The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-09-22
DIREFUL PREDICTION.
PROF. SERV!SS ON THE BIRTH OF a
NEW WORLD.

tho Sun VIII b. Rurlt d Ou, Into Space
and Will Destroy this Earth.
The following article from the New
York Journal will be read with inter
est:
Whatever nay ba thought of the
alleged discovery Of Professor S j.
Corrigan, ofthe Goodsell Observatory,
Of three hitherto unrecognlz9d planets
circling between the earth and the sun
and OF another planet yet unfinished
and in process of evolution from the
sun, the breaking cG of which from
the solar body threatens the destruc
ton of all livir forms on the earth by
fire, at any rate his suggestion OF the
birth of these new worlds out o. the
central body OF the solar system aWak
ems train Of thought which places
the sun in new ard Startling light.
Every astronomer knows that the
sun is the parent Of the earth and OF
all the other known planets; that they
are bone of his bore ard flesh
of his fish, and without him
they never could have existed.
The famous discovery, two years
ago, of the strarge solar element,
helium, in the rocks Of the earth, was
really beautiful proof Of the suos!an-
tial identity of the two bodies, the sun
and the earth. Helium on the earth
is a mark OF psrentsge> like pecul-
Jar strain in the blcod of an animal
No astronomer doubts that our globe
and all its comrades, has their origin
from the sun.
The separation Of vast molten
mass from the sun would, no doubt,
produce effects that might easily
make themselves felt across many mil
lions of miles of space. The fact is
that we have, perhaps, been wrong in
looking upon the sun as a body which
has already passed through all the
more violent stages of evolution and
has entered upon q steady course OF
radiation and slow cooling, leading
ultimately and placidly to gradual ex-
tinction in cold and gloom. l. is this
view which has induced many mod
ern thinkers to reject utterly the Scrip,
ture prophecies OF fiery end to the
earth and to predict instead that when
our globe reaches the termination Of
its career as living world cold, and
not heat, will be the agent OF its de
struction; in other words, that the
earth will eventually freezs to death.
Specializing in this way, we have
turned our backs to the sun and practi,
cally left it out OF account, except, of
course, so far as the consequences OF
its gradual extirc ction are concerned.
But this process OF extinction has been
regarded as something that would take
place gradually, slowly, regularly,
and without any catastrophe inter
ruptions. In fact, many have been
peering into interstellar space to seq If
some concealed danger, some hidden
rock, some invisible wandering hulk
of matter might not lie in wait there
to bring sudden disaster by collision
iato the otherwise smooth course of
the flying earth. The keen light of
the great star Vega, millions and mil
lions of miles away, but toward which
we are moving with the sun, has even
suggested that in the unthinkably re
mote future, when We have arrived in
the neighborhood Of that star, catas.
trophe may overtake us through the
terrible power and intensity of is ra
diation-and all the while close by us
the sun has been shining and exhibit
ing evidences of its tremendous energy
for good and for evil, some Of which
evidence, perhaps, We have regarded
too lightly or have Interpreted wrong
ly.
Professor Corriean is probably right
in recalling us to realization OF the
fact that, Just as we depend upon the
sun for light, heat and life itself, SO
we should look to the sun only when
we try to lift the curtain that hides
the future fate of the globe We live on.
The idea which he suggests, that the
birth of new world should have the
etfec of destroying the life of an older
one, has a peculiar significance.
Granted that a FL .net may be born
from the sun in the way he points out,
the conse quences indicated might well
result. Life on this earth is p'ssible
only through very delicate balance
of conditions and forces, and the evi
dence is daily accunulating that even
comparatively slight disturbances in
the sun are capable Of affecting that
balance in various ways.
1t is simply question of the amount
and intensity of the tistubar c. propa.
gated from the sun whether it passes
in an electric storm Or produces some
more serious effect on the atmosphere
of the earth. The well known pheno
mena of sun spots are sufficient to in
dicate the tremendous nature of those
energies which are continually y active
in the sun. The astronomer at his
telescope sees huge black spot on the
solar dish, with torn and ragged
edges, surrounded with heaped ur
masses of metallic vapors, thousands
of miles in height. lie behoidi other
masses of such vapor spOuling, as
from the bowels Of a tremendous vol
cano, 10 au elevation Of hundreds Of
thousands Of miles, and instantly upon
the appearance of the solar outbreak
electric impulses shoot round the
earth, playing with the tclegraphic in
struments and waving mysterious
auroral s'rsamers In the higher atmos
phere. Yet what hSs seen in the sun
and what has produced so surprising
an effect on the earth, is mere moth
ing compared with such an outburs
as would attend the birth OF a new
planet from the body of the sun.
The new world which Professor
Corrigan sees about to be detache q