaxies of suns, we apply our touchstone\nto the irresolvable gaseous nebul\u00e6, and lo! their mystery dissolves\nat a touch. We have even been able to picture the processes of the\ncreation of solar systems and whole galaxies of suns in which the\nsame law finds scope, and by its infinite and harmonious extension we\nlearn that nature moves with a comprehensive plan, and is uniform in\nher infinite variety and eternal in her ceaseless activity. We have\nbeen told that--\n\n\n               \"The poem of the universe\n                  No rhythm has nor rhyme;\n                Some god recites the wondrous song,\n                  A stanza at a time.\"\n\n\nBut it is all a mistake; the loftiest strains which ever inspired\nthe soul of Mozart or of Beethoven had not the ineffable harmony,\nnor the sweetest songs of the greatest poets the perfect rhyme,\never repeated and ever varied, of the universe. Its orderly progress\nis like the onward movement of a mighty army, and there is but one\ngrand commander, \"but one God,\" and Nature, that showeth forth his\nhandiwork, \"is his prophet.\" We have found that the \"course of nature,\"\nthe eternally youthful mother, is the same, whether in spinning a\ntendril in the garden, in weaving a whirlwind in the atmosphere, or\nin elaborating from the universal vapors of primordial space a solar\nsystem or a galaxy. And it is not a convulsive, spasmodic nature that\nwe find; we do not love to associate great explosions, cataclysms,\nthe destruction of worlds, or the extinction of suns with our ideas\nof nature. These seem not to be of nature. The nature we love is\nthe gentle mother, uniform in her operations, kindly in her ways,\nbeneficent in her results; the nature of the rain, the sunshine,\nseed-time and harvest and the sprouting seed again; ever patient,\never responsive, but in all as firm and steadfast as the foundations\nof eternity itself. So we have found her. We have assumed nothing; we\nhave observed and endeavored to deduce from observation her systematic\nplan, for this is the voice of her law, \"the same yesterday, to-day,\nand forever.\" To quote the words of Matthew Arnold, from out the\ndarkness of the past we seem to hear her say,--\n\n\n           \"Will ye claim for your great ones the gift\n            To have rendered the gleam of my skies?\n\n            Race after race, man after man,\n            Have thought that my secret was theirs,\n\n            --They are dust, they are changed, they are gone!\n            I remain.\"","title":"The Source and Mode of Solar Energy Throughout the Universe","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":85306}