The New York herald., 1877-01-06
Conflagrations Among the
Heavenly Bodies.
OUR PLANET BURNED OUT.
Shall the Earth Be Roasted or
Shall It Freeze? 4?
SOME RECENT SCIENTIFIC PROBLEMS.
Opinions Of Professor Newcomb, OF the
National Observatory.

The conGagration In the constellation OF the
swan, discovered by Professor Schmidt, OF Athens
directed the renewed attention of astronomers to
tho frequent fires in tho The subject becomes
ono Of immense Importance IN view OF the elects
which great conlasralion in the worlds lumnary
may have upon the earth itself As ordinary mortas
not qualified TO speak subject OF such vast i'm
portancc u HERALD reporter despatched the other
day ascertain the OF a distinguished scientist
upon question SO momentcus. Although Professor
Proctor has dcduced from the theory of tho burning
star proposition which looked very much as II the
would be destroyed one of these odd mornings bc
fore breakfast the reporter onnd the scientist at din
utterly obvious Of the danger that he preferred
continuing it " discoursing the problem
of the Auns condition. He fixed a time,
however, for settling the question. and yesterday
the reporter again called upon HIM in behalf OF man
kind in general 10 ascertain whether there was any
real risk OF the obstruction Of the universe by fire.
Lost tho reader should imagine that there is danger
at all and that the fires IN the sun OF less
qucncc than series OF fires In the woods, 1t may be
necessary TO forty the facts in this interview with tho
Of the distinguished scholar who furnished them,
leaving the deductions which the reporters work,
to take care of themselves.
THE
The gentleman visited for this purpose was Mr.. stuy-
nue. who kindly consented to give the HERALD any
information his power in relation to the catastrophe
''Have you Professor Proctors letter." asked
the reporter ION tho burning oil star in tho conste
lation Of the SWAMI"
~ have not but saw reference to the fact OF
recent conlagration among tho stars"
"Are such confagrations OF frequent occurrcncef"
.within comparatively recent period a number of
stars were discovered to be on nre There Is cues
on that conilagrations constantly taking place in
the heavens Change is tho law OF the universe, as it
Is Of the earth itsc. star which had been shining
with dim, Intellectual light sometimes suddenly
blazes up with brilliancy which be for
In other way than by tho theory OF stclinr conia
grafton Indeed, the fires among the stars arc rather
10 he regarded fact than as theory, Tor IN tho
two the conHagratons carefully
scru,nized by the aid OF tho spectroscopc and thor
character is FULLY established"
A dogma so startling fail TO have lively Of.
fcct upon queL people accustomed to regard the
the sky bright but inonensive sttractions for
poets and other romantic III the past nobody
was afraid TO say "Twnkle twinKlc little star but
now every twinkle in heavens will suggest tho qucs-
ton whether not hIe. The peaceful stars
peaceful no longer but burning masses full OF danger
to the and terrible in the eyes OF the inhab
itanis OF the earth and possibly to those also Of
'Otner Worlds than Ours"
CAUSE or THE STELLAR FIRES.
"What Is the cause OF n connagraiion SO remarkable
be burr ~
'Ihcre can be no combustion, )" said Mr.. Rutherford
unlcss there is something 10 consuinchydrogen. for
instance"
This proposition in astronomy is more startling
than the one which proceeded IT, 'Where there's
snake there must be irc'' is the old MAXIM 'whcre
there's hydrogen there must bc combustion' Will be-
come the sew. With the reporter. however, II was
great object 10 ascertain The analogy between hydro
and combustion, and so he asked, Whcrc does tho
lire come iromY''
at IS generated bv heat" was tho laconc answer
PLAN people with old fashioned notions of heat will
uAr
tangled doctrines OF astronomy. Under the old
cconomy neat resulted from ure ow IL seems fire re-
suits from heat at least among the Imaginative
persons might expect hydrogen 10 Do ignited by the
irc'ion ofa comet or to be the result OF some like
cause, but II heat creates 1re in tho heavens OF
the stars must OF necessity be uncomiortably hot.
