The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1855-05-12
The Earth.

The Earth.
John Phoenix Esq, Of the Pioneer Maga.
zine, San Francisco, and the Herald, San
Diego, is one Of the purcst wits Of the age.
lie is at present engaged in lectures on As
tronomy. We have Published his "Sun !"
now hear him on the Earth ~
"The earth, or as the Latins calls It. Tel
lus, from which originated the expression,
"do tell Us, "Jis the third planet In the solar
system, and the one on which we subsist,
with all our important joys and sorrows--
The "San Diego Herald, is published week.
ly on this planet, for five dollars per annum,
payable invariable in advance. As the earth
is by no means the most importaRt planet in
the system, there is no reason TO suppose
that it is particularly distinguished from the
others by being inhabited. 1t is reasonable
therefore, to conclude that oil the other
planets Of the system are filled with living,
moving and sentient beings and as some OF
them are superior to the earth in size and
positions, it is not improbable that Their in.
habitants may be superior to US in physical
and mental organization"
''But If this were demonstrablc fact in.
stead Of mere hypothesis, il would be found
very difficult matter to persuade us Of It's
truth To the inhabitants Of Venus, the
earth appears like a brilliant star, very
much, in fact, as Venus appears to US; and
r.as,,ning from ana'"ev. we are lead TO be-
lieye that IN, election Of Mr.. pierce, the
European war, or the spit in the srea'
Democratic party, produced but very little
excitement among them.
To the inhabitants Of JuPirER, our i'm
portant globe appears like small star oi
fourth or fifth magnitude. We recollect
some years ago, gazing with astonishment
on the inhabitants Of drop Of water, devel-
opcd by the solar microscope and secretly
wondering whether they were not rcasona
BILE beings, with souls to he saved. 1t is not
altogether pleasant reflection that highly
scientific inhabitant Jf Jupiter, armed with
a telescope Of 90 u.s. inconccivable form,
may be pursuing similar course Of inquiry,
and ndulgng IN similar specuatlons re
gariing our earth and its inhabitants. Gaz
ing with curious eye his attention is sud
denly attracted by the movements Of grand
celebration Of the Fourth OF July in New
York, or a mighty convention IN Baltimore,
God bless my soul" he exciaiMs; 81 de
clare. they're alive, these little creatures
do see them wriggle.' To an nhabi,ant OF
the SuS, however he Of Jupiter is probably
quite as insignificant, and the sun.man Is
poSsiblys mere atom in the opinion Of a
dwelcr in SIRrs. A little reflection on these
subjects leads to the opinion the death OF an
individual man on this earth, though as i'm
portant event as can occur to himself, is
nt.1 10 ,t,llt -,
nature, or disturb particularly the great ag-
gregate of created beings.
"Thc earth moves around the sun from
west TO east in a year, and turns on its axis
il day; thus moving at the rate Of sixty
eight thousand miles an hour in its orbit,
and rolling around at the tolerably rapid rate
Of one thousand and forty miles per hour.
As our readers may have seen that when
man is gallopng horse violently over
smooth road, il the horse from viciousness
or other cause suddenly stops, the man
keeps on at the same rate over the animals
head, so We, supposng the earth to be sud
denly arrested on its axis, men, women,
children. horses, cattle, donkeys, editors
and members Of Congress, with all our goods
and chattels, would be thrown of into the
air at speed Of one hundred and seventy
three miles minute, every mothers son Of
us, describing tn" are Of parable, which is
probably the onlp description we should
ever be able to give Of the affair.
"This catastrophe, to one sufficiently col
lectcd to enjoy it, would doubtless be ex-
ccedinyly amusing; but as there would pro-
badly be no time for laughing, we pray that
it may not occur until after our demise,
when, should it take place. our monuments
will probably accompany the movement II
is singular fact that il man travels round
the earth in an eastwardly direction, he will
find, on returning to the place Of departure,
he has gained one whole day: the reverse
of this proposition being true also, it follows
that the Yankees, who are constantly trav-
cling to the West, do not live as long by a
day or two, as they would il they had staid
at home and supposing each Yankees time
to be worth one dollar and fifty cents per
day, it may be easily shown that a consider.
able amount Of money is annually lost by
their moving disposition
Mr.. Phoenix illustrated his lectures by an
orrery, during the exhibition Of which
number Of choice airs are executed upon
hand organ. His plan for an economical
orrery, is thus described "An economical
orrery may be constructed, by attaching
eighteen wires Of graduated lengths to the
shaft ofa candle.stick, apples Of different
sizes being placed at their extremitcs to re-
present the planets, and q central orange
resting on the candle.stick, representing the
Sun. An orrery Of this kind is liable to the
objection, that If handed around the audi
ence for examination, it is seldom returned
uninjured. The author has known an in
stance in which a child, four years of age,
on an occasion Of this kind, dcvourcd in sue
cession the planets Of Jupiter and IIerschcl,
and bit large spot out Of the sun before he
could DO arrested