102 FROM NEBULA TO NEBULA 



universal has no significance in the phrase, and requires 

 to be expunged. On the other hand, if I am in the right, 

 it means that in failing to take into account the para- 

 mount dynamical factor in the universe the stellar re- 

 sultant the current theories of astronomy cannot pos- 

 sibly be sound and, cost what it will, must be ruthlessly 

 demolished to make way for an orderly reconstruction 

 from the ground up. 



Suppose only two bodies to exist in space, at rest, and 

 separated from each other by a finite distance, they 

 would then inevitably approach each other in a direct line 

 and finally meet. Supposing the law of equilibrium to 

 apply, namely, that freely moving bodies seek their lowest 

 center of gravity; the direction of the axes of the two 

 bodies would in that case point each other out in the sky 

 until they met. Suppose, now, we add a third body and 

 call them A, B and C, all of the same size, starting from 

 rest, and so placed as to mark the points of an equilateral 

 triangle. In this case the axes of the bodies would not 

 point to each other, but would instead aim at the blank 

 point being the mathematical center of the triangle, where 

 eventually they would all simultaneously collide. 



Now, we do not live in a universe of two or three 

 bodies, but in one of many millions ; not in one of two 

 dimensions, but of three. How can we ever expect, or even 

 hope, to be able to orientate ourselves in so complex a 

 maze as this ! Simply enough. All we need do is to rein- 

 state the law of equilibrium, to wit, that all free bodies, 

 whether in a vacuum or out of it, whether falling or in 

 suspension, seek their lowest center of gravity. If we 

 view the earth in this light, we must be blind indeed if 

 we cannot discern that the reason its axis is " fixed" and 

 points so steadily in one direction the year through, on 

 whichever side of the sun it may happen to be, is because 

 the northern hemisphere is heavier than the southern, or 

 vice versa, and that the resultant of the stellar attractions 

 is drawing our globe either due north or due south. 



But how, you may ask, can we possibly tell which! 

 I answer, by contemplation of the earth itself. Many at- 



