126 FROM NEBULA TO NEBULA 



these three amazing coincidences. But I will not thus 

 evade the question. 



When you look at the earth, you see its crust ; when 

 you look at the sun or Jupiter, you see only their atmos- 

 pheres, or, at least, fluid envelopes. You cannot, there- 

 fore, predicate with the same positiveness with respect 

 to the hidden axial inclinations of these as you can with 

 regard to the plainly visible ones of Mars and the earth. 

 In the case of the earth, its interior (at least relatively to 

 the interiors of Jupiter and the sun) is solidified, and in- 

 capable of free movement, so that her ballasting adjust- 

 ments are confined, perhaps exclusively, to the surface, 

 where they can be duly interpreted ; whereas the sun, and, 

 in all likelihood, Jupiter, also, are molten throughout, so 

 that their ballasting process may go on inside, secretly, 

 leaving their mobile surfaces freely open to centrifugal 

 balancing. The force of this explanation is strengthened 

 by the established fact that both these huge bodies exhibit 

 the singular phenomenon of "equatorial acceleration"; 

 that is, the rotation of neither is uniform from pole to 

 pole, but is faster at the equator than in the latitudes. 



You may ask me why the solar system rotates on its 

 axis from west to east instead of just the reverse. I do 

 not know, any more than I know why the water in the 

 basin sometimes turns toward the right, and again toward 

 the left. All I can say is, it had to move one way or the 

 other, and then stick to that way. The die could have 

 been cast by the first comet that crossed the nebular field, 

 just as the mere touch of the tip of your finger on the 

 water in the basin will determine the direction of its ro- 

 tation. 



It would seem to follow that, inasmuch as the rota- 

 tions in our system are accelerating, the time periods are 

 intrinsically shortening. On the other hand, however, 

 the faster bodies are whirled the farther out they fly. For 

 reasons which seem to me convincing, I believe that the 

 earth is receding from the sun by infinitesimal degrees, 

 and also that the year is shortening as well. This, how- 

 ever, is needlessly speculative and I will pursue the idea 



