The evolution of worlds from nebulae

by Lee Parker Dean

FOOTNOTES:

[17] Warren, “Recreations in Astronomy,” p. 94.

[18] Ball, “In Starry Realms,” p. 21.

[19] Ball, “In Starry Realms,” p. 230.

[20] Warren, “Recreations in Astronomy,” p. 82.

CHAPTER VIII.
NEBULAE.

We are told by Prof. Ball that such is the translucency of nebulae one might think to be able to see through them the stars lying in the back-ground, were they in the right position for observation. If nebulae are thus translucent it does not seem possible that they can be composed of the same materials as the planets of the solar system, whose densities are generally so great. For were the whole of earth’s substance spread out to one-hundredth of an inch in thickness we can not believe it would be sufficiently clear to allow light to penetrate it to any great extent, as earth has a density that leads one to think it is centrally composed almost—if not wholly—of iron, lead, gold, or like weighty elements that seemingly would never be transparent however highly heated and expanded. But if the nebulae are similar to the planets in their substances they must then consist of enormous masses of luminous, heated matter in a highly diffused state, in order to be perceptible to us at so great a distance; and how can they be translucent if the coloring matter is retained to darken the gases that are in combustion? Material similar to that of earth, if highly diffused and placed in an element 300° below zero, would cool almost immediately; and whether luminous or not would be likely to obstruct our view of all stars lying behind it.

We are told again by the same writer that doubtless there are hundreds, thousands, or even millions of dark bodies to each luminous one in space. But it has not been shown that these dark bodies ever needed to have been luminous in their formation, neither is it improbable that non-luminous matter,—even if once highly diffused, and spread out in the heavens as our sun is supposed once to have been diffused,—should have formed into these dark, spherical bodies in some manner similar to the condensation of vapor into clouds. If this be true the presumption is that the dark bodies are hiding many bright stars from our sight. It is not possible, then, to conceive that the many stars thus hidden—or partially hidden—may, like our sun when totally eclipsed, give a corona-like glow? Our own sun’s corona flames out in every direction for more than 200 thousand miles, and should there be many suns eclipsed by the dark bodies in space might they not likewise, in some instances, present a nebulous appearance with a startling coronal effect? Theta Orionis, the wondrous multiple star, seemingly lying in Orion’s great nebula, is regarded as belonging to it because of its being in the same degree of the heavens; but although in the same degree it may be in quite a different plane, as light travels at the rate of over eleven millions of miles per minute. If this nebula is unresolvable stars then the light from it may be millions of years in reaching us, while from Theta Orionis, if it lies in the foreground, the light might reach us possibly in one hundred years,—according to the distance it is removed from earth. The probabilities are that the multiple star lies nearest the earth, for if the nebula is composed of material similar to earth, we could not think at such a distance to be able to see through a single foot, or even inch, of its substance. There are about 5,000 stars visible to the naked eye in both the northern and southern hemispheres, but only about one-third of that number are visible at any one time. Few people are able to see two thousand of them on the clearest night, while many do not see one thousand, because of their inability to detect those of the sixth magnitude. The Milky-Way, therefore, is quite like a great nebula to man’s unaided vision. At each increase of photographic and telescopic power new stars are observed, until it is now said that 100 millions may be visible by their aid. If all these knowable stars are no more to space than a drop of water is to the Atlantic ocean, as the above writer has said, it is not in the least surprising that we see a great number of nebulae. This we must ever expect, even though our telescopes be increased a millionfold in power. In fact it would be most surprising if unresolvable nebulae did not forever appear in space as often as instruments of increasing penetration should be brought into positions to examine them. If space, like our oceans and our atmosphere, should be subordinate to something greater that we have never seen, and have no prospect of seeing in our present state, we can form concerning it no adequate conception.

To obtain an impression of the greatness of the nebulae in the heavens let us discord every instrument as though there were none, and upon some clear, moonless night stand gazing into the starry heavens. It might seem as though we were looking at millions of stars, but we should find by counting that the distinct points of light were only about one thousand. Imagine our sight to increase so that we beheld two thousand stars, then four thousand, eight thousand, and so on until finally, with our sight increased a thousand-fold, we were able to see one hundred millions of stars, the number that may be seen with the most powerful instruments. What we beheld as nebulae when we saw but one thousand distinct stars would thus be resolved into shining suns with sufficient increase of power. Then is it not a fair supposition that—if our sight were adapted to the beholding—we should be able to detect not only one hundred millions of stars, but myriads of them?

