Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-03-08
THE SPOTS ON THE SUN.
Bin Nye CandidIy says He Cant Explain
Them.

This luminous body Is 92,00O,0 900 miles
from the earth, though there have been
mornings this winter when it seemed to
me that it was further than that. A rail-
way train going at the rate OF 40 miles
per hour would be 263 years going there,
To say nothing Of stopping tor fuel or
water, or stopping on side tracks to wait
for freight trains TO pass. Several years
ago it was discovered that slight error
had been made in the calculation Of the
SUMS distance from tue earth, and owing
to misplaced lOgaritbm, or something Of
that Kind, a mistake OF J, 900, 900 miles was
made in the result. People cannot be too
careful IN such matters. Supposing that
on the strength of the information con-
i tanned in the old timo table a man should
start out with only provisions sufficient
To take him $1,000 900 miles, and should
then ind that 3, 0O9, 900 miles still stretched
out ahead OF him. He would then have
TO buy fresh figs of the train b0V IN order
to sustain life. Think Of buying nice
! fresh figs on train that had been en- route
| $50 years!
Imagine a train boy starting out at 10
years of age aud peTishing at the age OF 90
years, with only One-tifEh of his journey
accom- plished. Think of i've tram boys,
! one after the OtneT, dying of old age on
tue way. anu Lu6 Train az A1Hb pUiAihS
sloWlV into the depot with not living
thing on board except the worms in the
mice eating apples"
Tge sun cannot be examined through
an ordinary telescope with inpunitY.
only one man ever tried that and he IS
now wearing glass eye that oost him 80.
If you examine the sun through an or
diPary solar microscope you discover that
IL has curdled or notified 9pearance, as
fhorr.rh ct4ff..rtuO from DIlIOuGpPSE. IL
also marked here and there by long streaks
of light called facul9, which look like
foam flecks below "a cataract. The spots
on the sun vary from minute pores the
size OF an ordinary school district TO spots
| 100000 miles IN diameter, visible TO The
nude eve. The centre of these spots IS as
black as 4 brunette cat and Is called the
umbra. SO called because it resembles an
! umbrella. The next circle Is less dark
| and called the penumbra, because It SO
/ closely resembles the penumbra.
There are many theories regarding these
spots, but TO be perfectly candid with the
| gentle reader, neither Prof. Proctor nor
myself can tell exactly what they are. If
we cOu d get little closer we tiatter our
| selves that we could speak more definitely.
| My own theory is they are either, first,
! open air caucuses held by the cOlored
| people of the sun; or second, they may be
| the dark horses in the campaign; or third,
| they may be the spots knocked of the de-
| feated candidate by the opposition.
Frankly, however, l DO not believe ell
/ Their OF these theories to be tenable. Prof.
| Proctor sneers at these theories also on
the ground that these spots do not appear
| to reVolye so fast as the sun. This, how
ever, | am prepared to explain upon the
/ theory that this might be the result OF
delays in the returns. However, 1 am
| free 10 confess that speculative science is
| filed with the intangible.
The sun reYOlyes upon his or her axle
! tree. as the case may be, once in % to IS
Of our DAYS, so that man would have
almost two years to pay 3O-day note.
| We should so live that when we come to
| die we may 20 at once to the sun.
Regarding the suns temperature, Sir
I John Herschel says that it is sufficient to
melt a shell of ice covering its entire sur
| face to a depth of 40 feet. | do not know
whether he made this experiment person.
| alIy@or hired a man to do it for him.
The sun is like the star spangled BAN
ner-as it is ''still there" You get up
| tomorrow morning just before sunrise
] and look away toward the east, and keep
! on looking in that direction, and at last
/ you will see fine sight, If what have
! been told Is true. If the sunrise is as
| grand as the sunset it must indeed be one
/ of natures most sublime phenomena.
! The sun Is the great source of light and
heat for our earth. If the sun were to go
somewhere for a few weeks for relaxation
| and rest it would be cold day for US.
| The moon, too, would be useless, for she
! is largely dependent OF tue sun. Animal
| lite w0uid soon cease and real estate
would become depressed in price. We
owe very much OF our enjoyment to the
| sun, and not many years ago there were =
large number Of people who Eorshiped
the sun. When u man showed signs OF
emotional insanity they took him up ca
| the observatory of the temple and sacrl-
! feed him to the sun. They were very
prosperous and happy people. IL the con-
| 0Teror had not come among them With
! - 'ization and guns ana grand iuries
/ t., would have been very happy indeed.