Chapter XXVIII

THE END OF THINGS

We have been trying to picture the beginning of things. We will now try to picture the end.

In attempting this, we find that our theories must of necessity be limited to the earth, or at most to the solar system. The time-honoured expression "End of the World" really applies to very little beyond the end of our own earth. To the people of past ages it, of course, meant very much more. For them, as we have seen, the earth was the centre of everything; and the heavens and all around were merely a kind of minor accompaniment, created, as they no doubt thought, for their especial benefit. In the ancient view, therefore, the beginning of the earth meant the beginning of the universe, and the end of the earth the extinction of all things. The belief, too, was general that this end would be accomplished through fire. In the modern view, however, the birth and death of the earth, or indeed of the solar system, might pass as incidents almost unnoticed in space. They would be but mere links in the chain of cosmic happenings.

A number of theories have been forward from time to time prognosticating the end of the earth, and consequently of human life. We will conclude with a recital of a few of them, though which, if any, is the true one, the Last Men alone can know.

Just as a living creature may at any moment die in the fulness of strength through sudden malady or accident, or, on the other hand, may meet with death as a mere consequence of old age, so may our globe be destroyed by some sudden cataclysm, or end in slow processes of decay. Barring accidents, therefore, it would seem probable that the growing cold of the earth, or the gradual extinction of the sun, should after many millions of years close the chapter of life, as we know it. On the former of these suppositions, the decrease of temperature on our globe might perhaps be accelerated by the thinning of the atmosphere, through the slow escape into space of its constituent gases, or their gradual chemical combination with the materials of the earth. The subterranean heat entirely radiated away, there would no longer remain any of those volcanic elevating forces which so far have counteracted the slow wearing down of the land surface of our planet, and thus what water remained would in time wash over all. If this preceded the growing cold of the sun, certain strange evolutions of marine forms of life would be the last to endure, but these, too, would have to go in the end.

Should, however, the actual process be the reverse of this, and the sun cool down the quicker, then man would, as a consequence of his scientific knowledge, tend in all probability to outlive the other forms of terrestrial life. In such a vista we can picture the regions of the earth towards the north and south becoming gradually more and more uninhabitable through cold, and human beings withdrawing before the slow march of the icy boundary, until the only regions capable of habitation would lie within the tropics. In such a struggle between man and destiny science would be pressed to the uttermost, in the devising of means to counteract the slow diminution of the solar heat and the gradual disappearance of air and water. By that time the axial rotation of our globe might possibly have been slowed down to such an extent that one side alone of its surface would be turned ever towards the fast dying sun. And the mind's eye can picture the last survivors of the human race, huddled together for warmth in a glass-house somewhere on the equator, waiting for the end to come.

The mere idea of the decay and death of the solar system almost brings to one a cold shudder. All that sun's light and heat, which means so much to us, entirely a thing of the past. A dark, cold ball rushing along in space, accompanied by several dark, cold balls circling ceaselessly around it. One of these a mere cemetery, in which there would be no longer any recollection of the mighty empires, the loves and hates, and all that teeming play of life which we call History. Tombstones of men and of deeds, whirling along forgotten in the darkness and silence. Sic transit gloria mundi.

In that brilliant flight of scientific fancy, the Time Machine, Mr. H.G. Wells has pictured the closing years of the earth in some such long-drawn agony as this. He has given us a vision of a desolate beach by a salt and almost motionless sea. Foul monsters of crab-like form crawl slowly about, beneath a huge hull of sun, red and fixed in the sky. The rocks around are partly coated with an intensely green vegetation, like the lichen in caves, or the plants which grow in a perpetual twilight. And the air is now of an exceeding thinness.

He dips still further into the future, and thus predicts the final form of life:—

"I saw again the moving thing upon the shoal—there was no mistake now that it was a moving thing—against the red water of the sea. It was a round thing, the size of a football perhaps, or it may be bigger, and tentacles trailed down from it; it seemed black against the weltering blood-red water, and it was hopping fitfully about."

What a description of the "Heir of all the Ages!"

To picture the end of our world as the result of a cataclysm of some kind, is, on the other hand, a form of speculation as intensely dramatic as that with which we have just been dealing is unutterably sad.

It is not so many years ago, for instance, that men feared a sudden catastrophe from the possible collision of a comet with our earth. The unreasoning terror with which the ancients were wont to regard these mysterious visitants to our skies had, indeed, been replaced by an apprehension of quite another kind. For instance, as we have seen, the announcement in 1832 that Biela's Comet, then visible, would cut through the orbit of the earth on a certain date threw many persons into a veritable panic. They did not stop to find out the real facts of the case, namely, that, at the time mentioned, the earth would be nearly a month's journey from the point indicated!

It is, indeed, very difficult to say what form of damage the earth would suffer from such a collision. In 1861 it passed, as we have seen, through the tail of the comet without any noticeable result. But the head of a comet, on the other hand, may, for aught we know, contain within it elements of peril for us. A collision with this part might, for instance, result in a violent bombardment of meteors. But these meteors could not be bodies of any great size, for the masses of comets are so very minute that one can hardly suppose them to contain any large or dense constituent portions.

The danger, however, from a comet's head might after all be a danger to our atmosphere. It might precipitate, into the air, gases which would asphyxiate us or cause a general conflagration. It is scarcely necessary to point out that dire results would follow upon any interference with the balance of our atmosphere. For instance, the well-known French astronomer, M. Camille Flammarion,[39] has imagined the absorption of the nitrogen of the air in this way; and has gone on to picture men and animals reduced to breathing only oxygen, first becoming excited, then mad, and finally ending in a perfect saturnalia of delirium.

