With the Compliments of Dr. Rogers. 
A New Philosophy of the Sun 
A PAP E R 
READ BEFORE 
THE CHAUTAUQUA £0CIEIY OF HISTORY 
AND 
NATURAL SCIENCE, 
BY 
HENRY RAYMOND ROGERS, M. D. 
DUNKIRK, N. Y. A New Philosophy 
OF THE 
SUN 
A PAPER 
Read before the Chautauqua Society of History 
and Natural Science, 
BY 
HENRY RAYMOND ROGERS, M. D. 
DUNKIRK, N. Y. 
BUFFALO: 
THE COURIER COMPANY, PRINTERS 
1886. Copies can be obtained of the author; price 15 cents, postage paid. A New Philosophy of the Sun. 
Dr. HENRY RAYMOND ROGERS, DUNKIRK, N. Y. 
What is the Sun? This question has been asked by sages 
and philosophers in all ages and in all tongues since the birth 
of Science; but, in the words of a writer distinguished in this 
field, “The riddle of the sun is yet unread.” Even the tele- 
scope, though it has virtually reduced the sun’s distance from 
93,000,000 to 180,000 miles, has failed to reveal its essential 
nature or the secret of its powers. The chaos in which this 
subject is involved is strikingly pictured by an eminent scien- 
tist in a recent work entitled “The Sun.” He says: “We 
have a great collection of isolated facts, but are wholly in the 
dark as to how they are to be grouped and explained. It is 
not too much to say that the origin of all we really know of 
the physical condition of the sun, and of the extraordinary 
changes going on upon it, is due to the occasional occurrence 
of total eclipses. Unsatisfactory though this may be, our 
whole knowledge of solar physics is almost equally unsatisfac- 
tory.” He thus candidly acknowledges our entire ignorance 
of the physical condition of the sun. This confession of one 
of the highest and most recent authorities is unquestionably a 
true expression of present scientific thought. 
What, it may be asked, is the prospect of the solution of 
this great mystery in the early future? It is safe to say, that 
it will not be solved while mankind is so firmly held, as at 
present, by ancient traditions. The recognition of the pro- 4 
found simplicity of the general laws of nature will do more 
towards delivering us from the bondage of these traditions 
than all other causes combined. Our hope lies in clear and 
unbiased perceptions of the sun’s phenomena, and in simple 
and rational interpretations of those phenomena. 
In the study of the sun, superficial appearances have been 
too confidently trusted. The sun appears hot and bright, and 
we unthinkingly accept these evidences as true, even in the 
face of facts which prove them delusive. Science has ever 
taught and now teaches that the sun is inherently hot; that it 
is virtually a great incandescent ball, which incessantly pro- 
jects or radiates actual heat and light supplied from its own 
abundance, in all directions and to all distances into space. 
A distinguished scientist expresses the sentiment almost uni- 
versally entertained when he says, “There can be no doubt 
that if the sun were to come as near us as the moon, the solid 
earth would melt like wax.” Yet no fact is better understood 
than this, that heat rapidly decreases in the direction of the 
sun. At the elevation of one and one-half miles in this lati- 
tude, and of three miles at the equator, snow and ice never 
melt, either in summer or in winter. Mountain tops are per- 
petually covered with snow. One of the most distinguished 
of aeronauts, Mr. Glaisher, tells us, “ At great heights no 
difference is observed in the reading, between the thermometer 
with the sun shining full on its bulb, and another in which the 
bulb is carefully shaded.” 
Again, the sun, earth and stars perpetually revolve in the 
cold of space, which cold is variously estimated at from hun- 
dreds to millions of degrees below zero ; according to Secchi, 
eighteen million degrees below. Through such a distance as 
93,000,000 miles, and through so cold a medium, who can 
suppose that heat, as heat, could possibly reach the earth from 
the sun ? How absurd it is, therefore, to claim that the sun is 
actually hot, or that the slightest degree of heat can maintain 
an existence in space. For this reason we make the general 
statement that since sun, moon and stars move in this inten- 5 
sity of cold, consequently not one of these can radiate the 
slightest degree of heat beyond the superficial confines of its 
own atmosphere. Therefore it is safe to assert that the sun is 
not hot. 
The sun appears bright. No one questions its apparent 
brilliancy. But is it indeed bright? Science teaches that both 
the sun’s heat and light are due to essentially the same pro- 
cess, and that they are subject to the same laws. If heat, 
therefore, diminishes sunward, so also must light diminish 
sunward. This fact is now abundantly demonstrated. Capt. 
Abney of the Royal Society, London, found, upon measure- 
ment, that at the elevation of simply one and one-half miles, 
the light of the atmosphere was only from one-tenth to one- 
twentieth as great as at the surface of the earth. At a little 
over three miles, the sun appears no brighter than our moon, 
and at four miles, the sun’s rays are no longer capable of pro- 
ducing the colors of the solar spectrum. At that elevation the 
spectroscope shows only the yellow ; and that, too, without 
lines. The sun, therefore, may be regarded as not inherently 
bright. 
