LECTURE BY MR. POYNTON.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1571, 1 July 1916, Page 3

LECTURE BY MR. POYNTON.

On Friday morning, Mr Poynton, S.M., delivered a lecture to the children of the Foxton State school on the “Sun and Eclipses.” The first portion of the address dealt with the size of the sun and its composition. When it is remembered' that the sun’s diameter is over 800,000 miles, or more than 100 times that of the earth, and that its volume is more than a million times that of the earth, some idea may he grasped of the enormous bulk of our luminary. To put it realistically, a train travelling at the rate of 50 miles an hour would take 20 days to travel x’ound the earth; the same train would take 00 years to travel round the sun. Only the immense distance makes it appear so small. The sun is the source of all the different kinds of energy on our planet. For instance, there is enormous energy developed by the passage of the waters of the Kanawatu river through the Gorge—energy unfortunuately allowed to go to waste instead of being utilised to supply electric power to the district. Now this power is derived indirectly from the sun’s rays, which cause evaporation of the water of the ocean, which moisture is driven by the wind across the mountains. Here condensation takes place, and the stor-ed-up energy is dissipated in the return of the water to the sea. The energy which causes plants to grow and our bodies to be full of warmth and movement is all derived from the parent sun. The peoples of many parts of the Old World recognise the debt wo owe to the sun, and so there sprang into being sun-worship and tire-worship. In composition, the great star differs from our earth, being, not a solid body, but a mass of luminous gas. The outer envelope or photosphere, is in a. high state of incandescence, and it is from this that we derive our heat and light. At times enormous eruptions occur in the body of the sun, and the envelope is rent asunder, exposing great caverns of darker gas (-ailed sun-spots, which arc of tremendous size. Next month there will be two eclipses, one of the sun and one of the moon. An eclipse of the sun is caused by the passage of the moon or ot her planet between us and the sun, and an eclipse of the moon is caused by the shadow of the earth falling upon the moon. A solar eclipse caused by the transit of Mercury or Yeuus provides an excellent opportunity for measuring the distance from the earth to the sun. It may be of interest to New Zealanders to know that we owe the visit of Captain Cook to the colony partly to the fact that ho desired to view the transit of Mercury from our shores. Many interesting facts about eclipses wore dealt with by the lecturer, who recommended the children to prepare smoked glasses to see this remarkable phenomenon for themselves. At the close of his address Mr Poynton promised Ihree prizes for the best essays on the subjects dealt with. On behalf of the scholars, Mr .Jackson thanked Mr Poynton, and the children showed their approbation by hearty applause. The pupils should be very grateful for the interest, taken in their welfare by Air Poynton, who gives his time at no small inconvenience to himself.