, 1866-01-15
THE CHEMISTRY OF NATURE.

III q1GS1CIa IEl1clc VIC EtaLEQ luc IAc0ry
Of vision adopted by Mr.. Harrington In
this, VIC will present his theory regarding the
constitution of the Fun, which Ia equally op-
posed to commonly received opinions
Astrologers and philosophers long deceived
the world, and were themselves deceived, in
regard to the movements OF heavenly bodies
But, perhaps, of NIL deceirers that mankind
has had to contend with, the sun himself has
been the greatest. Before the days Of Copper
nicus and Calico, every person gave the sun
credit for being great traveller, and We find
him represented, In the ancient pictures
Of the consultations, with blazing car and
fiery stceds, travelling rs ruling monarch,
with q brilliant train OF moon and stars as his
followers; and with these he wns supposed
to journey not less than 2s5, ,ooo, ,oo9 miles
each day. To Cope1nicus We are indebted
for proving that the apparent motion Of the
sun is caused by the dinrnal rotation Of the
earth on its own axis. For teaching tlIs,
Calico was kept prisoner for FIVE years at
Sienna mud Acetd; nor would his jailors
consent TO his release until he told q solemn
1Alschood to those solemn falsehoodloving
wise men. But notwithstanding It is ee..ss3
years since Galileo exposed the deceptive
character Of the sun, In leading philoso-
phcrs to believe him 20 great q traveller,
he has 10 this day continued to decide them
in the belief TINT he is SO liberal a bcncfactor
as to supply all the planets In the solar sys-
tenn, and their satellites, with all the light
and heat which they receive. One theory
6upposcs the sun to he On Immense mass Of
solid, incandesceut matter, according to Sir
Isaac Newton's estimste :, 900 times more hot
than rcd-hot Iron and according To recent
calculations, glowing with light $50 times
more vivid thnn the fame known as the
magnetism light from this mas Of fire and
fame the solar system is said to be supplied
with light and heat. And 10 tremendous is
supposed to bc the power with which light
and hest arr projected from the Eun, thai 1t
is estimated TO le equal to 62, 900 horse power
for each square yar'd Of the Bun's surface
equal to the power obtained by the sunsump-
tion Of 1900 pounds OF cnsl per hour
Whence comes the supply Of fuel necessary
to keep 1t bu1ninge Comets cannot
supply It, because all Of them which
are seen 10 approach the sun, are
also seen to leave II nea}n. Planets cannot
fall Into the sun as fuel, because none OF them
have been missed from the earliest period Of
recorded history. And even II they were to
be SO used, how loug would they lasts The
sun itself is l,:sS1,0 900 times rs large rs the
Garth. A proximate idea OF their relative
proportions may be realized from the tact,
verified by experiment, that 1850 600 grains
Of wheat will measure eight bnsheld. There
fore, In size, the carth Is to the sun as one
gram of wheat is to eight bushels Of wheat.
II ne suppose the sun 10 consume hourly q
bulk OF fuel equal to its own bulk, tho Garth
would be swallowed up In moment, and all
the planets, satellites and asteroids would be
consumed In four minutes md ffty-si1
seconds!
A second theory, advocated by Sir William
Herschel, nnd which has found many sup
porsers, suppose, the sun 10 be = Large hab-
liable globe, surrounded BY glowing. lumi-
nous atmosphere from which, and not from
the Sun itsels, the solar system is supplied
with Light and heat. A German philoso-
phcr, however, discovered In the solar spec
trum certain dark lines, md, finding that
the flame Of lamp when fmpregsnated with
the yapors of certain metals produced a
spectrum with corresponding lines, be In
| fesred that the vapors Of tho Same metals
must exist over the SUMS surtace, and that
the body Of the sun must be In an incan-
descent state to melt and vhporise the vasa-
ous metals. And such appears to be the
more common opinion, at the present day IN
consequence OF this discovery. According TO
sir William Hefscheas theory, we can only
infer that the Hun's atmosphere Is composed
Of tndsnmable gases similar to tho cArth's