SPACE.
If all the stars that we now see in space were once fire-mist, there
must have been another region equally large filled with some substance
of a temperature 600° below zero, in order to equalize the heat of the
fire-mist and leave space 300° below zero, as it now is in the vast
region that surrounds existing stars.[10] What must that cold of 600°
have been, for what is that of 300° even when water freezes at 32°
above zero and mercury at 30° below! Where that cold space was we know
not, neither do we know what was in space before the fire-mist.[11]
If the nebular theory will sufficiently account for the throwing-off
and cooling of the planets, will it likewise account for the millions
of suns disseminated throughout space? In the first place, let us
suppose that all these suns were made at the same time and filled space
with the same substance as our earth, only in a diffused state. In
such a case I cannot conceive how it could break up and resolve into
stars, for there being no space to turn in all would revolve together.
The pulp within the rind of an orange could not be cut into circles and
caused to revolve inside of that rind; so fire-mist once filling the
immensity of space must have continued to revolve in an unbroken mass.
Secondly; If the stars were formed at different periods of time should
not many be still forming? whereas space appears wondrously clear. We
would think if all this great space were to-day filled with nebulae
composed of material similar to that of earth, we could not see; for
our vision of the heavens would be obstructed thereby, and we should
know nothing about the countless numbers of stars that, with the aid of
the telescope, now make the very heavens to blaze with light. Why is it
that the space about all, or nearly all, of the suns has thus cleared
if a state of fire-mist is common to all of them? It is true Nebulae
are seen that appear like vast fields of dim light, but they are often
resolved into stars when examined with powerful instruments, and the
nebulae that cannot be thus resolved into suns occupy but a small
portion of the heavens. Less than one cubic foot is now left out of the
147,200 millions of cubic feet in every cubic mile of fire-mist that
the sun’s sphere must have contained when it reached out to the planet
Neptune, and what has become of it all? If it is not in our system
it must have gone into others. Again; if among the stars that we now
see there are a million, or even a thousand times as many dark bodies
as luminous ones, they must in a measure obstruct the light of the
glowing suns. But were this known to be true it would not prove that
these bodies were not originally formed dark objects; and who but an
omnipotent and omniscient Ruler could prevent repeated collisions among
them?
The nebular theory accounts only for our own solar system, and yet all
the stars that we see in the heavens can be no less wondrous than our
own flaming sun. That we see their light even, at so great a distance,
is proof that they can be no less great. We must account, then, not
only for our own planetary system, but for the countless millions
that exist; and we must concede that the laws that govern one would,
presumably, govern every one. Hence, a period of fire-mist for one
implies the same for all.
If the distance from our sun to the next nearest sun is 20 trillions
of miles, a sphere whose radius reaches half way, that is ten trillion
miles, could contain eight sextillions of suns, each with a diameter
of one million of miles. Now let a single grass seed represent one of
these suns, and twenty-seven millions of them one cubic inch. Should we
fill a bin one mile long, broad, and high, with such seeds, there would
yet be more suns in the above sphere than it would take of grass seeds
to fill this bin holding seven sextillions of them. When we think that
each grass seed is to represent a sun two million times larger than our
earth,—for each sun with a million of miles diameter would,—the thought
of the contents of such a sphere is overwhelming.
Professor Mitchell tells us that with a telescope light from distant
nebulae can be seen that has been thirty millions of years on its
journey. Let us imagine a sphere with a radius of one million years of
light’s flight at the rate of twelve million miles per minute, viz.,
six quintillions of miles. A sphere of such a radius would contain
as many spheres of ten trillions of miles radius as one could put
cubic inches in 850 cubic miles, or 216,000 trillions. This sphere
could hold as many suns of one million miles diameter as there might
be grass seeds that would cover a million of earth’s for one mile in
depth, each earth containing on its surface 200 millions of square
miles, and every cubic inch thereof representing 27 millions of grass
seeds. When we think that each seed represents two millions of earths
can we comprehend the greatness of the universe? Remember the same
calculations that enable us to determine the number of cubic feet in
our earth, sun, or any other sphere, bring these astounding but certain
results. And when we further remember this space is every where so
clear and powerful that it transmits light at the rate of over eleven
million miles each minute, enabling us to see in every part of the
heavens the wonderful stars at an immense distance; and that if we
bring to our aid the most powerful telescopes they only tend to magnify
the already vast number of stars; we are led to realize that beyond
all things else we can conceive space is the most astonishing and
wonderful, excepting its great Creator. While some think that the sun
is cooling and all its planets will be affected thereby, and refer to
the destruction and instability of earthly things; where is there a
single atom of this inconceivably vast, vibratory space that reveals
the least change or destructiveness, although it must have existed for
millions of ages.
