The Portland daily press., 1882-01-20
Y. M. c. A.
DR.. Bill on the Sun.

YIN. G. A. Hall was well filled last night
by an audience containing many of our leading
citizens Dr. Hill lectured on "The Sun" his
lecture being condensation of his new book
on the subject We give below an abstract OF
this valuable paper:
DIR. Hill began his lecture by acknowledging
his obligation to the excellent volume OF Prof.
Young, published recently by the Appletons,
and giving in popular attractive style q
clear. precise account of the present state OF
knowledge concerning the SUM- 1t was mat
ter interesting to every inhabitant OF the
globe, since we were wholly dependent on the
sun for life. The amount of heat and light
from all other sources was so small that were
the SUMS rays cut off mo plant or animal, even
in tropics, could survive the darkness ana
cold for many days.
The first element of knowledge concerning
the sun was to discover his distance. There
were seven independent ways in which his DIS
lance could be approximately measured. Inc
probability was that at New Year he was nine
ty-one and half million miles from us. and on
Independence Day over ninety-four millions.
The next element was his size; the luminous
part was about one hundred and nine times
the diameter of the earth; in other words his
volume was 300, 900 times that OF our planet.
But as he was of only one-quarter as heavy
material, he weighed but 33O00O times as
much.
His chemical composition was the same as
that of the earth, with the addition of some
elements not known here; and the means of
determining this, discovered5 onlyi20 years ago,
was one of the finest of all scientific discover
les. The heat was SO tremendous in the sun
that everything was there in a state OF vapor;
it was mass of gases compressed Dy the at
traction of the great body into sort OF mo-
lasses, yet not fluid, but gaseous. Inc con-
stituents of the sun were in rapid motion, up
ward currents bringing hotter gases to the sur
face, in bright faculR; and return currents col
lecting and carrying down cooler particles IN
darker spots. Around this brilliant sphere OF
light, was layer called the reversing layer,
very thin; over this foated layer, principally
hydrogen, brilliantly red. In this red layer
the motions were even more rapid than in the
mass beneath. This thin red layer had not
been observed until modern times, and was first
noticed during total eclipses Outside OF all
was layer of great depth, very irregular and
changeabe consisting almost altogether of a
gas wholly unknown in earthly chemistry. 1t
made an exquisitely beautiful crown about the
sun at the time of total eclipse; as had been
noticed in ancient days.
The light and heat of the main body had
been in old times, variously estimated; but re-
cent measurements, more particularly by Prof
S. 2. Langley of Allegheny, Pa, had demon
strated that its heat end light had been under
estimated by ell preceding observers. That
heat and light had been sensibly constant for
several Thousand years. Inc question: Oh us
source and nature had been much debated; al
so its duration, past and to come. Every indi-
cation of physical science was however, in
favor of the conclusion that the solar system
has not yet seen 20000000 years, and cannot
see 10, 600 600 more Whoever wished to give
more time in the past for the evolution of ami
mails; or less time in the future, for the dura-
tion of human communities, would have to
look elsewhere than to the known facts of the
material world for basis of his speculations;
physical science saw nothing but fire mist few
lutte zero, pitch dark, few millions of years
to come. But religion and philosophy had
foundations even more secure and trustworthy
than those of physical science; they could lead
her through her fire mist, and through her
dark frosty silence, to realities whose duration
made the 30,0O0,000 years of solar phenomena,
as but a moment