Lastly, though we have no proof that stars eventually become dark and cold, for human time has so far been all too short to give us even the smallest evidence as to whether heat and light are diminishing in our own sun, yet it seems natural to suppose that such bodies must at last cease their functions, like everything else which we know of. We may, therefore, reasonably presume that there are dark bodies scattered in the depths of space. We have, indeed, a suspicion of at least one, though perhaps it partakes rather of a planetary nature, namely, that "dark" body which continually eclipses Algol, and so causes the temporary diminution of its light. As the sun rushes towards the constellation of Lyra such an extinguished sun may chance to find itself in his path; just as a derelict hulk may loom up out of the darkness right beneath the bows of a vessel sailing the great ocean.

Unfortunately a collision between the sun and a body of this kind could not occur with such merciful suddenness. A tedious warning of its approach would be given from that region of the heavens whither our system is known to be tending. As the dark object would become visible only when sufficiently near our sun to be in some degree illuminated by his rays, it might run the chance at first of being mistaken for a new planet. If such a body were as large, for instance, as our own sun, it should, according to Mr. Gore's calculations, reveal itself to the telescope some fifteen years before the great catastrophe. Steadily its disc would appear to enlarge, so that, about nine years after its discovery, it would become visible to the naked eye. At length the doomed inhabitants of the earth, paralysed with terror, would see their relentless enemy shining like a second moon in the northern skies. Rapidly increasing in apparent size, as the gravitational attractions of the solar orb and of itself interacted more powerfully with diminishing distance, it would at last draw quickly in towards the sun and disappear in the glare.

It is impossible for us to conceive anything more terrible than these closing days, for no menace of catastrophe which we can picture could bear within it such a certainty of fulfilment. It appears, therefore, useless to speculate on the probable actions of men in their now terrestrial prison. Hope, which so far had buoyed them up in the direst calamities, would here have no place. Humanity, in the fulness of its strength, would await a wholesale execution from which there could be no chance at all of a reprieve. Observations of the approaching body would have enabled astronomers to calculate its path with great exactness, and to predict the instant and character of the impact. Eight minutes after the moment allotted for the collision the resulting tide of flame would surge across the earth's orbit, and our globe would quickly pass away in vapour.

And what then?

A nebula, no doubt; and after untold ages the formation possibly from it of a new system, rising phœnix-like from the vast crematorium and filling the place of the old one. A new central sun, perhaps, with its attendant retinue of planets and satellites. And teeming life, perchance, appearing once more in the fulness of time, when temperature in one or other of these bodies had fallen within certain limits, and other predisposing conditions had supervened.

