130 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



impressible by liizht. 2. That the velocity of motion of these atoms toward 

 each other is a measure of the force of gravity. 3. That the velocity of 

 the<e moving arums is equal to the velocity of light. 



li is further argued that the force of gravity makes angles and surfaces on 

 the earth, coinciding with those of light from the sun; and that, like light, it 

 is modified hy the density and masses of matter through which it passes. 

 The mean direction of the solar force on the earth must be toward that 

 point which would indicate the place of its mean weight. This must be at 

 the centre of gyration, since that is the point at which, if all the matter were 

 collected, it would revolve with the same velocity. According to Mr. Farey, 

 t!u- distance of the centre of gyration from the centre of motion, in a solid 

 sphere revolving about one of its diameters as an axis, is found by multi- 

 plying its radius into .0325 decimal. The earth's radius being 3950 miles, 

 when multiplied by .0325 gives 2502 miles, as the distance of the centre of 

 gyration in the earth from the centre of motion. 



All the matter of the earth's surface lying within the parallels 54 26' 

 north and south of the equator, has its gravity diminished by the action of 

 the sun, and increased beyond them to the poles. Gummere, in his work on 

 Astronomy, chap. xvn. 70, estimates the angle of diminished gravity at the 

 earth's surface produced by solar action at 55. 



If the whole surface of the earth is represented by unity, then that suif ace 

 embraced between the parallels of 23 27' 54" will be represented by .398125 

 decimal. These surfaces are in the ratio of spheres of matter, the relative 

 masses of which arc as 1 to .25 decimal, and the diameters of which are as 

 1 to .031 decimal. The above masses are in the ratio of the relative densities 

 of the sun and earth; and the diameters are in the ratio of radius to the 

 distance from the centre of gyration to the earth's centre. These numbers 

 also represent the relative velocity of the extremes of decomposed solar 

 light, the number of red undulations in an inch being .37040, while that of 

 the violet undulations is .59750 in an inch. Considering the earth as a sphe- 

 roid, they also represent the velocity of the earth's rotation at the equator, 

 and at the parallels of 54 2G / ; or the extremes of the solar force on the earth's 

 surface. 



The planets are supposed to be collections of atoms of matter in motion. 

 The force of their gravity toward each other, and consequently to the sun, 

 ought to be known by the velocity of their atomic motion toward each other. 

 Hence, ilir-ir distances from the sun ought to be inversely proportional to their 

 c///.sr','/.-.s-. The following shorter process of Kepler's Third Law gives the 

 inverse ratio of velocities, which squared gives the distance of the planets: 



Q M 



Mercury, V87.969 davs = 4.772 ratio 0.625 



o * 



V'-nus, V222.700 " = 6.080 " 0.850 



O M , 



Earth, V365.256 " = 7.148 " 1.000 



o * 



Mars, V68S.979 " = 8.823 " 1.234 



O t ~^^____ 



Jupiter, V4332.584 " = 16.299 " 2.281 



Saturn, 8 \/10759.219 " = 22.176 " 3.0S8 



Uranus, 3 \/.3' H'.SS^O "==31.309 " 4.3^0 



Neptune, \/(J0127.000 "=39.198 " 5.483 



g y .3906 

 | I -7225 



1.5227 

 S 5.2029 

 95337 

 19.1844 



30.0632 



If the earth's true distance, found from the above figures, be divided by 



