Wellington Philosophical Society. 485 



glacial epoch of Dr. Haast, with its enormous glaciers creeping into the 



plains. 



cuinstantial 



physical changes. To my mind it has a romantic interest, and must surely 

 influence us all in our conceptions of the past history of the world we inhabit. 

 Although these discoveries do not point to any wild convulsions of nature, 

 there are other evidences of startling antiquity that cer 

 stupendous forces were once in activity. 



As respects the sun, there must have been in the past, and there will be in 

 the future, great variations in the intensity of the forces in operation. Even 



ainl 



with 



assurance 



radiated from the surface of our great luminary may have been less than at 

 present, and, rejecting Croll's theory, you may ascribe the origin of the glacial 

 epoch to a large diminution of the radiant heat of the sun. 



The 



passing step by step in its accurate review of nature, seeks resemblances, and 

 for what, in the nomenclature of mathematics, is termed "the continuity of 

 phenomena," — never flying "far and wide" of its mark, — but with unyielding 

 tenacity cautiously seeks in the sun and the planets for the same relation of 

 things which are found in the globe we inhabit. It seems to me that the 

 first great step made in our knowledge of the sun was that important law 

 which Spencer sought to establish, that the sun matter must conform to the 

 same laws which govern matter here. Nothing can be more interesting than 

 Spencer's remarks on the physical constitution of the sun, and I cannot 

 understand why a higher value has not attached to the profound thought and 

 far-seeing ponderings of this truly capacious intellect. All the credit is 

 to those who have marvellously verified Spencer's ideas by direct observation 

 with the spectroscope. 



It may be well, writes Spencer so far back as the year 1858, to consider 

 what is the probable condition of the sun's surface. Round the globe of 

 incandescent molten substances forming the visible body of the sun there 

 probably exists a stratum of dense aeriform matter made up of sublimed 

 metals and metallic compounds, and above this a stratum of comparatively 

 rare medium analogous to air. 



How superior these propositions appear to the fanciful notions of late 

 astronomers, who fluttered around their far-fetched notions, and fancied, 

 because they coined new words, that they were in progress. 



The governing idea which animates the present age, the grand field of 

 modern generalization, is the universal acceptance of the law that the same 

 matter, ruled by the same laws, exists within the sun. the stars, and the 



