The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1892-06-21


| of being formed of stars packed !osetneI'
| are. in reality composed of gases in which
nitrogen and hydrogen predominant.
| In our own system the rings OF SATURN
| are still in existence.
| The successive formation of the planets,
| their situation in relation to the solar equa-
| tor and their revolutions around one CEN
| ter. are explained by the. theory we are
propounding, Neptune, the, most dis.4a1
| DIanct known. must have been detached
| from the nebula at a time when 1t extend
! ed outWards from the center Dillon
! leagues, and moved so slowly that Ioo
| years were required to complete one rota-
| ton The original ring could not retain
| the annular form unless it were perfectly
! homogeneous and regular; but such con-
| dition is impossible, and the ring Itselt
would soon be condensed into sphere,
| Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, an army OF hit
lie planets known as the Asteroids, and
! Mars were thus successfully detached,
or formed in the interior of this same ncb-
| ua. Finally the earth was produced.
| whose formation goes back to the epoch
| when the sun arrived at this point in space;
| Venus and Mercury were produced later.
Will the sun ever throw off another world?
1t is not probable. In order to do so its
rotary molten must greatly increase, be-
coming 219 times more rapid than at pres
ent.
In the same manner the moon was formed
from the terrestrial equator when the
earth, still a ncbula, extended as far
the orbit of that luminary, then perhaps
nearer us than now.
The relative density of the planets cor
roboratcs this theory. The moon formed,
SO to speak. of materials floating on the
surface of the terrestrial nebula is much
lighter than the earth The inferior plan
cts. Mars, the earth, Venus and Mercury,
are much more dense than the superior
planets, Neptune. Uranus, Saturn, and Jul
pter Furthermore, the same materials
which compose the earth, and winch also
exist in a gaseous state i'll the sun, are
found III the chemical composition of the
different worlds, the comets, SHOCKING stars
and mctcOritcS.
Thus the earth was formed b." the slow
condensation of n gaseous ring detached
from the sun Zig. 43l, which still continued
to contract and cOndcnSe in order that We
nus ard Mercury might afterwards be pro-
dpCG From that time the terrestrial
nebula had an independent existence, and
from it slowly evolved an immense
gaseous globe rotating on its own axis.
This revolving globe gradually became
denscr. and was heated by the intinitesimal
and steady impact of the materials com
posing it, 50 that the nascent earth shonc
with a feeble light in the midst of the SOM
Der night of space.
From the gaseous state it. became iquid,
and then solid, and it doubtless still con
tinucS. cool and contract. But its mass
is increased from age to age by the me-
teortes and shooting stars which are con
tlnulllE falling upon G-InOtc IMAM IL nun
drcd billion every wear.
Neither years nor ages need be cnu1ner-
atcd in defining the incOmmenSurable time
| employed by nature in the creation and
elaboration of the worlds system Millions
of years added TO millions scarcely mark the
seconds Of eternity. But the human intel
lect, compromising both time and space,
is able to see worlds come into being. We
see them shining at first with a feeble glim-
mer, then becoming rCSpleudent like the
sun, then cooling, becoming covered with
spots ana with II solid crust, undergoing
terrible contuSiOnS and cataclysnS as the
crust frequently breaks away aud falls
into the furnace beneath. marked with
numbcress scars. slowly hardening as they
cool; and heurcforth receiving external heat
and light from the sun; we see them pco-
pied with living beings and becoming the
seat of toling human races, who, in their
turn. transform the surface, and after hav-
ing served @s a habitation for higher life
and thought. we see them slowly losing
| ing served as a habitation for higher life
| living beings becoming old and dccrepit,
and finally dying and hcnccforth rolling
like moving tumbS through the silent dCS-
crtS OF eternal night. such IS the perpct-
uaI evolution that all things undergo the
secular mctamorphosis of worlds and liy-
ing beings.
How many times has the face Of the
earth been renewed since the distant epoch
Of its burning genesis on the equatorial
centuries has it been revolving around the
SUM- How many centuries has the sun
itself been shining? On the hypothesis
that nchulouS matter was extremely tcnu-
Gus mt the beginning. the quantity of heat
has been calculated which would be cngen-
dcrcd by The fan of all these molecules to-
wards the center. iii the condensation to
which the formation of the solar system is
! due. Surprising the specific heat Of the
COndcnSiug mass 10 have been that of water,
/ heat a s1lf-
| feed to raise the tcmpera ture 100000
| degrees Centigrade UjolmhOltz and Tyn-
| dalD. 1t has long been known that heat
| IS but form OF motion; it is an iniinitcSl-
mai yibrat0ry movement Of atoms.
Today all motion can be changed
INTO heat and all heat into motion. The
movement caused by the condensation has
been enough and more than enough to
| produce the present temperature of the
sun and the original temperature of all the
planets. If this brilliant center of our
planetary system continues to condeuse, as
ii probably Will. a condensation which would
shorten its diameter by $1,000 part of its
present length would Cngendcr a quantity
of heat sufficient to make up for that lost
! by emission during two thousand years
At the present rate Of emission the solar
/ heat produced by the past condensation Of
its mass will last twenty million years
longer. The length Of time necessary for
the condensation which the primitive nCbua
must have undergone. in order that our plan
etary system might be constituted, entirely
detes our imagination; there would be no
CXaggeration IL counting il by billions of
ages. The experiments of Bischof upon
hasalt seem 10 prove that our globe required
3oO,WN.OOO years to pass from liquid to
IL solid state, and to cool from 1000 degrees
to POO degrees. The sun must have exist
ed many million ages before. What is all
human history compared with such periods?
1t is but a ripple on the ocean.
| The terrestrial globe reyoIYed in space
| for thousan Is of centuries, in the state of
an immense chemical laboratory. A CON
! tnual dcuge of boiling water fell from
! the clouds upon the burning ground and
| rose again into the atmosphere in the form
of yapor, only to lie again precipitated.
| When the temperature of the earths sur
! face became lower than that of boiling
water the steam liqucGcd, and water was
! prccipitated. In the midst of these terri
! bic tcnpests the earths crust broken a
! thousand times by the fiery commissions at
| its center, vomtcd forth flames which re-
united the broken fragments The first
! lands emerging from the universal ocean
were sterile and barren islands Of granite.
| Afterwards, ON the bosom of the floods, the
first semi-fiuid combinations of carbon form
ed protoplaSm, the rudimcntary element of
| life. a substance which scarcely merits the
name organic, and which is neither a Sim
pie mineral, nor is it vegetable or animal
AIgae, primitive plants that inerty float