and will ultimately affect the motions of the planets and other heavenly bodies, even although its rate of action may be so slow that we are not able to detect it.
We may perhaps generalize by saying, that wherever in the universe there is a differential motion, that is to say, a motion of one part of it towards or from another, then, in virtue of the subtle medium, or cement, that binds the various parts of the universe together, this motion is not unattended by something like friction, in virtue of which the differential motion will ultimately disappear, while the loss of energy caused by its disappearance will assume the form of heat.
137. There are, indeed, obscure intimations that a conversion of this kind is not improbably taking place in the solar system; for, in the sun himself, we have the matter near the equator, by virtue of the rotation of our luminary, carried alternately towards and from the various planets. Now, it would seem that the sun-spots, or atmospheric disturbances of the sun, affect particularly his equatorial regions, and have likewise a tendency to attain their maximum size in that position, which is as far away as possible from the influential planets, such as Mercury or Venus;[1] so that if Venus, for instance, were between the earth and the sun, there would be few sun-spots in the middle of the sun's disc, because that would be the part of the sun nearest Venus.
- ↑ See De La Hue, Stewart, and Loewy's researches on Solar Physics.
