The morning call., 1892-05-12
THE END OF THINGs CREATED.

The final cataclysm, in which heaven and
earth shall pass away has always been
fascinating topic OF contemplation. Eight
hundred ard ninety-one years ago it was the
conviction of Christendom that the world
was to end in the year A. D. 1860 IhiS
was the construction put on certain obscure
passages in the Revelations by the Bishops
of the church, and it was preached from
pulpits with the sincerity of honest conVIc-
ton Vast numbers of piOus Christians
dlvested themselves of their property III
favor Of the nearest abbey or monastery,
and sat waiting throughout the year for the
coming Of the angel Of the Lord. They re-
covered their spirits, though not their lands,
when the sun rose OF New Years day, lOOl,
with his usual cheerful brightness and since
then predictions of the end OF the world
though they have occurred at intervals
down TO 1913 WHEN Mr.. Miller Of New York
had private information that the day OF
Judgment might be expected-haYe not
commanded general belief.
The subject is taken up by Sir Robert Ball
in the last FOrtnigbtiy, and Professor
Langley has also something to say on the
question. They examine it rather from an
astronomical than from a theological point
of view The sun, as everyone knows, Is
parting with its heat at a steady rate. How
long can the exhaustion 60 on before the
orb ceases to be incandescent, and to be
able 10 furnish heat for the maintenance
of life in this universe? Professor Langley
! has arrived al results which appear TO him
! to be satisfactory He says that the loss OF
/ heat may go on at its present rate for three
60,
sun 10 fulfill IFS purpose in creation, but
that 1t Garnet 90 on for 10 million years
without converting the brilliant center OF
our universe into dun cold star. We have
! thus career Of al least three million years
/ before US, but We must reconcile our minds
! to the painful certainty that we cannot last
/ 10 million years. 1t is very sad.
Meanwhile skeptics viii regard these
! rather visionary prognostics with the less
/ respect because the range Of actual obser-
! walton las been so very limited. The most
! ancient record Of human thought only 60
/ back seven or eight thousand years; few
! prehistoric remains shedding light on the
/ condition Of the world at the time they
were laid to rest are of half that antiquity.
! Recent geological writers have been daring
enough to fix tile date Of the last glacial
| epoch at thirty thousand years ago. What
are such momentary periods in comparison
with millions Of years? Even IL we assume
that tie sun shone with the same power
over the land Of Egypt in the time of Menes,
! the brief interval which separates Us from
/ that semi-mythical monarch affords no cleW
to the condition Of the sun million years
/ before BIS time, and furnishes DO data fol
reckoning what its condition will be nil
lion years hence. II is impossible 10 evolve
! an atmosphere formula out of ten minutes
/ observation of a sunburst.
Astronomy teaches that nothing stands
! still, and nothing endures forever. There
/ are far more dead 0Tbs floating through
/ space than there are living suns in the uni
verse All Of these had their day, when they
outpoured light and heat, and fed worlds
| which persisted when the suns went out. So
| possibly, our sun had birthday, when thJ
molten vapor Of which it consists coaguiaieC
into the sphere we see; 80. perhaps, @ike Tx
moon, may It have a day when, as the Old
/ monkish hymn says, il may sbTiye into ashes
! and lava. eXtiBguishing all forms Of life on
/ this planet But until science is far more
/ advanced than IL is, sDeCUlations on this
/ subject VIII be fantastica. 1t is exceedingly
/ doubtful whether the assertions Of asiron-
omers about the daily loss Of heat by the
sun are entitled to a place in the records oil
fixed science. They appear to be no more
than ingenious conjectures based on data
IN which much is taken for granted. Sill
so long as mems fancy lights up their in
telligence. bright minds will always have
to let their imagination stray in the great
abysses Of the unknown and the fathom.
less depths Of the future.