136 THE UNIVERSE 



hydrogen and all the so-called elements are as I 

 have contended for many years only compound 

 substances, and justifies Prof. Serviss' statement in 

 the New York Journal, that these facts "may revo- 

 lutionize science and reconstruct chemistry." 



The marvelous increase in brilliancy of the star 

 Nova Persei last year, and its sudden shrinkage, 

 all within a few days, and the same being observ- 

 able almost instantaneously upon the earth, when 

 that star is 3,400 light years distance from the 

 earth according to the accepted speed of light, which 

 is 186,000 miles a second, unsettles the whole ques- 

 tion as to the speed of light. It tends to prove 

 that light is instantaneous, as Prof. Wright says 

 gravitation is. 



No less an authority than Prof. Simon Newcomb 

 calls the scientific world's attention to this phenom- 

 ena, and shows it throws doubt on the long-ac- 

 cepted theory as to the speed with which light 

 travels. In his address before the Astronomical 

 Society, December 29th, 1902, he says: "There 

 is an inadequacy in the speed of light to explain 

 the phenomena. We are forced to the conclusion 

 that there exists in the universe a cause suscepti- 

 ble of transmission with a speed many times that 

 of light." 



What cause exceeds the speed of light, which is 

 deemed the swiftest thing in the universe? We 

 know of none. What was it surprised the scientists 

 and came to us with many times the supposed 

 speed of .light? It was light, only light. Then 

 this "inadequacy in the speed of light" came on 

 double-quick time, and proves that light can travel 

 many times faster than the scientists for two hun- 



