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12
—~wTHAPPY
DAYS‘
How Worlds Are Made.
By Francis W, Doventy.
Hovwy few ever stop to think whata won-
. derful thing this world of oursis. _
ow much we take everything for
granted, thinking, if we’ think at all, that
of the world, we may as well consider the
beginning; let us take a look backward
and see how this world was made,
Look at the first picture, Figure 1, and
you will find a very correct representation
of the earth, as it would appear toa per-
son standing on the surface of the moon,
It shows that the earth, like the moon,
is aspherical globe which hangs suspended
in infinite space, just as anyone can see
@ moon must
Fig. 1.—Tne Eartn as SEEN FROM THE Moon,
because the world is it always has been
and always will be.
Not so. Positively we know that there
was a time when this earth was not, while
other earths existed by millions, and sci-
entists assure us that there willcome a
day when this grand old machine which
we call the world, growing old and tired,
will go to pieces, or become cold and dead
like the moon,
This is interesting information.
f anything so serious is likely to happen
would it not be well for us to post our-
ee
This is fact,
and we know it
to be fact be-
cause wherever
we go we see the
same sky and
sun and moon
and stars above
‘ol-
line in any direc-
tion we can pass
around the earth
stroyed where
would the pieces
go
All the stars
which we see on
a clear night
twinkling in the
heavens, save
five, °
which is seldom
en, uns,
precisely like the
sun which lights
the earth.
revolve eight
Jarge worldsand
something like
wo hundred
and fifty little
ones; it is, there-
fore, safe to as-
sume that each
of the sun stars
have
earths revolving round them, Figure
will furnish an idea of the rotation of the
earth round the sun, It shows tbe shape
of the path or orbit, which is mathematic-
ally known as an ellipse.
This orbit is also astronomica}ly marked
by certain imaginary signs called the signs
of the Zodiac—Leo, the lion; Cancer, the
crab; Gemini, the twins, and all the rest,
For countless ages the earth has per-
formed this yearly journey, and will con-
tinue to perform it until the end of time.
Were it to pause for one single second
bom
which is the fact that the component parts
of the earth are all found in the sun.
But, it will be urged, the sun is pure
fire, while the earth is made up of rocks,
water and invisible gases, .
Very good; sois the sun. The only dif-
ference is that in thesun the substances
which compose the rocks, gases and water
are free, while in the case of the earth they
are combined, ~ .
ocks are made of certain simple sub-
stances which science cannot divide; these
are chemically known as metals and gases,
Water also is made of gases, and so is the
atmospheric air, . Seldom do we
. ~
as
: : . ae
- Fig. 3—A Ray or SunLicnt Divipep
BY THE PrRIsM,
either metals or gases free on earth, but
they are all free in the sun.
How do we know this?
It is the information imparted tous by a
neat little instrument called the spectro-
scope.. This spectroscope is simply a
prism, or triangular piece of glass arranged
in a peculiar way, . -
If we take iron, gold, silver, lead, or any
fiother metal, and reduce it to the molten
condition by heat, light is, of course, pro-
duced ; and the rays of this light allowed
tostrike through the pri:
erly prepared surface, each have peculiar
colors of their own, te
It is just the same with the gases which
help to make up the solid substance of the
earth and the atmosphere which envelopes
A metal called strontium, for instance,
gives forth a red light; calcium (lime)
gives a green light ; sodium (soda)a yellow
light; and so on through the whole list.
Every time we try this we find the same
result, so we know that when these metals
are reduced to an incandescent condition
their light thrown through the spectro-
scope must always be the same,
good. Now let us turn a ray of
sunlight through our spectroscope, and the
result is as shown in Figure 3,
Here also we have the same colors, red,
orange, yellow, and all the rest. Conse-
quently we feel safe in assuming that the
light of the sun is produced by the same
molten metals which gave us the same re-
sults in the previous experiment,
All scientists now admit that this must
be so, and by this means we have ascer-
tained that nearly all the substances which
g0 to form the earth exist in the sun,
- Now, how did the earth get’ away from
thesun? It was thrown off.
The sun is in a state of con-
stant activity, just astall fire
always is and ‘m ee
some unexplained increase in
that activity, a portion of the
molten mass of the sun's sur-
face was sent whirling off into
spac .
from a
height, as witnessed by the
rush of the shot tower, Reach-
ing a certain point in space,
in its flight, and
held by the attraction of the
sun, began its journey round
that body, which it has con-
tinued ever since,
his may be a trifle hard to
comprehend, and to explain
why the red-hot earth should
gin this revolution would
carry us be
strated these things to be
This is the way that
worlds are made,
Caught in the attraction of
the sun, doomed to maintain
Fig. 2.~Rotation oF THE EARTH Rounp THE Sun.
selves and see if there is not some way of
escape? - ‘
It would be a useless endeavor, however,
When that awful day comes the human
race would be like ants on an ant hill
washed by a tidal wave.