Sir Robert S. Ball has given a very marked illustration of the
wonderful magnitude of space in his late book entitled “In the
High Heavens,” from which we quote as follows: “Summon up to your
imagination the most distant star that can be seen with the unaided
eye. Then think of the minutest star that our most potent telescope
can disclose. Think of the tiniest stellar point of light which could
possibly be depicted on the most sensitive photographic plate after
hours of exposure to the heavens. Think, indeed, of the very remotest
star which, by any conceivable device, can be rendered perceptible to
our consciousness. Doubtless that star is thousands of billions of
miles from earth; doubtless the light from it requires thousands of
years, and some astronomers have said millions of years, to span the
abyss which intervenes between our globe and those distant regions.
But, nevertheless, there is a certain number of miles, even though we
know it not, at which the remotest stars known to us must lie. I do not
speak of the most distant star which the universe may possibly contain;
I only refer to the most distant star that we can possibly bring within
our ken.
Imagine a great sphere to be described with its centre at our earth,
and with a radius extending all the way from the earth to this last
star knowable by man. Every star that we can see, every star whose
existence becomes disclosed to us on our photographs, lies inside
this sphere; as to the orbs which may lie outside that sphere we
can know nothing by direct observation. The imagination doubtless
suggests with irresistible emphasis, that this outer region is also
occupied by stars and nebulae, suns and worlds, in the same manner as
the interior of that mighty sphere whose contents are more or less
accessible to our scrutiny. It would do utter violence to our notions
of the law of continuity to assume that all the existent matter in
the universe happened to lie inside this sphere; we need only mention
such a supposition to dismiss it as wholly indefensible. I do not now
make any attempt to express the number of miles in the diameter of the
sphere which limits the extent of space known directly to man. What
that number may be is quite immaterial for our present purpose. But the
point that I especially want to bring out is that the volume occupied
by this stupendous globe, which includes within it all possible visible
material, must be but a speck when compared with the space which
contains it. Think of the water in the Atlantic Ocean, and think of the
water in a single drop. As the drop is to the Atlantic Ocean so is the
sphere which we have been trying to conceive to the boundless extent
of space. As far as we know it would seem that there could be quite
as many of such spheres in space as there are drops of water in the
Atlantic Ocean.”
Now with this defining of space it is evident that it matters but
little what the material substances of the universe may be. If the
hundreds of millions of bright suns—which are thought to be few in
proportion to the invisible, dark worlds scattered throughout space—are
but as a single drop of water to all the Atlantic Ocean; then we are
compelled to admit that our earth and sun, and even the great host of
luminous orbs, must be of little consequence beside this infinitely
vaster and more intensely active ether.
