Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1915-01-01
STARRY WONDERS
The Changing. Drifting, Crum-
bling Consultations.
NOT so PLACID AS THEY SEEN

They Are Al In Whirlins, Restless
Rush, Preparing to Assemble In 9th
or Formations-Wild Flight Earth
ward Of the Andromeda Nehula.
THAT spectacle" said friend Of
mine one night. pointing up to the
starry sky. always overwhelms me
with sense Of unchangeableness,"
Yet replied 1T is the grandest
type Of continual and stnnendous
change That ne Imagination could pos.
Flbly conceive. its apparent unehange.
ahieness is that Of n Distant landscape.
seen by a fash Of lightning. the wheel
Of raeing auto seems to be molten
less. Your whole lifetime is but
lightning fash agalnst the spinning
Wheels Of the universe. The entire
history Of the world since the tradi-
tional time of Adam Is but lightning
fash In the existence Of the sidereaI
systems.
"'rhey are all in motion. and they are
all changing within themselves Look
yonder at that rich part OF the Milky
way. where the millions Of apparent
" crowded stars resemble luminous
clouds II you could stand watching
those star clouds for million years
instead of few moments they wouL.
shift and roll before your eyes like thu
whrIing vapors of nm advancing thun
derstorm.
.rhe astronomer arrives Mt knowl
edge Of the fluctuations Of the universe
by projecting his Imagination back into
the past and forward into the future
He gazes through a telescope which
penetrates time instead of space. Its
lenses gather together and bend to a
focus beams of ages instead Of rays OIL
light With its aid he sweeps MI past
and coming aeons into the field of his
mental vision and strives to view them
in the mass. as they are seen by tlrl
ancient Of days himself.
at Is In this way that we know thar
all these brilliant consultations, which
to the eye Of the casual locker have
not altered their outlines since record
ed history began. are in reality as
mutable and ephemeral as so many
swarms OF snow crystals.
yes: 1t is no exaggeration to affirm
that the Ornament Of stars would ap-
pear to an ere endowed with immortafI
vision as restless and as swiftly vari
able as a winter storm sky filed with
eddying fakes.
"Ursa Major. the Great Bear. Leo
the Lion. Taurus the charging Bull.
Orion the mighty Hunter, the Southern
Cross. the Northern Crown. the Tyre.
the Whale. the Scorpion, the Scales,
Virgo the Virgin. Hercules the Doer OF
Deeds. Draco the Great Dragon. Ophi- |
uchus the Serpent Bearer. the whole
refulgent cycle of the zodiac from
Aries round to Pisces. all these, with
out exception. and every starry com
pany In the whole sky that mankind
has admired and made legends about |
are breaking up. crumbling. drifting
asunder and preparing to assemble in
other formations. like the new heaven
that Is TO shine upon the new earth of
the Apocalypse.
Look up at Aldebaran. the red first
magnitude star in the eye Of Taurus. |
1t is going away from you at a speed
of thirty-five miles per second, seventy
times as fast as the swiftest cannon
ball. Every successive night 1t Is |
3,000O00 miles farther than it was
twenty-four hours before. and yet its
distance is so great that it has not ap-
probably diminished in brightness in
a thousand years.
'Then fix your eyes on little star
under the feet of Orion, which astrono-
mers call Delta Leporis. 1t is flying
away from us at the rate Of sixty-two
miles per second. That means re-
treat of more than 5.250000 miles be
tween one night and the next, and yet
Delta Lepuris does not sensibly fade
1t Il like distant steamers light-so
far away to begin with that no altera-
ton of its distance can produce
change IN its apparent magnitude until
the time elapsed begins to bear some.
appreciable proportion to the space that
intervenes
"If you will regard another little star |
In the Whale. called Eta Cephei. you
will be looking at proJectile rs big as
q sun. which is shooting toward US
more than fifty miles a second. The
great dog star Sirius. which crossed
the milky way hundreds Of centuries
before history began. is speeding in our
direction at the rate Of fifteen miles
second. and the little dog star Procy
on, Is chasing after him with the los
ing stride of ten miles per second.
."The magnificent Arcturus is retiring
into the depths of space with dignifed
step-three miles a second-while Al
pha Centaurus. twin star. each of
whose components equals our sun, is
drawing a million miles nearer every
twenty four hours. The vast Orion
Nehula is retreatin eleven miles sec
ond. hut that whirling wonder called
the Andromeda Nebula is rushing hith-
erward iSn miles a second. or more
than i5.Oo0.tOO miles per day.
~I.uckiy for us it has plenty of sky
room.
'.ln view OF all this, do the heavens
still seem to you so placid and I'M
rhangeabley" Garrett r. Serviss In
Washington Post.
There is no man that has not his
honr. nor Is there anything that has
aot its place.-Rabbi Ben ASH.