422 THE WORLD MACHINE 



plant or animal, are at basis the same, though they differ widely 

 in their details. A certain general analogy leads us to suppose 

 that a like basic unity, with no doubt the same incidental 

 variety, obtains in the reproduction of worlds. There seems 

 no reason now to doubt but that the general features of the 

 life-history of suns and systems is known. 



When we consider the ineffable littleness of man and his 

 world, this is a prodigious step. That he should be able to 

 gain a sweep through such ranges of cosmic space and time 

 seems almost weirdly incredible. Yet is he not satisfied, yet 

 will he still go on. The earth was once a part of the sun, the 

 sun was once a diffused fire-mist. It is thus that systems are 

 born. But whence comes the fire-mist what are these nebulae ? 



Until very recently the general supposition was that these 

 nebulae represented a primal matter, the urstoff of the elements, 

 and that perhaps by a process of condensation the various 

 elementary substances which are found upon the earth were 

 formed. The revelations of the spectroscope seem to negative 

 this view. It is not impossible that the analogy noted above 

 may be carried yet further. Through a series of hesitating 

 approximations, biology reached at last the conception that 

 the round of the matter of life is eternal and unceasing. The 

 fact was expressed in the dictum, omne vivum e vivo. It is 

 possible that much the same is true of the universe. Moreover, 

 throughout cosmos we may discover the same process of dis- 

 solution and death that we find in the world of life. 



Shortly after the doctrine of the conservation of energy had 

 been established, Lord Kelvin filed notice that account must 

 be made of its dissipation as well. For example, so far as our 

 little solar system is concerned, the idea of conservation would 

 be a monstrous joke. The colossal energy of the sun is not 

 conserved at all. It is wasted with a prodigality compared 

 with which the most riotous spendthrift would seem a miser. 

 If Mr. Rockefeller or Mr. Carnegie were to melt up their gold 

 into bullets to shoot rabbits with, if they were to make bonfires 

 of their bonds, they could not throw away their wealth more 

 recklessly than does our central solar magnate. The quantity 

 of warmth and light taken up by the planets is of course not a 

 billionth part of that which is radiated away into space. 



In the course of time, then, the sun will grow dark and 



