great things and small whether we wake or sleep?

*(I am quite aware of the danger incurred by using this word
"force", especially in the plural; and how even the most modest
little book may suffer at the hands of scientific purists by
employing it rashly. As, however, the better term "energy" would
not serve here, I hope I may be forgiven for retaining the much-
abused term, especially as I sin in very good company.)

Now the shower is over, the sun comes out and the ground is soon
as dry as though no rain had fallen. Tell me; what has become of
the rain-drops? Part no doubt have sunk into the ground, and as
for the rest, why you will say the sun has dried them up. Yes,
but how? The sun is more than ninety-one millions of miles away;
how has he touched the rain-drops? Have you ever heard that
invisible waves are travelling every second over the space
between the sun and us? We shall see in the next lecture how
these waves are the sun's messengers to the earth, and how they
tear asunder the rain-drops on the ground, scattering them in
tiny particles too small for us to see, and bearing them away to
the clouds. Here are more invisible fairies working every moment
around you, and you cannot even look out of the window without
seeing the work they are doing.

If, however, the day is cold and frosty, the water does not fall
in a shower of rain; it comes down in the shape of noiseless
snow. Go out after such a snow-shower, on a calm day, and look
at some of the flakes which have fallen; you will see, if you
choose good specimens, that they are not mere masses of frozen
water, but that each one is a beautiful six-pointed crystal star.