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TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 43 
_ be consumed every ten years in maintaining its wonderful brilliancy, and its atmo- 
sphere, if pure oxygen, would be expended before a few days in supporting so great 
a conflagration. 
An illumination on so vast a scale could be kept up only by the inexhaustible 
magazine of «ther disseminated through space, and ever ready to manifest its luci- 
ferous propertics on large spheres, whose attraction renders it sufficiently dense for 
the play of chemical affinity. Accordingly, suns derive the power of shedding per- 
petual light, not from their chemical constitution, but from their immense mass and 
their superior attractive power. We thus obtain some definite knowledge respecting 
the stupendous magnitude of the fixed stars; and making due allowance for their 
density, we may confidently pronounce the smallest stellar body several thousand 
times greater than the globe we inhabit. This theory gives considerable support to 
the views which many astronomers maintain, on different grounds, in regard to the 
relative brilliancy of the stars; for it appears that, though the self-luminous occupants 
of space are not necessarily equal in size, they differ much less than we might anti- 
cipate from an acquaintance with the members of our planetary system. ‘That the 
light of the sun is furnished, not by its solid or liquid matter, but by its luminous 
atmosphere, has been proved very conclusively from the observations with Arago’s 
polarizing telescope. There is also evidence that this luciferous envelope is constantly 
replenished by supplies of zether from space. The sun’s rotation assists in effecting this 
object by expelling the fluid from its equatorial regions, and thus creating a corre- 
sponding influx at its poles. A displacement by this means would evidently cause 
the solar atmosphere to advance constantly from its poles to its equator; and such a 
movement is indicated by the change in the position of the sun’s spots, which, accord- 
ing to the observations of Peters for many years, are continualiy diminishing their 
heliocentric latitude. The progressive motion of the solar orb through space tends 
-also to replenish its atmosphere with fresh material for the maintenance of its light; 
and the position of the large planets has some influence on the amount of ether which 
it receives from the celestial domain, ‘The periodicity observed in the solar spots, 
and some changes exhibited by many variable stars, may be ascribed to an effect of 
this kind, But the result would be far more decided if a sun had large planets in its 
immediate vicinity; for the attraction of these bodies would alter the pressure on its 
zethereal atmosphere, and produce a corresponding variation in the development of its 
light. On this principle we may explain several phenomena connected with the vari- 
able stars; and I may remark, that Argelander regards many of their peculiarities as 
indicating, that planets revolving around some suns affect the generation of light in 
their photospheres. But a planet revolving in an orbit of the smallest size possible 
would be productive of more remarkable consequences. Sweeping through the ethe- 
real atmosphere of the great central sphere, it would impart a sufficient degree of 
pressure for luciferous action; and exhibit, on a grand scale, the evolution of light 
which accompanies the visits of meteoric masses to the earth. From the great bril- 
liancy of meteors which move in a horizontal direction, it is evident that a satellite 
revolving around a large globe, at a small distance above its surface, should be favoured 
with all the conditions necessary for a sublime meteoric illumination; and it is pro- 
bable that some of the bright tenants of space may shine by light originating from 
such acause. Indeed, the resistance of the space-pervading medium must constantly 
diminish the orbits of all satellites, and, after innumerable years, bring them into 
such a proximity with their central bodies that such grand meteoric phenomena would 
be almost inevitable. If space contain dark systems (as is generally believed), the 
central orb which presides over each of them would become luminous, when one of 
its planets was passing through the final state of existence. 
In a paper read at the last meeting of the American Association for the Advance- 
_ ment of Science, and published in the ‘ Proceedings’ (pp. 111—113), I have shown 
that the stability of satellites could no longer exist if their orbits were reduced to a 
certain limit; and that the attraction of the primary body would render them inca- 
pable of preserving a planetary form. In like manner, a member of one of the 
dark systems of space, when brought too near its central orb, would be likewise 
doomed to suffer a dismemberment; and the fragments resulting from the mighty 
__ wreck would immediately scatter into separate orbits. Instead, therefore, of closing 
its planetary career as one vast meteor, the attendant should form a host of meteoric 
masses, and thus send forth far greater floods of light into space. But the frag- 
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