Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1880-04-21
The Sun.
LECTURE No. 3.
BY HIRAM A. CUTTING, PHI. d.

In astronomy Inc OOuleS IllaI appear u
us the largest are the first to attract atten-
ion, and hence the sun and the moon
come in for the largest share of observation
ny those not professed astronomers. AL
most every nation of antiquity worshipped
10Th sun and moon; and many tribes in
Africa and South America, as well as our
North American Indians worship the sun
1t the present time. To those who wor-
ship II higher power, as God, the nature
of light by which any celestial body be-
comes visible to us, the heat which it
receives or gives out, the nature of the
material of which it is composed, together
with the changes on their surface, are all
sources of speculation which often excite
human curiosity to the highest degree.
In this lecture, while we do not ignore
the wonderful creations of our planet, or
the peculiar contrasts we are able to make
with our sister worlds. we turn our atten-
ton TO the respondent orb which shines
over our heads and occupies the centre of
our solar system-a group of worlds of
which the earth is one.
Our planetary system owes its existence
and life to this sun. 1t is truly the heart
of its gigantic organism, and maintains
its interior economy in perfection that is
only given by God made laws. Under
| IL, ;,,n nr ;te ,rh;,h D.,
from it, the earth and all the planets gray
itate around it, receiving in their eternal
courses the elements Of light, heat and
magnetism, which, doubtless, on each
planet, as upon the earth, have under the
laws God has created the power of warm
ing into activity numerous wonderful liv-
ing mechanisms. While the attraction of
this magnificent body is their support in
space, and the fire that warns them, it is
also the lamp that lights them, and the
fertile source that pours out the treasures
of existence.
float in the heavens, held by m invisible
network of attractions. 1t is this sun that
while it guides it on its way, distributes its
seasons and its years. 1t is this sun that
clothes our land in snow to protect it from
the great frosts of winter, and the same
sun that prepares the spring time. and
brings our crops to maturity. 1t is this
glorious body that awakes US in the morn
ing, and with its first peep above yonder
mountains, gives us all the splendor OF
day, and with it the hustle of life.
The wind watts the commerce of ma
tions over the mighty deep, but the heat o
the sun has set the wind in motion. The
descending streams give us power TO grnC
grain, prepare lumber for market, or rur
our factories but it is because the sur
gathered up the vapor from the ocean ant
. land, which fell upon the hills and nurset
the springs into rivulets which unitet
make our water power.
The expansive force of steam propcl
our engines, but the force that operates
them is treasured up by sunlight in tn,
primeval forests. The animal exerts ;
muscular force, bat he gets his power from
the vegetable, and the vegetable derive
it from the sun. whose rays determine it.
growth.
1t is again this sun that sustains the vi
tai principle of the air upon which we ar
dependent.
; Lastly and collectively, we omit no
only the stability Of the world, but th
collective life of all that exists, either ami
i NAL or vegetable; and after the power O
U existence it gives us our brain power-th
: capabiity of thought, not only enablin.
us to hold converse with other intellioen
= ces, but to contemplate in awe and venera
: tion the Hand above and around us tha
J sustains the sun, and by His God mad
laws enables us TO gain so much from it.
Blest power of sunshine! genial day,
v What balm, what life is in thy ray;
To feel thee is such real bliss
y That had the world no Joy but this,
5 To sit in sunshine calm and sweet
, II a world too exquisite
For man 10 leaveit for the gloom
}. The deep, cold shadow of the tomb"
While it gives US Imagination, who's
It imagination is large enough to compre
hend this immense globe of incandescen
: heat, many thousand times hotter tina
: any heat of earth, and nearly millio
y and IL half times larger than our globe
g eight hundred and sixty thousand miles /
e diameter-a diameter so vast that If II
II ceutre was placed mt the centre of th
earth. not only the whole space betwee
1t us and the moon would be filed, but th
= moon itself would be two hundred thot
h sand miles beneath its surface3 No ma
ran fnllv comnrnhand n