Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1891-07-10
HEAVENLY BODIES.
PROGRESS WHICH HAS BEEN MADE
IN ASTRONOMICAL SCIENCE.

Tie Great Change Which Has Tal4er
Place Since 1soo-The Wonders of ouI
own system-Probiems Infinite in Mum.
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 MS
it went, injurious of what lay behind its
grasp, has developed into 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 UNI
satisfied spirit, haunted by the sense of prob
lens unsolved, and tormented by conscious
impotence to sound the innlensities il Der
petually confrouts.
knowledge might then DO said to be
bounded by the solar SYSTEM but even the
solar system presented itself under an aspect
strangely different from thut il now wears.
IL consisted of the sun, seven planets and
twice as many satellites, ali circling har-
moniously i'll obedience TO IA universal law,
by the compcnsating action of which the IN
definite stability of their mutual relations
was secured. The occasional incursion of "a
comet, or the periodical presence of a single
such wanderer chained by planetary or solar
attraction to prevent escape to outer space,
awaited nothing to impair the symmetry of
the majestic spectacle.
Now, not alone have the ascertained limits
of the system been widened TO 1000 0OO, 600
OF miles, with the addition of one more giant
planet and six satellites TO the ancient classes
of its members, but a complexity has been
given to its constitution battling description
or thought. Two hundred and seventy cir
cuiating planetary bodies bridge the gap be-
tween Jupiter and Mars, the complete iuyes.
tlgation OF tho movements OF any one Of
which would overtask the energies of a 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 hke the comets, SO sineularly
associated with them, or sweeping across it
with hyperboltc velocity. brought PERHAPS
from some distant star And each of these
cosmlcal grains of dust has u theory far more
complex than that of Jupiter, it bears within
1t the secret Of its origin and fulflls fuuc.
ton in the universe.
THE sun AND PLANETS
The sun itself is no longer selni-fabulous
fire grit globe, but the vast scene of the play
of forces us yet imperfectly known to us,
offering houndless field for the most arelu-
Gus and inspiring researches. Among the
planets, the widest variety in physical habi-
tudes is seen to prevail, and each is recog-
nizod as world apart, inviting inquiries
which, to DO effective, must necessarily be
special and detailed. Even our own moon
threatens to break loose from tho trammels
OF calculation and commit "errorsn which
sap tho very foundations Of the lunar theory
and suggest tho formidable necessity for its
revision Nay, the Steadfast earth has for
feited the implicit confidence placed in it as a
timekeeper, and questions relating to the
stability OF the carth'S axis and the constancy
OF tho earths rate of rotation are among
those which it behooves the future to answer,
Everywhere there is multiformity and
change, stimulating a curiosity which the
rapid development of methods of research
offers tho possibility of at least partially
gratifying.
Outside the solar system tho problems
which demand practical solution are all
but infinite in number and extent. And
these have all risen and crowded upon our
thoughts within less than 100 years. For
sidcrcal science became recognized branch
of astronomy only through Herschel's dis
covery of the revolutions of double stars in
1902. Yet already il may be, and has been
called 1.-THE astronomy of the future, so rap
idly has the development of keen and uni
vcrsal interest attended and stimulated the
growth OF power to investigate this sublime
subject. What has been done is little-is
scarcely beginning; yet it is much in COM
parison with the total blank of a century
past. And our knowledge will, we are
easily persuaded, appear in turn the merest
ignorance to those who come after us. Yet
it is not to be despised, since by it we reach
up cropping fingers to touch the hem of the
garment OF the Most High.-Sidereal Messen-