No. 14.

On the Recovery of Radiant Energy.

In my last letter I stated a number of problems which needed solution before the great problem of the stability of the cosmos could be considered solved, and stated I believed that partial impact" offered a solution of all these propositions. I will first give a sketch of how all radient energy may be collected so as to be rendered available to carry on the duties of concentrated energy. In a former letter I have shown that it is possible that very distant light may be extinguished by the myriads of particles of cosmical dust, which, if we accept the conclusion of partial impact, must exist in free space, and which the millions of meteoric systems of our own solar system render probable. It is clear that if distant light be extinguished, on the other hand all radiation from the sun must fall upon these bodies, and be collected again. That this is really the case is rendered probable from the fact that recent physical experiments prove the radiation from "free space" to the earth to be equivalent to more than 200deg. F. above absolute zero, whilst the total light is only equal to an excessively small fraction, heat must consequently be radiated by dark bodies, unless we conceive that the short waves are stopped, an extremely unlikely suggestion. It is, therefore, probable that all radiation falls upon bodies in space. When these bodies come into impact this heat will clearly exalt the final temperature, and will thus be rendered available. But the coldest of these bodies must in this way be heated by radiation, and as it cannot again radiate its heat to colder bodies, as they do not exist, there is a tendency for all cold matter in the universe to get hotter unless we can show that bodies can lose heat in some manner not usually contemplated. I shall attempt to show how this may happen