3641 lines
189 KiB
Plaintext
3641 lines
189 KiB
Plaintext
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56 page printout
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Reproducible Electronic Publishing can defeat censorship.
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This file, its printout, or copies of either
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are to be copied and given away, but NOT sold.
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Bank of Wisdom, Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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**** ****
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THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
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A REFUTATION OF THE THEORY THAT
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THE UNIVERSE IS GOVERNED
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BY INTELLIGENCE
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by
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WOOLSEY TELLER
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Globed from the atoms falling slow or swift
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I see the suns, I see the systems lift
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Their forms; and even the systems and the suns
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Shall go back slowly to the eternal drift.
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-- Lucretius
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THE TRUTH SEEKER COMPANY 38 PARK ROW NEW YORK
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**** ****
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Copyright 1938, by
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The Truth Seeker Company
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**** ****
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In Memory of My Mother
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ADA STURTEVANT TELLER
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**** ****
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And that inverted Bowl we call the sky,
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Where under crawling coop'd we live and die,
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Lift not your heads to it for help -- for it
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As impotently moves as you or I.
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-- omar
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**** ****
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CONTENTS
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CHAPTER I THINGS LARGE AND SMALL ................... 2
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CHAPTER II STAR DUST LOOKS ABOUT .................. 14
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CHAPTER III DAWN: NEBULAE AND STARS ............... 18
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CHAPTER IV DAYLIGHT: THE SOLAR SYSTEM ............. 30
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CHAPTER V DARKNESS: THE ETERNAL DRIFT ............. 47
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CHAPTER VI THE FINAL IMPLICATIONS ................. 53
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The universe as a totality is without cause, without origin,
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without end.
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-- KARL Du Prel (Ludwig Buchner, Force and Matter, p. 11).
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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1
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THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
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Astronomy ... is of all others the science which seems to
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present to us the most striking instance of waste in nature.
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-- Richard A. Procter, Our Place Among Infinities, p. 40.
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The universe consists in the main not of stars but of desolate
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emptiness -- inconceivably vast stretches of desert space in which
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the presence of a star is a rare and exceptional event. ... The
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stars move blindly through space, and the players in the stellar
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blind-man's-buff are so few and far between that the chance of
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encountering another star is almost negligible.
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-- SIR JAMES JEANS, The Universe Around Us, pp. 87, 88.
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Today we know not only that there is a terrible amount of
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disorder in the heavens -- great catastrophes or conflagrations
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occur frequently -- but evolution gives us a perfectly natural
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explanation of such order as there is. No distinguished astronomer
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now traces "the finger of God" in the heavens; and astronomers
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ought to know best.
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-- JOSEPH McCABE, The Story of Religious Controversy, p. 86.
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No sign of purpose can be detected in any part of the vast
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universe disclosed by our most powerful telescopes.
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HUGH ELLIOT, Modern Science and Materialism, p. 39.
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We are bits of stellar matter that got cold by accident, bits
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of a star gone wrong.
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-- SIR Arthur Eddington, New York Times Magazine, Oct. 9,1932.
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**** ****
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CHAPTER I
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THINGS LARGE AND SMALL
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The theist and the scientist are rival interpreters of nature,
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The one retreats as the other advances.
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-- Joseph McCabe. [The Existence of God, p. 84.]
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If the ignorance of nature gave birth to gods, the knowledge
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of nature is calculated to destroy them.
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-- Baron D'Holbach. [The System of Nature, p. 49]
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We claim, and we shall wrest from theology, the entire domain
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of cosmological theory.
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-- John Tyndall [The Belfast Address]
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... No evidence or proof of the existence of a God has been
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found in the phenomena of nature, based on experience.
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-- Charles P. Steinmetz. [John Winthrop Hammond, p. 455]
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There is no God, it is clear as the sun and as evident as the
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day that there is no God, and still more that there can be none.
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-- Ludwig Feuerbach. [Article "Atheism," Ency. Brit.]
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WHEN, less than two centuries ago, the famous Laplace was
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asked by the Emperor Napoleon why God had not been mentioned by him
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in his celebrated work, "Mechanique Celeste," and the astronomer
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replied, "Sire, I have no need of that hypothesis," he uttered a
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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2
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THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
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truth which was fully justified by the science of his time.
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Astronomy today is no more in need of the god-hypothesis than it
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was in Laplace's day: the facts of cosmological research have done
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nothing if not completely demolished the last vestige of theistic
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interpretation. We live, on the evidence of astronomy, in a godless
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universe. ["You should be more ready than any one else," said
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Napoleon to Laplace, "to admit that God exists, for you, more than
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most, have seen the wonder of creation." That atom of cruelty did
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not realize that it was largely because Laplace had seen so much of
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the heavens that he was an atheist. (See Emil Ludwig's Napoleon, p.
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602.)]
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To the average individual casually engaged in contemplating
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the stars, the world above him presents a perfect picture of
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harmonious relationships. He beholds a blue vault of exquisite
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splendor, in which twinkle myriads of far-distant worlds. He sees
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the "Stately procession" of the planets, the daily rising and
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setting of the sun! The "beautiful order" of the heavens, the
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"regularity" of the seasons, the fact that our planets "do not
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collide," or that our moon does not "fall" into the earth or our
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earth into the sun, make their silent appeal for the existence of
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God; the warmth and light of the sun, the "nicety" with which the
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earth makes its revolutions "on time," the alternations of day and
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night, all tend to show him an "order" and a "harmony" in keeping
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with his theistic assumptions. To the astronomer, the facts point
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otherwise: their meanings and implications go far deeper than their
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surface indications, and he sees instead a purposeless universe
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unattended by any signs of intelligent guidance. This is because
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there is no superficial sky-gazing or casual observation in his
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study of the stars. There are, for him, enough facts in astronomy
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to shatter theism.
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Much of our popular confusion in matters of science rests on
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a topsy-turvy contemplation of facts. The story is told of a
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professor of astronomy who, having concluded his lecture on the
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planetary system, called for questions from the floor. A member of
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his audience arose to ask him the following question: "I can
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understand, now that you have explained it all, how the astronomer
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weighs the planets and measures their distances from the sun, but
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what bothers me is, how did he find out their names?"
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The same, or a similar, bewilderment seems to possess those
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who as innocently ask the question, "Who made the stars?" Quite
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obviously the question for thoughtful person to ask is, not "Who
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made the stars?" but "What made the stars?" Astronomers have a
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definite answer. They know not only "what" made the stars, but
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"what" determines their movements in space. There is no "Who" or
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celestial personality involved in stellar activity.
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Asking an astronomer, "Who made the stars?" is very much like
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asking a physicist, "Who made the icicles and pretty ice-drawings
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on my window-pane?" The answer is no more likely to be "'God" in
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the one case than "Jack Frost" in the other. In educated circles
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the days are largely past when invisible personalities and unseen
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beings are supposed to have anything to do with natural phenomena.
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We are leaving behind us the kindergarten stage of our mental
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development.
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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3
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THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
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Those who believe in a "supreme intelligence" in the sky
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overlook an important principle of physiological knowledge. "Three
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centuries before the beginning of the Christian era," writes the
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distinguished anatomist, G Elliot Smith, ["The Evolution of the
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Brain" in 'Creation by Evolution,' p. 323.] "some of the wise men
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of Greece already recognized in the brain the real organ of mind;
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yet it was reserved for modern times to confirm the accuracy of
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this early knowledge and to extend it." Accordingly, it is well
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here to recall the materialistic basis of mind. Thinking is as much
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a function of structure and organization as breathing or walking.
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As functions cannot exist apart from their organs, it is the height
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of absurdity to imagine a function like thinking existing by itself
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or wandering about the heavens without a material substratum. A
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"pure spirit" hovering over matter is pure nonsense. Thought is
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"immaterial" only as respiration and digestion are immaterial -- we
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cannot see, weigh, or handle functions apart from their organs --
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but thinking is as material as matter itself when we consider it
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mechanically, that is to say, as a form of vibration and sensation
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in the nerve fibers of the brain and of the nervous system. Matter
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thinks quite as well as it walks, and talks, and dresses for the
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opera; and without matter thinking is impossible. "As we understand
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it at present," writes George W. Bartelmetz, ["Human Structure and
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Development" in The Nature of the World and of Man, p. 468-469.] "a
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word or idea comes into consciousness as a result of innumerable
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cortical reverberations back and forth from one cell or group of
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cells to another." Thought is matter in motion. A cosmic
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intelligent being would have to be made of matter.
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Astronomers are well satisfied that stars and planets move of
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their own accord, or without any external stimulus of a conscious
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character. It is the theistic and spiritualistic muddlers of
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science who have injected their "God" into the picture, and made of
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matter a helpless hag of the gutter.
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Matter is not that inert mass which vitalists and
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metaphysicians picture for us. Even the most subtle forms of matter
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possess within themselves powerful potentialities and assert
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themselves in terms of energy.
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Every beam of light we receive from the sun carries with it
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definite weight, weight which, as jeans reminds us, [The Universe
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Around Us, p. 117.] is "as real as the weight of a ton of coal."
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Every erg of energy has weight and mass. ["The essential fact is
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that an erg of energy in any form has a mass of 1.1.10-21 grammes."
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-- Eddington, Stars and Atoms, p. 97.] There is no "matterless" or
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"spiritual" energy, or energy existing by itself; energy is matter
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-- matter asserting itself. Energy, in every form, is always
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identified with and inseparable from matter; the two cannot be torn
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apart. The law of the "conservation of energy" embodies the
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conservation of matter; neither matter nor energy is ever
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destroyed.
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Everywhere we are dealing with matter, matter in an endless
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round of activity, expressed in terms of energy. Radiation itself
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is a form of energy; and that which we call radio-activity is
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merely a transformation of matter from one form of energy to
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another. The disintegration of the nucleus of a uranium atom is
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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4
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THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
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followed, in time, by its transference into the nucleus of a lead
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atom. No matter is lost in the transition. Hence, the so-called
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"annihilation" of the atom consists of nothing else than the
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breaking up of the nucleus of one kind into the nucleus of another
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kind of atom. There is no destruction of matter itself; nothing is
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lost -- there has been only a change of one atom into another. The
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much-talked-of (and highly misnamed) "annihilation of matter" is
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metaphysical moonshine, prompted by those who do not know what they
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are talking about or by those who mistake an atomic change for the
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destruction of matter." ["According to the disintegration theory of
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Rutherford and Soddy," writes Sir Edward Thorpe, History of
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Chemistry, vol 2, p. 42, "the radio-active elements are forms of
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matter undergoing changes resulting in the formation of new forms
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possessing chemical and physical properties differing from those of
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the parent substance. Here is matter undergoing change, not
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"annihilation.']
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All the high-sounding talk, but really empty gibberish, about
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the "downfall" of materialism rests on phantasies. Matter matters:
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it is everywhere; it cannot be destroyed by the breaking up of
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atoms into other atoms. It cannot be "annihilated" until some
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metaphysician takes a little matter and "explodes" it out of
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existence. [The materialist is waiting to see the metaphysician
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"annihilate" matter as thoroughly as he, the materialist,
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annihilates the mind, or what his spiritualistic opponents call
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"spirit." If the mind, as spiritualists insist, is a self-existent
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entity, capable of activity apart from the matter of the brain, and
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able to wander off by itself, a man in a state of coma, or
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undergoing an operation under the influence of ether or chloroform,
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ought to be able to witness all that transpires around him.
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Instead, his mind is a blank, completely non-existent during the
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time his brain ceases to function. His so-called "spirit" cannot
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survive the derangement of matter, or the suspended functioning of
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his brain. A few drops of prussic acid, an inhalation of gas, or a
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clot on the brain, will unbalance or destroy the most serene
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mentality. What the spiritualist calls "immortal" goes dead for
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hours at a time, and cannot exist even throughout the life-time of
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the individual. It is mind, not matter, that is destructible.] He
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can do this only in talk, or by clumsily referring to the
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"smashing" of atoms into electrons and protons, negative and
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positive particles which, besides possessing weight, are, in terms
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of energy, still matter.
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It is highly important -- essential to an understanding of
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astronomy -- that these issues be understood. The universe --
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stars, meteors, clam-broth and brain cells -- is made of matter.
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Our American philosopher Santayana does well in insisting on
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calling matter by its right name, as we call Smith, Smith, and
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Jones, Jones -- and also in labeling himself "a decided
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materialist."
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ATOMS, MEN, AND STARS
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WE live in a material universe, in which we ourselves, as
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products of the stars, are matter "through and through." That we
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are matter that can think is no more remarkable than there is so
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much matter, outside ourselves, which never thinks at all. That
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Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
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5
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|
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|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
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|
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matter which thinks has simply reached a certain biological stage.
|
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|
As C. Judson Herrick observes, [The Thinking Machine, p. 250,]
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"Mental processes are biological functions of the body in general
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and of the brain in particular in just the same sense that
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|
circulation of the blood is a function of the heart or breathing is
|
|||
|
|
a function of the lungs. The evidence for this is biological
|
|||
|
|
evidence." Man has no claim for exclusion from the world of matter.
|
|||
|
|
He is as much matter as the world of stars.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Our foundations of knowledge are more solid than the
|
|||
|
|
epistemologists would have us believe. The hazy maze of obscurities
|
|||
|
|
and airy abstractions into which we have been led by verbal appeal
|
|||
|
|
is losing its lure: our knowledge of the world is fast becoming
|
|||
|
|
recognized as of sensory origin. All claims to supersensory
|
|||
|
|
"knowledge" rest on fraud.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Man's contact with the universe around him is a contact of
|
|||
|
|
matter with matter. There is nothing "spiritual" about it. He
|
|||
|
|
himself is all matter, surrounded by matter. Whether he is
|
|||
|
|
receiving impressions in the form of light from a distant star or
|
|||
|
|
as heat waves generated in the sun, or as any other sense
|
|||
|
|
perceptions, his sensations are physical and are linked with the
|
|||
|
|
brain as the vibrating center. Here is thinking, or matter in
|
|||
|
|
motion. There is no "spiritual" world, no world of transcendental
|
|||
|
|
physics at work within his cerebral cavity. All concepts of a
|
|||
|
|
supersensual world, a world "above" matter, rest on fantastic
|
|||
|
|
imagery.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Astronomy would never have reached the zenith of its
|
|||
|
|
attainments had it listened to metaphysics. Stars are physical
|
|||
|
|
objects: the dream of a world made of dream; is for visionaries
|
|||
|
|
only. To the scientist, stars are real objects moving in the skies.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A thousand years from now science will be foretelling eclipses
|
|||
|
|
and weighing the stars with as much mathematical precision as it
|
|||
|
|
does today: our mystics cannot tell us from one day to the next
|
|||
|
|
what metaphysics will be teaching the day after tomorrow. The
|
|||
|
|
knowledge of experience is solid and compact; its definiteness is
|
|||
|
|
paralleled by its crystalline simplicity. Only in the realm of
|
|||
|
|
jumbled ideas do the reachers for rainbows find a world that
|
|||
|
|
transcends the evidences of their senses. Our metaphysicians cannot
|
|||
|
|
agree among themselves for two minutes at a time: their revelations
|
|||
|
|
from "above" are as hazy and shifty as London fogs.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Like Voltaire's Zadig, who "knew as much of metaphysics as
|
|||
|
|
hath ever been known in any age, that is, little or nothing at
|
|||
|
|
all," our modern mystics take abstractions for realities. They will
|
|||
|
|
tell you where the hole of a doughnut is after the doughnut is
|
|||
|
|
eaten, and where the wind and waves are when the air and ocean are
|
|||
|
|
at rest. They talk about the "spiritual nature" of the mind with
|
|||
|
|
even more enthusiasm than they talk about the "spirituality" of a
|
|||
|
|
toothache or a headache.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Those who believe that knowledge is innate or derived through
|
|||
|
|
channels other than experience ought to come into the world as wise
|
|||
|
|
as they leave it. Some of them do; but it is a poor commentary on
|
|||
|
|
their intellectual poverty that they go out no richer than they
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
6
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
came in. He who finds wisdom in a world above matter, i.e., in the
|
|||
|
|
realm of metaphysics, is seeing visions quite as vividly as the
|
|||
|
|
drug addict, who can enjoy the most delightful "releases" from the
|
|||
|
|
bonds of "dross" matter: a hypodermic injection will give him
|
|||
|
|
"transports" that are as ethereal as a chapter from Bergson. But he
|
|||
|
|
will come back to earth, realizing that matter was behind it all.
