Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-03-19
THE PLANETS.
Their ORR gin, Growth and Death De-
scribed by Prof. Proctor.

Prof Richard A Proctor lectured in
Concert Hall, Academy of Music, on
The Planets" He compared the diff
ferent bodies in the solar system to the
trees in a forest-some like the sap
ping, young, others of mature growth,
others, again, old, and others still
wlthered and dead. These things fol-
lowed just as in any other evolution.
Inns earth is in its middle life, doing
what 1t was intended to do. The
stages OF planets life were given
from the time when it was formed by
the gathering together of the fragments
until its death. The first STAGE is that
OF intense heat, and the greater part of
the time the plane would be mass of
vapor. the orb being lustrous and glow
ing, giving out intense heat. Later il
would lose heat and the greater part of
it would become liquid, afterwards be-
coming solid. The earth while in its
first stage, had probably diameter of
10000 or y, 900 miles, instead of 5000
as at present. In the earlier stages
the volcanic and other disturbances
were much greater than now. The
globe gradually became cool enough
for life, and life would begin There is
evidence that the earth IS ten millions of
years old, but it is difficult to say what
is the age Of a planet when life on it
begins. Sir Isaac Newton believed that
the waters OF the ocean were being
gradually absorbed by the earth. The
waters OF the sea were being diminish
ed in this way, but in what degree can
not be said. They are absorbed to the
thickness of q sheet of paper in one
year, to the thickness of an inch in one
hundred years. in ten millions of years
| Ca mere second in time) ten thousand
feet. In time all the water would be
gone, and in a 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.
If the earth cooled in ten million years,
then it would take Jupiter seventy mil
lion years to cool Thus the large
planets are yet in their youth or first
stage, while the small planets are in
their advanced age. Thus the moon
shows old age while Jupiter is yet a
baby. The larger ones have the char
acteristics of youth, and the smaller
ones old age.
Illustrations Of these things were
thrown on the screen. The sun shows
better than any of the others the vapor-
Gus or first stage, and no one believes it
to be the 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
about one hundred miles per second.
All the tumults of earth combined
would not equal the noises on one mile
of the suns surface. The great dis
turbances of Jupiter were compared
with those of the sun. Jupiter is still
glowing and too hot for life. Saturn
was also said not to be the abode of
life.
The condition Of planets less than the
earth was considered. Mars shows
division of surface into land and water.
Masses Of snow are seen, which grow
larger in winter and smaller in summer
This has been the case every season for
two hundred years-the time which has
elapsed since their discovery. Oceanic
and air currents are also observed. The
reduction of the seas indicates age.
The moon is so old as to be in planet
airy death, though evidences of her fiery
youth are yet to be seen in the mouths
of her extinct craters. She is not too
cold nor too hot to support life, but the
seas are all absorbed, and there is no
air, or it is so thin that no creature
known in this world could live in it.
There is no water, and the moon is
dead. Pictures Of the moon were
thrown on the screen, showing her
death and desolation. Myriads of ex-
tinct volcanoes were shown Baltimore
San.