If, then, the sun be neither hot nor bright, what becomes of 
our boasted philosophy of that body? The most important 
conclusions become necessitated. Since inherent heat and 
brilliancy are disproved as existing at the sun, why any longer 
should the sun be supposed to have a different physical con- 
stitution from that of the earth? Indeed, to the inhabitants 
of other worlds the earth appears bright, even as Venus, Mars 
and Jupiter appear bright to us. But in what can the earth’s 
brightness consist? We, its inhabitants, see nothing of it, 
know nothing of it, through any appearance presented to us, 
yet the fact is unquestionable. Now, if the earth be bright 
in appearance, and devoid of sensible heat, analogy would 
teach that the sun and all other bright worlds are to their 
own inhabitants neither bright nor hot, though having that 
appearanc-e to us. It is a natural inference, therefore, that 
the sun, moon and all stars, are constituted identically the Same as the earth, with inhabitants, mountains, oceans, streams 
and fields the same. 
The identity of constitution of the celestial spheres is daily 
becoming more firmly established as a fundamental principle 
in philosophy. Dr. M. Meyer recently said before a body of 
distinguished scientists in Berlin: “ The sun is composed of 
the same materials as the earth. The distant fixed stars are 
of a composition identical with that of the sun. The uni- 
formity of nature’s laws and the similarity of the materials 
composing the universe are a sufficient proof that there must 
be organizations similar to that of our system all over the 
universe.” He also said: “ We must conclude that the earth 
is inhabited by a small family which forms part of the great 
nation that peoples the universe.” M. Faye says: “ Nothing 
really distinguishes our sun from the multitude of stars which 
shine in the heavens.” Helmholtz says: “What the earth 
does is done by all the other spheres and in a higher degree 
by the sun.” There are no known facts which disprove such 
identity of constitution of all worlds. 
We have seen that the sun is not hot, that it is not bright; 
that heat and light are not, therefore, among its essential con- 
stituents and, moreover, that they are not found in the uni- 
versal space. And yet we must certainly attribute to the sun 
the effects of heat and light. And until these effects are satis- 
factorily accounted for it will be utterly in vain that we say the 
sun is not hot and that it is not bright. No one will believe 
us. It must be shown that the sun, in conjunction with the 
earth, has some mysterious operation, the result of which is 
heat and light; and this is just what we now propose to do. 
We claim that there is a force acting through the sun upon the 
atmosphere of the earth, causing heat, light and chemical 
action therein. This force, or current of force, incessantly 
comes from the sun, earthward, and, whatever its essence may 
be, it has not the form or the nature of heat and light until 
transformed into these through contact with the atmosphere. 7 
In our atmosphere, therefore, and not at the sun, the so-called 
sunlight and sunheat are developed. 
Our old and cherished conceptions of the sun, of its marvels 
of heat and brilliancy, thus become rudely dispelled. 
There is a power of mysterious qualities, already well known 
as a producer of heat and light, that is capable of acting 
between the sun and earth. That power is Electricity. That 
electrical action takes place between the sun and earth has been 
held for more than a century. But, it may be asked, what is 
the proof of such electrical relationship ? As a demonstration 
of the action of electricity between the sun and earth we cite 
the following facts: In the year 1859, two bright sun spots 
appeared instantaneously upon the sun’s disc, and simultane- 
ously with their appearing there followed violent electrical 
effects over a large portion of the earth. In the northern 
regions, where the temperature of the atmosphere was far 
below zero, Dr. Scoresby converged the suns rays to a focus 
by means of a lens made of ice, and exploded gunpowder, set 
fire to combustibles, and melted lead. To prove that these 
rays are electrical we have only to state the fact that by render- 
ing electrical rays parallel and sending them through a lens of 
ice we produce the identical effects obtained by Dr. Scoresby 
with the rays of the sun. Actual heat rays are incapable of 
passing through a lens of ice. The distinguished scientists, 
Zantedeschi and Barlocci, demonstrated that magnets both 
acquire and lose strength as their poles are relatively exposed 
to the direct rays of the sun ; gaining strength, even more 
than doubling it, when the north pole is thus exposed and 
losing strength when the south pole is exposed. They also 
discovered that by concentrating the rays of the sun upon the 
magnet by the use of a lens the effects were intensified. To 
produce these effects it is clear that the sun’s rays must be 
electrical or magnetic. The sun could neither add to, nor take 
from, the power of the magnet except its rays were of a like 
character. In these several experiments, therefore, we have 
incontrovertible evidence of instantaneous and incessant elec- 8 
trical action between the sun and earth, and, inferentially, 
between all celestial spheres. It has been demonstrated that 
vacuum is the most perfect condition for electrical transmis- 
sion, therefore no medium for such transmission is needed. 
So far as electrical action between the sun and earth is con- 
cerned, distance is virtually annihilated, and hereafter those 
bodies may be studied as if standing side by side. 
Since electricity is thus claimed to be the great interstellar 
force, the universal force, and since such marvelous powers and 
properties are attributed to it, the question arises, what is 
electricity? What electricity is, essentially, yet remains a 
mystery. Our knowledge of what it is, is derived from what 
it does. We have no experience of its independent existence, 
and it may, therefore, be regarded simply as a product. 
Whether electricity is evolved on the scale of the universe or 
of the atom, it must necessarily be due to identically the same 
processes and subject to the same laws. For a century, elec- 
tricity has been diligently studied and its processes carefully 
observed, until it may be said that now its modus operandi, 
both of development and action, has become familiar to all. 
Generically, it includes magnetism. So intimately are the two 
related that we cannot electrize a substance without magnet- 
izing it, and we cannot magnetize it without electrizing it. 
Electricity appears to be the agent in its active form, and 
magnetism the same agent in its passive or static form. 
