The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1871-06-08

very properly think, these are the ele-
mentary principles of science, and arc
familiar to the minds of every school-boy
twelve years of age. Yes! but what
next? Suppose you take these gasses,
and mix them in any other proportion, l
care not what. and the instantaneous re-
suit is heat, flame, combustion of the in
tensest description The famous Drum
mond Light, that 4 few years ago aston
ished Europe-what is that but the ignit-
ed flame of q mixture of oxygen and hy
drogen projected against a small piece
of lime? What was harmless as water
becomes the most destructive of all known
objects when decomposed and mixed in
any other proportion.
Now suppose l fling the contents of
this small phial into the Pacific ocean.
what would be the result? Dare you
contemplate ii for an instant? | do not
assert that the entire surface OF the sea
would instantaneously bubble up into in
suterable flame; no, but from the nu
cleus Of circle, of which this phial would
be the center, lurid radii Of flames would
gradually shoot outward, until the blaz
ing circumference would roll in vast bill
lows of fire, upon the uttermost shores.
Not all the dripping clouds of the deluge
could extinguish it. Not all the tears of
saints and angels could for an instant
check its progress. On, and onward it
would sweep, with the steady gate OF des
tiny, until the continent would melt with
fervcnt heat, the atmosphere glare with
the ominous contla grafton, and all
living creatures, in land, and sea, and
air perish in one universal catastrophe.h
Then suddenly starting to his feet, he
drew himself up to his full hight, and
murniured solcnnly, 81 feel like q God
and | recognize my fellow-men but as
pgmies that spurn beneath my feet"
'Summcrfeld,' said l, calmly, there
must be some strange error in all this
You are selt-deluded. The weapon
which YOU claim to WELD is one that 9;
GOOD God and benelcent Creator would
never intrust to the keeping of a mere
creature What Sir create a world as
grand and beautiful as this, and hide
within its bosom q principle that at any
moment might enwrapitin flames, and sink
life in death? III not believe it; 'twere
blasphemy to entertain the thought -
"And yet" cried he passionately,
your Billie prophesies the same irrever-
ence Look at your text in ii. Peter,
third chapter, 7th and 18th verses. Are
not the clements to melt with fervent
| heat p Are not 'the heavens to be folded
together like scroll !? Are not the
rocks to melt, the stars to tal! and the
moon to be turned into bloou?' Is not
fire the next grand cyclic consummation
of all things here below9 But | come
fully prepared to answer such objections.
Your argument betrays a narrow mind,
circumscribed in its orbit, and shallow
in its depth 'Tis the common thought
of mediocrity. You have read books too
much, and studied nature too little. Let
me give YOU Il lesson to-day in the work
shop Of Omnipotence. Take 2 stroll
with me into the limitless confines OF
space, and let us observe together some
Of the scenes transpiring at this very in
stlnt around Ms. A moment ago you
| spoke of the moon; what is she but an
extinguished world You spoke of the
sun what is he but y globe Of flame !?
But here is the Cosmos of Humboldt.
Read this paragraph
As he said this he placed before me the
| Cosmos OF Humboldt and read as fol-
| lows:
Nor do the Heavens themselves teach un-
| chan@ablc permaneney in the works OF crca-
/ tom Change Is ODsefN:tplt llltlt Illlt Us rap
| i'll and complete as in the confines OF our solar
system. In the year 1,32, one OF the small stars
| in the con9tellat ion CaSsiopoca baZed up sud-
denly into an orb of the first magnitude, grad
nlIly decreased in brilliancy, and finally diSap-
rcared from the skies. Nor has it ever been
Visible since that period for single moment,
either to the eye or to the telescope 1t burned
u' and was lost in space"
''IIumboldt,' he added, .shas not told
us who set that world on fire!
But" resumed he, II have still clear
er proofs" Saying this, he thrust into
my hands the last London Quarterly, and
on opening the book at an article headed
''Ihe Language of Light | read with u
feeling akin to awe, the following pas
sage:
'Further, some stars Xhibit changes of COM
peyion in themselves. Sirius, as before stated
was once 4 ruddy, or rather Il tirey-taced orb,
! but has now forgotten to blush, and looks down
upon us with Il pure brilliant smile, in which
there is no trace of either of anger or OF shame.
On the countenances of others, still more va
rea traits have ripplea, within briefer period
OF time. May not these be due to some physi-
oOgical revolutions, general or conVuSlVe,
which are in progress in the particular orb
and which, by affecting the constitution of its
atmosphere, compel the ABSORPTION or promote
the Transmission of particular rays: The sup
position appears by no means improbable cS-
noes which have been discovered on the pho
tosphere of the sun. Indeed there are few
small stars which afford Il spectrum of bri ght
lines instead of dark ones, and this we know
denotes gaseous or Naporlzed state OF things,
from which it may be inferred that such orbs
are i'll different condition from most of their
relations.
'And as, if for the very purpose Of throwing
light upon this interesting question, an event
OF the most striking character occurred in the
heavens, almost as soon as:the spectroscopists
We're prepared to interpret it correctly.
Son the 18th OF May, 1866, 4 great conlla
grafton, infinitely larger than that of London
or Moscow, was announced To use the eX-
preston Of Il distinguished astronomer, a
world was found to be on fire. \ star which
till then had shone weakly and unobtrusively
in the corona borealis, suddenly blazed up in
to a lumnary of the second magnitude. In
the course of three days from its discovery in
this new character, by birmingham, at Tuam,
i it had declined to the third or one-fourth order
Of briiancy. In twelve days, dating from its
first apparitlon in the Irish heavens, it had
| sunk to the eighth rank, and it went on waning
until the Goth of June, when it ceased to be
discernible except through the medium OF the
| telescope. This was remarkable, though
certainly not an unprecedented proceeding on
the part of Star; but one singular circunl-
stance 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 4 few weeks, and pas
sing through sunufy phases OF color, IL grail
ually paled its fires, and returned to its former
insgnfcancc. How many years had elapsed
since this awful conlagration actually took
place it would be presumptuous to guess;
but it must be remembered that news from
the heavens, though carried by the fleetest of
messengers, light, reaches us long after the
event has transpred, and that the same celes-
tal carrier is still dropping the tidings at each
station it reaches in space, until it sinks eX-
halSted by the length of its flight.
'As the star had suddenly famed up, was 1t
not a natural suppositon that it had become en-
wrapped in burning hydrogen, which in con
sequence of some great convulsion had been lib
Grated in prodigious quantitins, and then com
bining with other elements had set this hapless
world on fire? In such fierce confagration
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 a catastrophe it is not wholly i'm
possible that our own globe may sometime be
rayaged, for if word from the Almighty were
to unloose for 4 few moments the bonds of af-
finity which unite the elements of water, a sim
gle spark would bring them together with
fury that would kinde the funeral pyre of the
human race, and be fatal to the planet and all