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204. Let us, therefore, now for a moment direct our attention to that most wonderful source of energy, the Sun.

We have here a vast reservoir of high temperature heat; now, this is a kind of superior energy which has always been in much request. Numberless attempts have been made to construct a perpetual light, just as similar attempts have been made to construct a perpetual motion, with this difference, that a perpetual light was supposed to result from magical powers, while a perpetual motion was attributed to mechanical skill.

Sir Walter Scott alludes to this belief in his description of the grave of Michael Scott, which is made to contain a perpetual light. Thus the Monk who buried the wizard tells William of Deloraine—

And again, when the tomb was opened, we read—