New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-02-28
case ,psufliciently prepared; despite which nan
dicap It will probably win.
HOW SOUE WORLDS DIE.

notably interesting study OF the piah'.
yenus Is contributed to the March nulnper .,
"Tbe Atlantic Monthly" by Mr. fercN"'
Lowell embodying some Of the results OIL h''
observations mt Flagstaff. Arz., ana MS ios'
on, deductions thcrefrom. The primary oo
loot M tho observations was to determine
wbetber or not Venus has day, and' IL sue
bos its length. Bianchni Schroeder, he 'ico,
Trouve,ot and others had reckoned her periou
of rotation at from twenty-three to twenty-lour
hours some with minute inaccuracy' comp".
inc tie Icnrtb TO the thousandth OF seconu.
Scbianoreli on the other hand. had reckohe"
chat tho nlanet's rotation on its axis ana us
.o,o,,,ion IN ,ts orbit were nearly If not exact
" synchronous and that therefore IL had ho
Jov. and in this he had been supported by fer-
rotin rerbv and Others General belief had IN
c,nod 70 the former theory. Without rehears'
inc Mr. I,owcll's methods Of observation in de-
tou # NAV be said that the net result OF them
10 IN confirm most emphatcally and convincing
10 tho theory of Schiaparelli, and to Indicate
that the planet has no day, but turns one slde
unchanglngly toward the sun, just as our i'oon
turns one side constantly toward the eartn.
rho most obvious significance Of this Is. or
course. that one side of Venus is always light
concerned. that means we can never see more
than onehalf of the planet, the lighted nan.
IN the planet itself it means much more Vt
means. in brief, death The perpetual neat OF
tho sun on one side Of the planet has caused
the atmosphere there to become rareheo anu
rise that from the other side rushing In TO
take it's place. Having risen ana become
chillod the atmosphere has preclpitated most
! of it's moisture In the form or RAIN, Out car
Rod tho rest of it in high currents back to tho
dark side and left 1t there In the form OF ice'
In fine all the moisture has thus been accu-
mulated in glaciers on the dark side, ana the
light side has become an absolutely arid. ster-
ue Iifeless desert So It comes to pass that
Venus shows none of the colors which Mars
and other orbs display. She is dreary black
and white, underneath n yellowish veil OF NJ
mosphere: the fitting hues OF a dead world
How did she die? Just as, it may be believed,
many other worlds have died and will die
through the stupcndous force Of tidal action.
From La Place TO Darwin the great tide theory
bos been elaborated to account for the origin
OF the earth moon system and many OF It's phe-
nomena; and of .he double-star systems as
we'll 1t is now TO be applied to the death rs
we'll as to the birth of worlds. The bulk or
the satellite turns rapluly upon lis "AlS' ""ii'
the bulge formed by tidal action remains reia-
lively stationary. Thus the bulge acts as a
brake upon the sphere causing its motion upon
its axis to grow slower and slower, until 1t be-
comes practically nil until, that is, rotation on
the axis and revolution in the orbit become
synchronous. and the same face Of the satellite
Is constantly turned toward the central body
. That is probably what long ago happened to
| our moon. That Is what, Mr.. Lowell thinks
! has happened TO Venus and to Mercury, and
that is what will probably in time happen
! TO other planets Those nearest the sun die
! first, OF course, because the tidal action upon
them is strongest. For Mercury it is between
! 200 and 300 times, and for Venus seven
J times as great 8s for this earth; for Mars 1t is
| still less and so Oil TO the OutermOst planet OF
! the system Once. when the moon and earth
were first separated, the earth may have ro-
| tated In about two hours and fOrty-One min
utes: such was Darwns reckoning Now It
! has slowed down TO twenty -four hours. Mill
| ions Of years hence II will have slowed down
10 365 days and more, turning only once on It's
axis for each revolution round the sun. One
half Of it will be n parched desert and half
a field Of ice; and all will be dead. That Is
one way in which worlds die.