THE PRIME RESULTANT 79 



if there placed, will not be gravitationally directed to- 

 ward some other point distant from it. Our Vertex is 

 merely a stepping stone to our exploration of the infinities 

 around us. The rays of gravitation pass through the Ver- 

 tex, but they do not stop there. Besides, the Vertex is a 

 blank spot and not a rock on which our ship can founder. 

 There is, you observe, no central sun, either in the 

 center of the sun's orbit, nor even at the Vertex. Indeed, 

 there is no need of a great central sun, for two reasons ; 



(1) because, as I shall show later, stars are limited by 

 nature to a maximum size, just like men or animals ; and 



(2) if stars could grow to any magnitude whatsoever, 

 they would long ago have put an end to Nature 's plan. 



The vernal equinox occurs when the earth, and of 

 course the sun, are on the exact line of the Antarctic 

 Circle of the Gravisphere, the sun then always in the 

 rear. At one position, say A, the sun at vernal equinox 

 would be projected upon the sky in a certain direction, 

 while, at B it would be projected one quadrant to the west. 

 To an observer on the earth, therefore, viewing the sun at 

 the time of the vernal equinox in successive years, the 

 path of that body will seem to be toward 270, right as- 

 cension. Again, the declination of the sun will likewise 

 suffer a change in journeying the quadrant from A to B, a 

 change which can be resolved into two factors, namely; 

 first, an uprighting of the axis to the extent of 23% in 

 one direction; and, second, a tilting of the axis to the 

 same amount in a new direction at right angles to the for- 

 mer. The net effect upon the apparent movement of the 

 sun in declination, then, will be, not the sum of 23% plus 

 23^> but the hypothenuse of the right angled triangle 

 two of whose sides are equal to 23j^ traced on the celes- 

 tial sphere. Applying the appropriate rule, then, we 

 have: 



1/2X (23^) 2 = 33.23 



That is to say, the drift of the sun will SEEM to anyone not 

 in possession of the key to be, not merely to right ascen- 

 sion 270, but also to declination +33.23. On a similar 

 line of reasoning, it can easily be seen that the vertices of 



