The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-13
SUNS PLACE IN NATURE.
New Theory of the Origin of Stellar
Bodies.
From the Philadelphia Ledger.

From the Philadelphia Ledger
DR.. George F. Barker, of the Irnivereit,,
of Pennsylvania, addressed the Contepo-
porary Club last evening, on a topic nor
| usually brought before any but profossod
scientists, yet it was made plain enouab
to be of absorbing interest. In general
the address showed the wonderful nro-
gress that has been made in the study, of
the universe by the development of tho
spectroscopic methods of analysis. and
the use of photography.
Nothing, said DR.. Barker, is grander
than scientific investigation. To stand
face to face for the. first time with a new
fact in nature is, beyond comparison the
most important moment possible. Curious
ly enough the enormous activity of invas-
tigation which characterizes the present
day does not diminish the extent of the
region 10 be investigated. The field widens
more rapidly than investigators can com
prehend it.
The subject of the address, the Suns
! Place in Nature" refers to the period in
| its history. The sun is star of which
there are millions upon millions The
| question of its place in nature had been
/
had been given. 1t had been recently rails
| ed by Sir Norman Locker, of England
and answered by him in a different form
| from what any other scientist had stated
it. 4Ie had based his theory upon the ne
culiarity of the light that comes from the
stars.
To explain this Dr. Barker threw upon
the screen series of pictures showing the
effect of a prism in separating a ray Of
| light into the great variety of colors from
| the red on one end of the spectrum to the
violet at the other end, and also the bands
! light or dark, which occur in the spectrum
| at certain intervals or spaces, according
| to the metal which may be in an mean
| descent state in the flame or light These
| bands. dark on light ground, or light on
dark ground, he explained were charac-
| teristic of incandescent gases and of mol
| ten masses
By means of these markings the heat Of
star and its metallic composition could
! be determined. He exhibited the spectrum
of some of the best known stars such as
| Aldebaren, Sirius and Vega, familiar to
every star-gazing youth, and pointed out
! the great difference in the character of the
markings on the spectrum.
! Sirius, he said, is the hottest of the stars
! Our sun has passed that stage in its his
tory. Some have cooled so far as to give
a yellower light. While the red stars are
".
| have cooled so far as to give no light and
| are invisible. Their existence has been dis
covered only by their coming between a
! luminous body and the earth.
Dr. Barker then described the theory
which has been held for the last century
and half as to the cause of light and
the formation of the stellar bodies, gem
orally known as the "Nebular Theory"
La Place thought the patches of light in
various consultations were masses of in
candescent gas. Herschel, a short time 4
later, with his greater telescope, came to
the same conclusion. Lord Rose, with
his great reflector, saw the possibility of
resolving these nebulae into stars.
In 1862 a combination of philosophers Of
the Royal Society first attached the spec
troscope to the telescope, and it was then
shown that these nebuae could never be
resolved into stars. The old nebulae hy-
pothesis supposed the stellar system to
have originated in fiery nebulous matter.
The application of photography to the
study of the stars, in connection with the
spectroscope, brought out a new class Of
facts, as much was developed on the
plate which could never be seen by the
eye. Many substances before unsuspec-
ted were discovered in the spectrum, and
were accurately placed by means of Dr.
Rowland's gratings without which wave
lengths OF light could not be determined
BY the information obtained by this la
ter method of study, Lockyer came to the
conclusion that the nebulae were masses
of meteorites, such as from time to time
fan upon the earth That they strike
against each other, and the impact creates
intense heat and consequently light. ThaI
these meteorites are the cause of the suns
heat, falling upon It with immense veloe-
ity and in myria6s, and that thus the stars
are formed.
DR.. Barker showed a piece oi meteori'e
which had fallen upon the earth OF
metallic nature, which had come, undouDt
edly, from space far beyond the solar sys-
TEN. Some were stony and gave diner
ent color in the spectrum. He showed upon
the screen a plan of Lockyer's SYSTEM
commencing with the meteorites and go
ing through the various stages OF aggie-
cation until the mass became colo.
AT the close of DIR. Barker's address no
introduced Dr. Henry j. Rowland, inc
eminent physicist of Johns Hopkins uh'-
versity, Baltimore who, in his inimltape
way, gave his opinion of Sir Norman
Lockyer's theory. He did not think inuon
of IT, In fact, he did not regard Lockyei
as so much a scientist as a book makei'
Many of Lockyers lines when put 10 '"'
test of experiment could not be touIu
He did not believe it was necessary "
discard La Places theory of an incahue
cent gas. In fact, he believed the u il
verse was large enough to have not ons
nebulae of incandescent gas, but aiSo
nebulae composed of meteorice. H. a.
Lockyer said, the impact of the meteoil'e55
upon each other made the light, the Hea'
must have been great enough to have coz coz
verted them into gas. How can we uee'''
between them?
He said there was a story in EuIopS
that Lockyer did not distinguish bel"eoa
the editor of book called Mature anI
the author of nature. He did not tnili,
Lockyer's name added to a theory Woult
add much to the theory. but we mus
reject the theory because it had O''
name attached TO IL.
We have to be very careful in scienoo ]
said DR.. Rowland, not TO look for l !
suit and then get it. The whole his'oi'
of science is filled with things Of tnat IA
ture. With the great collection OF Pho'o
graphs which Lockyer has he can plO''
anything he wants TO.