Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-09-27


what his volume is, seeing that there are
portions of his mass outside the surface
which bounds his visible globe. Is the
SUMS mass uniformly distributed through
out the visible globe, 1,560, 600 times as
large as our earth? or Is it concentrated
toward the centre or, on the other hand,
is the denser part near the surface, so
that the sun is what Prof. Young once
suggested, gigantic bubble? There are
three lines on which we can seek for an
answer to these questions.
First, we find that the visible surface OF
the sun behaves in manner utterly in
consistent alike with the idea that this
surface is near the real sui face of an in
feriOr globe, and with the idea that the
visible surface is part of mighty vesicle
or bubble. The spot zones are carried
around at different rates, according to
their distance from the equatorial solar
regions. Not to follow Faye and others
in niceties OF calculation (far from
justified by the evidence we have, l NAV
say that the equatorial zone gains about
one rotation in seven on the spot zones,
or, roughly, some 100000 miles ia two
hundred days-say 1850 miles per day.
Such velocity as this, close to ten miles
minute, could not possibly exist in a
cloud-laden region (sucb as the visible
surface of the sun undoubtedly is, and
as Affecting regions exceeding the whole
surface of the earth thousands of times,
unless the cloud-laden region was very
far away from the region of the sun, and
therefore from the FRACTIONAL effects of the
true solar rotation, The real mass of the
sun. however distributed, can only rotate
as one; the visible cloud surface has
many rates of rotation; therefore, there
must be an enormous distance between
the two.
Secondly, calculation has been made
by competent mathematieians respecting
the amount OF polar compression which
would arise from the rotation of a globe
such as the sun appears to be. at the
average rate Of rotation indicated by the
solar spots. It is found that the polar
fiattening would be well within the
measuring capacity OF our best instru-
ments. But II there is one thing certain
about the sun, it is that within such ca
pacity) his apparent globe ia not fiattened
at all. 1t is absolutely certain, then, that
the real globe of the sun lies far within
the surface of flowing clouds which we
see and measure.
Thirdly, cur earth has her story to tell
about the SUMS interior. We know from
the earth's crust that. for periods Of time
which biologists now estimate by tens OF
millions OF years, The SUMS power has been
at work ons the earJh's crust, by rain,
wind and storm, fashioning and refash-
loning the structure of that crust, now
forming layers, anon cutting them up,
but throughout leaving clear traces OF his
handiwOrk. Croll estimates the duration
of this part of the earth's history-that IS,
Of the times during which the earth's
crust has been forming under solar &C
tion-at fully one hundred millions of
years. In other words, our earth tells us
of at least one hundred millions of years
of sun work, at the SUMS present rate of
working. 1t Is matter of no import
ance whether we suppose that the sun has
worked all the time at his present rate, or
has sometimes worked with more energy,
sometimes with less, 1t is the quantity
of sun work, not the way in which the
work has been done, which alone has to
be considered. Now, all physicists and
astronomers are agreed in regarding the
SUMS emission OF heat as due wholly,
or almost wholly, to solar grayitation. re-.
sultng in the steady contraction OF the
SUMS mass. To get from the sun to past
ages the amount of work which our earth
tells he has actually done, we must sup
pose him once to have been very much
larger than he is now-hOw much larger
we cannot say.
take it, also, that the change which
takes place in the aspect of the SUMS
corona as the number of sun-sDots varies,
and the alteration of the physical condi-
ton of the corona-in such sort that
when there are many spots. its spectrum
indicates the presence OF glowing hydro
gen, whereas, when there are few, the lines
of hydrogen are few or wanJing-corre-
spond, also, with the theory that the time
of sun-spols is time of great eruptiOnal
activity. For the rush OF elected masses
through the cOronal region would cause
the hydrogen present there not as an at
mosphere, but irregularly distributed
and moving around the SUM to grow
with greater lustre. SO as to show the
lines Of hydrogen in the spectrum OF the
corona.
1t is, at any rate, remarkable that all
the facts known to us in regard to the sun
spots themselves, to the colored flames,
and to the corona, should agree in con-
firming that which is already ali but de-
monstrated by three strong lines Of evil
dence; that is, the real working mass OF
the sun is very much smaller than the
globe we measure as his. and that all the
phenomena which give so great an inter-
est to the study of the sun are due to
tremendous forces at work tens of thou
sands of miles below the surface which
limits our view of his globe, and hides
from us the processes by which the life of
the solar system is maintained.