|
|||
|
|
And he can become "spiritualized" again only by the use of a little
|
|||
|
|
more matter, even though, in his "spiritual" moments, he holds it
|
|||
|
|
in contempt.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
And here we must take issue with the statement of Bertrand
|
|||
|
|
Russell [philosophy, p. 98; "The Structure of the Atom." that
|
|||
|
|
"matter has become as 'ghostly' as anything in a spiritualistic
|
|||
|
|
seance." How "ghostly" it has become may be judged by anyone who
|
|||
|
|
has walked complacently into a dark room and stumbled over a chair,
|
|||
|
|
or collided with an automobile. For most of us, matter is real. A
|
|||
|
|
man engaged in metaphysical reveries may talk of the "ghostliness"
|
|||
|
|
of matter until he talks himself out of existence. To say that
|
|||
|
|
matter is "ghostly" because its atoms can be divided into smaller
|
|||
|
|
units is the same as saying that the Atlantic Ocean is "ghostly"
|
|||
|
|
because it is made up of molecules. Water does not cease to be
|
|||
|
|
material because it is composed of units smaller than those of
|
|||
|
|
oxygen and hydrogen. A sea captain in a storm, whose ship is being
|
|||
|
|
battered by the waves, could never be convinced that matter is
|
|||
|
|
"ghostly," no matter how many electrons and protons compose a
|
|||
|
|
particular wave. It is enough for him that these mountains of
|
|||
|
|
matter, in the form of water, are pounding his ship.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Those who believe in the "ghostly" qualities of matter must
|
|||
|
|
first show that what we call matter becomes something else when it
|
|||
|
|
is reduced to electrons and protons. This they cannot do. It is not
|
|||
|
|
enough to show us that matter can be reduced to electrons and
|
|||
|
|
protons; it must be shown in what way these units of the atom are
|
|||
|
|
not matter. Certainly they possess all the attributes of matter. As
|
|||
|
|
long as electrons and protons possess mass and weight they are
|
|||
|
|
material particles. "The mass of a proton," says Russell,
|
|||
|
|
[Philosophy, p. 100.] "is about 1,835 times that of an electron: it
|
|||
|
|
takes 1,835 electrons to weigh as much as one proton." When, we
|
|||
|
|
ask, did any ghost weigh as much as that? The "ghostliness" of
|
|||
|
|
matter turns out to be metaphysical quibbling.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The old law as to the impenetrability of matter applies to the
|
|||
|
|
interior of the atom.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Not only do two electrons never travel in the same orbit, but
|
|||
|
|
they never occupy at the same time the same space. An electron, far
|
|||
|
|
out from its nucleus and describing a large orbit, is, as Jeans
|
|||
|
|
says, [The Universe Around Us, p. 130.] "a plain material
|
|||
|
|
particle." The nucleus of the atom, or the proton, is material: its
|
|||
|
|
weight is hundreds of times that of the electron itself. The atom
|
|||
|
|
is composed of material units as surely as babies are composed of
|
|||
|
|
flesh and blood.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
There is no need to talk of "empty spaces" in the atom: they
|
|||
|
|
exist. But a man hit with a golf-ball or an Indian club might think
|
|||
|
|
otherwise: it would take more than a suave assurance to convince
|
|||
|
|
him that what really bumped him on the cranium were innocent little
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
7
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
electrons and protons. A lot he cares about tiny particles moving
|
|||
|
|
in orbits: in the language of horse-sense, he has been struck by
|
|||
|
|
matter. And he has felt the same thing when he strikes his finger
|
|||
|
|
with a hammer or gets it caught in the jamb of a door. The
|
|||
|
|
"ghostliness" of matter becomes a real materialization under the
|
|||
|
|
laws of everyday physics. We live in a world of tangible realities,
|
|||
|
|
composed of matter.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A bar of steel, a slab of marble, or a bit of granite are
|
|||
|
|
concrete forms of matter. To say that matter ceases to exist when
|
|||
|
|
either or all of these things are reduced to electrons and protons,
|
|||
|
|
is to play with words: the smallest components of matter are still
|
|||
|
|
matter. Theoretically and experimentally, we know that the electron
|
|||
|
|
and the proton are material particles. Rutherford's picture of the
|
|||
|
|
atom is substantially that of a tiny solar system, "the heavy
|
|||
|
|
central nucleus playing the part of the sun and the electrons
|
|||
|
|
acting the parts of the planets." [Jeans, The Universe Around Us,
|
|||
|
|
p. 105.]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Our up-to-date model of the structure of the atom no more
|
|||
|
|
invalidates the doctrine of materialism than it invalidates the
|
|||
|
|
materiality and ponderosity of the stars; an atom composed of
|
|||
|
|
electrons and protons is as material as the early atom of the
|
|||
|
|
Greeks: it has gained nothing in "spirituality" nor "ghostliness"
|
|||
|
|
by being found to contain negative and positive charges of
|
|||
|
|
electricity. That it can be "divided" into particles moving in tiny
|
|||
|
|
orbits around a center, like planets around the sun, means nothing
|
|||
|
|
more than that here again is matter in motion. The metaphysicians
|
|||
|
|
and mystics of our day will have to look elsewhere than to modern
|
|||
|
|
physics for a dismissal of matter.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
All this, of course, is preliminary to a study of the stars.
|
|||
|
|
We can only know what the stars are, and of what they are composed,
|
|||
|
|
by a reference to physics. The laws of substance govern the largest
|
|||
|
|
as well as the smallest bodies. Stars and atoms are both matter.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Hence, the doctrine of materialism -- the doctrine that matter
|
|||
|
|
in motion makes up the whole of existence -- is at once applicable
|
|||
|
|
to the entire range of phenomena. It embraces the stars, circling
|
|||
|
|
in vast orbits, down to the tiny solar system whirling within the
|
|||
|
|
atom. Man stands midway between a world of enormous bodies and a
|
|||
|
|
world of tiny particles. And he "falls apart" the same as the stars
|
|||
|
|
when the "infinitesimals" shift their positions or change their
|
|||
|
|
configurations.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The early atom of the Greek was a tiny hard sphere, supposed
|
|||
|
|
to represent the least and indivisible unit of matter. There is
|
|||
|
|
nothing in our present understanding which prevents us from
|
|||
|
|
believing that far down in matter there is somewhere an
|
|||
|
|
indestructible unit. The fact that matter is indestructible leads
|
|||
|
|
to this conclusion; in no other way can we account for its eternal
|
|||
|
|
persistency. Break it up as we may, its total volume is the same.
|
|||
|
|
Nowhere is there any evidence of the "annihilation of matter."
|
|||
|
|
[Matter is indestructible, and all the fine-spun talk, by
|
|||
|
|
metaphysicians and others, about the "annihilation" of matter is
|
|||
|
|
verbal exercise. "We have no evidence," says A.S. Eddington, "that
|
|||
|
|
the annihilation of matter can occur in nature." (Stars and Atoms,
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
8
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
p. 101.) No one, not even Eddington, has yet been able to talk
|
|||
|
|
matter out of existence. The dialectical destroyers of matter are
|
|||
|
|
merely walking with their heads in the clouds. "No direct
|
|||
|
|
observational confirmation," says Jeans, The Universe Around Us, p.
|
|||
|
|
189, "is at present available."]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The "atom" of modern science is quite another thing than that
|
|||
|
|
which the word designated among the Greeks. It is a unit of the
|
|||
|
|
molecule, and is in itself a mass of units. Less "solid" than the
|
|||
|
|
"atom" of the Greeks, it is in every way as material. There is
|
|||
|
|
nothing intangible about its component parts -- the electrons and
|
|||
|
|
protons. They give us evidence of their existence in terms of mass
|
|||
|
|
and weight. Those who preface their study of the stars with a
|
|||
|
|
glance into physics need not trouble themselves over the
|
|||
|
|
"splitting" of the atom. The universe, around us and within, is as
|
|||
|
|
solid as before.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Nor need those who have been brought up on Newtonian and
|
|||
|
|
Euclidian principles trouble themselves about the much-paraded
|
|||
|
|
"curvature of space." "This curved space is not, it is true,"
|
|||
|
|
writes Jeans, [The Universe Around Us, p. 72.] "the ordinary space
|
|||
|
|
of the astronomer. It is a purely mathematical and probably wholly
|
|||
|
|
fictitious space" -- a space which, when linked with time, "is
|
|||
|
|
nothing but a convenient fiction of the mathematician." Real space
|
|||
|
|
-- that in which matter extends itself in three dimensions,
|
|||
|
|
breadth, length, height -- is the space of human experience; the
|
|||
|
|
formal linking of space and time being in the nature of a cryptic
|
|||
|
|
experiment of higher mathematics. "Real space and real time
|
|||
|
|
undoubtedly are distinct," says Jeans. [Ibid, p. 76.] They are
|
|||
|
|
undoubtedly such when we consider that the two leading exponents of
|
|||
|
|
"curved space," Einstein and de Sitter, have recently seen fit to
|
|||
|
|
modify their expressions, and jointly affirm that the facts fit an
|
|||
|
|
uncurved and three-dimensional space. ["Einstein Rejects Curved
|
|||
|
|
Space," Literary Digest, May," 1932.] This is the space of Sir
|
|||
|
|
Isaac Newton, the space known to our boyhood days when fish and
|
|||
|
|
fishing-poles bad three dimensions, and when we were rightly taught
|
|||
|
|
that parallel lines never meet. The space in which stars travel is
|
|||
|
|
as three-dimensional as that in which cows, horses and motor-cars
|
|||
|
|
move.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Astronomy has suffered as much from an overdose of mathematics
|
|||
|
|
as from the "mirages of metaphysics" (Durant). The simplest and
|
|||
|
|
most obvious facts have been turned into reveries. We have been
|
|||
|
|
treated not only to an avalanche of impossible verbalism but to
|
|||
|
|
fog-producing phrases like "space bending back upon itself" --
|
|||
|
|
which is the same as picturing a vacuum in the act of turning a
|
|||
|
|
backward handspring, or nothing being distorted by a stomach-ache.
|
|||
|
|
The whole gamut of metaphorical license has been used to befuddle
|
|||
|
|
and confuse. Those who think clearly will talk and write clearly;
|
|||
|
|
and it will take a wholesome naturalism to clean the Augean stables
|
|||
|
|
of accumulated mysticism. As the late Dr. David Starr Jordan wrote
|
|||
|
|
to the present writer, "Perhaps one virtue of the revival of
|
|||
|
|
obscurantism is to wake scientific men up to popular statement of
|
|||
|
|
the truths with which we deal."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
9
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
That astute Englishman, John Stuart Mill, ["The Idea of God in
|
|||
|
|
Nature."] rightly pointed out that it is the "vastness" of the
|
|||
|
|
universe which most impresses man. But "vastness" by itself is
|
|||
|
|
nothing to admire: bigness counts for nothing unless it carries
|
|||
|
|
with it substantial virtues. We may marvel at the towering strength
|
|||
|
|
and muscular development of a brawly individual, but if he behaves
|
|||
|
|
before us like a bully or a fool, his size is unimpressive. It
|
|||
|
|
means nothing to a sea-anemone that it lives in the ocean, when its
|
|||
|
|
movements are so circumscribed and it must thrive within such
|
|||
|
|
narrow limits. An ocean of worlds spinning around us are as useful
|
|||
|
|
as though they did not exist. Indeed, as Mill remarks, [Ibid.] in
|
|||
|
|
speaking of the universe, "though the vast scale of these phenomena
|
|||
|
|
may well excite wonder, and sets at defiance all idea of rivalry,
|
|||
|
|
the feeling it inspires is of a totally different character from
|
|||
|
|
admiration of excellence." It is the enormous power and "bigness"
|
|||
|
|
of the universe that cause us to pause: its activities themselves
|
|||
|
|
rival stupidity.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
NO GLORY OF GOD, BUT APPALLING CELESTIAL WASTE
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
IT was the Psalmist who said, "The heavens declare the glory
|
|||
|
|
of God." They proclaim nothing of the sort: what they really reveal
|
|||
|
|
is nothing but extraordinary waste and ultimate futility. The
|
|||
|
|
blindly-working nature of stellar activity is everywhere apparent.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Wherever we look in the starry expanse we are faced with
|
|||
|
|
stupendous energy spent in the production of trivial "ends," which
|
|||
|
|
are like their "beginnings." Vast stores of solar energy are
|
|||
|
|
squandered throughout interstellar depths, while bodies needing
|
|||
|
|
light and heat are left in darkness and cold. Wherever we turn we
|
|||
|
|
are confronted with "means-to-ends" all out of proportion to the
|
|||
|
|
"ends" achieved, and with a consumption of time and materials
|
|||
|
|
which, measured by, intelligent standards, borders on the criminal.
|
|||
|
|
Everywhere is prodigious activity wasted in boundless dissipation.
|
|||
|
|
Untold billions of years are spent in the ceaseless revolutions of
|
|||
|
|
orbs only to result in a small inhabited planet and a myriad of
|
|||
|
|
barren and uninhabitable globes! An ocean of stars kept in endless
|
|||
|
|
rotation -- for what? Vast continents or clusters of stars, too hot
|
|||
|
|
for the sustenance of living forms, move in stupendous circles in
|
|||
|
|
dreary monotony. Stars are born from nebulae only to pass through
|
|||
|
|
successive degrees of temperature and end in death. One in every
|
|||
|
|
three stars splits in two through excessive rotation and leads
|
|||
|
|
itself a merry chase as double stars circling each other. The
|
|||
|
|
endless grind of motion of going nowhere and arriving at nothing is
|
|||
|
|
the supreme accomplishment of the universe. Everywhere is the
|
|||
|
|
dismal picture of undirected energy spent in bat-blind futility.
|
|||
|
|
"We find," writes Hugh Elliot, [Modern Science and Materialism, p.
|
|||
|
|
39.] "nothing but unimaginable tracts of space and time, in which
|
|||
|
|
move bodies by fixed laws towards ends which are wholly fortuitous,
|
|||
|
|
and have not the smallest relation to the advantage and
|
|||
|
|
requirements of man."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
From the viewpoint of utility, the motions of heavenly bodies
|
|||
|
|
are empty and meaningless. No one in his proper senses can discern
|
|||
|
|
the slightest trace of design in stellar gyrations and the
|
|||
|
|
ceaseless spinning of globes. Of what use is it to the human race
|
|||
|
|
(the so-called "end-all" of existence) to be hurled through the
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
10
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
heavens at 18 miles a second? What good does it do any of us to be
|
|||
|
|
catapulted through the skies and whirled at the same time? What
|
|||
|
|
good does it do God's lesser masterpieces -- the toads, tarantulas
|
|||
|
|
and typhus germs -- to participate in these celestial rides? Why
|
|||
|
|
the silly goose-chase, the merry-go-round of the spheres over such
|
|||
|
|
protracted periods of time?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
To ascribe these aimless and senseless activities to
|
|||
|
|
intelligence is to insult intelligence. Only a charitable sense of
|
|||
|
|
humor can help one to overlook the stark stupidity of attributing
|
|||
|
|
these motional futilities to a guiding mind.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Some find it difficult to conceive how a rotating cloud of
|
|||
|
|
star dust could, without a god, evolve into our world, with all its
|
|||
|
|
manifold forms of life, its complex structures, its Wagnerian
|
|||
|
|
operas, and its Shakespearean dramas. Extremes are always striking,
|
|||
|
|
and when seen without their intermediate steps, appear hopelessly
|
|||
|
|
apart. Yet the connections between gaseous worlds and man and his
|
|||
|
|
sometimes more than gaseous attainments are interwoven with time:
|
|||
|
|
an evolution of billions of years. Man himself is an evolution from
|
|||
|
|
the lowest specks of life, [The evolution of man from lowly forms
|
|||
|
|
of life is a commonplace of biology. "Struggle as we may, be as
|
|||
|
|
snobbish as we will," writes John M. Tyler, professor of biology,
|
|||
|
|
Amherst College, "we cannot shake off these poor relations of ours.
|
|||
|
|
... If we appeal from adult anatomy to embryology the case becomes
|
|||
|
|
all the worse for us. Our ear is lodged in the gill-slit of a fish,
|
|||
|
|
our jaws are bronchial arches, our hyoid bone the rudiment of this
|
|||
|
|
system of bones supporting the gills. Our circulation begins as a
|
|||
|
|
veritable fish circulation; our earliest skeleton is a notochord;
|
|||
|
|
Meckel's cartilage, from which our lower jaw and the bones of our
|
|||
|
|
middle ear develop, is a whole genealogical tree of disagreeable
|
|||
|
|
ancestors. Our glandula thyreoidea has, according to good
|
|||
|
|
authorities, an origin so slimy that it should never be mentioned
|
|||
|
|
in polite society." (The Whence and Whither of Man, p. 99.) and his
|
|||
|
|
attainments have slowly emerged from the gropings of the jungle.
|
|||
|
|
Music itself is a matter of evolution from the savage tom-tom, and
|
|||
|
|
art in form and color finds its crude beginnings in scratches on
|
|||
|
|
stone and mud-daubs made on the dripping walls of caves. After all,
|
|||
|
|
it is not a far cry from a rotating nebula to musical notes, from
|
|||
|
|
"dancing atoms" to music. In spite of pretty words, the sounds of
|
|||
|
|
a violin are scrapings of horsehair on cat-gut: it is man, able to
|
|||
|
|
distinguish between pleasing and offensive sounds, who has slowly
|
|||
|
|
perfected melody. It does not require a miracle to develop the
|
|||
|
|
universe from a gaseous beginning.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Anyone who has seen the two gases, oxygen and hydrogen, before
|
|||
|
|
mixing would never suppose that they would produce a liquid like
|
|||
|
|
water: yet a combination of these two elements will result in a
|
|||
|
|
mixture that is distinctly different from either ingredient. If two
|
|||
|
|
different kinds of atoms can do this, by mixing, in the space of a
|
|||
|
|
moment, what can we not expect from the intermixture, and countless
|
|||
|
|
combinations, of 90 or more different atoms over vast periods of
|
|||
|
|
time? just as the richness of our language can be developed out of
|
|||
|
|
26 letters, and includes every word in the dictionary, so can the
|
|||
|
|
complexity of the universe be made out of the 90 or more atoms.
|
|||
|
|
[Life itself is an assemblage of atoms. "There is," says Sir Edward
|
|||
|
|
Thorpe, "no absolute distinction to be drawn between the chemistry
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
11
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
of the inorganic and organic worlds." And, again: "There can be no
|
|||
|
|
reasonable doubt that the chemical processes of organic life are
|
|||
|
|
essentially similar to those of the laboratory. History of
|
|||
|
|
Chemistry, vol. 1, p. 128, and vol. 2, p. 134.] The facts speak for
|
|||
|
|
themselves. Man, who himself is 75 per cent. water, can, being more
|
|||
|
|
than a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen, do what the ocean cannot do:
|
|||
|
|
weigh the stars. A nebula could easily have contained the raw
|
|||
|
|
material of all that exists. It was Tyndall himself who saw in
|
|||
|
|
matter the promise and potency of all terrestrial life. [Prof. A.E.
