Sun-Heat. 39 



the retro-acting elements. Distance is then 

 virtually annihilated, and Mercury, 37,000,000 

 of miles from the sun, and Neptune, 2,800,- 

 000,000 of miles, stand alike in their relations 

 with the great central orb. 



The Earth's part in the Process. 



The earth may no longer be regarded as 

 having a merely passive part to play. The 

 forces in operation as between the earth and 

 sun, are purely co-operative, and the one 

 precisely counterbalances the other. The 

 earth, therefore, must have a vis viva within 

 itself, capable of reciprocating in the organic 

 functions of the great vito-magnetic circuit. 

 We certainly know that it possesses a mar- 

 vellous wealth of resources. The following 

 are the most important of its sources of vis 

 viva. 



i st. The great reservoir of vito-magnetic 

 fluid, the vast incandescent earth-core. The 

 presence and activity therein of mighty force, 

 of heat, and motion, in the highest degree, 

 are abundantly shown by various terrestrial 

 phenomena. These phenomena, while per- 

 fectly familiar to observers, seem never to 

 have received any fitting interpretation. 



