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                                  THE
                            SOURCE AND MODE
                                   OF
                              SOLAR ENERGY
                        THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE.

                                   BY
                      I. W. HEYSINGER, M.A., M.D.



                              ILLUSTRATED.

                             PHILADELPHIA:
                       J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY.

                                 1895.








CONTENTS.


                                                            PAGE

    Introduction                                               7

    CHAPTER I.

    Statement of the Problem of Solar Energy                  17

    CHAPTER II.

    The Constitution and Phenomena of the Sun                 39

    CHAPTER III.

    The Mode of Solar Energy                                  70

    CHAPTER IV.

    The Source of Solar Energy                                96

    CHAPTER V.

    The Distribution and Conservation of Solar Energy        139

    CHAPTER VI.

    The Phenomena of the Stars                               162

    CHAPTER VII.

    Temporary Stars, Meteors, and Comets                     187

    CHAPTER VIII.

    The Phenomena of Comets                                  210

    CHAPTER IX.

    Interpretation of Cometic Phenomena                      225

    CHAPTER X.

    The Resolvable Nebulæ, Star-Clusters and Galaxies        237

    CHAPTER XI.

    The Gaseous Nebulæ                                       253

    CHAPTER XII.

    The Nebular Hypothesis: its Basis and its Difficulties   268

    CHAPTER XIII.

    The Genesis of Solar Systems and Galaxies                282

    CHAPTER XIV.

    The Mosaic Cosmogony                                     308

    CHAPTER XV.

    Conclusion. The Harmony of Nature's Laws and
    Operations                                               341

    Reference Index of Authorities Cited                     349

    Classified Index of Subject-Matter                       353








LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.


                                                                  PAGE

    Figs. 1 to 8. Types from nature, illustrating development
             of a solar system from the attenuated matter of
             space                                        Frontispiece.
    Fig.  9. A typical sun-spot                                     57
    Fig. 10. Structure of the sun, analytical illustration of       60
    Fig. 11. Electrical polarities of sun and planets               82
    Fig. 12. Ideal view of the generation and transmission of
             planetary electricity                                  89
    Fig. 13. The aurora borealis, view of                           91
    Fig. 14. Diffused brush discharge of an electrical machine      91
    Fig. 15. Planetary generation and transmission of electrical
             energy to the sun, analytical illustration of         101
    Fig. 16. Gradual discharge of electricity from one conductor
             to another in a partial vacuum                        103
    Fig. 17. Sudden electrical discharge through the atmosphere    103
    Fig. 18. Position of planets with reference to the generation
             of sun-spots; maximum and minimum of electrical
             action                                                108
    Fig. 19. Analysis of a typical sun-spot                        112
    Fig. 20. Retardation of sun-spots in their travel across the
             solar face; development to the rear and recession in
             front                                                 114
    Figs. 21 and 22. Complex lines of planetary electrical action
             upon the sun produced by the inclination of the solar
             axis to the plane of the ecliptic                     120
    Figs. 23 to 29. Examples of electrical repulsion: Fig. 1,
             similarly electrified pith-balls; Fig. 2, the
             electrical windmill; Fig. 3, repulsion of a flame;
             Fig. 4, self-repulsion around a conductor; Fig. 5,
             attraction between opposite and repulsion between
             similar electricities; Fig. 6, mutual repulsion
             between similar + electrospheres of the earth and
             the moon; Fig. 7, mutual repulsion between the
             similar--electrospheres of sun and comet              124
    Figs. 30 to 34. Spectra of solar light, incandescent sodium
             and calcium, and the absorption and bright-line
             spectra of hydrogen gas                               155
    Figs. 35 to 37. Reversal and neutralization of spectroscopic
             lines of hydrogen in the light of a variable star
             like Betelgeuse                                       160
    Fig. 38. A double-sun nebula in process of development into
             a solar system                                        164
    Fig. 39. Double stars with complementary colors,
             interpretation of the phenomena of                    167
    Fig. 40. A solar system which would explain the regular
             variability of the star Mira                          178
    Fig. 41. Lineal nebula in Sobieski's Crown which has been
             affected by currents in the ocean of space            189
    Figs. 42 to 45. Four stages in the phenomena of a new or
             temporary star, a "star in flames;" reversal of the
             hydrogen lines in its spectrum                        196
    Figs. 46 and 47. Illustration of repulsion of the tail of a
             comet by the similarly electrified solar
             electrosphere; comparison with similar repulsion in
             a vacuum-chamber experiment                           211
    Figs. 48 and 49. The electroscope, and mutual electrical
             repulsion in a bundle of dry straws                   225
    Fig. 50. Experiment with a candle and currents of air from
             between two disks, illustrating the radial
             semi-rotation of a comet's tail during perihelion     230
    Figs. 51 to 54. Four non-systemic gaseous nebulæ: Fig. 1,
             crab nebula; Fig. 2, dumb-bell nebula; Fig. 3, lineal
             nebula in Sobieski's Crown; Fig. 4, Catherine-wheel
             nebula. The latter illustrates the formation of a
             planetary nebula with a hollow center, or else
             dispersion into the elements of space again           263
    Fig. 55. Great spiral nebula in Canes Venatici and a small
             adjacent nebula affected thereby                      273
    Figs. 56 to 59. Four gaseous nebulæ in process of development
             into solar systems: Fig. 1, divergent spiral; Fig. 2,
             later stage of a similar spiral; Fig. 3, subsequent
             stage of rupture of the nearly circular convolutions
             of a similar nebula; Fig. 4, the same stage in the
             development of a solar system with a double sun        279
    Fig. 60. Nucleated planetary nebula, showing its external ring
             split and held apart, in part of its circumference,
             by electrical repulsion                                288
    Fig. 61. Divergent spiral nebula on cover of book.








