THE FUEL OF THE SUX. 73 



reprint that paper, and point out a very curious and monstrous 

 fallacy \vhich, for half a century, remained undetected, and 

 had been continually repeated. 



As the main point of issue between myself and Dr. Wollas- 

 ton is merely a question of very simple arithmetic and geom- 

 etry, nothing can be easier than to set me right if I am 

 wrong ; and, as the philosophical consequences depending 

 upon this issue are of vast and fundamental importance, the 

 question cannot be ignored by those who stand before the 

 world as scientific authorities, without a practical abdication of 

 their philosophical responsibilities. Any man who publishes 

 an astronomical or meteorological treatise without discussing this 

 question, which stands before him at the threshold of his sub- 

 ject, is unfit for the task he has undertaken, and unworthy of 

 public confidence. This may appear a strong conclusion just 

 now, but a few years will be sufficient to graft it firmly into 

 the growth of scientific public opinion.* 



" The Fuel of the Sun" is simply an attempt to trace some 

 of the consequences which must of necessity result from the 

 existence of a universal atmosphere, and it differs from other 

 attempts to explain the great solar mystery, by making no 

 demands whatever upon the imagination, inventing nothing 

 no outside meteors, no new forces or materials. It supposes 

 nothing whatever to exist but the known facts of the labora- 

 tory the familiar materials of the earth and its atmosphere. 

 It is shown that these materials and the forces residing within 

 them must of necessity produce a sun, and manifest eternally 

 all the observed solar phenomena, provided only they are aggre- 

 gated in the quantities which our own central luminary pre- 

 sents, and are surrounded by attended planets such as his. 

 Nothing is assumed or taken for granted beyond the simple 

 fundamental hypothesis that the laws of nature are uniform 

 throughout the universe. The argument thus conducted leads 

 us step by step to a natural and connected explanation of the 

 ollowing important phenomena : 



* Up to the present date (1882) nobody, as far as I know, has 

 questioned my figures or defended those of Wollaston's. Sir William 

 Grove has written to me, pointing out his own anticipations of my 

 conclusions respecting the universality of atmospheric matter. Sir 

 Charles Lyell, before his death, expressed very strong approval of my 

 conclusions, and many other men of scientific eminence have done 

 the same. To expect any immediate, unreserved adoption of such 

 bold speculations would be unreasonable. - 



