80 THE OCEAN. [Book in. 



it is, in fact, an inseparable corollary from them ; so 

 that its refutation, of necessity, involves the denial 

 of the existence of the force of gravitation. This 

 being so, then any definitions or axioms m vented to 

 explain the onward motion of the moon and other 

 heavenly bodies are, if at variance with the assertion 

 that the earth's surface tends to drag the moon east- 

 wards, of necessity false. 



But if the moon is really carried round by the 

 earth's surface rotating below it, then the far side of 

 that surface, moving in the opposite direction, must 

 tend to check it ; and, therefore, the velocity of its 

 motion must depend on the amount by which the 

 dragging power of the nearer exceeds that of the 

 remoter part of the earth. 



This argument, and with it the whole theory of 

 the current-creating action of the earth's rotation, 

 can be brought to a crucial test. For, if the motion 

 of the moon in its orbit round the earth is caused by 

 the earth's rotation, then it is to be presumed that 

 the motions of the planets round the sun are caused 

 by a rotation of the sun in the same direction as that 

 in which the planets revolve ; and, therefore, accord- 

 ing to the above argument, the relative velocities of 

 the planets must show a dependence on the relative 

 amounts by which the force of the gravitation of the 

 nearer exceeds that of the remoter part of the sun in 

 their respective orbits. 



