th
each planet as it pursues its journey. It would be distinctly
unphilosophical to assume that the earth was the only planet that
carried its aetherial field with it. So that by following Sir G. Stokes'
suggestion, we practically arrive at the same conclusion in relation to
the motions of the Aether that we have already arrived at from magnetic
phenomena.

With this view of the case we are now in a position to answer a question
asked by Professor Schuster at the British Association in 1892. He
asked, "Is not every large rotating mass a magnet?" and added, "If it
is, the sun must be a powerful magnet. The comets' tails, which eclipse
observations show stretching out from the sun in all directions,
probably consist of electric discharges." Now, in relation to this
question, the answer is that every rotating body in the Aether is
undoubtedly an electro-magnet. Thus, not only is the sun an
electro-magnet, but every planet and satellite, and every meteor that
rotates in the electro-magnetic Aether, is converted into a magnet,
partly by that rotation, and partly by the currents induced in the
Aether by that rotation. We shall also find when we come to deal with
the phenomena of comets' tails, that Professor Schuster is also right as
to their cause, and that they are due to electro-magnetic repulsions
originated in the Aether by the sun, which is an electro-magnet.

[Footnote 39: _Outlines of Astronomy_, Herschel.]

ART. 92. _Cause of Rotation of the Earth on its Axis._--If there is one
fact true in relation to the earth as a planet, it is that the earth
rotates on its axis every 24 hours. Day in and day out, for centuries
past, this revolution has taken place as the earth journeys in its
annual path round the sun.

Not only does the earth rotate on its axis, but every other planet
rotates on its axis in varying times, as the following table shows--

HRS. MIN. SEC.

Mercury 24 5 0
Venus 23 24 0
The Earth 23 56 4
Mars 24 37 23
Jupiter 9 55 0
Sarturn 10 14 23
Uranus ?
Neptune ?

Further, the sun also rotates on its axis in a period of 26 days. Here,
then, are certain phenomena in connection with the solar system, for
which up to the present no explanation as to the physical cause of
rotation has ever been offered. Surely there is some physical cause, to
accoun