The Destinies of the Stars

Through the works of Schiaparelli, Flammarion, and Lowell the vivid interest of the general public has been directed toward our neighbour planet Mars. Several investigators, Fla...

During dark but starlit nights, the gorgeous firmament is decorated with an irregular band of light that describes a winding path across the heavens. It continues also in the qu...

Astronomy occupies a rather unique position among the natural sciences. While physics, chemistry, and the biological sciences form the foundation of the extraordinary material d...

In a certain sense, we are justified in speaking of an atmosphere of suns and stars. These bodies consist mainly of a comparatively dense mass surrounded by a layer of very atte...

When Aristotle, for two thousand years our leading savant in cosmography, about twenty-three centuries ago stated the foundation of his natural science, he laid down as the impo...

The planet Mercury probably resembles Mars in many respects, but differs particularly in lacking an atmosphere. The fissures in the crust of the Earth or of Mars are as a rule r...

Of a very particular interest is the question of the atmosphere of the planets. The great problem of habitability of the latter is most intimately connected therewith. Primitive...

Fissures on Mercury. Lowell’s drawing. Centres of collapse. Absence of atmosphere. The climate on the Moon. W. Pickering’s belief in frost formations on the Moon. The mountains...

The controversy about the habitableness of Mars. Humidity on Mars. Early observations. The spectra of Mars and of the Moon compared. Investigations by Campbell and Marchand. The...

Inhabited Worlds. Kinship of the stellar bodies. Presence of life. Importance of water and carbon. Importance of temperature. All life evolved from existence in water. Necessity...

Primitive conceptions of the Milky Way. Anaxagoras and Demokritos. Ptolemaios. Galilei. Cosmogenic speculations. Wm. Herschel’s statistical researches regarding the distribution...

Position and practical value of astronomy. Worship of stars. Chronology. The Australian negro’s conception of the stars. Day and night, summer and winter. Solar year. Sun-worshi...

Outer envelope of the stars. The large planets. Spectra. Mars, Earth, Venus, Mercury. Atmosphere impossible on the moon. The light from the Earth. The atmosphere of Mercury. The...

The four elements of Aristotle. Humid-warm climates. The Congo and Amazon basins. The carboniferous age. The effect of cloudiness. Desert climate. Steppes. “Kevirs” and “Bayirs....