The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1883-03-17


its teirfperature, il Is possible that the
yaporous matter of the suns interior
would resist motion like q mass o. pit h
z WhenL thinking about ths enormous
amount oil heat, philosophers have nat
urally inanired whether it Is bong dis
sipateA gradually, or whether it is by
some means sustained undiminished;
and IL SO Sustained, by What means
There have until recently been put forth
two theories on the matter; but recent
ly a third has been preached by DIR.
Siemens. and it has appeared in the
Nineteenth Century under the title of
A New Theory the Sun''--~that is,
as regards the sustentation of its light
and heat We WIN mention the old
theories in their natural orders. First,
afonr every day experience teaches us
that when combustion is taking place
the substances which are giving out
light and heat are parting with their
matter, and causing it to assume differ
ent formssas gas and aresidnnm Of ash-
es. We zee. this inA the, burning Of a
piece of wood or coal. or even piece of
paper. We do not say the substance is
lost. If we could gather up all the prod
ucts of thecotnbustion we should ind
| that they had not lost particle of their
| weight, but that the form of them was
materially tehanged !, This, then, we
Iconchide Is the case with the sun. AS
we have stated above, the enormous
| light and heat which is being continual
| ly thrown into space proves that the
sun is converting much of its substance
into other forms; and, unless the waste
be supplied from some external source.
the material of which the orb is com
posed can not fail to be gradually
diminishing; though in the case of a
body of such large dimensions it must
be long time Before there is any per-
ceptible diminution either of volume or
heat But the loss|of heat is by some
believed to be compensated by the dim
mutton of volume. Prof. Newcombe,
of Yale College,g Unitedg Statesy has
come to the conclusion that with the
illumination of thesmasss the heat aug
ments; and that, by this compensation.
shrinking. of the mass might go on for
4 five millions of years, and that it would
. then be eight times. as dense as it is
now. And, heli concludes that the
present conditions of radiation of~heat
and light can not have gone on for more
than ten millions Of years, andprobably
can not upportA life on the earth as now
for another ten millions. This theory,
then, does not pro ess to provide for an
indefinite continuance of the sun S
present powers. And we may add, by
the way, that, even if we are led to con-
template the ultimate extinction OF
Ugh and heat in the sun. it is no more
Ithan appears to have happened in the
moon, which appears TO be dark and
!, inert mass. the rotation Of which has
been perhaps stopped by some such
tidal action we know is atwork upon
! our planet and Very slowly, but steadily,
retarding our diurnal rotation. That
the moon does not rotate is manifest
from the fact that 1t always presents
the same face to the earth. The first
theory, hen, does not profess to show
that the suns waste is repaired from
The second theory is that the waste il
repaired, both in volume and heat, by
: the continual impact or striking o
meteorites upon its surface, This theory
II is due to Dr. Mayer OF HelbrOnn, anC
, was published in 1S4s. A 1t was enthusi
astically received by Sir William Thorn
son, of Glasgow, one of the creates
,ifphysicists of the day, and who is'Nspe
cially known for his successful re
searches in electricity. tits well know
that if body when moving rapidly {
: suddenly stopped in its course heat i
4 the immediate result. We may see thi
: eXemplitied when bullet is fired againS
I stone wall; the lead becomes heated
\ = his theory supposes that the sun is be
ing perpetuaIly hammere like pond
9 erous anvil by falling meteors, and tina
its heat energy is maintained as lum
: of Ton is kept hot by the vigorou blow
9 of a blacksmith. Various calculation
\ have also been made as to the amour
o of heat generated by the impact of
}, small planet. or other mass, the weigh
d OF which can be computed. But surel
u if there were falling continually on tn
. sun such a mass of meteors as wou
repair the regular waste, the cart
i wou'd meet with a good deal more @
" such matter than it does in the period
= ical meteoric display in November an
n other occasions; and the orbit of tn
IS planet Mercury, which is the neares
IT. known OF the sun s satellites. would e1
E hibit some traces OF this powerful Unfit
IS ence. We can, therefore, hardly attac
> much weight to this theory.
l. We now come to the new theor
It started under the powerful name of ID
y Siemens. 1T seems very probable tn:
Al the theory has been suggested by oil
m seryation of the regenerative gas flu
2 mace of which he and his brother, Hel
% F. Siemens, are the originators, wher,
n in the surplus heat. which has not bee
d at first utilized for work. is returne
70 through central regeneratiye chambt
m to the gas and air about t. be burned
a ha rara tho unStn- IaradnctS with uzhic