Page:The Philosophy of Creation.djvu/225

 come partially or entirely the atomicity, whereupon the particles assume their more primary form of activity, great at first, but gradually equalizing with associated matter.

Heat derived from the sun is not an exception. The sun's flame is composed of particles of matter in a high state of vibration or gyration. The activity is communicated to the incumbent aura and ether, which transfer the activity to the planets about the sun. The vibrating particles of ether affect the particles of air and of earth, and give them a degree of motion, whence is their heat. In no case is heat other than a form of the activity of a substance.

Having stated that heat is produced by the particles of matter assuming the activity that is natural to them, it now remains to account for the force that produces that activity; for, though the activity is natural to matter under certain conditions, the force that produces it is not, and can not be evolved from matter alone.

It may be said, as in the case of burning coal, that the heat produced during combustion is in