ollows, and still be entirely enclosed within the
sun's interior.

For every acre on the surface of our globe there are more than ten
thousand acres on the surface of the great luminary. Every portion of
this illimitable desert of flame is pouring forth torrents of heat. It
has indeed been estimated that if the heat which is incessantly
flowing through any single square foot of the sun's exterior could be
collected and applied beneath the boilers of an Atlantic liner, it
would suffice to produce steam enough to sustain in continuous
movement those engines of twenty thousand horse-power which enable a
superb ship to break the record between Ireland and America.

The solar heat is shot forth into space in every direction, with a
prodigality which seems well-nigh inexhaustible. No doubt the earth
does intercept a fair supply of sunbeams for conversion to our many
needs; but the share of sun-heat that the dwelling-place of mankind is
able to capture and employ forms only an infinitesimal fraction of
what the sun actually pours forth. It would seem, indeed, very
presumptuous for us to assume that the great sun has come into
existence solely for the benefit of poor humanity. The heat and light
daily lavished by that orb of incomparable splendor would suffice to
warm and illuminate, quite as efficiently as the earth is warmed and
lighted, more than two thousand million globes each as large as the
earth. If it has indeed been the scheme of nature to call into
existence the solar arrangements on their present scale for the
solitary purpose of cherishing this immediate world of ours, then all
we can say is that nature carries on its business in the most
outrageously wasteful manner.

What should we think of the prudence of a man who, having been endowed
with a splendid fortune of not less than twenty million dollars, spent
one cent of that vast sum usefully and dissipated every other cent and
every other dollar of his gigantic wealth in mere aimless
extravagance? This would, however, appear to be the way in which the
sun manages its affairs, if we are to suppose that all the solar heat
is wasted save that minute fraction which is received by the earth.
Out of every twenty million dollars' worth of heat issuing from the
glorious orb of day, we on this earth barely secure the value of one
single cent; and all but that insignificant trifle seems to be utterly
squandered. We may say it certainly is squandered so far as humanity
i