Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 January 1880 — LIFE AND DEATH OF A WORLD. [ARTICLE]

LIFE AND DEATH OF A WORLD.

Lecture by Professor Proctor, Is New York Growth of the Star* Through !» 11l lons of Years Slow hat Steady Decay The Future of the Earth Forcaeen hy the Present Condition of Other Planets. Yesterday afternoon Professor Proctor addressed a Targe audience in Steinway Hall, under the auspice* of the Teachers’ Association. xhe subject was “The Life amt Death of a World.” The lecturer considered the various members of the solar system. so~far as they tended to throw any light upon the beginning, the middle life and the old age of the earth, and briefly summarized the. processes through which the earth most have passed in reaching its present condition. He estimated the time consumed in these processes as not less than 500,000,000 years, and Said that 25,000,000 years will elapse before it will reach the -present condition of the moon. He saw no obstacle presented by these vast periods of time to a belief in Him who works through all things. ? ’ PROFESSOR PROCTOR’S ADDRESS. We have this evening to consider the various members of the solar system, as representing to us the beginning, the middle life anil the old age and death of a planet. I forbear from troubling you with any considerations as to the various arguments concerning the creation of the universe, as I think that the Students of science have satisfied them selves that the planets anil the earth on which we live hav*e arrived at their present condition by processes analogous to-growth, and which are commonly known. under the one head of evolution, but I may particularly indicate them in this way. ' The changes of the earth’s crust such as are .now going on we find have been going on during periods of time which in reality grows longer the more Ve study the evidence, anil I don’t think it would be exaggerating —in fact I know from the evidence which has been gathered that it does

not fall far short of the truth—to say that 100,000,000 of years must have elapsed, during which the frame of the earth has been very much as it is at present. I Various processes have taken place during that time'which have aided in the course of formation, such as the gradual deposit of matter and other processes which we call denudation, by which the surfaces df continents have been worn away, passages have been ‘ cut by the rivers, and other details in the formation have taken place. Bv estimating at what rate the processes "have taken place we are able to form some idea of the length of time which must have elapsed dfiring which these' processes have .been continually going . on. Then the earth's crust shows us clearly that anterior to this there must have been a time when there was far too great a heat- upon this globe for it to be the abode of life, and this period has been carefully estimated at 300,000,000 of years. Then we have the preceding period, when the earth was in a vaporous state. Of that we derive evidence, not from the earth herself, but from the {>resent state of the solar system, which eads us to the conclusion that the whole system must have been in a form of vapor, and therefore our earth must have had its beginning in a vaporous state. V\ e find another line of evidence of this fact in regard to the moon, which shows that the frame of the earth must once have extended so far as to include that luminary, and that could not have been unless she had-been in a vaporous, state. So we have to take into aocount, also, the length of time that would be occupied in the change of onr earth from a vajwrous to a solid and liquid state, and we cannot regard that as less than 100.000,000 of years. This brings us to the very moderate estimate of 500,000,000 of years during which our earth has existed as an ind£ pendent whole, first in a vaporous state; secondly, the solid and liquid form, and its gradual (moling so that at length, ind thirdly, its surface was fit to be the abode # of living creatures of various kinds', and l)jr the processes of wearing down and denudation, such as are now taking reaching her present con- * dition. It is essential that we should grasp the idea of the long period which has elapsed during these various processes of formation have been in operation; but there is, of course, an escape from that by accepting the theory that everything we find upon the earth s surface, and everything we hare discovered in regard to the solar system, is evidence that the svstem was created just as it is; that though all the evidences of the processes of -development are presented to our reason, we have been misled; that reason, not our own, but given to us, has led us astray; and that all these relations of earth were created at once for tfo other purpose apparently but to contradict our .reason. Why should we be conscious to save time or limit our ideas of space if this were not so? In the eyes of Him who works through all thing* there is no difference between great and small; and these longer periods are as easily to be believed m as reiulting from His action as the shorter periods we are so much better able to deal with. Where we admit growth and development on a small scale, we ought to be able to admit it on a large scaie; and where our reason seems to point to these enormous periods of time, I do not think we ought to reject its teachings and refuse to accept them as readily as we do the processes of development affecting plant or animal, or those smaller details we are unable to understand more clearly. COOLDCG PERIODS OF THE WORLDS. But after all it matters very little whether we take the longer periods of

