St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-04-08
Results of a Minneapolis Mans
Profound Study Of Astral
Lore.
The Occult Mysteries Which
for Ages Have Surrounded
the Mineral.
The Seven Sequence Of Phys
zeal Elements Found in
AStrOnOmic Elements.
R. H. Chittenden's Interesting
Computation Of the Suns
Great Distance.

Among the numerals which have been
in use by mankind, ever since mankind
went into the business of calculating,
the number has always been looked
upon as figure around which has been
woven mass of mythology, romance
and magical power. The belief in the
occult influence of this number has not
been confined to any one race of people,
for the Jews, the Greeks and the bar
barians have all given their testimony
to the veneration and sacrednesS with
which the number has always been in
vested by them. To explain this more
comprehensively and make it more I'M
derstandable by the general public, it
needs only to glance at the S Scriptures
and works on ancient times, to see the
truth of this statement about the number
z verified. For instance, Shakespeare
sung of the seven ages OF man. Seven
is the sacred number because God Gre
ated the heavens and the earth in six days
and rested on the seventh. The sequence
of sevens is found in geology, see Mil
ler's Testimony of the Rocks" 1t is
found in botany, see Gray'S Treatise
and Winchell's ''SketcheS Of Creation"
The ancient Aryan myth. from whence
came the stories of the seven wise men
of Greece, the seven wonders, ETC.,
proves it. The Jew set out seven ewes
when he took the most solemn oath. The
Hebrew for II swear'' is 81 do seven
times" Our Savior said, "Forgive your
enemy seventy times seven" The year
of jubilee was the year after 7X7. These
are but but few instances that can be
cited in support Of the argument setting
forth the septenary cOsmical series. The
belief in the power that is contained in
this remarkable, and oft-quOted, nu-
neral has been
WONDERFULLY VERIFIED
lately by Minneapolis man in dis
covery he has made of an astronomical
nature. Unfortunately, in the setting
forth of his very interesting statement,
his language is such that only an astrorl,
omer could possibly understand, so full
of formulas and technicalitieS is it. The
object, then, of this article will be to
convey in popular style to the general
public short account of the successful
results of two long years of study on the
part of one who religiOuSly and pro-
foundry believed in the mystic and
wOndrOus power to be drawn out OF
magical number seven.
The result of his Investigations and
the aim of his inquiries centered on the
very important question OF what is the
SUMS distance from the earth? A few
weeks ago, at the request OF President
Northrup, of the state university. Il. II.
Chittenden, for that is the name
of the gentleman that this article
is written about, presented himself be-
fore the faculty and read the paper
subsequently published in pamphlet
form which contains the statement of
his novel argument ''that the sequence
of sevens which do exist in the atomic
weights of the physical elements is
found also
1T THE ASTRONOMICAL ELEMENTS
of the solar SYSTEM" Taking a hint
from the work of John Newland, the
English chemist, who, in 1868, dis
covered, to the admiration of the world
of science, that if the elements are ar
ranged in the order of their atomic
weight, they are seen to present a uni
form sequence of sevens, so that the
eighth from lithium (Ois sodium (23-23
plus 10y, and the eighth from sodium
to Potassium 1913 plus 16);
ruthenlum do3-7 plus 6 plus
l6), and so on. Mr.. Chittenden went to
work to find out if this method could
not also be applied to astrOmical calcu-
lations, and with what happy measure
of success remains to be told. In the
measuring of the distances between the
sun and the earth the old method has
been by observations made of the trans
it's of Venus or Mars. A few years
ago we were taught to believe that our
sun was 95,000000 of miles distant. The
treatise of Prof. Loomis named the suns
horizontal parallel as S.57 seconds, and
in a later edition raised it to S.S5. AS
every tenth of second means million
of miles, ''what fall was that. my
conntrymen," from 95,000,0 900 to $780,,
600 miles! And now we read that 1.-The
mean distance of the sun from the earth,
as recently estimated and corrected by
Mr.. Stone from Leverrier'S determine
ton of the solar parallel, is about o.
700. 900 miles," With these astronomical
data before him all the time, Mr.. Chit
tenden rimented-wOrked night
and day-fgured out and figured in and
passed through all the pleasurable eX-
citement and the miserable diSappoint-
ments that will inevitably, become part
of the nature of man who is working
upon any subject, not for gain, but for
the loftier and more enduring duty of
benefiting his fellow beings. After
many crosses and weary months of in
tense thought given up to this question
THE LIGHT AT LAST DAMNED,
and he happily made the all-important
discovery that the sequence OF sevens
which exists in the atomic weights of
the physical elements is also found in
the astronomical elements OF the solar
system. He furthermore discovered
that by simply multiplying the suns
diameter, ,635 miles. by the number
representing the atomic weight of the
metal which corresponds to the planet,
the result is the planets mean solar
distance. For example. lithium (O
represents the sun-the first term of
the series. Ruthenium, species of
platinum, represents the earth, the sew
enth in the series, mote especially the
significance of the number) and whose
atomic weight Q03.5), multiplied by the
SUMS diameter, equals 81, 461, 1879 miles
which is the earth mean solar distance,
according to Chittenden's new method
of calculation, and which he further
more claims is sustained by Kepler's
famous law, which says that 1.-The cubes
of the mean distances of the planets
from the sun are proportioned to the
squares of their periodic times" The
beauty and simplicity of this applica-
ton of the venerated number seven" in
astronomy, should have something very
attractive to it In this city when IT is
remembered that one of our citizens has
been the first to discover its adaptability.
Seven, the symbol of perfection. has
been found in the star depths. The pc
riodic times of the binary and triple
stars are powers or multlples OF seven
and ten.
1T WAS NOT AN ACCIDENT
that placed seven conspicuous stars in
the Pleiades, where they have stood
/ 81, ,ir,or cfo mn CI