MR PROCTOR’S LECTURE.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2083, 27 October 1880, Page 3

MR PROCTOR’S LECTURE.

The second of the course of scientific lectures by Mr R. A. Proctor was delivered in the Oddfellows’ Hall last night, to a crowded house. As on the previous evening, the hall was packed, a number of ladies and gentlemen having to find accommodation on the stage. Mr Proctor was enabled to commence punctually, every seat being occupied before eight o’clock, and the audience were evidently on the “ tip-toe of expectation,” the subject being exceedingly interesting, namely, “ The Moon, our companion planet.” Before proceeding with his lecture, Mr Proctor said he found it necessary, as a first duty, to correct a statement he had made the evening previous in relation in his observation whilst passing over the Canterbury Plains in travelling from Timaru to Christchurch. He had spoken of the evidences presented by the shingle and stone that the land was at one period of time under water. Since then he had learned that large rounded masses of stone were found to a great depth far inland, and he was indebted to Dr. Ton Haast for what appeared to be the true explanation—namely, not that the country in question was formerly under the sea, but that the present geological formation was the result of _ large rivers proceeding from enormous glaciers and carrying down masses of rock, which by the action of the water assumed those rounded or subangular forms which they have observed. When at Timaru he observed that the same kind of stone bore evidence of having been differently affected by the sea, being flattened in shape, which went to sustain the theory suggested by Dr. von Haast. Having made this explanation, Mr Proctor opened the subject of that evening’s lecture, which he made exceedingly interesting and sufficiently clear to all. After briefly referring to the reference which had been made to the moon in his comparative description of several bodies in the solar system to illustrate the progress of planetary life, he proceeded to sketch the history of the moon, and to show it had progressed towards that condition in which it was altogether impossible that life could exist for even an hour. He commenced by informing his hearers of the distance of the moon from the earth and the extent of the moon’s surface, which is about a thirteenth part of the surface of the earth, being, roughly speaking, 140,000,000 of square miles, and the side presented to us, the only side ever seen from the world, being almost exactly equal to the surface of Australasia added to that of Europe. It was, therefore, clear that there was ample room in the moon for multitudes of creatures and for the development of the higher forms of life. He then pointed out that among other conditions the force of gravity was much less than on the earth, and the size of the men on the moon, supposing it to be peopled, would be very much greater [than those on the earth, with no less general activity; and here the lecturer drew a humorous sketch of the results that must follow such a state of things in respect to engineering and labor. But to pass from such speculations, he proceeded to consider the obstacles that existed to the presence of life in the companion planet, showing that, even supposing air and water to be there, other conditions existed altogether antagonistic to life such as the intensity of heat and cold experienced alternately by night and day. Then the seasons were very different to those on the earth. The moon’s day lasted no lees than twenty-nine and a half of our days, but there was not a very considerable difference between the length of the years in the respective planets. During the long lunar day the surface of the earth became intensely hot, and during the night the same extreme of cold was experienced. In this direction Sir William Herschel’s reasoning had been confirmed by experiments, it being proved that there was a difference of 500 degrees Fahrenheit between the cold of the lunar night and the heat of the lunar midday —a cold so intense that it would produce the same effect on animal life as boiling water. In speaking of the lengthening of the lunar days, Mr Proctor remarked that there were reasons for believing that the rotation of the earth was gradually becoming slower, and from the same cause which had checked the rotation of the moon, the effect of the tidal wave, which runs in a direction opposite to that in which the earth rotates ; so that they might look forward to a time when the earth’s days would be as long as the lunar ones now are. But the rate of change would be so slow that it would require tens of millions of years to bring it about. So that none of us need feel any alarm on the subject. [Laughter,] There were not wanting other proofs that the moon was indeed a planet in old age. [Here the lecturer quoted the figures of eminent geologists and astronomers touching the ago of the world and the moon.] A number of charts were exhibited on the screen, together with exceedingly beautiful photographs of the moon, on which the volcanoes of Copernicus, Tycho, Kepler, Plato, &0., were pointed out, with ocher interesting objects, illustrating what a vast amount of information has been discovered about the solar system by the aid of science. In particular, as an interesting fact that bore somewhat on a former portion of his discourse, he pointed out that certain peculiar radiating streaks on the moon’s surface—about which there had been much speculation and difference of opinion—were the result of subterranean forces breaking through the outer crust, receiving very little resistance from the outer force of gravity; and the lava thus poured along the cracks produced the surface, and presented the peculiar appearance observed when the moon was at the full. The lecturer touched upon many other points, and in conclusion, having reference to the fact that the universe was approaching the decay and desolation found in the moon, he said the thought would naturally suggest itself, was there no escape from this burden of universal death? Ho thought there was such an escape, if they learned aright the limit of their knowledge and their aptitude to err. We all knew how mistaken was the notion that the earth was the centre of the universe. Now, by the light of science wo know that this world was a mere point in the solar system, lost in the galaxy around us, and that galaxy itself lost in the infinity of space. 80, too, the history of this world was but as a second in that of the solar system, and the entire duration of the myriads of stars but a moment in eternity. Here, in fact, and wherever science brought them into the domain of the infinite that surrounds the

Great Unknown, here, the right words were not the words of science, but the words of the poet. He concluded by reciting some beautiful lines from Goethe, commencing “See all

things with each other blending-” This evening Mr Proctor will, by request, repeat the lecture entitled “ Life and death of a world.” A special train will leave for Lyttelton at 10.15.