INDEX

Achromatic telescope, 115, 116 Adams, 24, 236, 243 Aerial telescopes, 110, 111 Agathocles, Eclipse of, 85 Agrippa, Camillus, 44 Ahaz, dial of, 85 Air, 166 Airy, Sir G.B., 92 Al gûl, 307 Al Sufi, 284, 290, 296, 315 Alcor, 294 Alcyone, 284 Aldebaran, 103, 288, 290, 297 Algol, 307, 309–310, 312, 323, 347 Alpha, Centauri, 52–53, 280, 298–299, 304, 320 Alpha Crucis, 298 Alps, Lunar, 200 Altair, 295 Altitude of objects in sky, 196 Aluminium, 145 Amos viii. 9, 85 Anderson, T.D., 311–312 Andromeda (constellation), 279, 314; Great Nebula in, 314, 316 Andromedid meteors, 272 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 87–88 Anighito meteorite, 277 Annular eclipse, 65–68, 80, 92, 99 Annular Nebula in Lyra, 315–316 Annulus, 68 Ansæ, 242–243 Anticipation in discovery, 236–237 Apennines, Lunar, 200 Aphelion, 274 Apparent enlargement of celestial objects, 192–196 Apparent size of celestial objects deceptive, 196, 294 Apparent sizes of sun and moon, variations in, 67, 80, 178 Aquila (constellation), 295 Arabian astronomers, 107, 307 Arago, 92, 257 Arc, degrees minutes and seconds of, 60 Arcturus, 280, 282, 290, 295 Argelander, 290 Argo (constellation), 298 Aristarchus of Samos, 171 Aristarchus (lunar crater), 205 Aristophanes, 101 Aristotle, 161, 173, 185 Arrhenius 222, 253–254 Assyrian tablet, 84 Asteroidal zone, analogy of, to Saturn's rings, 238 Asteroids (or minor planets), 30–31, 225–228, 336; discovery of the, 23, 244; Wolf's method of discovering, 226–227 Astrology, 56 Astronomical Essays, 63, 337 Astronomical Society, Royal, 144 Astronomy, Manual of, 166 Atlantic Ocean, parallelism of opposite shores, 340–341 Atlas, the Titan, 18 Atmosphere, absorption by earth's, 129–130; ascertainment of, by spectroscope, 124–125, 212; height of earth's, 167, 267; of asteroids, 226; of earth, 129, 130, 166–169, 218, 222, 267, 346; of Mars, 156, 212, 216; of Mercury, 156; of moon, 70–71, 156, 201–203; of Jupiter, 231; of planets, 125; of Saturn's rings, 239 "Atmosphere" of the stars, 331 Atmospheric layer and "glass-house" compared, 167, 203 August Meteors (Perseids), 270 Auriga (constellation), 294–296, 306, 311; New Star in, 311 Aurigæ, β (Beta), 294, 297, 304 Aurora Borealis, 141, 143, 259 Australia, suggested origin of, 340 Axis, 29–30; of earth, 163, 180; small movement of earth's, 180–181 Babylonian tablet, 84 Babylonian idea of the moon, 185 Bacon, Roger, 108 Bacubirito meteorite, 277 Bagdad, 107 Baily, Francis, 92 "Baily's Beads," 69, 70, 91–92, 154 Bailly (lunar crater), 199 Ball, Sir Robert, 271 Barnard, E.E., 31, 224, 232–234, 237, 258 "Bay of Rainbows," 197 Bayer's classification of stars, 289, 291–292 Bayeux Tapestry, 263 Bear, Great (constellation). See Ursa Major; Little, see Ursa Minor Beehive (Præsepe), 307 Beer, 206 Belopolsky, 304 "Belt" of Orion, 297 Belt theory of Milky Way, 321 Belts of Jupiter, 230 Bergstrand, 314 Berlin star chart, 244 Bessel, 173, 280, 305 Beta (β) Lyræ, 307 Beta (β) Persei. See Algol Betelgeux, 297 Bible, eclipses in, 85 Biela's Comet, 256–257, 272–273, 345 Bielids, 270, 272–273 Billion, 51–52 Binary stars, spectroscopic, 301–306, 309; visual, 300, 303–306 "Black Drop," 152–154 "Black Hour," 89 "Black Saturday," 89 Blood, moon in eclipse like, 102 Blue (rays of light), 121, 130 Bode's Law, 22–23, 244–245 Bolometer, 127 Bond, G.P., 236, 257 Bonpland, 270 Boötes (constellation), 295, 314 Bradley, 111 Brahe, Tycho, 290, 311 Brédikhine's theory of comets' tails, 253–254, 256 Bright eclipses of moon, 65, 102 British Association for the Advancement of Science, 318 British Astronomical Association, Journal of, 194 British Museum, 84 Bull (constellation). See Taurus; "Eye" of the, 297; "Head" of the, 297 Burgos, 98 Busch, 93 Cæsar, Julius, 85, 110, 180, 259, 262, 291, 293 Calcium, 138, 145 Callisto, 233–234 Cambridge, 24, 91, 119, 243 Campbell, 305 Canali, 214 "Canals" of Mars, 214–222, 224–225 Cancer (constellation), 307 Canes Venatici (constellation), 306, 314 Canis Major (constellation), 289, 296–297; Minor, 296–297 Canopus, 285, 298–299, 320 Capella, 280, 282, 290, 294, 297, 303, 313 Carbon, 145 Carbon dioxide. See Carbonic acid gas Carbonic acid gas, 166, 213, 221–222 Carnegie Institution, Solar Observatory of, 118 Cassegrainian telescope, 114, 118 Cassini, J.D., 236, 240 "Cassini's Division" in Saturn's ring, 236, 238 Cassiopeia (constellation), 279, 294, 311, 314 Cassiopeiæ, η (Eta), 303 Cassiopeia's Chair, 294 Cassius, Dion, 86 Castor, 282, 297, 304 Catalogues of stars, 106, 290–291, 311 Centaur. See Centaurus Centaurus (constellation), 298, 306 Centre of gravity, 42, 283–284, 324 Ceres, diameter of, 30, 225 Ceti, Omicron (or Mira), 307–308 Cetus, or the Whale (constellation), 307 Chaldean astronomers, 74, 76 Challis, 243–244 Chamberlin, 337 "Chambers of the South," 299 Chandler, 308 Charles