[August, 
500 The Constitution of the Earth. 
collected together and formed into the solid substances 
which now exist. The theory of gravitation, as now taught, 
returns no answer to this question ; but if, as Newton sug- 
gested, the cause of gravity is to be found “ in the general 
laws of Nature by which the things themselves are formed,” 
the solution is consistent with the constitution of the earth 
as now expounded. 
The space at my disposal prevents me from entering at 
length into the physical evidences of the earth’s expansion. 
These, however, exist in abundance in the cracks, veins, 
fissures, ravines, and valleys which are to be found in all 
directions on the earth’s surface, and which present in a 
large way very much the appearance of the cracks in the 
bark of growing trees. Assume that the crust of the earth 
is an addition to its surface, and that, besides the mechan- 
ical and other movements described by geologists, we have 
to add the important effects of growth, and all the difficulties 
and disputes which prevail, as to the meaning of existing 
phenomena, are satisfactorily solved. 
The sun is often described as the source of life, and its 
importance in connexion with all the physiological processes 
which take place on the earth demonstrate the existence . of 
a relationship the reverse of mechanical. It is the aCtive 
cause of light and heat, and the fossil sunbeams of millions 
of ages ago are now used to light up our factories and work- 
shops when, by the rotation of the earth on its axis, we cease 
to enjoy the direCt effeCt of its life-creating influence. Even 
the colours of the ancient sunshine have not been lost to 
us, but are reproduced and utilised in the shape of aniline 
dyes. The spectroscope, as I have endeavoured to demon- 
strate in my book, not only decomposes the light of the sun 
into all the colours of the rainbow, but also exhibits evidence 
of the presence of numerous embryonic elements, which may 
be capable, under the necessary conditions, of being con- 
verted into the solid state. Nor is the proof by measurement 
of the earth’s growth absent, Capt. Drayson having shown 
that, whenever abase line has been measured a second time, 
after the absence of years, the later measurement was invari- 
ably found to be longer than the former. And the. latest 
measurement of the earth’s distance from the sun is also 
confirmatory of the view of creation now propounded ; the 
most careful calculations of eminent astronomers, in con- 
nexion with the transit of Venus, showing that the distance 
between these two bodies is increasing, former measure- 
ments having also supported the same conclusion. 
