46 MOTION OF PLANETS EXCITES SUNSHINE. 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE EXCITING CAUSE OF SOLAR LIGHT AND HEAT TRACED 

 TO THE MECHANICAL FORCE OF THE REVOLVING 

 HEAVENLY BODIES. 



"DRECEDING investigations show that the 

 movement of bodies near and about each 

 other puts in motion the electric ether, which 

 transmits to the brain, through the nerves of sight 

 and feeling, the impulses recognized as light and 

 heat. 



As it is impossible to penetrate the remote 

 regions of infinite space, the natural method of 

 studying the operation of the solar system is to 

 reason, by analogy, from terrestrial to celestial 

 mechanics. This method, as we have stated, has 

 been sanctioned by the most eminent astrono- 

 mers. If the mere movement of one disc near 

 another so develops light as to obtain for a simple 

 instrument the name of " Electrophorus," or sun- 

 shine producer, and if the rotation of one cylinder 

 opposite to another excites a dazzling light, we 

 may consider that the swift revolutions of more 

 than one hundred and fifty great globes about the 

 sun, seven hundred fold greater than them all, are 

 similarly employed for the conversion of their me- 

 chanical force into the light and heat of sunshine. 



