Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1876-05-20

4 3, Venus, {; Earth, III; Mars, IL, As
teroids CERES, Pallas, Juno, Vesta.
| %, Saturn, 100, and Uranus 19G
When it is remembered that Uranu
was not even discovered until the be
ginning of the present century, thi
record Of the ancient Egyptian magi
acquires
A MOMENToUS SIGNIFICANCE.
Here they possessed, to all intents ans
purposes, an indestructible astronomi
cal record of the solar system tina
could be referred to by future genera
tions, even as imperishable standard
OF weights and measures are preserved
at Greenwich Observatory, and as ",
see the standard yard measure of va
rious countries preserved on the inner
walls of the City Hall. Encouraged
by this discovery, NJ. Jardsley perse
vered In his investigation. Without
entering into scientific minuti@ of the
examinations, it may be briefly stated
that by anological reasoning he inter.
preted the characters beneath GER
tain group of figures, whose appear.
ance betokened paroxysmal terror, to
signify 469. Beneath this number was
the cuneiform 4 accompanied by an
other symbol, which the Professor in
terprets to mean the sign of multipli-
cation, inasmuch as it bears a close
resemblance to the Persian symbol
into" as at present used in the Shah 8
dominions. Whether this position be
well taken or not, we have, of course,
no means of ascertaining; but the re-
suit is sufficiently startling. Four
times 469 make 1S76-the present year
of grace, while the human figures In
Observation-Disclosures to exempiif1y
the overpowering dread that shall fall
upon mankind in that great and ter
rible day." impelling them ITO call
upon the rocks to fall upon them and
to the hills to cover them" This in
depreciation by the Russian savant is,
OF course, entirely arbitrary, and may
be accepted by the candid, unprejudiced
reader for what it is worth. Nobody,
however, will deny that this so-called
discovery is at least most extraordi-
nary coincidence of scientific investi-
cation with the scriptural exegesis
which fixes the end of the world in
the current year.
THE SUN ON FIRE.
The astounding observations of
Professor Airy and Schroter on the
two majestic planets, Jupiter and Sat-
urn, have already been chronicled in
these columns, while the authority of
Father Secchi was quoted respecting
the extraordinary influences at present
operating on the sun, and changing his
form as we'll as his size. Professor
Leverrier has been assiduously pursu-
ing this solar Investigation, and he
states that these astounding solar pro-
tuberances change their forms as rap
idly as clouds, and that they some
times appear to be formed at an ele-
vation above the surface of the sun
and to descend upon it, as though the
material was driven backward into the
solar atmosphere, and there took shape
and fell back" One prominence re-
sembled the smoke of locomotive as
seen on a frosty day. Half an hour
afterward it had literally gone up
the highest portion over 100000 miles
above the solar surface. l saw my
self, says the Professor,
PARTICLES ASCENDING 100000 MILES
in very few minutes, appearing to go
over 200 miles per second. though it
must really have been some 400 or 50O
miles persecond. That velocity would
throw iron clear off from the sun, so
that it would never return to it. i" The
Professor then reviews the constitu-
ton of the sun, as astronomers have
hitherto regarded it since the intro
ductions ofspectrum analysis. First,
he says, I'VE have an unknown core,
the constitution of which must ever
remain to US an unfathomable mystery.
We have layer of clouds from which
we get our sunlight--the photosphere
it possibly liquid shell, as
Zollner thought. Then above this
we have the solar atmos-
phere still extending. In the lower
strata of that atmosphere we have all
the gases of which the sun is compos-
ed, and here are produced the dark
lines of the solar spectrum. Rising
4 900 or 5000 miles above, we have the
bright hydrogen which has been term
ed the chromosphere, or colorsphere;
and outside of and beyond the world
we have the coronal atmosphere.
SOLAR RPYRoTECHNICs
There is this remarkable popularity
about the location of the present solar
pyrotechnics, that they are situated
near to the suns equator. Former
phenomena of this kind was confined
to the temperate zones. To talk of
temperate zones I'M body as intensely
hot as the sun seems absurd, that
this is the most convenient method of
locating the position of the previous
action. In other words, the spots or
craters of action have hitherto been
confined to zone distant 40' to 450
from the equator. Prof. Leverrier
thinks that this phenomenal solar dis
turbance is in large measure re-
sponsible for the extraordinary tenn
perature of the past winter. If, says
the professor, you touch the hand of
any one with pin, it will be appre-
ciable in fraction of second when
the hand will be drawn back. If l
had an arm long enough to reach to
the sun, and should put my fingers in
the solar fame and burn them there,
it would be 100 years before | should
the pain, and 100years be-
fore l could remove my hand. Such
is the distance of the sun; and yet
across that space, by some agency un-
known to science, but what is vaguely
termed gravity, the earth, responds, to
every impulse of the solar surface" F."
Prof. Leverrier concluded his remarks
with the remarkable suggestion: 1T
seems to me, if l have approximately
estimated the gigantic force of this
solar disturbance, that we may expect
a series of fierce tornadoes to sweep
over and devastate certain portions of
the earth's surface in the immediate
future" How accurate this vaticina-
ton has proved our experience during
the present month sufficiently demon
strates.
An Austrian scientist, commenting
on Prof. Leverrier's observations, re-
marks: Whether this extraordinary
solar action is due to the motions Of
Mercury, Venus and Jupiter, as De la
Rue supposes, or to an organic change
in the sun s constitution, does not at
present appear. The spots near the