It behooves us above all things, then, to inquire what this amazingly
great space may be. Let us quote further from the above author: “Every
particle of matter whether solid, liquid, or gaseous, is composed
of molecules. No doubt these molecules are so numerous that even in
the air we breathe the capacity of a lady’s thimble would contain
a multitude of molecules so great that it has to be enumerated by
billions.” Again, “The air is ultimately composed of myriads of
separate particles. Each of these little particles, no matter how
quiet the air as a whole may seem, is in a state of intensely rapid
movement. Picture to yourself incalculable myriads of little objects,
each dashing about with a speed as great as that of a rifle bullet,
and often indeed far greater. The little particles are so minute that
it would take about fifty millions of them, placed side by side, to
extend over a single inch. The smallest object which we can discern
with a microscope is perhaps one hundred-thousandth of an inch in
length. The little gaseous molecule would therefore require to possess
a diameter about five hundred times greater than that which it actually
has if it were to be large enough to admit of inspection by the utmost
microscopic powers which we can bring to bear upon it. And yet,
notwithstanding the fact that these particles are so extremely minute,
we are able to reason about their existence, to discover many of their
properties, and to ascertain the laws of their action in such a way as
to throw light into many obscure places of nature. I do not, indeed,
know any doctrine in modern science of a more instructive character
than that which teaches us the composition of gases.” If this be true
of air what then can be said of space, or ether, in which all worlds
float as easily as the motes in a sunbeam; that space which transmits
light everywhere with a precision that never varies? And what is light,
indeed, but vibrations of ether from 400 trillions to 800 trillions
per second, giving all the colors from violet to red? There is not an
atom of ether in all space, so far as science can detect, that has ever
ceased to vibrate, or ever will, with the startling rapidity above
expressed.
But, to further illustrate the magnitude of space, let us again take
the flight of light as a basis for our calculations. As there are
525,600 minutes in a year, light—moving at the rate of eleven millions
of miles each minute—must travel in one year 5,781,600 millions of
miles. With that number of miles as radius of a sphere, of which earth
is the centre, the diameter will be 11,563,200 millions of miles, and
the surface of the sphere 401,112,000 quintillions of square miles,
while it will possess a volume of about 800 undecillions of cubic
miles. Dividing this number by the 260,000 millions of cubic miles
that earth contains we have 3,000 septillions, the number of earths
that such a sphere could contain. Now in an ocean 5,000 miles long,
3,000 miles broad, and 3 miles deep there will be 45 millions of cubic
miles, or 250 trillions of inches. Allowing 200 drops of water to
each cubic inch, we have in one cubic mile 50 quadrillions of drops,
and in that ocean 2,250 sextillions of drops of water. Dividing 3,000
septillions—the number of earths in the above sphere—by the number of
drops of water in the ocean, we find we would need 1300 such oceans
to furnish enough drops of water to equal the number of earths that
could be placed in a sphere whose radius is but the number of miles
that light travels in a single year. With a radius equal to one hundred
years of light’s flight a sphere might contain as many earths as there
would be drops of water in 1300 millions of such oceans; while a radius
of light’s flight for 100,000 years could hold as many earths as there
were drops of water in 1300 quadrillions of such oceans, or a number
of oceans equalling the drops of water in 26 cubic miles. Again, in
a _million_ years of light’s flight there might be as many earths as
drops of water in 1300 quintillions of such oceans, or the number of
oceans equalling the drops of water in 26,000 cubic miles.
If a sphere with a radius of light’s flight for but one year could
contain 3,000 septillions of bodies like our earth, and yet that
sphere be but an atom in space, it would seem that space might be
_infinite_ in its extent, with our conception of infinity. But if
space is _finite_ and light, after a flight of a million of millions
of years, reaches its utmost bound; then that light, if still existing
and radiating 400 trillions of vibrations each second, can double that
time and return. For if not cooled in a million of millions of years
the supposition is that it will not cool in twice that time.
Still, again, let us conceive of a sphere, but this time with a
radius—not of _ten_ millions of years of light’s flight, which would
contain as many earths as drops in 1300 quintillions of such oceans, a
number equalling more than half the drops in an ocean that contained
45 millions of cubic miles—but we will take less than ten minutes of
light’s flight with a radius of 100 millions of miles, which is a
little more than the distance from the earth to the sun. We find that
this sphere would contain 15 trillions of earths; a number ten thousand
times greater than that of all the people living upon earth. When we
think that each one of those earths would contain 260,000 millions of
cubic miles it is seemingly all that our minds can well grasp.
