The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1879-11-27
" d dSyonC agglegeliOa, "
ms Of explaining how the
w. nfhnl nlnnaia RAachbh the

I|.' ~" hNr Olu6l plNuotb' AyBNhNA ehO
u state OF their existence. Accor-
" ~, the lecturer said, we may con.
\ that the objects about us, and our
=. les themselves, are formed OF matter
CHat WAS once whirling through space,
ana 30, In this sense at least, the'heaV'
ens were once our home.
ine stereoptican was then used TO ex-
hlplt pictures of some of the nebula that
IN me q l.t.1Na,a1"nne reveals, and which seem
oOS W. JtI"\ Ho lne effe"- " a whirling motion
!, slu lnef general aggregation of sold CEN
Tres SUI rs the l.aplace theory supposes
to nag taken place in orr system. 1t
seems not improbable thatin these neb.
,Rl@ we behold eystemsip(fhe act Of for
matioa, which mfflous of years hence
NAV be sn8s and worlds like ours.
Prof. Proctor then suggested, what he
said is the first explanation o1ered OF
the fact that meteoric swarm! Whlch are
known to follow in the track OF comets,
lag behind. and in some cases become
scattered over the whole length OF Lheir
orbits. The explanation Ctfered IS mat
when the earth was in DebnlouS -iaie,
these masses of meteorlG matter plugged
straight through her substance ana the
natural result of the resistance they thus
encountered at regular recurring periods
would be to delay them, and so cause
them to lag behind in their orbilal sweep
After showing a number of pictures to
illustrate the d ference between the two
orders Of planets in the solar system,
Mercury, Venus and the Earth, and
Mars re presenting the older order in re-
speGt to development, as is shown by
their smaller size, and Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus and Neptune representing the
larger, and in the same sense, younger
order, the vast bulk and depth of the
envelopes surrounding Jupiter and Sat
urn were illustrated, and the remarkable
similarity between Saturns Rugs and
the rings of nebuous matter, conceived
by LqpIace to have been formed in the
development of the universe was pointed
out. In the lecturers opinion, the rings
of Saturn will ultimately be formed into
satellites like the eight that he already
possesses
Then Prof. Proctor explained more
fully the reasons for believing that the
moon is many ages older than the earth,
aud ia, in fact, dead planet whiring
through space, without the cheerful in
huence'of life upon its surface. Beautiful
photographs of lunar scenery were ex'
hibited, and the lecturer showed how it
is probable that the great dark plains on
the moons disk that we're formerly sup
posed to be, and that are vet called seas
% llu npuaraI hu lib 70
ours. These oceans, according to the
theory now most generally accepted, have
the inner portion of the planet cooled
of, been gradually withdrawn into the
interior, leaving the surface an arid
waste The vast siz9 of the lunar volca.
noes the lecturer said, might be aCcoun.
ed for by the consideration that much
less resistance Of gravity would have to
be encountered in their formation on the
moon than would be the case on the
ear h. The inlense baCknes9 of the
shadows cast by the lunar mountains is
one of the proofs of the absence ofan at
mOsphere there.
Mars seems 10 be, in respect to age, in
termediate between the earth and the
mOOn. Careful maps of its surface show
that Marss oceans are much smaller
than ours and that the land and water
on bis surface are about equal in extent
Venus seems to be bout the same age
as the earth, which she more nearly re-
sembes in size than any other planet
We can even see the atmosphere of We
hus, or at least the effect that it piodu.
ces, when she is in transit across the
SUMS disk. AtsuCh times the dark body
Of Venus is seen to be surrounded with
an arc of light which, demonsrAbly, is
caused by the sunlight in her atmos
phere.
All the orbs that circle through space
are thus shown to undergo process Of
birth, growth and death, and yet, the
lecturer said, there may be orders of tx,
istence in the universe of which we
know nothing, and what seems to us like
death may be only an interchange of
waste material from the higher orders
to the lower.