|
|||
|
|
Schafer, who succeeded Tyndall as president of the British
|
|||
|
|
Association for the Advancement of Science, made a similar
|
|||
|
|
declaration: "Nothing stands between chemical elements and the
|
|||
|
|
phenomenon called life but the knowledge of exactly how to combine
|
|||
|
|
the elements." (Presidential Address, Dundee, Scotland.)]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"All the innumerable substances," writes Jeans, [The Universe
|
|||
|
|
Around Us, p. 101.] "which occur on earth -- shoes, ships, sealing-
|
|||
|
|
wax, cabbages, kings, carpenters, walruses, oysters, everything we
|
|||
|
|
can think of -- can be analyzed into their constituent atoms. ...
|
|||
|
|
It might be thought that a quite incredible number of different
|
|||
|
|
kinds of atoms would emerge from the rich variety of substances we
|
|||
|
|
find on earth. Actually the number is quite small. The same atoms
|
|||
|
|
turn up again and again, and the great variety of substances we
|
|||
|
|
find on earth result, not from any great variety of atoms entering
|
|||
|
|
into their composition, but from the great variety of ways in which
|
|||
|
|
a few types of atoms can be combined."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
God-believers have assumed that because they see "order" in
|
|||
|
|
the universe, an intelligence must have "ordained" this "order," or
|
|||
|
|
"planned" things the way we see them. Our idea of "order" is
|
|||
|
|
necessarily derived from the existing conditions, whatever these
|
|||
|
|
happen to be; and no matter what arrangement might prevail, we
|
|||
|
|
would be sure to observe "order." It is in the nature of the case
|
|||
|
|
impossible for a thing, or even a group of things, not to bear
|
|||
|
|
relationship to all other things, and whatever relationship exists
|
|||
|
|
constitutes the "established order." No one can think of a thing
|
|||
|
|
which would not stand, in all of its parts, in "orderly"
|
|||
|
|
relationship to the whole. It is impossible to imagine a sequence
|
|||
|
|
of events which would not constitute "order" or which would not
|
|||
|
|
appear to us as "properly connected." If the sun revolved around
|
|||
|
|
the earth, instead of the earth around the sun, or if the earth
|
|||
|
|
were a disk spinning like a cart-wheel through space, instead of a
|
|||
|
|
globe rotating on its axis, we would recognize this as the
|
|||
|
|
"established order" of motion, even though it were the precise
|
|||
|
|
opposite of what we observe now. In brief, any combination of
|
|||
|
|
conditions or circumstances in which we might find ourselves would
|
|||
|
|
appear "orderly" to our perception, because it is the existing
|
|||
|
|
conditions which establish the "order."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The same, or similar, remarks hold good for the use of the
|
|||
|
|
word "system." Astronomers speak of our solar aggregation as a
|
|||
|
|
"system," not because it is intelligently laid out, but because the
|
|||
|
|
term designates a group of bodies in space which are moving in a
|
|||
|
|
particular formation, and whose activities, both individually and
|
|||
|
|
collectively, follow a certain degree of regularity of movement.
|
|||
|
|
These activities we note and tabulate under the word "system." Any
|
|||
|
|
group of bodies moving with regularity and in definite formation
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
12
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
would constitute a "system," regardless of what motions they
|
|||
|
|
pursued or what activities we observed. We would still be dealing
|
|||
|
|
with a "system" if the planets trailed behind the sun, like a
|
|||
|
|
company of soldiers marching in single-file formation. In fact, two
|
|||
|
|
stars circling each other constitute a "system." The word "system"
|
|||
|
|
does not denote intelligent guidance in the working of the cosmos.
|
|||
|
|
[The atheist d'Holbach was once chided by Voltaire for writing a
|
|||
|
|
book called the System of Nature. The sage of Ferney could not
|
|||
|
|
perceive how a non-believer in God could speak of "system" in the
|
|||
|
|
universe. It would have done Voltaire good if he could have
|
|||
|
|
observed, under a microscope, the "systematic" growth of a
|
|||
|
|
malignant tumor and the "systematic" break-down of living cells in
|
|||
|
|
gangrenous affections. Nature is always "systematic," from the
|
|||
|
|
spinning of stars to human putrefaction.]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Stars exist neither for themselves, nor for us, nor for the
|
|||
|
|
"glory of God." They exist because billions of years ago a nebulous
|
|||
|
|
ocean of matter broke up into parts and formed itself into stars.
|
|||
|
|
What happened then, we see duplicated today on an almost parallel
|
|||
|
|
scale in the star-forming nebulae of distant space. There is
|
|||
|
|
nothing more supernatural in the occurrence than in the gradual
|
|||
|
|
breaking up of rarified gases into globulous bodies by a process of
|
|||
|
|
slow condensation. This occurs through the agency known as
|
|||
|
|
"Gravitational Instability." "This causes any mass of chaotic gas
|
|||
|
|
to break up into detached condensations," writes Jeans [The
|
|||
|
|
Universe Around Us, p. 207.] -- a purely physical manifestation.
|
|||
|
|
The "cause" of the stars is definitely known.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The universe, therefore, did not come into existence at the
|
|||
|
|
command of a Ghost. It is, in its entirety, a self-contained, self-
|
|||
|
|
determined, independent reality, consisting of matter in an endless
|
|||
|
|
concatenation of physical and chemical changes. This is the message
|
|||
|
|
of astrophysics and astronomy. Needless to say, it is in entire
|
|||
|
|
conflict with the Aladdin-like nonsense taught by religion, in
|
|||
|
|
which a cosmic Genius or celestial Magus performs miracles under
|
|||
|
|
the name of God.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
What we see around us in the heavens is the celestial media
|
|||
|
|
called matter undergoing change. Stars, suns, planets, satellites,
|
|||
|
|
comets, meteors are but temporary formations in the vast ocean of
|
|||
|
|
space. Matter alone is eternal; it changes only its forms, and the
|
|||
|
|
universe of heavenly bodies we see today is as surely destined to
|
|||
|
|
destruction as is the tiniest of living forms.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The story of astronomy presents a most imposing refutation to
|
|||
|
|
those who assume a supernatural origin of cosmic bodies, or who
|
|||
|
|
insist that celestial activities are governed by intelligence. We
|
|||
|
|
shall here review the evidence as it applies to stellar development
|
|||
|
|
and decay, with particular reference to the idea of God. And in
|
|||
|
|
pursuing our aim we shall keep before us the very stimulating
|
|||
|
|
advice of John Dewey: [Reconstruction in Philosophy, p. 140.] "The
|
|||
|
|
first distinguishing characteristic of thinking is facing the facts
|
|||
|
|
-- inquiry, minute and extensive scrutinizing, observation."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
13
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
CHAPTER II
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
STAR DUST LOOKS ABOUT
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Our studies of the universe show the uniformity of its
|
|||
|
|
chemical structure and generally of its physical laws. We are made
|
|||
|
|
of the same stuff as the stars, so when we study astronomy we are
|
|||
|
|
in a way only investigating our remote ancestry and our place in
|
|||
|
|
the universe of star stuff. Our very bodies consist of the same
|
|||
|
|
chemical elements found in the most distant nebulae, and our
|
|||
|
|
activities are guided by the same universal rules.
|
|||
|
|
-- HARLOW SHAPLEY.
|
|||
|
|
['The Star Stuff that is Man,' N.Y. Times, Aug. 11, 1929.]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Just as the written life of some famous man properly commences
|
|||
|
|
with a portrayal of his family antecedents, so any real history of
|
|||
|
|
the earth should begin with the activities of the sun and the
|
|||
|
|
origin of its present family of planets.
|
|||
|
|
-- ROLLIN T. CHAMBERLAIN.
|
|||
|
|
[The Origin, and Early Stages of the Earth (The Nature of the World
|
|||
|
|
and of Man, p. 31).]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The eye of fabled Cyclops was not even prophetic of the great
|
|||
|
|
telescope at Mt. Wilson, the pupil of whose eye, so to speak, is
|
|||
|
|
100 inches in diameter.
|
|||
|
|
-- FOREST RAY MOULTON.
|
|||
|
|
[Astronomy (The Nature of the World and of Man, p. 1).
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
To understand what has happened, and even what will happen we
|
|||
|
|
have only to examine what is happening.
|
|||
|
|
-- G.L.L. BUFFON
|
|||
|
|
[F. Mason's 'Creation by Evolution,' p. 326.]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE study of the heavens dates back to remote antiquity and to
|
|||
|
|
early periods of pagan culture. As far back as the third millennium
|
|||
|
|
B.C., equinoxes and solstices were determined by the Chinese. This
|
|||
|
|
we learn from the decrees promulgated by the Emperor Yao (2300
|
|||
|
|
B.C.), as recorded in the "Shu Chung," a collection of documents
|
|||
|
|
ancient even in the time of Confucius. In Egypt, as Agnes Mary
|
|||
|
|
Clerke remarks, [Article "Astronomy," Ency. Brit.] "the curiously
|
|||
|
|
precise orientation of the Pyramids affords a lasting demonstration
|
|||
|
|
of the high degree of technical skill in watching the heavens
|
|||
|
|
attained in the third millennium B.C." The orbital motions of the
|
|||
|
|
planets were also known: "The Babylonian computers were not only
|
|||
|
|
aware that Venus returns in almost exactly eight years to a given
|
|||
|
|
starting-point in the sky, but they had established similar
|
|||
|
|
periodic relations in 46, 59, 79 and 83 years severally for
|
|||
|
|
Mercury, Saturn, Mars, and Jupiter."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The movement of celestial bodies was not unknown to the
|
|||
|
|
ancient Greeks. Centuries before the so-called "Savior" of man came
|
|||
|
|
to earth to teach his doctrines of demonology and the immediate
|
|||
|
|
destruction of the world, the celestial bodies had been studied by
|
|||
|
|
the Greeks, and a fair approximation had been reached as to the
|
|||
|
|
motions, of the earth. Pythagoras (600 B.C.) and Philolaus (480
|
|||
|
|
B.C.) taught the rotation of the earth on its axis once in every
|
|||
|
|
twenty-four hours. Aristarchus, a famous Greek astronomer (250
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
14
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
B.C.) was the first to maintain that the earth moves around the
|
|||
|
|
sun. "Leukippos and Demokritos," writes Sir Edward Thorpe, in his
|
|||
|
|
'History of Chemistry,' "explained the creation of the world as due
|
|||
|
|
solely to physical agencies without the intervention of a creative
|
|||
|
|
intelligence." These teachings, the result of pagan culture, were
|
|||
|
|
later obliterated by the corroding influence of Christian
|
|||
|
|
authority, and by the sacred writings of Hebrew tradition in which
|
|||
|
|
the Christians believed. "From the fourth to the thirteenth
|
|||
|
|
century," writes Joseph McCabe, [The Truth About Galilee, p. 34.]
|
|||
|
|
"Christendom had completely forgotten all that the race had already
|
|||
|
|
learned about the stars."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The Church put every obstacle in the path of those opposed to
|
|||
|
|
its teachings. Roger Bacon was imprisoned. Copernicus, in fear of
|
|||
|
|
persecution, withheld, for twelve years, the publication of his
|
|||
|
|
manuscript "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Orbs." Bruno was
|
|||
|
|
burned at the stake by the Catholic Inquisition, and the aged
|
|||
|
|
Galileo was dragged before the Holy Tribunal to abjure, under
|
|||
|
|
threat of torture, the propagation of a doctrine which the
|
|||
|
|
Christian Church pronounced false and inimical to the faith. The
|
|||
|
|
Aristotelian philosophy, which taught that the earth is the fixed
|
|||
|
|
center of the universe, bore the sanction of the Church. To
|
|||
|
|
question it was to go counter to papal decree and the God-inspired
|
|||
|
|
wisdom of popes. Besides, had not Jehovah, the God of the Bible,
|
|||
|
|
"made the stars also" as mere afterthoughts at the time of
|
|||
|
|
creation? And were there not holy texts to show that the earth
|
|||
|
|
existed before the sun?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Under priestly domination, ignorance abounded throughout
|
|||
|
|
Christendom. [The ignorance of the saints was appalling. The
|
|||
|
|
Catholic Encyclopedia (Article "Antipodes") quotes St. Augustine,
|
|||
|
|
a distinguished ambassador of God, as stating: "As to the fable
|
|||
|
|
that there are Antipodes, that is to say, men on the opposite side
|
|||
|
|
of the earth ... men who walk with their feet opposite ours, there
|
|||
|
|
is no reason for believing it." "Christianity," remarks Draper,
|
|||
|
|
"had been in existence fifteen hundred years, and had not produced
|
|||
|
|
a single astronomer." (Conflict Between Religion and Science, p.
|
|||
|
|
157). Man's "immortal soul" was everything, his body nothing.
|
|||
|
|
Material things were of trifling significance. Stars, sun, and
|
|||
|
|
earth would soon be blotted out by an infuriated God, who had once
|
|||
|
|
drowned the world and who was now intent on judging man and
|
|||
|
|
bringing everlasting punishment to those who had offended him.
|
|||
|
|
Personal salvation alone mattered at the end of the world, when
|
|||
|
|
vast hordes of human beings were to be cast into lakes of eternal
|
|||
|
|
hell-fire and suffer with "gnashing of teeth." Here were the
|
|||
|
|
tidings of great joy brought by the lowly Nazarene. It was the age
|
|||
|
|
of faith, when thousands of angels danced on the point of a pin and
|
|||
|
|
the heavens proclaimed the glory of God. It was the golden age of
|
|||
|
|
priests.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
It was not until 1608 -- a little over three centuries ago and
|
|||
|
|
a mere yesterday in the life of our world -- that the first
|
|||
|
|
telescope was constructed (the name of its maker -- Lippershey --
|
|||
|
|
ought to be blazoned in the memory of every man). It was destined
|
|||
|
|
to turn the world of traditional nonsense right-side up, and
|
|||
|
|
establish man's true place in the universe of stars.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
15
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The coming of the telescope marks a pivotal point in the
|
|||
|
|
history of human thought. Before this instrument was invented,
|
|||
|
|
man's insight into the stellar world around him was narrowly
|
|||
|
|
circumscribed by visual limitations. His eyesight was of extremely
|
|||
|
|
feeble range, and not until he had increased his natural vision by
|
|||
|
|
the aid of artificial lenses was he able to penetrate into the more
|
|||
|
|
distant realms of space. By thus augmenting his supposed "God-
|
|||
|
|
given" eyesight with powerful lenses of his own construction, he
|
|||
|
|
has done more in three hundred years of telescopic development to
|
|||
|
|
perfect his visual capacity than nature has done in all these
|
|||
|
|
millions of years of organic evolution.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Today, with natural vision alone, man can see, in a perfectly
|
|||
|
|
clear sky, only 3,000 stars. With a giant instrument of his own
|
|||
|
|
construction he can observe and photograph 1,500 million stars,
|
|||
|
|
This is half a million times as many stars as nature permits him to
|
|||
|
|
see with the naked eye. This is because the lens in the telescope
|
|||
|
|
is intelligently fashioned on scientific lines; and it has taken
|
|||
|
|
man, to perfect it, only a fractional part of the time which nature
|
|||
|
|
has taken, working blindly over millions of years, to evolve the
|
|||
|
|
human eye, with all its inherent weaknesses and well-known optical
|
|||
|
|
defects. [Helmholtz, an outstanding authority in the field of
|
|||
|
|
optical science, in speaking of the human eye, remarked: "If an
|
|||
|
|
optician sent it to me as an instrument, I would send it back with
|
|||
|
|
reproaches for the carelessness of his work and demand the return
|
|||
|
|
of my money." (See Prof. J.B. Bury's A History of Freedom of
|
|||
|
|
Thought, p. 182).