Again, when we think of the irregular shapes that many of the nebulae have, can we believe that they are rotating like the sun and planets? for we look to spherical bodies for revolution. We know there are many peculiar-shaped nebulae emitting light and heat, yet that light and heat may in nowise be produced by their swift revolutions, and we cannot think of them as undergoing a change such as we would expect from the nebular theory of world-formation.

In reference to the nebula in the Sword’s-handle of Orion, which contains matter sufficient to form two thousand and two hundred trillions of suns like our own; if this matter is of any density—or if not, even—it would seemingly cool almost instantly in an element 300° below zero. In truth how could it have become heated unless composed of some combustible element, like hydrogen, that would spring of itself into a mass of flame with an energy,—if there is conservation of energy,—that would exist for ever, and might repeat its work over and over again as do the oceans of our earth? There is no evidence, as far as we have ascertained, that this nebula rotates; nor can we believe that its luminosity is caused by swift revolution when our own sun, less than one million of miles in diameter, rotates but once in twenty-five days and is now moving swifter, according to the laws of mechanics appertaining to spherical, vaporous bodies, than ever before.

Even scientists and philosophers cannot tell us of the formation of a grass-seed, from which springs life identical with its kind; neither can they detect with the best microscope any difference between the varied forms of matter in the first stages of inception, nor feel sure whether there will be developed therefrom a tree, a dog, an elephant, or a man. For two hundred years spontaneous combustion has been discussed, some finding from an infusion of hay that life appeared; but when the idea was supposed to have been proved it was discovered that life was in air, and with the life-germs taken from it no spontaneous generation would arise. Later it was found that bacteriae would exist in great heat, and from that fact biogenesis was thought proved; for life only could come from life. We remember also that for years the famous Bodes Law was considered fully established, until upon the discovery of planet Neptune it was found to be so far out of position that the law was no longer applicable to the distribution of the planets of the solar system. Remembering all these changes after science considered the theories well established, we believe there are things to-day about nebulae, even, that conflict with the hypothesis under consideration; as, for instance the irregular shape they often assume, and the fact that many have already been resolved into stars with the aid of sufficiently powerful instruments.

CHAPTER IX.
LIMITATIONS.

To understand how our powers are limited let us take the following illustrations. We see a horse of great fleetness, power, and intelligence, with a barn before him all his life; and yet unable to build one though he well knows it will protect him from the winds, cold, and rain. We likewise see man with grass-seed, grains of sand and oceans of water before him, and floods of air above; unable to make a particle of any of these, no matter how much he needs soil to stand on, water to quench his thirst, or air to breathe. His powers are limited; he cannot live in ocean, sail the air, or even penetrate the earth to any great depth. There are barriers against him, and although he has invented wondrous ships, they do not yet take him to the North or South Poles. Not that he does not know where the Poles are upon the earth’s surface, but he seems thus far utterly unable to pass the surrounding barriers. May not these very barriers be protecting some creatures that otherwise might be exposed to injury or extermination? for we see how living things are protected, oftentimes, by their diminutive size so that animals of greater power and size cannot enter their homes to harm them; or the weaker ones have a fleetness given to them whereby they escape in time of danger.

