The daily journal. (Salem, Or.) 1899-1903, 1900-03-07
HEAT FROM THE SUN.
low LITTLE or IT we GET IS ALMOST
BEYOND BELIEF

gcareely one sunbeam In Two Ih""-
sana Miilions AIiRhss Upoa This
Earth--A pea picture Of the Actual
Condition OF the FIers Orb.
The sun Is for the most part simply
Nasting his heat-ninglng away the
golden rays that are the life OF the
world with recklessness beside which
I ,ll human waste Is mere parsImony.
i IL is almost beyond belief Scarcely
,ns sunbeam 10 2.OOO.OO.OO0 allgbts
rpon the earth. and allowing for the
II ehole solar system not more than one
/ m 100 900 go ever hits anything. 20 far
IS we cnn ascertain.
sir Robert Ball's comment ON this
waste OF the suns heat r.. suppose q
man with an income Of $l,OOOOOO
year. lie spends for useful purposes
cent and throws the rest away. His
wastefulness l. no greater than that
which this old prodigal the sun has
practiced for untold ages.
The untold amount OF heat which
thus leaks away through the cracks IN
the sky cannot be expressed by figures.
II Is only by considering what II might
40 that we can get any conception Of
Il. This Is probably the most striking
Illustration. aud Is given by an eminent
astronomer.
Suppose a solid shaft OF Ice two miles
square 90 be extended like n bridge
across the gulf which separates the
earth from the sun. II a track were
laid on It's surface an express train
running at full speed would require
more than 100 years TO traverse Il. Yet.
II the whole heat OF the sun were turn
ed upon II for a single second II would
be melted, and In n few seconds more
all, even 10 the railroad iron. would
drift away M vapor
hut what ls the source Of this beat
that flows Into space as the gulf
stream pours into the Atlantic, warm
ing the earth and other planets like 1T
tie Islands In Its courseY What keeps
up the supplyl
Tf the sun were merely white hot
ball, gradually cooling, our grnndchil-
dren would indeed get chill; or,
rather. neither they nor we would ever
have seen the sun. The nnnl frost
would have fallen long ago.
Nor can the heat be maintained 10y
Ore. as we understand the wOrd-such
IRE ns warns and now and then
consumes our houses. lf II were a
globe OF flaming coal IL could have last.
ed but a few thousand years; II would
have been burned 10 ashes long before
we were born All the coal on the
earth would hardly keep the sun going
for one.tenth OF a second.
A falling meteor gives out great heat
lust ns bullet is heated when Il
strikes the target Some have conjec.
tured that a vast stream OF these little
hallstones raining upon the sun supplies
lts fuel. But II the whole mass OF the
moon were put into stone crusher,
broken up aud thrown against the sun.
Il would barely furnish heat for sin
gle year. And no such weight could |
possibly approach the sun without our !
knowledge,
Yet. In its own chosen way. the sun I
really has lts nres. with proper In
struments we may see the red namcs
spontlng from lts edge. sometimes to a
height Of 100000 miles higher than
the moon floats above the earth. To |
some Of them our world would be no I
moro than water drop falling from
fountain.
10 Rain any idea OF the almost mex.
haustihle reservoir from which the sun
draws lts heat we must tirst picture It's I
actual condition. Matter there " Ia q
state unlike anything ever seen upon |
earth IL ls neither solid nor liquid |
nor in any familiar sense gaseous The |
sun " boiling. Boethlng. flaming mix |
ture of the gases or yapors OF all the !
elements condensed by the tremendous
squeeze OF solar gravity until Il is
thicker than pitch. aud so hot that lts |
yaporized iron might be- used for steam 1
power n there were any boiler nc to |
hold A. II has no definite surface. but /
shades away from this lncandescent
paste, through ieaping flames OF blood
red hydrogen 60 the faint strcamors ~
the corona, as illmy as a comets tail,
This wrlthlng mass, heavier on the
average than water aud yet as un,
stable as air. does not even rotate like
other orbs. but swlrls around It's axis
In the terrific tension OF these gases
is stored up the energy OF the sun. As
this escapes In gushes Of heat they do
not cool. but slowly contract Il Ia
quite possible that they even grow hot.
ter as they thus settle downward and
compress themselves Into denser
nuid.
4 total shrnkage of go feet "a year
viii account Tor the whole expenditure
aud 80 small a change In the slze of the
.iisk could not ho detected until IL had
been watched for thousands " years
This viii go on until the substance "
The sun ceases TO be- essentially case.
pus. Then will come the beginning of
he end, for from that tlmc forth the
nctual temperature of the sun win do
cline
This, however viii boz iu some tar
distant day. for careful scientists as.
suro us that our race VIII enjoy uu
sunshine tor az least 5OO0
Years aud perhaps for twice 5.OOo
Then, while the sun slowly rcddeu,
and darkcns. cur earth viii die. After
that comes the Night of agcs Charles
helsry Gaines la New York World
hiAiae aad rhurmAa
The senate has always been con
.rolied by lawyers. who arv the arlsto
rattle class IA the United States. and
slaine was az dlsadsantage bccause
ie dld no1 belong 10 the profession
The law Lords were disposed to dis
'arage ana nout him. but be was ais.
oslectful 20 the verge of irrcyerence
Does the senator fiom Maine thlnk
am an ldlotf roarcd Thurman. Ia
Vply ~ an inierrogatory nlalue nut
"A him .ana H.. d.. 49,. a.. Ia.