ceived, will soon be followed by acceptance, and the world will wonder
why these things have been so long delayed.

If these theories be true, among the foremost and withal the most
mischievous of the old theories which will fall, will be that figment
of the imagination--the _Nebular Hypothesis_.[14] How strangely, and how
strongly, has that hypothesis maintained its ground, _even after
nebulous masses have been resolved into clusters of stars_. If gravity
be the result of retro-acting forces, there could be no element of
attraction in the flimsy gaseous particles whereby they might be drawn
together. If gravity be the result of retro-acting forces, then must
those forces have their existence somewhere. But where could there be
found in flimsy gases any such special centres of force--any
nuclei--from which attraction might proceed in its work of forming the
spheres? A starting-point is lacking.

If these theories be true, the sun is formed like unto the earth, and is
cool, non-luminous, and habitable. Incandescence not being the condition
of the sun or its surroundings; exhausted worlds, worn out asteroids,
and stray comets and meteors are not required to keep up external fires.

If, therefore, incandescence be _not_ a condition of the sun's
surroundings, then surely there may be _no_ glowing metallic vapors,
_no_ hydrogen, _no_ iron, _no_ sodium, _no_ magnesium, _no_ oxygen;
those constituents of the sun envelope, so graphically described by the
spectroscopists of the present day.

The origin of _celestial_ spectroscopy was as vague and unphilosophical
as was that of the nebular hypothesis. FRAUENHOFER and KIRCHHOFF
_imagined_ certain things, and straightway a great theory sprang into
existence.[15]

Verily the "Scientific use of the Imagination" too often leads men into
the grossest errors.

If these theories be true, we may hereafter ignore all undulatory
processes. Time may no longer be estimated in noting the transmission of
light and heat, since, like gravity, each acts instantaneously. _If the
most distant fixed star which is visible could be annihilated to-night,
its light would be seen no more forever._

If these theories be true, the recent marvels of the age, the telephone,
phonograph, and their fast-multiplying brood find a satisfactory and
philosophical explanation.

If these theories be true, the boast of the Atheist, that God is
wasteful and a bungler, in that he wastefully scatters his sunlight,