A fundamental principle in electrical philosophy is that elec- 
tricity is evolved from the joint action of motion and magnet- 
ism. Faraday, who stands unrivalled as an authority, says : 
“ The rotation of all bodies opposite to magnets induces circu- 
lating electric currents. To obtain electricity from magnetism 
it is necessary to super-add, to the latter, motion.” Those 
masters in this field, Guericke and Volta, confirm and supple- 
ment these statements of Faraday. They experimentally 
verified the fact that every movement of one body near an- 
other disturbs and puts in motion the electric current in both 
bodies. These facts are made manifest by innumerable experi- 9 
merits; thus, by rubbing a piece of amber or glass electricity 
is evolved, and a person by shuffling his feet over a carpet may 
develop sufficient electricity to light a gas-jet with his finger. 
It is verified more strikingly in such an experiment as that 
given by Mr. Reese, of Pittsburgh, Pa. P'rom a sheet of thin, 
soft iron or steel he cut a circular disc forty-two inches in 
diameter. Fitting this disc to an axis and causing it to revolve 
with great velocity he cut off bars of hardened, polished steel, 
three inches in diameter. This revolving disc at no time 
touched the bar of steel which it severed, and it was not raised 
in temperature, though sparks flew about and drops of liquid 
steel fell from the cut. The atoms of steel held by the elec- 
trical force of cohesion became loosed by the action of a 
stronger electrical force, due to the rapidly revolving wheel, 
and their relations became changed. Those sparks and drops 
were not hot. 
Upon the principle of the reciprocal action of motion and 
magnetism is constructed the dynamo-electric machine with 
which we are now familiar, and which gives us our electric 
light, heat and power. This machine is constituted essentially 
of two parts, a revolving armature and stationary magnets. 
The armature revolving with great velocity near to, but not 
touching, the magnets develops electricity, ready to be carried 
from the machine by wires, on its mission of light-production 
or other work. Thus motion and magnetism, acting recipro- 
cally, give to man his intensest light and heat. 
Extending this principle from the lesser or terrestrial to the 
grander or celestial field, the inference becomes legitimate that 
the stellar worlds, whirling in space, evolve between them 
electrical currents in great cosmical circuits; that the sun and 
earth revolving on their axes and in their orbits constitute a 
vast terra-solar electrical machine, to the action of which is 
due the currents which incessantly come from the sun to the 
earth. 
Our earth is known to be a vast magnet and its atmosphere 
is stored with the magnetic quality. Plammarion says: “The globe is one vast reservoir of this subtle fluid which exists in 
all worlds appertaining to our system, and of which the radia- 
ting focus is the sun itself. Its palpitations sustain the life 
of the universe.” This universal magnetism of the earth and 
all spheres is purely potential, or static, and incapable of act- 
ing, or moving, except as excited by the celestial motions. 
Through these motions, therefore, this static magnetism be- 
comes converted into vital, active, electrical currents. These 
grand interstellar currents, thus generated like those of our 
diminutive machines, act through positive and negative con- 
ditions and involve a circuit between the sun and the earth. 
If currents come from the sun, it follows, both by the laws of 
electricity and the law of conservation of force, that equal 
currents do return thither from the earth. Equilibrium is a 
fundamental law of the universe. Herein we find the great 
cosmical circuits, not alone between sun and earth but between 
all celestial spheres as well. 
The conception that the motions of the heavenly bodies are 
the actual source of the universal force is not new. It has 
been entertained from time to time by certain most distin- 
guished philosophers. Humboldt tells us that Aristotle, “ The 
Father of Science,” held, “that all telluric phenomena, every 
conceivable form of force, must be ultimately referable to the 
impulse of the motions of the heavenly spheres. All changes 
in the physical world may be reduced to motion.” But the 
motions of the sun, earth and stars, with all their possibili- 
ties of force, would possess no practical efficiency if those 
bodies were isolated in vacuous space as they appear to be. 
Their vast energies must operate through actual and direct 
intercommunication. 
The sun stands as the representative of force in our solar 
system. Its power may be presumed to reside in its mass and 
its motions. The extent of power embodied in a mass of 
matter in motion is calculated by multiplying the velocity in 
feet per minute by the weight in pounds. The immensity of 
the sun’s power, therefore, may be gathered from the state- ment of its mass, and its velocity, both rotary and progressive. 
The adequacy of this force for all demands which may be 
made upon it cannot be questioned. The same process applied 
to the innumerable host of the celestial bodies must satisfac- 
torily express the aggregate force of the universe. This fact 
being recognized, the duty of the hour is to apply this prin- 
ciple in explanation of existing phenomena, to show how the 
motions of the celestial bodies in their stupendous masses and 
inconceivable velocities may be converted into available energy. 
Although philosophers have imagined that the universal 
power might in some way be traced to the celestial motions, 
yet never has an exact philosophy been advanced whereby it 
could be shown that those motions developed actual force. 
Indeed such a philosophy of explanation has remained wholly 
impracticable down to the present period; and it is now made 
possible mainly by reason of the light of recent discoveries 
and inventions. Through these we now claim to have dis- 
covered the true source of all cosmical power, to comprehend 
how the sun and all the stars have been put in harness, so to 
speak, for the performance of the work of our world and of 
the universe. 
