PRESENT SCIENCE IS CHAOTIC 153 



that worlds and solar systems are being formed of 

 cosmic dust. Was the polestar ever obscured by 

 the interposition of a world in formation ? Yet the 

 film formed by the breath of the observer on the 

 eyepiece of a telescope would obscure Jupiter. Evi- 

 dently, therefore, we no more see a star than we 

 see a distant power house that supplies electricity 

 to trolley lines. We only see the end of the stellar 

 or solar ray where it enters the bubble of which the 

 earth is the center. 



"It is strange that no astronomer has ever here- 

 tofore observed that the magnifying power of a 

 lens, two inches in diameter could have no ap- 

 preciable effect on an object as remote as Saturn. 

 Yet the ring and the satellites of this planet are 

 thus made visible. In short, there is a kind of 

 screen which presents the image of stars, as on a sheet 

 between the observer and the magic lantern at an 

 exhibition. The image can be magnified but their 

 distance is perhaps scarcely fifty inches." 



In regard to the eruptions of Mont Pelee he says : 

 "Within twenty miles of the earth there is a cold as 

 intense as liquid air. Differences of temperature can 

 be converted into an electric flash, as electricity 

 can be converted into heat. The so-called eruption 

 of Mont Pelee was purely electrical. The sympa- 

 thetic eruption of La Soufriere was partly due to 

 an interrupted circuit and partly an induced cur- 

 rent. There was no flow of lava, but can any one 

 imagine the crater discharging what was said to 

 have issued from it? .... When there is an accu- 

 rate statement of facts it will be found that neither 

 dust nor gas came from the volcano. Really, only 

 mud, hot water, smoke and stones were ejected. 



