Читать книгу Star-land: Being Talks With Young People About the Wonders of the Heavens онлайн

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That nice muffin was baked by the sun, toasted by the sun, and made from wheat grown by the sun. If the wheat was ground in a wind-mill, then the sun raised the wind which turned the mill. Perhaps the flour-mill was driven by steam, in which case the sun, long ago, provided the coal for the boiler. The miller might have lived on a river and used a water-mill, but if he did, then here again the sun actually did the work. The sun raised the water to the clouds, and after it had fallen in rain, and was on its way back to the sea, its descent was utilized to turn the water-wheel. The water derives its power to turn the mill from the fact that it is running downhill, but it could not run down unless it had first been raised up; and thus it is indeed the sun which drives the water-wheel. Nor can the baker dispense with the sun’s aid even if he rejected wind-mills, or steam-mills, or water-mills, and determined to grind the corn himself with a pestle and mortar. Here, at least, it might be thought that it is a man’s sinews and muscles that are doing the work, and so no doubt they are. But you are mistaken if you think the sun has not rendered indispensable aid. The sun has just as surely provided the power which moves the baker’s arms as it has raised the wind which turned the wind-mill. The force exerted in grinding with the pestle has been derived from the food that the man has eaten; that food was grown by the sun, and the man received from the food the energy it had derived from the sun’s heat. So that, look at it any way you please, even for the grinding of the wheat to make the muffin for your tea party, you are wholly indebted to the sun.