CHAPTER XIV. 



A Little Astronomy and Geology. 



\ if ANY, many millions of years ago, at a time so remote 

 that it should be counted in eons instead of years, our 

 sun was much larger and much more volcanically active 

 than it now is. It is a large gaseous mass in a state of con- 

 stant change and confusion. There Is positive evidence 

 that the sun contains more than half of the elements In a 

 gaseous state, of which the earth is composed and scientists 

 believe that It contains all the elements found In the earth. 

 The phrase "our sun" Is advisedly used because there are 

 millions of suns all controlled by the same solar laws. 



Great changes are constantly taking place In this mass 

 of whirling electrons. The inner disturbances of this seeth- 

 ing mass sometimes throw out great masses of expanding 

 gases thousands of times as large as the earth. During the 

 life of the sun, it has thrown off such masses which took on 

 form, and obedient to solar law, formed the sun's planets. 

 These planets In turn threw off a part of their mass which 

 took on form, and still obedient to solar law, formed the 

 moons of the planets. 



When we speak in astronomic terms and of astronomic 

 figures, our finite minds fail us for want of comprehension. 

 The sun Is more than a million times in volume that of the 

 earth. Its diameter is 866,000 miles and Its distance from 

 the earth is approximately 93,000,000 miles. This distance 



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