Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1885-07-11

mensitv of space, the myriads OF world
systems of which + was but one.
How the life of a world in all the
years that man has known has not
passed through a perceptible stage and
consequently a single planet for study
must prove Of no value. But as the
botanist goes into the forest and finds
the acorn just beginning to grow, finds
the same leaf and characteristics in the
plantlet with its two leaves and by
tracing it through the bush the sapllng
and the primeval giant OF the forest
gets a perfect knowledge of the oak, so
the astronomer with his glass goes
into the star depths and traces through
vapory state, fiery state, life, decline
and death. These are the conditions OF
worlds in the universe nov and the
conditions of our own system tend to
show that it is the history of all worlds.
Pointing to the screen he explained
that the picture shown illustrated the
comparative sizes of the planets of our
system, and giving the comparative
area of the SUI and u largest planet
reeled off a string of figures that
''struck US all of a heap" and left no
impression except that we had been
knocked down with something ponder
Gus. After a reference to the attrac-
ton of the planetary masses the lectur-
er INDUCED in an illustration drawn
from the sides OF a volcano, upon
whose summit he had stood and look
ed down upon the molten lava which
had been so recently thrown from the
bowels of the earth that it had not yet
had time to cool, but was still in glow
ing moulten condition. We needed
no re-assurance when he told us that
had a rain cloud passed over this noun
tain and deposited its contents upon
the moulten lava the water would have
been instantly converted into vapor
and driven back into the clouds. So
it was to-day with the entire surface of
the sun, except 1t was not only hot
enough to vaporize water but metals.
The sp~ectroscope revealed iron, copper,
zinc, ETC., in this highly heated condi-
ton. In a still older world, OF perhaps
he said in one which had passed more
stages for the measure of world life,
should be metamorphoses and not
years. The larger the mass other
things being equal the slower would
necessarily be the metamorphoses at
tendant upon cooling. So stages
should measure and not years-yet we
will use older as applied to stages-an
older world and a smaller one would
necessarily be a cooler one, and the
vaporized metals would become liquid
and finally solid. Here an illustration
of the planets of our system was shown
followed by another representation
showing comparative distance of plan
ets-we are thankful to the lecturer for
not knocking US down with a whole
series of meaningless numbers. Then
an illustration of Saturn and his satel-
lites and rings,and we have Mr.. Proc
tors assurance that if we will observe
closely for a few millions of years, we
will find the rings formed into moons
floating around the planet. We took
his word for it, and he proceeded to
show us our friend with the bibu-
lous looking, rudy face, Mars; here
was a stage after the fiery. A planet
sufficiently cool to have some hard
crust, or possibly an entire hard crust
with high projections that we would
call land and cuts were shown showing
the snow or glaciers at the poles and
the marked difference in quantity
during the summer or winter one OF
the other poles might have. Mars in
the estimation of the lecturer NAV be
in a condition to support some sort OF
life. The earth which had gone
through yet other stages was soon re-
ferred to with its teeming life and mil.
lions and millions of years of age, with
its water, atmosphere, growth and lite,
and cited as being at the height of the
life age OF a world. Finally, though |
am skipping much, as Mercury with
his little moon so close to him that an
Arkansawer could stand on the eoua-
tor and spit amber enough on the poor
little moon to drown it, out at length
he reached the moon-the dead planet
or satellite. This picture was a paint
ing of desolation indeed. The glowing
light reflected and the impenetrable
shadows reminded us of nothing in life
but a brilliantly lighted cave where the
white damp stalactites CLEAN with a
supernatural w%hiteness, while the cav
ems beyond yawn with an impenetrable
darkness that almost congeaIs the blood
in the veins. The lecturer thought the
moon had passed through the course
we have so briefly indicated until final
ly her seas had been absorbed into her
cavernous depths, and even her atmos-
phere was no more, as evidenced by
the lack of diffusion of light. Yet the
immense craters of her volcanoes show
she was not always this cold, dreary,
dead, %inconstant thing. Such is the
life OF a world from the yapor of the
nebula to the dead planet. He next
Took the cOnceit out of US a little by
showing the sixteen million of world
systems seen with a small glass, and
then a little patch of space that he said
was not very rich in world systems, as
the little place only a few degrees long
by still fewer degrees wide only con-
tanned a few million and four hundred
dred and thirty eight thousand suns
and their attendant planets. Then
he showed US half the heavens with all
the series Of suns and systems, and
we think he begun to reel off the num-
bers but our intellect had failed, we
recovered at the hotel porch and have
ever since wondered if Sweet Springs
water served every one that way.
The last day we begun the miscella-
neous work by a lecture from Prof. C.
H. butcher of the Warrensburg Nor
NAL on "Home-made Apparatus"
the lecture was well received, but as