The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1880-02-11
How the Earth Will Perish.

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at tle very least as dense Us that OF our
earth. Then we learn also that oceans
are on her surface, because it has been
shown by The spectrum. 1t appears
also that it closely resembles our earth
in condition, and that it is the one
planet fit to be the abode of living crea.
lures like those which exist on the
earth. In Mars we begin to recognize
the effects of planetary old age. These
greenish patches we must regard as
seas, and we find that they are much
smaller in comparison to the rest OF
the area than in our earth. On our own
planet 72.00 is covered with water, and
on this only about 5000. The older
planet has the smaller water surface,
and the idea is suggested that in old
age of a planet the waters gradually
diminish in extent.
We pass to lhe moon to answer that
question, and here we certainly lind no
traces of water. Also, we trace no at
mosphere Of appreciable density, and
everything 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
earth? I think we cannot doubt this
when we look at her volcanic cra1ers.
think, too, there must have been there
such life as exists on our own planet.
There were oceans on her surface, whici'
formerly occuEiedthese spots, waich, IT,
waters being withdrawn, present thi
finely granulated appearance from its
action. This seems to be . natural ex-
PLANTATION. As the planet becomes old
the oceans become soaked into the
planets interior, the crust of the sur.
face as the planet cools being formed
into large cavities such as exist in por-
Gus substances, and into these the water
is withdrawn. DR.. Franklin, OF. Eng
land, has shown that four times as mucl!
water as now finds place on the earth 8
surface could be found room for in
the interior of the earth, when the pro-
cess of cooling has gone sufficiently far.
Then, in regard to the atmosphere,
there Is certainly no trace en- the moon,
but we have picture here showing
that the volcanic action of. the moon
was at one time no less than in our
own earth. The moon probably repre-
sents the future of our own earth at q
distance of time of twenty five million
of years. When the old age OF the
earth will come it 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 surfaces, but that they were
formed 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 space.H So
think we may look at the heavens, with
the thousands of stals to be seen with
the naked eye, and hold this thought.
There you have $500 suns, Zach a
brother of our own sun, though many
belong to higher orders, and weInay be-
lieve they have thousands Of orbs cir
cling round them which are the abodes
oflife. And if each one has but single
world in its system as uhe abode Of life,
we have then thousands of inhabited
worlds similar, perhaps, to our own:
In the one single POLAR map here
shown there are 324, 900 stars, all to be
seen with small telescope. and by one
of Herschel's telescopes 10000, 900 stars
would have been brought into view in
the same section of the ornament. But
after all there still remains the thought
thai each planet is tending toward
death, and though the periods OF time
are so vast that they seem like eternity.
the dying out of the larger of these suns
appear to US like the death OF the uni
verse itself. But take such an orb as
Sirius, which is thousand times larger
than the sun, and after his death all the
smaller orbs will have died; but eaa we
escape the thought that there will still
remain Others to take their places? It
seems to me we cannot, if we remem-
ber how thoroughly we have been de-
ceived in the past. We thought the
earth the center Of the universe; then
the solar system was everything; then
that system became but one in galaxy
OF stars, and in turn the galaxy of stars
is lost in the in6nitude of stars.