Past and Future Eicliard' A. Proctor. 



37 



nt In an elementary condition. In otliev words, tlioy 

 fall to Rive tlie lines usus-lly given by tlii-so {rases, lint 

 only in each casa a single lino ; and thy ide.i has been 

 suggested by a physician of your own that all the ele- 

 ments may havu been proilnce.d from tlieso elementary 

 etatr.es of hydrogen and nitrogen. I hope to show you 

 thrtt there is no possibility of arriving at tho real beaiu- 

 uing of the earih. but I shall pass back to that first 

 stage of whi -h we can liopo to have any information. 



INSTANCES OF FORMATION IN NEBULOUS MASSES. 



I shall show yon tho great southern nebula in Argo, 



although rather faintly. It looks as if motions were 

 taking pi. ie iu tho star spaces as if some, progress 

 were actually making under the very eyes of astrono- 

 mers, toward tho beginning ot a new solar system. We 

 see those great masses moving, changing iu place, and 

 \ve may imagine that evolution is there beginning. 

 Another picture snows the central part of that nebula 

 iu somewhat enlarged space, and that contains a sun 

 which, as it were, is immersed in that nebula. This was 

 formerly of the first magnitude, but it has now been 

 ranked iu tho fourth magnitude. It has become scarcely 

 visible to the naked eye on tbo darkest night. May ifc 

 not lie tho first of a process by which a sun is being 

 formed, or the last t We may see it tending toward an 

 end, and fiud that there we have a sun which is gradu- 

 ally flickering out. like a candle just before it expires. 

 So we see we may have a system cither beginning or 

 gradually dying out. 



Here is another picture showing the changes this 

 nebula has actually experienced, and we will now have 

 a series of illustrations of various classes of nebula, in 

 order that we may have a choice between the various 

 orders of nobulaj, from which wo may imagine our solar 

 system arose. There you have great quantities of nebu- 

 lous matter in great variety of shape. Here is one of 

 these nebulre where you seem to see various centers of 

 light, as if the nebulous master -were gathered in toward 

 some centers. 



After dealing with these primary states we must pass 

 to the condition of our earth as a center. Here is the 

 other theory, that our solar system sprang from a 

 gradual drawing in to word the center of great masses of 

 glowing matter. Instead of being contracted, masses 

 of glowing matter, hard or liquid, were drawn in toward 

 the center, which led iu the first place to the formation 

 of the center of our system, and afterward to subordi- 

 nate centers of aggregation. Here you have one of the 

 great circular clusters, a cluster tending toward a sin- 

 gle center. Above you have also one somewhat tending 

 toward the center, all suggesting the possibility that 

 centers of aggregation may be formed. 



SIMILARITIES TO THE SOLAR SYSTEM. 



Now we will have au enlarged view of that great 

 spiral. Here you see the central part of its true pro- 

 portionate dimensions, and you seem to feel that that 

 great center of aggregation will grow until it becomes 

 a fitting sun. Over here, in this next picture, you see 

 the first subordinate aggregation, and you see iu that 

 system that a planet, that will occupy the same posi- 

 tion as Jupiter does in our system, is being formed. 

 Here is a picture showing the process of formation. 

 Here you see the spiral branches are more distinct, one 

 from another, and you see beside the central aggrega- 

 tion, one of the first subordinate aggregations tho 

 Jupiter of that system and another which we may re- 

 gard as the Saturn of that system. And so we may per- 

 ceive that the other branches, not perceptible by us, 

 may lead to aggregation 1 ', out of which tho smaller 

 planets of that system are to be formed. 



In the next picture you will see one of tlieso spirals 

 turned edgewise, so that you can notice tho flatness of 

 its nature. We know that our system is, as it wcra, a 

 Hat system, and if these spirals were not tlat wo should 

 not find iu them tho true analogue of our system. You 

 cau see our spiral has something tho shape of the gn-aC 

 whirlpool spirals, precisely as a cloud nc.ir the horizon 

 look's long and straight, although its shapj, vie wo J from 

 bi'li/w, would bo probably round. 



Another series of photographs was thrown upon tho 

 screen, and the lecturer continued : I told you that wo 

 might rt'Coaiiiz 1 ! in the signs of the star depths, the 

 past probable condition of our solar system. It mi/ 

 possibly be that in this ring of nebula we have a prior 

 condition; that it is from this ring of nebula that these 

 spirals are to be formed by a process of breaking up. I 

 want to call special attention to tho fact tnat tbeso 

 rings, like the spirals, are almost flat. When they are 

 seen edgewise they have that elongated shape. 



PROCESSES OF AGGREGATION. 



Here is another nebula having only oue center of ag- 

 gregation. Here, you see, is one center, and toward 

 that center various branches seem to tend. That seem.s 

 to me instructive as tending to show that these creaC 

 spirals are not at resr. If they had been originally at 

 rest, then there would always have been the appearance 

 here shown that is, a great center, and all around that 

 center branches would be seen tending inward; but if 

 they wero traveling iu some cases forward with great 

 rapidity, then there would lie a tendency toward au oc- 

 casional eccentric. In other words, the supply of mat- 

 ter to the central aggregitiun would be greater at ona 

 stage than at the other, if tho ne'oulous mass were trav- 

 eling from a poorer to a richer region, or vice versa. 



And now in order to show that we have evidence of a 

 prior condition of our solar system in that stage of neb- 

 ulous matter, thougli not necessarily as a great rotating 

 nebula, we will have a picture brought on illustrating 

 the spectrum of a comet. Hare we seem to see the 

 prior condition of matter, but we find in the comets 

 other signs of the existence of groat nebulous masses. 

 Here you see bands of comets whic'a correspond to the 

 glowing vapor of carbon, and you seem to see the sign 

 that comets coutaiu the glowing vapor of tl>at element 

 carbon. We have these comets traveling to us out of 

 the star depths and bringing information as to th&sa 

 great masses. 



Here is another picture of a comet, and I wish here to 

 remind you of the enormous extt-ut of these bodies and 

 the great quantities of glowing matter which we have 

 to believe in as soou as we recognize the fact that these 

 comets are made of such gases. Tie breadth of Ilalley's 

 comet the head of it is 70,003 miles. You see the 

 enormous quantity of glowing s, is presented before you. 

 Nor was that comet of Halley'a by any means the 

 largest of Known comets, but was in fact comparatively 

 small. The comet of 1811 had an estimated diameter, 

 not of 70,000 miles, but of 700,000 miles, and its tail was 

 over 12,000,000 miles long. No matter .* hat Jegree of 

 variety we give to the material of these comets, we yet 

 'lave immense quantities of glowing gas. In these glow- 

 ng gases we recoguizj the first condition of our earth to 

 which we can carry back our thoughts. 



THE CHILDHOOD OF THE EARTH. 



I hope to show you that there is no limit, either in the 

 beginning or the end, to the processes of change, but 

 we must stop somewhere, and it will be convenient to 

 stop on either side at some point. I don't know liow we 

 can go further back than to this nebulous condition. 

 Wo have carried back our earth to this nebulous state, 



