130 POPULAR LECTURES AND ADDRESSES. 



without supposing the sun to be a miraculous body, 

 continually violating the laws of matter, we cannot 

 believe that from first to last he could illuminate 

 the earth for several times one hundred million 

 years, if even for so long a period as that. Since 

 he had been asked to explain his views regarding 

 the theory of sun-heat, he took the opportunity of 

 adverting to a statement which Professor Huxley 

 had recently made in his inaugural address to the 

 Geological Society of London, to the effect that 

 he (Sir W. Thomson) had only fifteen years ago 

 entertained a view of the origin of the sun's heat 

 which would have "suited Mutton perfectly," inas- 

 much as, according to that view, the energy radiat- 

 ing from year to year is supplied from year to 

 year. But Professor Huxley had not noticed that 

 the very limited supply which could possibly exist 

 in store, according to that view, could not upon 

 any estimate amount to three hundred thousand 

 years' expenditure, at present rate even without 

 taking into account the astronomical observations 

 published since 1.854. And, in fact, no view 

 except Hegel's "the motion of the heavenly 



