The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1905-08-31

JOHANNESBURG, .. n, aug. .1ls---IISs-
ident Darwin was the chief speaker at
the session of the British Association
on Celestial Evolution. ~
/: Professor Darwin said the German
astronomer Bode long ago propounded
la simple empirical law concerning the
distance at which the several planets
move about the sun, and his formula
embraced SO large number of cases
with accuracy that they were compelled
to believe that it arose in some man
ner from the primitive conditions of
the planetary system. There were cer-
tain perpetual orbits in which me-
teoric stone or minor planet might
move for ever without collision. But
when such an immortal career had
been discovered for our minor planet,
it still remained to- discover whether
the slightest possible departure from
the prescribed orbit would become
greater and greater, and ultimately
lead to collision with the sun or
Jove, or whether the body would travel
so as to cross and recross the exact
perpetual orbit, always remaining close
to it. If the slighteste departure i'm
evitably increased as time went on, the
orbit was, unstable; if, on the other
hand, it only led to slight waviness
lin the path described, it was stable
They thus arrived at another distinc.
ton There were perpetual orbits,
but some, and, indeed, most, were un-
stable, and these did not offer an i'm
mortal career for a meteoric stone;
and there were other perpetual orbits
which were stable $or persistent. The
unstable ones were those which suc-
|cnmbed in the struggle for life, and the
stable ones were the species adapted
Ito their environment There was
hardly room for doubt that if a COM
|plete solution for our solar system
were attainable we should find that the
orbits Of the existing planets and satel-
Elites were numbered among the exist.
ing planets and satellites were NUM-
Ibered among the stable perpetual or
bits. After discussing in some detail
the celebrated Nebular hypothesis,
first suggested by Kant and later re-
stated independently BY the French
mathematician Laplace. Professor
Darwin sketched the evolution of d
rotating liquid planet like the earth,
which was the first stable species of
our family, and dealt with the infiu-
ences Of tidal oscillations. In the re-
Prospect both day and month were
found continuously shortening. The
system might be traced back to a time
when the day and month were identi-
cal in length, and were both only
about four or FIVE Of our present hours.
The identity of the day and month
meant that the moon was always OPP
posite to the same side Of the earth;
thus at the beginning the earth always
presented the same face to the moon,
Just as the mooriilow always shows the
same face TO us. Moreover, when the
month was only some four or five Of
our present hours in length, the moon
must iaave been only few thousand
miles from the earth ssurface-a great
contrast with the present distance of
100000 miles: II might well be argued
from this conclusion alone that the
moon separated from the earth more
or less as a single portion Of matter
AT a time immediately ailtecedent to
the initial stage to which she had been
traced. But there was a yet more
weighty argument favorable to this
view, for Ill appeared that the initial
stage was one iii which the stability of
The species Of motion was tottering;
~ that the system presented the char
acteristic of 4 transitional form, which
aRorld denote 4 change of type or spe-