re ever acting upon the Earth, carrying
it round the sun with them, while at the same time the centripetal force
is pulling it towards the sun with a certain intensity, but the
centrifugal force is repelling the Earth with exactly the same
intensity, and if the sun remained motionless the two forces would
exactly balance each other, while the Earth would describe the
half-circle _E_ _D_ _C_. But while the Earth is moving towards the
point _D_ with a velocity of 64,000 miles per hour, the sun is also
moving at the velocity of about 18,000 miles per hour towards that
point.

Thus the repelling power of the radiating electro-magnetic Aether waves
has to overcome, not only its exact counterpart, the centripetal force,
but also the onward motion of the sun as it rushes on its course through
space. This the centrifugal force is unable to do, with the result that
the distance is gradually lessened, and instead of the Earth describing
the arc _E_ _D_, it describes the arc _E_ _F_, at which point its
distance is at the minimum, or about 91 millions of miles.

Or, to put the same fact in another way. When the Earth is at _E_, the
centripetal force and the orbital velocity of the Earth and the sun are
acting conjointly, with the result that they overcome the centrifugal
force, and the distance is gradually decreased. This decreased distance
means an increased aetherial density and an increased velocity of the
aetherial currents, with the result, that as the distance is decreased,
the orbital velocity of the Earth is gradually increased, so that by the
time the Earth gets to _F_, at its perihelion, it has now acquired its
greatest orbital velocity, and is carried round the sun by the
electro-magnetic Aether currents at its maximum velocity.

Now let us look at the Earth being circled round the sun by the
electro-magnetic Aether currents as it goes on to perform the other half
of the orbit. In this case we have the orbital motion of the sun and the
centrifugal force working conjointly, with the result that together they
overcome the centripetal force, and the Earth is repelled and carried
beyond its mean distance. Let _S_ represent the sun, the Earth being at
point _C_ of its orbit, after passing round its perihelion, and at this
decreased distance it is carried along by the circulating and denser
Aether with its maximum velocity (Fig. 26).

Now while the Earth is going on to describe the half-circle _C_ _G_ _E_,
the sun is stil