SOLAR DYNAMICS— SOME NEW ASTRONOMY. 327 



good student, tells him "there is no such thing as absolute motion." It is evi- 

 dent that in order to give a diagram of the performance of these two boys we 

 would have to be precise in dealing with the road. Road-measure here would be 

 a reality, whatever becomes of the dogma that all motion is only relative. And 

 if Jones was carried by an external force, which you were trying to understand, 

 it is not likely you would succeed, if you persisted in ignoring space as measured 

 on the road. 



If told that the opening among the stars in Hercules shows that the Sun is 

 moving in a certain direction, the answer is that in astronomy the apparent is 

 often other than the real. These openings show a diminution of distance ; but 

 how effected, is another question. The man who will study this question in the 

 light of diagrams will not for one moment concede that the solar system is mov- 

 ing in that direction. A difficulty more formidable to the writer arose from the 

 reputed direction of the equator of Venus. All the text-books gave to Venus an 

 inclination of axis, which if true, was incompatible with my theories. I felt 

 obliged, either to surrender much of my ground, or to claim that all the text- 

 books were wrong as to the direction of this equator. Seven years ago, I boldly 

 took the ground that the text-books were wrong, and that the plane of this equator 

 would be found but httle removed from that of our own. It was with no little 

 pleasure that in reading the lectures of Prof. A. C. Young deUvered last year in 

 New York, I found this declaration with regard to Venus. " As to the direction 

 of its axis we do not know anything. And I say that because you will find it 

 stated in many text-books that the axis is inclined at an angle of some 70° or 80°. 

 I don't think we know that. I am quite sure we do not." So, with me, that 

 trouble is over ;though my confidence was such that it gave me very little trouble. 



The writer will not be surprised if some errors will be found among the 

 many things here suggested. But he is confident that the main things set forth 

 in this paper will be found true ; and that they have an importance far beyond 

 what most people will be ready to ascribe to them. Much that he was disposed 

 to say here has been ruled out, lest damage should come from admitting the 

 doubtful. If this much is established, what is in reserve will naturally follow. 

 For the most part, its unfoldment will require more mathematical knowledge, and 

 astronomical research, that the writer has attained to. The whole is given over 

 to the builders of the new astronomy, with assurance that some coming man will 

 crown himself with honor by a farther pushing out in these directions. That 

 man has my benediction. 



