Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1902-06-13

thor of These Impossible rhi"s'
II. CouId Cause "the Wreck OF Ma''
Tor and the Crash OF Worlds.
If YOU could imagine an earthWornl
irving to run the Niagara Eiectf'e
Lighting and Power TRANSMISSION
norl;s Won would have some faint idea
of the capacity Of the greatest huinan
genius that ever lived to run the visible
universe That is probably why Tue
wiscst of us is not permitted 10 un'
derstand the final secrets of nature
Here is good example. Take rlne
into a place sufficiently far from the
labtations of men put the butt on the
ground and support it so that the oar
rel polnts strnight up and pull the trlg-
onr The bullet will leave the muzzle
with a velocity Of, say. 5000 feet Il Sec
ond. 1t will rise TO an enormous
height, come to a standstill FOR an III
fnitcsimal fraction of second ana De-
gin to fall back again. 1t VIII strike
the earth with very nearly but not
quite the same velocity as 1t lett the
muzzle of the gun. 1t would be exact
" the same but for the resistance OF
the air.
What has happened is this: The ex-
plosion of the powder has changed
solid into a gas, and the expansive en-
ergy of this has driven the bullet up
ward. In other words, it has for the
time overcome that mysterious force
by which the earth draws everything
toward its own center.
But when the energy OF the exploded
powder is exactly balanced by the pull
of gravitation the bullet falls back. In
the first second after its turn 1t falls
16 feet. in the next 80, in the next "a,
in the next 12S, and SO on till it returns
with ever increasing velocity whence
It started
Nothing has been lost, nothing gain
ed. The gases set free by the explo-
sion of the powder weigh exactly as
much as the solid. Some of the energy
has been used as heat, some in propel-
ling the bullet. Gravitation, overcome
for awhile, has reasserted itself. The
sum of matter and force in the uni
verse is absolutely unchanged.
This is as true of the quickened beat
of girls heart when she meets her
lover as it is of the march of the plan
cts and suns through the fields of space
Every atom Of matter, every unit OF
force throughout the universe is con-
slant, external and exactly balanced
l,a -b.,l n ap1 pnrli1s n
humanity could not increase or dimin,
ish them by the slightest fraction.
Now, let us imagine what would hap
pen If man could make that bullet
strike the earth with greater or less
force than it left the muzzle of the gun
He would either have increased or de-
creased the total Of universal energy,
and in either case he would have
thrown first the solar system and then
the whole universe out of gear.
The earth and all the other planets
would begin to revolve in different or.
bits. The sun, with its family of worlds,
would alter its path round the I'm,
known center about which it revolves,
Then world would be hurled against
world and sun against sun, and stars
and planets would be reduced to the
flaming gases from which they cooled
into solids and liquids before time be-
gan to be.
Just the same catastrophe would hap.
pen if man could either create or en-
tirely destroy grain of sand on the
seashore. The balance of the universe,
in which swing stars and planets,
whose weight is inexpressible in human
figures Ohis tiny world Of ours weighs
6,00O, 900, 900, 600 900, 100000 tons, is in
finitely more delicate than that which
the chemist has to keep in an alright
case and at an even temperature lest
breath of air should throw it out of
gear.
Thus the destruction or creation of
grain of sand would change the orbit
of the earth round the sun. In the
one case it would be drawn closer and
closer to the sun, perhaps after thou
sands of revolutions to be swallowed
would gradually leave the sun and year
by year wander farther away into re-
gions of space where human life would
be impossible.
The result of the dislocation of such
a stupendous system, which has work
ed with unfailing exactitude for count
less ages, is, Of course, utterly beyond
the scope of human imagination, and
yet such seeming trifie as the creation
or destruction of a single grain of sand
might, and probably would plunge it
Into utter chaos and ruin.-Pearson's.