New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1847-12-04


that force bv which il would move forever IN a
riobt line bot the attractive power OF the Sun SEXES
i and loi a planet bathed in the light Of its con
trolling lumnary, is sweeping IN ITS orbit, onward
and onward IN its swift career, until II comes back
10 the uoint whence 1t started. Has its velocity
been diminished has It lost any Of its motion p
No. With the same velocity with which it set out
il reaches its starting point and onward moves
again.
Now, suppose we were If it were possible, % fix
golden rings in the path Of this moving body, Of
such diameter that 1t might pass through with not
solitary hair sbreacth 70 spare. Such is the beau
y and perfection Of its motion that from century 10
century, and from age to age, this solitary planet
would swing in its orbit around the san. passing
uniformly and invariably through these golden rings
with no shadow Of variation from It's first motion.
But stay While this planet is revolving in the dis
lance, we find another small globe with dim and
diminished light, commencing its movement, subOr
dinate and controlled by the movement of its cen
trAl body-the planet, There is satellite-the
Moon-added TO the first body, the two sweeping
onward, but, alas the accuracy of the original mo-
ton Of the planet is destroyed forever. IL no long
er sweeps through these golden rings. AS the
Moon passes in between it and the Sum- It adds IT'S
force of attraction 10 that Of the Sum- ana the
Earth is drawn inward, no longer passing through
the points it once unerringly visited. As the
Moon swings round on the opposite side, 1t draws
the Earth farther from its orbit; and thus we find
oscillations backward and neutrality-suspicious.
and disturbances-which 1t would seem no human
intellect can grasp or unravel
But this has been done. Go back 5000 years
stand upon that mighty watcb-tower, the Temple
Of Beus in old Babylon-and look out The Sun
is sinking in eclipse, and great is the dsmay Of the
terror stricken inhabitants. We have the fact and
circumstances recorded. But how shall we prove
that the record is correct The Astronomer I'M
raves the devious movements Of the Sun, the
and tho Moon fhrouOh he whole pprlOd OF
1900 years--with the power of intellect he goes
backward through the cycles OF thirty long centu'
ries-snd announces that at such an hour on such
day-as the Chaldean has written--that eclipse
did take place.
such is the character of the knowledge ve have
attained with reference TO the movements OF these
bodies. But we must go still farther. i announced
TO YOU that the Law OF Grayitation declares that
every particle OF matter in the Universe attracts
every other particle Now then, add to the Sys
TEN we have imagined, two interior primary plan
cts Mercury and Nenus-the planet Mars on the
outside-and the seven Asteroids now revolving
between the planets Mars and Jupiter add to
these Jupiter with his four moons, Saturn with bis
mighty orb of79, 900 miles diameter-add his moons
and rings also go still farther till you reach IRA
nus-add his moons step out still farther To the
utmost boundaries now known OF our Solar system
and bring in that wonderful, mysterious body
known rs the planet Neptune, whose history is as
yet more wonderful and strange than any other be
longing TO our ystem add all these together-et
each one of these bodies act upon every other, and
then, is it possible for the human mind TO grasp
the laws which hold all these bodies in their orbits
Can it roll back the tide of Time, and tell you that
a thousand years ago, such and such was the con
iguratons of all these planets and satellites and
not only that, but draw aside the veil from the u
ture and show thousand years hence, that such
and such shall be their CONGREGATIONS With all
their disturbing influences can such truth be elimi-
mated, and the whole rendered clear, perfect, har
monious and beautiful Yes. even this has been
accomplished.
But we have not exhausted the Problem OF our
System even yet. have only taken into account
the planets and satellites belonging to cur own
system. There are other mysterious bodies, which
seem not to obey the laws that govern these move
ments. While the planets are circular IN their or.
bits and the satellites nearly the same, we Ind
DIM mysterious bodies, wandering through the ut
termost regions of Space we see them coming
closer and closer, and they approach our system,
they fling out their mighty banners, wing their
lightning flight around the Sun and speed away TO
the remotest limits of vacuity. These eccentric
bodies-these Comets-belong TO our Solar System,
and form part and parcel Of the whole: each and
every one OF these must be taken into account in
resolving the mighty Problem Of the Universe. And
they are not to be counted by tens nor
thousands their number is not less than millions
Neither do they revolve in the plane on which
all the planets sweep around the great center reg
ulary and tremendously, we find the comets pour
ing in from every possible point forming every pos
sibe angle, and passing out in every possible
direction. And yet the perturbatlons occasloned
by these bodies in their long journeys OF thousands
of wears have to be made out. At this very time,
the whole astronomical world is intensely interest
ed in watching the return of one of these wonder
ful bodies Two hundred and ninety years ago II
visited our System for a short space. The TWO
hundred and ninety yearsl-its computed period
are now nearly expired, and at this time every tel
escope on our globe is directed with the utmost III
tensty of anxiety TO that particular region IN space
where il is believed the stranger will first make
his appear Think, that we should be able 70
trace the Invisible, unknown movement OF these a.
most spiritual bodies and be able to announce then
return with degree of accuracy that astonlshes
every intellect And yet this is the fact
But TO what distances do these bodies penetr ate
into Space When we remember That the peri
odic time of the most distant of our planets tNep
tune 700 600 600 miles from the Sum is but l67
wears and that the period OF some OF these comets
is not short OF three or four thousand years, how
immense must be the distance 10 which they re-
cede from our Sun
Now. retaining in your minds the TACT nave
stated-that every particle OF matter attracts every
other particleand that II these comets, IN sweep
ing out to this immense distance fail under the IN
huencc OF other suns, they are gone from u.s. never
10 revisit our System again; IS II possible then'
that there are other systems which do not inter
fere with ours and with each other Is 1t possible
that these forever " andering bodies do not come
under the influence Of other suns is Space so
bosndless-is the Universe so limited-ihat there
is room for more than one of these mighty systems
To this point would ask your attention. You see
thus partial development OF the scale upon winch
the Solar System was created, and you can begin
to appreciate the of the Problem Of the nj
verse which has been far solved, that man mig ut
attain knowledge of the System with which he
is in his ply steal nature, 50 Intimately associated
But there are other objects than planets aud
comets filling the heavens. Look out upon the
millions OF stars in beautiful considerations Be
hold these magnificent groups in every point OF the
heavens Trace out that mysterious and curieusiy-
wrought band stretching from one end OF the shy
TO the other-the Milky Way. Give aid To the
delighted eye, and through the space annihilstin6
telescope see millions and millions OF fash.
inc upon the dazzled sight at once. Surely these
bodies are clustered near together They are not
separated from each other by the same amount OF
space as we appear TO be separated from them
Let us examine this for moment The AS
tronomer. in order TO find his distance from any
heavenly body. ascertsins precisely the point 10
h,d. is