V., 261 "Charles' Wain," 291 Chemical rays, 127 Chinese and eclipses, 83 Chloride of sodium, 122 Chlorine, 122, 145 Christ, Birth of, 102 Christian Era, first recorded solar eclipse in, 85 Chromatic aberration, 110 Chromosphere, 71–72, 93–94, 130–132, 138–139 Circle, 171–173 Clark, Alvan, & Sons, 117–118, 303 Claudius, Emperor, 86 Clavius (lunar crater), 199 Clerk Maxwell, 237 "Clouds" (of Aristophanes), 101 Clustering power, 325 Clusters of stars, 300, 306, 314, 328 Coal Sacks. See Holes in Milky Way Cœlostat, 119 Coggia's Comet, 254 Colour, production of, in telescopes, 109–111, 115, 121 Collision of comet with earth, 345–346; of dark star with sun, 346–348; of stars, 285, 312 Columbus, 103 Coma Berenices (constellation), 307, 316 Comet, first discovery of by photography, 258; first orbit calculated, 255; first photograph of, 257–258; furthest distance seen, 258; passage of among satellites of Jupiter, 250; passage of earth and moon through tail of, 257, 346 Comet of 1000 A.D., 262; 1066, 262–264; 1680, 255, 265; 1811, 254–255; 1861, 254, 257, 346; 1881, 257–258; 1882, 251, 258, 291; 1889, 258; 1907, 258 Comets, 27–28, 58, Chaps. XIX. and XX., 345–346; ancient view of, 259–261; captured, 251–253; Chinese records of, 83–84; composition of, 252; contrasted with planets, 247; families of, 251–252, 256; meteor swarms and, 274; revealed by solar eclipses, 95–96; tails of, 141, 182, 248, 252–254 Common, telescopes of Dr. A.A., 118 Conjunction, 209 Constellations, 105, 278–279, 285, 289 Contraction theory of sun's heat, 128–129, 335 Cook, Captain, 154 Cooke, 118 Copernican system, 20, 107, 149, 170–173, 279, 280 Copernicus, 20, 108, 149, 158, 170–172, 236 Copernicus (lunar crater), 200, 204 Copper, 145 Corder, H., 144 Corona, 70–72, 90, 92–97, 132, 140–141, 270; earliest drawing of, 91; earliest employment of term, 90; earliest mention of, 86; earliest photograph of, 93; illumination given by, 71; possible change in shape of during eclipse, 96–98; structure of, 142–143; variations in shape of, 141 Corona Borealis (constellation), 295 Coronal matter, 142; streamers, 95–96, 141–143 Coronium, 133, 142, 317 Cotes, 91 Coudé, equatorial, 119 Cowell, P.H., 255, 264 Crabtree, 152 Crape ring of Saturn, 236–237 Craterlets on Mars, 220 Craters (ring-mountains) on moon, 197–205, 214, 340; suggested origin of, 203–204, 214 Crawford, Earl of, 94 Crecy, supposed eclipse at battle of, 88–89 Crescent moon, 183, 185 Crommelin, A.C.D., 255, 264 Crossley Reflector, 118, 315–316 Crown glass, 115 Crucifixion, darkness of, 86 Crucis, α (Alpha), 298 Crux, or "Southern Cross" (constellation), 298–299, 323 Cycle, sunspot, 136–137, 141, 143–144 Cygni, 61, 173, 280 Cygnus, or the Swan (constellation), 295, 325 Daniel's Comet of 1897, 258 Danzig, 111 Dark Ages, 102, 107, 260 Dark eclipses of moon, 65, 102–103 Dark matter in space, 323 Dark meteors, 275–276 Dark stars, 309–310, 312, 323, 346–347 "Darkness behind the stars," 325 Darwin, Sir G.H., 339 Davis, 94 Dawes, 236 Dearborn Observatory, 303 Death from fright at eclipse, 73 Debonnaire, Louis le, 88, 261 Deimos, 223 Deity, symbol of the, 87 "Demon star." See Algol Denebola, 296 Denning, W.F., 269 Densities of sun and planets, 39 Density, 38 Deslandres, 140 Diameters of sun and planets, 31 Disappearance of moon in lunar eclipse, 65, 102–103 Disc, 60 "Disc" theory. See "Grindstone" theory Discoveries, independent, 236 Discovery, anticipation in, 236–237; indirect methods of, 120 "Dipper," the, 291; the "Little," 294 Distance of a celestial body, how ascertained, 56–58; of sun from earth, how determined, 151, 211 Distances of planets from sun, 47 Distances of sun and moon, relative, 68 Dog, the Greater. See Canis Major; the Lesser, see Canis Minor "Dog Star," 289, 297 Dollond, John, 115–116 Donati's Comet, 254, 257 Doppler's method, 125, 136, 282, 301–302 Dorpat, 117 Double canals of Mars, 214–215, 218–220 Double planet, earth and moon a, 189 Double stars, 300 Douglass, 233 "Dreams, Lake of," 197 Dumb-bell Nebula, 316 Earth, 20, 22, 31, 39, 48, 64, Chap. XV., 267; cooling of, 343; diameter of, 31; interior of, 166; mean distance of from sun, 47; rigidity of, 181; rotation of, 30, 33, 161–165, 170; shape of, 165; "tail" to, 182 "Earthlight," or "Earthshine," 186 Earth's axis, Precessional movement of, 175–177, 295, 298–299 Earth's shadow, circular shape of, 64, 160 Eclipse, 61 Eclipse knowledge, delay of, 74 Eclipse party, work of, 73 Eclipse of sun, advance of shadow in total, 69; animal and plant life during, 71; earliest record of total, 84; description of total, 69–73; duration of total, 69, 72; importance of total, 68 Eclipses, ascertainment of dates of past, 74; experience a necessity in solar, 73–74; of moon, 63–65, Chap. IX., 203; photography in, 93; prediction of future, 74; recurrence of, 74–80 Eclipses of