Omaha daily bee., 1886-09-15
THE ORB OF DAY.
Interesting Facts About the Solar
Systems Central Engine.


Systems Central Engine.
Harpcr's Magazine: The visible globo
| of the sun is 100000 times as large as
| the earth; within the surface so seen
| there lies mass exceeding the earth s
! S2O,OO times; the materials present in
! the suns globe are the same. us those
! which form the globe of our earth--at
least, we know that iron, copper, zinc,
sodium, magnesium, CCalouni, titanium
| and II number of other metallic elements
are present; hydrogen is certainly there
| in enormous quantities, and DIR. Henry
| Draper proved also that oxygen is pres.
| ent, and no astronomer doubts that those
other elements which have not as yet
| been detected IN the sun are really pros
| ent in its mass
| Now, have we any evidence as to tho
way in which the mighty mass of the sun
is disposed within that surface which in.
| closes what we term its volume?-though
in reality one can hardly say what its
volume is, seeing that there are portions
of its mass outside tho surface which
bounds its visible globe. Is the suns
mass uniformly distributed throughout
| that visible globe, $50, 900 times rs large
as our earth? or, on the other hand, is tho
denser part near the surface SO that tho
| san is what Professor Young once sug-
gcsted, gigantic bubbley There aro
| three lines on which we can seek for an
| answer to these questions.
Firstly, we find that the visible sur
| face of the sun behaves in n manner in
| consistent alike with the idea that this
| surface is near the real surface of an in
| ferior globe, and with tho idea that the
visible surface, is part of u 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 pipnfins nf pol n nj tint, ffar i,cti-
| fled by the evidence we hayc), | may say
that the equatorial zone gains about ono
| rotation in seven on the spot zones, or,
roughly, some 9, 700, 600 miles in 300 days,
say 1880 miles per day. Such vcloc-
lty as this, close on ten miles minute,
could not possibly exist in cloud laden
| region (Such as the visible surface of the
sun undoubtedly is), and as affecting re-
| gions exceeding the whole surface of
| the earth thousands of times, unless that
| cloud-laden region We're very far away
| from the great surface of the sun, and
| therefore from the frictional 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 be-
| tween the two.
Secondly, calculation,has been made by
| competent mathematicians respecting
the amount OF polar compression which
| would arise from the rotation of n globe
srch as the sun appears to be at the
| average rate of rotation Indicated by the
solar spots. 1t is found that the polar
| flattening would be well within the
measuring capacity of our best instru-
ments But if there is one thing certain
about the sun, it is that (wlthin such
capacity his apparent globe is not flat
tened 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. ..us
Thirdly, our earth has her story to tell
about the suns interior. We know from
the earth's crust that, for periods of time
which geologists now estimate by tens of
millions of years, the suns power has
been at work on the earth s crust by
rain, wind and storm, iashioning and re-
fashioning the structures 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 his
tory--that is. of the time during which
solar actlon-at fully 100,000000 years.
In other words, our earth tells us of at
least 10U, 600, 600 years of sun work, at the
suns present rate of working. 1t is II
| matter of no Importance whether we sup
pose that the sun has worked all the time
at the. 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 regarding the suns emission of
heat as due wholly OF almost wholly to
solar gravitation, resulting in tho steady
| contraction OF the suns mass. To get
from the sun of the past ages the amount
of work which our earth tells us he has
actually done, we must suppose him once
to have been very much larger than he is
now-how much larger we cannot say.
l take it also that the change which
! takes place in the aspect of the sun g
corona as the number of sun spots 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 wanting
correspond also with the theory that the
time of sun spots is a time of great erup-
tional activity. For the rush of elected
masses through the coronal region would
cause the hydrogen present there mot an
atmosphere. but irregularly distributed
and moving around the sum- to glow
with greater lnstre, SO rs to show the
lines of hydrogen in the spectrum Of the
| corona. ....
| IL lS III any rdtc TelllurRaDle tnat all tne
facts known to us in regard to the sun
spots themselves, to the colorcd llames
and to the corona, should agree IN con-
iirming that which is already all but
dem by three strong lines OF
evidence, that 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 tons 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,
"Memt oyercomes prejudice" This Is
why physicians endorse Red Star Cough
Cure.
The Beginning Of "Get There. Eli.''
Chicago Herald Talking about
slang" said base ball crank on n horse
car, 'can any of YOU fellows tell me
where the get there, Eli, phrase comes
from?"
Not ore. Of all the crowd had any idea
of the origin of get there, Eli.r
| "Wpll Ill tell Won how ii was y onn-