ELECTRIC UNIVERSE ETERNAL 253 



fire, the earth melting with fervent heat and the 

 final " wreck of matter and the crush of worlds." 



The latest display of dismal and excessive fancy 

 on this subject is from the prolific pen of our most 

 eminent and worthy astronomer, Prof. Simon New- 

 comb. It is to be found in McClure's Magazine of 

 May, 1903, which I have just read, entitled "The 

 End of the World." It is a well written, imaginative 

 story or article, embracing his theory or hypothesis 

 of the cause and manner of the world's destruc- 

 tion. 



I admire his scholarly style, his great learning, 

 and splendid fancy, and if I believed in the scientific 

 theories and traditions which he champions with 

 such an able pen, I should say it was a masterly 

 presentation of what would occur in sun and earth 

 at some indefinite future time. But as I have dis- 

 carded the old scientific traditions I cannot accept 

 his theories or his fancy picture. It is too dismal 

 for my optimistic conception of what has occurred 

 or what will occur in this vast and mighty universe. 



He is a worthy successor of Newton and La Place, 

 for he has a vigorous imagination, which easily 

 scans the future and presents what I deem antiquated 

 theories, sustained by traditional facts. 



Each person lives in a different world and sees a 

 different universe, according to his knowledge and 

 imagination. 



The universe Ptolomy saw was different from that 

 of Copernicus, and Newton's different from both, 

 so my conception of the universe is different from 

 that of Prof. Newcomb's. Imagination is a creature 

 of education and converts knowledge into utility, 

 and reasons from the known to the unknown, and 



