Year: 1870

The Maine Journal Of Education


has translated an article from the
| Cosmos. in which Stanislas Meunier
! gives some curious speculatiOns with
regard to the present physical condi-
ton of the moon.


His theory is, and he has the sup
port of eminent astronomers like
Beer, Moedler and Arag&l that the
moon is dead star. He draws this in
! ference from a singular appearance
upou the surface, which is called
"grooves1 by the physicists. These
/ grooves have parallel sides nearly a
mile in width, and from ten to one
hundred and twenty-five miles in
| length. There are already ninety Of
them, and it is supposed that more
are in process of formation. Reason
| ING from analogy, we must believe
that at some period in the distant past,
the moon had an atmosphere and
water. and also that on account of her
inferior size, she has cooled much
more quickly than the earth. The
water penetrating the crust has been
absorbed as the decrease of internal
heat increased the thickness Of the
crust, until long before the cooling
process had reached the center, the
water had disappeared. The rocks
then solidifying, as the heat supply
diminished, contracted in manner
resembling the appearance OF basalt,
and produced the grooves into when
the atmosphere settled. Hence comes
the chaotic appearance of the moon,
with its immense mountains, volca-
noes, and craters. Some astronomers
have detected an appearance OF .ae-
ton in some of the volcanoes; but
the general opinion is, that every
vestage of physical life has long since
departed from the surface of our sat
elite.


These theories are all very well
when applied to our distant neighbOr,
the moon; but we cannot shut our
ewes to thestartling fact that the earth
is undergoing a similar process OF
transformation. GeOlOgists trace a
close resemblance between the circles
in the moon and the circles of granite
and prOphyry upon the earth. They
have also discovered evidences OF a
fine stratification among the lunar
mountains, while the volcanic forma-
tious Dear a discernable analogy to
those of Teneriffe and Palma.


According to the new theory the
following is the process slowly taking
place on the earth's surface, for she,
like her subordinate, Is gradually
cooling. It is estimated that One-fifti-
eth of the original ocean has been al
ready absolved, and that when the
crust of the earth has become one
hundred miles in thickness every
drop of water will disappear. Is Is
also estimated that the earth could
easily absorb fifty oceans like those
which now cover a large portion OF
the surface.


All the water at present on the
earth constitutes one twenty-four
thousandth part of its weight, and
once absorbed would become insensi-
bic to chemical analysis. The water
being absorbed, the earth will crack
open like the moon, and form similar
grooves into which the atmosphere
will have ceased.


Whether there is any truth in the
theory or not, we have no immediate
cause of alarm, for the process will
not advance enough to give the slight
est record in the'shOrt span of single
lifetime. According to the expert
ments of BischOf, it will take nine
millions of years for the earth TO cool
down fifteen degrees. This loss Is al
most imperceptible, as the internal
heat adds only thirtieth of a degree
TO the temperature of the surface.


If the process is true of the earth
and the moon, the same cause must
produce the same effects in other plan
cts and satellites of the system. Even
the great sun himself must be sub
iected to the laws which rule his sub
ordinates. Therefore the time must
come, in the distant ages Of the here
after, when the sun, planets and moon,
losing every vestige of heat, will have
absorbed every drop of water in their
thickened crusts, and will have i'm
prisoned every particle of atmosphere
in their huge fissures-


The solar system, now so grandly
beautiful, will then be but an assem-
blage of dead worlds, without ray Of
light, without a wave of heat, with
ont drop of water, without a breath
of air floating round in the immen-
sity of space, bound together by the
law of gravitation in the embrace of
death.


1t is not a pleasing speculation, if it
| Is q philosophical one.