THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 65 
THE SUN AND FAMILY. 
BY REV. H. G. LIVINGSTON, B. A. 
A Synopsis of Paper read before Astronomical Section, May 
9th, 1905. 
The Sun and the Sun’s children and grand-children consti- 
tute a very interesting and popular family to which we ail sustain 
an important relationship. There is no one body in the universe 
which to us is so distinctly pre-eminent and which stands for so 
much as the Sun. It is probable that the Sun is a specimen of 
other bodies and that there are stars which are suns and which 
are centres of other systems. But to the ordinary individual the 
Sun is largely the hub of the universe. It is the pivot and centre 
of the various heavenly bodies, whose movements are known to 
man and whose study constitutes the science of Astronomy. The 
orderly movements of the various members of the solar family 
is effected mainly by gravitation. Loosely stated, the planets 
revolve around the Sun. What really takes place is that they re- 
volve around the centre of gravity, common to him and them, 
and this point, though not in the centre of the Sun, is within the 
Sun’s mass. The solar system constitutes a part of this galaxy 
and is moving to a point in the constellation of Hercules. The Sun 
may be taken to be about 93,000,000 of miles from the earth, this 
distance being the unit by which most other long celestial dis- 
tances are reckoned. The diameter of the Sun is about 866,000 
miles. Its volume is more than one million times greater than the 
earth, while its mass or weight is 332,000 times that of our planet, 
or about 700 times that of all the planets put together. The Sun 
throws out light and heat to the utmost confines of the solar sys- 
tem. How the light and heat are produced we cannot positively 
affrm. It is considered that the following elements, among 
others, are present in the Sun: Sodium, iron, calcium, magnesium, 
nickel, barium, copper, zinc, hydrogen, chromium, cobalt, man- 
