The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1895-06-12
THE MOONS STORY.
BY SIR ROBERT BALL, ASTRONOMER,
From The Scientific American.

From, the Scientific american.
I do not think there is any chapter
in modern science more remarkable
than that which I here propose to
describe. 1t has, indeed, all the ele-
ments of romance. I am to sketch
an event of the very greatest moment
in the history of this universe, which
occurred at period of the most e1-
treme antiquity, and has been discov-
cred in the most remarkable manner.
The period of which [ write is far
more ancient than that Of the Pyra-
mids Of Egypt, or of any other monu-
ments erected by human effort. 1t is
even more early than that very remote
time, hundreds Of thousands Of years
ago, when man himself first came upon
this globe. Our retrospect has to
pierce right through those vastly pro-
tracted cycles which the geologists
have opened up to us. We speak Of
period long anterior to the ages dur
ing which our continents were being
sculptured into their present noun
tain chains and river courses. We
have to look through those periods
still earlier, when great animals, long
extinct, fourished on this earth. The
time of which I write is more remote
than that very remarkable epoch in
earth history during which the great
coal forests flourish. 1t is earlier than
the supreme moment, countless mil
lions Of years ago, when living organ
isms, first became inhabitants of this
globe. Even here, however, our re-
Prospect must not stop. We have yet
once more to look back through certain
anterior periods to time when our
earth was in its earliest youth. The
chapter Of history about which am
now writing is indeed in the very
dawn Of things terrestrial.
It might be thought that it would
be utterly impossible for us to learn
anything with regard to what took
place at a time so immeasurably an
terror to all sources Of tradition, and
indeed to all the ordinary channels for
obtaining knowledge by observation.
It however fortunately happens that
the darkness of this early period is
illumed by a bright and steady source
of light which will never deceive us if
only we will follow it properly. Our
trustworthy guide is to be the pen Of
the mathematician, for it is well
known that, unless we are going to
dispute the fundamental proposition
that two and two make four, we can
not impugn the truths which mathe-
matics discloses. This science knows
40 boundaries Of space. It recognizes
mo limits in time. It is ever ready for
discussing operations which take place
either in the millionth part of second
or in the lapse Of uncounted millions
Of centuries. The process Of mathe-
lnatics are alike available for tracing
out the delicate movements in the in
terror of molecule not one millionth
part of the size of grain Of sand or
for investigating the properties of
space so vast that the whole solar sys-
tenn only occupies an uncomfortable
point by comparison. Let US there
fore see what this infallible guide has
to teach us with regard to that mo-
mentous epoch in the history of our
system when the moon was born.
Our argument proceeds from an ex-
tremely simple and familiar matter.
Every one who has ever been on the
sea shore knows the daily ebb and flow
of the waters, which We call the tides.
Long ere the true nature of the forces
by which the moon acts upon the sea
was understood, the fact that there
was connection between the tides
and the moon had become certainly
known. Indeed, the daily observa-
tion Of fisherman or Of any one whose
business was concerned with the great
deep would have taught him that the
time of high water and the time Of
full moon stood at each place in GER
tain definite relation. The fisherman
might not have understood the precise
influence of the moon upon the tides,
but if he had observed, as he might in
some places, that when the moon was
full the tide was high at 10 o'clock in
the morning, it would be perfectly
obvious to him that the moon had
some special relation to this ebbing
and flowing Of the ocean. Indeed, we
are told of some savage race who, re-
cognizipg that the moon and the tides
must be associated, were still in some
considerable doubt as to whether it
was the moon which was the cause of
the tides, or the tides which were the
canse of the moon.
The ebbing and flowing Of the tide
opens up this chapter in remote his
tory, which we can now explore,
mainly by the help of the researches
of Prof. George Darwin. For, as the
tides course backward and forward,
sweeping to and fro vast volumes of
water, it is obvious that the tides
must be doing work. In fact, in some
places the tides have been made to do
useful work. If the water as it rises
be impounded in large reservoir, it
can be made to turn water wheel as
it enters, while another water wheel
can be driven as the reservoir empties
itself a few hours later. Thus we
produce a tidal mill. Itis quite true
that, so long as coal remains tolerably
cheap and steam power is consequently
readily available, it is not often rossi-
BILE to employ the direct power of the
tides in an economical manner. For
our purpose it is merely necessary to
note that, day after day, week after
week, year after year, the tides must
be necessarily doing work Of some
kind or other.
Every practical man knows that
certain quantity Of work can only be
done by the expenditure of certain
quantity of energy. He also knows
that there is in nature no such thing
as the creation of energy. 1t is just
as impossible to create out of nothing
the energy which should lift an ounce
weight through single inch as it
would be to create loaf of bread out
Of nothing If, therefore, the tides
are doing work, it follows that there
must be some source of energy on
which the tides are enabled to draw.
A steam engine is able to put forth
power because Of the energy developed