The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-06-01

Look for the comet after sunset in
the western sky tonight. II IS now
$500, o0o miles from the earth, having
! reesded 100000 miles in the last
twenty four hours.
In one of the articles ii this series
il was stated that the Hight Of the
sun actually presses with Il measure
bic force on the objects which IT il
Eliminates: that the light-ioad sGs-
tanned by the earth amounts to about
100000 tons: and that light pressure.
like "A gust Of wind. can push q body
away. only IL that body has an enor-
NOUS surface compared with its mass.
A sail when furled. is unable to ex-
pose any great surface to the wind
and is therefore an ineffective engine
of propulsion uufurled. however, its
surface is SO very. much greater than
its bulk, that the wind may press upon
p. ii and thus urge vessel through the
water. The light pressure Of the sun
( and of every luminous body Is cosmt-
+ caliy= effective not when directed
against huge spheres. such as the earth
! but when II strikes minute particles,
whose weight is vanishingly small
when compared with their surface. The
: actual Size 81 THESE lSTlltltS II sltAt4itT
I than one twenty five thousandths Of an
: inch in diameter.
In the atmosphere of the sun are
/ countless drops of this size all OF them
condensed from the hot vapors elected
! from the solar surface with volcanic
fury. These drops arr flung away
from the sun by the pressure of light.
to drift aimlessy in space our sun
Is but one of countlets suns, many
of them more brilliant ard mode ma
jestic in size. ard all OF them inces-
"antiy bombartiug space with untold
quantities al such nilute particles. Ike
SO many colossal, celestial satlng guns.
Hence our sun is constantly sending
to other solar systems missiles hurled
from it's own self. and other solar sSs-
] TENS are sending 20 us minute speci
mems Of the mater Of which they are
composed. sun thus exchanges matter
with sun through shysses that can
] be measured only in milli&rds and mill
lizards of miles
AS they wander through space these
little drops Nil encounter VAST -eX-
panses Of cold gas. known as nebuiac.
1t has been cxpcrlmentahy proved
that. at the low temperature prevail
ing In the outer regions Of a nehula,
/ il is one of the properties of parti-
/ Gle to attract and condense on its sur
ieCe Whatever gas may De "thlh IKE
immediate vicinity. just az a rubber
BAH will be moistensd when dipped
into water. That these gas~iaden par
ticles should collide with one another
would follow from their mototn and
their excessive number. and thar titesr
particles should be cementeG together
by the film of liquid gases on Their
surfaces would In turn follow from thf
fact of their collision Thus. in the
course OF centuries, large grains o.
aggregations of matter constituting
meteorftes are formed, which migrate
through space. Meteorite viii be at
tracted to metecritc by the law Of gra
vitation which teaches us that every
particle If matter In tire Universe "a;
tracts every other particle directly as
its mass and Universally SIS the square
of the distance between them. Thus
In the course of time. a swan of me
teors win be formed, "A swan which
will obediently revolve about some cen