eir enormous velocity speeding through the solar system? So far
as experience and observation go, I have never read of any record of
such a fact, or that light-waves have ceased to proceed from the sun and
fill the solar system with Aether-waves.

Not only is this true of the sun, but it is equally true of every planet
and satellite, every meteor or comet, every star and sun that exist or
dwell in this aetherial medium; for, as has already been shown (Art.
49), every body emits Aether-waves, and these waves spread out in all
directions in a spherical form.

The truth is, that the universal Aether is in eternal motion, and that
motion forms the physical life of the universe. If it were possible to
destroy the motion, then the whole fabric of the universe would fall to
pieces, and the beauty, order, and harmony of the celestial mechanism
would be replaced by disorder, confusion, and ultimate ruin. Take any
analogy of Nature, and see what such an analogy teaches us. Look at any
planet, sun, or star. Do we find any one of these stationary or at rest?
Why from the smallest meteorite or satellite, to the largest star that
shines in the firmament of heaven, there is nothing but motion; each
satellite, planet, sun, and star moving on and on, ever and ever through
the countless ages of time until its course is run and its existence
ended. But rest, never! Such a thing as rest is unknown in the entire
universe, whether it be in the atomic systems of matter, or the systems
of stars and suns that form the universe of worlds.

Take another illustration--that of the ocean! Is that ever at rest, with
its unceasing wave and tidal motion? Has the reader ever stood on the
shore and seen the ocean when it has been absolutely still, or when the
tide has ceased to flow? Such a possibility is almost absurd to
contemplate. The same argument applies to the air with its regular flow
of winds. Now in regard to the aetherial and universal medium, there are
just as regular motions as the flowing of the tide round the earth, or
the revolving of a satellite round a planet, or a planet round the sun.

And what is as important, all the motions can be as satisfactorily
explained and accounted for from the physical standpoint, as the flow of
the tide, or the revolution of a planet.

Year in and year out, the motions of the Aether remain the same, governed
by the same laws and producing the same effects. Age after age, the Aether
has been moving, pro