Worlds in the Making: The Evolution of the Universe |
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according appear astronomers atmos atmosphere auroras bright calculated carbon dioxide carbonic acid celestial bodies Cent central body centre charged chemical clouds collision comets compounds condensed cooling corona cosmical dust crater crust density diameter distance districts dust particles earth earthquakes ejected electric energy eruption estimate faculæ fissures force formed further gaseous gases gramme gravity greater helium higher hydrogen hydrogen lines increase infinite space interior iron Jupiter kilometres Krakatoa lava light intensity lines luminous magma magnetic magnitude mass of gas matter metallic meteorites miles million molecules moon nebula neighborhood nitrogen observed orbit organisms outer portions owing oxygen panspermia perature percentage of carbonic period phenomena phere photosphere planets polar lights poles probably radiation pressure rays rings rotation smaller so-called solar dust solar system spectra spectrum spherules spiral spores spots strata streamers streams sun-spot surface terrestrial tion velocity Vesuvius violent volcanoes water vapor Yerkes Observatory Zodiacal Light
Popular passages
Page 216 - A very ancient speculation, still clung to by many naturalists (so much so that I have a choice of modern terms to quote in expressing it) supposes that, under meteorological conditions very different from the present, dead matter may have run together or crystallized or fermented into " germs of life," or "organic cells,
Page 216 - Careful enough scrutiny has, in every case up to the present day, discovered life as antecedent to life. Dead matter cannot become living without coming under the influence of matter previously alive. This seems to me as sure a teaching of science as the law of gravitation.
Page 213 - Species tot sunt, quot diversas formas ab initio produxit Infinitum Ens, quae deinde formae secundum generationis inditas leges produxere plures, at sibi semper similes, ut species nunc nobis non sint plures quam fuerunt ab initio.
Page 219 - ... plants and animals would undoubtedly be scattered through space. Hence, and because we all confidently believe that there are at present, and have been from time immemorial, many worlds of life besides our own, we must regard it as probable in the highest degree that there are countless seed-bearing meteoric stones moving about through space. If at the present instant no life existed upon this earth, one such stone falling upon it might, by what we blindly call natural causes, lead to its becoming...
Page 218 - ... the Atlantic for thousands of years with immunity from collisions. When two great masses come into collision in space, it is certain that a large part of each is melted ; but it seems also quite certain that, in many cases, a large quantity of debris must be shot forth in all directions, much of which may have experienced no greater violence than individual pieces of rocks experience in a landslip or in blasting by gunpowder.
Page 218 - When two great masses come into collision in space it is certain that a large part of each is melted ; but it seems also quite certain that in many cases a large quantity of debris must be shot forth in all directions, much of which may have experienced no greater violence than individual pieces of rock experience in a land-slip or in blasting by gunpowder.
Page 219 - Should the time when this earth comes into collision with another body, comparable in dimensions to itself, be when it is still clothed as at present with vegetation, many great and small fragments carrying seed and living plants and animals would undoubtedly be scattered through space. Hence and because we all confidently believe that there are at present, and have been from time immemorial, many worlds of life besides our own, we must regard it as probable in the highest degree that there arc countless...
Page 187 - ... temperatures than their underlying strata, or very extensive simple atmospheres, seem to be demanded. The former condition, on the large scale required, involves some difficulties, and mildly suggests the possibility that external influences may be acting upon the radiating strata of bright-line stars. The assignment of the foregoing types to an early place in stellar life was first made upon the evidence of the spectroscope. The photographic discovery of nebulous masses in the regions of a large...
Page 221 - Are there any living seeds of such extraordinary minuteness ? The reply of the botanist is that spores of many bacteria have a size of 0.0003 or 0.0002 mm., and there are no doubt much smaller germs which microscopes fail to disclose. "We will, in the first instance, make a rough calculation of what would happen if such an organism were detached from the earth and pushed out into space by the radiation pressure of our sun. The organism would first of all have to cross the orbit of Mars, then the...
Page 53 - ... great fall of temperature. He has also made the following calculations : " If the quantity of the air should sink to onehalf its present percentage the temperature would fall by about 40° C. ; a diminution to one quarter would reduce the temperature by 8° C. On the other hand, any doubling of the percentage of carbon dioxide in the air would raise the temperature of the earth's surface by 4° C., and if the carbon dioxide were increased fourfold the temperature would rise by 8° (T.