Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1866-11-22
THE SKY.

Louis Dispatch, that they will get giddy
before they reach the. end of this article
1t is by Mons. Flammation, whose recent
work on the inhabited worlds other than
Earth is one of the most successful Of the
Partisan season:
To form an accurate idea of the sky,
we must in the first place form an accu-
rate idea of the earth, and conceive the
ball on which we live as suspended In
space without any support, except as a
soap bubble which floats in the air. Of
a truth the earth is even more isolated
than a soap bubble floating in the air
for the soap bubble really rests on the
strata of air, while the earth really rests
upon no fluid, no strata, and is indepen-
dent of every sort of support. ! may be
asked-but then if the earth is thrown
like cannon ball into space, why doesn' t
it fall? | answer: Fall, where2 They
may reply Fall down space. Ny re-
sponse is: But what do you call "down
space?' Down is a relative idea. Form
a clear idea Of the terrestrial globe sus-
pended in complete isolation in infinite
space, and you will at once see there is
no such thing as the question. Here is
the globe in space. 1t measures three
thousand leagues in diameter. You are
some five or six feet high. Your stature,
compared to the size of the EARTH is con
sequently less than the size Of an ant
walking around ball of the size Of St
Paul's church, London.
Suppose you walk around the globe in
every direction, as an ant might do on
an immense cannon-ball. The globe is
loadstone, and it is its attraction which
fastens you invincibly to its surface
Now, whatever may be the point of this
globe where your feet rest, you will
always call down below your feet, and up
the space over your head You may
successively place yourself at every
point of the globe, without exception,
all of them will necessarily be down to
YOU. and the corresponding. space over
head will always be up 10 you. At the
North Pole, the South Pole will be your
down; at the South Pole, you may con-
slider the North Pole down. 1t is, con
sequently, nothing but matter Of posi-
ton, as far as you are concerRed--lt Is
not absolute reality.
Two observers placed at the extreml-
ties of the same diameter will have up
reciprocally opposed two others placed
at the extremities of second diameter
intersecting the first diameter at right
angles, would call up two points perpen.
dicular to the former, and so on. Were
the whole globe covered with observers,
each one would call the portion OF space
oyer head up, so that the whole space
which euyirons the globe would be up
for the population Of the earth.
Such is the sky. This word no l3nger
expresses anything but the up relative
to our nosition, that is, the indefinite
space which enyirons the earth. If the
observer himself does not change his po-
sltlon, the vertical point, nevertheless
change, every instant for each OF US, for
the globe turns on its axis onpe lp twenty
four hours. Consequently there - no
such thing as absolute up or down ip the
universe, and therefore, there is neither
right nor left, nor absolute position.
The earth is sphere isolated in space,
and the space extends infinitely in every
direction, and all around it. Infinitely
Let us try to ascertain the exact signifl-
cation of this word. Suppose yon detpr-
mine to measure this infnity, and so set
out from the earth as your point Of de-
parture, and move in any direction.
Very well; whatever direction you take,
won NAV 20 in a straight line, and never
yest one second-you may fly as swift as
lieht itself, which moves at the rate OF
seventy thouasnd leagues a second, or
Won may 90 still more swiftly, iffou can
conceive such velocity, and-mafk what
| say-you may keep mp this rate OF
speed for years, for centuries for csntu-
rles of centuries-you VII never, never,
never attain the limits of this immense,
this infinite tract Of space
As you speed on the Rbysses will close
over you, other ahysses viii open in front
Of you, and this constantly, forever and
forever, without end, without pause,
whatever may be the ages upon ages you
spend in your flight. Infnity will still
yawn its measureless depths before you,
though you we're to exhaust all time,
though you we're to identify yourself with
eternity. In reality your long and i'm
measurable fight would be precisely the
same thing as if you had never stirred
from Vonr present position Of absolute
repose; for you you'd not be one single
step nearer inhnity.
Consequently, were We for an instant
TO consider this earth as the only globe
in this infinite space which environs il on
al sides, and we're we to suppose that It
could fall, like ball in an abyss, the
earth you'd fall, fall for centuries Of ages,