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The new door unlocked by science opened upon a vast domain of
|
|||
|
|
unexplored space. Man's place in the universe began to shrivel to
|
|||
|
|
its proper proportions. Slowly he began to realize that he and his
|
|||
|
|
little earth were inconsequential things in the world of stars.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The priests, the witch-doctors, and the miracle-mongers of
|
|||
|
|
religion had told him a different story. He was, they claimed, at
|
|||
|
|
the center of the universe, and the aim and end of all creation.
|
|||
|
|
Uncritical man believed. Providence watched over him; saints
|
|||
|
|
preserved him if he did the bidding of the Church. Prayers would
|
|||
|
|
alter events, and faith would move mountains. Had not a Jewish
|
|||
|
|
patriarch once made the sun stand still, and had not a prophet
|
|||
|
|
ascended into heaven? It was a pious pipe-dream, of course, in
|
|||
|
|
which the vicious hand of priestcraft and crass ignorance were
|
|||
|
|
everywhere in evidence.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The telescope shattered this illusion. Man shrank to the
|
|||
|
|
impotence of an inconspicuous speck in space, and with him shrank
|
|||
|
|
earth, and sun, and stars and "giant" constellations. Not one of
|
|||
|
|
these relatively-tiny globules or Clusters in the vast ocean of the
|
|||
|
|
sky, was really important in itself. As for the stellar universe as
|
|||
|
|
a whole, it, too , has shriveled to a microscopic dot; and the
|
|||
|
|
modern, high-powered reflector has, paradoxically as it may seem,
|
|||
|
|
made the universe of stars appear to us at once extremely large as
|
|||
|
|
well as extremely small.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
It is because man is infinitesimally small that the stellar
|
|||
|
|
universe seems immeasurably large. In its proper proportions it is
|
|||
|
|
a trifling thing in itself. Measured in terms of space, or in
|
|||
|
|
relation to nothingness, it shrivels to the vanishing point. "Empty
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
16
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Waterloo Station of everything except six specks of dust," writes
|
|||
|
|
Sir James Jeans, [The Universe Around Us, p. 87.] "and it is still
|
|||
|
|
far more crowded with dust than space is with stars." Here briefly
|
|||
|
|
we have a compact picture of the "glory" of the heavens as revealed
|
|||
|
|
by the telescope.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Now, an "Intelligence" which could do no better than to "fill"
|
|||
|
|
Waterloo Station with six specks of dust, after working for
|
|||
|
|
countless billions of years, would not be entitled to a Nobel prize
|
|||
|
|
for achievement; and we must look to purely blindly-working forces,
|
|||
|
|
inherent in matter itself, for an interpretation of phenomena. The
|
|||
|
|
universe is not the product of a mind.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
It is estimated to have taken cosmic evolution somewhere
|
|||
|
|
between 10,000,000 million and 20,000,000 million years to produce
|
|||
|
|
our universe as we see it today, and this includes the entire
|
|||
|
|
period of transition from nebulae to stars and from stars to earth.
|
|||
|
|
It is an inconceivably vast stretch of time for the development of
|
|||
|
|
that which is the equivalent proportionately of six specks of dust
|
|||
|
|
in a great railroad terminal, and the wonder is that we look upon
|
|||
|
|
the "result" as in any way striking or important. It is only
|
|||
|
|
because we are living amid these tiny, floating specks, and that we
|
|||
|
|
are star-dust ourselves, that the matter is of human interest
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
There is, in the religious meaning of the term, no
|
|||
|
|
"harmony of the spheres." "Harmony" implies a close coordination of
|
|||
|
|
parts and mutual interactions for common or beneficial ends. These
|
|||
|
|
do not exist: collisions, conflagrations, explosions, catastrophes,
|
|||
|
|
annihilations of cosmic bodies are of daily and hourly occurrence.
|
|||
|
|
The stellar depths are strewn with the debris of larger bodies --
|
|||
|
|
of wrecked planets and smashed satellites, of stars shattered by
|
|||
|
|
rotating too fast. And headed for the celestial scrap-heap are the
|
|||
|
|
myriads of meteors that shower the heavens like rain, and enormous-
|
|||
|
|
tailed comets which dart aimlessly about, and burnt-out moons which
|
|||
|
|
spin and spin as mute reminders of beginnings that end in spinning.
|
|||
|
|
Added to these are the binary stars, caught by mutual attraction,
|
|||
|
|
and forced forever to travel around each other in senseless
|
|||
|
|
revolutions.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Nor is there the slightest indication of a general "plan" or
|
|||
|
|
uniform pattern in the structure, shape, composition and motions of
|
|||
|
|
heavenly bodies. There is no "uniformity" as to size, weight,
|
|||
|
|
temperature, density, luminosity, or placement of the stars. [Thus
|
|||
|
|
the huge star Sirius A, with a diameter fifty times that of its
|
|||
|
|
dwarf companion Sirius B, weighs only three times as much as the
|
|||
|
|
similar star: the latter being so densely packed that each cubic
|
|||
|
|
inch contains nearly a ton of matter. These are extremes. In
|
|||
|
|
general, the discrepancies are not so great. With temperature
|
|||
|
|
nearly twice that of the sun, Sirius A stands out as the most
|
|||
|
|
brilliant star in the sky. It is familiarly known as the Dog-star.]
|
|||
|
|
They differ in every conceivable way, like a helter-skelter of odd
|
|||
|
|
things thrown together in hopeless confusion. Large stars may, in
|
|||
|
|
some cases, weigh less than even smaller ones. This, of course, is
|
|||
|
|
due to their differences in density. Stars range in size from
|
|||
|
|
super-giants like Antares (which occupies 90,000,000 times as much
|
|||
|
|
space as the sun) to dwarf stars like van Maanen's, which is as
|
|||
|
|
tiny as the earth. The distances between the stars and their
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
17
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
nearest neighbors vary from a few million to many millions of
|
|||
|
|
miles. Some stars are young, some middle-aged, some old. There are
|
|||
|
|
vast patches in the heavens where no stars exist; others where
|
|||
|
|
mighty clusters are gathered, or where two lonely binary stars, far
|
|||
|
|
removed from the rest, whirl out their hopeless destiny. Nebulae
|
|||
|
|
have no well-defined outlines; and of the millions that exist there
|
|||
|
|
are perhaps no two alike. Nor do they all give birth to stars.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Even the solar system itself is without complete motional
|
|||
|
|
uniformity. The planets of our "system" are all moving in one
|
|||
|
|
direction -- except Uranus, which moves from north to south. The
|
|||
|
|
satellite of Neptune moves counter to the entire system of
|
|||
|
|
satellites. "The most curious feature of this satellite," writes
|
|||
|
|
Newcomb, [Astronomy for Everybody, p. 235.] "is that it moves from
|
|||
|
|
east to west." Again, the planets differ greatly in the
|
|||
|
|
eccentricities of their orbits, or in the ellipses they describe.
|
|||
|
|
Some planets are hot, some cold. Two have nine satellites; one,
|
|||
|
|
four; one, two; two, one; and two have no satellites. Some are more
|
|||
|
|
flattened at the poles than others; each varies in respect to the
|
|||
|
|
inclination of its axis to the plane of its orbit. Even the orbits
|
|||
|
|
themselves are not placed on a level or horizontal plane with
|
|||
|
|
respect to one another: if we regard the earth's orbit as
|
|||
|
|
"horizontal," the orbits of the other planets are tipped at various
|
|||
|
|
degrees. There is no "even keel" in the heavens. Even the earth's
|
|||
|
|
axis is not stable but wobbles in its rotation. "The axis of the
|
|||
|
|
earth does not preserve an invariable direction in space, but in a
|
|||
|
|
certain time it describes a cone, in much the same manner as the
|
|||
|
|
axis of a top spinning out of the vertical." [Article "Earth,"
|
|||
|
|
Ency. Brit.]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The courses of the comets are most irregular, varying from
|
|||
|
|
elliptical to parabolic and hyperbolic orbits, describing the most
|
|||
|
|
eccentric curves in their wanderings through space. Sometimes a
|
|||
|
|
comet is "captured" by one of our planets, or, by coming too close
|
|||
|
|
to the sun, is split into fragments. Nowhere is there stability or
|
|||
|
|
permanency in the heavens. Nor is there a "deign."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
In sum, the universe as we see it is precisely what we might
|
|||
|
|
expect under the circumstances: an aggregation of activities that
|
|||
|
|
know not what they are doing nor where they are headed in their
|
|||
|
|
mad-hatter pace -- a series of occurrences which block and trip
|
|||
|
|
each other at every turn, by undoing, in a single instant, what
|
|||
|
|
they laboriously did a moment ago: a game of building and
|
|||
|
|
destroying without purpose or end. And behind it all there is no
|
|||
|
|
sign of that ghostly being which is said to guide the Whole.
|
|||
|
|
"Experience," writes Hugh Elliot, [Modern Science and Materialism,
|
|||
|
|
p. 39.] "affords not the smallest trace of evidence for the
|
|||
|
|
existence of any spiritual entity."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
CHAPTER III
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
DAWN: NEBULAE AND STARS
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The stately drama of stellar evolution turns out to be more
|
|||
|
|
like the hair-breadth escapades of the films. The music of the
|
|||
|
|
spheres has almost a suggestion of -- jazz.
|
|||
|
|
-- Sir A.S. EDDINGTON. [Stars and Atona, p. 27.]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
18
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Each star may be considered to go through a series of changes
|
|||
|
|
analogous to those of a human being from birth to old age. In its
|
|||
|
|
infancy a star is simply a nebulous mass; it gradually condenses
|
|||
|
|
into a smaller volume, growing hotter ... until a stage of maximum
|
|||
|
|
temperature is reached, when it begins to cool off.
|
|||
|
|
-- SIMON NEWCOMB. [The Stars, p. 220.]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The stillness of the heavens is, however, apparent only, for
|
|||
|
|
commotion of the fiercest kind is raging on all sides. Stars are
|
|||
|
|
suns, and the suns are spheres of fire blazing with fury
|
|||
|
|
indescribable; scenes of activity so tremendous that no vehemence
|
|||
|
|
of tempest or tornado on earth can give the slightest idea of their
|
|||
|
|
fearfulness. -- J. STARK BROWNE. ["The Numbers and
|
|||
|
|
Distances of the Stars," The Rationalist Annual, 1931.]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Nebulae are the birthplaces of the stars, so that each nebula
|
|||
|
|
consists of stars born and stars not yet born.
|
|||
|
|
-- Sir JAMES JEANS. [The Universe Around Us, p. 69..]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Matter, says the spectroscope, is essentially the same every
|
|||
|
|
where, in the earth and the sun, in the comet that visits us once
|
|||
|
|
in a thousand years, in the star whose distance is incalculable,
|
|||
|
|
and in the great clouds of "fire mist" that we call nebulae.
|
|||
|
|
-- The Outline of Science. [p. 37.]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ORIGIN OF THE STARS
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"CHOOSE a point in space at random," writes Jeans, [The
|
|||
|
|
Universe Around Us, p. 106.] "and the odds against its being
|
|||
|
|
occupied by a star are enormous." This is because relatively empty
|
|||
|
|
space itself makes up, by far, the major part of celestial
|
|||
|
|
existence.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Stars are so distant from the earth that their movements in
|
|||
|
|
the sky cannot be observed by the naked eye, and, it is only by the
|
|||
|
|
aid of the most powerful telescopes that we can detect their change
|
|||
|
|
of relative position. From one year to another, or even from
|
|||
|
|
century to century, they appear as "fixed" points of light. No
|
|||
|
|
wonder that many of the ancients thought them immovable. Yet move
|
|||
|
|
they do, and at speeds that transcend the imagination. It may be
|
|||
|
|
stated in general that stars travel at a speed equal to 1,000 times
|
|||
|
|
that of an express train, one of them in particular reaching the
|
|||
|
|
tremendous velocity of 150 miles per second. This is the star
|
|||
|
|
Groombridge 1830, mentioned by Eddington. Why they should thus
|
|||
|
|
speed through space when speeding will only bring them back to
|
|||
|
|
where they were before, why they should pursue this ceaseless,
|
|||
|
|
endless chase, is for the design-arguers to explain. If there is
|
|||
|
|
any intelligence manifested in this useless expenditure of energy,
|
|||
|
|
this mad pace, century after century, aeon after aeon, it is not
|
|||
|
|
apparent; on the contrary, it indicates a response to the blind
|
|||
|
|
urge of non-thinking necessity.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Everywhere in the heavens bodies are in motion; and they are
|
|||
|
|
held to their orbits by the iron hand of gravitation, with all its
|
|||
|
|
actions and interactions in the ever-changing field of stellar
|
|||
|
|
movement and positions. Nowhere is there rest. Even the great
|
|||
|
|
galactic system of which we form a part and which, according to
|
|||
|
|
Shapley's estimate, contains 100,000 million stars, rotates one
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
19
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
revolution every 300 million years -- a vast pivoting mass of
|
|||
|
|
incandescent bodies, whose outer rim moves at a speed of thousands
|
|||
|
|
of miles a second. This rotating disk of stars has turned but
|
|||
|
|
several times since the earth was born. What purpose, we may
|
|||
|
|
inquire, do such motions serve in the life of man, the so-called
|
|||
|
|
"end-all" and objective of existence? And how can we see in any
|
|||
|
|
such movements the earmarks of "design"? A moving mass that gets
|
|||
|
|
itself nowhere except where it was before, which takes unthinkable
|
|||
|
|
ages to complete an entire circle, and knows not why it moves, is
|
|||
|
|
undoubtedly moving by potentialities resident in the original
|
|||
|
|
nebulae from which these bodies were born.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The familiar rate of speed at which light travels, 186,000
|
|||
|
|
miles a second (which is, incidentally, about a million times the
|
|||
|
|
speed of sound), gives us a faint but impressive picture of stellar
|
|||
|
|
distances. A star is said to be so many "light-years" away -- this
|
|||
|
|
meaning the number of years light must travel from that particular
|
|||
|
|
star to reach our planet. The nearest fixed star -- Proxima
|
|||
|
|
Centauri -- happens to be 4 1/4 "light-years" away, so we can see
|
|||
|
|
how far our nearest stellar neighbor is removed from our little
|
|||
|
|
earth. Four and a quarter years ago the light by which we see
|
|||
|
|
Proxima Centauri left this star for its journey through space.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The nearest rim of stars is about a million times more distant
|
|||
|
|
from the earth than the nearest planet. Venus, our next-door
|
|||
|
|
planetary neighbor, never comes closer than 26,000,000 miles to
|
|||
|
|
earth. Proxima Cdntauri, the nearest star, is approximately a
|
|||
|
|
million times more distant, or, to be a little more exact,
|
|||
|
|
25,000,000 million miles. It is difficult to visualize in these
|
|||
|
|
figures the full significance of our petty position in space and
|
|||
|
|
the futility of terrestrial existence and life when measured in
|
|||
|
|
terms of stellar depths.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Let us take a still further jaunt into space. Far beyond
|
|||
|
|
Proxima Centauri, past a series of star-cluster's and solitary
|
|||
|
|
orbs, through a veritable wilderness of worlds and empty deserts of
|
|||
|
|
space, lie the remote -- the extremely remote -- extra-galactic
|
|||
|
|
nebulae. "The most distant of them," writes Jeans, [The Universe
|
|||
|
|
Around Us, p. 69.] "is about 140 million light-years from us." It
|
|||
|
|
is the furthermost point the human eye has seen.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The light which reaches us today from these very remote
|
|||
|
|
regions of space started on its lightning-like journey millions of
|
|||
|
|
years before Joshua is said to have made the sun stand still, or
|
|||
|
|
Jesus is reputed to have ascended into heaven. [A "light-year" is
|
|||
|
|
about 6,000,000,000,000 miles, so that any one who cares to may
|
|||
|
|
calculate the distance which Jesus had to travel in order to reach
|
|||
|
|
the nearest fixed star in his "ascension' into heaven] Indeed, it
|
|||
|
|
is certain that the early ancestor of Joshua and Jesus -- the ape-
|
|||
|
|
man, Pithecanthropus Erectus -- had not yet been born. In fact, the
|
|||
|
|
very earth had not even given birth to the Thunder Reptile and the
|
|||
|
|
mighty Tyrannosaurs. It was long before the coming of the
|
|||
|
|
Dinosaurs, when God preferred the company of reptiles to that of
|
|||
|
|
men. [According to Lucas (Am. Mus. of Nat. Hist. Guide Leaflet No.
|
|||
|
|
70), the Dinosaurs first appeared on the earth "some 35,000,000
|
|||
|
|
years ago." At that time, the light by which we now see the extra-
|
|||
|
|
galactic nebulae had already traveled over 100 million years.]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
20
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Every schoolboy knows that the stars are much older than the
|
|||
|
|
earth, and that our little globe is a mere infant in point of time.
|
|||
|
|
It was, relatively speaking, born only yesterday, while the life of
|
|||
|
|
the stars may be measured in figures which stagger the imagination.
|
|||
|
|
"Time," as Jeans reminds us, [The Universe Around Us, p. 81.]
|
|||
|
|
"leaves its mark, its wrinkles and its grey hairs, on the stars, so
|
|||
|
|
that we can guess their ages tolerably well, and the evidence is
|
|||
|
|
all in favor of stellar lives, not of thousands of millions, but of
|
|||
|
|
millions of millions, of years." Our earth is probably not more
|
|||
|
|
than 2,000 million years old, [This is Jeah's figure. Charles
|
|||
|
|
Schuchert, professor of paleontology, Yale University, states: "No
|
|||
|
|
geologist today thinks that the evolution of the earth and its life
|
|||
|
|
could have taken place in less than 100,000,000 years. My own view
|
|||
|
|
as a student of historical geology is that geologic time endured
|
|||
|
|
about 800,000,000 years." The earth is, cosmologically considered,
|
|||
|
|
very young.] a mere nothing in point of time when compared to the
|
|||
|
|
life of the stars.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The Jewish cosmologists who wrote their astronomy in days of
|
|||
|
|
pious ignorance, and handed it along in the form of sacred
|
|||
|
|
literature and as divinely inspired, failed utterly to grasp the
|
|||
|
|
natural sequence of events. According to the so-called Mosaic
|
|||
|
|
account of "creation," the earth was made before the sun; the stars
|
|||
|
|
were a mere afterthought to the "creation" of the earth. "He made
|
|||
|
|
the stars also" is as little valid in astronomy today as the story
|
|||
|
|
of the fairy godmother in Cinderella, who turned a pumpkin into a
|
|||
|
|
coach, is valid in chemistry. Stars were not "made" by a Jewish
|
|||
|
|
Magician, nor is there any "he" involved in their development: they
|
|||
|
|
evolve, and their emergence from nebulous matter, by natural means,
|
|||
|
|
is wholly foreign to the pitiably-ignorant nursery tales hatched by
|
|||
|
|
religion. The author of the article on "Genesis" in the
|
|||
|
|
Encyclopedia Britannica, Stanley Arthur Cook, does well in stating
|
|||
|
|
what all astronomers and geologists know, namely: "That the records
|
|||
|
|
of the pre-historic ages in Genesis I-XI are at complete variance
|
|||
|
|
with modern science and archaeological research is unquestionable."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
With these facts before us, we can dismiss, as altogether
|
|||
|
|
trivial, those teachings of religion which picture man as important
|
|||
|
|
in the life of the universe or the stars as mere by-products of
|
|||
|
|
existence. "We can say," writes Jeans, [The Universe Around Us, p.
