156 FROM NEBULA TO NEBULA 



origin, that it is being spun by a live power, and that the 

 much taking of something from nothing, though pos- 

 sible to Newtonian imagination, will never content my 

 banker. 



That some physical cause lies behind the earth's ro- 

 tation is axiomatic; and what cause more eligible to this 

 purpose than this very phenomenon of the tides, super- 

 induced as they are by that great cosmic force gravi- 

 tation? Where can power be more effectively applied 

 than at the circumference of the fly wheel ? Has it never 

 occurred to you before, that Newtonianism has found no 

 use for gravitation save as a restraining means to leash 

 planets and retard rotations? Given this unique, this 

 all-sufficient creative energy, modern science has system- 

 atically resisted its logical development. Like the un- 

 worthy servant in the parable, it has buried its talent. 



Here we have the precise elements requisite to ac- 

 count for the earth's diurnal rotation. In Fig. 8, let AB 

 represent an arc of the earth's orbit, along which she is 

 being hurried by the vortical action of the Prime Kesul- 

 tant, and E, our planet itself (the direction of the move- 

 ment in each case being shown by the arrows). As pre- 

 viously explained, the tidal action of the sun at the point 

 indicated by x is to drive back tlie oceans with a strength 

 equivalent to 1-1600 of their weight; it is as if the sun 

 were applying a very powerful brake, or as if he were 

 blowing a strong blast against that side, causing the solid 

 kernel to trip, as it were, and roll over and over upon 

 its face, like a barrel on an incline. Or, as some might 

 say, the principle is rather that of buoyancy, the kernel 

 being "lifted off its feet", as by a sudden rise of water, 

 rendering it perennially unstable against the pull of the 

 Prime Eesultant. A stately ship, our Earth, driven by 

 wireless power from the stars; herself the compass, hu- 

 manity her passengers, eternity her port ! 



If we care to, we can imagine a beginning to this pro- 

 cess from a previous state of rest, and picture to our- 

 selves a gradual acceleration of the movement until, like 

 a fly-wheel responding to its engine, the planet attained 

 the uniform velocity it now seems to possess. However, 



