The record-union., 1897-04-16
WONDERS OF SCIENCE.
Some Very Queer Facts About the
Planet Venus.

/ i<.sICt NCh0os
The latest news in astronomy con-
Germs the planet Venus, whose wonder
1 ful brilliancy in the southwestern sky
after sunset now awakenS universal
admiration. Percival Lowell and his
assistants at his observatory in Mex
leo have seen more distinctly the face
OF Venus than it has been seen before.
AT least it would appear from their
drawings and descriptions of the planet
that such must be the case.
Mr.. Lowell unhesitatingly confirms
the discovery, made some years ago by
Sig. Schiaparelli at Milan, that Venus
| always keeps the same side turned
| towards the sun. 1t takes Venus 30
of our days to revolve round the sun,
and accordingly that is the length of
the year on Venus.
/ But instead of having 225 days and
nights in its year Venus has only one
day and ore night, and they never in
terchange place. The one unending
day IS always found on the same side
OF the planet. and the one unchanging
night forever reigns on the othey side
Some astronomers still question Sig
! SchiaparellIs and Mr.. Lowells results
but l am strongly disposed to believe
that they are right. The consequences
| that follow from them, as 1 have previ-
ously pointed out to the readers of
The World are exceedingly interest
ing and some fresh views of these are
now suggested
suppose that the. earth should sud
denly stop turning On its axis or rath-
er should slow down its rotation until
II reVolved just fast enough to make
! q single turn in a year Then it
would, in that respect, resemble Venus
and while the sun would never set on
one half Of it, it would never rise on
| the other half.
When Joshua, in Scripture history, is
| represented as having successfully
commanded the sun to stand still this
| is what he must have accomplished
But. assuming the truth of that story
Joshua did not keep the brake on long
enough to produce any permanent eff
lects upon the earth. If, unlucky, he
| had neglected to let the globe spin
again at its former rate we should un-
doubtedly now be in the plight of We
nus.
AT first sight it might appear that
perpetual day would be pleasant
thing. But, negecting it's influence on
sleep, which is so essential to the pre-
servation of the vital powers, consider
what perpetual day would mean for
the atmosphere. There is plenty of
evidence, by the way, that Venus has
an abundant atmosphere. Unceasing
sunshine-and sunshine twice as hot
as that which we get because Venus
| is so much nearer the orb of day
would, in the course Of time, evaporate
| all the water from that side of the
planet on which it shone, or at any
rate from the central portion of that
side
The clouds thus formed would be car
ried away on all sides towards the 9th
| er half, where the sun never shines.
| There, in consequence of the intense
cold prevailing, they would condense
and fall as snow. In the end, perhaps,
the oceans on the day side of the planet
| would all be carried in this manner
through the atmosphere and deposited
as snow and ice on the night side
Mr.. Lowell thinks no water could re-
main on the bright side of Venus, and
that the dark side must, in consequence,
| be completely covered with ice, as
Greenland is. 1t seems to me- however
that most Of the ice and snow would be
gathered along the region lying near the
outer edge of the dark hemisphere and
that thus Venus may be encircled with
a great ring Of ice, rising even into
mountainous peaks, and forming an i'm
mense barrier between the day and night
halves of the planet
But whether entirely buried in ice. or
only ringed round with it, the night
hemisphere would unquestionably be
very cold. On the other hand. the day
hemisphere would be very hot. But
there may well be some amelioration of
temperature near the edge of the light
side. In the first place the suns rays
| there strike at a comparative small
angle with the surface Of the planet.
and the effect must be just as upon the
earth, that their heating power is great
ly diminished. Then that may be the
region where the cold-air currents, set
ting in from the ice-covered area, flow
near the surface, while the hot air
raised by the influence of the sun in the
central part Of the lighted hemisphere
passes above them on the way to the
night side.
This would produce a further anchor
alton of temperature. The consequence
may we'll be that, just as on the night
side, there exists broad belt Of snow
and ice completely encircling the planet,
parallel to and adjoining the line be-
tween perpetual day and night so on
the day side, in a corresponding posi-
ton, there exists a belt where the tenn
perature is not excessively cold or ex-
cessively hot, where the climate, though
unchanging as to seasons, is at least en-
durable. and where bodies of water and
productive areas Of vegetation are to be
found.
This would be the habitable belt of
Venus, and thus, if this speculation-for
of course it is nothing more-is we'll
founded, we have presented to US the
spectacle of a world almost exactly as
large as the earth, which has no inter-
change of day and night. but which is
divided into two totally different hemis-
pheres, one frigid and ice-covered or
lice-encircled, and the other excessively
torrid, dry and desert, while between the
two, in narrow belt-a belt of life
dwell the Inhabitants!
! And after all, why should we not in
Idulge our imagination in regard to these
things? The human mind would starve
with facts alone. 1t must make them
live by exercising it's creative power
over their dry bones, and that power,
when properly exercised, never contra
venes the truth, for it never attacks the
truth, but, on the contrary, discloses it
by lifting the concealing curtain and let
tingSin the light. Facts are the rails
on which the engine of science runs but