THE FUEL OF THE SUN. 21 



rather more than one and a half millions of millions of tons 

 per second. The proportion of this which is effective in the 

 manner above stated is that which becomes stirred into the 

 lower regions of the sun in exchange for the ejected matter 

 of the prominences. 



I will not here dwell upon the bombardment hypothesis, 

 beyond observing that my explanation of solar phenomena 

 supplies a continuous bombardment of the above-stated 

 magnitude without adding anything to the magnitude of 

 the sun. 



So far, then, I answer Mr. Grove's question, by showing 

 that the heat radiated into space by each of the solid orbs 

 that people its profundities, is received by the universal 

 atmospheric medium; is gathered again by the breathing 

 of wandering suns, who inspire as they advance the breath 

 of universal heat and light and life; then by impact, com- 

 pression, and radiation, they concentrate and re-distribute 

 its vitalizing power; and after its work is done, expire it in 

 the broad wake of their retreat, leaving a track of cool ex- 

 hausted ether the ash-pits of the solar furnaces to re- 

 absorb the general radiations, and thus maintain the eternal 

 round of life. 



But ere this, a great difficulty has probably presented it- 

 self to the mind of the reader. He will refer to the calcu- 

 lations that have been made in order to determine the 

 actual temperature of the solar surface and the intensity of 

 its luminosity. Both of these are vastly in excess of those 

 obtained in our laboratory experiments by the combustion 

 of the elements of water. Even taking into consideration 

 the dissociated carbonic acid whose elements should be 

 burning in the photosphere with those of water, and adding 

 to these the volatile metals of the solar nucleus whose dis- 

 sociated vapors must, under the circumstances stated, be 

 comming ed with those of the solar atmosphere, and there- 

 fore con tribute to the luminosity by their combustion, still 

 by burning here on the earth a jet of such mixed gases and 

 vapors we should not obtain any approach to either the lu- 

 minosity or the temperature which is usually attributed to 

 the sun. 



I have made a very few simple experiments, the results 



