New-York tribune., 1902-08-07
THE EARTH.
e, poRFRT BALL ON A FASCINATING
THEME.

TIE EARTHs BEGINNING; BY Sir f Fooef1 astron n
Bail F R s. Lowp1cea.nb .be University Of Cam
Smy yrs sh3 3Tr,m1sfrsfed Octave, PIP SSi D. ApPie-
ton & Co.
When one reads anything OF 0li - 49,
and this remark is particularly "e "
.ser. instance-he comes unoer uouD' -
rha outbor has a vivid style ana 'ne
.h,,,+ u-bich he talks have powerful liiie eN-
,n.erest Sir Robert performs Io-udS ' -,
. -ar,,ioa 50 acceptably rendered 10 the hnsIisi
.neaking world by Proctor twenty anu I'M >
Years ago. He is not an original inVestisa'O,
- he &c thoroughly conversant with the "orh
- o++ars and has a fine sense of proportloh lA
,aoopnizing the salient points of a discovery
Anv consideration of the early history OF lhe
ctoba leads straight to the nebular hypolheSi'
of Kant and Laplace. The arguments "niOH
modern philosophers present IN support u .-L0' &c
theory are cogent, if not numerous
fact that the paths followed by the seven P4iie.
md the asteroids around the sun lie IN pl"0't
caIiv one plane instead of being htteo up "' az
sorts of angles is a striking coincidence NJ
-. .ban ten million other combinations are
conceivable say the mathemarclahs- "a s00'--
evidence of relationship and evolution from one
common aggregation of matter is found III 'le
circumstance that the planets all travel arouho
~. r,,n in the same direction. and in that III
..,,t the sun itself rotates. 1t is also slgnlh-
,+ tnat so far as their aXial spinning Is
t,rovvn the planets all whirl the same way All
tndenendent line of reasoning Is suggested "s
+he observation of nebulae which nave SPil"i
form The most familiar representative OF 'iie
5vne IS the one in the constellation OF AhoIoIii-
eds. where it is easy TO perceive Ceh'i "I
sunlike condensation and fiat DISK shaPeu
cloud that seems 10 be breaking up INTO ''ii
centric rings There appears to he a sonar SSS-
rev, in the nrooess of manufacture. Shortly be-
fore his death the late James Z. heeler esu-
mated that there were fully one hundred ana
+uen+v Thousand small nebulse within the range
of his photographic telescope and that half OF
then, we're spiraIr The finished suns, the stars
vastly outnurnber these uncompleted ones Al
least one hundred million of them have oeeh
photographed. How many more there are
which cannot be seen. and whether they are
more or less numerous than the suns which
have grown cold and invisible, no one can say
But the toughest comparison between 'he
abundance of the stars and the nebulse Woulo
suggest that the processes Of creation have now
been well advanced
Before one draws any conclusion as 10 the
maturity Of the universe, though, he must re-
member one other phenomenon. which forcloiy
illustrates eternity, and shows how hopeless II
IS 10 saw what stage Of history. relatively has
-7ow arrived The regenerati tion of some OF these
dead suns is believed to be possible. The blrth
of new star is reported every few years
About eighteen months ago there was sudden
outburst in Perseus. where nothing mad peen
seen before Some astronomers explained the
phenomenon by supposing that dead sun NOV
ing with tremendous velocity. encountered
either swarm of meteors or a practically IN
visible nebula. Sir Robert Ball inclines to the
opinion that the blaze the result Of collision
between two dead suns. AT any rate. here was
an abrupt development OF light and heat in pre-
viousy existing matter. Given suitable veloc-
ity-and all stars are believed to be moving at
almost inconceivable speeds-and impact alone
would heat a globe of cold stone to such a de-
gree as TO convert il into gaseous state Sir
Robert ewes that nebuR may be created in
this manner and then repeat their former his
tory of condensation and subdivision
Although the earth has reached an age vari-
cusly estimated al from twenty million two
hundred million years, and in that time has
parted with great deal of its original heat by
radiation into space there is still a large resi-
due Boring into the crust TO a depth of a mile
or more. man has learned that the temperature
increases as he goes downward at the rate OF
about one degree Fahrenheit for every siXty-siX
feet Hence at a depth of twenty or thirty
miles the heat should be sufficient 10 melt the
hardest metals Still. there are reasons for
thinking that the interior OF the earth is not
fluid, but extremely rigid, being kept so. per
haps. by the enormous weight Of the crust.
There is striking illustration of the in
which the globe behaves When violent earth
quake occurs in Japan the whole ball is set
a-quiver, apparently. The seat Of the disturb
ance may not be more than few miles below
the surface. but at Professor Mines seismic OBJ
servatory in England three successive records
are made automatically. The first is due to a
vibration passing straight through the earth
and taking the shortest route. The second seems
10 travel In the crust. by going eastward, while
the third travels around in the opposite direc-
ton Were the interior pulpy. it is hard to un-
derstand how il could transmit the shock and
produce the first and most distinct of these
records