The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1874-02-11
THE FAMILY OF PLANETS.

Pr0f Proctor in q late lecture, considered
the subject Of planets from the point Of view
Of life in the woods, and divided the solar
family into two paYts--the interior family,
Mercury, Venus, the Earth and its Moon, and
Mars; and the outer family, Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus, and Neptune. One of the points was
the utter diversity between them, and only
the inner family could be judged from the
analogy of our own EARTH In. dealing with
Mercury, the feature that first strikes us is
the intense heat to which it is exposed. The
year Of Mercury is SO Of onr days. The
quantity of heat to which 1t is exposed varies
| from four to ten times what the earth has,
At such an increased heat on this earth ami
mai life would cease to exist. 1t is possible,
| though doubtful, that life does exist there
Mercury is a planet waiting for the time when
life may exist in it--when the suns heat shall
be sufficiently reduced. And here is a fact of
great Importance: There were long success
sons of ages during which life was not posi-
BILE on this earth, and, viewed in this light, a
planet is intended to support life, not for all
time, but only for a small portion of the pla-
nets existence.
The gravity of mercury, owing to its small
ness, is reduced so that one pound would press
only four or five ounces.
We sometimes look on the weight of mat
ter as an inconvenience, but without it, OBJ
.iects would not be firm, and we should stagger
for want of weight-the same difficulty we
find in trying to walk in water beyond cer-
tain depths. ..
Venus that to all appearances is the most
beautiful of planets, is a very disappointing
one to astronomers, owing to its nearncss to
the sun and its position with regard to it. 1t
1t cannot be satisfactorily viewed by means of
the telescope 1t is hotter than the earth,
without equaling the heat of mercury, aud
has tides, which are barely comparable with
those of the EARTH. One popularity of Venus,
the lecturer said, was that ON account of the
angle of her axis toward the SUI, there would
be a very great change in the condition of the
planet in winter and summer and the change
would be even more serious than the extreme
heat and cold in either condition. Continual
migration only would make life sufferable
there. The lecturer only spoke of the earth
in relation to the moon, which he insisted
was as much planet as the earth, and only
to us could appear as satellite
Mars. unlike Venus, he resumed. can be
studied very fully, and has features strongly
resembling those of the earth. The same
sort of climate is seen to prevail there. i
has been suggested that the vegetation 0
Mars is red, not green, but there Is no cvi
dence of that Spectroscopic investigation
have proved the existence of water, and iron
that fact it follows that storms and othe
phenomena due to evaporation must prevail
there.
The theory in relation to Mars was, that it il
disc or globe covered with a hoar frost, ant
and having other peculiarities which render i
unfit for habitation. The lecturer said Ii,
had once tried to controveit that idea and es
tabish the theory that that planet was like
the earth in all particulars but aftcl
thorough investigation he determined on
advocating the theory he had intended to
destroy. Mars had its oceans, but you could
travel from one ocean to the other without
touching land, and in like manner one could
| traVel through eVoIy. PoitIoH vi iUo Hahu
without touching water. In proportion to
| it's size it was considered that Mars had the
same quantity of land and water as the
earth but there was a smaller gravity and
greater rarity of air in Mars, as in all the
planets, than on earth and this rarity of air
was unfavorable to life. At the height of six
or seven miles Coxwell found his strength
leaving him. Gen. Mitchell, of Cincinnati
had given an account of Mars in which
great mass as large as England was broken
oil and seemed to be carried to the Polar re-
gions and he, the lecturer, considered that
this must have been the result of some
catastrophe, and this favored the idea that
Mars was once inhabited. but was at present
too bleak an abode. A German astronomer
had shown that the rotation of Mars was "a
hours 81 minutes and 23I seconds but the
lecturer, in making his investigation, found
that the rotation was exactly "a hours
81 minutes % and 7-i0 Of second and this
study of the planets was necessary to act
as true clock to judge of the carth's TO-
tation.