The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1908-06-27
ISTORY OF
PLANETARY PHASES,
The Earth in That staks WIZ.
the Body First Acquire, 4 ct,..'
cgnom1 Of Its Own.

Though We cannot in our a..
ephemeral life watch any planet NV.
through these Several phases NJ Il.
career, we can get good view a. -.
process by studying the present co, n.
lions of the various planets and N.Y..
ing together the information va nv.
obtain. 1t is. in the end, as con.i.
sive as in botany would be thu .,ssI
of wood by carefully noting -.
condition of the individual tres. ~ y
their various growths from seedl,,.
to patriarch. Thus, at the nrs..s:
moment. in stage are found Ns.
tune, Uranus. Saturn and Jupita,. !.
stage 4, the earth; In stage S. M.,,
and In stage 6, the moon and ~
larger satellites Of the other plan.t. .
Each planets internal heat v,a =.
initial motive power, and cooline ~.
mode by which this energy wort.S
first to the fashioning Of its suri,c.
aid then to all evolution upon \
While still in the molten state IN
mass was seething chaos but MI.
differentiated from any other eons,
agglomeration Of matter. Yet evsn
here the several substances had ~.
gun to segregate, the heavier fallis,
to the bottom, the lighter risins "a
the top.
With stage We enter the pa,t O,
a planets career with which, on our
earth. geology Is concerned. Thoueh
specifically the story. only Of our
earth, that science has analoguss a..
whore. and to be best understood
needs to be gsnerically considered.
Local as many earth.happeninss are.
with increasing light from the hssy.
ems 1t Is becoming clear that In
main events are Of cosmic oecssion.
Ing. and that astronomic cause pre.
sides over their manifestations. In,
itial instance Of planetary action %.
ours at the first stage Of the eartht
history to which geology mounts bsei
that In which q crust began to
form over the molten mass. The
liquid metal In q furnace upon which
the solidifying Stag has begun to aoat
gives US an idea OF this early state u
things. Our metamorphic rocks W..
in action akin to the furnace alag. n.
ing to the surface because Of thslr
lightness. Proof of this lies In their
present density. which IL only about
one-half Of the average density Of The
earth. 81 times that of water instead
Of Sc. Their constitution furnishes
further evidence that such they were.
The gneiss. mica and hornbleude Of
which they arc composed show BY
their crystalline form that they cooled
from q once molten state. and their
foliation indicates that they we're
crumpled and recrystallized In tho
process.
In stage 8 the body first acquires
a physiognomy Of Its own. Up "
then It is a chaotic mass a. unstable
and shifting as clouds In the sky:
but at the advent OF surface solldl0ea'
ton its features take form-a form
they arc in fundamentals ever after
ward to keep. Our knowledge OF thus
and the two subsequent stages I ana
8 is derived from study Of three plan
cts Of our system. the earth, the moon
and Mars. The others contribute
to our Information OF these
m!d-phases. either because. like Mer'
curry and Venus. they are too ad'
or because. like the major
planets, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune
they are not advanced enough
From DR.. Percival Lowell's "MArs a.
the Abode of Life" in The Century.