New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-11-18
SOLAR THEORIES.

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SOLAR THEORIES.
A very interesting discussion upon solar the
orles was held at the second days session of the
National Academy of Sciences. at New Haven.
1t was based upon the reports of Professor
Holden and DIR. Hastings upon the solar eclipse
OF May of the current year. The observations
were taken at Caroline Island, and the con-
ditions were favorable. Professor Holden
stated the facts upon which he rested his con-
vlctlon that the planet Vulcan, the existence of
which was LevcrTier'S deduction from solar and
Mercurial perturbatiOns, is a myth. But the
chief interest of the session was created by the
paper Of Dr. Hastings, IN which he gave the
grounds for his belief that the accepted theories
regarding the suns atmosphere will have to be
| abandoned, and that in fact the whole question
of the solar elements, constitution and action
must be rcOpencd.
| 1t is of course well known to men of
science that all the theories that have been put
forward are merely provisional. Many treatises
have been written on the sun, and some of them
are perhaps written in too confident vein.
But no astronomer Of any reputation or stand
ing has undertaken to assert that we possess
any dcfinitiyc knowledge OH the subject nor
has any hypothesis been framed which is free
from very formidable objections and incOngrui-
ties. DIR. Hastings sees strong reasons for
doubling the theory that the sun is surrounded
by an atmosphere of incandcscent gas, extend
ing to Il height of 100000 miles above the
philosophers, or possibly to double that height
and that some mysterious sclf-luminous matter
j. distributed through this incandcsccnt atmos-
4, 1 Al.
which reflects diflusiyc light. He points ont
that this theory requires us to believe that an
atmosphere from 100000 10 100000 miles
deep receives no pressure, or practically no
pressure, since the spectrum shows that the
gaseous pressure at the limit of the chromOs-
phcrc is scarcely pcrceptiblc. But no holds that
the comctary evidence against the theory of Il
gaseous atmosphere is still stronger. Bodies
approaching our earth with fourteen times its
velocity, encounter such pressure at a distance
of ninety miles from its surfacc-that is to say,
attwicc the assumed height of ouratmospherc-as
To become incandcsccnt instantly. But says
DIR. Hastings, there is the direct evidence that
far within the limits Of the corona the density
must be almost infinitely less than that of our
atmosphere at even sixty miles above the
earth's surface. For the great comet of the last
year passed at a distance of $780, 900 miles of
the sun. and therefore deep within the assumed
coronal atmosphere. This comet travcrScd the
ntcrcoronal space for several millions of miles
with n velocity 50 times that of the earth,
not only without being stopped and prccipi-
tatcd upon the surface OF the sum- but even
without having been checked in the least
This certainly is a formidable, if not an absO-
1,,t. L. al ., tod nv
Professor Young and many others, and it is by
no means the only objection advanced by Dr.
Hastings Thus he points out that the line
IA X in to spectrum does not behave at all |
consistently, or in accordance with the current
hypothesis. Sometimes it is very bright and |.
apparent. At other times it is almost wanting.
In short says DR.. Hastings, if the line demon /
stratcS the existence of an atmosphere, it de |
monstrates also inconceivablc changes in it," |
The Doctor concluded his paper with an at
tempted explanation of solar action based upon |
the diffusion of light. Professor Young spoke |
i'm answer to him subsequently, and frankly said |
that he had always thought and taught that |
the accepted hypothesis was far from perfect |
He added. however, that 81 the atmosphere of |
" the sun was not an atmosphere in the same
" sense in which one speaks of the carth's at
" mOsphcre.'
This is rather painfully suggestive of the .
shifts to which some thcOogaus have been
driven in attempting to account for the prob
lem of evil and which shifts Mill has 80 fOrcbly
exposed in his essays on religion. If the suns
is not what we understand by orr
then the scientific use of that term
in explanation of solar phenomena is merely a
shift to conceal scientific ignorance. And, in
deed, il is plain enough that Science has not yet
anything definite about the sun,
all theories TO the contrary Notwithstanding. IL
is impossible to demonstrate the incandescence
Of the actual solar body or of its envelope or
envelopes. 1t is impossible to explain solar
notion in accordance with what is known of
natural law. The centre of or system is to-
lay a, profound mystery To us as 1t was to the
-haldranS and Akkadians, and the ASiatc hy
DotheSiS of a subtle cOSmic force called Akdsa,
of which the sun is the stOrchOuSc and centre,
q, not more undcmonstrablc than the hypOthe-
Sc, which or astronomers and physicists amnse
themselves and pcrplcx the lay public by
outing forward.
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HOU MILK MAY BE INFECTED.
An Orange County physician makes on an
l