Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1871-02-24
[From the New York World.l


If we set out upon our inquiry in
the hope of obtaining positive infor-
matiOu as to the existence of life upon
our neig ghboring planets we shall be dis
| appointed. AT the present day science
| has no such Information to give
| Whether the moon or Mars is actually
| inhabited must be left for the more
| profound deductive science of future
| age to determine. But whether Mars
and the moon are inhabitable places
! whether or not the physical and chem
| zeal circumstances upon these planets
are such az might support animal and
vegetable life-iS quite another ques-
| ton and it is one which the science
of our own day may fairly presume to
answer. From simple observation, as
sisted by deduction from established
! physical, chemical, and biological prin-
| ciples, we can ascertain that the sur
face of Mars is inhabitable. while that
| of the moon is not so and we 90 not
need to appeal for help to the divine
purposes, or to that plan of creation"
about which those waite most fluently
who know least about the mysteries
which the universe cOntai1s. We do
| need, however, to go back as near to
the beginning of our planetary sys-
| tenn as the resources of science will
| carry us, and to seek in the past condi-
ton of our little group of worlds the
explanation of the peculiarities now
observable among its various mem
bers. In accordance with the point of
view dominant among the scientific
thinkers of our age, we must include
our inquiry in the general theory Of
development, and strive to explain the
present as the product of the past. The
omission OF all such considerations
from Mr.. Proctor's treatise constitutes
defect in his argument which, a. far
as possible, we sLall endeuvOr here 10
remedy.
Any intelligent person who reads
for the first time an elementary treatise
on astronomy, must be struck by the
facts that the planets all revo,ve about
the, un in the same direction, which CO.
incides with the direction of the suns
own rotation upon his axis; that fur
therfmore, all rcvolve il very nearly
the same plane, which comedies in the
main with the pla, of the suns equa-
tor and that precisely the same rcla-
tiOns exist between the satellites, OF
secondary planets, and their primaries.
Every satellite rpvulyCS about its pri-
mary in the direction of the primary's
aXial rotation, and in Il plane nearly
coinciding"w the plane OF the piaIi-
cts equator. Moreover, with the sill
gle interesting exception OF Uranus
(and perhaps also of Ncptune), all the
planets. a. Wei - tie sun, rotate up
on their axes from west 10 east, in the
-ume direction with lneir orbitual rev
oiuIioms. And finally, all the planets,
both primary and secondary, move in
eliptical orbits of small eccentricity-
orbits which are nearly circular.
All these striking facts, 80 iamiliar
to Us that we seldom stop To note tLeir
great importance, were cited nearly Il
century ago by Laplace, as positive
proof that the various members OF the
: Ihtr system have haG 4 common orr
gin. The clue to that common origin
was furnished by Sir William Her
schei, who, from his Ub>erN atiOns on
the nphulie, was led To believe that
these dim spots OF luminous matter
which crowd some portions OF the
Heavens are simply starry systems in
embryo. Many Years earlier, indeed,
Kant had suggested, in his wonderful
" Natural history of the Heavens"
that the present VcculiarltjcS OF the so
lar system might Ge explained on the
assumption thut il had once existed in
Il dit'used fOIm, IL Il rotating Hiss of
mel u.OuS or gaseous matter. ASSum-
ing, then, that tic sun was once an
attenuated spheroiGai mass OF Vap0r,
extending in every Correction beyond
the orbit of Neptune, Laplace proved
that the mere cooling of such mass,
by radiation, must inevitably have
brought about just the state of things
which we now find in the solar syS-
TEN. The incesSant loss of heat, r;l-
dated into the surrounding space,
caused a steady contraction of the so
lar mass. While, on the other hand,
the increasing rapidity of its rotation
impressed upon those parts of it near
est the surface tendency to fly of
into space, or at least to remain behind
instead of accompanying the central
portion of the body in its contraction.
Now, in every rotating spherOid, this
centrifugal force is greatest where
the velocity is greatest-namely at the
equator \ time therefore came, in
the history of our vapOrOus sun, " hen
the bulging equatorial portion, no
longer able TO keep peace with the rest
in its contraction, was left behind as Il
detached ring, surrounding, at a small
but steadily increasing distance, the
retreating central mass. Being i'll
vapOrous state of aggregation, and
therefore endowed with slight cohe-
sive force, it soon broke up into many
fragments of unequal dimensions, the
chances being one million to one
against its breaking everywhere at reg
ular intervals At this stage, then. in
stead of continuous ring, we have a
host of satellites surrounding the so
lar equator, revolving in the direction
Of the solar rotation, and following
each other in the same orbit. If
undsturbcd bv any powerful attrac-
ton from without, these fragments
would continue in the same orbit, and
would gradually differ more and more
in their velOcitirs. Each large frag-
ment would, by its gravitatIye force,
retard the smaller fragment in front
of it, and accelerate the smaller frag-
ment behind IL, until at last two or
three fragments would catch up with
each other and coalesce. Thus, in the
earliest case known to Us-that Of the
planet Neptuue-this process went on
agelomerated into spheroidal body,
having a velocity compounded Of the
several veiocitics of the fragments, aud
a rotation made up of their several TO-
tatiOns.
Meanwhile the central mass OF the
sun continued To cool by radiation, !
and to contract, until, when IL it, peri |
pheTy came TO coincide with what il |
now called the orbit OF Uranus, its |
centrifugal force at the equator again !
showed an excess over gravity, and |
a second equatorial belt was left be- |
hind; and this belt braking up and |
consolidating, after the manner de- I.
scrihed, became the planet Uranus. In /
like manner were formed all the plan /
cts, one after another; and from the /
detached equatorial belts.of the cool /
ing contracting ;,ldncts were similarly /
formed the sattl ties.
y very curious physical experiment. !
devised by NJ. Plateau. strikin"ly IL
lustrates the growth OF Our planetary /
III.