430 



MY LIFE 



[Chap. 



shown to be a fallacy I hold by its main doctrine. I hope 

 you will read it, and, if you see no fallacy in it, get Sir John 

 Herschell to read it and tell us if there is a positive fallacy 

 which destroys its whole value or no." 



Some weeks later Sir Charles thanked me for recommend- 

 ing the book to him, which he had read with great pleasure, 

 adding, " It is as interesting as any novel I ever read." The 

 fundamental idea of the book is that the sun in its motion 

 through space comes into contact with an excessively diffused 

 space-atmosphere, which it collects and condenses by its 

 gravitative force, thus forming the sun's photosphere. Then, 

 on cooling, the outer portion of this gaseous envelope is 

 left behind or expelled, so that the mass of the sun does 

 not increase. The value of the explanation will of course 

 depend upon whether this latter part of the theory, which 

 the author explains at considerable length, is dynamically 

 possible. In view of modern discoveries as to the nature 

 of matter, it might be well for some competent physicist 

 to re-examine this work, which is largely founded on the 

 author s own observations and experiments as a metallurgical 

 chemist. 



In the latter part of 1872 I was assisting Sir Charles by 

 reading over the completed MSS. and afterwards the proofs 

 of Part III. of " The Antiquity of Man," dealing with The 

 Origin of Species as bearing on Man's Place in Nature." In 

 one of the letters I wrote I made a suggestion (which he did 

 not adopt, nor did I expect him to do so), but which I will 

 here give as it is a subject on which I wrote afterwards, and 

 which I still consider to be of very great importance. 

 Readers of the "Antiquity" will see that part of his own 

 MSS. has been omitted. 



"November 10, 1872. 



"Dear Sir Charles, 



"I have read the MSS. with very great interest. 

 Two points of importance are, Milton's advocacy of scientific 

 as against classical education (which I should think would be 



