, 1875-01-24
THE SUE HOAX.

u hiS OWN son-
TIE SUE HOAX.
TEE TRIBUNE OF the 18th instant contained =
dispatch from New York, which stated that d
so!az parailax Of 9-24 seconds OF arc Was the Az
e1ags result OF four independent computations
znsde by as many different Ebeish calculatosa
from the observations made OF the Transit OF
Venus on the 8th Of last Dscember. The dis
patch aiso contained st8sement purporting to
be made BY = gentleman 'angu1atly oompe-
teos to pass = luminous and compre-
hensiye Judgment Upon tho matter it
relates to-" Tha. ''judgmont" Was to the effect
that the earth Is possibly approaching the eun.
1t rate which will precipitateou globe into the
sola1 orb in not more than !, 40 years from this
lats- On the folio wing day The TRIBUNE
stated, oditorially, thas We are not nearing the
suo, ~ 81 astronomers know. and can prove, that
what II known IS the mean distance
is almost exactly the sAma - it was
1t the date OF the transit Of Venus in
1864" The sensational dispatch above
referred 70 has, however, excited 80 much Gu
dosity that mere denial ia scarcely sufficient to
a:lay il, though made by such Al eminent an-
thnz,ty n +'tha astronomer OF TIE CHICAGO
T11BuxE" We therefore proceed to give, in
bgef, N idea of the process Of reasoning on
which cur statement was based. It is fortunate
for this purpose that the sensational COM
u,unication which Was published in full in
tho New York Wo7d OF the 18th inst
contained the ASSURANCE that Whatever
bAppens "EEpLxR's and NEwToS's laws will gov
ON the universe I'll tho same" Therefore, it
re can prove, by reference to those laws, that
the earth is not falling towards Tho sun, even tue
"lnEularly competent" Eastern astronomer
must coocede that there is NO scientific baals
TOT the superstition that the earth 10 any nearer
10 the sun than ahe wzs in the last century.
One Of tho three laws OF KEPLER is that tho
pquare Of the time Of revolution is proportional
10 ths cuba OF the distance We nov know that
tie l&w should mad to the effect that the sum Of
hs attracting naasses into the square of the
dma, divided by the cube Of the distance
II 4 constant quantity. In the preoens
casa ~ may neglect the modification, aud
loot 1t the operation Of the law - stated By
KMR- II, during the httle more than
aosntuzr that elapsed between tbs translts OF
1863 And 1874 the distance OF the Garth from the
sun has decreased from 95, $50. 600 miles 10 88,-
"a 600 milea tho year has also been decreas-
ID from s65h days to s27 dAys Of 81 solas hours
each We know that this is not tie case. The earth
oow occupies Just ~ much time in one sidozeaI
xoyolution around the eun Is she did century
akn Hsnoe shs Il 70 nearer to tic sun now
han xhe was then.
1Ao objection may be raised that II the
1aogth Of the day has been oo11espondinety
s'ssGtened, ws have no means Of detecting
shangs Ia the length OF tho year. But ~e know
hst the velocity OF the ea1th's rotation on
hr axis b tho samo now Is then,
b within m almost indnitesimal frac-
ena- Tha length Of the pendulum
tlat Nbratea &C. 400 times in one solar day is not
changed and we may add that tho shortening
ef tbs distance Of The earth from the sun would
really tend 70 1sngthen tho day, it, ~ Is suspect
q. there b = resisting medium in space, the
osnsity Of which increaaoa ~ ths distance from
ths sun decreases.
The chance that tho rotation OF the earth on
nar a1is ~ould be by any cause accelerated IN
The same ratio as hez revolution, Is onls ~ one
70 several thousand millions. But, supposing
&tta difficulty to he obviated, We have another
"ooa o1 comparison which could not Posalo'y oe
Affected IN that way. 4 century ago the moon
conplatod twelve lunasions in Aoou, eleven da5s
1oss than year, and shs travels around the
oaz1h u the same rate no~- The laws OF motion
q eanne1atad BY KEfIEa, nod de1nonstrsted os
akS7oA, hho" that the motion OF the ea1sn ano
a.oon around each other IL affected BY the sun.
Aos pe1turoinc induancs Q! Tho central oooy OF
our aysteu caukes the moon to occupy
eoout ons hour mora In passing from
ooa new moon TO the next
taan fhs would occupy ii the mutual attraction
u ths ea.th and noon were undisturbed By the