New and Original Theories of the Great Physical Forces Part 7

With the verification of the meteorological theory of causation, more positive and rational ideas will prevail;--obscurity will, in a measure, give place to clearer and more exact perceptions of the character and relations of diseases, and a corresponding efficiency in treatment may be expected.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE ARTIFICIAL PRODUCTION OF LIGHT, HEAT, AND POWER, AND THEIR UTILIZATION.

The practical procurement of necessary light and heat for our dwellings, as well as of necessary mechanical power for the world's work in mills and factories, _in some less expensive and laborious manner_ than through vast consumption of wood, coal, and oil, is believed to be now so close upon realization that we may even call it _un fait accompli_.

The conversion of the momentum of rivers, and of the power of cataracts, tides, and winds, into vito-magnetic or electrical fluid; the transportation of this fluid to any locality through wire or cable; and its final trans.m.u.tation into light, heat, or mechanical force sufficient for all work, are already demonstrated as practicable.

There is no reason then why the Mississippi should not be made to roll, and Niagara to fall through our workshops, or even to impel our street-cars. They may as well work as to be idle as they go.

But in all this, startling as it seems, man is only imitating Nature in her every-day operations through sun and earth. Even the order is similar. The sun is the _river_ giving its constant impulse through the vito-magnetic cable of the solar cone. The _earth_ end of the cable is adjusted by means of the atmosphere, for the production of light and heat for this earthly habitation.

It indues the globe with magnetic influence which we have called gravity. And in its workshop, its mechanical and vital forces are keeping up all motions in animal and plant, earth, ocean, and air.

And thus light, heat, gravity, mechanical power, electricity, magnetism, vital force and universal motion, are but one principle variously expressed. This principle we have designated vito-magnetic fluid. But have we reached a climax and an end? No. This vito-magnetic river or current flows on. Its flood is never stayed. But yet we find no acc.u.mulation. Light and heat have neither been piled up to the sky, nor have they become annihilated. Their essential element has only changed form, and proceeded on its busy way, turning earth into a magnet, vivifying and operating all organisms, travelling upon all currents, gathering up and utilizing all the fragments and waste of its workshop, transmitting and conserving its energy _en route_ to the poles. And finally, _the same element that signalized its entrance at the earth's more central regions_ AS HEAT, _now signalizes its departure along earth's polar extremities_ AS COLD.[D]

Nothing is lost. Such a mighty flowing current cannot be stopped. If it rolls _in_ we may be a.s.sured that _somewhere_ it will roll _out_. And this is but THE GRAND COSMICAL CIRCUIT, already made mention of.

FOOTNOTES:

[D] We would not define cold as "absence of heat." Cold is rather the opposite electrical condition to heat.

CHAPTER XV.

WHY WAS NOT THIS DISCOVERY SOONER MADE?

It may be asked, why should the discovery of this great source of all the forces, vital and physical, have been delayed to the present time?

Master minds have been engaged for ages in efforts to solve the wonderful problem.

HERSCHEL, NEWTON, HUMBOLDT, FARADAY, MOSSOTTI, and many others have held the _key_ almost within their control, and the consummation has only failed of being realized at an earlier day by reason of the tenacity with which the minds of men are held by preconceived and pre-existing opinions.

SIR WILLIAM HERSCHEL regarded solar and stellar light as the effects of an _electro-magnetic_ process.

NEWTON recognized all movements of the cosmical bodies to be the result of one and the same force; "_of some higher_ and _still unknown power_,"

but luminiferous ether shaded his mental vision, and he failed to discern that power. In his investigations of those great subjects he is led to ask, "Are not the sun, and fixed stars, great earths, vehemently hot?"

HUMBOLDT said: "It is indeed a brilliant effort, worthy of the human mind, to comprise in one organic whole, the entire science of nature, from the laws of gravity to the formative impulse in animated bodies;"

but the preoccupation of his vast mind, and the hold of pre-existing ideas, offered difficulties to the solution of the problem. But, note the approximation of his ideas to those herein expressed, he said: "The sun, as the main source of light and heat, must be able to call forth and animate magnetic forces on our planet." Unfortunately, however, he continues thus: "and more especially in the gaseous strata of our atmosphere."

