ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA AND PROGRESS. 



39 



476 miles per second (and there is nothing at all im- 

 probable in such a supposition), their collision would 

 transform the whole pt the motion into heat, afford- 

 ing an amount sufficient to supply the present rate 

 of radiation for 50,000,000 years. Each p_ound of the 

 mass would, by the stoppage of the motion, possess 

 not less than 100,000,000,000 foot-pounds of energy 

 transformed into heat, or as much heat as would 

 suffice to melt 90 tons of iron or raise 264,000 tons 1 

 C. The whole mass would be converted into an in- 

 candescent gas, with a temperature of which we can 

 form no adequate conception. If we assume the spe- 

 cific heat of the gaseous mass to be equal to that of 

 air (viz., -2374), the mass would have a temperature 

 of about 300,000,000 C., or more than 140,000 times 

 that of the voltaic arc. It may be objected that, 

 enormous as would be such a temperature, it would 

 nevertheless be insufficient to expand the mass 

 against gravity so as to occupy the entire space in- 

 cluded within the orbit of Neptune. To this objec- 

 tion it might be replied that, if the temperature in 

 question were not sufficient to produce the required 

 expansion, it might readily have been so if the two 

 bodies before encounter be assumed to possess a 

 higher velocity, which of course might have been 

 the case. But without making any such assumption, 

 the necessary expansion of the mass can be accounted 

 for on very simple principles. It follows in fact from 

 the theory that the expansion of the gaseous mass 

 must have been far greater than could have resulted 

 simply from the temperature produced by the con- 

 cussion. This will be obvious by considering what 

 must take place immediately 'after the encounter of 

 the two bodies, and before the mass has had suffi- 

 cient time to pass completely into the gaseous con- 

 dition. The two bodies coming into collision with 

 such enormous velocities would not rebound like 

 two elastic balls, neither would they instantly be 

 converted into vapor by the encounter. The first 

 effect of the blow would be to shiver them into frag- 

 ments, small indeed as compared with the size of 

 the bodies themselves, but still into what might be 

 called in ordinary language immense blocks. Be- 

 fore the motion of the two bodies could be stopped, 

 they would undoubtedly interpenetrate each other; 

 and this of course would break them up into frag- 

 ments. But this would only be the work of a few 

 minutes. Here, then, we should have all the energy 

 of the lost motion existing in these blocks as heat 

 (molecular motion), while they were still in the solid 

 state ; for as yet they would not have had sufficient 

 time to assume the gaseous condition. It is obvious, 

 however, that the greater part of the heat would ex- 

 ist on the surface of the blocks (the place receiving 

 the greatest concussion), and would continue there 

 while ^the blocks retained their solid condition. It 

 is difficult in imagination to realize what the tem- 

 perature of the, surfaces would be at this moment. 

 For, supposing the heat were uniformly distributed 

 through the entire mass, each pound, as we have 

 already seen, would possess 100,000,000,000 foot- 

 pounds of heat. But as the greater part of the heat 

 would at this instant be concentrated on the outer 

 layers of the blocks, these layers would be at once 

 transformed into the gaseous condition, thus envelop- 

 ing the blocks and filling the interspaces. The tem- 

 perature of the incandescent gas, owing to this enor- 

 mous concentration of heat, would be excessive, and 

 its expansive force inconceivably great. As a con- 

 sequence, the blocks would be separated from each 

 other, and driven in all directions with a velocity 

 far more than sufficient to carry them to an infinite 

 distance against the force of gravity were no oppos- 

 ing obstacle in their way. The blocks by their mu- 

 tual impact would be shivered into smaller frag- 

 ments, each of which would consequently become 

 enveloped in incandescent gas. These smaller frag- 

 ments would in a similar manner break up into still 

 smaller pieces, and so on until the whole came to 

 assume the gaseous state. The general effect of the 



explosion, however, would be to disperse the blocks 

 in all directions, radiating from the center of the 

 mass. Those toward the outer circumference of t lie 

 mass, meeting with little or no obstruction to their 

 outward progress, would pass outward into space to 

 indefinite distances, leaving in this manner a free 

 path for the layers of blocks behind them to fol- 

 low in their track. Thus eventually a space, per- 

 haps twice or even thrice that included within the 

 orbit of Neptune, might be filled with fragments by 

 the time the whole had assumed the gaseous condi- 

 tion. It would be the suddenness and almost in- 

 stantaneity with which the mass would receive the 

 entire store of energy, before it had time even to 

 assume the molten, far less the gaseous condition, 

 which would lead to such fearful explosions and dis- 

 persion of the materials. If the heat had been grad- 

 ually applied, no explosions, and consequently no 

 dispersion, of the materials would have taken place. 

 There would first have been a gradual melting ; and 

 then the mass would pass by slow degrees into va- 

 por, after which the vapor would rise in temperature 

 as the heat continued until it became possessed of 

 the entire amount. But the space thus occupied by 

 the gaseous mass would necessarily be very much 

 smaller than in the case we have been considering, 

 where the shattered materials were first dispersed 

 into space before the gaseous condition was as- 

 sumed. 



Researches of Prof. Chase. Recent volumes 

 of the u Proceedings of the American Philo- 

 sophical Society " contain papers of great 

 interest by Prof. Pliny E. Chase of Haverford 

 College, Pa., on " Centers of Aggregation and 

 Dissociation," "Illustrations of Central Force," 

 " Results of Wave Interferences," " Criteria of 

 the Nebular Hypothesis," " Radiation and Ro- 

 tation," etc., etc. The numerous harmonies 

 of the solar system pointed out in these papers 

 are very remarkable, and must command the 

 attention of astronomers and physicists. 



Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Soci- 

 ety. The gold medal of the Royal Astronomi- 

 cal Society of London was awarded in 1878 

 to Baron Dembowsky of Gallarate, for his ob- 

 servations of double stars, communicated from 

 time to time during the last quarter of. a cen- 

 tury to the " Astronomische Nachrichten." 



Prizes of the French Academy of Sciences. 

 The prizes of the French Academy, in the sec- 

 tion of Astronomy, have been awarded as fol- 

 lows: the Lalande prize to Prof. Asaph Hall 

 of Washington, for his discovery of the satel- 

 lites of Mars ; the V aillant prize to Dr. Schulhof , 

 for his researches which led to the rediscovery 

 of three of the lost asteroids ; and the Valz 

 prize to the brothers Paul and Prosper Henry 

 of the Paris Observatory, for their continuation 

 of Chacornac's ecliptic charts. 



Gold Medal of the Vienna Academy of Sci- 

 ences. The gold medal of the Vienna Academy 

 has been awarded to Mr. Lewis Swift of Roch- 

 ester, N. Y., for his discovery of the first comet 

 of 1878. The observations of Mr. Swift have 

 hitherto been made under unfavorable circum- 

 stances. He now proposes, however, the im- 

 mediate erection of an observatory, to be fur- 

 nished with a 9-4-inch refractor by Messrs. 

 Clark & Sons, the distinguished opticians of 

 Cambridgeport, Massachusetts. 



