Ponder also upon the stupendous size of that orb, which glows at every point of its surface with the astonishing fervour that this illustration suggests. The earth on which we stand is a mighty globe; yet what are the dimensions of our earth in comparison with those of the sun? If we represent the earth by a grain of mustard seed, then on the same scale the sun should be represented by a cocoanut. We may perhaps obtain a more impressive conception of the proportions of the orb of day in the following manner. Look up at the moon which revolves round the heaven, describing as it does so majestic a track that it is generally at a distance of two hundred and forty thousand miles from the earth. Yet the sun is so large that if there were a hollow globe equally great, and the earth were placed at its centre, the entire orbit of the moon would lie completely within it.
Every portion of that stupendous desert of flame is pouring forth torrents of heat. It has, indeed, been estimated that the heat which issues from an area of two square feet on the sun would more than suffice, if it could be all utilised, to drive the engines of the largest Atlantic liner between Liverpool and New York.
This solar heat is scattered through space with boundless prodigality. No doubt the dwellers on the earth do receive a fair supply of sunbeams; but what is available for the use of mankind can be hardly more than an infinitesimal fraction of what the sun emits. We shall scarcely be so presumptuous as to suppose that the sun has been designed solely for the benefit of the poor humanity which needs light and warmth. The heat and light daily lavished by the sun would suffice to warm and to illuminate two thousand million globes, each as great as the earth. If, indeed, it were true that the only object of the sun’s existence was to cherish this immediate world of ours, then all we can say is that the sun carries on its business in a most outrageously wasteful manner. What would be thought of the prudence of one who, having been endowed with a fortune of ten million pounds, spent one single penny of that vast sum in a profitable manner and dissipated every other penny and every other pound of his fortune in aimless extravagance? But this is apparently the way in which the sun manages its affairs, so far as our earth is concerned. Out of every ten million pounds worth of heat issuing from the glorious orb of day, we on this earth secure one pennyworth, and all but that solitary pennyworth seems to be utterly squandered. We may say it certainly is squandered so far as humanity is concerned. What, indeed, its actual destination may be science is unable to tell.