164 THE SOLAR ORIGIN OF LUMINOUS POWER. 



spirit/' who could creep like music upon the waters, and 

 of the fantastic Puck, who could girdle the earth in 

 thirty minutes, appears to have approached to the 

 highest point to which mere imagination could cariy the 

 human mind as to the powers of things ethereal. 

 Science has, since then, shown to man that this " spirit, 

 fine spirit," was a laggard in his tasks, and a gross piece 

 of matter, when compared with the subtile essences 

 which man, like a nobler Prospero, has now subdued to 

 do him service. 



Light is necessary to life; the world was a dead 

 chaos before its creation, and mute disorder would again 

 be the consequence of its annihilation. Every charm 

 which spreads itself over this rolling globe is directly 

 dependent upon luminous power. Colours, and pro- 

 bably, forms, are the result of light ; certainly the con- 

 sequence of solar radiations. We know much of the 

 mysterious influences of this great 1 agent, but we know 

 nothing- of the principle itself. The solar beam has 

 been tortured through prismatic glasses and natural 

 crystals ; every chemical agent has been tried upon it, 

 every electrical force in the most excited state brought 

 to bear upon its operations, with a view to the discovery 

 of the most refined of earthly agencies ; but it has passed 

 through every trial without revealing its secrets, and 

 even the effects which it produces in its path are unex- 

 plained problems, still to tax the intellect of man. 



Every animal and every plant alike proclaim that life 

 and health are due to light ; and even the crystallizing 

 forms of inorganic matter, by bending towards it, con- 

 fess its all-prevailing sway. From the sun to each 

 planet revolving around that orb, and to the remotest 

 stars which gleam through the vast immensity of heaven, 

 we discover this power still in its brightness, giving 

 beauty and order to these unnumbered creations, no 

 less completely than to this small island of the universe 

 which we call our Earth. Through every form of matter 



