Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-02-07

Prof. Richard A. PrOetor's Lecture
at Masonic Hall Last Night on the
Stages of a Worlds Existence.
Prof. Richard A. Proctor delivered his
first lecture under the auspices of the
Georgia Historical Society, at Masonic
Hall last night, before one of the most
intelligent and cultured audiences that
has ever graced a lecture room in Savan-
nah. The hall was completely filled.
Prof. Proctor was presented by Gen.
Henry Z. Jackson, President of
the Historical Society, in few
graceful words. A man so
known TO fame, and the world, he said,
could need no introduction. The subject
Of the lecture was, The Life of a World"
After few preliminary words in an easy
conversational style the eminent astrOnO-
mer took up the subject. His leading
thought was that world grows
or evOlves-in other words. that IL
passes successfully through various
stages that correspond to infancy, youth,
middle age, old age and death.
As the plant grows, and as the animal
| passes through the various stages of its
! life. so. but in a far grander scale, he
said, the planet is developed. From its
vapOr0us babyhOod, through fiery youth,
| it passes 10 the fullness of its life-bearing
stage. And even as the tree and the ami
NAL have their old age, and pass on finally
| 10 death, 50 must il be with all the worlds
| which people space. Not only does rea-
| son recognize that the planet, like the
plant, must have its earlier stages of
preparation. and It's later stages of decay;
| but as we find in the forest examples of
| the Seeding and the sapling, the decaying
| tree and the dead stump, so within
/ the solar system dc we find eX-
amples alike Of young and fiery
/ worlds, and of worlds decaying,
| and even dead. The sun, himself. tells US
| Of the vapOrOus infancy of an OTb's life.
| The giant planets, less youthful than the
| far vaster giant which rules them, whose
! stages of life are so long that as yet he
| has not passed through even the first, are
| still far younger than the earth. They
may be much older i'll years, or rather In
/ the millions of years which belong to
| planetary life; but, if so, their longer
/ duration corresponds to a much shorter
/ proportion Of their much longer lives:
| and, as yet. they are too full of 1ery
energy to be fit abOdes for living creatures.
| Other planets there may be-Nenus for
| example, and perhaps Mars-Whlch
| are in the same stage OF
life as our earth. But Mars,
more probably, is further advanced to-
wards planetary old age. His narrow
I
air is thinner. Vegetable and animal life
are dull and sluggish on his WORKOUT
| surface. And. lastly, our neighbOr
planet, our companion world-the moon
| is airless and waterless, dreary, desOlate
and dead. Thus, though the solar system
| tells US no longer Of Omnipresent life, 1t
| speaks of past life, and of life to come,
even as our earth tells US Of millions OF
! living things now dead, and gives promise
| of millions which are to live hereafter.
! Prof. Proctor then went on to say
| what were the indications by which the
age of a world might be Judged. He as
| sumed that all worlds had their begin
| ming in intense heat, and that life was
! merely a cooling off process, The first stage
! would he the highly heated stage, when
! everything was in a state of vapOr,
/ and when the existence of life was an i'm
/ possibility. The second stage, he as
! sumed, was millions OF years later, dur
! ing which the cooling process had all the
/ time been going on, and the body which
! had been in intense heat had become
/ either liquid or solid. and was sur
rounded by cloudy masses, such as
| might be produced by the falling of rain
! on the hot or molten lava from volcano.
BY the aid Ofthe stereOpticOn and series
/ of views, many of which were magnificent,
/ and showed the condition of the giant
! planets unrevealed to the naked
/ eye, he illustrated the second stage OF
/ existence in which the planets,
| while yet unfit tor life, help to make other
/ worlds-their mOOns-habitable. He then
vent on with the same process Of reason
| ing to show how the earth, much
/ smaller body. had cooled faster and
/ had reached the third stage, which was
/ tit to sustain life. He then showed
/ Mars, planet much smaller
/ still, which had absorbed the
water upon its surface more than
| had the earth, and was on its way to the
/ fourth stage-that Of old age or decay.
/ In this connection the lecturer showed
\ how ultimately, perhaps in million
years. the earth will have absorbed all
! tine water and the air surrounding it, and
! the same condition Of things will exist
as on the moon, which is now uninhabi-
/ table, silent, dreary and barren waste,
/ without atmosphere or water, and SYM
/ Lol Of the last stage ola worlds existence.
The lecture, which was illustrated
I throughout with views of the great PLAN
/ atary systems, held the audience in deep
/ est interest. Prof. Proctor Will de-
liver his second and last lecture tonight
I on THE sun"