The morning times., 1897-03-07
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S Is 1T A VAST 8
Q ELECTRO=MOTOR? q
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~ STARTLING AND INGENIOUS THEORY REGARD a
" ING THE SOLAR SYSTEM. *
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law Any one OF them can give rise to any
other.
Here, then, in the enormous and ever
shifting stress of grayitation, converted
through the agency of electricity into heat
and light in the sun and returned To The
earth and other planets in the form of
vibrations of ether, we have a force suf-
ficient to account for all the phenomena,
continuous in its action and as eternal
as the heavens. 1t is just as applicable
to the reinotest stars, only the effect is
inyersely as the square of the distance,
according to the we'll known law that ap-
plies to all these forms of energy alike
Why seek further? Why devise an abb
trary, improved, and unprovable scheme,
which involves as its necessary outcome the
ultimate destruction Of the universe OF
God? Is this probable in itself? Is it in
harmony with the teaching OF science that
DO atom of matter, and no smallest portion
of the energy manifested in matter, is
ever lost?
For the theory that the sun is cooling,
however slowly, or shrinking and collapsing
express it as you will-involves with 1t
the theory that the earth is gradually
| shortening its orbit, winding in an lmper-
| ceptible spiral toward the center of its
| system, into which it must inevitably fall
| at last to the utter extinction OF all the
| life which the solar radiance has called
| into being. Indeed, the final issue Of
| such theory is that all the matter of the
| universe will, in the lapse OF time, be
| gathered together in one vast mass, dark,
| frozen, inert. In all the space now filled
] by the shining hosts of heaven, so immense
| that even light can scarcely traverse it in
| cycles Of almost infinite duration, there
would be no resting place for intelligence
| or life. The ends OF creation would be
| frustrated
And is there any real evidence that this
| awful, stultifying, incredible evolution Of
| all-cmbracing death, is in progress? Not
! in the smallest observed fact. 1t is the
| merest speculation The positive evidence,
| as well the whole weight OF analogy, is
| quite the other way.
For example, if any such change were
| going on, the length OF the day and year
| would inevitably be affected by it. Can 1T
| be shown that either has been so affected
| in the slightest degree? Listen to the words
| of a distinguished scientist. In discussing &
the question whether ether offers any fric-
| tional resistance to the motion OF the
! earth, Prof. Dolbear says:
Astronomers tell us that the length OF
| the day has not changed so much as the
hundredth Of a second within the last two
thousand years. Again, the earth revolyes
in its orbit about the sun at the average
rate Of nineteen miles a second and if the
| ether through which it moves offered any
| resistance to the motion, the length OF the
year would be changed, but no such change
has happened in historic times. &c Matter,
Ether, and Notion p. 34)
The hypothesis, in short is absolutely
gratuitous; for tie period specified covers
the utmost range Of accurate observation,
Is it not fair TO demand for propc-
sition so tremendous in its consequences
| some evidence more tangible than a
nebular and nebulous assumption? AnC
while the foreGing facts ale given in
the way of suggestion rather than dem
onstration, is there not at least strong
| inherent probability in view which
| saves the universe from the doom OF
! practical annihilation SO arbitrary de-
creed against it?