time or the shorter. We are not concerned wJtlLtfca periods of gfeft, hot th« inont of development for e*di period in the past of our earth, and it matters little whether the processes at development were quicker and so required a shorter period, or were slower m their operation and so required a longer time. What we have to consider is whether the various members of the solar system represent to us the remote past of our own earth in some cases, and in others the remote future; and I think 1 shall be able to show you that they do, for I am going to adopt a principle that will allow os to view our own planet and the sun as different ages, and this principle is that the huger the orb is the longer has been its period of Kwth, because it would take a longer e for a large mass to 000 l than for a small one. Take two balls of heated iron, for instance, one of which is four times greater in size, and has a volume eight times greater than the other. At the beginning the. larger ball will have eight times as much neat as the other, and aa the surface is only four times as great the supply of heat would 1m 4 . four times as long. Apply that principle to the planets. The diameter of Jupiter is seven times that of the earth, and his volume would be in the same ratio were it in the same shape of compression as that of our earth. Then if we multipi)’ our 500,000,000 years ot existence by seven, we get 3,500,000,000 years; or, in other words, if the planets began their existence at the same time as independent orbs, which assumption is adopted for convenience only, it would be 3,000,000,000 years before Jupiter would be in the same state as our earth. Without insisting on these figures, we may fairly assume that Jupiter will have to K through a very long period of time fore he reaches the same state as this globe. Take the smaller orbs. The moon is one-eighty-hnt part of the size of our earth, and one-thirteenth part of our supply of heat would last the moon six times as long. Every stage of our earth's cooling, therefore, would last six times as long. Therefore, instead of 500,000,000 of years we get for the moon only about 80,000,000 of years. Iq other words, the moon wottld have reached the same state as our earth is now 420,000,000 of years •go. The sun was probably formed, as all the planet* were formed. In a state ot vapor, and probably still remains in great part in a vaporous state. He is the younger member df the solar system simply because he surpasses all the real in miss. By the same principle as we have before applied, it would take 35,000,000,000 of years to bring the sun to the same state as our earth; therefore we will consider him as a youngor member of the system, not, of course, in yeare, bat development, and so pass onward from its present state to the changes our earth is passing through and then to her old age.

CHANGES OF THE PLANETS. The hall at this point was made completely dark, and the Professor brought the stereopticon into active use. The first illustration was a chart of the relative position of the solar bodies, the lecturer explaining their comparative dimensions and volume. The dots on the sheet, he remarked, represented the asteroids. In reality they were too large, but if they had been their right size relatively oh the chart they would have been invisible, and therefore not very instructive. More than 200 of these stare had been already discovered, and thousands doubtless existed. Nineteen were discovered last year—the largest number in any one year—and, as Professors Peters, Watson and others were studying them assiduously, we should, no doubt,, see more of them every year. Among other views of the solar bodies, 'a splendid photograph of the sun, by Dr. Rutherford, was shown, from whicli many details of the character of that orb could, be gleaned. It showed, for instance, that the atmosphere was dense, but not very deep, compared with that of the earth. The, spots on the sun had been held to be openings in the clouds which enveloped the surface of the sun, and which were known as the solar granules. These granules were swept aside, and the dark figures appeared, but how it was that they were swept aside periodically, and how the sun came to show many spots at one time and then again none at all, and why these changes averaged about eleven years, was as yet a problem to which no solution had been offered. Dr. Kirk, of Indiana, was very near it, probably, when he concluded that these spots were meteors following in the track of some comet which had fallen upon the surface of the sun. The next picture showed one of these spots enlarged, which has a surface three times as large as that of the earth. In the next the granules of the sun were shown, and several followed npon the same subject. The next series of views purported to show what lies outside the snn, the prominences, and the corona, and in reference to a picture showing the direction of the axis of the zodiacal light, the lecturer made the important statement: “ I believe it proceeds from the central region of a great nebulous disc, extending to the limits of the solar system itselL” The Jovian system was next shown and considered. The sun, said the Professor, is surrounded by cloud layers, and it is these layers,’and not the sun, that meet our eye. You have ,heard of a variety; of changes taking place in these cloud layers, and recently a similar change has taken place in the cloud layers of Jupiter, by which a long elliptical opening in the southern hemisphere, equal to threefourths of the surface of. our own earth, is now seen. Therefore we have to infer that -he clouds must have been swept to one side by some mighty force everted, we cannot doubt, from below, and brought into view the real of the planet. And it is proved that the planet has intense heat and is constantly working these changes, by the fact that these cloud layers are in no way influenced by the snn. I think the evidence we have is that in the youth of the planet the waters that are one day to form the planet’s oceans were raised into the atmosphere in the form of these clouds.

