20 THE UNIVERSE 



of the sun would strike them first, and greater heat 

 above the cloud level would prevent their formation 

 and forever banish them from our skies. 



Fifth, because heat by the law of its nature is 

 diffusive, and cannot be shot from one sun or planet 

 to another, or forced through space like a leaden 

 ball or other substance, but is soon dissipated 

 in the cold ether of space. Sixth, the sun is not 

 hot because comets have passed three hundred 

 thousand miles through the sun's corona without 

 visible change or injury, which would be impossible 

 if the sun is excessively hot, for the comet, coming 

 from outer space, must be intensely cold, and exces- 

 sive heat in the sun would explode and destroy it. 

 This argument alone should destroy the hoary 

 headed superstition that the sun is hot. Seventh, 

 heat does not come from the sun, because there is 

 no such thing as heat. Heat is simply a sensation ; 

 it is not a substance or an entity. It is a sensation 

 caused by the increased activity of the molecules 

 of which a body is composed, and, is produced by 

 electric currents. I hold the sun is not a thermal 

 or heating engine, as the astronomers claim, but an 

 electric generator which is not hot and does not 

 need to be hot. I repudiate the law of gravity and 

 adopt electricity as the evolving force of the uni- 

 verse. 



As the sun is 745 times larger than all the planets 

 of the solar system combined, and controls the life 

 and energy of the solar system by all laws of ana- 

 logy and distribution in the universe, it should be 

 more highly endowed w r ith all the elements of growth, 

 living forms and intellectual organisms than all 

 the planets combined. Therefore, the sun should be 



