The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1876-09-07
THE wOgLDs now IN THE COURSE
OF CREATION.

THE WO Kids NOW IN THE COURSE
OF CREATION.
Theword ne W must not here be taken
in its most common sense but in the
more extended one, of signifying some.
thing fresh, or different from what has
been before; and creation not as def
inite act at one time completed, but as
work now going on.
1t is quite beoynd the power of the
human mind to conceive the creation
ofmatter out of nothing, and whatever
theory nay be adopfed IS to how the
presexistsnt matter came to shape it
self into systems, whether we accept
the nebular hyphothesis, or any other,
we can only go back as far as the time
when our own world was a motion
AS it is impossible to imagine the
creation of matter out of nothing, it is
equally impossible to the philosophic
mind to admit that anything can be
destroyed that has once been That all
created forms of matter are undergo
ing perpetual change from one phase
of existence to another and newer one,
we know from our own experience of
the planet on which we are living !;
but it must ever be born in mind, that
no one atom of matter is lost IN the
process of change, even though the re-
suit of the forces at work to occasion
it may be such as to efface every char
acterfstic of the original, till we might
imagine that the former mass had been
destroyed, and another created in its
place.
The changes may be considered as
different stages in the growth OF
worlds, and, although mans tenancy
has been of q duration almost nothing
compared even with recent geological
periods, we are enabled from7a study
of history of our globe, as shown in
its crust and from our CON npanion plan
cts, to infer that, so far from the act of
creation being complete, it will live on
throughtits manhood te-oid age. and
at some time or other, through the
gradual loss of its internal heat, be re-
dued to condition analogous TO that
of the moon. This period may not be
arrived at for many1milliolis OF years,
perhaps but IL is not the less certain
on that account. From the cooling OF
the earth's crust sufficiently for the
first and lowest forms of vegetable life
to make their appearance, TO the arri-
val of mankindI npon the scene, de-
manded an almost inconceivable peri
cd of time to have elapsed, and, 1t may
be required before the earth shall have
radiated into space, or, in other words,
have lost SO much heat as to render
impossible any of the forms of vegeta-
BILE or animal life with which we are
acquainted,
From the greater intrinsic bright
ness of the surface of the planet JuPi-
ter, as well as from the peculiar chang
es and variations in the .colors of his
cloud belt, it seems more than proba-
Bile that he is yet in an incandecent
condition, and, there, in an earlier
phase of his existence than our earth.
1t may be argued that worlds are
born, live, and die but the stars, those
emblems of fixity, the centres of other
systems, as much grander, perchance,
than the solar system, as their suns are
greater than our own (for our sun is
rather Insignificant member of the ST.
dereal Universe), can they be the SUBJ
jects of similar changes? Can they
be in r course of cfeation?" Such as
we see now, so were fhay seen by the
first man who observed their motions
perhaps they saw our world in its mol
ten condition, and they may also see
it without one spark of life. Fl FffgFI
Had we no other evidence. we might
reasonably have assumed that the fixed
stars would, in common with all other
known forms of matter, undergo pro-
gresslve change; but we have in the
spectroscope a witness which can give
us most valuable evidence regarding
the nature and condition of the fixed |
stars. -s---su1 Q .ss
BY examining. with prism, the
light emanating from any incandescent
body, its nature may at once be known
by the kind OF spectrum exhibited.
The band of colors into which the ray
is separated is called the spectrum.
Every known substance has a charac-
teristic, spectrum differeat from every
other substance. Compound bodies.
if the Temperature be sufficiently high
to csuse all the constituentsi 10 become
will have ali the specira,
one on tine other. We
see from this, that il cannot be. .conclu-
sively held that any particular sub
stance does not exist in the body un-
der examination, unless we know the
uuder which it IS being
examined. awA~~z EAW@Ti
Nearly all the known sectra have
been mapped and catalogued, and by T
this means we are enabled, on exam
lining any unknown flame. TO compare
spectrum at once with all those that
have been observed, and ascertain the
of the incandescent body. In
this way the light of the sun has been
with tie light OF the various
of the earth's crust, and
very many of them are found, also, TO ,
exist in a burning condition notably,
sodium aud iron, among tie metals ,
and hydrogen among the gases "A
Now it becomes a very interesting ,
question whether we can apply the
spectroscopist's prisms to the stsrs 4
md. il go, what answ er they will give h
The great Improvement of late wears