Just think OF i-a star bahcd in an atmosphere of
hre That Is what must have happened to the star
which Professor Schmidt saw blazing in The sky. ana
II Is taking place most OF the time the heavens.
rs THE EARTH sAFEY
Facing these terrible truths the reporter ncrvcd him.
self for more question:
'But the eatth--wha is to become Of the earth -
''Uh. u Is burned out already"
This was a rclie. Ihc stars may blaze until they
become invisible as Tatiers, IN the ihaughraun,n
but the car.h is sale! THIS little planet has always
been known TO It's children as cold world. People
have been Iamcntng It's irigdlty until they grew
IN IN their expos'nlasons, ana now they ,, learn
out that IN its absence OF heat Is their
surest safety. Mars Is also secure, because
Ike those o Tho carh tho fires OF the God OF War
It's fortunate, however that ali the hydrogen in
the atmosphere not consumed when our little
1agralion TOOK place. that enough was secured to
make the world cndurablc before Adam undertook
populate II. Out OF the ire came vcgetatfon,
IIlc the aspirations after the infinite secure IN our
little world, look wirh complacency
while other planets are ablazc wnh light and neat.
'Ict them burn" say, "aud they may then be-
pretty and hab table own lovely sphere"
NOT TO BE BURNED, But ROASTED.
1t docs not follow. however. because the earth Is
sale from Dres except such kndlc Tor ourselves,
that II Is entirely secure as a place OF haDitaioD.
When MI rutherford said that change is the law Of
eIv tt,lns soI narsh
integral part OF the universe. While man IS in
danger oil being burned alive by supcrhcaicd hydrogcn
he may be roasted by The power OF the suns rays
s'rhe earth is nearly related TO the sum-" said the
savant, "and conllagration In that great luminary
which would materially increase It's heat, would make
lie Oh this planet Impossible. "
SO II Will be seen tnat while have passed tho stage
when there was danger OF stellar lire b the action OF
the heat OF the planet upon lis bydrogcnic atmosphere
that we stlll run the risk OF similar disaster Ia the
II is no wonder, then, that our astronomers
constantly turning their telescopes toward tho foun
tam OF lite aud hight Tor lhe earth. Now is II any
wonder that when new star Is seen to blaze fresh
Tears should be excited OF blazing sun IN theicavcnsY
II is calamity to DO feared which, II not immi-
Dcnt Is yet possible, ana as awlu! ia It's way as
the mantle oil lame which would eDyelop STAR
.'The quantity OF heat emitted by the sun In
every second" says Professor Proctor In his
lectures us stupcndous that all ordinary modes OF
representing his action ail IL is nero form Of
words Tor inst ,nce conveying no clear ideas TO tho
mild g. say that Ia each second he gives as
much heat as would be gwen out IN The burning Of
eleven thousand SIX hundred millions OF millions OF
from this stupendous heat and new intensity Dc
given to his rays there would be such onvulson of
uro tnat roasting earth even would be among tho
minor consequences. planet or two might bc drawn
into suns furnace 10 add fuel TO the ume ana the
laws attraction work dsastrously that IN tue end
the whole would be drawn To the one centre.
This, however. Is scarcely TO be expected, even II
there should be great con1agraton in the sun, and
for the present the only danger against which wo need
Scep sharp outlook Is that OF being roasted.
ROASTED TnES FROZEN.
There Is, however, still greater DANGER though IT
foes not seem ~ be impending over the present gen.
ration. The human mind Is apt TO 80 from one ex-
TO the other, and proiaue people have been
looking forward to time when even tue COMMONS OF
Pluto shall The HERALD reporter belonged TO
this class dared to ask Mr.. Rutherford whether
The fires OF the would not stop some day-if tho
fuel which keeps that luminsry ahght would not some
time be exhausted
..Oh certainty ans wercd the scientist s.The pres