The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-11-29
THE INFNITY OF TIME.
Prof. Proctor Declares It Beyond Human
COmVrGhsHSlOR-Ths Earth 100000.
QUO Years Old, Yet stu YOuAg
and Lively.

Sss York slat.
There was not an empty seat in Chicken
ing Hall last evening when Prof Richard
a. Proctor began his lecturaon THE Vast.
ncss Of Time as Revealed by Astronomy
Before coming to the subject In hand the
speaker said that lie wished to correct u
statement which had been made that the
moon was Outside the domain oithe earth.
In reality, the moon does not 20 round
the earth any more than the earth goes
round the moon. They both circle around
their COMMON centre Of gravity. Tho sun
Is 1900 times greater than the earth, and
Is 3si times AZ far from the moon as the
earth Is from tho moon. Therefore the
sun In iu great size Is able to OverbalanCe
the difference In the distance and to exert
a much greater influence over the moon
than the earth Is able TO do.
Turning 20 the subject Oi the lecture, he
said that whereas Ia the last lecture he
had dealt with space, proceeding step by
step with the large members Of tho solar
system to the solar system itself, 10 the
enormous spaces, separating that from the
Surrounding systems, until We became 10 I
in the infnity Of space, 80 now he pr0pOS'
ed TO pass by tho parallel COuHe Of tins
to the duration Of our earth In Us past and
future; to the far longer duration Of the
different planets, and OF the sun, and then
the duration Of the solar system, and 80
on to higher and higher orders, until ut
last we find Ourselves vaguely wandering
IN tue infinite vastnes8 Of time.
a difficulty which we encounter ut the
Outset contests In u proper determination
Of the time Of the duration Of the earth.
No one knows how long thGeArth has last
ed, and the most learned OF our students
have been, and are still, continually at
issue regarding this most important sub
jeCt. Yet facts arc very clearly shown by
the researches Of biologists on the 0arth's
strata and into the effects Of the area de-
mutation Of the Earth, which go to show
that during one hundred millions Of years
this sphere which we inhabit has been ex-
posed to snch heat and light Rs the sun
has power 10 throw down upon It, From
the strata processes which have been at
work in the past, and which are still con.
tinning, we can very narrowly estimate
tho time 81 wearing down. Lyell tells US
that lO0,OO0,OO0 Of years have been OCCu.
pied ia the wearing down Of the strata.
This Is tha work Of the sun, a. the earth's
evidence shows very clearly.
Evidence Is also strong as to the length
Of the time preceding the cooling down oil
the earth, and the formation Of its crust.
BiIChOtT, In series Oi experiments on
molten rock, has demonstrated that to cool
down so large 4 body as the earth from a
temperature OF 700 degrees Centigrade to
one Of 2OOdegrees Cenligrade wouldoccupy
\ period Of not less than $50 100000 Of
years. This belief isConcurTed in by many
Of our most learned astronomers, but
think that they err on the side Of deh.
cheney rather than on the side Of excess.
During the period OF 3j0,0OO,OO years, il
we accept Bischoi7s opinion, the earth
was mass of nebulons matter, entirely
dhvOid OF even tho smallest portion Of
solid surface, either OF land or water. We
shall not be very greatly ont Of the way
certainly We shall not exaggerate- II we
set down 50O,OOO,0OO years us the length
ri the period Of time when the earth first
began to form Es planet.
The larger planet, the longer its exist.
ance. It's cooling down requires much
greater period OF time, Just W Of two iron
balls, one twice Rs large as the other, the
larger one will require more than twice rs
long to become perfectly cool, as will the
smaller one. The planet Jupiter Is Sl3
ittA an In lao "a I
seven times seyen times seven times as
large rs the earth. Therefore, it would
require seven times rs long for Jupiter to
cool, a. for the earth to cool, a period Of
81, 10000 years. Jupiter is younger in its
development than the earth, yet there is
reason to believe that II existed hundreds
Of millions Of years before this world was
formed. The sun is 3i,OO0,OOO times "a
large rs the earth, and would require
5000, ON, 900 years TO cool, seventy times
as long as the earth, and ten times as long
NJupitGr.
Bodies, like the moon, tell OF times in
the remote future. The moon is eighty.
one tiluC, smaller than the earth. LIS sur.
face is thirteen times smaller. The
moon Is believed to be dead body and 10
represent the earth rs 1t will be thousands
Of years hence. The solar system rs n
whole force upon US the belief that the
system has arrived at its present stage by
Development Every orbit in the system
moves in the same direction and in the
same manner. This is clearly the result
Of u law; and, "a clearly, the law Is the re.
suit Of process; II we could only find
out what that process was, we should
know all there is 10 know. The whole
system was once part Of a tremendous
whole. The great disc was formed By the
gathering in Of the matter existing in the
heavens. From this radiated the various
masses which formed the planets, and the
central mass Of the sun left TO control the
entire system.
As the earth has for ages swept around
the sun, 80 the earth has for ages swept on
TO It's surface masses OF meteOriC matter.
All, my friends, ii is no idle dream. The
air We breathe, the food we eat, and the
earth which produces it-ycs, even the
very dust OF our bodies-was once a mart
OF tho heavens. The heavens were once
our home.
Professor Proctor closed with long
quotation from Goethe, beginning with
tie line
"Seo all thinH In each other blending"
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