We may not know how many millions of years each atom of ether has been
in existence, but probably before any worlds ever floated within it;
and how can we conceive the thought of death in this immensity of space
where there is not the slightest indication of subsidence or decay? We
must remember that this ether is a million times more active than air
and possesses energies that we cannot conceive of in the more solid
substances of the spheres. Then, whether the nebular hypothesis of the
cooling of the sun and worlds be right or wrong, we may not detect it
from any evidence that space gives thereof; and we can but believe
that, if it be a fact, it must be so only because He who formed this
wondrous space has in their destiny an object. The Eternal Presence
may give to this vast, eternal space a glow that needs not the light of
sun, moon, or the shining host of stars, even though all these mighty
orbs that we now behold should be plunged into everlasting darkness.
In order to better comprehend the mighty vastness of this space we
will measure it again into units of 260,000 millions of cubic miles,
(the size of earth), and with a radius based on the number of miles
of light’s flight in minutes, days, months, and years, ascertain the
number of different sized spheres that such radii would form. A sphere
with earth as its centre, and a radius of one minute of light’s flight,
would contain 21 billions of earths; a sphere whose radius was _nine_
minutes would contain 15,310 billions of earths, one of an hour’s
radius 4,500 trillions, one of a day’s 62 quintillions, a week’s 20
sextillions, a month’s 1675 sextillions, and a year’s radius of the
flight of light three octillions. To go still further; 10 year’s radius
of light’s flight would contain three nonillions, 100 year’s three
decillions, 1,000 year’s three undecillions, 1,000,000 year’s three
quattuordecillions, and a thousand million years radius would contain
three septendecillions of such earths. Now to compare these great
numbers we will suppose, as before, that there are 200 drops of water
in one cubic inch, making 50 quadrillions of drops in one cubic mile of
water, 50 quintillions in one thousand cubic miles, 50 sextillions in
one million of such miles, 50 septillions in one thousand millions, and
50 octillions in one million millions of cubic miles.
We need go no further for the immensity of space is seen by comparison
of the earths in the above spheres with the number of drops of water in
all those cubic miles. We find the sphere that has but one day’s flight
of light as a radius will contain more earths of 260,000 millions of
cubic miles each, than there are water-drops in 1,000 cubic miles; or,
in other words, as many drops as there would be in 100 Sounds like Long
Island from Bridgeport to New York, allowing those sounds to average
100 feet in depth and each contain ten cubic miles of water.
The thought so astounding and well nigh inconceivable is that a sphere
of such vast dimensions has only a radius of a single day’s flight of
light, light that starting from its centre would pass the circumference
of the sphere in one day; while a sphere with a radius of _ten_ year’s
flight of light—a distance only a little way beyond the nearest known
star in the northern heavens, 61 Cygni—could contain as many earths as
there are drops in 60 millions of millions of cubic miles. Yet a sphere
with that radius of ten year’s flight would cover such an enormous
quantity of space as to be beyond our comprehension and still be of
no consequence in comparison with the spheres of one hundred, one
thousand, one million, or one thousand millions of years radii.
Why I thus compute 1,000 millions of years of light’s radius is
because it is possible with powerful telescopes to detect light coming
that distance; and when we contemplate that our nearest star, Alpha
Centauri, is twenty trillions of miles distant, and 61 Cygni more than
twice as far,—or _seven_ year’s flight of light,—and that the Polar
star is some fifty years of light’s flight removed from us; then, if
all suns are no nearer to each other than these are to our sun, we are
led to believe we may see light with our unaided vision that has been
on its journey for a million years. Some detect with the naked eye the
light that comes from the nebula in the Sword’s-Handle of Orion, which
is thought to contain two trillions, two hundred billions of stars;
and if all these stars are no nearer to each other than Alpha Centauri
is to our sun, it cannot be otherwise than that some of them are so
distant their light may have been travelling for a million years before
it comes to our sight. If this be true, with telescopes that penetrate
a thousand times farther into the heavens, we may possibly see light
that has been on its voyage to earth one thousand millions of years.
