Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1905-09-01
DARWIN ON C[L[S.
T|AL EVOLUTION
Tn, Riddle ef the Starry
Heavens VII Never be
Completely Read
May Trace Origin Of Solar System to
Primitive Nebula, But Cannot Elk.
plain NebuIa. Man Lives In Puny
Planet CircIing About inferior Star.

johannesburg, Aug. SIN his bril-
liant address last night before the
British association of Celestial Evolu-
ton, President Darwin, son of the
great scientist, said the German as
tronomer Bode long ago, propOunded
a simple empirical law concerning the
distance at which the several planets
move about the sun, and his formula
embraced so large a number of cases
with accuracy that they were CON-
PEELED to believe that it arose In some
manner from the primitive conditions
of the planetary system. There were
certain perpetual orbits in which ?
meteoric stone or minor planet might
move forever 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 a collision with the sun or
love, or whether the body would travel
10 as to cross and recross the exact
perpetual orbit, always remaining
close to it. II the slightest departure
inevitably Increased az time went on,
the orbit was unstable; If, on the otner
hand, it only led to a slight waIluess
in the path described. 1t was stable.
They thus arrived at another distinc.
tion. There were perpetual orbits, but
some. and. indeed, most, were nn.
stable. and these diq no. offer an i'm
mortal career for a meteoric stone;
and there we're other perpetual orbits
which sNccumbed in the struggle for
life. and the stable ones we're the
snecies adapted to their environment
There was hardly room for doubt trs'
~ . complete solution for solar
system were a~ttainable we should I'm
hat the orbits Of the existing planets
and satellites we're numbered among
the stable perpetual orbits.
After discussing In some detail tht
celebrated pebular hypothesis, mrs
suggested by Kant and later restatet
independently by the French matne
matician Laplace, Professor Darw'l
sketched the evolution Of a rotating
LIQUID planet like the earth, which wa
the first stable species OF our family
and dealt with the influences OF t1da
oscillations. In the retrospect bot
day and month were found continu
ously shortening. The system mign
be traced back to a time when the da'
and month were identical in lengtf
and we're both only about four or nv
Of our present hours. The identity Q
the day and month meant that tn
moon was always opposite to the sam
side of the earth; thus at the begii
ming the earth always presented 20
same face to the moon. Just as tn
moon now always shows the same rae
TO us. Moreover, when the month wa
only some four or five of our preser
hours in length. the moon must hav
been only a few thousand miles fro
the earth's surfice-a great contra
with the present distance of 24o,o'
miles.
II might well be argued from tn
conclusion alone that the moon Sc
arated from the earth more or less
. single portion of matter at a tin
Immediately a%ntecedent to the init