Year: 1877

to be gigantic fountains of magnetic
influence, centres of popularized force
attraction ndrepulsiOn-acting upon
our globe and its atmosphere. and like
wise upon all the other planets, the
phenomena of the universe would then
become susceptible of the grandest and
simplest Interpretation. To Oexplain the
effects of the sun there is not the least
reason to infer that it is itself luminous
or even warm. Ii may be one of the
sources of heat without being itself
hot, as heat is doubtless the product of
combined influences This opinion
may be elucidated by an example.
Take a galvanic battery, which is a
dark, cold machine; introduce little
acidified water into its cells - set IT
in action; by proper arrangement of
wires you may at long distance from
your battery produce heat intense
enough to fuse the hardest metals. and
light too vivid to be endured by the
human eye. Now, if, while this result
is being accomplished, we could see
with enhanced powers of vision the
action of the dilute acid on the metal
plates of the galvaDic battery, We
should discover on their surface, pro-
cess of rapid oxidation going on, analO-
gous on q small scale to the commotiOn
apparent on the face of the sun, which
phenomenon might easily he mistaken
for violent combustion, and which in
fact, judging by the impression made
On the senses, could not readily be con-


ceived to be anything else. Thus We
learn that potent action generated in a
dark, cold body may produce great
light and heat at a distance from the
seat of activity; and what lis thus
wrought artificially in small way by a
galvanic battery may surely be done
naturally, in tremendous fashion, by
the grand forces of the sun. When we
gaze on Mont Blanc at sunset, if judg-
ments were left to the unframed evi
dence of our senses, we might easily
be led to believe that summit of the
mountain to be a luminous and incan
descent pinnacle. passing through all
the hues OF the solar spectrum. and
finally disappearing in ghostly white;
but knowledge and experience tell us
different tale and correct our infer
ences. We ascend the mountain, and
we find cold cone of snow The
appearance of Mont Blanc presented
under this aspect is, however, so far dis


tinct from that exhibited by the sun,
that the sunset brightness of Mont


"
illusion, whereas the light of the sun is
the result of intense action and conver-
sion of substance on its surface, aud
necessarily an organizing force. In es-
timatiug the power, quantity, and en-
durability of the light and heat of the
sun, we must first know where the light
and heat begin their evolution. Ii they
are a production bred in our atmos-
phere by the magnetic action of the
sun, and the sun is only one of their
causes, we must draw very different
conclusions respecting the attributes
of light and heat than If we credited
the sun with the sole responsibility of
their origin. The intense magnetic ac-
ton of the sun may present on its sur
face and in its rays all the appearance
of incandescence, when 1t Is rendered
visible here by means of our atmos-
phere and examined by instruments
constructed for the detection of solar
and astral phenomena. About the be-
ginning of this century the celebrated
French philosopher Blot produced light
by passing a current of electricity
through air or gas. 1t isnot reason
able inference that the sun does not
waste light and heat-diminishing as
the square of the distance-through a
space of ninety millions of miles be-
tween us and itself, when by the .heaus
of ethereal and atmospheric conditions
the requisite quantity of light and heat
might so easily be distributed at the
precise spots where it is needed With
the conditions that surround Us on this
earth We cannOt artiticially produce
light and heat without the destruction
of some material substance; but we are
not driven to assume that the same
conditions prevail naturally in the sun;
and even If process of self-cOnsump-
tiOn were continually going on in that
body, we are equally justified in draw
ing the inference that il possesses some
infinite means and capacity of self-re-
pair. We think, therefore, that we can
naturally account for all the phenomena
of heat and light and the appearance of
incandescence and flame in the surface
of the sun, without resOrting tOthe tire
mendOus theory that the sun is actually
in a state of combustion as understood
in our terrestrial experience.-Frdsers
Magd.ine.