The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-12-18
The Planets. !,

Professor Richard A Proctor llectured
last night in Concert Hall, Academy of
Music, on "The Planets" He compared
the different bodies in the solar system
to: the, trees in the forest-some like the
sapliDg, young, others of mature growth;
Others again old, and others still wit6ered
and dead. These things followed just as
in any other evolution. This earth is in
its middle life, doing what she was in
tended to do. The stages of planets
life were given from. the time when it
was formed by the gathering together Of
fragments until its death. The first stage
islthat Of intense heat, and the greater
part of the time the planet would be a
mass of yapor, the orb being lustrous and
glowing, giving out intense heat. Later
it.wonld lose heat, and the greater part
would becomeGquid, afterwards becoming
solid.e The earth while in its first stage
had probably a diameter Of 10000 or
12,006 miles instead of 5000 as at pres.
ent. In the earlier stages the volcanic
and other disturbances were much great
er than now. The globe gradually be.
came cool enough for life, and life would
begir.i There is evidence that the earth
is tens of millions of years old, but it is
difficult to say what is the age of planet
when life ON it begins. Sic Isaac New,
ton believed that the waters of the ocean
we're being gradually absorbed by the
earth. The waters of the sea are being
diminished in this way, but in what
degree cannot be said: They are absorb
ed to the thickness of a.sheet of paper in
one year, the thickness of one inch in,
one hundred years, in ten millions Of
years, "a mere second in time,) 10000,
feet. In time all the water would be
gone, andin long period the air itself
would become so thin that it would not
support life: Planets, like other bodies,
cool slower as they are of greater bulk.
H4HeearthIcooled ins ten million years.
thenitwou1d take Jupite venty million
yearssto cool Thus the large planets
are yet in their youth or first stage, while
the small. planets are in their advanced
age. Tins .ths moon shows old age,
while Jupiter is yet baby. The larger
ones have the characteristics of youth
and the small ones of old age. III
Illustrations of these things were
thrown on the screen. The sun shows
better than any of the Others the vapor-
ous orfrst stage, and no one believes it
to besthe abode of life. Being the larg-
est, the sun is the youngest of all the
solar, system as regards advancement in
life. The tornadoes of the sun move at
the rate of 100 miles per second. All
the tumults of earth combined would not
equal the noises on one mile of the SUMS
surface The great disturbances of Ju..
piter were compared with those of the
sun. Jupiter is still glowing, and too
hot for life. aSat4 fn.was also said not to
be the abode Of life! = -
The condition Of planets less than the
earth. was considered. Mars shows di.
vision of surface into land and water.
Massesq of SNOW ARE seen, which grow
larger in winter and smaller in summer.
This has been the case every season for
200 years-the time which has elapsed
since their discovery. Oceanic and aif
currents are also discovered. Thereduc.
ton of the seas indicates age.
The moon is 80 old as to be in plane.
tary death, though evidences Of her fiery
youth are yet to be seen in the mouths
of extinct craters. She is not too cold
or too hot to support life, but the seas
are all absorbed. and there is no air, or
it is so thin that no creatures known in
this world could live in it. There is no
water, and the moon is dead. Pictures
Of the moon we're thrown On the screen,