THE CHAUTAUQUA

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 62, 6 December 1919, Page 13

THE CHAUTAUQUA

"ENERGIES OF THE UNIVERSE"

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Dr. Arthur D. Carpenter,, the astrono T uiical lecturer with tho. Chautauqua party,' spoke yesterday afternoon in a vitally l 'interesting way on"The Energies of tho Universe." The speaker is so continuously gripping: in his style and subject matter that one could but regret that the audience vtis not' larger. Of the gre.it energies of tha universe on which life in this planet depends, Dr. Carpenter, first dealt with light—the lijjht of the sun—illustrating what a mighty force it was by. referring to the radiometer, that interesting little instrument which consists of a bulb vacuum in which a tiny plate, of aluminium is delicately suspended. Place it in.a strong light ami the plate revolves bo rapidly that t'oo eye cannot• follow it; remove it to tho shade and it 'slows down immediately. Tkit wis-the effect of. light from the sun.' So mighty an energy was this that.it meant, a pressure of twenty tons to every two scjuaro feet '.of (lie mini's surface,mid to illustrate .'the staggering ."immensity of tho sun's'energy,' {lie ■ locliirers sawl that if all■ the coal contained'' in .our world were available ;likl could be lipped into -the. sun at once, it would only be. sufikioiit to keep the, sun going for one-tenth of- a second of t'.nio. Wo on earth .only' received, a iwo-billioneth part of the energy .of the sun, for it was radiating light an 3 heat in all directions, and for the benefit of tho whole.'of the 300,000,000, stars, or worlds in onr galaxy—radiating energy to tho bounds of eternity, one m:ght say, when,lost in the immensity of it all. Then what could he sa'd of Hego, of the Orion constellation, the energyoorf r which was 22,500 times gfeater than our sun. When wo saw a rat of light, or. light wave, .it should be known that it wti3 not merely a. ray of white light, for along, that beam came other influences or parts, for light was made of seven kinos of vibrations, and one saw that through tho medium of a prism, which showed that light held all the colours of the ra'nbow—the, spectrum. The lecturer pointed out how fvery object transmitted, absorbed, or reflected light.. Glass did all three. Human beings both absorbed and reflected light. If they did not do so thoy would not he able to see one another. That led along to everything having a dolour. Ho remembered being on the (same platform with William Jenning* Bryan, the great American commoner, who, in speaking of tho knowledge (or lack of it) of those things nearest us, asked the audience if they had over contemplated the mystery of tho red. cow which ate green grass and gave white milk. When Dr. Carpenter's turn came to speak he took up the point and explained tho matter. .The red cow was not really red. When light struck the cow's hide, the chemical constitution and atomic character of the hair was such that it-'ab-sorbed all colours except red—red was the colour it reflected and rejected, and Jhat is what was apparent to the eye. "Jn'tho cose of grass, it absorbed all the colours save green, which it repelled,'and so nude visible,'whilst milk would have nothing to do with the colours, and so remained white. So things were not always what they seemed. Take a beautiful red rose—and it is beautiful—and throw a yellow fight on to it, and im r mediately' the roso becomes black. From colour vibrations Dr. Carpenter pr.sjcd to tone vibrations, and sounding the lowest note on the piano, said that it probably had 100 vibrations to the second. They could-have extended the keyboard so as to tako a lowor scale still, until, a noto only gave 18 vibrations to this second. That was tho lowest note the ear could detect. There were, others, of course, which" comprised the infra-red rays • (which produced tho heat of tho world)', so there were sounds above the topmost note, unlil one reached a note comprised of 14,000 vibrations to tho second, above which the ear could not comprehend. But the higher notes wore tho violet and ultra-violet rays, which were so important to our being and essential to our welfare. It was tho ultra violet rays of the eun that ripened tho fruit and grain, caused the' blossoms to swell and burst, and which imprinted a warm tan on our skin in the summertime.

line-fly, the lecturordea.lt with the magnetic energy of the world—the influence of the magnetic poles, and the allowance that had to bo made in the compass owing to the magnetic poleyiiot being parallel to the ordinary poles—which every mariner know. Another wonderful energy, wag that, represented in wireless telegraphy and. telephony. A- short hundred years ago it would havo been considered a miracle to speak to a man 75 miles away without a. wire. To-day our wire-' IwY-'stations in' New. Zealand picked up shay mofsages from Seattle, Newport News, Sweden! It was no longer a mircle, because the laws controlling that energy wye known. Finally he spoko of the mental energy of the oilman being, which was such a living force in the world. Man was perfectly developed physically, by psychically he was a child. The menially acute blind man could toll when there was another per-so-i in the same ream as himself without hearing him. That was 'because each poison had an aura or personality that radiated energy to a . <7nore or less extent. TTc referred to psychic phenomena as to communication with those who had "I'opwv! "the irrcal: divide," and quoted Sir Oliver I/odge and James Hislop, a<: men, beyond all doubt, who had applied tho aeid teat, and who believed that communication with those "gone west" was possible, and that the dead did retain their indiv'tluality in the Beyond, and so ke hollered. He further contended..! that in the future psychic power would he developed in man to such an extent,' 1 that he will not only be able to make himself thought of l>y another in ran-, pwt with himself, but he would lie able' to deliver a message.

During the afternoon the Lvrie Four again entertained delightfully. The duartet'samr, in beautiful accord; "0 That W? Two Were Mnyine," "Cheatnuts," "Tpbolip- and tho • TY.clc," and "Obituaries." Mr. Herbert Hichard's exhibited a free brarng tenor in "The .Secret" and "An Old Fashioned Town"; Mr. John Tiyaii sang "Cobbling" and "Captain ftfnck," and Mr. Alan M'Elwain tickled the'audience, in "Tho 11.69 Express" and "0 Memory."

LAST EVENING'S ENTERTAINMENT The worth of the Chautauqua entertainments i<? becoming better known and appreciated, as. is reflected in the increasingly large audiences. : Last evening the Lyric Four were again the providers of the musical programme, and each item in their hour's entertainment was heartily appreciated. The quartet, which is oi'ie of th? best of its kind heard in Wellington sang, among other numbers. "The 'Long Day Closes," "Just to be Ainu? o' You," Tosti's "Good-bye," and "Bye, Baby By?'" Mr. John Byan sang "Father O'Flynn" in a richly humorous vein, and Mr. Herbert Ifiehards sang "A Castilinu Lament" and "1 Passed By Your Window." The humorist of the party, Mr. Alan M'Elwain, discoursed on love as it affected various national.* ties vocally, and %ave a number of clever imitations. The aceomnanimenta were played' by Mrs. Arthur Kipley.

ZEDWLER SYMPHONIC QUINTET TO-DAY. This afternoon the public may safely anticipate a treat (.at 3 p.m.) in the first appearance in 'Wellington of the Zodcler Symphonic Qui.nlet, which is to submit a very gend programme of high-class music. This quintet .is from Stockholm. Sweden, and oamen from A'."oyiea with an excellent repnlalion. Mis': Tfckn I'ortnne. =«prann. is associated with the':.-' lino iiuisirinits. In addition. Mr. Aubrey L. Yl'iHi'mis will fiivo a "l.'ilk"'' en "h>sr.i'j uiMler the Tsars." In the evenine in the lanre Town TTa!" the Zedeler Quintet will awin app"ar, and the latter half of thi- programme wiil 1)0 devoted to an address by Mr. jr. C- ]!ecd, an .Vlliericnn jniiHnlist. whose specialty is civics, a subject ho i 3 said to make powerfully interesting.