PREFACE.
"Show me a man who makes no mistakes, and I will show you a man who has done nothing."—Liebig.
In this little volume the author gives but his own personal opinions upon the subjects discussed, and although the sentiments are expressed with an assurance born of conviction, yet he claims not infallibility.
He has ever been unable to accept the usual explanations of the great physical forces; and the inadequacies of mooted theories have impelled him to efforts for more philosophical interpretations. If in his investigations he has been forced to strange and unusual conclusions, he has been actuated only by an honest desire to promote the advancement of science.
He is not insensible to the responsibility of the position which he thus voluntarily assumes, in asserting his opinions upon problems so vast and momentous.
It is no enviable position to occupy, that of antagonism to so large a proportion of the scientific world and, too, upon subjects of strictly scientific import. That he does thus find himself placed in such relations at the present time, has not been a matter of his own seeking. No other consideration than the profoundest sense of duty and responsibility could have influenced him in the course pursued. Perhaps some apology is yet due for so boldly trespassing upon hypotheses which were very generally thought to be well established, and certainly secure from such treatment.
The attempt, in a measure, to develop so extended a field of research, in so few pages, has led to much crudeness in the presentation. For this a reasonable indulgence may be claimed.
CONTENTS.
[CHAPTER I.]
| page | |
| [The Sun] | [17] |
[CHAPTER II.]
| [What is Proposed] | [20] |
[CHAPTER III.]
| [Intimate Nature of the Forces] | [24] |
[Sunlight and sun-heat]—[The great law of conservation]—[How the spheres are constructed]—[The great earth-core and its functions]—[The grand magnetic circuit.]
[CHAPTER IV.]
| [Sunlight, its Source and Nature] | [29] |
[Its limits]—[The solar cone]—[The sun not incandescent]—[New hypothesis]—[No borrowed light]—[The sun dependent]—[Light as a substance]—[Velocity of Light].
[CHAPTER V.]
| [Sun-Heat, its Source and Limits] | [35] |
[Tendencies to unsettle in science]—[Present theories]—[True source]—[Earth's part in the process]—[Sun's part]—[New philosophy]—[Old phenomena and new interpretations]—[Auroræ]—[Well understood processes in confirmation]—[The ordinary battery]—[The Great Sun Battery]—[Heat without combustion]—[Inter-currents]—[Solution of the problem].
[CHAPTER VI.]
| [The Seasons] | [47] |
[Why their varying temperature?]—[A new philosophy].
[CHAPTER VII.]
| [Gravity] | [50] |
[Its essential nature and its source].
[CHAPTER VIII.]
| [The Atmosphere] | [52] |
[A veritable ocean]—[How constituted]—[The vito-magnetic principle, its extent and character]—[Its functions]—[The air not yet comprehended]—[Have we been mistaken?]—[New light]—[Electrical induction]—[Its mode of action and illustrations]—[The character and virtue of the vito-magnetic element].
[CHAPTER IX.]
| [Winds] | [59] |
[Entertained theories erroneous]—[Their true character]—[What gives rise to the currents]—[Purely vito-magnetic phenomena]—[Philosophical considerations drawn from observation]—[Whirlwinds, waterspouts, and tornadoes]—[The Barbadoes]—[Manufactured wind]—[Wind within a wind]—[Winds may not arise from presumed causes]—[A great cosmical system].
[CHAPTER X.]
| [Sun-spots] | [70] |
[Old theories]—[Degrees of spot-shadow overestimated]—[What spots are not, and what they are]—[They are caused by magnetic perturbations]—[Inconsistency of accepted theories]—[Figures that are deceptive]—[Effects of these wonderful phenomena]—[Mistaken conceptions]—[May not be tabulated]—[Unbiassed estimate of their character and location].
[CHAPTER XI.]
| [Sounds, and their Transmission] | [77] |
[Essential character and mode of progression]—[Waves have no act or part in their conveyance].
[CHAPTER XII.]
| [Some of the Results of the foregoing Theories] | [79] |
[Extent and character of their influence]—[Old channels obliterated, and new ones developed]—[Sentiments changed]—[Nebular hypothesis]—[The sun cool, luminous, and habitable]—[Celestial spectroscopy]—[Undulatory theories ignored]—[Light instantaneously transmitted]—[Telephone]—[No light nor heat wasted]—[Extent of the atmosphere of the spheres]—[The sun's power overestimated].
[CHAPTER XIII.]
| [Influence of the Forces as Causation of Disease] | [84] |
[Meteorological influence]—[Higher appreciation of the source of disease, and increased efficiency in its treatment].
[CHAPTER XIV.]
| [The Artificial Production of Light, Heat, and Power, and their Utilization] | [87] |
[CHAPTER XV.]
| [Why was not this Discovery sooner made]? | [90] |
[Its consummation nearly perfected by many others]—[Its successful accomplishment plainly foretold by Faraday].
| [Appendix] | [97] |
ILLUSTRATIONS.
| page | ||
| I.— | [The Solar Cone, or Cone-space] | [30] |
| II.— | [The Seasons. Summer] | [48] |
| III.— | " " [Winter] | [49] |
| IV.— | [Manufactured Wind.] (From Deschanel's Natural Philosophy) | [66] |
| V.— | [The Solar Cone, or Cone-space] | [109] |
"If we suppose the sun and fixed stars to be gigantic fountains of magnetic influence, acting upon our globe and its atmosphere, and likewise upon all the other planets, the phenomena of the universe would then become susceptible of the grandest and simplest interpretations."—Crossland.
"Are not the sun and fixed stars great earths vehemently hot?"—Newton.
"Herschel's fixed idea was that the darkness of a spot upon the sun was an indication of a cool and habitable globe."—Humboldt.
"The sun as the main source of light and heat must be able to call forth and animate magnetic forces on our planet."—Ibid.