Now let us pass to the planet Saturn, of “which a picture is here shown. Here we find the same evidence of Kat cloud masses. These discs upon planet are unquestionably formed of cloud, and are what will be the oceans of that planet. I am almost disposed to think that Saturn, although not so large as Jupiter, is even younger in development. I think we find evidence of that in its incomplete system that travels round it. There are his rings and his eight moons, and recently three other moons have been formed. Changes are certainly taking place in the nags of Saturn, which show that it is. as it were, a kind of laboratory of nature at present. ’ I wish you to notice that it is generally believed that the central planet is intended to be the abode of life, and the satellites are intended as sources of light and heat- It is not so in regard to the noble orb, the sun; and in regard to the satellites, take those of Jupiter, for example—you will find several equal to support life. The larger is as large as the planet Mercury and has a surface of 14,000,000 square miles, and is entirely fitted to support a great number of living creatures. And it is proper to notioe that what is commonly supposed to be the purpose of these moons is not fulfilled by them. If all these four were at the full at the same time,. which they could not be, they would only reflect on Jupiter one-sixteenth part of

light—we know nothing at the Wt o*2 we mote? white Jupiter can supply to the nearest of them thirteen tones as much light as we reoeive from oar moon. Saturn’s system Is a miniature of the solar eastern. first the central orb, then the ring system, a multitude at minute fragments, and outside of them eight moons, just as in the solar system there are eight primary planets. The larger of these moons oould be oompazed to Jupiter, the next to Mars, and the next to Mercury; and the very least could be the abode of man v millions of living creatures. Saturn himself oould not be the abode of life, even if he were not, m I think, intensely heated. THE EARTH'S FUTURE. A comparison of the various other members of the terrestrial part of the solar system will tell us much of the earth's future, the moon especially telling pf the earth’s future just as Jupiter has of its past. Upon the pictures at Venus very little reliance can be placed, ana few favorable opportunities are offered for studying her, because when at the full she lies on the other side of the sun, and at the only time we could study her she turns her darkened hemisphere toward us. In this view of ths transit of Venus half her disc is shown on that of the son. Wq must not assume that this is not sunlight, for it must be light of the sun brought into view by the effect of reflection. Therefore, we learn that the planet has an atmosphere, and it is said to be at the very least as dense as that of our own earth. Then we learn, also, that oceans are on her surface, because it has been shown by the spectrum. It appears, also, that it closely resembles our earth in condition, and that it is the one planet fit to be the abode of living creatures like those which exist on the earth. In Mars we begin to recognize the effects of planetary’ old age. These greenish patches we must regard as seas, and we find that they are much less in comparison to the rest of the area than in our earth. On our own planet 72.00 is covered with water, ana on this only about 60.00. The older planet has the smaller water surface, and the idea is suggested that in old age of a planet the waters gradually diminish in extent. We pass to the moon to answer that question, and here we certainly find no traces of water. Also, we trace no atmosphere of appreciable density, and everything tends to show that she had water on her surface, but that it has disappeared. Does this seemingly cold and dead world appear to have passed through the same stages as our own earth? I think we cannot doubt this when we look at her volcanic craters. I think, too, there must have been there such life as exists on our own planet. There were oceans on her surface, which formerly occupied these Sts, which, the waters being witbwn, present this finely-granulated appearance from its action. This seems to be a natural explanation: as the planet becomes old the oceans become soaked into the planet’s interior, the crust of the surface, as the planet cools, being formed into large cavities such as