But the number of earths a sphere of 1,000 millions of years of light’s
flight would contain makes the number of drops of water in sixty
millions of millions of cubic miles (equalling but the earths in a
sphere of _ten_ years radius) sink into utter insignificance. And yet a
sphere of this dimension, even, may be small beside the whole universe
of ether whose every atom in all the millions of years past, as far
as known, has not in the least diminished its wonderful energy; and,
with lightning-like transmission, still brings to our sight light from
distant stars, all of which are so distant that they do not materially
increase the present flow of light. For if but a single one were to
come between us and the sun the increase of that light and heat would
be unendurable.
Finally, as space thus surpasses everything in its greatness excepting
its Creator, let us contemplate it once again in the following manner.
Suppose we could create 40,000 millions of cubic miles of ether daily;
we would at the end of the week have an amount equalling the volume
of our earth. If we continued that creation daily,—not for hundreds,
thousands, or millions of years even,—but for 1,000 millions of
millions of years, we should then have as many such volumes of ether
the size of earth as there are drops of water in one cubic mile. But
what of all this? Admitting that we could create bodies as fast as our
earth was made, and continue to do so for 1,000 millions of millions
of years, it would still be of little account; for its insignificance
is seen when we remember it is but one-fifty-eight thousand millionth
part of what a sphere would contain with a radius of one year’s flight
of light. To think of 40,000 millions of cubic miles being created
daily, with the process continued for 1,000 millions of millions of
years, and _that_ vast quantity still further expanded 58,000 millions
of times, would seem the extent of greatness itself and beyond all
human realization. Yet we can still say all this would be of slight
consequence, for it represents a sphere whose radius is but one year
of light’s flight, and that sphere compared to one of 1,000 millions
of years radius is no more than a boy’s marble,—with a radius of but
one-fourth of an inch,—to earth whose radius is 4,000 miles, and a
thousand million times larger than the radius of the marble.
We have endeavored by the above comparisons to show the vastness of
space; and although our efforts must be in vain because of our inability
to comprehend such great figures, still it is pleasant to contemplate
this ether, upon which time has so little effect, because man is mortal
and the 1500 millions of people that pass from earth every 33 years
makes it seem to him that death reigns everywhere. But when we consider
that the only things essentially effected by time are the animal and
vegetable kingdom, and that all men now living could occupy about
one-fifteenth of one cubic mile of earth; we see that death, even in
the animal kingdom, is confined to a few cubic miles, and to but a few
more in the vegetable kingdom. The inconceivable millions of millions
of cubic miles in a sphere with a radius of one million years of
light’s flight is in no manner affected, as we perceive, by the dread
power that we recognize in the dissolution of mortal bodies.
Even these bodies, as we understand, are changed only in the
combination of molecules, and by that change the immortal spirit,
that is as imperceptible as the wind, of which we are told we cannot
tell “whence it cometh nor whither it goeth,” is set free; the Bible
teaching us its eternal destiny. The greatest and best things that men
here possess are love and goodness, and should not the Almighty possess
these virtues beyond any of His creatures? Possessing these how could
He otherwise than send to Earth His Son for their salvation from sin;
for we find men here, even, who are willing to peril their lives for
the salvation of their fellows, and would undoubtedly be kind to an
inferior animal, though an ant or worm, had they created it and knew it
loved and worshiped them. Akin to this, we believe, is man’s relation
to his Creator and the Creator of this mighty and seemingly everlasting
Space.
[Illustration: Decoration]
FOOTNOTES:
[10] For example: Take two rooms and heat one as hot as the sun now is
what must the cold in the next room be to equalize the heat to 300°
below zero?
[11] We do not inquire how the original nebula came into being; our
history must commence with the actual existence of this nebula. There
is, let it be confessed, a great deal of obscurity still clinging to
the subject. Though we may be sure, that the great nebula once existed
we cannot with much confidence trace out the method by which the
planets were actually formed.
Sir Robert Ball, “In Starry Realms,” p. 348.