Wellington Philosophical Society. 487 



and light. 



greate 



necessary to complete the cycle of chemical transformation in so enormous an 



orb of matter, chemical union is momentarily taking place, to be again torn 



asunder, as revealed to us by his heat and light. It is a barren philosophy 



globe we inhabit. 



it has wrought all 



The grand force in operation around us is chemical affinity 

 the grand phenomena of nature ; everywhere are seen its gigantic structures 

 the crust of the earth — the waters on its surface — everything we touch — life 

 itself is the creation of this marvellous force. The mild anti-paroxysmatism of 

 Hutton and others is being broken down. Lime, magnesian rocks, clays, etc., 

 which form the crust of the earth, are definite compounds of oxygen with the 

 respective metals, calcium, magnesium, and aluminium. These elements 

 must once have been separate, and their union must have been accompanied 

 by the same enormous display of heat and light, of which we have now an 

 example in the mighty chemical actions in activity in the sun. And there 

 remain unquestionable proofs of past high temperature in the rate at which 

 the temperature increases on descending below the earth's surface. 



There is every reason to believe that the condition of things which 

 probably exists in the planet Jupiter was for ages the fixed condition of our 

 globe. Proctor expresses his firm belief that no one can study that planet for 

 many hours without becoming convinced that the cloud masses which envelope 

 his disk have a depth of at least one hundred miles, and he goes on to show 

 that the pressure of such a depth of atmosphere would be so enormous that 

 the lower stratum could not possibly exist in a gaseous state except at an 

 enormously high temperature, and thus we are driven to the conclusion (to use 

 Proctor's words) that "Jupiter is an orb instinct with fiery energy — aglow it 

 may well be with an intense light which is only prevented from manifesting 

 itself by the cloudy envelope which enshrouds it." The same envelope which 



body 



planet. 



These 



menon that for three or four years Jupiter's mid-zone has been aglow with a 



colour. 



;ht, but has lately returned to the ordinary crean 

 age of colour was probably owing to some great comn 

 beneath making itself manifest by its greater energy 



depths 



There 



of the earth were retained by a similar deep envelope of clouds, followed by a 

 less heated state of the globe, when plants, of whose profusion and rapid 

 growth we can scarcely form a conception, might have enjoyed the combined 

 heat of the globe and the radiant heat of the sun. 