|
|||
|
|
326.] "that the stars have existed as such for from 5 to 10 million
|
|||
|
|
million years, and that their atoms may have previously existed in
|
|||
|
|
nebulae for at least a comparable, and possibly for a much longer,
|
|||
|
|
time."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"As a general rule," writes Simon Newcomb, ["Astrophysics,"
|
|||
|
|
Ency. Brit.] "the incandescent heavenly bodies are not masses of
|
|||
|
|
solid or liquid matter, as formerly assumed, but mainly masses of
|
|||
|
|
gas, or of substances gaseous in their nature."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The low density of the stars, due to their gaseous nature, is
|
|||
|
|
another decisive factor against any concept of life on the stars.
|
|||
|
|
["In many stars the material is so inflated," writes Eddington,
|
|||
|
|
"that it is more tenuous than the air around us; for example, if
|
|||
|
|
you were inside Capella you would not notice the material of
|
|||
|
|
Capella any more than you notice the air in this room" (Stars and
|
|||
|
|
Atoms, p. 31.)] The giant star Antares, with a diameter of
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
21
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
390,000,000 miles, is well suited in area for the maintenance of
|
|||
|
|
life on a tremendous scale, but it is so tenuous in structure that
|
|||
|
|
it may be compared almost to a huge vacuum. This mammoth globe of
|
|||
|
|
rarefied gas is so large that the sun, to equal it in size, would
|
|||
|
|
have to expand to more than the diameter of the earth's orbit
|
|||
|
|
around the sun. Antares, in fact, occupies 90,000,000 times as much
|
|||
|
|
space as the sun, yet offers not a single square inch of surface as
|
|||
|
|
a foot-hold for life. Of what use is such a globe, seeing that it
|
|||
|
|
cannot produce even a blade of grass? And it is but one of four
|
|||
|
|
mammoth stars, the others being the super-giants, Hercules, Ceti,
|
|||
|
|
and Betelgeux, all of which are gaseous and uninhabitable orbs.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Astronomers are thoroughly agreed as to the origin of the
|
|||
|
|
stars. The primeval chaos, or nebular mist, out of which these huge
|
|||
|
|
bodies evolved, must have been of extremely low density, since all
|
|||
|
|
the matter now observable in the stars, if scattered evenly
|
|||
|
|
throughout the known areas of space reached by the telescope, would
|
|||
|
|
form only a thin veil of unthinkable rarity. This attenuated mass
|
|||
|
|
of matter, representing the "batter" of future worlds, was the
|
|||
|
|
substance out of which all things evolved. Here again we are
|
|||
|
|
confronted with the great emptiness of space, in which all the
|
|||
|
|
matter of the universe would then be spread out in a thin cloud of
|
|||
|
|
star-mist. This gossamer mist would then be so thin that the
|
|||
|
|
molecules in it, according to Jeans, would be from two to three
|
|||
|
|
yards apart! How thinly these molecules would be scattered may be
|
|||
|
|
judged by comparing them with the compactness of the molecules in
|
|||
|
|
air, which, on the average, are about an eight-millionth of an inch
|
|||
|
|
apart.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
It is futile, therefore, for the theist to think of the stars
|
|||
|
|
as possible abodes of life. They are terrifically hot bodies --
|
|||
|
|
hotter, in general, than anything we can experience on earth, or of
|
|||
|
|
which we can conceive. Stars range from as low as the temperature
|
|||
|
|
of an ordinary coal fire (one may place one's hand in the open
|
|||
|
|
grate if he wants to know how hot this is) up to 28,000 degrees,
|
|||
|
|
the estimated temperature of Plackett's Star. Obviously, life
|
|||
|
|
Cannot exist under these thermal conditions; and when we consider
|
|||
|
|
the vast number of stars in the galactic system, computed by Sears
|
|||
|
|
as 30,000 million and by Eddington as 300,000 million, we can see
|
|||
|
|
the utter futility of these "burning" globes, as far as life is
|
|||
|
|
related to stellar activity.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
CELESTIAL MECHANICS
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A GREAT landmark was reached when Pierre Laplace, in 1796,
|
|||
|
|
published his Systeme du Monde. In this he set forth his famous
|
|||
|
|
nebular hypothesis, in which the birth of stars and planets was
|
|||
|
|
traced to a rotating nebula -- an hypothesis, by the way, which
|
|||
|
|
entirely dispensed with God.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The nebular hypothesis of Laplace has been largely augmented
|
|||
|
|
or modified, rather than entirely superseded, by subsequent
|
|||
|
|
observation; yet to the great French astronomer is due the
|
|||
|
|
formation of a theory which still holds good in part, and which
|
|||
|
|
accounts for the formation of stars. "Apart from minor details,"
|
|||
|
|
writes Jeans, [The Universe Around Us. p. 231.] "the process
|
|||
|
|
imagined by Laplace explains the birth of suns out of nebulae; it
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
22
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
cannot explain the birth of planets out of suns." This is because
|
|||
|
|
the sequence of events in the development of planets is distinct
|
|||
|
|
from that formulated by Laplace in respect to suns. Nevertheless,
|
|||
|
|
he was the Darwin of the skies, who first, in a masterly way and
|
|||
|
|
with a grasp of mathematics which far transcended that of many of
|
|||
|
|
his contemporaries, traced the evolution of heavenly bodies from a
|
|||
|
|
simple and widely-diffused mist, or nebula, in a state of rotation,
|
|||
|
|
up to the giant constellations and colossal star systems we see
|
|||
|
|
today. His theory, which still forms the basic outline of present-
|
|||
|
|
day cosmological development, falls short of explaining the origin
|
|||
|
|
of planets from a sun, and here we come to the tidal theory
|
|||
|
|
postulated by Jeans, which will be considered in due course.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Whatever particular process heavenly bodies pursued in their
|
|||
|
|
evolution from nebulae up to mighty constellations, one thing is
|
|||
|
|
tolerably certain. Stars came into existence, not at the command of
|
|||
|
|
a ghost, nor by a few words spoken in Hebrew, but by a process of
|
|||
|
|
slow condensation in the primeval chaos, consuming many billions of
|
|||
|
|
years. The same process may be witnessed today in what are called
|
|||
|
|
rotating nebulae, of which many millions exist, and is recorded on
|
|||
|
|
photographic plates. "These photographs," says Jeans, [The Universe
|
|||
|
|
Around Us, p. 230.] "exhibit a process taking place before our
|
|||
|
|
eyes, which is essentially identical with that imagined by Laplace,
|
|||
|
|
except for a colossal difference of scale. Everything happens
|
|||
|
|
qualitatively as Laplace imagined, but on a scale incomparably
|
|||
|
|
grander than he ever dreamed of. In these photographs the primitive
|
|||
|
|
nebula is not a single sun in the making; it contains substance
|
|||
|
|
sufficient to form hundreds of millions of suns; the condensations
|
|||
|
|
do not form puny planets the size of our earth, but are themselves
|
|||
|
|
suns." This is what we witness today, and it is in deadly conflict
|
|||
|
|
with the theory of creation as pictured in the Bible.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Nor is there, in any concept of cosmic evolution, any need of
|
|||
|
|
postulating a ghostly finger twirling the stars, or starting them
|
|||
|
|
spinning in their orbits. No initial push, no divine "shove" is
|
|||
|
|
required even in the earliest stages of stellar evolution. As Jeans
|
|||
|
|
points out, [The Universe Around Us, p. 214.] "Stars, as soon as
|
|||
|
|
they come into being, are endowed with rotations transmitted to
|
|||
|
|
them by their parent nebula, in addition to the rotations resulting
|
|||
|
|
from the currents set up in the process of condensation."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
From chaos to nebulae, from nebulae to stars, and from stars
|
|||
|
|
to planets and satellites, a steady procession of natural events
|
|||
|
|
occurs, unattended by deities or demons. Stars move, not because of
|
|||
|
|
some heavenly hand, but because of what is known as the
|
|||
|
|
"conservation of angular momentum." This means, as Jeans explains,
|
|||
|
|
[Ibid., p. 214.] that "rotation, like energy, cannot entirely
|
|||
|
|
disappear. Its total amount is conserved, so that when a nebulae
|
|||
|
|
breaks up into stars, the original rotation of the nebula must be
|
|||
|
|
conserved in the rotations of the stars." And this rotary movement
|
|||
|
|
is traceable to nothing more supernatural than "the existence of
|
|||
|
|
currents in the primordial medium" which "endow the resulting
|
|||
|
|
nebulae with varying amounts of rotation." Hence, by the inherent
|
|||
|
|
properties of motion, with which matter is endowed, the entire
|
|||
|
|
fabric of the universe is woven, and continues in a state of
|
|||
|
|
motion. There is no time thinkable when matter was at rest, or
|
|||
|
|
without the property of motion or of changing its position in
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
23
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
space, whether in the form of giant stars whirling through space at
|
|||
|
|
a thousand times the speed of an express train or of a molecule of
|
|||
|
|
air traversing a tiny space at 500 yards a second, the approximate
|
|||
|
|
speed of a rifle bullet. Matter in motion is eternal: the vision of
|
|||
|
|
"dead," inert, or motionless matter stirred to sudden activity by
|
|||
|
|
a ghost belongs to the age of fables.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Unquestionably, motion is as much a quality or an attribute of
|
|||
|
|
matter as form and extension, and is as inseparable from it as
|
|||
|
|
either of these are from the basic substratum we call matter.
|
|||
|
|
Those, therefore, who, in the interest of theism, insist that there
|
|||
|
|
must have been a time when matter was not endowed with motion, do
|
|||
|
|
not even understand the law of probability. There is no more reason
|
|||
|
|
to suppose a time when matter was at rest, as a time when matter
|
|||
|
|
did not possess the attributes of form and extension. Motion is as
|
|||
|
|
old as matter itself, and matter is as old as time.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
That matter was "originally" a dead, inert mass, incapable of
|
|||
|
|
motion, and received its "first impetus" from some external agency,
|
|||
|
|
usually thought to be intelligent, rests upon not a jot of
|
|||
|
|
evidence. Even the nebula from which the stars came, rare and
|
|||
|
|
extended as it was, must have been moved by inherent properties of
|
|||
|
|
its own, quite the same as matter moves to-day, without the shadow
|
|||
|
|
of aid from anything outside itself.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"There is no difficulty," writes Sir Robert S. Ball, [Article
|
|||
|
|
"Nebular Theory," Ency. Brit.] Director of the Cambridge
|
|||
|
|
Observatory, "in conceiving how a nebula, quite independently of
|
|||
|
|
any internal motion of its parts, shall also have had as a whole a
|
|||
|
|
movement of rotation. In fact a little consideration of the theory
|
|||
|
|
of probabilities will show it to be infinitely probable that such
|
|||
|
|
an object should really have some movement of rotation, no matter
|
|||
|
|
by what causes the nebula may have originated. As this vast mass
|
|||
|
|
cooled it must by the laws of heat have contracted towards the
|
|||
|
|
center, and as it contracted it must, according to the law of
|
|||
|
|
dynamics, rotate more rapidly."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The inherent property of matter observed in the law of
|
|||
|
|
gravitation -- by which every particle of matter attracts every
|
|||
|
|
other particle inversely as the square of the distance -- is the
|
|||
|
|
fundamental keystone of physical astronomy. On it is based the
|
|||
|
|
entire fabric of the heavens. The development of stars and sun, and
|
|||
|
|
their suspension and movements in space rest on nothing more
|
|||
|
|
complicated than this simple physical property of matter, which
|
|||
|
|
extends from the atoms in a tiny speck of dust to mighty stars
|
|||
|
|
weighing millions of millions of tons. The universal "law,"
|
|||
|
|
discovered by Newton is apparent throughout the heavens as in the
|
|||
|
|
world of the microscope.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The wonderment which the savage or the theologian might feel
|
|||
|
|
in seeing heavenly bodies "hanging on nothing" or suspended midway
|
|||
|
|
in the sky loses its glamour once the principle of gravitation is
|
|||
|
|
understood. The "suspension" of bodies in a medium lighter than
|
|||
|
|
themselves, and traveling through space at the tremendous speed of
|
|||
|
|
18 miles a second, may be readily grasped once, we arrive at a
|
|||
|
|
clear understanding of the agency responsible for the phenomenon.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
24
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
We are held to the earth, and the earth is held to the sun by this
|
|||
|
|
property of matter; and the moon travels about the earth and is
|
|||
|
|
held from a headlong plunge into space by the earth's attraction.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"There is not the slightest doubt," says Jeans, [The Universe
|
|||
|
|
Around Us, pp.. 157, 158.] "as to what determines the motions of
|
|||
|
|
the stars; it is the law of gravitation, every star attracting
|
|||
|
|
every other star with a force which varies inversely as the square
|
|||
|
|
of their distance apart ... the mere law of gravitation, together
|
|||
|
|
with the supposition that the stars cannot exercise free-will as to
|
|||
|
|
whether they obey it or not, are enough." In a word, these moving
|
|||
|
|
orbs are not following an intelligent command, but are moving by
|
|||
|
|
inner properties of their own, in response to the iron urge of
|
|||
|
|
physical attraction.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
NO GOD GUIDES THE STARS
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
MOST persons think of orbits as "nicely-planned" paths which
|
|||
|
|
have been "properly spaced" apart, in order that moving bodies may
|
|||
|
|
travel in "safety". For billions of years celestial bodies have
|
|||
|
|
been moving in ever-changing orbits, many of which, through the
|
|||
|
|
vast interplay of gravitational hold of one body on another, have
|
|||
|
|
led to countless collisions and the elimination of bodies. Orbits
|
|||
|
|
which now remain and which excite so much admiration and wonder in
|
|||
|
|
the eyes of the theist, on account of their "proper placing" in the
|
|||
|
|
heavens, are merely those which have survived the long play of time
|
|||
|
|
-- orbits which were distant enough, and sufficiently isolated, not
|
|||
|
|
to conflict or interfere with one another. The natural elimination
|
|||
|
|
of intersecting orbits has resulted in preserving those bodies
|
|||
|
|
whose orbits have not crossed.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
It is easy to see that orbits were never "planned", because an
|
|||
|
|
elliptical course is the least safe of paths, and it is this
|
|||
|
|
irregularity which causes most collisions in the heavens. A
|
|||
|
|
circular or nearly circular orbit is "safer" for a moving body to
|
|||
|
|
travel in than elliptical orbit of large eccentricity, and most
|
|||
|
|
orbits are of the latter type. If there were "intelligence" behind
|
|||
|
|
the universe, all orbits would have been circular. "If all the
|
|||
|
|
orbits were nearly circular," remarks Rolling T. Chamberlain, ["The
|
|||
|
|
Origin and Early Stages of the Earth," in The Nature of the World
|
|||
|
|
and of Man, p. 37.] "only a few of the separate bodies moving in
|
|||
|
|
them would come into collision with one another. But since the
|
|||
|
|
orbits are ellipses, differing much in shape and dimensions, many
|
|||
|
|
of the particles have opportunities of collision." Those who admire
|
|||
|
|
"nicely placed" orbits are simply looking at those of which the
|
|||
|
|
natural spacing apart has preserved them from destruction and
|
|||
|
|
extinction; the others have gone to the scrap-heap.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Our universe, as theistically conceived, is a wound-up piece
|
|||
|
|
of mechanism, "made in the beginning" to go on forever or by an
|
|||
|
|
occasional re-winding or adjustment of its parts. God is ever on
|
|||
|
|
hand to give the stars and planets a fresh push if they lag in
|
|||
|
|
their orbits, or restore them to their courses if they get out of
|
|||
|
|
line and wander from their "appointed paths". It is a god-sized
|
|||
|
|
job, but quite easy for one who has been at it for billions of
|
|||
|
|
years.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
25
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
All the talk of a supreme intelligence or "mind" planning the
|
|||
|
|
orbits of the stars and then sitting back and watching them follow
|
|||
|
|
their prescribed courses is idle chatter to the ears of the
|
|||
|
|
scientist. There are no settled courses, no "fixed" orbits for
|
|||
|
|
stars; and what seems a non-varying course is, in reality, subject
|
|||
|
|
to the universal law of eternal change. Stars move in ever-changing
|
|||
|
|
orbits due to their ceaseless loss of weight through radiation and
|
|||
|
|
to the ever-changing "hold" which one body exerts on another. It is
|
|||
|
|
not likely that a star ever actually returns to the same position
|
|||
|
|
in space it occupied before, due to the continuous shift of
|
|||
|
|
heavenly bodies, both in respect to individual and mass movements
|
|||
|
|
and complex interplay of gravitational pull between bodies. As a
|
|||
|
|
matter of fact, our universe is fast thinning out, spreading itself
|
|||
|
|
out into interstellar space. Permanent orbits do not exist.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Nor can we, under any consideration, regard the stars and
|
|||
|
|
planets, as we see them today, as individually etemal. The matter
|
|||
|
|
of which they are composed will endure, but in different forms and
|
|||
|
|
in different expressions of energy. The universe is slowly "running
|
|||
|
|
down," exhausting itself by its tremendous outpouring of energy
|
|||
|
|
through radiation. There is no replacement of stellar energy, and
|
|||
|
|
while all matter that now exists will continue to exist in one form
|
|||
|
|
or another, its powers will have been spent like so much water
|
|||
|
|
which, having run over a mill wheel, lies dormant in the pond. Such
|
|||
|
|
is Jean's picture of the ultimate fate of the universe of stars.