exist in porous substances, aud into these the water is withdrawn. Dr. Franklin, of England, has shown that four times as much water as now finds place on the earth’s surface could be found room for in the interior of the earth, when the process of cooling has gone sufficiently far. Then, In reghhJ to the atmosphere, there is certainly no trace on the moon, but we have a picture here showing that the volcanic action of the moon was at one time no less than in our own earth. Here are the .craters of Capernus compared with those on the Bay of Naples. You notice that they are larger on the moon’s surface than those of Naples, with the exception of Vesuvius. But we have to remember that the volcanic action of the moon had more to contend with, and therefore, although the volcanoes are large, they may not have exerted so great a force. Here we havda picture representing the moon without an atmosphere, and this, it may be generally stated, represents the- future ofour own earth. The moon probably represents the future of our own earth at a distance of time of 26,000,000 years; so not only in the first place have we not sufficient time for these changes to occur, but our emotions are also satisfied, so far as they are affected bv the painful thought that when the old age of the earth will come it will cease as the abode of life, by the reflection that ourselves and thousands after us, to the remotest generations, will still have ample time and ampleroom to remain on the earth’s surface. AN INFINITUDE OF STARS. Let us pause to consider some of the Stare in this regard. ' Many of them are too old and many too young to sustain life on their surfaces, but that they were formed for some purpose beyond that of being useful to this particular Dlanet there is no doubt. A study of the heavens seems to tell us that all life should occupy all space and all time, and not be crowded into one portion of time or one portion of space. So I think we may look at the heavens, with the thousands of stare to be seen with the naked eye, and hold this thought. There you have 6,000 suns, •each a brother of dur own sun, though many belong to higher orders, and we may believe they have thousands of orbs circling round them which are the abodes of life. And if each one has bpt a single world in its. system as the abode of life, we have then thousands of inhabited worlds similar, pexhaps, to our’own.

In the one single polar map here shown there are 324,000 stars, all to be seen with a small telescope, and by one of Herechel’B telescopes 20,‘000,000 stars would have been brought into view in the same section of the firmament. We here find in the depths of space the worlds that will take the place of those already known to us. But after all there still remains the thought that each planet is tending toward death, and though the periods of time are so vast that they seem like eternity, the dying out of the larger of these suns appears to us like the death of the universe itself. But take such an orb as Sirius, which is a thousand times larger than the sou, and after his death all the smaller pros will have died, but can we escape the thought that there will still remain others to take their places? It seems to me we cannot, if we remember how thoroughly we have been deceived in the past. We thought the earth the center of the universe; then the solar system was everything, then that system became one in a galaxy of stars, and in tuni the galaxy of Btars is lost in the infinitude of stars. So may it not be in regard to time and space as it is in regard to matter; that time is one of many formations of the universe, that there are higher orders so much grander in form that very miracles of time in regard to them are like the suns and planets that we see. There is a lower order that through space in which all the waste energies of suns —our own sun included—are continually being poured; they may be in turn reviving the next lower order of the universe, and may it not well be that we in turn may receive from the higher orders something of their waste energy P so that instead of death we may rather undergo a continual interchange by various orders of the universe, which shall be carried on through all time.— N. T. Tribune. . —lt is veiy difficult to find fault with a dear little three-year-old who buries his head under the clothes and sings: “ Now I lay me down to sleep, Fop goes the weaael. "Siqhange,