i88 3 J 
The Velocity of Light . 
579 
therefore means that the vibratory motion has to lose in 
velocity of propagation or power, a proportion equal to the 
number of times the mass and substance, the vapour, the 
equivalent of light and radiant heat, has to be renewed, 
lifted, and thrown within a certain time by the limited 
amount of propelling solar force, struggling with terrestrian 
force. 
I have shown in o. s. p. that the water-stuff in the air is 
annually renewed 778 times, its mass passing through the 
atmosphere representing 1 -i. 2978 x 778 = 1 ^ 3*83 of the 
mass of the latter, or the so manyth part as the polar arc 
to the quadrant, or the surface of land to that of the earth, &c. 
It is A — v = 305,686,029 metre — 264,813,560 metre = 
= 40,872,469 metre, which is not the 14-778, but the 
17 7*5 of A. Assuming v more certain, A would have to be 
reduced by 1,814,421 metres to make the difference 17 778 
of A. Not believing the A obtained (or rather the solar 
distance introduced in formula a) so much at fault, my line 
of thought, represented in o. s. p. (where also see about the 
substances not water or air in the atmosphere), led me to 
see that 17 7*5 - 17 778 = 17 170 = (17 44*63 x 17 3*83), 
figures defined and here denoting that the height and centri- 
fugal development of the air over sea and land are not 
identical.* 
I mean to have proved that much of what is and what 
must be universal quality of matter depends quantitatively 
for the earth on the individual earth. 
This fa< 5 t and the variety in the most careful measure- 
ments suggest that the velocities A and V constant in theiv 
mean for the earth and year as united quantities, must be in 
inverse order variable amongst themselves according to 
solar distance and every division of place and time, and that 
any oscillation must become more apparent when short dis- 
tances are the bases of measurement than when light is due 
to direct action from outside the earth. Such oscillation 
could not exceed — 
1 7 12*08 -1 7 2978 7 ((i-f- 12*08 — 1 7 2978) x 1 759-56)) = 
= 1 7 20 of the maximum velocity. 
The two earliest, and at the same time most divergent, 
* In o. s. p. and in the Journal of Science, “An Idea of Lord Bacon’s,” 
1881, may be seen that there exist certain waves in-sea and land, most dis- 
cernible in the formation of the latter, starting from the south pole, propa- 
gated into the atmosphere, which present the relation go°A 778= ii°44', and 
that 3-83 X 2 = 7-66= V59’56, leads to waves ii°4o', to a difference of 4', which 
transposed into time, 4-06', is to the day as the day is to the year, &c, 