|
|||
|
|
"We are left with a dead, although possibly a warm, universe -- a
|
|||
|
|
'heat-death'", says Jeans. [The Universe Around Us, p. 320.] And
|
|||
|
|
while the conservation of energy is a fundamental axiom of science,
|
|||
|
|
it does not mean that energy cannot so alter its forms of activity
|
|||
|
|
that it will not cease to exist in a particular form.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
One thing is certain. Sun and stars cannot go on radiating
|
|||
|
|
energy and reducing as they do now without coming to the end of
|
|||
|
|
their individual existence. Eventually they must consume their
|
|||
|
|
entire substance by dissipation and the expenditure of their latent
|
|||
|
|
powers. Their energies will have then become scattered through
|
|||
|
|
space, and stars themselves will have then been absorbed in the
|
|||
|
|
vast tide of what Shapley calls the universal Drift. Man sees
|
|||
|
|
"fixity" and "permanency" in the stars only because his own life is
|
|||
|
|
so brief, because his existence, measured by the stars, is a mere
|
|||
|
|
blink in the darkness, a feeble flash in an eternity of time. Were
|
|||
|
|
he able to extend his span of life to a few billion years he would
|
|||
|
|
realize that the apparent "unchangeable order" and "arrangement" of
|
|||
|
|
the universe is a matter of never-ending change, and that there is
|
|||
|
|
going on continuous revolutions in the form, structure, and
|
|||
|
|
positions of heavenly bodies. "As eternal as the stars" is a
|
|||
|
|
relative rather than an actual description, since we know, as well
|
|||
|
|
as we know anything, that stars are born to die, Nowhere is there
|
|||
|
|
an exception to the universal law of formation and annihilation,
|
|||
|
|
birth and extinction.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
It has been argued by the theist that the heavenly bodies are
|
|||
|
|
so nicely "guided" in space that they never collide; that their
|
|||
|
|
orbits are so "laid out" that each star keeps its appointed
|
|||
|
|
distance from all the others; that, in a word, we are confronted
|
|||
|
|
with the evidence of a "directing" agency keeping the stars in
|
|||
|
|
their courses. This confounding of the situation arising from the
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
26
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
failure to note that the present "order" of motion in the system
|
|||
|
|
has been reached only after the greatest "disorder" and counter-
|
|||
|
|
play of opposing forces; bodies which have collided or been
|
|||
|
|
absorbed by others, or whose motions were counter to the general
|
|||
|
|
trend of motion are now no longer present or felt in the main tide
|
|||
|
|
of dominant motion; billions of years have eliminated the weaker
|
|||
|
|
modes of motion. The struggle for existence in the heavens, from
|
|||
|
|
nebulae to stars, and from stars to planets, is quite as deadly as
|
|||
|
|
anywhere else, and on a far more colossal scale. The survival of
|
|||
|
|
the fittest exists in the heavens as well as on earth. Even after
|
|||
|
|
the lapse of unspeakable billions of years, we are confronted with
|
|||
|
|
the evidence of innumerable catastrophes in the skies: catastrophes
|
|||
|
|
which upset every vestige of an "Ordained" order of motion and
|
|||
|
|
movement. We have with us today the tell-ale wreckage of "burst"
|
|||
|
|
stars, "mashed" planets and satellites, and the daily
|
|||
|
|
"annihilation" of heavenly bodies.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
There is, on physical ground alone, nothing surprising in the
|
|||
|
|
fact that stars rarely collide -- there are so few of them in
|
|||
|
|
space. And they are so thinly scattered, that the chance of their
|
|||
|
|
colliding or of even closely approaching each other is practically
|
|||
|
|
nil. If every star were reduced by scale to the size of a grain of
|
|||
|
|
dust, the distance between each one and its nearest neighbor would
|
|||
|
|
average 80 miles. The chance of stellar collision under these
|
|||
|
|
circumstances is at once apparent. It is because they are separated
|
|||
|
|
by such vast distances, and not because a celestial mind directs
|
|||
|
|
them where to go, that stars move in relative safety, The picture
|
|||
|
|
of these celestial bodies being pushed about by angels, under the
|
|||
|
|
watchful eye of an unseen being, is medieval nonsense. The wonder
|
|||
|
|
is, not that the stars do not frequently collide, but that they
|
|||
|
|
ever do. Yet collisions do occasionally occur, in spite of the vast
|
|||
|
|
distances between the stars. The number of collisions is of course
|
|||
|
|
relatively small, but just what one might expect in the nature of
|
|||
|
|
the case. ["Calculation shows that any one star may expect to move
|
|||
|
|
for something of the order of a million million million years
|
|||
|
|
before colliding with a second star." -- Jeans, The Universe Around
|
|||
|
|
Us, p. 88.] And it is only by the "side-wiping" or grazing of two
|
|||
|
|
stars that planets are born.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
if it be urged by the theist that stars were thus "wisely"
|
|||
|
|
distributed at great distances apart, "in order" that they may not
|
|||
|
|
collide, it can be shown that this arrangement is a direct
|
|||
|
|
hindrance to the birth of planets. Planets (as we shall see later)
|
|||
|
|
come into existence only by the near approach of two stars, and
|
|||
|
|
stars, as Jeans points out, [The Universe Around Us, p. 332.] "are
|
|||
|
|
so sparsely scattered in space that it is an inconceivably rare
|
|||
|
|
event for one to pass near to a neighbor." As a consequence,
|
|||
|
|
planets are exceedingly rare, for the precise reason that the
|
|||
|
|
chance of two stars meeting in space is so prevented by distance.
|
|||
|
|
The "arrangement" is bad for the production of planets.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ALMOST LIFELESS UNIVERSE.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
NOTHING is more certain than that the stars are lifeless
|
|||
|
|
globes, It is as unthinkable that any of them should be inhabited
|
|||
|
|
as that our own sun -- a blazing cauldron of heat -- should have
|
|||
|
|
human beings living upon it. Life in the universe is as nothing at
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
27
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
all. Even in our own planetary system, tiny as it is, life is of
|
|||
|
|
less than pin-point significance. Of the nine planets of our system
|
|||
|
|
only one bears life, and that planet is among the "minor" or
|
|||
|
|
smaller members of the group. The larger planets, with surface
|
|||
|
|
areas many times that of the earth, are known to be lifeless orbs.
|
|||
|
|
If a mentality had anything to do with the formation of the solar
|
|||
|
|
system with a view to producing life, it is a mentality of a very
|
|||
|
|
low order. It is as though a theatrical producer or showman were to
|
|||
|
|
build a stage as large as the American continent to exhibit a few
|
|||
|
|
fleas.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Jupiter, the largest planet of our system, is about twice as
|
|||
|
|
massive as all the other planets put together. Yet it is devoid of
|
|||
|
|
life. With a diameter about eleven times that of the earth, its
|
|||
|
|
surface area is far more extensive than that of our little globe,
|
|||
|
|
and it offers itself, in point of size, as the most suitable of
|
|||
|
|
planets for the production of life on an enormous scale. But the
|
|||
|
|
"divine designer" behind it all forgot to make the planet solid
|
|||
|
|
enough: its density is not far from that of water. And he forgot to
|
|||
|
|
put this giant body close enough to the sun to keep its surface
|
|||
|
|
warm. From a God-believer's viewpoint the arrangement is
|
|||
|
|
unfortunate.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The same for Saturn, the second planet of our system in point
|
|||
|
|
of size, which is five times as large as all the other planets,
|
|||
|
|
excepting Jupiter, put together. It is of very slight density: its
|
|||
|
|
barrenness cannot be questioned. Its tenuity is particularly,
|
|||
|
|
striking when we consider that Titan itself, a mere satellite of
|
|||
|
|
Saturn, has greater density than the huge planet around which it
|
|||
|
|
revolves. It is better conditioned for life, in the matter of
|
|||
|
|
density and solidity, than its mother planet. But Titan is small
|
|||
|
|
and much colder than the moon.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Obviously, these striking mal-arrangements cannot be
|
|||
|
|
reconciled with the idea that the universe was "made" for life;
|
|||
|
|
life is a mere incidental and trifling occurrence: an occurrence
|
|||
|
|
which has not been prearranged or led up to by intelligent means,
|
|||
|
|
but which has been introduced only at one point among billions of
|
|||
|
|
barren orbs. Planets are rare exceptions in the life of the stars;
|
|||
|
|
an inhabited planet is a rare exception in the life of the planets,
|
|||
|
|
and our earth is a solitary exception among trillions of lifeless
|
|||
|
|
orbs. The universe, as a totality, is almost a lifeless affair.
|
|||
|
|
What life it has borders on zero. There is nothing here that
|
|||
|
|
reflects a means to an end.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Even though it could be proved that all the planets of the
|
|||
|
|
solar system were inhabited, it would weigh as nothing against the
|
|||
|
|
billions of uninhabited stars: life in the universe would still
|
|||
|
|
constitute but an infinitesimal part of the whole. Life, in any
|
|||
|
|
event, shrinks to microscopic proportions, and is like a grain of
|
|||
|
|
dust in a great desert sandstorm.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The barrenness of this wilderness of worlds is only too
|
|||
|
|
apparent to the student of astronomy. "Apart from the certain
|
|||
|
|
knowledge," writes Jeans, [The Universe Around Us, p. 335.] "that
|
|||
|
|
life exists on earth, we have no definite knowledge whatever except
|
|||
|
|
that, at the best, life must be limited to a tiny fraction of the
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
28
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
universe. Millions of millions of stars exist which support no
|
|||
|
|
life, which have never done so and never will do so. Of the rare
|
|||
|
|
planetary system in the sky, many must be entirely lifeless, and in
|
|||
|
|
others life, if it exists at all, is probably limited to a few
|
|||
|
|
planets."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
How the God-believer would rejoice if he could point to
|
|||
|
|
300,000 million inhabited worlds! How he would argue that life on
|
|||
|
|
them showed the "wisdom" and forethought of the Creator, in thus
|
|||
|
|
populating the universe! Instead, the facts are all against him: he
|
|||
|
|
is left with a universe composed largely of 300,000 million
|
|||
|
|
lifeless orbs. What "purpose" can he assign to these dead worlds?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"The old view that every point of light in the sky represented
|
|||
|
|
a possible home for life is quite foreign to modern astronomy,"
|
|||
|
|
says Jeans. [The Universe Around Us, p. 331.] "The stars themselves
|
|||
|
|
have surface temperatures ranging from 1650 degrees to 30,000
|
|||
|
|
degrees or more, and are of course at far higher temperatures
|
|||
|
|
inside. By far the greater part of the matter of the universe is at
|
|||
|
|
a temperature of millions of degrees, so that its molecules are
|
|||
|
|
broken up into atoms, and the atoms are broken up, partially at
|
|||
|
|
least, into their constituent parts. Now the very concept of life
|
|||
|
|
implies duration in time; there can be no life where atoms change
|
|||
|
|
their make-up millions of times a second and no pair of atoms can
|
|||
|
|
ever stay joined together."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
It is only by forgetting his place in stellar space that man
|
|||
|
|
can find the urge to continue his interest in things here below,
|
|||
|
|
for all his labors on earth are destined to be wiped out in the
|
|||
|
|
crash of things. Indeed, the picture drawn by the astronomer is of
|
|||
|
|
worlds growing, developing, and decaying before our eyes. Nothing
|
|||
|
|
is permanent, nothing eternal in the celestial Drift but the star-
|
|||
|
|
dust from which man came. [So ludicrous is the idea that man
|
|||
|
|
survives death, or lives on in a conscious state by "going to
|
|||
|
|
heaven," that it is well to quote here a few lines from Sir John
|
|||
|
|
Lubbock, Origin of Civilization and the Primitive Condition of Man,
|
|||
|
|
pp. 245, 246: "A friend of Mr. Lang tried long and patiently to
|
|||
|
|
make a very intelligent, docile Australian black understand his
|
|||
|
|
existence without a body, but the black never could keep his
|
|||
|
|
countenance and generally made an excuse to get away. One day the
|
|||
|
|
teacher watched and found that he went to have a hearty fit of
|
|||
|
|
laughter at the absurdity of the idea of a man living and going
|
|||
|
|
about without arms, legs, or mouth to eat; for a long time he could
|
|||
|
|
not believe that the gentleman was serious, and when he did realize
|
|||
|
|
it, the more serious the teacher was the more ludicrous the whole
|
|||
|
|
affair appeared to the black." Elie Metchnikoff, past director of
|
|||
|
|
the Pasteur Institute in Paris, soberly remarks: "The idea of a
|
|||
|
|
future life is supported by not a single fact, while there is much
|
|||
|
|
evidence against it. ... It is easy to see why the advance of
|
|||
|
|
knowledge has diminished the number of believers in the persistence
|
|||
|
|
of consciousness after death, and that complete annihilation at
|
|||
|
|
death is the conception accepted by the vast majority of
|
|||
|
|
enlightened persons." (The Nature of Man, p. 161.)] And while the
|
|||
|
|
tide of time rolls on:
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"The stars shall fade away, the sun
|
|||
|
|
Himself grow dim with age, and nature sink
|
|||
|
|
In years." -- ADDISON.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
29
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Regardless of crumbling worlds, no one who believes in
|
|||
|
|
personal extinction need lack a proper incentive for life. In spite
|
|||
|
|
of the fact that he does not expect to live again, Mr. H.G. Wells
|
|||
|
|
goes on working more steadily than some who believe that they will
|
|||
|
|
receive manifold blessings in the sky. Few have done more than
|
|||
|
|
Wells for the entertainment and enlightenment of his fellow beings,
|
|||
|
|
yet, says he, [First and Lost Things, p. 110.] "I do not believe I
|
|||
|
|
have any personal immortality." He simply takes the common-sense
|
|||
|
|
viewpoint of many if the world's benefactors from Democritus and
|
|||
|
|
Lucretius to Burbank and Edison.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Nor will men who are men fail to conduct themselves decently
|
|||
|
|
because neither they nor the stars can live forever, or because
|
|||
|
|
there is no place of future rewards and punishments. Nobility of
|
|||
|
|
character can suffer nothing from a realization of facts. As Karl
|
|||
|
|
Vogt remarks, [Lectures on Man, p. 469.] "There are priests who,
|
|||
|
|
while defrauding the state of taxes, mount the pulpit and preach
|
|||
|
|
that when materialists and Darwinists do not commit all sorts of
|
|||
|
|
crimes, it is not from righteousness but from hypocrisy. Let them
|
|||
|
|
rage! They require the fear of punishment, the hope of reward in a
|
|||
|
|
dreamt-of beyond, to keep in the right path -- for us suffices the
|
|||
|
|
consciousness of being men amongst men."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
CHAPTER IV
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
DAYLIGHT: THE SOLAR SYSTEM
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A star journeying through space casually overtook the sun, not
|
|||
|
|
indeed colliding with it, but approaching so close as to raise a
|
|||
|
|
great tidal wave. By this disturbance jets of matter spurted out of
|
|||
|
|
the sun; being carried round by their angular momentum they did not
|
|||
|
|
fall back again but condensed into small globes -- the planets.
|
|||
|
|
Sir ARTHUR S. EDDINGTON. [The Nature of the Physical
|
|||
|
|
World, p. 176.]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
We know of no type of astronomical body in which the
|
|||
|
|
conditions can be favorable to life except planets like our own
|
|||
|
|
revolving round a sun. ... Only an infinitesimally small corner of
|
|||
|
|
the universe can be in the least suited to form an abode of life.
|
|||
|
|
-- Sir JAMES JEANS. [The Universe Around Us, pp. 332, 333.]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
If matter exists in the universe for the purpose of life,
|
|||
|
|
nature would seem to tip a hogshead to fill a wine-glass, when it
|
|||
|
|
makes life possible only on a little planet. -- Sir JOHN HERSCHEL.
|
|||
|
|
[W.H. Thomson's Some Wonders of Biology, p. 176.]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
If the sun were created expressly to light and heat the earth,
|
|||
|
|
what a waste of energy! -- FOREST RAY MOULTON. ["Astronomy," The
|
|||
|
|
Nature of the World and of Man, p. 17.]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The solar system is not the typical product of development of
|
|||
|
|
a star; it is not even a common variety of development; it is a
|
|||
|
|
freak. -- Sir ARTHUR S. EDDINGTON. [Swarthmore Lecture,
|
|||
|
|
1929, Science and the Unseen World, p. 12.]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
30
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
WHOEVER has sunned oneself at the seashore or basked under the
|
|||
|
|
intense glare of a tropical sky is probably willing to admit that
|
|||
|
|
our solar orb is hot. Yet it is not long ago that a religiously-
|
|||
|
|
minded scientist thought that the sun might be an inhabited body,
|
|||
|
|
in much the same way as some persons today imagine the stars are
|
|||
|
|
inhabited worlds. "But little more than a century ago," writes
|
|||
|
|
Archibald Henderson, "a distinguished astronomer, William Herschel,
|
|||
|
|
actually believed it possible that the sun might be a habitable
|
|||
|
|
planet!" A close scrutiny of the sun helps us to understand not
|
|||
|
|
only the nature of this star, which is the one nearest the earth,
|
|||
|
|
but the constitution and make-up of many other stars in general.
|
|||
|
|
From our study of the sun we can picture the impossibility of life
|
|||
|
|
on a star.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Although the sun is nearly 93,000,000 miles from the earth, it
|
|||
|
|
is a quarter of a million times nearer to us than any other star;
|
|||
|
|
it has therefore been photographed to better advantage than any of
|
|||
|
|
the others; its "close-ups" reveal something more tangible than
|
|||
|
|
mere points of light. In dealing with the sun we are dealing with
|
|||
|
|
a body which is nearer to us than some of the planets and whose
|
|||
|
|
size transcends them all. It is the brightest and most conspicuous
|
|||
|
|
of all celestial objects. Photographs of the sun reveal a
|
|||
|
|
stupendous mass of incandescent matter in a high state of
|
|||
|
|
agitation, pitted with great cavernous openings into any of which
|
|||
|
|
our little earth could be thrust and instantly consumed.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The time is past when the sun was thought to be inhabited. It
|
|||
|
|
is now classed as a typical star, with a temperature at its surface
|
|||
|
|
of 10,000 deg. F. Its absolute temperature is 6000 deg. [The sun's
|
|||
|
|
surface temperature is relatively "luke-warm." The internal
|
|||
|
|
temperature is calculated by Emden and Eddington to be about
|
|||
|
|
31,500,000 degrees; by Jeans, 55,000,000 degrees.] Solar
|
|||
|
|
prominences, or giant jets of gas, shoot up like mountainous flame
|
|||
|
|
of fire from its surface. The average altitude of these tongues of
|
|||
|
|
gas is thought to be 20,000 miles. Yet, on occasion, they reach far
|
|||
|
|
greater heights; we are told by R.A. Sampson, [Article "Sun," Ency.
