Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1880-03-19
ANOTHER WORLD LIKE OURS.
A LECTURE fBY BR. HIRAM A. CUTTING.
PUB9IsEafD by SPECIAL REQUEST.

OF caarsc nj i.unenbufgh Inc next III the
series VIII be in the afternoon Of Sunday,
March 2S.--ED
In Isaiah, kjth chapter, 18th verse,
we find the declaration, "For thus saith
the Lord that created the heavens
God himself that formed the earth and
made it; lie hath established it, lie
it not in vain, He formed it to
be inhabited"
We all well understand the truth of
this declaration, yet we seldom stop to
think how great this creation was.
When we do think we can but realize
that the discoveries due to science,
which we know must be accurate, as
their results are accurate, which we see
in the foreknowledge we have of
eclipses, transits, CT, which are the
perfect knowledge We have of the solar
system, wkich means the sun and its
retihue of planet worlds, of which the
earth is one.
The Spn--the acknowledged centre
of this system, is over eight hundred
and eighty thousand miles in diameter,
q globe of such vast Dimensions that if
its centre was at the centre Of the
earth, not only the whole space from
the earth to the moon would be filled,
but the moon itself would be two hun
Gred thousand miles beneath its sur
face. present before you Planet
arium in which the planets move in
order, and it gives you an idea of the
solar system. But with the earth this
size, (about one inch,) the sun should
be thirteen feet in diameter. To re-
present the relative sizes, let us take a
level plane on which we place a globe
two feet in diameter for the sun.
Mercury, the nearest planet, eighty
two feet away as o small mustard seed.
Venus next, Il medium sized pea, one
hundred and fortyatwo feet from our
supposed sun.
The earth, pea, two hundred and
fifteen feet distant.
) Mars, SO like the earth as we shall
see, q small pea, three hundred and
twenty-seYen feet distant.
The asteroids, as two hundred and
ten grains of sand, yes, fine sand, at
the distance Of seven Hundred feet.
Jupiter, medium sized orange,
one-fourth of a mile away.
Saturn, small orange, one-half
mile away.
Uranus, garden cherry, three
fourths mile away.
Neptune, as q large pea, one and
one-fourth mile distant.
With this comparison, perhaps better
than with figures, we can gain some
idea of the vastness of this creation.
But our earth represented as a small.
ish pea, contains two hundred millions
of square miles of surface. To examine
this, If we were placed on the sum
nit of. Mount Washington, where We
could see forty miles in every direction
which would be over an area of five
thousand square miles, and as much
as we could grasp at one view, yet il
would be but one forty thouSandth
part OF the surface of the earth
Should we thus contemplate such q
1 landscape each hour, for twelve hours
every day, it would require nine years
ana forty-eight days to view the earth''
surface. If we were removed higl
above the sUIf&e of the earth, as fal
off as the moon, or further, from oul
elevated balloon we should see til,
white clouds moving over the surface
the blue ocean, and the continent
tinged with green; the increase o
Snow and ice in polar regions, in TIN
winter, and with our actual knowledg,
of our globe we ehondd make thing
out with small telescope quite dis
tinctly. Let us bear this in mind a
we consider what. we know of othe
worlds.
First by the way of meteors, which
if not from other worlds arc at leas
from space beyond our own, and henc
shoW us the material, at least of til
solar system. They have brought u
Iip their composition certain element
that play o very extensive part i'll lif
upon our globe. Such as oxygen, by
'dro5en, salt and carbon. The aerolit
which fell at Orgenil in 1864 breugh
us coaly matter, carburets that or
due like peat to vegetable remain'
: One which fell at Lance in 1872 braEgL
! us salt. If from France we get thi
: much, other countries have had thei
: share, bringing us water i'll the fqri
| of hydrated oxide of iron and otht
, material. This argues strongly tia
) other worlds do not differ much frol
F, our own. On the other hand come
spectrum analysis by which the ray
j, Of sunlight that pass to Mars show I
< positively that it has an atlnosphei
r similar to our own, with watery vapc
!, like our clouds, and like our cloud
j also producing fog, snow and rail
/ Telescope examination shows us col
d figurations of land and water so nearl
l. like that of earth, that we cannot fl
It a moment believe that God, VII