Stil it fe well to be posted, and since
there {sno use in thinking about the end
everything would go to pieces; this looks
like perpetual motion, and certainly is the
nearest approach toit possible. Neverthe-
Jess, the earth was not always revolving
round the sun,
Yo; there was once a time when the
earth formed a part of the sun. This we
know for several reasons, foremost among
metals were transformed into roc
combination with the different
Time passed, and the earth began to
It cooled more and more, the melted
which came along with them from the sun,
The gases combining again, but in a dif.
ism upon a prop-}a
ferent way, formed air and water. Thicker
and thicker grew the rocky crust, until at
last the earth became what we seeit now,
But far, far below our feet, underneath
the rocks, the same old fire still remains,
Once in a while it breaks out, and we see
it shooting from the tops of mountains
which we call volcanoes. It often heats
water, too, and sends it flying to the sur-
face. They are the geysers, and the boil-
ing springs.
Now for our final proposition, What
must happen to destroy the earth, and if
destruction came, where would the pieces
go? Now we leave the safe footing of fact
and pass into the region
of theory and conjecture,
- Figure 4 shows us a six-
taile
Wh
Some scientists claim
that itis a world broken
and destroyed, while. oth+
ers fiercely. dispute this
claim.
. Suppose -a
forth of the -fiery -mass
within the earth should
occur under the bed of the
Atlantic Ocean.’ Suppose
the hole made by the ex-
plosion were -big enough
to permit the water of the
ocean to in, what
. would be the result?
ber Instantly the water
would be transformed into steam, and we
all know what ‘steam will do when we
shut it up too tight.
Get out it will if it tears everything to
pieces. If the ocean were suddenly let into
the internal fires of our earth, an explosion
would result which would send. the globe
to atems,
What would
such acase? ~ : -
The answer is simple. Held by the at-
traction of the sun they could not get
INTO COLORS
become of ‘the pieces in
way,
They would have to go on_revolving
about the sun, flying through space at
incredible speed, the same as before.
That there are such pieces of loose rock
and metals flying about in space we know,
tinually dropping upon the earth.
ow let us suppose such a catastrophe,
Let us suppose the solid crust of the earth
roken to pieces, what would become of
the internal fire which had accomplished
this work of destruction? Held
attraction of the sun it could not get
away ; either obeying the law which forces
all bodies of molten metal into the globu-
lar form, it would immediately become
another pery globe, but’ smaller and still
possessed of the power of. attraction, it
and with a vast cloud of rock, stones and
gravel in its train, would continue its
ceaseless Journey round the sun, ‘
Such, it is claimed, and with a consider-
able show of reason is the nature of comets.
The bright nucleus is the new fiery globe
set free by the explosion, The tail, or tails
—some have one, others many—are made
up of the fragments of the ruined world,
each particle shining by reflected light.
here is something to think about in
this theory, ing:
hitherto mysterious, and, although dis.
puted, is borne out by many facts,
Look at Figure 5. tt represents the zone
of minor planets, or asteroids, which ex-
ist in space between the planets Mars and
Jupiter, .
These asteroids are miniature worlds,
many so small that their circumference is
not over a few hundred miles.
sun in its own orbit, but oddly enough
they are not found avy where else, occupy-
ing this particular part of space by them-
selves, and going quietly about their busi-
ness just the same as Venus, the earth,
Jupiter or Mars, © ~ ~
ow came they there? -Why are the
asteroids confined to this particular place?
lere is the theory : -
uppose an imaoiense mass of molten
matter thrown from the sun projected to
the position in space cecupied. by the as-
teroids, and there, by the law of attrac:
tion, compelled to remain. “
Suppose that by some great convulsion
the great globe was to be rent apart while
yet in a molten condition, and the parts so
dispersed that they eould no longer attract
each other as the earth attracts the moon,
In such a case but one thing could re-
sult, Each portion of the molten mass
would immediately form itself into a mini-
ature globe, and, undergoing the cooling
process, in time would become a world,
and each of these tiny worlds would have
no alternative but to begin revolving
round the sun, precisely as their bigger
brothers are compelled to do.
Such is the theory of the formation of
the asteroids, and it certainly has the ap-
pearance of truth. . :
he circles in the engraving represent
the orbits of the different planets there
named, or in other words their paths
something like two hundred and _ fifty of:
them altogether, Each revolves about the .
bursting ~
‘
or in the form of meteors they. are con- *
the ©
would hold all the broken pieces near it, .
\