sun, 25, 65–74, Chap. VIII., 201–202, 234; 1612 A.D., 90; 1715, 88, 91; 1724, 88, 91; 1836, 92; 1842, 92–93; 1851, 81, 93; 1868, 93; 1870, 94; 1871, 94; 1878, 95; 1882, 95; 1883, 95–96; 1893, 95–96; 1896, 96, 99; 1898, 96, 98; 1900, 97; 1905, 75–76, 80–81, 97–98; 1907, 98; 1908, 98; 1914, 99; 1927, 92, 99–100 Eclipses, Past and Future, 340 Egenitis, 272 Electric furnace, 128 Electric light, spectrum of, 122 Elements composing sun, 144–145 Ellipses, 32, 66, 172–173, 177–178 Elliptic orbit, 66, 177 Ellipticity, 32 Elongation, Eastern, 147, 149; Western, 147, 149 Encke's Comet, 253, 256 "End of the World," 342 England, solar eclipses visible in, 87–88, 91–92 Epsilon, (ε) Lyræ, 302 Equator, 48 Equatorial telescope, 226 Equinoxes. See Precession of Eros, 210–211, 223, 226–227; discovery of, 24, 210, 227; importance of, 211; orbit of, 32, 37, 210, 336 Eruptive prominences, 139 Esclistre, 89 Ether, 322–323, 331–332 Europa, 233, 235 Evans, J.E., 219 Evening star, 149–150, 241 Everest, Mount, 200 Evershed, 182 Eye-piece, 110 Fabricius, 307 Faculæ, 136, 143 Fauth, 205 Faye, 335 Fin du Monde, 346 First quarter, 183 "Fixed stars," 280 Flagstaff, 215–216, 220 Flammarion, Camille, 346 Flamsteed, 90 "Flash spectrum," 137 "Flat," 112 Flint glass, 115 Focus, 66, 177 "Forty-foot Telescope," 115 Foster, 102 Fraunhofer, 117 French Academy of Sciences, 115 Froissart, 89 "Full moon" of Laplace, 190 Galaxy. See Milky Way. Galilean telescope, 109 Galileo, 55, 109, 172, 197, 206, 232–235, 242 Galle, 24, 211, 244 Ganymede, 233–234 Gas light, spectrum of, 122 Gegenschein, 181–182 "Gem" of meteor ring, 271 Gemini, or the Twins (constellation), 22, 296–297 Geminorum, ζ (Zeta), 304 Geometrical groupings of stars, 292 "Giant" planet, 230, 238–239 Gibbous, 183, 185 Gill, Sir David, 211, 258, 291, 317–318 Gold, 145 Goodricke, 307 Gore, J.E., 63, 285, 303, 307–308, 310, 323–324, 331, 337, 347 Granulated structure of photosphere, 134 Gravitation (or gravity), 39, 41–45, 128, 306 Greek ideas, 18, 158, 161–162, 171, 186, 197 Green (rays of light), 121 Greenwich Observatory, 143–144, 232, 255, 303 Gregorian telescope, 113–114 Grimaldi (lunar crater), 199 "Grindstone" theory, 319–322 "Groombridge, 1830," 281–282, 326, 330 Groups of stars, 306–307 Grubb, Sir Howard, 118 Gulliver's Travels, 224 Hale, G.E., 119, 140 Half moon, 183, 185 Hall, Asaph, 223 Hall, Chester Moor, 115 Halley, Edmund, 91, 255, 264–265, 306 Halley's Comet, 255, 264–265 Haraden Hill, 91 Harvard, 118, 302 Harvest moon, 190–192 Hawaii, 221 Heat rays, 127 Heidelberg, 226, 232 Height of lunar mountains, how determined, 201 Height of objects in sky, estimation of, 196 Helium, 138, 145, 182 Helmholtz, 128, 335 Hercules (constellation), 295 Herod the Great, 101–102 Herodotus, 84 Herschel, A.S., 269 Herschel, Sir John, 92, 322 Herschel, Sir William, 22, 36, 114–115, 204, 213, 235, 283, 292, 308, 319–320, 326–328 Herschelian telescope, 114, 119 Hesper, 109 Hesperus, 150 Hevelius, 111 Hezekiah, 85 Hi, 83 Hindoos, 18 Hipparchus, 106, 177, 290, 311 Ho, 83 Holes in Milky Way, 321–323 Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 213 Homer, 223 Horace, Odes of, 106 Horizon, 159 Horizontal eclipse, 169 Horrox, 44, 151–152 Hour Glass Sea, 212 Huggins, Sir William, 94, 125, 317 Humboldt, 270 "Hunter's moon," 192 Huyghens, 111–112, 240, 242v243 Hyades, 296–297, 307 Hydrocarbon gas, 254 Hydrogen, 94, 131, 138, 140, 144, 156, 182, 254 Ibrahim ben Ahmed, 270 Ice-layer theory: Mars, 219; moon, 205, 219 Illusion theory of Martian canals, 219 Imbrium, Mare, 197 Inclination of orbits, 36–37 Indigo (rays of light), 121 Inferior conjunction, 147, 149 Inferior planets, 20, 22, Chap. XIV., 229 Instruments, pre-telescopic, 106–107, 172 International photographic survey of sky, 290–291 Intra-Mercurial planet, 25–26 Introduction to Astronomy, 31 Inverted view in astronomical telescope, 116–117 Io, 233–234 Iridum, Sinus, 197 Iron, 145, 254 Is Mars Habitable? 221 Jansen, 108 Janssen, 94, 236, 258 Japetus, 240 Jessenius, 89 Job, Book of, 299 Johnson, S.J., 103, 340 Josephus, 101, 262 Juno, 225 Jupiter, 20, 22–23, 31, 34, 37, 42, 227–228, 230–236, 241, 272, 311; comet family of, 251–253, 256; discovery of eighth satellite, 26, 232; eclipse of, by satellite, 234; without satellites, 234–235 Jupiter, satellites of, 26, 62, 108, 189, 232–235; their eclipses, 234–235; their occultations, 62, 234; their transits, 62, 234 Kant, 334 Kapteyn, 284, 313 Keeler, 315, 337 Kelvin, Lord, 129 Kepler, 44, 152, 172, 237, 242, 245, 253, 311 Kinetic theory, 156, 202, 212, 226, 231, 239, 336 King, L.W., 84 Knowledge, 87 Labrador, 97 Lacus Somniorum, 197 "Lake of Dreams," 197 Lalande, 244, 283 Lampland, 215, 219 Langley, 95, 127 Laplace, 190, 333 Laputa, 224 Le Maire, 115 Le Verrier, 24, 236, 243–244, 275 Lead, 145 Leibnitz Mountains (lunar), 