THE AUTHOR'S THEORIES OUTLINED 65 



problems affecting the diversity of the planets in the 

 particulars of size and density and the number of their 

 circulating attendants. 



From NEBULA to NEBULA from star-dust to star- 

 dust through comet, meteor, satellite, planet, sun, then 

 back into nebula again: this is the life-span of our, of 

 every, planetary system: the ultimate physical cycle 

 within the comprehension of finite man: the last round 

 short of Infinity itself ! 



THE DESTINY OF THE UNIVERSE 



Reverently acknowledging that the Hand that 

 created the universe can at will destroy and annihilate 

 it, I hold that, viewed as a purely physical contrivance, 

 it is potentially indestructible, imperishable and eternal ; 

 that all the activities of the universe, including the 

 planetary motions both of orbital and axial rotation, the 

 flight of the sun, the proper motions of stars, the gyra- 

 tions of the nebulae, the heat and light of the sun and 

 stars, are born of the moment, and from moment to mo- 

 ment, and are not the inheritance from a dead and mythi- 

 cal past; that were the earth conceived to be gently 

 brought for an instant to complete rest, it would on being 

 released not drop to the sun, but would gradually re- 

 cover its lost momentum; that were the sun by fiat chilled 

 to zero, he would in the next the fiat being lifted im- 

 mediately begin the generation of heat within himself 

 until in a calculable period he would be radiating with 

 the same intensity as now ; that, in brief, were the whole 

 universe to doze off into cold and comatose inaction, it 

 would on waking, by virtue of its inherent vitality, re- 

 sume its suspended operations with only a temporary 

 dislocation of its parts and a rapid return to its present 

 swing and vigor. 



