Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-07-03
The Physical Condition Of the Planets.

While the savants of former centuries
have, with the utmost minutencss, de
termined all the details Of the motions OF
the bodies which constitute our planetary
system, and definitely settled the astrononl-
zeal aspect of the question, it was reserved
for the astronomers of the present dav,
the latter half of the nineteenth century,
to determine the particulars of their actual
condition. and to settle the physical as
peCt Of the question.
First OF all, astronomy having long ago
proved that our earth contains scarcely
the four hundred thOusandth part Of the
matter constituting our planetary system,
and that She has common origin with the
rest Of the same the new science Of geol-
Ogy proves that our earth had passed
through gradual cooling process, that
many portions Of her surface were to all
intents and purposes equal to a burnt up
cindcr, while other portions Of the sur
face had been disintegrated, washed, dis
solved, precipitated, etc, by the long pro
longcd action of water. We are, as it
were driven to the conclusion that the
history Of the other members of our plan
etary system must be similar to that of
or earth that sooner or later they have
gone or will 90 through the same phases
of existence, and that the fate in store for
our earth may be learned from the condi-
ton of those planetary bodies which are
the turthest advanced in this slow cooling
process.
The celebrated French naturalist Button
was the first to make experiments in or
der to determine the period of time re-
quired for highly heated bodies of differ
ent size to cool off by radiation; he had
very large iron balls cast of different
sizes, exposed them freely to the air in
order to cause them to cool down, and
noticed carefully the difference in time
required by the large as compared with
the small ones He thus found the law
regulating the relation between the size
of the ball and the time required for its
cooling; and, applying this law directly
to a ball of the size of our earth, in the
suppOsitlOn that it was once white or red
hot, he found the lapse of millions upon
millions of years necessary for her cool
ing down to the present temperature.
His experiments were more recently veri-
fed by Blschoff in Germany, who had
balls cast of certain furnace slags similar
to basalt; some of these balls were of
colossal size He came to similar con
illusions, supporting the evidences of the
biologists in regard to the immensely Of
the period of time required for the past
history of our planet. This consideration
alone makes the now almost Anticipated
idea, that the planets are all inhabitable
at the present period of their existence, if
not untenable at least very doubtful. The
planets are of very different sizes; they
therefore require different periods of time
for cooling down, and as they originated
from the same nebulOus mass of matter,
and had after its first condensation, by
gravitation mot by cooling( nearly the
same temperature, they must now have
reached very different conditions of heat,
which vary according to their sizes.
Let us now see what the combination
of the modern spectroscope, photometer
and telescope reveals to us in this respect,
and whether these conclusions are con
firmed bv the most scrutinous observations
of the present day. Fortunately one OF
the smallest bodies of the planetary sys
tenn. and therefore one of those which
must have cooled the soonest is the near
est to us, our moon. Observations point
to the undeniable fact that, in the moon
all effects of its own heat have utterly
ceased. that the whole satellite is cooled
down to a low temperature, scarcely
reached on earth by the tops of the Hima-
lavas and Andes; that all former volcanic
action, of which she bears strong evil
dences, has utterly ended, and ttat all
water ever possessed by her has long ago
been absorbed by her lavas and rocks as
water of hydration; while no trace OF an
atmosphere can be discovered, so that we
do not know whether she ever had one.