200 Leo (constellation), 270, 295–296 Leonids, 270–272, 274–275 Lescarbault, 25 Lewis, T., 303 Lexell's Comet, 250 Lick Observatory, 31, 98, 117–118, 215, 232, 303, 305, 315; Great Telescope of, 117, 215, 237 "Life" of an eclipse of the moon, 80; of the sun, 77–78 Life on Mars, Lowell's views, 217–218; Pickering's, 221; Wallace's, 221–223 Light, no extinction of, 322–324; rays of, 127; velocity of, 52, 235–236; white, 121 "Light year," 53, 280 Lindsay, Lord, 94 Linné (lunar crater), 205 Liouville, 190 Lippershey, 108 Liquid-filled lenses, 116 Locksley Hall, 296; Sixty Years After, 109 Lockyer, Sir Norman, 73, 94, 236, 335 Loewy, 119, 206 London, eclipses visible at, 87–88, 91–92 Longfellow, 88 Lowell Observatory, 215, 219, 233–234 Lowell, Percival, 155, 212–213, 215–221 Lucifer, 150 Lynn, W.T., 219, 263 Lyra (constellation), 177, 283, 294–295, 307, 315, 347 Mädler, 206, 284 Magellanic Clouds, 317 Magnetism, disturbances of terrestrial, 143, 283 Magnitudes of stars, 287–289 Major planets, 229–230 "Man in the Moon," 197 Manual of Astronomy, 166 Maps of the moon, 206 Mare Imbrium, 197 Mare Serenitatis, 205 Mars, 20, 22–23, 31–32, 34, 37, 109, 155, 210–225, 234; compared with earth and moon, 221, 225; polar caps of, 212–214, 216; satellites of, 26, 223–224; temperature of, 213, 216, 221–222 Mass, 38; of a star, how determined, 305 Masses of celestial bodies, how ascertained, 42; of earth and moon compared, 42; of sun and planets compared, 39 Maunder, E.W., 87, 143, 219 Maunder, Mrs., E.W., 96, 144 Maxwell, Clerk, 237 Mayer, Tobias, 206, 283 McClean, F.K., 98 Mean distance, 46 "Medicean Stars," 232 Mediterranean, eclipse tracks across, 94, 97 Melbourne telescope, 118 Melotte, P., 232 Mercator's Projection, 80–81 Mercury (the metal), 145 Mercury (the planet), 20, 22, 25–26, 31–32, 34, 37, Chap. XIV.; markings on, 156; possible planets within orbit of, 25–26; transit of, 62, 151, 154 Metals in sun, 145 Meteor swarms, 268–269, 271, 274–275 Meteors, 28, 56, 167, 259, Chap. XXI. Meteors beyond earth's atmosphere, 275–276 Meteorites, 276–277 Meteoritic Hypothesis, 335 Metius, Jacob, 108 Michell, 283, 305 Middle Ages, 102, 260, 264 Middleburgh, 108 Milky Way (or Galaxy), 285, 299, 311, 317, 319–327; penetration of, by photography, 325 Million, 47, 51–52 Minor planets. See Asteroids. Mira Ceti, 307–308 "Mirk Monday," 89 Mirror (speculum), 111, 116 Mizar, 294, 302 Monck, W.H.S., 275 Mongol Emperors of India, 107 Moon, 26, Chap. XVI.; appearance of, in lunar eclipse, 65, 102–103; diameter of, 189; distance of, how ascertained, 58; distance of, from earth, 48; full, 63, 86, 149, 184, 189, 190, 206; mass of, 200, 202; mountains on, 197–205; how their height is determined, 201; movement of, 40–42; new, 86, 149, 183, 185; origin of, 339–341; plane of orbit of, 63; possible changes on, 204–205, 221; "seas" of, 197, 206; smallest detail visible on, 207; volume of, 200 Morning star, 149–150, 241 Moulton, F.R., 31, 118, 128, 302, 335, 337 Moye, 154 Multiple stars, 300 Musa-ben-Shakir, 44 Mythology, 105 Neap-tides, 179 Nebulæ, 314–318, 328, 335, 345; evolution of stars from, 317–318 Nebular Hypothesis of Laplace, 333–338 Nebular hypotheses, Chap. XXVII. Nebulium, 317 Neison, 206 Neptune, 20, 25, 31, 34, 37, 243–246, 249, 252, 274, 304; discovery of, 23–24, 94, 210, 236, 243–244; Lalande and, 244; possible planets beyond, 25, 252; satellite of, 26, 245; "year" in, 35–36 "New" (or temporary), stars, 310–314 Newcomb, Simon, 181, 267, 281, 324, 326–327, 329 Newton, Sir Isaac, 40, 44, 91, 111–113, 115, 165, 172, 237, 255 Newtonian telescope, 112, 114, 116, 119 Nineveh Eclipse, 84–85 Nitrogen, 145, 156, 166, 346 Northern Crown, 295 Nova Aurigæ, 311 Nova Persei, 312–314 Novæ. See New (or temporary) stars Nubeculæ, 317 "Oases" of Mars, 216, 220 Object-glass, 109 Oblate spheroid, 165 Occultation, 61–62, 202, 296 Olaf, Saga of King, 88 Olbers, 227, 253, 256, 271 "Old moon in new moon's arms," 185 Olmsted, 271 Omicron (or "Mira") Ceti, 307–308 Opposition, 209 "Optick tube," 108–109, 232 Orange (rays of light), 121 Orbit of moon, plane of, 63 Orbits, 32, 36–37, 66, 150, 157 Oriental astronomy, 107 Orion (constellation), 195, 279, 296–297, 316; Great Nebula in, 316, 328 Oxford, 139 Oxygen, 145, 156, 166, 346 Pacific Ocean, origin of moon in, 339 Palitzch, 255 Pallas, 225, 227 Parallax, 57, 173, 280, 305, 320, 326 Paré, Ambrose, 264–265 Peal, S.E., 205 Peary, 277 Pegasus (constellation), 306 Penumbra of sunspot, 135 Perennial full moon of Laplace, 190 Pericles, 84 Perrine, C.D., 232–233, 315 Perseids, 270, 273–275 Perseus (constellation), 273, 279, 307, 312 Phases of an inferior planet, 149, 160; of the moon, 149, 160, 183–185 Phlegon, Eclipse of, 85–86 Phobos, 223 Phœbe, retrograde motion of, 240, 250, 336 Phosphorescent glow in sky, 323 Phosphorus (Venus), 150 