Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1893-12-15
IN THE LOCAL FIELD.
WHAT ASTRONOMY
TEACHES US
ABOUT THE UNIVERSE,
Rev. Il. ID. LeaVitt's Valuable
Paper

Cember IL.
"Delightful' was the word said by every
member and guest of the Professional club
Monday evening, when Rev. E. b. Leavitt
closed his paper on "What astronomy
teaches us about the universe" The paper
was the outgrowth of the intimate relations
which Mr.. Leavitt sustained with the Har-
ward observatory, and the work which he
did there, during his collegiate and profess
sonal studies. 1t showed the enthusiasm of
an ardent student in the science of astrono-
my, and its story was told with remarkable
force and clearness. Withal it was clothed
with great beauty and vividness of express
sion The paper is too valuable TO be
spoiled for future use by any attempted
summary or abstract, and we shall do little
more than try to indicate its general scope.
Expressing, in beginning, his surprise
that people in general know so little about
astronomy, the essayist briefly stated the
scope of that science, and the paths of in
yestgation through which it leads. For
each star we can see with the naked eye,
thousands were made visible by the tele-
scope of Calico, in later times tens of
thousands, in the days of the elder Her
schel hundreds of thousands. With the
best telescopes of our own time it is prob
able that as many as a thousand million
stars are revealed. A thousand million
stars A thousand million suns! And yet
more. Where the largest telescope stops,
its mighty eye strained to the utmost, there
the Photographic plate steps in with its
more sensitive eye and upon it are made
known the presence of many thousands of
other stars, too faint for mortal eye to see.
Before journeying off among the stars
attention was called to an important fact,
but little known, which is that our earth
is gradually losing time in its rate of revo-
luton. HALEY was the first to discover
that the time of certain eclipses in our own
time varies from that of ancient times.
For 90 years no explanation was offered,
but now scientists tell us that on this great
revolving earth there is brake at work,
slowly but surely slowing us up. This
brake is the tides. Round and round the
earth they go, in direction contrary to
that in which the earth rotates. They
beat upon the continents with tremendous
force, and slowly but surely they perform
their work. At the present rate this re-
tardation of time would amount in 1900
years to some % minutes. The loss is
now at the rate of one second in II weeks.
In other words the length of the day is
uOM ny dDOuA OhS vi POI Z
of a second than it was 1000 years ago.
We may look forward into the remote flu
ture to time when the day will be twice
or thrice or four times as long as at pres
ent "Our remote posterity," says Ball,
twill have night 700 hours long, and
when the sun rises in the morning 700
hours more will elapse before he can set.
They will look back on our short periods
of rest and short periods of work with
mingled curiosity and pity. Perhaps they
will even have exhibitions of eccentric in
dividuals able to sleep for eight hours,
work for eight hours, and play for eight
hours"
Another change that is taking place in
our earth, first shown by Sir Isaac New
ton, is that our seas and oceans must all
the time be diminishing through the water
being gradually withdrawn into the inte-
rior. The process is so slow that it is i'm
perceptible from one generation to another
but it is surely going on.
A worlds life is divided into five stages
the glowing, vapOrous stage or infancy
the stage of fiery youth; the life-bearing
stage; the stage of decreptude; and final
" the stage of death. The telescope re
veals to us worlds in all these stages. Oul
own earth is in the middle stage, the life
bearing stage, while the moon, the earth's
one and only child, is in the stage of death
Being so much smaller than the earth the
moon cooled and passed through its variou!
stages far more quickly than the earth. i
has no water and no atmosphere, both hav
ing doubtless been withdrawn into the in
terror of the continent. With no atmos
phere to act as a blanket to keep off thu
fierce heat of the sun, the temperature o
the moons surface rises in the moons day
far above that of boiling water. This da.
lasts for Is of our days, and then comes
long night of 10 days when the tempera
ture falls to 200 degrees below zero. A
the moon journeys around the earth sh
always keeps the same side or face TOWARD
us. What may be on the other side WI
can never know. Here in the moons cast
has happened just what science teache
will finally happen to the earth. The TIDE
are gradually slowing down its rotation
the days are slowly but surely CROWNS
longer, finally the earth will stop altogeth
er in its rotation, and keep one face Away
toward the sun. On that side there WI,
be no night, on the opposite side there WI
be no day.
The other planets of the solar systeI
were briefly described, more particular
Mars, WnlCn Is Jut SloJci Pi"liS' 49,
earth, and has now reached the old ag
stage of planet life. What magnihcen
sky would the inhabitants of the monste
planet Saturn, 760 times the size OF IN
earth, have to gaze upon with its elgl
moons and the great bright arch OF ring
spanning the heavens!
At the centre of our system is the SUI
which is simply star like the hosts
other stars, only very much nearer to III
and probably much less in size than man
of them. Its diameter is 1904 times Uni
of the earth. Its luminous surface, Gale
the philosophers, is composed OF clouds
the vapors of the substances forming I'll
sun. In the terrific heat of the solar a
mosphere all known substances wou
be instantly turned to vapor Inc earl
would melt and be vaporized were 1t TO a.
proach as near the sun as the moon is
us. In this philosophers are seen storm
of such terrific energy that the earth wou
be swept about in one of them ike a lie
in a cyclone.
Having thus briefly pictured the sol
system, the essayist took his hearers on
short journey through the great unlVer
of stars, the nearest of which is inconcel
ably remote from us-so remote that SCI
from that star our sun would be no brign
er than the pole star. The number OF sta
visible 10 tho naked eve is very Unite