INTRODUCTION.


This work is not presented to the reader as a treatise on astronomy,
although the different phenomena pertaining to that splendid science
are reviewed with some detail, and the established facts bearing
upon the subjects discussed are briefly cited in the very words of
the great writers upon whose authority they rest. A considerable
experience in chemistry, electricity, and the other allied physical
sciences long since convinced the author of this work that some
simple and uniform principle must control the production of the
physical phenomena of astronomy,--some general law capable of being
extended in its application to the widest, as well as applied to the
narrowest, limits of that science. Knowing the absolute certainty of
a magnetic and electrical connection between the sun and the earth,
as evidenced by the reflected energy of sun-spots, auroras, etc.,
and that no known cause except electricity could account for some,
at least, of the cometic phenomena, it seemed that any comprehensive
law must at all events include this mode of energy as an effective
cause, and that if the law be uniform in its application, it must
equally exclude all others which may be either antagonistic or not
necessary. A careful investigation was therefore made of those
less generally known principles concerned in the generation and
transformations of electrical energy, in order to determine the
sufficiency or insufficiency of this agency in the grander operations
of nature (for, of course, mere currents of electricity could play no
part in these phenomena), with the result that every line of research
led irresistibly to the conclusions presented in this work. These
investigations, specifically directed, at first, to the source and mode
of the solar energy of our own system alone, were found to be equally
applicable to others, and were successively extended to the whole
sidereal, nebular, and cometic field, and finally to space itself,
for all the phenomena of which it seemed to furnish an adequate
and harmonious interpretation. The fact, when once demonstrated,
that the true source of solar energy is not to be found in the sun
itself, but in the potential energy of space, served as a guiding
principle, and, by its continuously extended application, was found
to cover perfectly the source and mode of all solar energy. Every
step of the investigation has been based on the established facts
of science and the observations of eminent astronomers as laid down
by the best authorities; and the quotations herein made from their
works are full and fair, and are properly credited in every case,
and taken from books easily accessible to the general reader. It is
hoped that further attention may be directed to this field of research
by far more capable investigators than the author of this work, so
that systematic astronomy may no longer bear the reproach that it is
largely an empirical science, but