Evening journal., 1893-01-13
NEWSPAPER OPINION.
NOW worlds Are NIade.

now AoiihH <tit
ST. Louis Globe Democrat.
Imagine, If you can. n great nebulous
mass of gases and meteoric stones
revolving slowly in space around It's own
centre, subject always to the mysterious
power of gravitation, and with a mean
diameter Of 81 500 times 900, 600 miles
It was of that mass, without form and
void, that our solar system was made
To many readers Of this article that
statement will be startling; TO oil of
them, perhaps, the figures that | have
given are simply inconceivable. And
vet there can be no reasonable doubt
that our sun and its eight planets had
their origin in that great chaotic mass
of matter There Is as little doubt Of
it. rs there is of the gradual evolution
Of plants from the primitive sim
plicity of weed-life 10 the /
luxuriant beauty of their present |
growth and of this no well informed |
person has any doubt at all. The proofs /
are simply overwhelming. But If our /
solar system was formed ont of that |
nebulous mass the process must have |
been a work of thousands OF wears; how |
then shall we interpret that seriptural |
and the earthY II Is a matter Of un |
mixed wonder to me that ten people out
Of twelve take the word days as used
in that line TO mean days as we divide
the time, of twenty-four hours each. As
a matter Of fact, it means nothing OF the
kind. IL means periods of time, of
course but very long periods We have
the warrant of the Bible itself for the
assumption that Goods days are as a
thousand years Even if the Bible were
silent on the subject. it would be con-
trary to all the known laws Of the uni
verse. to analogy and TO good sense TO
interpret the story of the creation as
meaning that God completed the work in
six days Of twenty four hours each That
Interpretation would imply that the Crea.
tor works like a magician that he sits in
heaven, ordains by breath the making of
a world and throws IL cut into space as a
iuggler tosses a glass ball up in the
air Even in the absence of all
proof. could not bring myself
to believing that possible. Bat there are
proofs of the most convincing kind that
the formation of our solar system was
work of ages and not of days. propose
giving You few Of them in plain, unpro-
fessional terms, but il would be better
first to explain how the great work was
done. have spoken of an original mass
of nebulo us matter, composed Of gases
and meteoTic stones, and with q diameter
of ., 500 COO 600 miles. You will natur-
ally ask why the mass was assumed TO
have a diameter found IN the radical
distance of the planet Neptune from the
sun, which is 1850. 600, 600 miles the
diameter of its orbit being twice the
radious. or o, 500, 000 600 miles. AS Nep-
tune is the outermost planet of our sys-
tenn, it marks the boundary of the nebu-
lous matter from which the system was
found. AS this mass of matter slowly
revolved in space it assumed glorious
shape. The particles composing il were
held together by gravitation, and
as the rotation continued, there was
a gradual condensation in the center
That centre, in the course of time,
became nucleus of solid matter
l in which there was great heat There
was heat throughout the mass, but il
was greatest at the eentic. Then the
nucleus began to throw OF heat, and tbs
: mass shrnnk and condensed more and
= more And the more it shrunk the hot
ter the centre became and the more rapid
was the rotation The slow rotation OF
the mass had made it globular in shape
3 but as the rotation increased the globe
3 became flatter and fatter, until It assumed
the form of disk. at certain stage
Z of this tiattening process the law OF grav
0 itation became Imperative it could hold
f the maas together as body no longer
4 Then a ring of matter was thrown of
. into space, and the central part of tn,
4 mass. thus being relieved, again assumed
. a globular shape, again shrunk, con
densed at the centre increased in rapiditl
J of rotation, fattened and threw
off a ring of matter This was re
= peated several times, and theI
Q the centre of the mass having
It reached the last stage Of shiinlage ant
= condensation, and with it the creates
n possible heat, became the sun. The ria x
a that were thrown off during these re
peated actions of the central mass, obey
y ing a universal law begin in their turi
. TO rotate aronnd the densest part Of tn
. matter that composed them They con
T. tracted. condensed at the centre and
threw off rings, precisely as the origina
mass had done This is simple and easil.
y understood explanation Of the famou
# nebular hypothesis promulgated by ia
place. Il is accepted by the most emi
p nent astronomers and scientists as tn
= only reasonable solution Of the grea
y mystery Of creation. According to it TIA
nucleus of the original mass formed tn
SUM- the nucleus of each secondary mas
< formed a planet. and the nucleus of eac
r. aN.sa-a