, 1876-02-14
THE ROSTRUM.
Tho Mystcrie1 Of tho Univorso'--
a Brilliant Lecture by
prOf. Proctor.
1ouisianu from tho Time OF LaSalle to
tho prcscnt...Lccture by
B. D. MaGrnder.
prf Cunning on the Origin Of HAN.


MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE.
LECTURE pr pNoF. PROCTOR.
Prof. Il. A. Proctor lacturod In McCosnaIck'a
uall yesterday afternoon in The sunday Lecturo
uoutas, taking for his subject, "1he AfysscrtcA
Of The Universe. Tho attendance was, ~ usual,
ys1J largo, nllins tho great hall comfortably full
Tho speaker said, In opening. that l.c did not
hopa nor propoHo 10 cover all the myBteties ro-
1srrsd to In tho title. but Designed to touch upon
/. few Of tho mysteries which we1s most cnntnon
and most interesting. 4c desired. moreover. to
promise two things. VIZ, s. that acence 1oos not
pretend 10 explain all the msaterlaa with which
is has 10 ,doAl, for It could hopo at
nel. Second II was nccessary to nots tho ntrAnga
var In which slight change In tho position ot tito
observer randors 1t possible to oxptAin things
which before, and un1or other circumstances,
bad boon deemed tmpoRslble Of solutloD.
Thus promiAluR, tho spaakar aketnhed briefly
tho peculiar positlon Of early philosophers ~l!o
benavea THAI tho Garth w.s aas md tho hoavens
proved, aud It was clear from observation that
The world was b globe, then the necond cr-
rory OF assuming that IL vas tho GEN.
tse Of tho Wl!olo nnlverAc. wae fallon
been ahoFn, end wiBe men had come to partially
understand tho influence OF tho aun and moon
Oh tho earth, thoy foil into tho other extreme Of
error, and assumed thnt al tho planets were Ill.
tenaea
TO 1SrLuEscE THE EAnTil,
and out Of u,at holaet grow tue eceneo OF aatrol-
ogy. To this vors tho PyramidA to bo ascribed.
infsn1UCh as they wcro undoubtedly constructed
70, gives hEm and enduring station for oxau.
lining all tho planets. Further, tho Influence Of
the planeta Waa rnfarsad to In tho Bible, And
tho speaker gave instances.
It was bolisved At one tins that soven p'nnota
had each IN influence On hoArs OF tho day, and
Prof. Proctor gave Nh interesting Account Of
how Tho namee VI tho days Ind como
from TINT circumstances, fHo showed for instance,
that Saturn (ftttbcat OF OF tho planets known 10
tho anclcnta] was supposed TO cavern tho lat,
atl, 18th, and I'd hnurs Of the tlsu. day, which
sscstbod to jupiter and Mars, and tho frat hour
Of tho rcxt day (os our Sunday WRs sot down a
Ro1etr.ed By tho sun, whencc tho name. Fur
suing tho aauo ides, And showina that tho sun
xAs snpposed to govern the lss, 9th, 18th. and
ed houFs OF that day, tho 23d would DO given to
Venus. the 24th to Mercury, and tho first OF tho
following day to tho moon, lvhonee the name
"91u. Ine lecturer e,td that he had noticed dis-
cussioa IL TUE TRtnuRE "a 10 tho
ORIGIN OF THE SABBATH.
and ho had boon much aurpT,Bcd 1t 1t, especially
at tho article in sanAay'a paper. lie Was surc,
le aatd, that no place could ho found ~ tho
Blbio where the observance Of A-Sahbath Was
noted prior 10 tho exodus, and there WAS GO
doubt that It bad It's origin at that aitne-or,
mnEs propet1y, that It bad jts origin u the as
trpnanical obsorvAtions above partially noted.
After timo tho philosophers Of tho human
famii, had boen forcod 10 Acaopt tho sun MS tho
centro OF tho unvcrao, and 1t had boon moro
shock 10 their cenceit. Tracing the
pEpgroas >, Of = astronomy lown I the
Lat tbe pnts of tho
aliptical. and, following him. carne Newton, who
Lid down tho grandast Law Of tho whoic,-thbt
every mass Of mAtter attracted eycr7 osbor
uaasa. and that the proportion Tas inyn1soly ns
tic aauara OF the distanco between tleE. Then
vas manifest Tho groatest mystery, ry,-what was
tho nntnrA OF tho forco which produced the t-
tssosion2 In discussing this tho speaker gayo
Illustrations Of tho distance Of tho sun from tho
earth, showing that while light could travel tho
distance Ia eight minutes. sound tn ei1toon
yhars. and seosatlon, like that conveyed BY the
ns1Yoe, IN 152 years. Jet the force OF attraction
-s~ WAS pEnPEcTLY lNsTANTAHEous.
Further, tho spoakor Ieoltea the several theo-
scanning to bo convinced by mono OF them.
Tho rgpulsion OF tho suu was then hscuAaed
especially III connection With comnka. Further
stating the nature Of tho sun, the spcator said
that tho heat evolved from It wns equal to what
would be produced BY ths consumption eAoh
day h II, COO millions OF millions Of touB Vi
coal, aud thGIo certainly seemed an enormous
waste, Hinco only 1-200U OF that Was all that
xns bestowed upon tho oarth.
Gurthor Oh tho lecturer advanced ths Idea
that so1ne bta1s we1o dying out, and uitod acv-
slai instRnccs OF that fact, wslt ~ uno or two
where tho brlillaucy Of certaiu stars lad ln-
creased.
In speaking OF Tho origin Of tho solar systetn,
Prof. Proctor adopted Larlaco nobalar hypoth-
eais, aud explainod it ut some lenEth, naaos t.
ing that It had takou tho ca1th 400 900 900 yeara
to cool after 1t had contracted cot Of pobalosity
Comparing this record with that Of tie larger
planets, ii wss clsar that they waro got
TUQ IiOr TO HUHTAIH lLEE.
Following out this limo Of thought. tho speaker
considercd Tho future Of tho tartl,t reasoning
from tho moon, whtol WAS smaller, and tLt
other larger platess, that 1t would prob
ably A. homo fn!u1e tlrue become uuiu
might become populous. This looked as l.
thosc might be death OF tho universe un1eas
iudoed, there VIVA = graduation OF untverses b.
which tie higher gave Of tAois energy to the
lover.