The Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1863-1886, 1867-03-07
family was regularly converted every
year, but backslid in the Winter. .
TIE sKY.

,
earth, IS one Of the most succe ssful
books of the Partisan season. We
have rarely read anything so inter-
esting]
To form an accurate idea of the sky,
VIC must. in the first place. form an &C.
curate idea Of the earth, and conceive
the ball on which we live as suspended
in space without any support, except
as u soap bubble floating in the air. for
the soap bubble really rests on the
strata of air. while the earth rests
upon no fluid, no strata, and is inde-
pendent of every sort Of support.
may be asked But then if the earth
is thrown like a cannon ball into
space, why doesn't il faIl2 / answer
Fall-where? They may reply: Fall
down space. Ny response is: But
what do you call "down spaceT-
Down is relative idea. Form clear
idea of the terrestrial globe suspended
in complete isolation in infinite space,
and you will OF onco see there is no
such thing as up or down in the uni
versal frame. Examine the question
Here ia the globe in space. 1t meas
ures three thousand leagues in diane
ter. You are some five or six feet
high. Your stature compared to the
size of the earth is consequently less
than the space Of an ant walking
aronnd n hall of the size of St. Paul
church, London.
Suppose you walk around this globe
in every direction. as an ant might do
on an immense cannon ball This
globe is a loadstone and it is its at
traction which fastens you invincibIy
to its suriace. Now whatever may be
the point OF this globe wherever your
feet rest, you will always call dO,ca
below your feet, and up thNepace
above your head. You may Bhcces.
sively place yourself at every point OF
the globe without exception, all Of
them will necessarily be down to you.
: and the corresponding point Of space
f overhead will always be up to you. At
the North Pole the South Pole will be
| your do n; at the South Pole you may
r consider the North Pole OUn. 1t is
: consequently nothing but matter OF
0 position so tar as you arc concerned
it is not absolute reality.
n Two observers placed at the ex-
d tremities OF the same diameter will
have up reciprocally opposed; 'wc
l. others, placed at the extremltles oi
II second diameter intersecting the frs
diameter at right angles. would call u
is two points perpendicular to the tor
C mer; and so on, were the whole glob'
le covered with observers, each on'
would call the portion of space over
IL head up. so that the whole space whicl
,e environs the globe would be up for th
population of the earth.
uI Such is the sky. This word no lon
10 ger expresses anything but the u
n relative to our position, that is, Tn
indefinite space which environs tn
= earth. If the observer himself doe
# not change his position, the vertica
,o point, nevertheless, changes every in
ID stant for each of US, for the globe turn
ne on its axis once in twenty four hours
IN Consequently there is no such thing .
va absolu'e up or down in the univers
and therefore there is neither rigt
IA. nor left, nor any absolute position.
OF The earth is a sphere isolated
in space, and the space extends tnfnlt
ak IN in every direction and all arour
I'll. It. Infnitelyl Let stry to ascerta
ad the exact signifcation of this word =
lu Suppose you determine to measu
err this infinity, and 80 set out from Il
ss. earth as your point, and move in ar
IN direction. Very well; whatever d
ed rection you may take, you may go
or a straight line and never rest one Sc
eli ond-you may fly as swift as lig
he itself. which moves at the rate OF Sc
the enty thousand leagues second, or "
he may go still more swiftly, if you CT
it, conceive such velocity, and-mal
is. what say-you may keep up this ra
be OF speed for years, for centuries, +
,ht centuries of centuries OF centuries
OF You will never, never, never attain t
the limits of this immense, this min
lad track of space
ia. As you speed on the abysses W
.ul- close over you, other abysses will op
ing in front of you, and this constant
ere forever aud forever, without pau
sat. whatever may be the ages upon az
lm- you spend in your flight. Intini
e OF will still yawn its measureless dept
to before you. though you were to
ere haust all time. though you were
ing identity yourself with eternity
irm reality your long and immeasura
GUS flight would be precisely the sa
ok thing as if you had never stirred fir
dis. your present position of absolute
leu. pose; for you would not be one sin
try, step nearer in6nity.
vter Consequently, were we for an
rom slant to consider this earth as the
ma. ly globe in this indefinite space VIII
his environs it on all sides, and were
He to supp Sc that il could fall, like a
bulk in an abyss, the earth would fall,
lars. tall for centuries of ages, and wo
man constantly continue TO fall fore
cent without once reaching the bott
has though it were to fall through all o.
lot nifty After falling for u thous
rgy. centuries il would continue to fall
nded a thousand centuries without be
he one inch nearer the bottom of the
tiers, Unite ABYSS IL "ouiu aoso'u.s,y
tion. the same thing as if it remained in
| sis pose.
md q Around this earth tes . ngnt cc