A unity or identity of all force was asserted by Aristotle, 
and its verification has ever been sought for. To Faraday we 
owe its demonstration. He proved that all forms of force are 
resolvable into one another. Whatever name or designation 
we may give to its various forms, whether gravity, heat, light, 
etc., but one essence pervades and animates them all. This 
universal essence or force owes its genesis to the initial impulse 
which set all spheres in motion in space. What was actually 
the source of that initial impulse it is not necessary for us to 
know. The fact that these motions are is sufficient. 12 
GRAVITY. 
ITS ESSENTIAL NATURE, ELECTRICAL. 
Chief among the manifestations of the universal force stands 
gravity, which reaches out to the boundaries of space and 
dominates all matter. It is surprising how simple is the inter- 
pretation which the electrical theory gives to the subject of 
gravity. It is known that all bodies susceptible to electrical 
excitation become centers of attraction through the operation 
of the electrical circuit. A body of soft iron is thus made 
magnetic and retains its power of attraction during its con- 
tinuance in the circuit. So the sun and earth, being magnets 
excited into activity by their motions, become constituents in 
an electrical circuit, and both they and all things they contain 
thereby become thoroughly vitalized with the power which we 
call gravitation. Thus the relation between electricity and 
gravity is simply that of cause and effect. 
The great Faraday was fully impressed with the idea of an 
electrical relationship between gravity and electricity, and for 
many years endeavored to demonstrate the same, but was 
unsuccessful. In view of his disappointment he once wrote: 
“ Here end my trials for the present. The results are negative. 
They do not shake my strong feeling of the existence of a 
relation between gravity and electricity.” We are told by his 
biographer that ten years afterwards, in the very last paper he 
wrote, he says the same thing in almost the same words. He 
found an insuperable difficulty in a purely inherent force of 
attraction and believed in the existence of some agent, at the 
time unknown, that was the cause of the attraction called 
gravitation? “ For my own part,” he says, “ many considera- 
tions urge my mind towards the idea of a cause of gravity 
which is not resident in the particles of matter merely, but 
constantly in them and in all space.” In other words, he 
believed that gravity is produced by some external agency which would account for its varying degrees of force at differ- 
ent distances. He reiterates, “Nothing could be more in con- 
trast with the assumed variable condition of the gravitating 
force supposed to reside in the particles of matter, than the 
known facts of gravity.” In view of the fundamental impor- 
tance of this philosophy, Faraday says: “ The discovery of a 
relationship between gravity and electricity would have a 
bearing in importance beyond all conception in elucidating 
not only the facts connected with these subjects, but also 
others of a high importance, there being scarcely a limit to 
the subjects which would be illuminated by it.” 
Newton, the so-called father of gravity, has been most 
universally and persistently misrepresented in his philosophy 
of gravity. The theory that gravity is inherent in the particles 
and masses of matter, which is attributed to him, he condemns 
in Epicurus, who, he tells us, taught it 2,30x3 years ago. In 
writing to a friend, he desired that he would not attribute 
innate gravity to him. Thirty years subsequently to his 
enunciation of what are essentially his theories, and nine years 
before his death, he deemed it necessary to state that he did 
not, by any means, consider gravity an essential property of 
bodies. He regarded it rather as the result of some higher and 
still unknown power. “ Gravity,” he says, “ must be caused 
by an agent acting constantly according to certain laws; but 
whether this agent be material or immaterial I have left to the 
consideration of my reader.” 
The conception that gravity was in some manner related to 
electricity was entertained in the time of Newton. Electrical 
science was then in but an incipient stage of development. It 
was not sufficiently advanced to be applied in explanation of 
the essential nature and operation of gravity, yet his teachings 
unmistakably point to electricity as the agency which he 
endeavored so earnestly to seek out. He says: “The ulti- 
mate particles of matter are endued with inherent forces or 
powers of attraction and repulsion." Mark well that reptilsion 
has never been taken into account in the popular or so-called Newtonian theory of gravity. How significant ! The great 
Newton thus shows his recognition of a certain and peculiar 
cause of gravity, which, in the more advanced light of to-day, 
we recognize to be electricity. The concluding page of the 
mathematical portion of his Principia points to electricity as 
the agent of gravity. His words are these : “ Hitherto we 
have explained the phenomena of the heavens and of our sea 
by the power of gravity, but have not yet assigned the cause 
of this power. It is certain that it must proceed from a cause 
that penetrates to the very center of the sun and planets 
without suffering the least diminution of its force.” No other 
power save electricity possesses the peculiar property of pene- 
trating to the very center of the sun and planets without 
suffering the least diminution of its force. 
Newton ends this, his masterpiece, with the following words 
concerning electricity: “ And now we might add something 
concerning a most subtle Spirit which pervades and lies hid in 
all gross bodies, by the power and action of which Spirit the 
particles of bodies attract each other at near distances, and 
cohere if contiguous, and electric bodies operate to greater 
distances, as well repelling as attracting the neighboring cor- 
puscles. But,” he continues, “ these are things that cannot be 
explained in a few words, nor are we furnished with that suffi- 
ciency of experiments which is required to an accurate deter- 
mination and demonstration of the laws by which this electric 
or elastic Spirit operates.” 
Thus almost prophetically speaks Newton, as if dimly con- 
scious that this spirit, so wonderful and mysterious, might yet 
afford the key to solve the old enigma of gravitation. 
Nothing is clearer or more profoundly significant than the 
fact that Newton, instead of making gravity itself fundamental, 
sought earnestly for a cause of gravity. We find, in the more 
perfect data of to-day, ample proof that electricity is, in fact, 
what both he and Faraday obscurely suspected—the very 
agent sought for. No fact is now known to man which dis- 
proves the philosophy that electricity and gravity bear the 
relation of cause and effect. SUNHEAT AND SUNLIGHT. 