|
|||
|
|
Brit.] Astronomer Royal for Scotland, that "Young records one which
|
|||
|
|
reached an elevation of 350,000 miles." This altitude is a distance
|
|||
|
|
equal to over 43 times the diameter of the earth. The surface of
|
|||
|
|
the sun is in a continuous state of convulsion due to these
|
|||
|
|
eruptive prominences and its boiling seas of gas. The poet Dante
|
|||
|
|
could well have pictured his Inferno on the sun.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The sun has been computed by Jeans to be about 8 million
|
|||
|
|
million years old. About 7,600,000,000,000 years ago (the figure is
|
|||
|
|
not fanciful, but is derived from a mathematical calculation based
|
|||
|
|
on solar radiation) our sun could have weighed a hundred times what
|
|||
|
|
it does now. It has spent, in all these aeons of time, enough
|
|||
|
|
energy to light and heat a billion planets like our own, had its
|
|||
|
|
energy been intelligently directed. But like other massive stars
|
|||
|
|
which "radiate away their energy, and therefore also their weight,
|
|||
|
|
with extraordinary rapidity" (Jeans) [The Universe Around Us, p.
|
|||
|
|
178.] the sun has been a celestial spendthrift. Millions upon
|
|||
|
|
millions of tons of solar energy are poured daily into desert
|
|||
|
|
space, and wasted in the yawning abyss of outer darkness and cold,
|
|||
|
|
when they could well be distributed to nearby planets. ["The amount
|
|||
|
|
of the sun's heat has been estimated," says Sir Robert S. Ball,
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
31
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"but we receive on the earth less than one two-thousand-millionth
|
|||
|
|
part of the whole radiation." ("Nebular Theory," Ency. Brit.). And
|
|||
|
|
as Proctor observes in his Our Place Among Infinities, "all the
|
|||
|
|
planets together receive less than 230 millionth part; the rest is
|
|||
|
|
seemingly scattered uselessly through interstellar depth."] "Our
|
|||
|
|
own sun, which is a star," writes Harlow Shapley, [The New York
|
|||
|
|
Times Magazine, Aug. 11, 1929.] "radiates away 360,000 million tons
|
|||
|
|
of energy every day, of which only 160 tons reach our planet." How
|
|||
|
|
much better it would be for our earth if a tiny fraction of this
|
|||
|
|
squandered heat were poured into the polar regions of our globe and
|
|||
|
|
less heat on the African and Mongolian deserts. And how the outer
|
|||
|
|
planets of our system now intensely cold, might benefit from a
|
|||
|
|
proper distribution of solar radiation.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Naturally, such an expenditure of energy without a
|
|||
|
|
corresponding replacement cannot go on forever, and we must look to
|
|||
|
|
the time when the sun's supply of heat and light will have become
|
|||
|
|
completely exhausted. Far distant as that time may be, it is as
|
|||
|
|
certain as tomorrow's sundown, and calls for the cessation of all
|
|||
|
|
earthly life.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Our solar system is slowly "running down". The energy of the
|
|||
|
|
sun is not being replaced from any source of power known to
|
|||
|
|
science, and the sun may be likened to a gigantic furnace into
|
|||
|
|
which the last shovelful of fuel was stored when it evolved from a
|
|||
|
|
primal fire-mist. Glow it must until it has burned itself out and
|
|||
|
|
spent its last erg of energy in a wild debauch of cosmic
|
|||
|
|
recklessness and unbridled dissipation.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE CRIMINAL WASTE OF ENERGY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THERE is nothing in this ghastly waste of energy to suggest a
|
|||
|
|
Supreme Stoker or Chief Engineer. Such misdirection as we see in
|
|||
|
|
the radiation of the sun does not reflect guidance, in any sense of
|
|||
|
|
the word, and would be regarded as criminal in an intelligent
|
|||
|
|
being.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The enormous shrinkage In the weight of the sun naturally
|
|||
|
|
carries with it a corresponding reduction in the gravitational hold
|
|||
|
|
which this body exerts on the planets of our system, and all are
|
|||
|
|
slowly slipping from the sun. As the hold diminishes, each planet
|
|||
|
|
moves a step further out into space. Our own place in the system is
|
|||
|
|
in no way secure, and we are actually moving away from the sun at
|
|||
|
|
the rate of approximately three feet every hundred years. Little as
|
|||
|
|
this may seem in point of terrestrial time, it spells disaster to
|
|||
|
|
the earth in the ticking of the cosmic clock. No angel guides the
|
|||
|
|
planets nor holds them to "appointed paths".
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Nothing is "fixed" in the universe -- not even the orbit of
|
|||
|
|
the earth. It is known with mathematical certainty that we are
|
|||
|
|
receding from the sun, due to the latter's loss of weight by
|
|||
|
|
radiation and its diminishing hold on our own spinning globe. As
|
|||
|
|
the sun loses weight at the rate of more than 4 million tons a
|
|||
|
|
second, its gravitational hold is rapidly decreasing, and we are
|
|||
|
|
each year headed, in an ever-increasing spiral course, toward the
|
|||
|
|
great, yawning abyss beyond. While there is no immediate danger of
|
|||
|
|
our being swept into oblivion, the time will arrive when all
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
32
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
earthly things will be doomed to perish, when the earth will be too
|
|||
|
|
cold to sustain life, and the finest of human thoughts will have
|
|||
|
|
been lost forever. Then our earth, like all things else, will have
|
|||
|
|
joined the billions of lifeless globes.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
No one can assign the slightest reason for the rotation of the
|
|||
|
|
sun. By turning on its axis it cannot have "days" and "nights" like
|
|||
|
|
the earth, nor can its sidereal motion in space mean anything to
|
|||
|
|
the retinue of planets traveling with it. Whether we ever reach the
|
|||
|
|
remote region in space toward which the sun is headed is of no
|
|||
|
|
moment to the inhabitants of the earth: our earth will carry on it
|
|||
|
|
nothing but the frozen remains of what were once living beings.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
By means of spectral analysis we are able to determine the
|
|||
|
|
chemical constitution of the sun as accurately as if this huge
|
|||
|
|
globe had been lifted bodily into a gigantic laboratory and
|
|||
|
|
examined in a test-tube. Each element in a gaseous state emits its
|
|||
|
|
own wave of light, and by examining the solar spectrum, we are able
|
|||
|
|
to determine the precise character of the sun's constitution. The
|
|||
|
|
presence of such elements as carbon, oxygen, sodium, calcium,
|
|||
|
|
hydrogen, helium, iron, nickel, copper, and zinc in the sun
|
|||
|
|
indicates the close affinity of solar and terrestrial compositions.
|
|||
|
|
There is indeed no element on the earth that has not been found in
|
|||
|
|
the sun, or from which all earthly substances are not derivatives.
|
|||
|
|
The earth's kinship to the gaseous body about which it revolves,
|
|||
|
|
and from which it was extracted long ago, is as complete as our own
|
|||
|
|
bodily kinship to the inorganic substances of which the earth is
|
|||
|
|
composed. Both earth and man are made of matter from the sun, and
|
|||
|
|
our very bodies contain atoms that once existed in the sun. We are,
|
|||
|
|
as Shapley points out, children of a star. The spectroscope has
|
|||
|
|
established our "blood-relationship" to the sun.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Astronomy has helped to establish the entire chemical unity of
|
|||
|
|
the universe. Light from the most distant stars shows us that the
|
|||
|
|
matter which composes them is identical with that which we find
|
|||
|
|
near at hand. Iron in the blood and phosphorus in the bones are the
|
|||
|
|
same as those found on distant worlds. By means of the spectroscope
|
|||
|
|
the element helium was first discovered on the sun; twenty-seven
|
|||
|
|
years afterward it was discovered on the earth. When, in 1868, the
|
|||
|
|
astronomer Lockyer made the initial discovery, the element was
|
|||
|
|
appropriately named from the Greek word "helios", meaning sun; its
|
|||
|
|
discovery over a quarter of a century later by Sir William Ramsay,
|
|||
|
|
a Scottish chemist, showed it to be a terrestrial element as well.
|
|||
|
|
The element extracted from a rare mineral of the earth was the same
|
|||
|
|
as that which Lockyer detected on the rim of the sun.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The fact that the planets of our system, as well as their
|
|||
|
|
attending satellites, travel in orbits which do not cross or
|
|||
|
|
overlap one another has frequently been cited as evidence of a
|
|||
|
|
presiding "intelligence". Only a god, says the theist, could have
|
|||
|
|
assigned these bodies to their "appointed" paths. The argument is
|
|||
|
|
amusing to the atheist. Intersecting orbits are in the nature of
|
|||
|
|
things impermanent, since they could not possibly survive a
|
|||
|
|
collision of bodies traveling in these orbits. What we see in the
|
|||
|
|
heavens today are those bodies in motion which time has spared from
|
|||
|
|
the countless collisions of the past, and whose orbits did not
|
|||
|
|
conflict by overlapping one another. Orbits which did intersect
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
33
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
have perished long since in the crash of colliding bodies. In our
|
|||
|
|
own system today we have the telltale remains of a smashed planet
|
|||
|
|
(the asteroids) and a smashed satellite (the rings or Saturn), each
|
|||
|
|
of which, by describing an orbit too near a larger body, was
|
|||
|
|
smashed to bits in the early days of the solar system, when the
|
|||
|
|
orbits of the planets and the satellites were not as regular or as
|
|||
|
|
highly stabilized as they are now. Even the orbits existing today,
|
|||
|
|
after 200 million years or so since our planetary system was born,
|
|||
|
|
are not entirely stabilized, and tiny bodies like the asteroids are
|
|||
|
|
still wandering far afield from the areas where they properly
|
|||
|
|
belong. Two of the asteroids, Delporte and Reinmuth, are so far out
|
|||
|
|
of their natural places in the swarm, that the latter wanders close
|
|||
|
|
to the earth, and is sometimes nearer to us than Venus itself.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
When we come to the smaller members of the system, the
|
|||
|
|
meteors, which describe very definite orbits around the sun, we
|
|||
|
|
meet with actual collision and the breaking of poorly "established"
|
|||
|
|
orbits. "A great many meteors," writes Prof. Palmer H. Graham of
|
|||
|
|
New York University, "have been shown to move in swarms around the
|
|||
|
|
sun in elliptical orbits very similar to those of comets.
|
|||
|
|
Occasionally the earth in its orbit crosses the path of one of
|
|||
|
|
these swarms and we see a so-called meteoric shower." Here before
|
|||
|
|
our eyes is an actual meeting of bodies through the crossing of two
|
|||
|
|
orbits: the earth and the meteors have met in collision.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The fact that the planets of the system are not traveling in
|
|||
|
|
the same orbital plane as the sun -- the planetary orbits are
|
|||
|
|
slightly tilted with respect to one another and greatly tilted with
|
|||
|
|
respect to the equatorial plane of the sun -- has called forth
|
|||
|
|
admiring comments from believers in God, yet no one explains why.
|
|||
|
|
The fact that the orbits of the planets are tipped at slightly
|
|||
|
|
different angles from one another means nothing to the solar
|
|||
|
|
system; the planets themselves would still receive the same amount
|
|||
|
|
of light and heat if they traveled in the same plane. The truth of
|
|||
|
|
the matter is that the tipping of these orbits is without
|
|||
|
|
significance, except as it throws light on the tidal origin of
|
|||
|
|
planets. The difference in the general orbital plane of the planets
|
|||
|
|
and the orbital plane of the sun is due to natural circumstances
|
|||
|
|
rather than to the wisdom of God: the planets as a group are still
|
|||
|
|
traveling in the same orbital plane as the tidal arm which was
|
|||
|
|
extracted from the sun when the planets were formed. Were the
|
|||
|
|
orbital planes of the sun and planets symmetrical, or identical,
|
|||
|
|
religionists would still credit their deity with wisdom. God
|
|||
|
|
receives praise for making things alike and for making them
|
|||
|
|
different.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE PLANETS TESTIFY AGAINST THEISM
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
PLANETS are born, not from nebulae, as are the stars, but from
|
|||
|
|
the stars themselves. In the Tidal Theory postulated by Jeans, they
|
|||
|
|
come into existence by the passing of two stars within three
|
|||
|
|
diameters' distance of each other. The larger of the two passing
|
|||
|
|
bodies exerts a gravitational pull or wrench on the gaseous surface
|
|||
|
|
of the smaller star, and, by thus causing a tidal eruption, draws
|
|||
|
|
out a long, cigar-shaped filament of gas. This in time condenses
|
|||
|
|
into globes, each of which becomes a planet revolving about the
|
|||
|
|
star from which it was drawn. Our earth is a planet, and so are the
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
34
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
other members of the solar system, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter,
|
|||
|
|
Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, all of which were literally
|
|||
|
|
yanked from the sun 2,000 million years ago.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Now planets are extremely few in number, and their scarcity is
|
|||
|
|
due to the fact that stars seldom approach to within the required
|
|||
|
|
distance to produce a group of planets. ["Collisions, or even tidal
|
|||
|
|
encounter, between two stars must be a rare event. A star in its
|
|||
|
|
motion is likely to have a collision with another star about once
|
|||
|
|
in a million million million years." Harold Jeffreys, The New York
|
|||
|
|
Times, May 3, 1931.] Shapley [The New York Times Magazine, Aug. 11,
|
|||
|
|
1929.] calls the formation of our solar system "a lucky accident,"
|
|||
|
|
while Eddington, no less than he, recognizes the purely fortuitous
|
|||
|
|
nature of the occurrence. "Even in the long life of a star," says
|
|||
|
|
he, [The Nature of the Physical World, p. 177.] "encounters of this
|
|||
|
|
kind must be extremely rare. The density of distribution of stars
|
|||
|
|
in space has been compared to that of twenty tennis balls roaming
|
|||
|
|
the whole interior of the earth. The accident that gave birth to
|
|||
|
|
the solar system may be compared to the casual approach of two of
|
|||
|
|
these balls within a few yards of one another. The data are too
|
|||
|
|
vague to give any definite estimate of the odds against the
|
|||
|
|
occurrence, but I should judge that perhaps not one in a hundred
|
|||
|
|
millions of stars can have undergone this experience in the right
|
|||
|
|
stage and conditions to result in the formation of a system of
|
|||
|
|
planets."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The facts, for those who believe in "design," ought to be
|
|||
|
|
quite otherwise. Life, if "planned" for the earth, has been reached
|
|||
|
|
by the most round-about and time-wasting process, and has depended,
|
|||
|
|
for its inception, on the casual encounter of two out of 300,000
|
|||
|
|
millions of stars. The process does not resemble a carefully laid
|
|||
|
|
out course of action; and an engineer working in this haphazard
|
|||
|
|
manner to reach a desired end would be examined for sanity.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Planets, from a God-believer's attitude, ought to be more
|
|||
|
|
numerous than the stars, since they are the only bodies in space
|
|||
|
|
(other than satellites) which cool and solidify to a point where
|
|||
|
|
life becomes possible. The stars, as we have already seen, are
|
|||
|
|
intensely hot, incandescent bodies, gaseous at the surface and
|
|||
|
|
perhaps liquid at the center, and wholly incapable of sustaining
|
|||
|
|
life. Only a trifling number of planets have evolved from the
|
|||
|
|
stars, and of the nine planets within our system, only one is
|
|||
|
|
definitely known to possess life. Here, it seems, we have a single
|
|||
|
|
life-bearing body in a super galaxy of 300,000 million dead orbs.
