The New York herald., 1879-11-14
THE GREAT UNIVERSE.
Mysteries and MarVss Of The Starry Heavens
as Illustrated by Mr.. Proctor.
SUNS, COMETS AND PLANETS.
Immensites Of Space Which the Mind Is
Unable to Comprehend.
OUR SOLAR SYSTEM.
How Astronomers Compute
Measurements.
LATEST ASTRONOMICAL THEORIES.
OUR SOLAR SYSTEM.
How Astronomers Compute
Measure nnents.
LATEST ASTRONOMICAL THEORIES

rapt attention for nearly two hours last night ft
Chickering Hall to Mr.. Proctor. the eminent Eng
hsh astronomer. while he explained and illustrated
some of the immensies of space and marvels OF the
universe The lecture the second OF the series,
and for absorbing interest and entertainment. as
we'll Us for the imparting of fund OF the most
valuable astronomical information fully equal.
II not superior. to the first. The subject. although
1T times necessarily involving the recital of figures
and measurements in themselves somewhat dry.
was on the whole handled by the lecturer with such
force and skill that the prosy measurements be-
came imbued with poetic life, and in them the audi
realized only pleasing variation from the
otherwise intensely interesting portion Of the dis-
course. The theory or the nature and source of
asteroids particularly ably sketched. the audi
ence listening at times with the most marked
attention, and rendering their verdict OF
the with earnest applause. The work
Of the ancients. especially in the pyramids
built. the lecturer theorized originally for
astronomical purposes. the relationship and de-
tendencies OF the various heavenly bodies the orbits
and movements and distances Of the same. the i'm
provements in tho science of latter days and the
brrors of the. days Of the past the difficulties and
Successes Of astronomers In dealing with the i'm
mensities OF the universe all were treated with
bearness and precision that brought them distinctly
before all. The major portion Of the lecture
illustrated by appropriate stereopticon views on .
large screen. the hall being darkened for the pur-
pose.
Mr.. Proctor began his lecture by stating that. in
dealing with the immensities of space it would be
necessary first to form clear idea OF the solar sys-
lem. TO this end he asked the audience to regard
the earth globe inch in diameter and the
a globe three yards in diameter and the dis
tance between them 800 yards. Remembering
how small the disc of an inch would appear at the
familiar 800 yards range it can readily be how
small is the base line which the Inhabitants of the
earth have to determine the distance Of the sun.
The scale of the solar system might readily
Indicated by writing down four several consecutive
times. and then adding. the following numbers:-
Is example. 6 u "a and so on. We thus get the
series 10 16 % ana These numbers rep
resent the distance OF the several planets from the
very closely, the earth's distance being repre-
sented by 10. On the same scale the earth. repre-
sented by inch globe. the distance of Neptune
from the sun amounts to about 81 miles: while the
entire span Of the solar domain ut present
known. amounts about 1O1s miles on this scale.
Still further to illustrate the relation Of the earth
TO the solar system in size let modify the Illus
tration representing the sun by a one-inch globe;
then the distance of the earth from the will be
represented by throe yards. ut is, by the way,
noteworthy that IL the earth is represented by
one-inch globe the suns diameter represented by
three yards. while II the is represented by .
one-inch globe the earth's distance from
him is in turn represented by three yards.)
On this reduced scale the span OF the
solar system is represented by $50 yards,
while the diameter of the earth is rather less than
the hundredth part of inch. So that il there
were a circular plane $50 PAGES to represent
The domain of the present known, the at
the centre would be represented by one-inch globe.
and the earth by tiny grain 1-100 Of inch in
diameter.
THE TRANSIT OF VENUS.
The lecturer then proceeded to consider the evi-
dence obtained during the recent transit Of Venus
respecting the suns distance. He FIRST noted
the exceeding difficulty of the problem that
astronomers had to deal with. The surveyor
in trangulating O. country likes to have triangles
with no angle less than twenty or thirty degrees.
The astronomer in surveying the solar systom has
TO be content with riangles each having angle.
not degree. not minute in size but less than
onc-th,rd part of minute. 1t cannot be wondered
at. then, IL with such ilconditioned triangles he
can obtain only approximate results. Now. when
we remember that the entire distance to be meas
ured exceeds ninety millions of miles, is 1t surpris-
ing If the corrections amount to hundreds OF thou
sands Of miles? He then proceeded to sketch the
different ways in which the problem has been at
ton Of the transit OF Venus. December o. 1874.
had been vltiated i'll consequence the brilliant arc
of light which found to surround tho part OF
Venus outside tho suns disc. preventing the OBJ
server noting the exact moment whom her outline
hrst touched on the inside tho outline of the sun
He said that the Photographic methods had also
failed. the actual result obtained in England from
the Photographic method having been interpreted as
indicating that the lay ininite distance the
other side of nowhere" He said. however. that IL
the Photographic methods used by Jansen, at
Meudon. could be applied during tho transit
OF December O. 1882. the results may be
of extreme value Referring to tho method
based the measurement of the velocity Of light.
the lecturer said that he had heard with
faction that Professor Newcomb and Lieutenant
Mitchelson. the latter OF whom had recently very
successfully romeasured velocity of light,
about to mako u thorough renvestigation Of tho
whole problem.
Professor Proctor summed up this portion Of the
subject by mentioning that the most probable esti
mate of the suns distance seemed to bc that adopted
by Professor Ncwcomb. viz. about ninety-two and
one-third millions of miles. He said, however. that
Mr.. Gill. who in 1877 had gone out to Ascension
Island especially to observe Mars and certain of tho
minor planets to determine the suns distance had
obtained result exceeding ninetythree millions Of
miles.
THE PYRAMIDS AND ASTRONOMY.
When the hall was darkened the first pictures
hibited we're found TO represent views OF pyra-
mids and of their interior structure. The lecturer
said that In tho first place. it Afforded strange idea
of the vastness OF space compared with the earth
and with the works of man to note that the pyra-
mids, the most massive structures made by the
human race. would not be discernible il correctly
represented in the largest model of the earth that
could be made. He said. however, that his object in
presenting these views of the pyramids was briefly
70 consider the evidence have that these build
ings made for astronomical observation. He
called special attention to the great ascending gal
lory toward the south, which, although now
closed up. must have served--before the upper
part OF the pyramid was added-tho purpose
now fulfilled by tho transit instrument Of tho aa.