MR CLEMENT WRAGGE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 450, 20 February 1909, Page 3

MR CLEMENT WRAGGE.

“THE MAJESTY OF CREATION.”

A MOST FASCINATING SUBJECT.

HIGHLY INTERESTING LECTURE.

Mr Wragge had a good and appreciative audience at the Public Hall on Thursday evening, the occasion being his seceud visit to Foxton. Those who were present had the finest' scientific treat of their lives. Mr Wragge is so thoroughly at home in his favourite theme of astronomy and biology that although dealing with their most abtruse and unfamiliar features his ideas flow freely and in language which a child can understand. His pictures and photographs are certainly the finest ever shown in the southern world. The lecturer began his discourse on the majesty of creation by showing some delightful pictures of Nature’s handiwork, ranging from the glaciers of the Alps to the groves of Ceylon, and from thence by easy stages to the outside vvotlds and solar spheresThe minute and inner hidden world of life and movement was also graphically illustrated, for, said Mr Wragge, there were fascinating and marvellous depths ‘ ‘ in the wonderfully small as well as in the wonderfully great.” The colours of flowers, and butterflies, and birds, as well as those of the clouds and the rainbow, were but variants of one light process. They were all electrical and spectroscopic phenomena. Referring to decay and what appears to be death, he said there was no such thing as actual extinction —only change. As the caterpillar emerges finally into its butterfly stage of life, so the soul of man, through an imponderable and invisible worrd emerges into its own destined condition. Scientists were now beginning to realise that they stood so near to the invisible world that it was as

though only a plate of frosted glass stood in the way. Mr Wragge then went on to tell how suns are being brought into being, showing some very fine pictures of the nebulae in which suns were seen in all stages of evolution. At this point the lecturer’s well-known enthusiasm led him to remark that if he were

a minister of religion he would not waste time by .teaching his people about Og, the King of Bashan ; he would erect an observatory alongside his church, and music and teaching alike should lead to the adoration of the Great Being Who had planned and Who controls the vast creation. Mr Wragge here paid a well-timed tribute to the work of a New Zealand scientist Professor Bickerton, who had discovered the “Eawof Impact.” Thislawwas beautifully illustrated by a view of the elliptical nebula in Anbromed, the particles of which fulfilled respectively the functions of positive and negative poles. Referring to the goal to which our solar system is flying he said, our sun with all his attendant planets was travelling towards the constellation Hercules at the rate

of 153 million miles a year. The earth was an off-spring of the sun, having been flung off from that body some nine hundred millions of years ago. Some very superb views were shown to give the audience some idea of what the earth looked like from its birth and through its later stages. The cooling process had resulted in the formation of ridges and valleys, and the subsequent action of ice and water had gradually worn the surface into its present form.

The ice age, and how it came about, was beautifully explained as due to the fact that our earth’s position in relation to the sun was not a rigid one. Though now

moving elliptically, it has not always done so, and perhaps might not now continue to do so. “ When did man appear ?” Mr Wragge did not exactly answer the but referred to some very ancient traces of human life and skill. Views of the mysterious statues and inscriptions of Easter Island were shown. The statues are some five hundred in number. Each one of them bears the same scornful expression. The inscriptions on the rocks are beautifully executed, but no one can read them. They are, no doubt, older than any known language. The natives know absolutely nothing of them, nor of the origin of the statues. Mr Wragge’s opinion was that Easter Island is a remnant of a vast continent now submerged. Referring again to the sun, the lecturer exhibited some fine views of solar disturbance, or “spots.” One of these, he said, might

measure forty thousand miles , across. If our earth could fall

into such a rift, there would be an end to the Addington workshop business. But, seriously, these “spots” were storms —fire storms. The ethereal vibrations of these storms were identical with the operation of Marconi’s waves. Every particle and body thrown off by the sun retained this characteristic that it was still in sympathy with solar movements, and must pulsate with the vibrations of the parent body. These vibrations of ether were responsible for volcanic outbursts, bad seasons, tidal waves, and so on. He had told the Australians to expect another drought. It was beginning. Before 1913 they would Say, "Well, old Wragge was right after all.” The second part of Mr Wragge’s lecture consisted of a graphic description of various planets, and of possible planetary life. In conclusion, Mr Wragjge asked the old

question, “What is truth !” His reply was that man has the truth who recognises one great controlling Mind in all the wonders of creation. Throwing on the screen alternate views of myriads of suns, and a little baby, the lecture was brought to a close by the speaker asking his hearers, as they think of the awful depths of the universe, to be humble and truthful, even as a little child.