It is no enviable position to occupy, that of antagonism to so large a proportion of the scientific world and, too, upon subjects of strictly scientific import. That he does thus find himself placed in such relations at the present time, has not been a matter of his own seeking. No other consideration than the profoundest sense of duty and responsibility could have influenced him in the course pursued. Perhaps some apology is yet due for so boldly trespassing upon hypotheses which were very generally thought to be well established, and certainly secure from such treatment. The attempt, in a measure, to develop so extended a field of research, in so few pages, has led to much crudeness in the presentation. For this a reasonable indulgence may be claimed. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE THE SUN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 CHAPTER II. WHAT IS PROPOSED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 The great problem. CHAPTER III. INTIMATE NATURE OF THE FORCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Sunlight and sun-heat--The great law of conservation--How the spheres are constructed--The great earth-core and its functions--The grand magnetic circuit. CHAPTER IV. SUNLIGHT, ITS SOURCE AND NATURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Its limits--The solar cone--The sun not incandescent--New hypothesis--No borrowed light--The sun dependent--Light as a substance--Velocity of Light. CHAPTER V. SUN-HEAT, ITS SOURCE AND LIMITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Tendencies to unsettle in science--Present theories--True source--Earth's part in the process--Sun's part--New philosophy--Old phenomena and new interpretations--Aurorae--Well understood processes in confirmation--The ordinary battery--The Great Sun Battery--Heat without combustion--Inter-currents--Solution of the problem. CHAPTER VI. THE SEASONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Why their varying temperature?--A new philosophy. CHAPTER VII. GRAVITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Its essential nature and its source. CHAPTER VIII. THE ATMOSPHERE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 A veritable ocean--How constituted--The vito-magnetic principle, its extent and character--Its functions--The air not yet comprehended--Have we been mistaken?--New light--Electrical induction--Its mode of action and illustrations--The character and virtue of the vito-magnetic element. CHAPTER IX. WINDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59