Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-06
WORLDS THAT ARE DEAD.

WORLDS THAT ABE DEAD.
| Secrets OF the Stars Of Variable Light
Mighty Non-LuminoEs Bodies Known
Only by Their Inhuence-Mighty Fields
ofKnowIedga.
fwRIrrEN FOR THE pIsPATcH.l
"A great fact which is dawning on the in
| tellectual horizon Is, that only the begin
ningless 10 endless. Thus matter, which
eternally was, eternally will be; but any
form of matter, be it a straw or a star, a shell
or sun, by virtue of that form, which had a
beginning, just as inevitably must have an
ending. The form then had only Lease
hold on It's constituent matter, which matter
was only temporarily employed and which
was absolved from any further obligation,
when finally the form yielded to disintegra-
ton. The released matter might
then seek other fields in which
to disport itself, might yield to other chemi-
cal combinations and affnities, as it had
already many times done in the eternal
past.
Thus the trees we see, the green blades
that come, the leaves, the flowers, the
friends that are near and dear, all these, the
sun, the moon, the earth, every orb, glowing
or dark in the heavens, all are only some
where on the journey between the stages
we designate as birth and death: only some
where on the line Of organic form, destructi-
BILE as to such form, but indestructible as to
the capacity of being recreated in an eternal
round OF succeeding forms.
Reasoning then, from these premises, ac-
ceptfng then this great truth. that nothing
is lost, that death is only transmutation,
only our diverse side, we may carry the
principle to the glowing worlds in space
and gather q wider knowledge of the nature
and relationship of all worlds and all things.
to each other. 1t Is not so much what Is
perceived by the optical sense through the
telescope as what is analytically and syn
thetically grasped and digested by the
mind, that marks our progress in stellar
knowledge, or indeed, our progress in any
kind OF knowledge.
A Mystery of the Heavens.
Among the puzzling features Of the
skies, subject which has been the occasion
of much discussion and speculation in re-
cent years, and which is not yet ended, is
the varying light of some Of the stars.
Notably among these is the remarkable star
Algol, q variable luminary in the northern
sky, but whose waxing and waning light is
governed by periodicity defined with
mathematical accuracy. After remaining
at luminous high-tide for a period of 68
begins to fade and at the end of four hours
has sunk in the rank of brilliancy from the
second to nearly the fourth magnitude.
In this minimum Of light it remains a
few minutes only, when, in four hours, it
again reaches its luminous maximum.
This was q great puzzle to the early
astronomers, some OF whom ascribed its
varying light to demoniac influence, but,
wi in fa has
covered that its f1uctuating feature is
caused by the revolving around it, at a dis
tance OF 3, ,00o, 900 miles. of large non-lumi-
nous body which. at regular intervals comes
in the line Of sight with our earth, thus
throwing Algol into partial eclipse. Meas
urements Of the diameter of this star show
being LOO, 900 miles, while its sable satellite
is considerably larger than our sun, its
diameter being estimated at $4,000 miles.
that Of our solar sphere being only $4,000
in the orbits of both Algol and his
and this .Ss
of Boston. who, availing himself of the aid Of
caught impressions of the
pair with his camera, and subjected their
This disclosed the surprising fact that there
is there still another almost invisible body,
and so large that the other two are really its
subjects as satellites, revolving around it in
Simple When We Know the Facts.
Thus, what bad been deemed as unac-
eccentric, what had been sus-
pected as being leagued with the evil one,
and what had given rise to many grotesque
speculations, at once falls into the lines of
and comprehensive plane
tary action. This. then, opens the way to
an understanding of many other seeming
paradoxes in the motions and actions of the
heavenly bodies. We may also yield to
the inference that there is an in
finite number of, dark spheres in space,
and decadence. but which sill roll on in
their appointed paths, with no light of their
own, whose adolescence lies back cons of
ages, and who only await absorption as so
much aliment, by some young and electri-
ca1ly more vigorous sun, as in all nature old
age yields before the fiery and impetuous
advance of yonth.
Viewed in this light, then. the universe
presents just such aspects as she has pre-
sented at any time in the eternal past or |
will present at any time in the eternal fr- |
ture. Suns and systems of suns may come |
and go, new suns and systems be born in the |
space. Like the leaf, like the |
plant, like man, they, too, have their Courses |
70 run, but just as surely, and under the OPP |
must pass away and other /
be ushered in. But while such |
changes are taking place, they are not so |
ieeting as to fall within that little span of |
1t is altogether probable, it is even approx |
nately calculable, that the career of our |
sun, not as a sun merely, but in all its |
stages, must cover a period of at least go, co.,
100 600 years. Yet, measured with such |
,pheres as Arcturus, whose diameter Is more |
han 5000 0C0 miles, our sun seems small, and |
he years of his duration seem few in COM
)arisOn.
Only on the Shores Of knowledge.
When we take into consideration this |
of luminous and non-luminous
pheres, of large and small spheres. of in
and arctic spheres, spheres rep
'esenting all stages, all conditions and 1
learly all sizes, We may be prepared |
or some startling exhibitions of light
IS well as motion and all the |
more so, as some OF the actors perform their
,arts, themselves being invisible. We may |
observe bodies in high motion and low
ion exerting much influence and little in
luence, acting in accordance with laws that
We know and that we know not. Let it then
ot surprise US, that there is anything we
10 not know, for, on the coasts of know
edge, the wisest may gather only q few
ebbles none sail the main at all.
Between the most evanescent thing and
he mightiest orb in space, yea. between all
hings, exists kinship, a tie, which, whether
ecognized or not, declares q common
eritage and common destiny. We may
ook out into the fields of space and gather
ONE conception of the anna zing distances
nd the appalling immensities, and come
ONE with the Thought that all that may be
lay be involved in their duration, like our
alyes thew came and hence thew p1uSt |