Photographic survey of sky, international, 290–291 Photosphere, 130–131, 134 Piazzi, 23 Pickering, E.C., 302 Pickering, W.H., 199, 205–206, 220–221, 240, 339–341 Pictor, "runaway star" in constellation of, 281–282, 320, 330 Plane of orbit, 36, 150 Planetary nebulæ, 245, 315 Planetary and Stellar Studies, 331 Planetesimal hypothesis, 337–338 Planetoids. See Asteroids Planets, classification of, 229; contrasted with comets, 247; in Ptolemaic scheme, 171; relative distances of, from sun, 31–32 Plato (lunar crater), 198 Pleiades, 284, 296–297, 307 Pliny, 169, 260 Plough, 284, 291–296, 302 Plutarch, 86, 89, 169, 181 "Pointers," 292 Polaris. See Pole Star Pole of earth, Precessional movement of, 176–177, 295, 298–299 Pole Star, 33, 163, 177, 292–296, 300–301 Poles, 30, 163–164; of earth, speed of point at, 164 Pollux, 282, 297 Posidonius, 186 Powell, Sir George Baden, 96 Præsepe (the Beehive), 307 Precession of the Equinoxes, 177, 295, 298–299 Pre-telescopic notions, 55 Primaries, 26 Princess, The (Tennyson), 334 Princeton Observatory, 258 Prism, 121 Prismatic colours, 111, 121 Procyon, 284, 290, 297, 303 Prominences, Solar, 72, 93, 131, 139–140, 143; first observation of, with spectroscope, 94, 140, 236 Proper motions of stars, 126, 281–285, 326, 329–330 Ptolemæus (lunar crater), 198–199, 204 Ptolemaic idea, 319; system, 18, 19, 158, 171–172 Ptolemy, 18, 101, 171, 290, 296 Puiseux, P., 206 Pulkowa telescope, 117 Puppis, V., 310 Quiescent prominences, 139 Radcliffe Observer, 139 "Radiant," or radiant point, 269 Radiation from sun, 130, 134 Radium, 129, 138 Rainbow, 121 "Rainbows, Bay of," 197 Rambaut, A., 139 Ramsay, Sir William, 138 Rays (on moon), 204 Recurrence of eclipses, 74–80 Red (rays of light), 121, 125, 127, 130 Red Spot, the Great, 230 Reflecting telescope, 111–116; future of, 119 Reflector. See Reflecting telescope Refracting and reflecting telescopes contrasted, 118 Refracting telescope, 109–111, 115–117; limits to size of, 119–120 Refraction, 121, 168–169 Refractor, See Refracting telescope Regulus, 290, 296 Retrograde motion of Phœbe, 240, 250, 336 "Reversing Layer," 94, 130, 132, 137–138 Revival of learning, 107 Revolution, 30; of earth around sun, 170–173; periods of sun and planets, 35 Riccioli, 198 Rice-grain structure of photosphere, 134 Rigel, 285, 297 Rills (on moon), 204 Ring-mountains of moon. See Craters "Ring" nebulæ, 315, 337 "Ring with wings," 87 Rings of Saturn, 108, 236–239, 241–243, 334 Ritchey, G.W., 118 Roberts, A.W., 308, 310 Roberts, Isaac, 325 "Roche's limit," 238 Roemer, 235 Roman history, eclipses in, 85–86 Romulus, 85 Röntgen, 120 Rosse, great telescope of Lord, 117, 314 Rotation, 30; of earth, 33, 161–165, 170; of sun, 34, 125, 135–136, 231; periods of sun and planets, 35 Royal Society of London, 90–91, 111 Rubicon, Passage of the, 85 "Runaway" stars, 281, 326, 330 Sagittarius (constellation), 316 Salt, spectrum of table, 122 Samarcand, 107 "Saros," Chaldean, 76–78, 84 Satellites, 26–27, 37 Saturn, 20, 22, 34, 37, 108, 236–243, 258; comet family of, 252; a puzzle to the early telescope observers, 241–243; retrograde motion of satellite Phœbe, 240, 250, 336; ring system of, 241; satellites of, 36, 239–240; shadows of planet on rings and of rings on planet, 237 Schaeberle, 95–96, 303, 316 Schiaparelli, 155, 214, 223 Schickhard (lunar crater), 199 Schmidt, 206 Schönfeld, 290 Schuster, 95 Schwabe, 136 Scotland, solar eclipses visible in, 89–90, 92 Sea of Serenity, 205 "Sea of Showers," 197 "Seas" of moon, 197, 206 Seasons on earth, 174–175; on Mars, 211 Secondary bodies, 26 Seneca, 95, 260 Septentriones, 291 Serenitatis, Mare, 205 "Seven Stars," 291 "Shadow Bands," 69 Shadow of earth, circular shape of, 62–64 Shadows on moon, inky blackness of, 202 Shakespeare, 259, 293 Sheepshanks Telescope, 119 "Shining fluid" of Sir W. Herschel, 328 "Shooting Stars." See Meteors Short (of Edinburgh), 114 "Showers, Sea of," 197 Sickle of Leo, 270–271, 296 Siderostat, 118 Silver, 145 Silvered mirrors for reflecting telescopes, 116 Sinus Iridum, 197 Sirius, 280, 282, 284–285, 288–290, 297, 303–304, 320; companion of, 303; stellar magnitude of, 289 Size of celestial bodies, how ascertained, 59 Skeleton telescopes, 110 Sky, international photographic survey of, 290–291; light of the, 323 Slipher, E.C., 213, 222 Smithsonian Institution of Washington, 98 Snow on Mars, 213 Sodium, 122, 124, 254 Sohag, 95 Solar system, 20–21, 29–31; centre of gravity of, 42; decay and death of, 344 Somniorum, Lacus, 197 Sound, 125, 166, 331 South pole of heavens, 163, 285, 298–299 Southern constellations, 298–299 Southern Cross. See Crux Space, 328 Spain, early astronomy in, 107; eclipse tracks across 93, 97–98 Spectroheliograph, 140 Spectroscope, 120, 122, 124–125, 144–145, 212, 231; prominences first observed with, 94, 140, 236 Spectrum of