The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1876-04-11
a screen. Some Of these were of singular

screen. Some Of these we're of singular
beauty and clearness.
Mr.. Proctors thesry-one which is held
now by nearly al men Of standing - as
tronomers-is that the heavenly bodies all
pass through series of changes, fromin-
tense heat 10 desrepituds and death The
ife-supporting era of planets existence
is but small part of its whole duration.
1t is therefore very improbable at any
given time. that q planet is in the eHjoy-
ment of its disappearing period. And
by detailed examinations Of the several
planets he showed that none Of the prim-
aries of our solar system. except the
earth, is at present fitted to be the abode
Of life Is we know it. The giant planets
Jupiter and Saturn are still incandescent,
while hot and feebly self luminous, and
many millions of years must pass before
they will become sufficiently cool to suffer
life to exist. The other extreme is shown
by our moon, which has passed beyond
its life bearing epoch, and is now eftete
and sterile. It has lost its air and water,
which has been absorbed into its interior
caverns. 1t has even ceased to have vol
canic energy. 1t is lump of death.
Venus presents conditions very like our
earth. She still has air and water, but
by reason of the obliquity of her axis to
her plane of revolution she presents her
poles alternately to the solar heat for half
her year. Her inhabitants, should she
possess any, must be exposed to swift al
formations Of temperature, from intense
heat far beyond that OF our tropical de-
serts to Arctic GOODNESS. This would rem
der life as we know it impossible. The
planet Mars, though vastly older in its
planetary career than the earth, still re-
tains something of its atmosphere and
remnant of its oceans. 1t is decrept,
though not quite dead, like our moon.
We are rapidly approaching time when
Mars will be in situation more favora-
Bile to study than it has been for many
years. In the coming year it will be very
near to us, and viii seem as large as Jupi
ter. Concerning the other planets, Nep-
tune and Uranus, Mr.. Proctor said moth
ing. They are too remote for accurate
observation.
The views which were presented by
Mr.. Proctor were not fanclful theories,
but were based upon facts certainly and
accurately known. The perfect modern
optical instruments and the polaroscope
and spectroscope yield information about
the stars as precise and sure as can any
experiments in the laboratory. There is
very little guess.work or conjecture in
the theories he presents. The obvious re-
lection that there is an enormous waste
if only one member of our solar system
is fl for the abode of life lie met by Mr.
Proctor by the reply that this waste is in
accordance with all the analogies of ma
ture. Nature is everywhere prodigal
OF thousand seeds, she brings perhaps
only one to bear. To the eye of the Crea-
tor, a seed is as dignifed as q planet.
Perhaps more so even. The smsllests seed
that contains the germ of life might be
of greater importance than the vast dead
bulk of the moon. To the Supreme Be-
ing suns, planets and satellites are all but
wandering notes. He looks with equal
eye on
"Atoms or planets in confusion hurled,
And now bubble burst and now world"