THE PHILOSOPHY OF THEIR PRODUCTION AND TRANS- 
MISSION. 
If our sun and the many millions of star-suns visible to the 
aided eye were incandescent, and incessantly disseminated heat 
and light in all directions and to all distances into space, 
through the process of radiation, as taught by science to-day, 
all space would be heated and lighted. There would be, 
therefore, neither cold nor night at the earth. The fallacy of 
present theories thus becomes most clearly and forcibly appa- 
rent. A better philosophy is needed. 
We hold it to be a fundamental law that an equilibrium is 
constantly maintained among the members of our solar system, 
and, in fact, among all of the heavenly bodies, even to the 
extent that there can be no waste of substance, no dissipation 
of their energy. This necessitates an equivalent in income to 
every outgo. There can be in no sphere an expenditure of 
force not made good by the receipt of its exact equivalent. 
This is the law of conservation of force in its largest sense. 
To it we must hold. The science of to-day has antagonized 
this immutable law, especially as it pertains to our sun. It 
persistently teaches that the sun is wasting away, drained by 
what it gives to the celestial spheres. It presumes to substi- 
tute a new law, even the law of dissipation of force. The 
wastefulness implied in the current theory of sunheat and 
sunlight, the theory of universal radiation, is altogether beyond 
computation, involving, as it does, the shrinkage of the sun 
and the complete destruction of cosmical equilibrium. No 
cosmical theory should be for a moment tolerated which 
involves waste, yet all theories heretofore advanced are based 
upon the philosophy of actual dissipation. The electrical 
theory involves no waste. 16 
We have seen that heat and light do not exist at the sun, 
neither are they found between the sun and earth outside of 
our atmosphere. In illustration of the action going on between 
the sun and earth we will suppose lines to be drawn from the 
sun to the earth, tangent to both ; these lines will inclose a 
tapering space, the sun at the big end and the earth at the 
small end, giving to the space the form of a truncated cone. 
We will call this space the solar cone. Within this space there 
is an incessant circulation going on, and all the phenomena of 
heat, light and gravity are produced as the result of the activity 
of force playing between the sun and earth. But where is the 
place of manifestation—all along the space, or at the sun, or 
at the earth? We find the field of encounter between the 
forces to be the atmosphere. There the collision takes place, 
and there all heat and light are generated. There is no reason 
why there should be outside of this space a similar activity; 
for, being conditioned upon the three elements, sun, earth and 
atmosphere, we cannot look for heat and light except at the 
point where the requisite conditions are met. 
Recent discoveries appertaining to the artificial production 
of electric light have revealed to us the secret of nature’s pro- 
cess in the development of sunlight and sunheat. It is in this 
field that the dynamo-electric machine has done, perhaps, the 
most to interpret nature. An important element in electro- 
dynamics is resistance. Light, heat and power are developed 
through the agency of resistance to the passage of the elec- 
trical current. By placing in the track of the current developed 
by the dynamo-electric machine certain bodies of a proper 
constitution a light is produced so remarkably similar to the 
light of the sun that the rational mind is forced to inquire if it 
be not in reality identical with it. It is plain, even upon a 
very slight examination, that there is a striking analogy be- 
tween these two in several respects. The revolutions in the 
machine remind us of the revolutions in the heavenly bodies, 
while it is equally plain that magnets are involved in both 
cases. In either case, too, it is necessary that proper objects 17 
of resistance to the current be introduced ; in the dynamo- 
electric machine, the carbon point and the platinum coil, and 
on the grander scale of the spheres, the atmosphere. The 
remarkable magnetic constitution of the atmosphere gives it a 
peculiar and wonderful adaptability to that purpose. The 
intensest sunheat and sunlight are found always, other things 
being equal, where the atmosphere is densest or heaviest, 
namely, at the earth’s surface. Just as the sun’s heat decreases 
as we ascend mountains, so in a similar ratio does the sun’s 
light decrease, and in both instances the fact is plainly due to 
the lessening density of the atmosphere and the consequent 
lessening resistance which it offers to the sun’s currents. It is 
true that in the light, tenuous atmosphere of the summits of 
lofty mountains the human body often experiences the fiercest 
effects of sunheat, and that the pyrheliometer of Pouillet also 
records such effects. This is explained in the fact that these 
bodies receive the direct rays of the sun, unmuffled by the 
atmosphere, and that in them is developed a local heat that is 
far greater than that of the surrounding atmosphere, which is 
too tenuous to offer resistance. 
The sun’s current, like the electric current from the little 
machine, is invisible, gives no manifestation, passes through 
space like electricity through wires; without being itself hot, 
it develops heat; without being itself luminous, it develops 
light; and endues with attractive powers that which it per- 
vades. The dynamo-electric machine thus becomes to us 
the interpreter of the universal phenomena. It teaches that 
potential action generated in a dark, cold body, may produce 
great heat, light and attraction at a distance from the seat 
of activity. What, therefore, can be wrought by us arti- 
ficially and in a small way, may surely be done naturally 
and in a tremendous fashion, by the great forces of the 
sun. And it is here at the very surface of the earth where 
we dwell, that these manifestations and transmutations of 
force are wrought. It is here only that heat and light are 
developed. A distant manufacturing place or distributing 18 
reservoir is not required. It is enough that there should be 
potential heat and light which may be developed into actuali- 
ties at the place where they are needed. For anything that is 
known to the contrary, the sun may do all that it has to do 
and still be a habitable body. 
