216 Mr. J. Ennis on the Origin of the Power 



mercury, which is stopped by the stratum of mercury-salt 

 which is formed, and which enables the lead particles to reas- 

 sert their electropositiveness and be further operated upon. 

 Then a fresh diffusion ensues and the play is repeated. 



XXVIII. The Origin of the Power which causes the Stellar 

 Radiations. By Jacob Ennis*. 



IT is important for scientific men to acquire the habit of 

 regarding all matter as having been diffused equally, or 

 nearly equally, through all space. This is the initial point in 

 our history of creation, the earliest period which we know. 

 From this universal diffusion w r e can trace, by the operation 

 of well-known forces, the origin of the stars. We can under- 

 stand how the vast sidereal systems, stellar nebulas, were 

 formed, and how they must remain stationary in space. We 

 can understand the origin of solar and planetary systems, 

 and how these latter systems are all moving through space 

 with inconceivable velocities. We can learn (as I proved in 

 my paper in the c Philosophical Magazine ' for April 1877) 

 that gravity is the force which imparted their velocities 

 to all the stars and to all stellar systems. And now I 

 am to prove that in this same universal diffusion of all 

 matter we can behold the reservoir, the illimitable reservoir, 

 of that force which radiates the undulations of heat, light, 

 and actinism from all the stars. I will point out also 

 that, in the condensation from that primitive diffusion, 

 we can behold the origin of those modifications of matter 

 wmich w r e call the simple elements. In that condensation also 

 we can see the first manifestations of several of the physical 

 forces, such as electricity, magnetism, cohesion, heat, and light. 

 The three primitive forces, of whose origin we know nothing, 

 are repulsion, chemical force, and gravity. 



The diffusion of matter in a gaseous form, by the ordinary 

 repulsive force, is a store of heat ; and this store is greater or 

 smaller in proportion to the amount of diffusion. It is analo- 

 gous to the removal of a pound weight from the surface of the 

 earth : the further it is removed the greater will be the amount 

 of heat produced by its fall. It has been found that when our 

 atmospheric gases expand from one volume to two, their tem- 

 perature is lowered, and just 144° F. of heat are absorbed and 

 rendered latent. Every addition of the original volume by 

 expansion renders latent an additional 144° of heat ; that is, 

 so much heat loses its character and form of heat, and it reap- 

 pears as repulsion or diffusion. When compressed again, that 

 * Communicated bv the Author. 



