80 



its power of attracting to itself, like our sun, the elements 

 of solar nourishment. 



That the sun feeds its fires with comets is an indis- 

 putably proved fact, but, judging from the ring round 

 Saturn, and the influence of that planet and of Jupiter 

 on the course of comets, we must conclude that the pla- 

 nets themselves are disposed to share this nourishment, 

 or, if not, it would be difficult to explain the comparative 

 size of the remoter planets compared with the interior 

 planets Mercury and Venus. 



If we look up into the sky on a dark night we shall 

 witness the phenomenon of what is called "falling stars", 

 which in reality are cerolites or little fragments of dead 

 worlds floating in space. Certainly they have their own 

 course in immensity, beyond our research ; but we know 

 only that their course has carried them into our atmo- 

 sphere, where we can compretend and describe their 

 destiny. Nitrogen, as a heav}' gas, perpetually presses 

 towards the earth's crust; while the cosmic world moves 

 in an element ot oxo-hydrogen. When this movement 

 of cosmic matter is taking place outside the atmosphere 

 with the drift of the cosmic tide, there can be no que- 

 stion of friction, but when this movement enters our at- 

 mosphere two currents contend, one the current of cos- 

 mic oxo-hydrogen, the other that of the heavier gases 

 pressing to the earth. Then ensues friction of the solid 

 matter against the azote, engendering heat, decomposing 

 the double cosmic gas into its constituent parts, and cau- 

 sing the flame of what we know as 'shooting stars'. In 

 September and October shooting stars are to be see inn 

 such quantities that to count them is impossible. It is 

 evident that at this season the earth passes through a 

 special mass of cosmic ruins which our planet absorbs, 

 and thereby increases her own magnitude. The scale 

 I have furnished of the magnitude of the planets indi- 

 cates clearly that the distance of a planet from the sun 

 is approximately in direct proportion to its age, and that 

 the older a planet is, the larger. From this we may 