That gravity acts instantaneously at all distances is unques- 
tioned. If gravity, heat and light are due to identically the 
same process, heat and light must, like gravity, act instantane- 
ously. Time and distance, therefore, cease to be factors in this 
problem. In view of this fact, the theory that thousands of 
years are required for light to reach the earth from certain 
fixed stars becomes an absurdity. If the most distant of 
those stars which is visible could be annihilated to-night, its 
light would be seen no more. 
ORBITAL ELLIPTICITY, 
AN ELECTRICAL PHENOMENON. 
Of the sufficiency of the electrical hypothesis to further 
explain the grand phenomena of the universe we may cite that 
of orbital ellipticity. As soon as the conception has been once 
entertained that the sun and earth and all related spheres are 
vast magnets, excited into activity by their motions, we are 
immediately impressed with the importance of that most strik- 
ing fact, the polarity of those magnets, together with the 
associated phenomena of attraction and repulsion. Polarity is 
a fundamental law of electrical action, and no electrical effect 
can take place on the grandest or minutest scale except 
through its operation. If gravity be an electrical phenome- 
non, then the form of each planitary orbit must be determined 
by the uniformity or variation of the gravitative force. The 
very ellipticity of the form of the orbit, therefore, shows a 
varying attraction between the sun and earth which increases 
and diminishes with mathematical exactness and regularity. 19 
The earth, sun and stars have their positive and negative poles, 
and are thus subject to the laws of electrical polarity. Unlike 
polarities attract and like polarities repel. 
An electrical attraction existing between the spheres being 
already recognized, it becomes a matter of fundamental impor- 
tance how the celestial bodies are arranged in relation to each 
other with regard to their polarities. This relative position 
depending, as it does, upon the inclination of the magnetic 
axes of the bodies, the necessity of the making account of the 
degrees and variations of inclination becomes apparent. There 
is a constant alternation of the polarity of the earth, caused by 
its revolution in its orbit. During half of the year the southern 
extremity of the earth’s magnetic axis is presented towards 
the sun, and the earth is attracted towards that body, and 
during the succeeding half year the north pole is similarly 
presented, with a consequent repulsion, and by no other power 
may the earth be controlled in its course, with the inevitable 
result of an elliptical pathway. Thus when the earth’s south 
pole is nearest the sun, about the twenty-first of December, 
the attraction between the two bodies is the greatest, and they 
are found in closest proximity ; and when the earth’s north 
pole is nearest the sun, about the twentieth of June, the attrac- 
tion is the least, and the two bodies are found at their greatest 
distance apart, 3,000,000 miles further than in December. 
Thus orbital ellipticity is determined by electrical polarity. 
THE EARTH’S AXIAL ROTATION, ELECTRICAL. 
The conception of the earth and sun as magnets connects 
equally with axial rotation. Were it not for some special pro- 
vision for axial rotation the earth would be held as in clamps 
between the so-called centripetal and centrifugal forces, and, 
like the moon, would show but one face to its primary. It is 
demonstrated that at precisely the same hour, viz., two o’clock 
P. M., heat intensity and magnetic intensity are coincident. 20 
From that hour each diminishes, and from morning until two 
o’clock P. M. each increases in the same ratio. During the 
night the magnetic condition is found most electro-negative at 
two o’clock A. M. Thus, at two o’clock P. M. the positive sun 
on the one hand and the positive earth at thirty degrees west 
meridian on the other hand, being in like condition, namely, 
electro-positive, mutually repel each other; and the consequent 
push moves the earth in revolution. The revolving earth turn- 
ing eastward is continually carrying its negative condition of 
the night into the field of the positive sun. A mutual attrac- 
tion, therefore, takes place, with a consequent pull on that 
side. Thus is engendered the process of an incessant attrac- 
tion on the east side and of repulsion on the west side, giving 
to the earth its axial rotation. 
We have thus endeavored, in a brief and suggestive way, to 
show the essential nature and constitution of the sun, with the 
mode of performance of its grand functions. In this new 
interpretation given to the sun we have presented the outlines 
of a cosmical philosophy at once rational, concise, exact and 
new; which philosophy may be distinctively entitled, The 
Electrical Theory of the Universe. 
This electrical theory is not devoid of mystery and difficul- 
ties, but time may be trusted to remove them. It simplifies 
so many problems, clears up so many obscurities, opens so 
extended a range of new investigations, and contrasts so 
strongly with the complexities and incongruities of the older 
theories as to leave little choice between the opposing theories. 
Finally, among all scientific facts, none is more impressive 
than the grand fact that the earth, and the sun, and all the 
heavenly bodies are possessed with reciprocal electrical energy, 
by virtue whereof they exert a powerful influence over each 
other and give rise to all the phenomena, terrestrial and celes- 
tial, that make up the subject matter of scientific study. APPENDIX. 
SUN-SPOTS. 
If the grander phenomena of the sun—its gravity, heat and 
light, and its elliptical and axial rotations—are essentially 
electrical, it may be supposed that its lesser manifestations, as 
sun-spots, corona, prominences or red flames, etc., may also be 
electrical in character. No interpretation of sun-spot phe- 
nomena ever yet advanced has proved satisfactory. So varied 
and contradictory are these manifestations that they cannot be 
explained upon any principles of philosophy already established. 
