The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1889-03-01

There Is n well-EnOwn saying that
truth IS stranger than fiction The
correctness Of this prOverb can not
wei be- gainsaid. The most careless
observation Of the wonders of nature
as seen in this world of ours, the most
ha-ty reading OF the history OF men,
should be enough 10 place the matter
Beyond all doubt or question. The
wu#j itself. its oceans and rivers, its
mountains and forests, its plains and
deserts. It's wonderful human and ami
NAL Iile-these facts are more mar
vcl1us than any thing the fancy of
man ever has conceived or ever Will
conceive But when we leave this
earth. a-d, turning our eyes TO the
heavens. learn something, however
t.t'ilg, or the Clorics which are there
airp.0vad. then are we impressed with
--l ceiling that, compared with truth,
-a...-t however strange, Is poor, dull
and uuin.eresting. ii the pages OF
material history, IN every line, tell of
wonders far surpaA sing any set forth
in the most dazzling romance, what
shall be said of the annals OF astrOn-
omy2
Any one gazing at the sky on a clear,
mOonless night viii see what will
seem % him a large number of little
points Of light, so tiny that many of
chem could be held in the palm of the
hand; each apparently fast fixed in its
place, and ,Itti seemingly within Il very
little distance. say, within gun-shot,
on few minutes walk. What he
vast that compared with them our
great earth is but plaything; rush
ing along 1T n speed to which that of
the express train. or even Of the
cannon ball, Is as nothing; at distances
SO vast that the mind OF man can not
ut all conceive them. Instead of small
sizr, absolute rest and trifing dis
taucc, he cOutempiates stupendous :
size, fcgrfuliy rapid motion, and dis
taueo iuCouCcivable. Among all these
wonders OF size, speed and distance. l
shall couGHe my attention to the
last, and shall say few words about
the distances Of the heavenly bodies
The moon is distant from US about
90 900 miles; Of the other bodies OF
the system. the smallest distances are
about as follows: Venus. 26. 600. 600:
Mars. 5000. coo; Mercury. 56. 600. 600;
the sun. 81, 100000; the asteroids. no. =
u"a coo; Jupiter, 3Si. OOO 600; Saturn.
7~o,Olo. 900; Uranus, LOCO. OOO, 900, and
Neptune. 1850. 600. 600 miles.
The distance here approximately ex
pressed in millions of miles, no doubt
seem great enough; yet the mere state
mont of them can give no true idea Of
their real magnitude Indeed. no
hanan intellect can in any way form
n Just conception of them Still,
something better can be done than
merely to talk about so many miles,
whether in thousands or in millions
The distances must be not merely
stated, but illustrated
Doubtless our world is enormous.
Comucred with the largest Of its Great
Urcs. and even with the space within
which the greater part Of such Great
ures move about, its size is indeed
past COmprehending. But so wonder
ful are the means of travel now 1T our
disposal, that almost any part of the
earth, even the most distant, can be
reached IN a very short time. In less
La4tALA = AlAN LA1 AlADNAIAlA u q t4tE Gstl ut
carried hundreds OF miles. In n week.
he can go from the Atlantic to the
Pacific. or from America To Europe.
a little more than a month viii take
him 10 the ends OF the earth. Thus it
viii easily be seen that no single Jour
ney upon our earth, however long,
can occupy more than a small part
OF the average human life. The
time required for a few journeys more
or loss 10 China. Australia or the Cape
Of Good Hope, would hardly be noticed
In comparison with an ordinary lie
zine.
Let US now contrast these distances
with some few Of the distances in
space, choosing as our mode OF com
raIison and illustration the time it
would take To travel each given dis
-ance at a fixed rate of speed. We
viii suppose certain railways to be
buiiti one around the world in per-