FARADAY, perhaps the most distinguished man, in the whole of his own field, which the world has ever produced, recognizing the power of this great obstacle to true advancement (_i. e._, preconceived and pre-existing ideas), once said: "When such a one as myself gets out of the way, then new conditions, new men, new views, new opportunities, may allow of the development of other lines of active operation than those heretofore in service." He believed in the existence of one great universal principle, from which gravity, heat, light, electricity, magnetism, even life itself might come. He spent many of his latest years in efforts to solve this great problem, and on his failure he asked: "Is it all a dream?" He never, however, wavered in his faith, and his last efforts were directed to that end.

With prophetic vision, almost amounting to prescience, he, in speaking of magnetism, said: "When we remember that the earth itself is a magnet, pervaded in every part by this mighty power, universal and strong as gravity itself, we cannot doubt that it is exerting an appointed and essential influence over every particle of matter, and in every place where it is present.

"What its great purpose is, seems to be looming up in the distance before us:--the clouds which obscure our mental sight are daily thinning, and I cannot doubt that a glorious discovery in natural knowledge and in the wisdom and power of G.o.d in the creation is awaiting our age."

Thus did those great philosophers so nearly attain to the goal of their highest earthly aspirations, and only failed in the consummation by reason of clinging to the existing opinions of their age.

APPENDIX.

1. (Page 22.) "BRUNO, about the close of the last century, _guessed_ the fundamental fact of the Nebular Hypothesis, and _Kant reasoned out_ its foundation idea, and LAPLACE _developed it_."--CORRELATION AND CONSERVATION OF FORCES.

We have learned to recognize on how very doubtful a basis many of the received axioms of physical science are founded. This hypothesis has been received with much unanimity and has firmly held its sway. Yet, "BRUNO _guessed_ the fundamental fact," and this _figment of the imagination_ has, for nearly a century, controlled the scientific mind.

Its paralyzing influences have affected other departments of physical science, and true progress has been obstructed. The attempt to describe minutely how the spheres were formed millions of years ago is but presumption.

This hypothesis, from such an origin, unverified and unverifiable, is too weak to support the superstructure which has been erected upon it.

This hypothesis discarded, it may be presumed that the earth was never in a fluid or _wholly incandescent state_.

"It may be shown that all nebulae are crowded stellar ma.s.ses."--HUMBOLDT.

_Action and Retro-action._

2. (Page 25.) "Considering the continued activity of the sun through countless centuries, we may a.s.sume, with mathematical certainty, the existence of some compensating influence to make good its enormous loss."--COR. AND CON. OF FORCES.

If the earth receives the benefits of this activity, surely the "compensating influence" must, in a like degree, go forth from the earth to the sun. And, furthermore, if this influence (whatever its character) may pa.s.s in the _one_ direction through s.p.a.ce without known or visible means of communication, _retro-action_ may be affected through the same channel.

_The Earth and all Spheres framed alike._

3. (Page 26.) "The earth belongs to a system of planets a.n.a.logous to itself, having the same origin, the same destiny, situated around the same centre and governed by the same motive power."--FLAMMARIAN.

_Mutual Relations of Earth and Sun._

4. (Page 27.) "A mysterious chain links together the celestial and terrestrial forces. According to the ancient signification of the t.i.tanic myth, the powers of organic life, that is to say, the great order of nature, depend upon the combined action of heaven and earth."--HUMBOLDT.

_The Sun's Body Dark._

5. (Page 30.) "HERSCHEL'S fixed idea was that the darkness of a spot was an indication of a cool habitable globe."

_A New Theory of the Nature of Water._

6. (Page 36.) M. MAICHE, in _Les Mondes_, propounds the theory, reached after numerous experiments, that water is simply hydrogen _plus_ electricity, or oxygen _minus_ electricity, or, in other words, that normal electrified hydrogen const.i.tutes water, and that normal diselectrified oxygen produces the same; or that hydrogen, oxygen, and water are precisely the same, differing only in degree of electrification.