The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1888-05-23
HEAVENLY BODIES.
PROGRESS WHICH HAS BEEN MADE
IN ASTRONOMICAL SCIENCE.

IN ASTRONOMICAL SCIENCE.
The Great Change Which Has Taken
Place Since 1sOO-The wonders II Our
own System-ProbIems Infinite In Num-
Der and Extent.
Looking back to the year 1900 we are as
tOnished at the change. The comparatively
simple science of the heavenly bodies known
to our predecessors, almost perfect as far as
it went, injurious of what lay behind its
grasp, has developed into a body of manifold
powers and parts, each with its separate
mode and means of growth, full of strong vi
tally, but animated by a restless and I'M
satisfied spirit, haunted by the sense of u ID
lens unsolved, and tOrmented by conscious
impotence to sound the immensities it per-
petually confronts.
knowledge might then be said to be
bounded by the solar system; but even the
solar system presented itself under "a aspect
strangely different from that it COW wears.
1t consisted of the sun, seven planes and
twice many satellites, all circling har-
moniously in obedience to a universal I=W,
by the compromising action of which the IN
definite stability of their mutual relations
was secured. The occasional incGrsion of a
comet, or the periodical presence of single
such wanderer chained by planetary or solar
attraction to prevent escape to outer sr<41s4
availed nothing to impair the sy1UD<TT5 of
the ma jeStic spectacle.
Now, not alone have the ascertained limits
OF the system been widened to 1000 900, CU0
of miles, with the addition of one 2lore giant
planet and six satellites to the ancient A1asses
Of its members, but a completely bcs EUeSS
given TO its constitution battling description
or Thought. Two hundred and severt caF~
culating planetary bodies bridge the gap be
tween Jupiter and Mars, the cC%plete inveS-
tigation of the movements of any QEe Of
which would Overtask the energies of life
time MeteOrites, strangers apparently to
the fundamental ordering of the solar house
hold, swarm, nevertheless, by millions In
every Granny of its space, returning at regu-
Lar intervals like the COMETS so singUIarly
associated with them, or sweeping AGREES it
with hyperbolic velocity. brought perhaps
from some distant star. And each Of these
cosmical grains of dust has a theory far Lnure
complex than that of Jupiter; it bearS " itLln
it the secret of its origin and fultIIS func-
ton in the universe.
THE SUN AND PLANETS.
The sun itself is no longer a semi-fab sSNA
fire girt GLOBE but the vast scene Cf tie PLAY
of forces as yet imperfectly known to us.
Offering boundless field for the most .Irdu
and inspiring researches Among The
planets, the widest variety in physical l..L&
tudes is seen to prevail, and each is rpcoc-
nized as a world apart, inviting inquire.
which, to be effective, must necessarily b,
special and detailed. Even our own mOo,
threatens to break loose from the trSSn.nels
of calculation, and commit errors which
sap the very foundations of the lunar theory
and suggest the formidable necessity for its
revision Nay, the steadfast earth has for
feited the implicit confidence placed in il esq
timekeeper, and questions relating to tie
stability of the earths axis and Ito constanc1
OF the eaI'th's rate of rotation Gre among
those which it behooves the future to answer
Everywhere there is multiformity and
change, stimulating a curiosity which the
rapid development of methods C researci
offers the possibility of at least partially
gratifying.
Outside the solar system the problem
which demand a practical solution are al
but infinite in number and exteuh Ant
these have all risen and crowded upon on
thoughts within less than 100 year, Il.
sidereal science became a recognized f."E::Az %.
of astronomy only through Herschels dr.
covery of tie revolutions of double SP-6
1902. Yet already it may be, and la. 81
called ''the astronomy of the futurs, s r.-.
idly has the development of keen a4u Eli
versal interest attended and stimulated tt
growth Of power to investigate this subi.:,E
subject What has been done is I;11ttS0-,
scarcely a beginning; yet it is muca in co.-a-
parison with the total blank of q cantU-I
past And our knowledge will, re art
easily persuaded, appear in turn to Elcrct
ignorance to those who come after al ".
tits not to be despised, since by it go r4.&-
up cropping fingers to touch the h.sI e ! !,
garment of the Most High.-SiderCG Alesse.:,
ger.