The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1878-08-22


in Germany, the dark suns blaze up
again witha quasi spontaneity of their
own, which does not depend upon collis'
ion, but upon causes which render 1t by
no means improbable that any moment
any Of them may burst into flame, and
perhaps bring about the premature de-
struction of neighboring systems. We
have but to suppose that such a star is
near US, big with catastrophe, to see how
possible, at any moment, is the coming
of the dies ir@. Our own sun is but a
pigmy which, seen from the farthest OF
its own planets, to whose orbit it's own
bulk once extended, would but glimmer
like star, and it is far on its road to ex'
tinguishment, yet it still radiates at
every second, heat enough to melt 2S7-
200, 900 cubic miles of ice. The dark
companion of the dog'star-which itself
has undergone such changes in physical
constitution in 1900 years, that it has
turned from star redder than Mars to
one that is nearly azure--is now burnt
ont and contracted to its smallest dimen-
sions, and yet it is seven times as large
as the sun. No Imagination is strong
enough to conceive the amount of heat
which would be thrown out from it II. it
should become active and once more q
living sun. According to the Loschmidt
theory, which holds that such bodies alb
sorb into their interiors heat from space
until 80 much is accumulated that they
burst into flame again, such calamity
is not only probable but certain. The
phenomena of temporary stars are ex-
plicable upon this theory. Of these are
that which appeared in the time of fTycho
Brahe, which suddenly appeared bright
as Venus and continued visible with
various tints for seventeen months, and
then disappeared again, and the stars in
Cassiopea, which came and vanished
during 800 years; that which was seen by
Hind in 1S4S in Ophiuchus, and another
in the constellation of the Crown which
excited attention in 1866. These instan-
ces show, moreover, how great the num-
ber of these now dark bodies must be,
The potential energy of the stellar uni
verse is thus Ceaselessly converted into
actual working force of which we see but
little. The conversion must be cease.
less, because throughout space there are
systems, small and great, in every con-
ceivabe physical condition, from the
youngest to the mddle-aged, the deCrepit
and the dead.
AS planets fall into their suns, so sys-
TENS are merged into systems, and that
to which our earth belongs has been de-
monstrated by Higgins to be perCepti-
bly, approaching some great Congeries of
stars, and reCeding from others as it has
tens through space to an unknown desti
nation. 1t follows, from the nebular
theory that there exist vast central suns
which can not be seen, having long since
reached that period in their cooling, at
which it is impossible for them to emit
light. That period, long past, has been
succeeded by another, in which they are
aCcumulating heat which at any time
may explode them, and cause the frma.
ment to melt with fervent heat and con-
sumo the minor systems like stubble,
The final day of the earth is not, there
fore, necessarily so remote as previous
deductions from the nebular theory have
led scientific men to believe. The grand
and universal catastrophe and redistri-
button of matter is delayed, if Herr Lo-
schmidt's theory be valid, but previous
to it many minor violent disruptions
must take place. wholly unheralded by
signs in the heavens. Indeed, a near ap-
proaCh to one of these great and seem.
ingly worn-out suns, even if no Catastro-
phe of outbreak were imminent, would
work such havoc with gravitation, that
the planets could no longer be governed
as now, by the sun, and what then would
occur, let those who study the still un-
solved PROBLEM of three bodies" deter
mine at their leisure. For our own part
we shall try to possess our souls in pa
tience, and let the sun-spots account for
oar heated terms, and not insist that they
are properly referable to any such cos
mical cause as very warm body to
which we are fast fastening, and which
will presently flare up and disseminate
our mortal frames to regions far beyond
the tail of Orion's dog,-M Y World.