256 FROM NEBULA TO NEBULA 



properly economized, would supply the radiation of the sun for 

 45,000 years. 



Unfortunately, Doctor Chamberlin is silent as to the 

 magnitude of the visiting star, contenting himself with 

 the vague statement that ' ' it was more massive than our 

 sun"; nor is he any more definite as to its perihelion re- 

 moteness, merely opining that it was * * quite distant. ' ' It 

 is therefore impossible for us to reduce to definite terms 

 of thermal heat (for the sake of comparison) the tidal 

 force that Doctor Chamberlin may have in mind. Sup- 

 posing, though, that this amounted to as much as the 

 radiation of the sun for a period of 16 days a purposely 

 much exaggerated estimate it would still be only 1-1,000, 

 000 as great as his required eruptive forces. To get an 

 idea of this disparity, it may be correctly represented by 

 that of a small boy in a skiff attempting to tow one of our 

 largest battleships. 



That a tidal force relatively so insignificant could, by 

 coming fortuitously to the aid of a pent-up force so in- 

 comparably greater, not only suffice to release it, but also 

 to master and govern its methodical disbursement and ap- 

 plication to cosmic purposes, is manifestly absurd, unless, 

 indeed, there be shown some automatic mechanism or 

 some purposeful intelligence directing to that end. Sup- 

 posing, on the other hand, the actuality of such an enor- 

 mous explosive reservoir residing in the sun, how are we 

 to explain either its conservation and accumulation or its 

 multi-millenially deferred deliverance? The incessant 

 ebullition going on in the plastic body of the sun pro- 

 claims, not a storing-up of heat but its steady escape and 

 dissipation. How, in the name of sanity, can a tide, how- 

 ever powerful, be postulated as liberating gases already 

 freely escaping of themselves? 



It is possible that, in deference to the recent philo- 

 sophical revulsion against the thermodynamic doctrine of 

 the impermanency of nature, Doctor Chamberlin may im- 

 agine his ancestral sun as having entered upon a decline 

 whence it was rescued and resuscitated by this tidal 

 elixir. In that case, one might suppose the sun to have 



