Weekly Trinity journal., 1871-05-27


oceans now occupy more than two-thirds of the
entire surface of the globe The continents are
mere islands in the midst of the seas They are
everywhere ocean-bound, and the hyperborean
north, is hemmed in by open polar seas. Such
is my first proposition. My second embraces the
constituent clements of water. What is that
thing which we call water Chemistry, that
royal queen of all the sciences, answers readily,
water is but the combination of two gases, oXy-
gen and hydrogen, and in the proportion of eight
to one. In other words, in order to form water,
take eight parts of oxygen and one of hydro
gen, mix them together, and the result or prod
uct iswater. You smile, sir because, as you
very properly think, these are the elementary
principles of science, and familiar to the
minds of every school-boy twelve years of age.
Yes but what next2 Suppose you take these
same gases and mix them in any other proper
ton, care not what, and the instantaneous re-
suit is heat, flame, combustion of the intensest
description. The famous Drummond Light,
that few years ago astonished Europe-what is
that but the ignited flame of u mixture of oXy-
gen and hydrogen projected against small
piece OF lime? What was harmless as water be-
comes the most destructive of all known objects
when decomposed and mixed in any other pro-
portion.
"Now, suppose | fling the contents of this
small phial into the Pacific ocean, what would
be the result? Dare you contemplate it for an
instant2 | do not assert that the entire surface
of the sea would instantaneously bubble up into
insuferaole flames no, but from the nucleus
of circle of which this phal would be the cen
ter, lurid radi OF flames would gradually shoot
outward, until the blazing circumference would
roll i'll vast bilows of fire, upon the uttermost
shores. Not all the dripping clouds Of the del
uge 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 gait of destiny, until the continents
would melt with fervent heat, the atmosphere
glare with ominous conllagration, and all living
creatures, in land, and sea, and air, perish in
, one universal catastrophe"
Then suddenly starting to his feet he drew
himself up TO his full hight, and murmured SOL
emnly, d" | feel like II God and | recognize my
: felow-men but as pigmies that | spurn beneath
my feet l'
" Summer6eld, F" said l. calmly, there must
be some strange error in all this. You are self
deluded The weapon which you claim to WELD
is one that good God and a bcnefcent Creator
7 would never ntrust to the keeping of n mere
creature. What sir ! create world as grand
and beautiful as this, aud hide within its bosom
a principle that at any moment might enwrap it
i'll tlames and sink all life in death | I'll not
believe it 'twere blasphemy to entertain the
thought -
"And yet" cried he, passonately, "your BIZ
BILE prophesies the same rreverence. Look at
your text in ii Peter third chapter, 7th and
: with fervent heatY Are not the heavens to be
! folded together like a scroll p Are not the
rocks to melt, the stars to fall and the moon to
be turned into bloodP Is not fire the next
} grand cyclic cousummation of all things here
below But | come fully prepared to answer
such objections. Your argument betrays mar
: row mind circumscribed in its orbit, and shall
low in its depth. ris the common thought of
mediocrity. You have read books too much
and studied nature too little. Let me give you
lesson to-day in the workshop of omnpotence.
G Take stroll with me into the confines of space,
= and let us observe together some of the scenes
transplring at this very instant around us. A
moment ago you spoke of the moon what is
0 she but an extingnished world 2 You spoke of
the sun; what is he but globe of hame2 But
here is the Cosmos Of Humboldt. Read this par
\ agraph"
As he said this he placed before me the Co.'S
mos of Humboldt, and read as follows:
Nor do the Heavens themselves teach un-
changeable permanency in the works Of creation.
Change is observable there quite as rapid and
complete as in the confines OF our solar system.
In the year 1852, one Of the small stars in the
: constellation Cassopocia blazed up suddenly
into an orb of the first magnitude, gradually de-
creased in brlliancy, and finally disappeared
from the skies. Nor has il ever been visible
since that period for single moment, either to
the eye or to the telescope. 1t burned up and
was lost in space"
L" Humboldt" be added has not told us
who set that world on fire"
"But," resumed he, {" have still clearer
proofs" Saying this, he thrust into my hands
the last London quarterly, and on opening the
book at an article headed "The Language of
Light read, with feeling akin to awe, the
following passage;
4" Further, some stars exhibit changes of com
pexion in themselves. Sirius, as before stated
was once ruddy, rather a fiery faced orb, ,
| but has now forgotten to blush, and looks down
, upon us with pure, brilliant smile, in which
there is no trace either of anger or of shame
On the countenance of others, still more varied
traits have rppled, within a much briefer period
| of time May not these be due to some physo-
logical revolutions, general or conVulsiye, which
, are in progress in the particular orb, and which
by affecting the constitution Of its atmosphere,
compel the absorption or promote the transmits
sion of particular rays2 The supposition APP
pears by means improbable, especially If we
call to mind the hydrogen volcanoes which have
been discovered on the photosphere of the sun.
Indeed, there are few small stars which afford
, Il spectrum of bright lines instead of dark ones
and this we know denotes a gaseous or vapor-
lied state of things, from which it may be infer
red that such orbs are in 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 heav-
ems, almost as soon as the speeIrOscopists were
prepared to intercept it correctly.
On the 18th of May, 1866 great eonhagra-
tion, infinitely larger than that of London or
Moscow, was announced. To use the expression
OF distinguished astronomer, world
found to be on fire. A star which till then had
shone weak aud unobtrusively in the corona bor-
calls, suddenly blazed up into luminary of the
second magnitude. In the course of three days
from its discovery in this new character, by Bir-
mingham, at Tuam it had declined to the third
or one-fonrth order OF brilliancy. In twelve
days, dating from its first apparition in the Irish
heavens, it had sunk to the eighth rank, and it
went waning until the 26th Of June, when it
ceased to be discernbe except through the me-