Atmospherical electricity has imprinted this picture of a long-ago living world upon the heavens, just as Raphael drew his cartoons for the men of to-day to see." "But," I exclaimed in surprise, "how about the Moon's influence on the tides?
and what of eclipses ?" "Not the Moon, but the electric photograph of a once living but now absorbed world, has certainly an influence on the tides.

The sea is impregnated with electricity.

Just as the Sun will absorb colours, so the electricity in the sea is repelled or attracted by the electric picture of the Moon in Heaven.

Because, as a painting is full of colour, so is that faithful sketch of a vanished sphere, drawn with a pencil of pure light, full of immense electricity; and to carry the simile further, just as a painting may be said to be formed of various dark and light tints, so the electric portrait of the Moon contains various degrees of electric force--which, coming in contact with the electricity of the Earth's atmosphere, produces different effects on us and on the natural scenes amid which we dwell.

As for eclipses--if you slowly pass a round screen between yourself and a blazing fire, you will only see the edges of the fire.