Mathematics and Sunshine

If the average man in the street were asked to name the benefits derived from sunshine, he would probably say “light and warmth” and there he would stop. But, if we analyze the matter a little more deeply, we will soon realize that sunshine is the one great source of all forms of life and activity on I his old planet of ours. To mention only a few particulars, wood, peat, coke, soft coal, anthracite, kerosene, fuel oil, gas, gasoline, are one and all forms of canoed sunshine in varying degrees of transformation. Hence I cannot stoke my furnace, turn on my oil-burner, step on the gasoline jn my automobile, cook my meals by wood, gas, oil or coal, light my house with kerosene or gas, without drawing upon the sunshine which was stored up for me in the form of carbon long ages ago in the deep recesses of the earth. All the industries of the world, great and small, all transportation by rail, water or air, are made possible only through the products of sunshine. Even the wind which drives my sailboat is only the rushing currents of sun-heated air.