The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1869-08-20

the Irish heavens, it had sunk to the eighth
rank, and Invent on waning until the 26th
of June, when it ceased to be discernible
except through the medium of the tele-
scope. This was a remarkable, though
certainly not an unprecedented proceed
ing on the part of the star; but one
singular circumstance in its behavior was
that, after the lapse of nearly two months,
it began to blaze up again, though not with
equal ardor, and, after maintaining its
glow for few weeks and passing through
sundry phases of color, it gradually paled
its fires and returned to its former in
significance,
How many years had elapsed since this
awful conflagration actually took place it
would be presumptuous ~ guess; but it
must be remembered that news from the
heavens, though carried by the 1eetest of
messengers, light, reach us long after the
event has transpired, and that the same
celestial courier is still dropping the It'd
ings at each station it reaches in space,
until it sinks exhausted by the length of
its fight. Now, when this object was ex-
amined, as it was promptly and eagerly by
Professor Miller and Mr.. Higgins, they
found to their great wonder that it yielded
two spcctra-the one imposed upon the
other, though obviously independent
There was the prismatic ribbon crossed by
dark lines, which belongs to the sun and
stars generally, but there was another in
which four bright lines figured; and these,
according to the canons of Interpretation
previously mentioned, indicated that some
luminous 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 signified did not then appear; but, in
asmuch as those four streaks were bright
er than the rest of the spectrum, the source
from which they came must obviously
have been more intensely heated than the
underlying parts, or philosophers, from
which the normal stellar light proceeded.
And as the star had suddenly famed up
was it not natural supposition that it had
become enwrapped in burning hydrogen,
which, in consequence of some great con-
vulsion, had been liberated in prodigious
quantities, and then, combining with other
elements, had set this hapless world on
fire? In such fierce conf1agration the
combustible gas would soon be consumed
and the glow would, therefore, begin to
decline, subject, as in this case, to second
eruption, which occasioned the renewed
outburst of light on the Goth of August.
By such catastrophe it is not wholly
impossible that our own globe may some
time be ravaged, for if word from the
Almighty were to unloose for few mo-
ments the bonds of affinity which unite
the elements of water-of the ocean Oh
the land and the moisture in the airs
single spark would bring them together
with fury which would kindle the fun
eral pyre of the human race, and be fata
to the planet and all the works that art
therein. 1t cannot but be startling fac
for us that in yonder doomed and distant
world we have, probably, seen in our OWL
day a realization of the fearful picture
sketched by Peter, "when the heavens (ol
atmosphere) being on fire, shall be dis
solved, and the elements shall melt will
fervent heat" And if we regard it as TIT
center of system, it is impossible to thinl
without horror of the fate of the numerous
globes around it when overwhelmed BY
this sudden deluge of light and caloric.-
British Quarterly Rerieao