The Republican journal., 1896-03-26

cosmical body, or that electricity is par
ticularly life giving. No doubt there is
mutual excitement aroused between a
comet and the sun when they come near,
but there is also no doubt but that
comet carries away as much electricity as
it brings.
The crude and antiquated idea that
electricity has anything to do with ''life-
giving" is too absurd to refute. Electric
ity is used by physicians to incite activity
in torpid nerves, but only as any other
mechanical stimulant would be used
From what ''known facts he reasons
to the conclusion that comets replenish
the sun, give life to the solar system. and
arouse wars and activity on the earth, |
fail to discover. Donati's comet, which
appeared i'll 1888, must have caused the
slave holders rebellion But | refrain
from saying any more on this subject, for
his conclusions from ''known facts are
too ridiculous for ridcule.
In his vagaries about the heat Of the
sun and the warming of the planets, there
is only one statement worth refuting,
namely, that 'sthe distance from the sun
has nothing to do with the amount of
heat received, because the ether is a per-
feet conductor On this theory we ought
to receive s, 600 times as mnch light and
heat from Arcturus as from the sun,
since that star is that many times larger
than the sun. Poor man. He has for
gotten, no. he never knew, that light and
heat decrease as the square of the distance
from the heating body increases. 1t makes
no difference how perfect a conductor the
! ether may be, an object one hundred mil
lion miles from the sun would present
i03u' times the surface to it as the same
object two hundred million miles away,
and consequently would receive four times
as much light and heat. As to ''magnetic
rays producing light and heat | must be
silent, only remalking in passing that if
We had to depend upon the "magnetic
rays which come from the sun for light
and heat, | should much prefer an ice
cart in my back yard for heat radiator
What blow it will be to your CORE
spondent' S theory, that the Creator treats
all worlds alike, when he comes to learn
that on moon has no atmosphere, and
presents to us only a barren, rugged hemi
sphere devoid of life and all of the posi-
bilites of life.
His next paragraph will probably as
tonish astronomers, for in it he makes the
sun draw heat from the fixed stars, turns
it into storage battery, peoples it with
living creatures, gives it a subsidized line
of comets to bring it electricity, etc., but
finds some slight difficulties when he comes
to the spots. He remarks, however, very
naiyely, that there are many little facts
that point to- his conclusion. Let us
have the facts, in heavens name.
As a climax to this wonderful commune
cation, he states that the System is wise
ly, economically, grandly and perfectly
managed
am responsible for the italics, and he
for the rest Nature is far from economi-
cal. Only one hundred milionth of the
sum heat is utilized by all the planets,
and of this small fraction our earth re-
ceives a very small share 1t must be
confessed, however, that while nature is
so prodigal in most of her realm, she has
not been lavish of gifts to your CORE
spondent. j. E. CLARKE.