Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1869-08-04
A WORLD on FIRE.

con1agration, infinitely larger than tina,
Of London or Moscow, was announced,
To use the expression of a distinguished
astronomer, q world was found to be on
FIRE. A star, which till then had shone
meekly and u~nobtru,ivsly in the Corona
Borealis, suddenly blazed up into a
luminary Of the second magnitude. In
the curse Of three days from its dis.
covery in this new character BY Mr..
Birmingham, it had declined to the third
or fourth order of brilliancy. In IL
days, dating from its first apparition in
the Irish heavens, It had sunk to the
eighth rank, and it went on waning
until the 26th Of June, when it ceased
to be discernible except through the
medium of the telescope. This was q
remarkable, though certainly not an uu-
precedented proceeding on the part Of a
star ; but one singular circumstance in
its behaviour raj that, after the lapse
of nearly two months, it began to blaze
up again, though not with equal ardor,
aud, after maintaining its glow for a few
weeks and passing through sundry
phases Of color, it gradually paled its
fires, and returned to its former insig-
ni6cance.
How many years had elapsed since
this awful conflagration actually took
place it would be presumptuods to
guess but it must be remembered that
news from the heavens, though carried
by the ~feetest of messengers, light,
reach us long after the event has trans
PRED, and that the Same celestial cour-
Ter is still dropping the tidings at each
station it reaches in space, until it sinks
exhausted from the length OF its flight.
Now when this object was examined, as
it was promptly and eagerly by MI.
Huggius and Professor Miller, they
fourd to their great wonder that it
yielded two spectra-the q imposed
upon the other, though obviously inde-
pendent. There wa the p~rismatic rib
bon crossed by dark lines, which be-
longs to tbs sun aud stars generally, but
there was another 10 which four bright
lines figured ; and these, according to
the canons of Interpretation previously
mentioned, indicated that some lumin-
Gus gas Tor gases) was also pouring out
its light from the surface Of the orb.
Two of the lines spelled out hydrogen
in the spectral language. What the
other two signi6ed did not then appear;
but, inasmueh as those four streaks
were brighter than the rest of the spec
trum, the source from which they came
must obviously have been moro in
tensely heated than the underlying
parts, or photosphere, from which the
normal stellar light proceeded. And as
the star had suddenly famed up, was it
not a natural superstition that it had
become %enwrappsdin burning hydrogen,
which, in consequence of some great
conyulsiou, had been liberated 10 pro-
digious quantities, and then, combining
with other elements, had set this hap
less world Of FIRE? In such q fierce
coolagration tue combustible gas would
soon be consumed, and the glow would,
therefore, begin to decline, subject, rs
in this case, to Q second eruption,
which occasioned the renewed %outburst
Of light on the goth of August.
Dy SuSu SasoseioPuo ~ NV
wholly impossible that u own globe
may some time be ravaged, for if q
word from the Almighty were to un.
loose for a few moments the bonds Of
affinity which unite the elements OF
water-of the ocean on the land and
the moisture in the ARA single spark
would bring them together with q fury
which would kindls the funeral pyre Of
the human race, and be fatal to the
planet and all the works that are there
in. 1t cannot be but a startling fact
for us that in yonder doomed and dis.
tant world, we have, probably, seen in
our own day a realization OF the fearful
picture sketched by Peter, when the
heavens Tor atmosphere) being on FIRE
shall be dissolved, and the elements
shall melt with fervent heat" And il
we regard it as the centre of q system,
i, is impossible to think without horror
Of the fate Of the numerous globes
it when overwhelmed BY this
deluge Of light and caloric.-
British Quarterly ReuisU.