St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1880-10-16

inc characteristic was lulei!Se lltdt,
and every substance was in the form
of yapor. So in the sun we found
by the aid Of the spectroscope that
many of the substances i'll a solid
and liquid state on the earth were
there in state Of vapor. The next
stage was represented by Jupiter
and Saturn; the stage ofmid-liie by
the earth and Venus; and the pc
Rod of old age by Mars and Mercu-
nv. The last and final state-death
would be found exemplified i'll a
still smaller body-the moon. Ju-
piter. one thousand two hundred
and fifty times the size OF the earth,
and three hundred and forty times
as massive, and Saturn, seven hun
dred times as large as the earth,
and one hundred times as massive,
represented the second stage OF the
earth's existence and both in point
of development were younger than
the earth. If all the water Oh each
were raised in the form OF clouds
our earth would appear greatly mag
nified in size to an inhabitant OF We
nus; and Jupiter presented exactly
that appearance to us. One OF the
satellites of Jupiter had, on one oc-
casion, been observed to pass inside
the edge of the planet, and few
minutes afterward had been seen
outside, as if it had suddenly stood
still. If the visible surface of Jupi-
ter was solid they would be required
to believe that the crust of the plan
ct had sunk three or four thousand
miles-a change in it's condition so
momentous that the additional heat
encendered would have arrested i'm
mediate attention. The real eXpla-
nation was, according to the view
he put before his audience, that all
we saw of Jupiter was a vaporous
substance raised above the planet
itself, and the cloud masses envel-
oping it had passed away into the
form of invisible vapor so as to leave
the satellite within what had pre-
viously been the limit of the enve-
, lope. Through the edge of Jupiter
{ a star could sometimes be seen, and
probably the planet itself was thou
sands of miles below it's apparent
surface.
t Referring next to Saturn, the lee
: turer pointed out that its condition
, correspondent with that of Jupiter
} and he passed on to consider Mars.
as an older planet, exemplifying the
: stage of dccrepitude and decay. In
f that planet the area Of the water
z surface had been reduced till it was
: only just equal to that OF the land
t and at the poles there were bright
: white caps which presented changes
/ such as we should expect to see OIL
: the supposition that these caps were
: of snow. A chart Of Mars, with it;
!, peculiar distribution of land an(
# water, presented disappearance tina
n the earth, according to calculations
d made on the basis Of soundings tax
Il en- by the Challenger, would have i
n half the water Oh it's surface wer,
e absorbed.
e Finally the lecturer dealt with TIN
e moon as illustrating the last stag
n ola planets existence-that fdeath
vt That the moon had no atmospher
u was shown by the extreme blacknes
l. of the lunar shadows. The atmos
II phere of the earth was illuminated
n and it's shadows were very differen
e in appearance from those that wer
e visible on the surface of the moor
a The absence of water in our satellit
y was also clear; but the dark spot
Re visible on it's disk were shown to
h w-lying levels where the water ha
S. been in the earlier stages Of til
e. moons existence. The lecturer e,
he hibited several ma gnifcent diagram
fe depicting the utterly dreary aspet
at of the moons surface, and he shove
he that millions of years hence, whe
ii the earth entered into the final STAG
p Of it's history, it would present til
~ same lifeless, arid appearance.
Id In conclusion, he remarked thu
of the conception of the universe, 9
&c explained by him that evening
re might appear to those who symp;
of thized with the views Of Brewste
nr Chalmers, and Dick, as to the e,
Ii istence Of life in all the orbs aroun
m us, a conception at variance wit
H. our ideas of what was fitting.
I'd On further consideration, he b
ID lieved his audience would agrt
lg with him that the view he presente
IN was not so cherries as it appeare'
he If every orb in space was now il
a habited the present stage must hay
ne been preceded by universal lifeles
H. ness, and would be followed by IN
ne versal death; but if they accepte
to the view he had brought forwal
e. they would still be able to recogni,
lis that even now there are millions
Id worlds bearing life, like the plan
ed of which we are the inhabitants. F,
Id space was infinite, and should the
Id be only one life bearing planet
sh every solar system, there would ST
ne be scope to conceive in the univer
es millions of worlds inhabited even
rs the present time. The number
lly stars visible through Lord Rosse
lal telescope could be no less than OF
lid hundred millions, but what instr
ment of human invention cou