We find man endowed with such reason and wisdom that occasionally he discovers keys unlocking the mysteries of creation; these have already opened to our view, the “ancient sunlight,” and developed steam, electricity, and other of the natural forces for man’s benefit. Suppose that George Washington had awakened after but a night’s sleep and been told that King George of England desired to speak with him. Would not the astonished General have asked: “What has become of the Atlantic ocean that I am expected to talk with King George without going to London to meet him!” That which would have inextricably puzzled the Great Commander-in-Chief is to-day scarcely thought of as mysterious, and we may believe that many like mysteries will yet yield to man’s remarkable intelligence. On this great earth with its 270,000 millions of cubic miles, with its oceans of water and the ocean of air surrounding it, and with the enormous amount of light and heat falling upon it from the sun, we see life enough to lead us to know assuredly there must be oceans of life of which we at present know nothing. Take, for instance, any field or garden and extend it however far you please—even to cover the whole earth if you will—and with but a single grass-seed you can cover the whole earth with that particular kind of grass;—assuming that it has the necessary light, heat, and moisture to make it grow and increase. We know there is light and heat in abundance, for enough falls upon the torrid zone alone to give to the whole earth a moderate temperature, if equally diffused. We know, further, that this single grass-seed is not the life but simply the key that will unlock any quantities of life. What is true of the seed is true also of every variety of vegetable and animal life. The present ocean and earth are invisible to one born blind, and as little do we see the oceans of life about us. Knowing as we must that such life exists let us look for the fire-mist of life, a few particles of which are familiar to us. We reason from the life we now see that it can be extended; then let us extend it, as the fire-mist of our planetary system, to Neptune’s bounds, reasoning in the same manner from the least to the greatest. If we do not choose to use one cycle of time we may take millions of them, as in the cooling fire-mist theory; but we must not forget that the life we know is only on the crust of earth and goes back but a few thousand years. If earth is the same material as the sun and it takes, as we have stated, two million earths to make one sun of a million miles diameter, with no limit to the number of such suns; we can readily understand, from what we know of life here, that there may exist other great and wonderful beings beyond our highest apprehension.

We are limited in sight, for we cannot see but a few miles through the clearest atmosphere. The mountains at no great distance take on a cloud-like appearance, and resemble more nearly the surrounding sky than the great heights of rock and earth they are found to be when viewed near at hand. When we endeavor to look beneath us and find that we cannot gaze for a single foot into the earth; and that gold and diamonds might lie six inches underneath our feet and we not be able to observe them, we understand how greatly our vision is limited. Electric currents pass over the many wires strung throughout our cities, and our sight is so limited that though we look long and intensely we are not able to detect that electricity. The life in all animals and vegetation is also imperceptible to us, for we only know of its existence from the movements and appearances of bodies that possess life, as compared with those that do not possess it. There are many qualities of life—as love, goodness, virtue, hate, jealousy, and revenge—that are as dissimilar as fire and water, or darkness and light; and could we behold them they would assume shapes differing as greatly as globes, squares, and triangles differ.

Still, what we most long to see are the spirits of our loved ones as they depart from this mortal life and ascend into the presence of their Creator; but look as long as we will, with all the faculties we possess, we must at last fall back upon the assurance that our faith in the Word of God lays hold of for our comfort and consolation. Though we there learn that “Enoch walked with God and was not, for God took him;” that Elijah went up by a whirlwind into Heaven; that Moses and Elias were revealed on the Mount of Transfiguration; and that Jesus after his resurrection was seen by His followers for forty days; yet the human beings we know and love must leave their bodies behind them as they wing their flight to worlds beyond, and our sight is so limited that we cannot perceive the souls even of our own life and being after they have left their home in the flesh. In the same manner we should know nothing of the depths of space only for the light that comes from stars removed an inconceivable distance; for of this fact we are assured by astronomers, and we should never dream that we looked a thousand miles into the heavens only for those outside worlds that give to us, through their magnitudes and distances, a faint conception of the Infinite Greatness.

CHAPTER X.
THE FIRE-MIST OF LIFE.

The theory of the formation of worlds from Nebulae is not only endorsed by Sir Robert Ball but he states his belief that the same theory is carried out upon earth in the formation of life according to the plan of Darwin. To quote his words, Darwin “has shown that the evolution of the lifeless earth from nebulae is but the prelude of an organic evolution of still greater interest and complexity.” And further: “Can it be possible that the wondrous and complex phenomena known as life are purely material? Can a particle of matter which consists only of a definite number of atoms of definite chemical composition manifest any of those characters which characterize life? Take as an extreme instance the brain of an ant which is not larger than a quarter of a good-sized pin’s head. It would require a volume to describe what we know of the power of ants.” The following are among the wonderful things mentioned of their faculties. They communicate information to each other, build great edifices, make roads, tunnel under rivers and make temporary bridges over them by clinging together, store seeds, keep aphides as milch cows, go out to battle, and capture slaves; showing thereby a wonderful amount of power when we remember that the ant’s brain is said to be but a little globule one-thousandth of an inch in diameter. From the above we learn that the ant with a brain no larger than a quarter of a pin’s head is one of the most wondrous things in the world of life.

