SCIENCE IN SHORT CHAPTERS. 



THE FUEL OF THE SUN. 



I OFFER the following sketch of the main argument which 

 is worked out more fully in the essay I published in Janu- 

 ary, 1870, under the above title, hoping that, many who 

 hesitate to plunge into a presumptuous speculative work 

 of more than 20(> octavo pages may read this article, and 

 reflect upon the subject. 



The book has been handled in a most courteous and 

 indulgent spirit by all the reviewers who have noticed it, 

 but none have ventured to grapple with the argument it 

 contains, although every possible opportunity and provoca- 

 tion for doing so is designedly afforded. It all rests upon 

 the question which is discussed in the first three chapters, 

 viz., whether the atmosphere which surrounds our caith is 

 limited or unlimited in extent? If my reasoning upon this 

 fundamental question is refuted, all that follows necessarily 

 falls to theground. If I am right, all our standard treatises 

 on pneumatics and meteorology, which repeat the arguments 

 contained in Dr. Wollaston's celebrated paper, must be re- 

 modeled. At the outset, I reprint that paper, and point 

 out a very curious and monstrous fallacy which, for half a 

 century, remained undetected, and had been continually 

 repeated. 



As the main point of issue between myself and Dr. Wol- 

 laston is merely a question of very simple arithmetic and 



fometry, nothing can be easier than to set me right if 

 am wrong: and, as the philosophical consequences de- 

 pending upon this issue are of vast and fundamental import- 

 ance, the question cannot be ignored by those who stand 

 before the world as scientific authorities, without a practical 



