G8 
heat, until the universe will no longer be a fit abode for living 
things. The conclusion is a startling one. TV e are led to 
look to a beginning, in which the particles of matter were m 
a diffuse, chaotic state, but endowed with the power of gravi- 
tation; and to an end, in which the whole universe will b 
one equally-heated, inert mass, from which everything like life, 
motion, and beauty will have utterly gone away. 
Here two questions arise. Is this new doctrine of t 
ceaseless dissipation of energy true and sound ? Is either 
theory of solar heat, which has been connected with it, a 
settled fact of science, or a guess m the dark, against which 
there are strong and weighty reasons ? In spite of the gieat 
names which have espoused this theory, I believe that its 
baselessness admits of strict demonstration Its true place 
is not even among the uncertainties, but the mistakes and 
errors of science. . , .. „„„„„ 
And, first, how can the conservation of energy and its cease- 
less dissipation agree together ? If the total amount is always 
the same, it cannot undergo a process of constant diminution. 
The reply is, that it is not annihilated, but goes off into infinite 
space. This is plainly impossible in any other sense than that 
the universe expands without limit, there can e - uo enei & y 
anywhere, without matter or ether to which it belongs. 
Abstract qualities cannot exist alone. There can be no kinetic 
energy, or motion, without something that moves. There can 
be no potential energy, which is a function of distances, 
without particles or masses to which these distances appertain. 
The only reasonable sense of the phrase, dissipation of energy, 
is that the system occupies a wider space than before. ISut 
perhaps the outmost parts, in receding, cease to. have any 
practical connection with all the rest. This is just as impossible 
as an absolute loss. The law of gravitation alone forbids it, 
and links every part of matter indissolubly with all the rest. 
Again, the radiant heat and light, which cause the dissipa- 
tion, are only one part of the total result of a previous con- 
densation. This enters into the very essence of the nebular 
theory. That this heat and light should cause a dissipation 
or expansion of the system, far beyond the original bulk or 
space of the primitive nebula, is really the doctrine that part 
of a thing may be greater than the whole. 
Next what can become of tlio lost energy ? 1 rofessor 
Stewart makes answer : “We can only reply that, as far as we 
can iudrre from our present knowledge, the radiant energy not 
absorbed must be traversing space at the rate of 188,000 miles 
a second.” 