Let us conceive of such an ant standing before St. Peter’s Cathedral at Rome and asking of his species: “Who made that great building?” We may anticipate the reply, “We do not know.” Hear him ask again the question of all birds, insects, reptiles, and animals and receive the same answer, “We do not know.” Let him ask it at last of man who replies, “I well know who made it.” Encouraged he asks again, “Did you make it,” but the answer comes quickly, “No.” Still persistent he asks, “Could you make it?” and the answer is “No, it is not every man that could make such a building and surmount it with so wondrous a dome.” Once again he asks: “But if you did not, and could not make it, how do you know the builder of it?” He receives the answer: “I know as well as though I myself had done it. I have brain-power enough to know who planned it but it required one with a greater brain, even Michael Angelo, to conceive and build it.”

We have here seen the power of a brain smaller than a pin’s head; the additional power of one a few inches in diameter that could know the constructor of the great building, and yet be unable to make it; and the further increase of brain-power in the maker of that magnificent Cathedral. Yet the brain of Michael Angelo, so many times larger than the ants, is not enough for our purpose. We would find one large enough to know how the ant’s brain was formed and who formed it. Finding the brain knowing that, we would continue our queries until we found one a foot in size, a mile, earth’s size if you will, and finding that might learn what we would know of the creation of the nebulae of worlds and life; for to that brain we owe all that we possess here and may ever expect to possess.

We have been told of the wonderful instinct displayed by an ant, and yet we may not suppose, were an ant possessed of the power of speech, it could ever make observations like the above. We can conceive of a creature that possessed many times the ant’s brain-power making the inquiry, “How came this great structure?” and, asking it of a comrade that possessed the same powers as he, receiving the reply, “I do not know.” We may think of him as pushing the inquiry and receiving the answer from some that it had no author, but must have grown like the trees from nothingness; from others the conjecture that it was made by some great animal of sea or land; or again that it was made by a creature called man. We can believe that whatever their opinion might be it would matter little to Michael Angelo the author. In the vastness of the universe and the wonderful mysteries enveloping it; with the telescopes, spectroscopes, and other powerful instruments; with all the observations of centuries, and theories concerning earth’s first cause; man is yet like the ant before St. Peter’s. There is truth in the statement, “The Theory of Evolution may be true or it may be false it is still but an attempt to guess at a process; it does not touch the author of that process and never will.”[21]

To resolve, then, the mystery of the universe we believe that a great stride would be made could we find a being with wisdom like to man’s, but possessing power to create a fire-mist such as is conceived in the Nebular Hypothesis. Finding such a being we should never for a moment think, from what we know of dead matter, of its resolving itself into the order and system displayed in the universe, but unhesitatingly ascribe its formation to a being possessing such wisdom and power. Starting then with the theory that a Being with the intellect of man, but omnipotent power, could produce all that is now unintelligible to us; let us contemplate the appearance of His works and what we do not understand believe that He will unfold as our powers increase and as science develops.

The Revealed Word, the Great Astronomy, tells us that this Being is God and ascribes to Him the creation of the heavens, worlds, man, and life in all its forms. We can appreciate the astounding facts described in other works, and can we not feel the truths revealed in this? We meet people who believe this Revelation, perhaps doubtfully at first, but after study of the Word, or from hearing it explained, the truth becomes manifest to them; and what is remarkable and worthy of our contemplation is the fact that not one of the many millions who heed that Word, and live lives faithful to it, but will tell us ere they die that they do not regret the choice they have made and only wish that they had accepted its truths sooner.

The presumption is that if every human being would accept the fact that he owes his being to an Almighty God not one would ever regret it more than they who have already accepted the belief. Sooner or later all men are cast into the great fire-mist of Eternity, but ere they go hence accept or refuse a belief that may affect them throughout eternity. Many men are urging people to accept of the Salvation offered in the Bible, and the spirit within man feels the wisdom of such an acceptance. Men of thought see from their own anatomy that there must be a Being greater than themselves to have formed so wondrous a body, or even to have formed one of the smallest, as a grass-seed or animalcule. Why then should men need urging to make God their choice? Suppose we were suddenly cast upon a billowy sea but near us lay a life-boat, which if we laid hold upon the chances were, in nine cases out of ten, we should be saved. Would we hesitate a moment before making our choice? Desire for life would compel us to grasp the boat. Suppose, further, there was but one chance out of ten that if we entered the boat we should be saved, would we not instinctively make sure of that one chance, knowing if it were worthless we could be no worse off than floundering without it in the bottomless sea?

