The Sun—a Source of High Temperature Heat.
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—
"Lo, Warrior! now the Cross of Red
Points to the Grave of the mighty dead;
Within it burns a wondrous light,
To chase the spirits that love the night.
That lamp shall burn unquenchably
Until the eternal doom shall be."
And again, when the tomb was opened, we read—
"I would you had been there to see
How the light broke forth so gloriously,
Stream'd upward to the chancel roof,
And through the galleries far aloof!
No earthly flame blazed e'er so bright,"
