THE LIGHT-BRINGING ETHER 



transverse vibrations, are transmitted from the sun 

 with the speed of light, for they are light, through 

 the intervening minimum distance of 91,430,000 

 miles with a velocity of more than 186,000 miles a 

 second, thus requiring eight and one-third minutes for 

 them to reach the earth. The light from the nearest 

 fixed star, a sun to other worlds, requires three years to 

 reach us ; from the most distant stars hundreds, if not 

 thousands, of years. These vibrations of the ETHER, 

 for such it is called, are of course without other ac- 

 tion upon the intervening space, which contains only 

 the ether itself, and pass with little action through 

 our atmosphere ; would probably do so absolutely 

 without action if the air consisted only of oxygen and 

 nitrogen gases, its main and essential constituents. 

 The heat directly absorbed by the air from the sun's 

 rays is almost nothing; nearly all its heat is derived 

 from contact with the earth, which is heated by the 

 sun's rays ; the higher we ascend a mountain, or into 

 the air by means of a balloon, the colder the air be- 

 comes. The presence of foreign gases, carbon di- 

 oxide, ammoniacal gas, the vapor of water, and even 

 the odor of plants and other organic matter, increases 

 the absorptive or heat-retaining power of the air, in 

 some cases one hundredfold, in others many thousand 

 times. This especially is the case with heat of low 

 intensity, of which much more relatively is retained 



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