Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-02-05
PROGRESSION PRocToR,s LECTURE.

anv genuine alarm will be sounded no one IA
miiiar with the situation believes for an IN
slant.
PROFESSOR PRoCToR's LECTURE.
Professor r. A. Proctor, the eminent Eng
lish astronomer. leetured before the Sacra-
mento Literary Institute last evening at the
Congregational Church, to large and cul-
tured audience. The lecturer was introduced
by Rev. DR.. Dwinell, who announced the
subject of the lecture TO be "The Birth and
Dsath of Worlds The lecture was illus
trated by very large, clear and interesting
views thrown upon screen by means Of an
excellent stereopticon fitted with the oxy-
hydrogen light. Professor Proctor is a
speaker who cannot be called eloquent ex.
cept in the sense that he wins at once. and
maintains his hold upon the profoundest and
undivided attention of every auditor. He
speaks clearly and positively, and as rea-
soner is remarkable for conciseness and logical
force. He speaks rapidly, In the sense OF
losing no instant of time In all his lecture
there was no superfuous word. 1t was a
chain of expressions link after link, each de
pendent upon the other, not one of which
unity of the whole and withal with rapid
ity of utteranee which gave no pause or rest
ing place for the unfortunate critics, who
made the effort to take notes of what proved
to be one Of
THE PRoFoUNEEsT
And most interesting lectures with which a
Sacramento audience has ever been favored
an exhibition of profound but modest learn
ing, of rare study and scholarly attainment.
He began by showing, in p few concise SEN
fences, how utterly inadequate an idea child
has of the material world, and how it opens
up to him at last as wondrous marvel. so
the mature man grows to the intelligence
that this is not large world, but, compared
to other planetary bodies, is one Of the
smallest Of all that whirl in infinite space.
lie finds that the stars are suns that lie
apart ct such distances that the span Of the
earths orbit is but an atom in comparison.
Each sun is the center of scheme OF
CIRCLING WORLDS.
The stars seen through the first telescope were
very small in number compared to those now
known, and discovery has gene on till at last
man has been almost forced to retreat from
research concerning the depths of space. At
the same time he has enlarged his conceptions
as to time, and has found that the earth and
the universe.requir infinite periods for Gre
alton. But this in no wise sets on one side
the Almighty by the doctrine of universal
evolution. TO Him thousand years is as
but moment of time. As we look on the
solar system and its developments, he said.
we enlarge our views of the greatness and
wisdom of God and the wondrous majesty of his
plans. He then proceeded to enlarge upon the
theory of the creation of worlds, placing as
the first stage the vaporous. Each planet
was vapor. Every substance-taking the
earth as an example
WAS ONCE vAPoR.
The first stage of the worlds life was one of
intense heat, sufficient to resolve all things
into vapor. If there is now world in such
a state it is to be known by its heat and its
light, and the evidences of these are easily
found. Next the planet in this stage will be
the scene of intense disturbances, so vast
and awful and grand as to surpass all con-
ception, and utterly belittle all comparison.
its heat, and become partly liquid and partly
solid matter, and so the nucleus for solid form
is made In such stage, we expect, of
course, to find water raised to the surface in
the form of vapor. For instance our oceans
were once raised and held above the earth III
vaporous state, and thus enveloped it COM
pletely or in part, obscuring the form of the
earth by its heavy clouds. II any orbs are in
that stage now, we viii know them by un-
deuiable features. Owing to
THE GREAT HEAT
The frame of such world will be extended
ard its deep vapors expanded. Outside of all
win be found clouds of lighter vapor. Thus
the planet will appear to be larger
than it really is. So if il is put ia the scales
of science it will be found to weigh less-to
be less dense than in reality it is. The next
life stage is that in which our world now Is
Here the geologist enters in and tells US what
that stage is. 1t tells us that the earth has
been the scene of wondrous changes, like
those we observe now taking place on
other orbs. He has been given by God pow
ers of observation and reason. He searches,
fuGs and reasons, and inevitable conclusions
follow. He sees certain pre- cesses going on
and certain results following. Rains fall
snow piles up, glaciers formed and ground
down the-uountains, and rivers bore away to
the sea, floors the evidences of such action,
where the goologist studies it, and establishes
in his research that table lands ana lofty
mountains have formations such as the ocean
floors show, ard concludes that the former
we're once as the beds of the sea are. So we
find how long it must have taken to carry on
this work, and conclude that it required
MILLIONS OF YEARS.
In some places we find ten miles of depths
bearing certain characteristics, and we pass
in our Judgment from millions to tens of
millions Of years, and so SIS some have gone to
100 600, eco, bat the lecturer believed 100,-
000 600 to be nearer correct in calculating this
vast age Of a planets growth. Next we come
20 the future of world. Here there is more
difficulty. But as the past of the earth was
proven and verified by the processes going on
in other planets, so it is arrived at in older
ones what our eacth's future may be. The
lecturer here quoted from eminent authorities
on this point, and said that astronomers ar
rive at the conclusion that as worlds grow
older their waters are gradually absorbed into
the globes interior-taken below the surface.
Cavities form as the earth cools, and into
these the oceans are withdrawn. A few
thousand years will record no appreciate
change, but in tens of millions OF years in the
life of a world the waters are thus withdrawn.
So finally we come to the time of the worlds
death. when it viii be dry, arid
and all a waste, and unfit for the
purpose it nov fulfills so well.
Ia our solar system we have all the evidences
Of all these stages ct planets life. To select
the Oldest from the youngest planet, one must
hear in mind that the larger the body the
slower its cooling process. A globe eight
times as large as another viii have four times
the heat: so every stage of cooling viii be
twice as long as In smaller ore. From this
point the lecturer introduced his
ILLUMINATED DIAGRAMS,
And continued his lecture in the dark. These
diagrams and views were large in number
and were thrown into the sentences of the
lectureI with great rapidity. The compare
tive sizes of the planets were shown. Saturn
and Jupiter are giant planets, and hence ii
the younger stage; Mars is small, and in &
later stage, probably that of death. The
sun, with al its vast body glowing with heat
and light, and marked by the most awful
rapid and tremendous of disturbances, is il
the first, or glowing. vaporous stage. He
then took up the question Of the
CONJUNCTION OF THE PLANETS,
To occur June 10, 1881, and which, it is sale
is to play the very smash with the earth. HI
ridiculed this idea, but in a manner quiet
incisive and irresistible. Such IDEAS HI
said regarding the conjunction -sprane
from the superstition of the ancient religion
of astronomy, and are unworthy the en-
lightenment of this age. With diagrams h
illustrated the vast distances of these planet
from the sun and from each other, anC
showed how imperceptible must be their in
fuence upon each other, and especially upol
this earth. There is not the slightest reason
to be drawn from the slightest knowledg
that the approaching conjunction will hav
the slightest effect upon the earth. Thes
ends of the world" have been foretol,
every % years since A. D. 1000, and are tn
result of the most stupid ignoranc