But can we look at creation, even without this Revealed Word, and say there is no evidence of a chance for a future life? It is few years that man lives upon earth, and those years can be but a breath to eternity; for we cannot suppose all the atoms in space will equal the years of eternity. As dying men, then, shall we live again? It is no more wonderful to believe in a new life than to believe that the combinations of our bodies are never destroyed, but are resolved again to atoms and molecules. It is no more mysterious than that the waters rise from oceans to the clouds only to return again, and repeat the process from year to year; no stranger than that earth wheels through space at the rate of nearly two millions of miles daily, without losing a drop of the waters that cover three-fourths of its surface; no more wonderful than the air that is composed of four-fifths nitrogen, and were the other fifth the same no life could exist; no more wonderful than that the sun at its great distance, holds earth as firmly by the invisible ether, as if it were an iron cord; and no more wonderful than that in earth’s yearly voyage about the sun, and in the daily turning upon its axis, we do not detect the slightest jar or movement. Neither is it as mysterious as that time has no destructiveness upon earth, water, light, air, and ether, which are seemingly eternal elements; and though our spirits are imperceptible while living here, so are also some of the known energies of nature. Magnetism, that day and night, on sea or land, directs and holds the magnetic needle to the north, reveals its certain existence to us, although invisible to any faculty we possess; electricity and the gases, of which earth, air, and ocean are mainly composed, are invisible as well as indestructible; ether, filling the immensity of space, is impervious to time; and each atom of it has energy to transmit light from every sun in space, whether near or distant, without varying a second per day, thereby enabling astronomers to predict future occurrences with perfect assurance for hundreds of years.

It is no more wonderful to believe in a future life than to believe there are millions of animalcule in a drop of water; nor as mysterious as that our bodies are constantly changing their forms. The man of years has possessed many bodies that he has unconsciously cast aside, and in old age has no more the body of infancy, childhood, youth, and manhood than he has the body of another person. Yet we see man clinging to his toothless, hairless, blinded, deaf, and decrepit form while leaning upon a staff for support, as though he could not live if separated therefrom; and why not as well lay aside wholly the earthly body for the heavenly? Nearly the whole universe is eternal, and our invisible spirits should be no more incomprehensible to us than are the universal elements and energies of nature.

It is our first living, our living now, that is wonderful and mysterious; for we find of every invention of man, the first invented one of its kind is the one most wondrous. Then with all this great universe around us shall we not live again? Are we so blinded that we see no chance of living without these bodies, when we possess faculties fitted for the contemplation of an Eternal Universe, although not the power of fully understanding its significance?

When we think of ourselves, our earth, and the sun more than a million times larger, and the size that it assumes at a distance of ninety millions of miles, while we receive but ¹/₂₃₀₀ millionth of its light and heat; when we think of the millions of suns equally great, but all, taken together, no more than a leaf in a great forest compared with the universe that embraces myriads of suns and systems; when we think again of the great nebulae, and all that may be within their range, and beyond them; we can but believe there is a God over all who may do infinitely more for us, His creatures, than all others can do, and in the eternity to come, prove our best and dearest friend.

It may be asked in this widespread universe, will He recognize earth or us? Yet we must remember there is evidence of the same formative Hand alike in each atom of air, the countless worlds, and man himself. Then who but a mightier Power can do what man can not? We may securely feel that if God made man in his own image,—which we are led to believe without the Bible’s revelation—He can give to him protection, thought, and love. Then the chance, or probability—if you do not regard the possibility or certainty—of living in God’s presence for as many millions of years as there are atoms in earth, which cannot comprehend eternity, are evidenced by what we here behold. Should we not live, then, in expectancy and hope, our faith grounded on what we behold in our earth, sun, and the universe?

The works of man are multiple, but among them all, we do not find one of chance in its formation. We always recognize man’s hand and expect no form without a maker; so of the universe. The mighty worlds as well as the invisible atoms bear evidence of a Creator, and have the same assurance stamped upon them as have the inventions of man. We should thereby recognize the truth that God exists and regulates the vast and countless worlds, the tiniest molecule, and man himself.

Surely, then, in accepting the faith of the Bible there can be no loss, while by accepting of it we may stand approved by One who created worlds, space, and all life, the existence of which is within our vision, but the contemplation of which is infinitely beyond our conception.