Dr. J. R. Mayer on Celestial Dynamics, 399 



6 centimetres in diameter, will be nearly twice as distant, or 

 about half a geographical mile away from the sun. From Nep- 

 tune to the nearest fixed star will be more than 2000 geogra- 

 phical miles. 



To complete this picture, it is necessary to imagine finely- 

 divided matter grouped in a diversified manner, moving slowly 

 and gradually towards the large central globe, and on its arrival 

 attaching itself thereto ; this matter, when favourably illuminated 

 by the sun, represents itself to us as the zodiacal light. This 

 nebulous substance forms also an important part of a creation in 

 which nothing is by chance, but wherein all is arranged with 

 Divine foresight and wisdom. 



The surface of the sun measures 115,000 millions of square 

 miles, or 6j trillions of square metres ; the mass of matter which 

 in the shape of asteroids falls into the sun every minute is from 

 94,000 to 188,000 billions of kilogrammes ; one square metre of 

 solar surface, therefore, receives on an average from 15 to 30 

 grammes of matter per minute. 



To compare this process with a terrestrial phenomenon, a 

 gentle rain may be considered which sends down in one hour a 

 layer of water 1 millimetre in thickness (during a thunder-storm 

 the rainfall is often from ten to fifteen times this quantity) ; this 

 amounts on a square metre to 17 grammes per minute. 



The continual bombardment of the sun by these cosmical 

 masses ought to increase its volume as well as its mass, if centri- 

 fugal* action only existed. The increase of volume could scarcely 

 be appreciated by man ; for if the specific gravity of these cos- 

 mical masses be assumed to be the same as that of the sun, the 

 enlargement of his apparent diameter to the extent of one second, 

 the smallest appreciable magnitude, would require from 33,000 

 to 66,000 years. 



Not quite so inappreciable would be the increase of the mass of 

 the sun. If this mass, or the weight of the sun, were augmented, 

 an acceleration of the motion of the planets in their orbits would 

 be the consequence, whereby their times of revolution round the 

 central body would be shortened. The mass of the sun is 2 # 1 

 quintillions of kilogrammes ; and the mass of cosmical matter 

 annually arriving at the sun stands to the above as 1 to from 21 



42 millions. Such an augmentation of the weight of the sun 

 ought to shorten the sidereal year from 4 v^th to 8 ^oo,ooo tn of 

 its length, or from f ths to fths of a second. 



The observations of astronomers do not agree with this con- 

 clusion ; we must therefore fall back on the theory mentioned at 

 * [Centripetal?— Tr.] 



