St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1880-10-16
w,,o I;fe and Death of World.
IScientitic Americana


Mr. r. A. Proctor, the celebrated {
astronomer, recently delivered a lee I
tnre on the "Life and Death OF a s
world in the Town Hall, Adelaide, ;
south Australia. The English Me-
chanic, from which paper we extract,
remarks that Mr.. Proctor, in his eH-
ordium. pointed out that perhaps the
chief point in which the science OF
onr own times differs from that OF
former days consists in the fact that,
IN q wider scale than the ancients
did. we recognize the presence OF
Natural law. Where the ancients
traced the law of development in the
history of plant, Or perhaps in the
growth of forests, we i'll these days
With q larger vision saw that the
same law was in force all through
the works of creation. Applying it
tn the world in which we live, we
saw how continents had risen up
from the ocean, and how the earth
had been fashioned by a slow pro-
cess of development that might re-
ouire millions of years for its com
nlete fulfillment. Extending it's vi
sion still farther the science OF to-
dav recognized the same processes
of development at work in the solar
system-nay, throughout the uni
verse; and it saw, too, that oper-
ating on this gigantic scale lnca.cu-
liable periods of time were necessary
for the completion Of those proc
esses. 1t was his purpose that even
inc to bring before his audience, in
such q way that they would te able
to accept it, the evidence OF the
truth that the various orbs forming
the solar system of which our earth
is one member, were all in different
stages of a worlds life. TO this end
he began by dividing the history OF
q world such as ours into three dis
tinct stages or epochs of develop
ment: the period of young life, the
period Of mid life, and the period OF
old age. Each Of the various mem
bers of the solar system, or indeed,
the universe, was either now, or had
once been, in the form OF vapor at
an intense degree Of heat. Taking
our own earth as an example, we
could look back in imagination to
that remote period when all the sub
stances, liquid and solid, now form
inc the earth were in the shape OF
fiery vapors, and from the gigantic
clouds they formed showers OF mol
ten metal, poured down as the planet
gradually cooled while in its in
tensely heated state the world would
be expanded to a size immensely eX-
ceeding its present mass, and sur
rounded with thick, fiery clouds,
holding all the present elements OF
our seas and continents in the form
of yapor, but, as the world cooled
down, the various metals, rocks, and
other substances in the composition
of the earth would gradually assume
their present form. But still there
would be such intense heat that one
ce-water-Would remain il
the vaporous state, forming great
belts of clouds, and, as the centra
nucleus Of the growing planet con
tinued to cool down, still further
changes would take place. From
the outside nothing would be visible
but layers Of clouds arranged in thu
order of rain clouds below, cumuli ;
little higher, and the. light feather.
clouds still further up Atlast CAM
the period Of Availability, through
which the earth is at present pass
ing, and after that the period of de
crepitude and decay, when from th
intensity Of cold no power of lif
could possibly exist. In order tina
we should properly appreciate til
enormous length of time that al
these stages Of planetary develop
ment would require it was necessar,
that our conceptions Of time shoul
be enlarged like our conceptions G
space, and just as we regarded spac
as infinite, and our little earth tn
merest point in the university {
creation, so we needed to extend on
ideas of time just as far in that d
rection. The geologist knew frOl
what the rocks taught him that mi
lions of years must have passe
away simply during that perio
when the continents were bein
made and the rocks placed stratum
by stratum as we found them in til
present day; but the stages OF
worlds life before and after this on
epoch in it's history occupied inca
culable periods of time. What tim
was required for these processes t
be carried outscould not be definite
IL settled. 1t was sufficient for h
purpose to point out that it woul
probably be at least five hundre
millions of years. The geologist tol
them that as the earth became oil
the waters would gradually diminis
and the atmosphere would becom
too tenuous to breathe. Cayitit
would form, into which all the water
of the earth would be gradual
soaked up; and at last, in the fin
stage of death, the atmosphere woul
disappear.
The lecturer then proceeded
show, by reference to the other pla1
cts of the solar system, how a crit
rion could be formed as to when
~.Icl,o xx,oc IN ona or of1:ar of fl