The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-12-25
OTHER WORLDS AND SUNS.
No Terrcrs in the Approaching PeriheIia-
Life and Death Among the Planets-Orbs
Succeeding Orbs as Races Succeed Races.
From the New York Sun.1


Succeeding Orbs as Races Succeed Races
[Fron the New York SUM-
Prof. Richard A. Proctor's fourth and
closing lecture of his course in Chick
ering Hall last night was on % Other
Worlds and Other Suns After thank
ing the large audience, many of whom /
had listened to every lecture of the /
course, for their expressions of interest
in what he said, Prof. Proctor said that !
he had received many letters of inquiry, /
one of which he would answer before |
his lecture. The question |
was, whether it is true that the giant |
planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and /
Neptune, will all reach their perihelia /
in the course of the next few years, and |
that dire results viii follow to the earth. |
He said it is true that those planets will |
all be in perihelion between the years |
1882 and 1885, but as far as any danger |
to the earth is concerned, science knows |
of nothing to render that probable, and |
the same planets have many times pre-
viOusly, in the history of the world,
reached their perihelia much nearer to-
gether than they viii do this time,
without any injury resulting to the
earth.
Prof. Proctor then discussed the
question of life in the other planets. He
says that the evidence seems to show
that Venus is perhaps the only one be-
sides the earth that is at present fitted
for the abode of life. In the moon and
in Mercury life has probably disap-
peared, and in Mars, as the lecturer ex-
planned in former lecture, the small
ness of his seas seems to show that they
are being drawn into his interior, as the
moons seas were Withdrawn long ago.
The outer or larger planets are yet too
young in respect to development to be
the abode of life. They are in state of
preparation. So, among all the count
less worlds in space, the lecturer thought,
il is probable that some are now inhab-
tied, others have passed beyond that
stage, and yet others are in preparation
for 1t. This view, in his opinion, ac
cords more closely with analogy than
the old theory that all worlds are now
either inhabited or in the act of sup
porting life as our sun does in his sys-
TEN of planets. If all the suns had
started together they could not 60 on
pouring out light and heat without grad
ually losing their power, and so there
would come a time when they would all
come to an end nearly together, and
there would be absolute death in all the
|
ton, we may consider life as extending
through all time as well as through all
space. One set of Orbs are the abode of
! life, and as they die out another set takes
their place, and so on through all time.
Life in one planet does not synchrOnize
with life in another planet, and the
| planets, like the races of men on the
| earth, take their turn.
The lecturer next showed how, while
| there are various reasons for believing
| that Jupiter and Saturn have not yet be-
come fit to be Inhabited, yet, while thus
taking away two planets from the list of
| those where life may exist, u others
may be put in their place. Saturn has
eight moons, all of which are of cOnsid-
cradle size, and the two largest of which
are equal to Mercury and Mars respect
! lively. 1t may be that these moons are
| inhabited, and although they receive on
| " about hUndredth of the heat from
/ the sun that the earth receives, yet Sat
urn, in his present condition, may make
up for that by supplying them with light
and heat. The magniticence of Saturn S
vast rings, viewed from point so close
as these moons are, must be beyond the
! power of expression. Jupiter has four
moons, the largest much larger than
/
! less than ours, and these, too, the lee
turer suggested, may be the abode of
! life. 1t is probable that all of the y
satellites mentioned may not now be in
habited, but that there is among them,
as among larger worlds, progress
/ through certain stages of existence.
| Several splendid pictures of lunar
landscapes were next thrown on the
! screen to illustrate certain changes that
| have taken place in the moon.
Prof. Proctor then passed to the con-
| sideratiOn of other suns besides ours.
! That the stars are really suns has been
obtained by the study of the motions
and distances of double stars. Spec
! troscopic research has furnished an
other proof. 1t has been shown that
! there is an order of suns in the universe
ranking far higher than our sun does.
| The brilliant Sirius is at least ], 200 times
and perhaps 5000 greater than our sun.
| The spectroscOpe shows the existence of
a much greater quantity of hydrogen,
and in a state of much greater pressure
in Sirius than in our sun. Secchi has
found that Vega and other stars that
shine with brilliant blush light, be-
long to the same order with Sirius, and
| take rank above our sun. Out of 600
stars examined by Secchi, 800 were
found that belong to this superior order.
The second order includes our sun. A
sub-order of this rank shows spectra re-
sembling that of reflected sunlight. The
third and fourth orders include the red
stars and other stars that show spectra
| inferior to that of the sun, and these two
orders of stars may be considered as
ranking below our sun. By means of
the spectroscope we have asceTtained
the existence of iron, bismuth, mercury,
and other substances well known on the
earth, in some of the stars whose dis
tance we can not measure.
The spectra of new stars are peculiar.
A number of new stars have appeared
in the history of astronomy. In 1866 a
new star blazed out suddenly in the con-
stellation of the Northern Crown. The
! spectroscope showed that there had been
either an Outburst of glowing hydrogen
| from this sun, increasing its light and
| heat several hundred fold, or else a
| great comet had plunged into it, and
poured upon it the fuel of its long train
| of attendant meteOrs. In a few years
the new star faded into a little point of
| light only visible in the telescope, such
as it was before it blazed out so bril-
! lianly. Considering that our sun pos
| sesses vast quantities of hydrogen, and
that>he is the center of great meteor
systems, the lecturer said it is not alto
gether unimaginable that we may be in
danger from a similar outburst of solar
| light aud heat such as happened in the
distant star in the Crown.
One of the most marvellous things ac-
| cOmplished by the spectroscOpe is the
measuring of the velocity with which
certain stars are approaching us and
others are receding. The principle is