Three different kinds of sun-spots are known. The first of 
these is of dazzling brightness and of short duration. This 
form is rarely observed. The other forms are commonly rep- 
resented as black. Of these, the one is more permanent in its 
duration ; in some instances being visible for many months. 
The other is short-lived, sometimes coming into the field of 
view almost instantaneously, and not unfrequently disappear- 
ing as quickly. The dark spots are represented by nearly all 
scientific teachings and by pictorial illustrations as black. 
This is misleading, as their darkest portion, or umbra, is known 
to be intrinsically bright ; according to Zollner, 4,000 times as 
bright as an equal area of the moon. 
Both the bright spots and the darker have been known to 
occupy apparently the same area at the same time ; the bright 
spots moving with a velocity of 120 miles per second over the 
face of the darker spot, without visible interference on the part 
of either. This fact is of fundamental importance in deter- 
mining the essential character of this phenomenon. Two 
astronomers who viewed this double spot from localities widely 
separated, report that two dazzling spots suddenly burst into 22 
sight at the edge of a large dark spot which they were observ- 
ing. These bright spots moved eastward over the face of the 
darker one, in parallel lines, for the distance of 36,000 miles, 
gradually growing smaller and fainter and disappearing in 
about five minutes. 
Simultaneously with the appearance of these bright spots 
violent electrical effects occurred over a large portion of the 
earth. In Norway, in a telegraph office, the operator was 
stunned and his instrument set on fire ; a stream of fire fol- 
lowed Bain’s electric pen in Boston ; and self-registering mag- 
netic machines were disturbed over both continents. We are 
told by a distinguished scientist that this event has become 
classical. 
The celerity of movement which is observed in these spots 
renders it impossible that they should take place at the sun. 
When we consider that in order to be visible a spot must cover 
an area of at least 10,000 square miles, that single spots and 
groups of spots cover very many thousand times that area, we 
recognize the fact that gases, or more material substances, can 
by no possibility move with the requisite velocity. These 
substances, therefore, can have no part in the phenomenon. 
Single spots and groups of spots come into the field of view 
almost instantaneously and as suddenly disappear. Thus, 
Krone saw a spot of no inconsiderable dimensions which 
sprang into existence in less than a minute of time. Dr. Wol- 
laston says : “ I once saw a spot which burst in pieces as I 
was looking at it.” Sir William Herschel turned away his 
eyes from a group of spots he was observing, and when he 
looked again the group had vanished. 
It is rational to suppose that the various spot manifestations 
are capable of explanation upon one and the same principle of 
philosophy. Its spots of dazzling brilliancy ; its darker forms, 
both the more permanent and the evanescent; the simultane- 
ous occurrence of its bright and dark forms within the same 
area and without interference ; its incomprehensible velocities 
and electrical effects—all these should be accounted for upon 23 
a single principle of explanation ; and, too, this explanation 
should not conflict with the hypothesis of identity of consti- 
tution of sun and earth. 
In view of the foregoing facts the inference becomes legiti- 
mate that this phenomenon is not due to a violent turmoil 
among the particles of any element now recognized as sub- 
stantial and located at the sun ; that it is not due to a force 
inherent in the sun itself, by which its body or surroundings 
may be thrown into convulsions on such a stupendous scale as 
to be seen from the earth. The so-called sun-spot, therefore, 
cannot be located at the surface of the sun—it cannot be real, 
it can only be apparent. Scheiner was one of the first who 
ever observed these spots through a telescope and was, there- 
fore, uncontrolled by theories in his estimate of their character 
and location. He held it “ impossible that they could be on 
the sun itself,” and imagined some of them to be “ as far from 
the sun as the moon, Venus or Mercury.” 
We have seen that the darkest sun-spots are actually bright, 
that the bright spots are dazzling in their brilliancy, and that 
violent electrical effects, reaching out to the earth, are due to 
their action; we are therefore forced to the conclusion that all 
spot manifestations are due to electrical causes, and owe their 
existence to modifications of the sun’s light. If due to such 
modifications of light, and light be an electrical phenomenon, 
then must all explanations be sought for in the field of elec- 
tricity. In other words, this phenomenon, like gravity, sun- 
heat and sunlight, is purely electrical. Upon this hypothesis, 
and upon no other, may all its facts be explained. 
We have found that the sun is not essentially bright, that its 
supposed brilliancy is located in our atmosphere, and that this 
brilliancy is caused by the action of electrical sun-currents 
upon the earth’s atmosphere. The conclusion becomes neces- 
sitated that any increase or diminution of the apparent light 
of the sun, over larger or smaller areas or spots, must be caused 
by an interruption of development or continuity on the part 
of those currents. 24 
The question arises, how may this great cosmical sun-current, 
incessantly in play between the sun and earth, be interfered 
with in its development or its transmission? Humboldt tells 
us that magnetic storms are constantly in action within our 
earth, over larger or smaller areas. Inferentially, we may sup- 
pose that such storms are in action at the sun in immeasurably 
greater magnitude. In these perturbations within the sun and 
earth we find abundant cause for such disturbance of develop- 
ment or continuity of the great terra-solar electrical current as 
might give rise to the so-called sun-spots. 
THE CORONA. 
