Sugar planter. [volume] (West Baton Rouge [i.e. Port Allen, West Baton Rouge Parish, La.]) 1856-1925, 1866-11-10
FINAL FATE OF THE UNIVERSE.

without any force actlbg upon eaCu o'uei
than their own gravity, they would I'm.
mediately start toward each other, and
would rush together. The sun and plan
cts, which constitute the stellar system
to which our solar system belongs, are
prevented from running together into one
mass by their revolutions around each
other. The revolutions Of the planets
aronnd our sun, and of the satellites
about their primaries, have been ascer-
tanned, with that wonderful precision
which is the just pride of astronomical
science, and astronomers are now engag'
ed in the sublime problem Of unraveling
the revolutions of the countless suns that
make up our stellar system. Already the
cluster of the Pleiades is indicated as the
proximate locality of the center around
which our sun, with its attendant planets,
is sweeping his vast orbit and it is sug-
gested that it is probably the common
center of the orbits of all the suns of our
stellar system.
If the force of gravity extends across
the inconceivable spaces which separate
the several stellar systems of the universe,
those systems must rush together unless
they are held apart by revolutions around
each other.
If light were an emanation, as held by
Newton, the spaces between the solid bo-
dies of the universe might be absolutely
empty and in that case, the revolutions
of the bodies around each other might go
on forever. On the other hand, if light
is a vibration in a subtle fluid, the fluid
must obstruct the motions Of bodies re-
vo1ving in it, and they must finally come
together in one mass. The experiment so
Jog eniously devised by Arago, and car
ried out with such honorable regard for
the fame of it's designer by Messrs. Fou-
cault, Fizeau and Bereguet, to determine
whether there is a difference in the veloc-
ity Of light in its passage through air and
water, has demonstrated that light is a
vibration. 1t follows from this that, as
far as light extends, space is filled With a
material fluid which resists the motion of
bodies revolving ia it, and bodies within
this space must gradually wind their
way inward, and ultimately come togeth-
"a AnVO VuV A00o.
The moon must be drawing very slow
~ nearer and nearer to the earth, and
the two bodies, in the far distant future,
will come together. The solid crust of
the earth will be broken up by the shock,
an immense quantity of beat will be gen.
Grated by the destruction Of the moons
motion, and the two bodies will fuse to-
gether into one molten globe.
AS the new and enlarged earth is cool
ed upon it's surface, a second series of ge-
illogical deposits will be constituted, &C
companied, perhaps, by strange and il
conceivable forms of animal and vegeta-
bic life.
At the same time, the earth is winding
it's way inward to the sun, and must ulti-
mately fall, an in%considerable pebble, into
the vast glowing mass. The same fate
awaits all the planets, and our solar sys-
tenn must one day be but a single globe.
When this globe is cooled to the right
temperature, it may be covered by a null
titude of inhabitants, and astronomers
may rise who will watch its revolutions
among the associated suns o four stellar sys-
TEN. If their knowledge and skill are equal
to the science of our astronomers, they
will see the ultimate coming together Of
all these suns into one common globe
And not not this only, for they will pre-.
dict the final coming together Of all the
stellar systems of the visible universe in
to one mass of matter.
When this mass is first collected. it.
will be intensely hot from the destruction
Of motion in the several. suns and sys-
TENS of suns as they come together. The
heat will be radiated outward into the
universe, and the one mass of matter will
be gradually cooled. During the cool.
ing there will be the same play and mu-
tual interchange Of heat, light, electrici.
ty, magnetism, and other imponderable
forces that is now upon this earth. AS
the cooling proceeds, the action of these
forces will diminish ; when 997 degrees is
reached, light will cease, and darkness
will fill the universe. As each vibration
of heat leaves the material mass, it will
expand outward at the rate of 1920
miles per second in all directions, in the
form of a swift swelling hollow globe.
When the temperature of absolute cold
is reached (-493-2 degrees), the last vi
bration of heat will leave the mass 81
matter and will expand outward through
all infinity Of space and lime.
Surprising, however, the ethereal fluid