chromosphere, 132–133; of corona, 133; of photosphere, 132; of reversing layer, 132, 137; solar, 122–123, 127, 132 Speculum, 111, 116; metal, 112 Spherical bodies, 29 Spherical shape of earth, proofs of, 158–161 Spherical shapes of sun, planets, and satellites, 160 Spiral nebulæ, 314–316, 337–338 Spring balance, 166 Spring tides, 192 Spy-glass, 108 "Square of the distance," 43–44 Stannyan, Captain, 90 Star, mass of, how determined, 305; parallax of, first ascertained, 173, 280 Stars, the, 20, 124, 126, 278 et seq.; brightness of, 287, 320; distances between, 326–327; distances of some, 173, 280, 320; diminution of, below twelfth magnitude, 324; evolution of, from nebulæ, 317–318; faintest magnitude of, 288; number of those visible altogether, 324; number of those visible to naked eye, 288 "Steam cracks," 221 Steinheil, 118 Stellar system, estimated extent of, 325–327; an organised whole, 327; limited extent of, 322–328, 330; possible disintegration of, 329 Stiklastad, eclipse of, 88 Stone Age, 285 Stoney, G.J., 202, 222 Stonyhurst Observatory, 100 Story of the Heavens, 271 Streams of stars, Kapteyn's two, 284 Stroobant, 196 Stukeley, 91 Sulphur, 145 Summer, 175, 178 Sun, Chaps XII. and XIII.; as a star, 124, 278, 289; as seen from Neptune, 246, 304; chemical composition of, 144–145; distance of, how ascertained, 151, 211; equator of, 135–136, 139; gravitation at surface of, 129, 138–139; growing cold of, 343–344; mean distance of, from earth, 47, 211; motion of, through space, 282–286, 326; not a solid body, 136; poles of, 136; radiations from, 130; revolution of earth around, 170–173; stellar magnitude of, 288–289; variation in distance of, 66, 178 Sunspots, 34, 125, 134–137, 140–141, 143–144, 308; influence of earth on, 144 Suns and possible systems, 50, 286 Superior conjunction, 147–149 Superior planets, 22, 146, 209–210, 229 Swan (constellation). See Cygnus Swift, Dean, 224 "Sword" of Orion, 297, 316 Syrtis Major. See Hour Glass Sea "Systematic Parallax," 326 Systems, other possible, 50, 286 Tails of comets, 182 Tamerlane, 107 Taurus (constellation), 103, 296–297, 307 "Tears of St. Lawrence," 273 Tebbutt's Comet, 257–258 Telescope, 33, 55, 107–108, 149; first eclipse of moon seen through, 104; of sun, 90 Telescopes, direct view reflecting, 114; gigantic, 111; great constructors of, 117–118; great modern, 117–118 Tempel's Comet, 274 Temperature on moon, 203; of sun, 128 Temporary (or new) stars, 310–314 Tennyson, Lord, 109, 296, 334 Terrestrial planets, 229–230 Terrestrial telescope, 117 Thales, Eclipse of, 84 Themis, 240 "Tidal drag," 180, 188, 208, 344 Tide areas, 179–180 Tides, 178–180, 338–339 Time Machine, 344 Tin, 145 Titan, 240 Titius, 245 Total phase, 71–72 Totality, 72; track of, 66 Trail of a minor planet, 226–227 Transit, 62, 150–154; of Mercury, 62, 151, 154; of Venus, 62, 151–152, 154, 211 Trifid Nebula, 316 Triple stars, 300 Tubeless telescopes, 110–111, 243 Tubes used by ancients, 110 Tuttle's Comet, 274 Twilight, 167, 202 Twinkling of stars, 168 Twins (constellation). See Gemini Tycho Brahe, 290, 311 Tycho (lunar crater), 204 Ulugh Beigh, 107 Umbra of sunspot, 134–135 Universe, early ideas concerning, 17–18, 158, 177, 342 Universes, possibility of other, 330–331 Uranus, 22–24, 31, 210, 243, 245, 275; comet family of, 252; discovery of, 22, 210, 243; rotation period of 34, 245; satellites of, 26, 245; "year" in, 35–36 Ursa Major (constellation), 279, 281, 291, 295, 314; minor, 177, 279, 293–294 Ursæ Majoris, (ζ) Zeta. See Mizar Variable stars, 307–310 Variations in apparent sizes of sun and moon, 67, 80, 178 Vault, shape of the celestial, 194–196 Vega, 177, 278, 280, 282–283, 285, 290, 294, 302, 307, 323 Vegetation on Mars, 221, 217–218; on moon, 205 Venus, 20, 22, 31, 71, 90, 108–109, 111, Chap. XIV., 246, 311; rotation period of, 34, 155 Very, F.W., 314 Vesta, 225, 227 Violet (rays of light), 121–122, 125 Virgil, 19 Volcanic theory of lunar craters, 203–204, 214 Volume, 38 Volumes of sun and planets compared, 38–39 "Vulcan," 25 Wallace, A.R., on Mars, 220–223 Water, lack of, on moon, 201–202 Water vapour, 202, 213, 222 Wargentin, 103 Warner and Swasey Co., 117 Weather, moon and, 206–207 Weathering, 202 Webb, Rev. T.W., 204 Weight, 43, 165–166 Wells, H.G., 344 Whale (constellation). See Cetus Whewell, 190 Willamette meteorite, 277 Wilson, Mount, 118 Wilson, W.E., 313 "Winged circle" (or "disc"), 87 Winter, 175, 178 Witt, 227 Wolf, Max, 226–227, 232 Wright, Thomas, 319, 334 Wybord, 89 Xenophon, 101 Year, 35 "Year" in Uranus and Neptune, 35–36 Year, number of eclipses in a, 68 "Year of the Stars," 270 Yellow (rays of light), 121–122, 124 Yerkes Telescope Great, 117, 303 Young, 94, 137, 166 Zenith, 174 Zinc, 145 Zodiacal light, 181 Zone of asteroids, 30–31, 227

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