Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1879-12-24
HOW WORLDS ARE B0RN.
THE SCIENCE OF ASTRONOMY AND THE
COMMON SENSE OF MANKIND.

HON w UOHLbso AHE DOHN.
THE SCIENCE or ASTRONOMY AND THE
COMMON SENSE OF MANKIND.
Prof Proctor delivered the second
lecture of his course recently in Lin
coin Hall, Washington, to large and
deeply interested audience. IL had
been announced that the subject would
be "Other Worlds and Other Suns"
But, through some misunderstanding,
he had prepared himself and brought
illustrations for lecture on "rhe
Birth and Death of Worlds" After
brief apology for tho mistake, he pro.
ceeJed with the latter, and remarked
that we find in studying the crust of
the earth, AID also in studying the
solar system, the clearest possible evi-
de1ce, in the first place, that this
planet ON which we live has passed
through immeY 2 seriods OF time, and,
in the secono, that they are short
compared with the periods through
which the solar system has passed.
According to estimates Of scientists it
requ'rea a' ieas' ioo,Vvvovv y, oo3 years ear 70
the earth to cool down from a great
molten mass until the surface became
M nv ior l'V'ng creatures 70 eAist upon ~
ina' "ou'u Ri'o d pei'ou Vi fov'oVo'-
900 years to convert the earth from q
niol'e,i mass 10 i's prescn. conu'',on'
pu' 'ncre was previous s'h1c' We
navo clear evluenco 'naI tn1 SOAR sys'
.e'n mus. nnve psen orlB'nally I'D va
porous conui'ion' 10 ocoh'ert tne earth
irV'n INA, W u 'aoleen ooe nnn mass must nave
taken ~ ieas. oo'ooo'ooo years, giving
u very 'houorate es'liiia'e 9vV'oVo'
Voo years as its uurauon' inere Is
ou. one way Oh get,lng over this con-
cius'oh-tnat aii tne evidence upon
whicn II Is pased IS deceptve; that
inc eartn never was mass OF yapor'
never was III moiteh conuitlon,
never cooled slowly ihto naoitual
cohuitioh tnat tne animals ana plahts
"hicn seeneu 70 nave iiveu on its iace,
as indicated Dy thelr FOSSIL remains,
were formed IN single moment or q
single day in tho strata, as they are
formed for no other purpose that can
be imagined but simply TO deceive
mankind. That is view which can
not for moment be entertained. We
did not invent our own minds, and
whatever conclusions we arrive at by |
the exercise Of them we must regard |
as fairly admissible. After all, it is only |
because our minds are so limited that
the development of planet or the So
lar system seems so different from the
development of tree or an animal. |
We find all the members OF the solar
system travelling in the same direction
round the sun, and the great mass OF
the sun itself travelling in the same
way. There are but two exceptions
to this rule-the families of satellites
dependent upon Uranus and Neptune,
which seem to travel the wrong direc-
tlon, but they are on the outskirts of
our solar system. IL proves in the
most ncontestable manner that there
must have been given originally TO the
W mole solar syetem ono common move
ment Inc recognition OF this nae. IS
the source oi tnc hepuiar theory, "n'en
Is that tne whoio OF our solar system
was originally neoulous mass turn
ing round on a disk. Oertain portions
oil IL were ieit nenino, not thrown on,
as large rings similar 70 tnose wn'cn
are seen rounu 'he planet saturn
ihese Droke INTO fragments, wnicn
graduaiiy c'necteu ihto single masses,
ana 30 the piaheis were formed, tne
outer oros Oh tne systems hrst ihus
tne process wen. on un.li ,ne iarge
central mass wnicn We caii tne sun,
was iei'. oomet'mes J, happened 'naI
tne process OF coheclion ia,'eu ana lne
fragments became scattered tnese are
the ASTEROIDS, ms theory only ac,
counts par''aiiS ior sne iormallon oi
inc piane's' Day ai.er uay, year III
ter year, ana century "ter century,
tney are peing auuou 10 py sa'ner'ng
ing me'eors' neh we commune tnese
TWO ,neories toge'ner we can unuor
STAND why u Is tna' wnen We look AZ
tne heavens some instinct teiis US tnat
tnose s'e'iar uep'ns were once our
nome,
a. TINS po,n' ,nc i'gn's wcrc ,urpeu