A Forecast of the End 125 



is, or what sources of radium there may be, in the sun ; 

 and it is absolutely futile to say how many million 

 years may have to be added to the original calculation. 

 There is time for humanity to reach any height it may 

 dream of. 



We must be content that science can, after less than 

 a century of real growth, lift us to a point from which 

 we survey so wonderful a panorama. But does it ring 

 down the curtain quite finally on our solar system with 

 the death of the sun ? Does it give us any glimpse into 

 the darkness beyond? It tells that in the course of 

 ages our planets, since they circle not in an empty void 

 but in a resisting medium, will one by one return to the 

 parent body. It follows this dark and cold body, travers- 

 ing space at the rate of twelve miles a second, and knows 

 that in millions of years our dead sun may meet one of 

 those accidents that are illustrated by our new stars. 

 It may plunge into dense and prolonged swarms of great 

 meteorites, or through a nebula; it may approach so 

 close to another colossal body that its crust may be torn 

 off, and the molten interior rush out ; it may actually 

 collide with another star, many think. In such event its 

 enormous energy of motion will be converted into heat, 

 and liquefy or vaporise the whole mass. In other words, 

 there may be a great resurrection, a return to the 

 nebula, and a fresh run of the story da capo. In any 

 case the story will be going on in other parts of space. 

 An old symbol of eternity was the serpent with its tail 

 in its mouth. It is the symbol of cosmic evolution. 



THE END. 



