The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1888-10-06

the past history OF our own world
came to be red, and it's dependence
on physical processes such as we can
deal with and understand, and above
al, its relation to the progress of
time, came to be recognized and APP
preciated.
So far, then, the views which 1 adj
vanced first in my Other Worlds than
Ours may be regarded as supported,
or rather as demonstrated, by known
facts: But l supposed further that
while the smaller planets-how odd,
decayed, or even dead-had been like
our earth, and that while our earth
had been like Jupiter, and both our
earth and Jupiter. at, still greater
distances back in the abysms of past
time, had been like the sun,
the larger planets would one day be
like our earth.
| now see that even as one star diff
fers from another in all the details OF
it's life history. see in the dead face
of the moon that though she has
4 assed through stages Of vulcanian
history akin to those passed through
by the earth, her life history has not
been the same as the earth,s; nor will
our earth. though she endure for tens
Of millions Of years to come, ever
present face akin to the crater-cOv-
cred face of our dead companion
world. And in like manner, though
we have no traces left on otir earth
of the time when she was in the part
Of her life corresponding to that
through which Jupiter is passing, /
cannot doubt that there were many
characteristic differences between
our earth's condition then and
Jupiter's condition now, although
in certain general respects there
may have been very striking
resemblance. The two chief reasons
for such differences are, first, the diff
ference in the condition of atmos-
pheric or vaporous matter on the
surfaces of planets verySlnequal in
mass; and secondly, the immense diff
ference in the durations of the pro-
ceeding periods of time through
which particular stages of planet life
have been attained.
TO show the effect of the former
cause, suppose Jupiter, with his
mass 345 times as great as the earth,
to be in the same stage of planetary
life as our earth, having the same
density, and clothed with an atmos-
phere consisting Of the same gases,
whatever these may be at the par
ticular stage of our earth's history in
question, point left purposely I'M
considered. Then, his mass being
345 times the earth's, Jupiter's di-
ameter would be seven times, his sur
face torty-nine times, the earth's
and the total amount of Jupiter's
atmosphere being 345 times as great
as the earth's while the surface times
of Jupiter is only forty-nine times
the earth's, the amount of atmos-
phere above each square mile of Jupi-
ter's surface would be seven times as
great as the earth's. Moreover, that
much greater mass of atmosphere
would be drawn downward with seven
times the force of terrestrial gravity.
1.-THE reader must not turn to tables
of elements and compare my state
ments here with theirs. am dealing
with a hypothetical state of things.)
1t follows, or would follow If ever this
state of things could have existed,
that the atmosphere of Jupiter at
the same stage of the common lives
of the earth and Jupiter pressed forty
nine times as heavily on the surface
as our earth's, and was therefore
forty nine times as dense.
This of course would make the state
of things in Jupiter and the earth en-
tirely different. In other words, by
supposing certain conditions alike,
we arrive at others entirely unlike.
Consequently the two planets
have never been and can never
be alike. The effect of multiplying
six or seven fold, as we must, all the
periods of the earth's history, in Or
der to obtain the durations for the
corresponding periods of Jupiter's
history, would be of course to inten-
sify all the differences which would
arise from the differences in the
forces at work and the structure of
the materials acted upon during
those several stages of the histories
of the two planets. In fine, l take
it that while the lives of two planets
of different orders (even perhaps OF
any two planets in the universe) are
probably alike-in that each passes
through sunlike childhood, fiery
youth, a middle life of moderate tenn
perature, cold old age, till finally
it passes to the death-like stage
there is no resemblance in the actual
details of life any more than there is
between the details of the lives OF
two animals of different orders-rep-
tile and mammal or insect and verte-
brate-even perhaps than there is
between the life of an animal and
the life of a planet.-Richard A
Proctor