A halo or aureola of light apparently surrounds the sun 
during a total eclipse, and bright rays appear to project out- 
ward from it in various directions and in manifold forms. This 
beautiful object is the corona, or, as it is sometimes called, the 
“ glory.” In the past it has been supposed to be a phenom- 
enon occurring at the sun, and this conception is yet held by 
high authorities, but at the present time much diversity of 
opinion exists among scientists as to its essential nature and 
its location. Mr. Lockyer says of the corona: “ It is bizarre 
and puzzling to the last degree.” Prof. Young tells us that, 
“ All we can say with certainty upon this subject is that we 
know nothing about it. We can hardly say that we know 
anything more about the corona than the first observer who 
ever saw it might have guessed by simply looking at it.” 
The telescope is wholly unreliable when employed in the 
investigation of the essential nature of the sun or the character 
of its apparent surroundings. This fact is demonstrated in 
the following incidents: A certain total eclipse was observed 
by several most distinguished astronomers, each a trained 
expert in this field. Their special task in this case was to draw 
the corona ; yet we are told by one of their number that they 
all differed about the direct ocular evidences, for each seemed 25 
to have seen a different corona, and the drawings were singu- 
larly unlike; no one could guess that they represented the 
same object. He also says: “ I hardly know a more striking 
instance of the fallibility of human testimony.” Again, in 
1870, two naval officers on the deck of the same vessel, side 
by side, made drawings of a corona, one of which represented 
it as a six-rayed star, while the other showed it as composed 
of two ovals crossing at right-angles. 
The opinion that the corona is not an appendage of the sun 
is held by distinguished scientists at the present time. Mr. 
Lockyer says: “ I confess the conviction that the corona is 
nothing else than an effect due to the passage of sunlight 
through our own atmosphere.” This philosophy is even now 
virtually demonstrated. A recent attempt to photograph a 
corona gave the following results, viz., the corona in front of 
the moon was quite as well marked as that on the side of the 
sun; indeed, the most corona-like ray produced appeared in 
one photograph stretching directly towards and terminating at 
the center of the moon. Thus it is actually demonstrated that 
the corona is not a portion of the sun’s surroundings, that it is 
not located at the moon. It therefore becomes a legitimate 
conclusion that it is mainly located in our atmosphere. 
PROMINENCES, PROTUBERANCES, RED FLAMES, ETC. 
The scientist of to-day believes that he sees around the sun 
what resembles a sheet of scarlet fires, as if countless jets of 
heated gas were issuing from its surface. But in the study of 
this phenomenon, as in that of the corona, the telescope is 
practically worthless. The eclipse of 1842, which first directed 
any considerable attention to this subject, was of exceptional 
brilliancy, and was viewed under the most favorable conditions. 
It was observed by many of the most noted astronomers, 
uninfluenced by established theories or conceptions. The phe- 
nomenon was regarded with extreme surprise, and became the 26 
object of warm discussions, not only as to its cause and loca- 
tion, but even as to its very existence. Some thought it con- 
stituted of mountains upon the sun, some of solar flames, and 
others, clouds floating in the solar atmosphere ; others referred 
it to the moon, and yet others to our atmosphere, and not a 
few believed it to be a mere optical illusion or mirage. No 
data more reliable have since been discovered. 
If the sun and its surroundings are constituted like the earth 
then its actual location cannot be at the sun. It must be 
sought for in some locality nearer the earth, presumably in our 
atmosphere. We are, in fact, told by a distinguished spectro- 
scopist that “ the air, the cloud, everything between us and the 
dark moon gives the same spectrum as we get from the promi- 
nences themselves.” Therefore, we have abundant reason to 
infer that this, like the corona, has its location in our atmos- 
phere. No longer need we regard the sun as surrounded with 
fantastic fringes, such as are commonly pictured in the illustra- 
tions of the prominences. 
ZODIACAL LIGHT. 
The fact that this phenomenon is observed soon after the 
sun’s disappearance below the horizon, or before its re-appear- 
ance, stamps it as purely atmospheric in its locality. That it 
s essentially electrical in its character appears unquestionable. 
Thus, Humboldt, who had rare opportunities for observing it 
in all its varying conditions, north and south, says: “When 
the zodiacal light had been most intense I have observed that 
it would be perceptibly weakened for a few minutes, until again 
it suddenly shone forth in full brilliancy. In some few instances 
I have thought I could perceive a kind of flickering or waving 
of the light.” Other observers have seen “ the lower portion 
darkened in an arc-like form,” “ scintillations,” “ flickering,” etc. 
These conditions show this phenomenon to be both atmospheric 
and electrical. 27 
In conclusion, it is apparent that electricity is vital and fun- 
damental in the production and operation of all the phenomena 
of nature. Accordingly we have made the attempt to bring 
certain fundamental facts into unity for the construction of a 
rational philosophy ; or at least to mark some of the leading 
outlines of such a philosophy, and to indicate the direction of 
its future development. 
We cannot more fittingly close these pages than in the use 
of the words of the great Faraday, who was, perhaps, the 
most distinguished man in this field which the world has ever 
known: 
“ When we remember that the earth itself is a magnet, per- 
vaded in every part by this mighty power, universal and strong 
as gravity itself, we cannot doubt that it is exerting an ap- 
pointed and essential influence over every particle of matter 
and in every place where it is present. What its great purpose 
is, seems to be looming up in the distance before us ; the clouds 
which obscure our mental sight are daily thinning, and I cannot 
doubt that a glorious discovery in natural knowledge, and in 
the wisdom and power of God in the creation, is awaiting 
our age.”