Only a great sun a thousand or a million times larger than our earth would make any great impression on the sun in case of a collision; and then it would not result in its destruction, or that of the earth and planets. Its size and power would be increased, but that would not necessarily increase the heat of the planets, if, as I contend, the sun could only send them the electric currents the planets draw by reason of their opposite polarity; just as a receiving station of wireless telegraphy receives only the electric currents intended for it because of the peculiar attracting power it possesses. I am aware that the recent flaring out in light, and increase in size of the star Nova Persei in the constellation of Perseus, has given plausibility to the conjecture of some astronomers that it was caused by a collision between two suns. But I think the better opinion is that this star is a new sun, partly nebulous and in its formative state; and that it was visited by a great cloud or swarm of meteors, which produced the great illumination which flared out into space for a few days and then subsided. Its former small size, to which it has returned, and its present nebulous condition, or the nebulæ that surrounds it, seems to fully justify this conclusion. I do not believe there ever has been or ever will be a collision among the suns or planets. The wisdom of the Creator, as manifested in the great universal laws of electro-magnetism, forbid it. If such a catastrophe was likely ever to occur, it would have happened many times since the history of the race began, and we would have had many undoubted demonstrations of the direful uncertainty of the life of the suns and planets and the varying chances and unstable condition of the universe. Let us hear the conclusion of Prof. Newcomb's hypothesis in the last words of the last man on the earth, in the person of the professor of physics: "Such is the course of evolution. The sun, which for millions of years gave light and heat to our system and supported life on the earth, was about to sink into exhaustion and become a cold and inert mass. Its energy could not be revived except by such a catastrophe as has occurred. The sun is restored to what it was before there was any earth on which it could shed its rays, and will in time be ready to run its course anew. In order that a race may be renewed, it must die like an individual. Untold ages must once more elapse while life is reappearing on earth and developing in higher forms."