266 Notices of Books. . [ April, 
same page — that certain “vapour has gone to water Indian 
plains, where famine lately raged owing to previous drought ”? 
We hope to see the next edition freed from all the blemishes 
which we have felt it our duty to point out. 
The Immortality of the Universe, considered in relation to the 
Persistence of its Motive Powers. By j. A. Wilson. 
Melbourne : G. Robertson. Auckland (N. Z.) : Upton 
and Co. 
The author combats the hypothesis that the solar system, and 
indeed the whole universe, must come to an end, as far as its 
motions and activity are concerned by the dissipation of energy. 
The nature of his speculations may be perceived from the fol- 
lowing summary which we quote : — 
“ The planetary motions are uniform, notwithstanding there 
are media in space impeding them. Hence the planets must be 
supplied with energy to enable them to perform their motions 
with regularity. To find this energy we endeavour to trace it 
to or from the sun, whose internal economy we do not, however, 
understand, and cannot interpret ; notwithstanding we are able 
to discern objections to other interpretations. We have to con- 
sider the nature and aCtion of radiance in regard to the molecules 
and atoms of substances. Referring to the solar power there is 
a fundamental objection to the ‘ law of the dissipation of energy;’ 
as, if extended to the whole creation, the death of the universe 
would follow. Hence we submit a theory, namely, that — 
“ I. The sun receives back, in a latent form, the light and 
radiant heat expelled by him, and that gravity may be taken as 
the exponent of this return force. 
“ II. Or that the sun draws his supply from a common store, 
accessible to other suns, to which they each contribute. Here, 
also, gravity may indicate the power that collects and draws the 
nutritive element to the sun. We ought to take an extra- 
planetary view in our effort to conceive the connection of radiance 
with its source, nor should we permit the terrestrial phenomena 
of oxidation and combustion to distraCt our minds. The undu- 
lations of radiance possess motive power ; they enter into sub- 
stances, some of which — as steam and chlorophyll — become 
media capable of retaining and transporting them. Media that 
absorb the undulations in a potential, and emit them in an aCtual 
form, appear to have been provided in nature where their pre- 
sence seems necessary ; and nowhere in the universe does such 
necessity exhibit itself more strongly than where the vast ma- 
jority of those undulations vibrate, where their power may be 
stored, and whence it may be transported and turned to account 
