198 FROM NEBULA TO NEBULA 



those of the diurnal movements of the sun and moon, and, 

 quite as remarkable, with the change of seasons as well. 

 Indeed, on careful investigation it will be found that 

 whenever the water is severely shaken in the ocean bowl, 

 by tides or by any other cause (solar explosions, for in- 

 stance, which temporarily unbalance the earth as well 

 as all other bodies in the system), extraordinary electri- 

 cal phenomena are certain to follow. Heretofore, at- 

 tempts have been made to connect the needle 's variations 

 with the fluctuations of the solar radiation, but unsuc- 

 cessfully, because of the conflicting fact that the moon, 

 whose radiation is comparatively nil, has been found to 

 exercise a similar magnetic influence rivaling the sun's 

 own. Orthodox astronomy has not dared to broach this 

 tidal explanation, because it would involve too brazen a 

 drain on inertial momentum; but the explanation be- 

 comes fully available under my own theory of gravita- 

 tional centrifugal motions. 



According to this logic, the earth's poles, being the 

 termini of the supposed "core", should be the centers of 

 greatest electrical activity, the charge passing from one 

 or the other of them through the atmosphere, along me- 

 ridianal lines, to the opposite pole, thereby completing 

 the circuit. This surmise accounts at once, and equally 

 well, both for the northern lights, or aurora borealis, and 

 for the direction and deflection of the magnetic needle, 

 besides offering a most alluring field for speculation as 

 to the possible future exploitation of another natural re- 

 source. 



THE COMETS 



Beautiful though some of them are, the comets have 

 ever been regarded by the ignorant as forerunners of 

 disaster, and as disasters have a way of occurring right 

 along, the comets have not failed to sustain their unen- 

 viable repute. Scientifically, they are generally looked 

 upon as strays from neighboring systems, and this char- 

 acter they undoubtedly possess, notwithstanding that 

 many of them have succeeded in insinuating themselves 



