POPULAR SCIENCE 257 



possibility. These rhythms are fundamental, and it cannot be 

 doubted that a rhythm dependent upon the alternating reactions 

 between two forces can only be destroyed by complete interfer- 

 ence between the two waves ; and if this destruction were to 

 extend to all the forces in opposition in order to make a Final 

 or Ultimate Equilibration possible, we would possibly arrive 

 at a Cosmos with nothing, not even Matter, for Matter itself 

 is but a manifestation of Force, ^ a conception that is 

 impossible. 



Considering Bode's Law in relation to the Law of the Con- 

 servation of the Moment of Momentum, and the Theory of 

 Dynamic Stability, we find how forces, most probably electro- 

 magnetic, are gradually causing each planet to recede from the 

 Sun : the visible effect of this force is seen in the outward 

 deflection of light during an eclipse due to the Sun's gravitational 

 field. The beginning of the fundamental cycle of these forces 

 being possibly as we have considered above, the end being only 

 possible by an end to this rhythmical antagonism — a complete 

 disequilibrium between the gravitational and electro-magnetic 

 forces ; and since the first is getting less as the distances increase 

 from a planet to the centre, and the second is getting greater 

 with time, it is possible that the general scheme will alter by 

 the outer planet Neptune getting so far beyond gravitational 

 influences that a change will be inevitable. 



That our planets are being slowly repelled from the Sun is 

 an established fact, as it is also that our quantity of Terrestrial 

 Magnetism is gradually getting greater. The Law of the Con- 

 servation of Momentum in our System holds good now ; but 

 we do not know that it will hold good for all Eternity. Neither 

 can we consider that this repulsion would result finally in leaving 

 nothing but the Sun as the remnants of our System ; for the 

 Sun itself, and the whole System, has a cycle of its own, of 

 which we are at present utterly ignorant. This much we know, 

 however, that our whole System is moving en masse towards the 

 constellation of Lyra, and this movement is probably part of an 

 unknown, undetermined cycle, for we know of no other kind of 

 movement in the scheme of Nature. 



Bearing this last fact in mind, a Final Equilibration, as 

 imagined by Herbert Spencer in the Synthetical Philosophy, 

 seems beyond all possibility. 



There are other periodic movements, such as deviations from 

 the orbital and rotational plane, and probably cometal move- 

 ments, that contribute to the fundamental rhythm in the 

 assortment of Forces. 



Let us consider the matter from a nearer physical aspect. 



If we accept Cox's hypothesis ^ of the Evolution of the 

 * Cf. Cox, Beyond the Atom, p. 145. - Ibid. 



