Orleans County Monitor

The following is an extract from one of Prof. Chandler's lectures on the Sun:

"Thus it is proven that the materials of the earth and sun are similar: the conclusiveness of evidence is overwhelming. While thousands of the ablest physicists of the enlightened world yield concurrent and unanimous support to the entire trustworthiness of this new mode of investigation, not one, to my knowledge—certainly no one worthy of the slightest credence—has expressed a doubt of its unerring correctness. The earth being so much smaller than the sun, is in a condition far more advanced. By radiation, it has already parted with most of the heat which it contained, when in an incandescent and luminous state. Were it as large as the sun, it would doubtless yet be in the same condition the sun now is, emitting light and heat, and of course entirely unfit for the existence of animal life. Being another sun, it would revolve around a common centre with our present sun, presenting the same magnificent spectacle to the inhabitants of worlds in immeasurable space which we ourselves perceive in many instances. The sun is undoubtedly advancing to the same condition in which the earth now is, but by reason of its enormous size, the change is imperceptible. But when the wheel of time shall have rolled on throughout unnumbered cycles, and the sun shall have arrived at a condition similar to that of the earth at present, whence will be generated the light and heat necessary to complete it as an abode suitable for animal life? I intended to devote a portion of the evening to the probable theory of the physical constitution of the sun, but time admonishes me to curtail my remaining remarks, though I appreciate the evident interest and close attention given by all, even the younger portion of the audience. I will, however, barely advert to the theory based upon his discovery of the reversal of the solar spectrum. Though that theory has received various modifications since it was promulgated by him, yet being founded on his infallible discovery, it is in the main, generally adopted. According to Kirchhoff, the sun consists of a solid or partially liquid nucleus in the highest state of incandescence, which emits, like all solid or liquid raised to a white heat, every possible kind of light and therefore would of itself give a continuous spectrum without any dark lines. The incandescent central nucleus is surrounded by an atmosphere of lower temperature, containing, on account of the extreme heat of the nucleus, the vapors of many of the substances of which this body is composed. The rays of light therefore emitted by the nucleus must pass through this atmosphere before reaching the earth, and each vapor extinguishes from the white light those rays which it would itself emit in a glowing state."

In the last clause of what I have stated of his theory, you will observe the application of the law of absorption of light by vapors, so clearly demonstrated heretofore. Nearly all matter that we can perceive by our senses, is a combination of substances or elements, the number of which is rather small.

THE GREATEST DEPTH YET ATTAINED into the bowels of the earth, below the sea level, is at Minden, Prussia, where, at the salt works, the boring extends 1,970 feet below high water. Other mines are of greater depth from the surface, as the old one at Kuttenburg, in Bohemia, which is 3,545 feet in depth: yet its bottom is above that at Minden. But the geological revolutions afford us a means of investigating vastly deeper into the crust of the earth. During the interminable ages that have passed since the crust has been cooling, from a once molten or incandescent condition, mighty and violent revolutions have from time to time taken place. As the earth's temperature has constantly been subsiding by radiation, a corresponding diminution in size has been the natural consequence. In this manner protuberances and corresponding depressions have been formed, which we call mountains and valleys. Other agencies co-operating with this lowering of the temperature of the earth, have caused the lower strata to be so tilted and bent as to be at, or near, the surface in inclined and curved positions, and geologists have thus been enabled to study the material constitution of the globe to the depth of seventeen miles. Of the many evidences of this abrupt displacement afforded in various parts of the earth, perhaps none are more manifest and conclusive than those at Herkimer County, N. Y., where geologists have most positively determined the formation and elements of our globe to the depth of sixteen miles. The chemist has proved that the materials revealed consist of sixty-six elementary parts, and that sixteen of these, united in different combinations and proportions, form nearly all the known matter of the globe.

THESE IMPORTANT ELEMENTS are silicon, aluminium, potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, manganese, iron, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, chlorine, fluorine, carbon, sulphur and phosphorus. In nature they are seldom observed simple and unmixed, but usually associated and compounded in great diversity. Thus the air we breathe is composed of oxygen, nitrogen, and a small per cent. of carbonic acid. The water we drink, consists of oxygen and hydrogen. Oxygen combined with aluminium, sodium, silicon, potassium, magnesium, and calcium, composes the greater portion of the rocks, and constitutes from a half to a third of the whole crust of the globe. Sodium combined with a small proportion of chlorine, gives us that most useful article, common salt. Glass is composed of silicon. Carbon forms a considerable portion of all vegetation; coal chiefly consists of it, and it enters largely into the composition of limestone and marble. At common temperatures and when set free from combination, nearly all the elements are solids. Two, mercury and bromine, are fluids, and five are gases—chlorine, fluorine, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen. In conclusion, I will add, that the more we search the wonders of the heavens, the more we are convinced of THE EVIDENCE OF DESIGN. Supreme wisdom is written in every new discovery. Geology and astronomy are acquainted with no such word as chance. "Order is heaven's first law." and order is the heavens' first and great law. System is written in the star-depths as on earth, and in characters of burning light. Though infinite wisdom is beyond the comprehension of man, and though we cannot presume to unravel all of nature's mysteries, yet it is indeed a pleasure to know that every new discovery strengthens our confidence that an all-wise and supreme intelligence rules the whole. So far from undermining any doctrine or belief in an infinitely wise and powerful being, the result of every astronomical research strengthens such belief. Never before was more sensibly felt the application of the Psalmist's words: The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork.