Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1874-04-01
Scientific.


SYsTEM.-If we look around at the con-
dition of the planetary system, We tind
much to lead us to the belief that 1t
grew to its present state, that there was
process of its development. There
are primary planets and l3i asteroids,
and all these bodies travel In the same
direction around the sun. Then every
one of the bodies. whose motion has
been determined, turns in the same
direction. There are in fact SO many
similarities that We are bound by the
laws of probability to believe IN the
evolution process, for the chance of 142
planets going round in the same direc-
ton is / in 2,774, SOC, 900, 900, 900, ,00O,-
600. 900, 900, 600, 900, 900, ,OO0, 900. Laplace
in his explanation of this motion, had
the idea that there was great nebulous
mass having the sun in the center, ex-
tending on either side far beyond the
present extension of the path of the
uttermost planet, that is, a path of
), ,0O0, 900, 900 miles diameter. That
mass was intensely hot and vaporous,
and it was rotating; and as the rotating
mass contracted and it began to rotate
more rapidly, a ring was thrown of,
which wonld gradually break up, its
parts would gradually amalgamate /;
many parts would have different rates
of motion, and different parts would
encounter each other, and in the course
of millions of ages there would be an
amalgamation into one mass, having
the same direction of motion that the
nebulous mass had, and travelling
al, Stn
That process would go on until one
planet after another was formed. There
was NO light given by the La Place
theory in reference to the questions
connected with the asteroids he simply
stated the general facts and left them
there. 1t seemed to the speaker that
they we're led to another theory, and he
would adopt method of illustrating it
which he deemed suitable. If an insect
of few hours existence endeavOred to
trace the history of the growth of a
tree in which it lived, it could-nOt dur
ing its own life arrive at the truth but
by transmissiens of slight knowledge,
the result of study for ages, the species
would eventually arrive at the truth.
We know that as one nebulous mass
passes into another, by chemical means,
light is produced. There is evidence
that these nebule are gaseous. There
would be one center of aggregation
which would grow continually in size
and power, gradually drawing more and
more matter to it; and the more it
drew in of these Rebulous masses, the
greater its power would become. Pro-
fessor Daniel kirkwood took the paths
of the asteroids, and arranged them in
their order of distance. and he found
certain places where, for some distances,
there were no asteroids. He noted
where the gaps occurred, and he found
them corresponding to the paths of
asteroids having periods commensurate
with the period of Jupiter. Jupiter
would disturb the motion of the aste-
roids, if they had period like his own,
and would prevent them from travelling,
his mass being so much greater. This
supports the theory that the solar sys-
tenn arose from motion and aggregations,
not from the contraction of q great
nebulous mass. The rings of Saturn
give further evidence of the same. In
the star clouds we find a multitude of
stars discernible with the telescope, and
so closely clustered as to be irresolva-
| bic and in these masses or cloudlets
we see proof that the sidereal system is
not a mere aggregation of stars, but
contains all varieties, nebula, star
cloudlets, and stars of all varieties and
that it resembles the solar system, not
in uniformity, but IN variety of struc-
ture. In studying its laws We have a
problem of enormous difficulty, but
one which must one day be solved.