140 THE UNIVERSE 



omer will not assume for Jupiter what he assumed 

 for the sun, and weakens and destroys in Jupiter 

 the very same arguments he used to prove the sun 

 was not a solid body at its surface. 



This same learned astronomer and I mention 

 him because he is high authority and has written 

 the most recent work on astronomy says that, 

 "under the enormous pressure of the earth, con- 

 tinually increasing to the center, the matter com- 

 posing the inner portion of the earth is compressed 

 to the density of a metal. If the earth were com- 

 posed of a fluid or even of a substance which would 

 bend no more than the hardest steel, such a motion as 

 that of the earth upon its axis would be impossible." 



I accept this as a very reasonable conclusion, 

 and hold the same rule applies to the sun, and 

 that the sun's "enormous pressure, increasing to 

 its center," would compress its inner portion to the 

 density of a metal; and that the sun could not 

 revolve upon its axis and retain its rigidity as it 

 does unless its inner or central portion was as 

 rigid as steel. And this necessarily means that 

 its surface is about as solid as that of our earth. 



Therefore the sun cannot be molten or liquid 

 at its surface, as the scientific guessers have prog- 

 nosticated. As they have guessed wrong about 

 nine-tenths of the time, this is one of the nine hun- 

 dred bad guesses. 



Lord Kelvin, our wisest scientist, a few years ago 

 estimated that our earth, only fifty miles below its 

 surface, was a molten mass of fiery metal. Now, 

 Simon Newcomb says it has the density of metal, 

 and is as hard as steel, and I think Lord Kelvin 

 has changed his opinion and will agree with him. 



