GRAVITATION VERSUS INERTIA 



Now as this vast vortex dashes headlong down- 

 ward, it would be strange indeed if it did not create a 

 gravitational suction of its own, and draw in from the 

 surrounding space bodies belonging in the outskirts of 

 neighboring systems. Or, where its sphere of gravi- 

 tational influence may happen to brush against other 

 spheres still stronger, the result may be one of loss in- 

 stead of gain. What is true of the major is no less 

 true of the subordinate systems, and of such systems 

 also as rise still higher in scale. 



Granting these views to be true, it inevitably fol- 

 lows that the longer this act of falling continues the 

 faster and faster must our planets revolve that is, 

 with the square of the time. We have seen how this has 

 been proved in the moon's case; but astronomical data 

 can carry us even further. The major axis of the earth's 

 orbit has a forward revolution, and turns completely 

 round in about 108,000 years, showing with each year 

 a slight overshot or excess of speed. Our sidereal year is 

 therefore growing shorter, just as well as our month. 

 The same principle holds true as well in the case of the 

 other planets. 



The reader may here interject, "All this sounds 

 plausible enough, but still somewhat speculative. You 

 speak of whirling and balancing: How did the whirl- 

 ing begin? How came it to choose one way and not 

 the other? What evidence have you as to the LAW of 

 this balancing process?" 



When a pole is delicately poised on a level base, 

 we can with certainty predict that it will not remain 

 upright long, but not the direction in which it will fall. 

 Let it but once begin to topple, and we know it must 

 continue the way it began until it comes to rest upon 

 the ground. Even so massive a system as that of our 

 sun is not superior to the same simple uniform law. 



