Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1880-02-05
How the Earth will Perish.
(N.Y. rrioune's 5 Report Of Prot. Proctor. Lee

| a. Y. Tribunes Report OF Prot. Proctors Lecture
The planet Venus has an atmosphere,
| and i, is said to.be At the very least as dense
as that OF our own earth. Then We learn
also that oceans are on her surface. be-
cause il has been shown by the spectrum.
| IL appears also that II closely resembles
| our earth In condition, and tina, IL Is the
| one planet lii 10 be the abode OF living
| creatures like those which exist on the
earth. In Mars we begin TO recognize the
effects OF planetary old age. These green
ish patches we must regard as seas, and
We find tina, they are much smaller In com
| parison 10 the rest OF area than In our
earth. On our own planet ~ 90 is cover
ed with water, and on this only about 80.
90. The older planet has the smaller wa.
ter surface. and the idea is suggested that
In the old age of planet the waters grad
ually diminish in extent.
We pass to the moon to answer that
question. and here We certainly find no
traces OF water. Also we trace no atmos-
phere of appreciable density, and every
thing tends to show that she had water on
her surface, but that it has disappeared.
Does this seemingly cold and dead world
appear TO have passed through the same
stages as our own earthf | think we can
not doubt this when we look al her yolcan-
ic craters. l think. too. there must have
been there such life as OH our own planet.
There were oceans on her surface. which
formerly occupied these spots, which, the
waters being withdrawn, present this
finely granulated appearance from Its &C.
ton. This seems to be natural explana-
ton. AS the planet becomes old the
oceans become soaked into the planets
interior. the crust Of the surface As the
planet cools being formed into large cavi-
ties such as exist in porous substances, and
into these the water Is withdrawn. DR..
Franklin of England has shown that four
times as much water as now finds place on
the earth's surface could be found room
for in the interior of the earth, when the
process Of cooling has gone sufficiently
far. Then, in regard to the atmosphere,
there is certainly no trace on the moon,
but we have picture here showing that
the volcanic action OF the moon was at one
time no less than In our earth. The moon
probably represents the future of our own
earth At d distance of time of twenty-five
million Of years. When the old age OF the
earth will come 1t will cease as the abode
Of life.
Let US pause to consider some of the
stars in this regard. Many of them are
too old and many too young TO sustain life
on their surface, bnt that they were form-
ed for some purpose beyond that OF being
useful to this particular planet there is no
doubt. A study Of the heavens seems to
tell Us that all life should occupy all
space and all time, and not be crowded into
one portion Of time or one portion of ofspace.
l think we may look at the heavens, with
the thousands of stars to be seen with the
naked eye. and hold this thought. There
you have 1000 suns, each borther Of our
own sun, though many belong to higher
orders, and we may believe they have
thousands of orbs clrcliGg round them
which are the abodes OF life. And II each
one has but single world In its system IS
the abode Of life, We have then thousands
Of inhabited worlds similar, perhaps, to
our own.
1n the one single polar map here shown
there are 324, 600 stars, all TO be seen with
. small telescope. and by one OF Hershel's
telescopes 20, 600 900 stars would have been
brought into view 10 the same section OF
the ornament. But after all there still re-
mains the thought that each planet Is tend
ing towards death, and though the periods
OF tune are 80 vast that they seem like
eternity, the dying out Of the larger OF
these suns appears to us like the death Of
the universe Itself. But take such an orb
- Sirius, which u , thousand times larger