The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1892-06-18
NO AZ

~ 40, 4tONCFII, SOAlC1GllL lOI our DGCSCnU
purpose to observe that slow though the
escape may be, it is incessant1y going
on. There is only definite number of
units Of heat contained in the interior of
the earth at this moment, and as they
are gradually diminishing, and as there
Is no source from whence the loss can
be replenished, there is here no supply
of warmth that can be relied on perma-
nently.
1t goes without saying that the vel
fare OF the human race is necessarily
connected with the continuance Of the
suns beneEcent action Ii the sun ever
ceases to shine, then must it be certain
that there is a term beyond which hu-
man existence, or indeed organic ex-
istence Of any type whatever, cannot
any longer endure on earth.
But we have grounds for knowing as
a certainty that the sun cannot escape
from the destiny that sooner or later
overtakes the spendthrift. IL his inter
esting studies Of this subject Professor
Langley gives q striking illustration of
the rate at which the solar heat is being
squandered at this moment. eremarks
that the great coal feldsof Pennsylvania
contain enough of the precious mineral
to supply the wants of the United States
for 1000 years. IF all that tremendous
accumulation Of fuel were to be extract
ed and burned in one vast confagration
the total quantity Of heat that would be
produced would no doubt be stupendous.
and yet, says this authority who has
Taught us so much about the sun, all the
heat developed by that terrific coal fire
would not be equal to that which the
sun pours forth in the thousandth part
of each single second.
When we reflect that this expenditure
of heat has been going on not alone for
the centuries during which the earth
has been the abode of man, but also fol
those periods which we cannot estimate
except by saying that they are doubtless
millions Of years during which there
has been life on the globe, then indeed
We begin to comprehend how vast must
have been the capital Of heat with which
the sun started on its career
And yet we feel certain that the inces-
SAINT radiation from the sun must be
jlOlOQllu GIlCCt Ou It's 5tOGGS
of energy. The only way of reconciling
this with the total absence Of evidence
of the expected changes is to be found
III the supposition that such is the
mighty mass Of the sun, such the pro-
digious supply Of heat. or what is equiv
alent to heat that it contains, that the
grand transformation through which it
is passing proceeds at q rate SO slow that
during the ages accessible to our obser-
vations the results achieved have been
ilnperceptible. But the energy Of the
system is as surely declining as the en-
ergy Of the clock declines as the weight
runs down.
1t seems that the sun has already dis
sipated about -four iifths Of the o-1e1xsr
with which it may have originally been
endowed. At all events, it seems that,
radiating energy at its present rate, the
sun may hold out for 100000 years, or
for 5000 900 years, but not for 10000
0o0 years. Here, then, we discern in
the remote future limit to the dura-
ton of life on this globe. We have seen
that it does not seem possible for any
other source of heat to be available for
replenishing the waning stores of the
luminary. 1t may be that the heat was
originally impaired to the sun as the
result of some great collision between
two bodies which were both dark before
the collision took place, so that in fact,
the two dark masses coalesced into a
vast nebula from which the whole of
our system has been evolved. OF course
it is always conceivable that the sun
msy be reinvigorate1 by repetition of
a similar startling process.
1t is, however, hardly necessary Jo
observe that so terrific a convulsion
would be fatal to life in the solar sys-
tenn. Neither from the heavens above
nor from the earth beneath does it seem
possible to discover any rescue for tie
human race from the inevitable end
The race is as mortal as the individual,
and, SO far as we know, its span cannot
under any circumstances be run out
beyond number of millions of years
which can certainly be told on the in
gers Of beth hands, and probably on The
fingers of one.--Robert S. Ball III Forl-
nightly Review.
Not SO Stupid.
Tho f.y-o71s - y;7Yfr vr-a.-c aF ,9,-;11 80.