p rN STARRY REALMS. 



liquid or a solid, the foundation of our argument slips 

 from us. It only applies to bodies so long as they remain 

 in the gaseous state, or, at all events, so long as they 

 conform to the laws which gaseous bodies follow, in so far 

 as the present matter is concerned. Once the condensa- 

 tion has brought the bodies originally gaseous into a solid 

 form, then the ordinary laws of cooling for a solid regulate 

 the further changes. Loss of heat will then entail a loss 

 of temperature, consequently the ultimate future of such a 

 body would be that after ages of perhaps nearly stationary 

 splendour the brilliance would begin to wane, the vivid 

 white would be succeeded by hues that indicated a lesser 

 temperature, and ultimately the globe would subside into 

 one of those dark masses with which we know that space 

 is largely tenanted. 



This explanation will have prepared the way for the 

 reception of the true theory of the source of solar heat. 

 There can be no doubt that the sun is still largely, if 

 not wholly, of the gaseous or vaporous character. It 

 follows that the process of cooling is still guided by the 

 general principle, that though there may be loss of heat by 

 radiation, yet the temperature of the body, ever lessening 

 by contraction, may show no perceptible abatement. Thus 

 we explain how the sun continues, from age to age, to 

 diffuse a warmth around which shows no evident symptoms 

 of decline. It is unquestionable that the sun must be 

 parting unceasingly with its capital of heat, but by the 

 operation of the laws we have set forth the inevitable loss 

 of heat need not at present involve the loss of tempera- 

 ture. 



We can submit this doctrine to the same numerical 