|
|||
|
|
Obviously, life in the universe is restricted to a microscopic
|
|||
|
|
point in space, and is as important to the cosmic wastes as a
|
|||
|
|
pope's bull is to the solar system, or the ravings of a maniac are
|
|||
|
|
to the distant nebulae in Orion.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Considering, therefore, the round-about "means-to-an-end" by
|
|||
|
|
which the earth came into existence, we can do nothing else save
|
|||
|
|
smile at the absurdity of the idea that a celestial being first
|
|||
|
|
formed the sun, in order that, millions of years after, he might
|
|||
|
|
leisurely extract a tiny world like ours, with all its teeming
|
|||
|
|
forms of life pulsating and breeding only that they may continue
|
|||
|
|
their pitiless slaughter of one another. The battle of life is not
|
|||
|
|
a Quakers' meeting or a child's picnic. Shelley's picture of blood-
|
|||
|
|
stained priests:
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
35
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"Making the earth a slaughter-house"
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
is as nothing compared to the ruthless slaughter by tooth and claw
|
|||
|
|
now going on in all parts of the world, and which the theist
|
|||
|
|
asserts was instituted by intelligence. [A butcher-bird impaling
|
|||
|
|
its victim on a thorn, or a lion killing a gazelle, or a cat
|
|||
|
|
clawing a mouse, or a tick feeding on the eye of a fowl, or an
|
|||
|
|
intestinal worm eating in the entrails of a priest are as much a
|
|||
|
|
part of the cosmic "order" as stars moving in space, and are a part
|
|||
|
|
of the "divine plan" which theists say exists.] If theism were
|
|||
|
|
true, God would be more cruel than Moloch himself, and lower in the
|
|||
|
|
scale of mental depravity than the monster Frankenstein. The
|
|||
|
|
astronomer, gazing at billions of lifeless globes, can "thank his
|
|||
|
|
stars" that these make up the bulk of celestial existence. It is
|
|||
|
|
fortunate that the planets are few.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"If you try to imagine, as nearly as you can," wrote
|
|||
|
|
Schopenhauer, [Studies in Pessimism, p. 3.] "what an amount of
|
|||
|
|
misery, pain and suffering of every kind the sun shines upon in its
|
|||
|
|
course, you will admit that it would be much better if, on the
|
|||
|
|
earth as little as on the moon, the sun were able to call forth the
|
|||
|
|
phenomena of life; and if, here as there the surface were still in
|
|||
|
|
a crystalline state."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
It is not alone the world of living things which the cosmic
|
|||
|
|
"order" tramples under foot and ruthlessly neglects; the sun in its
|
|||
|
|
course looks down with stolid indifference on the slow abandonment
|
|||
|
|
of its planetary dependents, each of which is slowly slipping away;
|
|||
|
|
and drags with it its helpless brood of young ones, which even now,
|
|||
|
|
after millions of years of solar radiation, are as ill-kept and
|
|||
|
|
undernourished as the poorest of offsprings. Planets are stricken
|
|||
|
|
with either chronic heat-strokes or chronic chilblains -- too much
|
|||
|
|
sunlight or not enough -- until one wonders whether the calorific
|
|||
|
|
powers of the sun are not something which is flaunted in mockery by
|
|||
|
|
the sun to make sport of the malnutrition and rickets of its
|
|||
|
|
children. The planetary system is far from being a well-cared-for
|
|||
|
|
whole, or one in which the integral workings are suitably
|
|||
|
|
arranged."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
One can readily satisfy oneself on this point. Whether we
|
|||
|
|
examine the planets in respect to their individual characteristics
|
|||
|
|
as to suitability (or unsuitability) for life; whether in respect
|
|||
|
|
to orbits, distances, motions, or the like, we are at once struck
|
|||
|
|
with the disorderly arrangement of the system. There is an "order"
|
|||
|
|
of motion only in the sense that the same disorderly movements
|
|||
|
|
repeat themselves. The same bunglings occur again and again.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Whoever examines our solar system with a view to finding
|
|||
|
|
"fitness," in the arrangement will soon discover that it is
|
|||
|
|
anything but "fit." Indeed, it would be difficult to rearrange the
|
|||
|
|
planets with the idea to greater unfitness. Their positions in
|
|||
|
|
space are bad. So are their rotations and revolutions, and the
|
|||
|
|
general "lay-out" of their orbits.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Take, for example, the "placing" of the planets in regard to
|
|||
|
|
their distances from the sun. Most of them are either too near or
|
|||
|
|
too far away to sustain life. The inner planets are too hot, the
|
|||
|
|
outer planets too cold. The Divine Wisdom which placed Mercury
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
36
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"smack-up" against the sun and left Pluto far out in the cold must
|
|||
|
|
have been actuated by a sardonic (or satanic) sense of humor.
|
|||
|
|
Either this or he was inexcusably indifferent to the consequences
|
|||
|
|
which these positions impose. The sunny side of Mercury has a
|
|||
|
|
temperature which no life could stand; that of Pluto a temperature
|
|||
|
|
at which air and other gases would be frozen solid.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
So poorly "timed" is the rotation of Mercury on its axis with
|
|||
|
|
its revolution around the sun that this planet forever presents the
|
|||
|
|
same face to the sun. As a consequence, there is an eternal "day"
|
|||
|
|
of intense heat on the one side and an eternal "night" of intense
|
|||
|
|
cold on the other: one side blistered forever under the direct
|
|||
|
|
blast of the sun, the other left in complete darkness and cold. If
|
|||
|
|
there were inhabitants on the planet, they would have to choose
|
|||
|
|
between scorching to death on the sunward side and freezing to
|
|||
|
|
death on the other.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Most planets of our system travel in such extended, orbits
|
|||
|
|
that their "years" are many times our own. It takes Pluto, for
|
|||
|
|
example, 250 years to make a complete trip around the sun. This
|
|||
|
|
planet has not yet made an entire revolution of the sun since the
|
|||
|
|
United States was born. It is impossible to find in this
|
|||
|
|
arrangement anything that savors of "design." A planet so far
|
|||
|
|
removed from its solar luminary, or central source of heat, cannot,
|
|||
|
|
by any stretch of the imagination, be traveling in an orbit "laid
|
|||
|
|
down" by intelligence. It is traveling in that far-flung orbit
|
|||
|
|
because it was the outmost condensation in the tidal-arm extracted
|
|||
|
|
from the sun when our system of planets was formed. Its position in
|
|||
|
|
space is not due to design.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Even the earth itself, which is the only life-Sustaining
|
|||
|
|
sphere in our system, travels in an orbit which is poorly "laid
|
|||
|
|
out" for a planet bearing life: its source of heat is not at the
|
|||
|
|
center of the orbit, but at one foci. As a consequence, the earth,
|
|||
|
|
in making its annual circuit of the sun, does not travel at a
|
|||
|
|
uniform distance from the sun, the distance between perihelion and
|
|||
|
|
aphelion being about 3,000,000 miles. The result is an irregular
|
|||
|
|
distribution of heat in the course of the year. This variation in
|
|||
|
|
the heat supply to the earth, apart from causing temperature
|
|||
|
|
upsets, is responsible for many meteorological disturbances.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Again, in their rotations on their axes, planets display the
|
|||
|
|
most striking departures from anything resembling "purpose" in
|
|||
|
|
their movements. The farther a planet is located from the sun the
|
|||
|
|
faster it rotates -- a fact which is wholly out of keeping with the
|
|||
|
|
best results to be obtained for the reception of solar radiation
|
|||
|
|
and the heating of the planet. Venus, a planet very close to the
|
|||
|
|
sun, rotates so slowly that each of its "days" and "nights" is
|
|||
|
|
several weeks long; Saturn and Uranus, both distant planets and
|
|||
|
|
therefore very cold, rotate so rapidly that each has "days" and
|
|||
|
|
"nights" of only ten hours' duration. The long "days" of the nearby
|
|||
|
|
planets and the short "days" of the distant planets are the very
|
|||
|
|
reverse of what they should be: the outer, or distant, planets
|
|||
|
|
ought to rotate more slowly than the inner planets. With slower
|
|||
|
|
rotations, the colder planets would be able to absorb more heat
|
|||
|
|
during the course of a longer "day," and those close to the sun, by
|
|||
|
|
rotating more rapidly and thereby having shorter "days," would not
|
|||
|
|
be exposed, for entire weeks as is Venus, to the concentrated rays
|
|||
|
|
of the sun.
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
37
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Of the nine planets of our system, only one is heated with a
|
|||
|
|
moderate degree of uniformity to life; yet who can say that our
|
|||
|
|
earth is to be admired for a sensible adjustment in the matter of
|
|||
|
|
temperature? As a lighting and heating system our sun has all the
|
|||
|
|
potentialities to take care of billions of planets: it cannot,
|
|||
|
|
because of mal-arrangements external to itself, take care of even
|
|||
|
|
the present group of nine. A furnace which has the stupendous power
|
|||
|
|
of the sun and yet fails so dismally in properly distributing its
|
|||
|
|
heat cannot be regarded as the work of an engineer.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
NO ARCHITECT OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
TELEOLOGISTS, a class of word-juggling mystics who are forever
|
|||
|
|
seeing "wisdom" where there is none and who try to explain the
|
|||
|
|
universe in terms of a presiding intelligence, have sought to show
|
|||
|
|
that while eight out of nine of our planets support no life, some
|
|||
|
|
of them may later do so, when they have moved to more suitable
|
|||
|
|
distances away from the sun. In a word, God, while neglecting them
|
|||
|
|
now, is looking to the future habitability of these planets. Kant
|
|||
|
|
advocated the idea, and it has been preached ever since by a whole
|
|||
|
|
host of the defenders of God.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The entire argument puts the deity in a ridiculous light, for
|
|||
|
|
Mercury, which is the hottest and most insufferable of all planets,
|
|||
|
|
is moving away from the sun at the painfully slow rate of not more
|
|||
|
|
than a few feet a century, and at this less-than-snail-like pace
|
|||
|
|
would hardly be conditioned for life in several billion years. A
|
|||
|
|
comet can travel through space at the rate of hundreds of miles a
|
|||
|
|
second; and a presiding mind interested in the development of life
|
|||
|
|
on Mercury, ought to be able to accelerate the speed of the planet
|
|||
|
|
better than this. The obvious conclusion is that there is no "mind"
|
|||
|
|
interested in the matter.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
As for Venus, it is mathematically certain that this planet,
|
|||
|
|
at the rate it is going, would have to keep moving away from the
|
|||
|
|
sun for the next one to two million years, before it would have a
|
|||
|
|
mean temperature equal to that of the earth. This is rather slow
|
|||
|
|
moving for a planet guided by "intelligence," or an agency which is
|
|||
|
|
supposedly aware of what it is doing.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Nor is there any hope for Mars. ["Even at the equator the
|
|||
|
|
temperature falls below freezing point at sunset. If we accepted
|
|||
|
|
the present determinations as definitive we should have some doubt
|
|||
|
|
as to whether life could endure the conditions." -- A.S. Eddington,
|
|||
|
|
The Nature of the Physical World, p. 173.] Even now, the
|
|||
|
|
temperature of this planet is much lower than that of the earth and
|
|||
|
|
it is becoming colder with each passing year. If there is no life
|
|||
|
|
there now -- and the evidence is distinctly against it -- what
|
|||
|
|
chance is there of its surface becoming habitable as the planet
|
|||
|
|
grows colder in its movement away from the sun?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
As for the outer or more distant members of the system, these
|
|||
|
|
are yearly becoming more frigid, and the expectation that Jupiter,
|
|||
|
|
Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto will ever support life is as
|
|||
|
|
hopeless as that of a cake of ice floating toward the arctic region
|
|||
|
|
will ever bring forth rose bushes or orange blossoms. They are
|
|||
|
|
already intensely cold worlds, and destined to become still colder
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
38
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
as they move away from the sun. "There can be neither seas nor
|
|||
|
|
rivers on their surfaces," writes Jeans, [The Universe Around Us,
|
|||
|
|
p. 21.] "since all water must be frozen into ice, neither can there
|
|||
|
|
be rain or water-vapor in their atmospheres."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
There is no evidence that life exists on any planet other than
|
|||
|
|
our own, and there is much evidence of a definite character that
|
|||
|
|
life, as we know it here, does not exist elsewhere in the universe.
|
|||
|
|
[The author is not discussing here the possibility of plant life
|
|||
|
|
existing on Mars or on some other planet. Theists are not primarily
|
|||
|
|
concerned as to whether or not God reserved a whole planet for the
|
|||
|
|
raising of vegetation. If he did, he probably made enough
|
|||
|
|
grasshoppers and plaint-lice to go with it.] By life we mean, of
|
|||
|
|
course, life as it is embodied in red-blooded men and women and
|
|||
|
|
life in its familiar higher forms -- not hypothetical beings who
|
|||
|
|
thrive in white heat temperatures and flaming furnaces of gas, or
|
|||
|
|
who build churches and thank God at hundreds of degrees below zero.
|
|||
|
|
We are concerned here with neither asbestos-skinned beings nor
|
|||
|
|
fanciful ones composed of ice.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
It is certain that all the other planets of the solar system
|
|||
|
|
-- with the possible exceptions of Venus and Mars -- are either too
|
|||
|
|
hot or too cold to sustain life, or are governed by conditions that
|
|||
|
|
would preclude the possibility of life, We shall here examine each
|
|||
|
|
planet in turn.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Mercury is so close to the solar orb that lead would melt on
|
|||
|
|
its surface. The temperature on the side facing the sun has been
|
|||
|
|
figured at 662 degrees Fahrenheit. "The other half of the planet's
|
|||
|
|
surface," says Jeans, [The Universe Around Us, p. 22.] "eternally
|
|||
|
|
dark and unwarmed, is probably colder than anything we can
|
|||
|
|
imagine."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Venus, with each of its days and nights several weeks long,
|
|||
|
|
alternates between bitterly cold turns at night and roasting
|
|||
|
|
temperature by day. "At present no reasonable ground exists,"
|
|||
|
|
writes S.H. Parkes, [Unfinished World.5, p. 74.] "for the
|
|||
|
|
supposition that Venus is an inhabited globe." And Jeans asserts
|
|||
|
|
[The Universe Around Us p. 335.] that "The evidence, for what it is
|
|||
|
|
worth, goes to suggest that Venus, the only planet in the solar
|
|||
|
|
system outside Mars and the earth on which life could possibly
|
|||
|
|
exist, possesses no vegetation and no oxygen for higher forms of
|
|||
|
|
life to breathe."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
As for Mars, its possibilities for the sustenance of life are
|
|||
|
|
largely nullified by a variety of unfavorable conditions, among
|
|||
|
|
which is the matter of atmosphere. Atmosphere it has, but its
|
|||
|
|
oxygen content is about 15 per cent of ours. Temperature, drops to
|
|||
|
|
below freezing point at the equator, following sundown. Its general
|
|||
|
|
temperature is colder than ours. The alleged "canals" on Mars,
|
|||
|
|
supposed by the astronomers Schiaparelli and Lowell to have been
|
|||
|
|
the work of Martian engineers, turn out to be not canals at all. As
|
|||
|
|
Jeans puts it, [The Universe Around Us, p. 334.] they "have not
|
|||
|
|
survived the test of being photographed." And again: "There is no
|
|||
|
|
definite evidence of life, and certainly no evidence of conscious
|
|||
|
|
life, on Mars -- or indeed anywhere else in the universe."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
39
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
All the outer planets, of course, are intensely frigid orbs.
|
|||
|
|
Neptune is wrapped in eternal cold, with an estimated temperature
|
|||
|
|
of -220 degrees Centigrade. Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus, with
|
|||
|
|
respective temperatures of -150, -150, and -170 degrees, have
|
|||
|
|
extremely low temperatures. In fact, as Jeans points out, [The
|
|||
|
|
Universe Around Us, p. 21.] "all the major planets are very cold
|
|||
|
|
indeed." "These planets," writes F.R. Moulton, ["Astronomy" in The
|
|||
|
|
Nature of the World md of Man, p. 12] "are all very tenuous,
|
|||
|
|
probably being entirely in a gaseous state, and therefore not in a
|
|||
|
|
condition to support life."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"We have reason to believe," says H. Spencer Jones, Astronomer
|
|||
|
|
Royal of England ("The Listener," June 16, 1938), "that Jupiter is
|
|||
|
|
entirely covered with an ice-layer several thousands of miles
|
|||
|
|
thick. Outside this is the dense poisonous atmosphere, a few
|
|||
|
|
thousand miles in depth.... The clouds in the upper layers of
|
|||
|
|
atmosphere consist probably of droplets of liquid ammonia."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
As for Pluto, the furthermost planet from the sun, it is
|
|||
|
|
necessarily a bitterly-cold world -- far colder even than Neptune
|
|||
|
|
itself. Its immense distance from the sun (calculated to be at
|
|||
|
|
aphelion 4,620,240,000 miles) permits it to receive only 1/2500 as
|
|||
|
|
much solar heat as that received by the earth. "The temperature,"
|
|||
|
|
writes Simon Newcomb, [Astronomy for Everybody, p. 201.] "must be
|
|||
|
|
very low there -- too low for life to exist. From Pluto the sun
|
|||
|
|
would appear only as a point of light." "It is at least certain,"
|
|||
|
|
remarks Prof. Lucien Rudaux, [The American Weekly, Feb. 7, 1932.]
|
|||
|
|
"that on this globe lost in the frozen solitudes of outer space the
|
|||
|
|
temperature must be near absolute zero, which is 459 degrees below
|
|||
|
|
the zero of our family thermometer, so low that certain gases, like
|
|||
|
|
oxygen and nitrogen (the air we breathe), would be changed to a
|
|||
|
|
solid state." Any thought of life existing under these thermal
|
|||
|
|
conditions is out of the question.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The attempt of religionists to link the existence of these
|
|||
|
|
frozen worlds with a heavenly "plan" or "design" is drivel to a
|
|||
|
|
scientist. The five outer planets of our system, Jupiter, Saturn,
|
|||
|
|
Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, comprise by far the greater surface area
|
|||
|
|
of the entire system of planets. If ever, in religious language,
|
|||
|
|
there were "god-forsaken" worlds, they are these planets left in
|
|||
|
|
outer cold; and the theist presents a God with five out of the nine
|
|||
|
|
planets of the solar system freezing on his hands. Of the four
|
|||
|
|
other planets, one, as we have seen, is blistering under the full
|
|||
|
|
blast of the sun, two possess little or no oxygen for the higher
|
|||
|
|
forms of life to breathe, and one, our earth, may occasion a smile
|
|||
|
|
when considered in the light of "design." Under every kind of
|
|||
|
|
evidence, the entire solar system is a first-class "flunk."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Carefully considered, the universe is anything but "well put
|
|||
|
|
together." There is hardly a third-rate mentality which could not,
|
|||
|
|
after a few minutes' thought, devise a plan for the better working
|
|||
|
|
of the cosmos.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The tremendous wastage of solar energy would be stopped, and
|
|||
|
|
the conserved energy of the sun would be made to do service where
|
|||
|
|
it is now badly needed. Billions of sunbeams would not be wasted on
|
|||
|
|
the Gobi and Sahara deserts, but would be diverted to the polar
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
40
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
regions instead. Light would be so placed in the heavens that it
|
|||
|
|
would illuminate all parts of the earth at once. Our globe would be
|
|||
|
|
evenly heated, and a mild temperature would prevail from pole to
|
|||
|
|
pole. There would be no extremes of heat and cold: no equatorial
|
|||
|
|
Africa sweltering under the terrific heat of the sun nor polar
|
|||
|
|
regions locked in eternal ice. [Rear-Admiral Richard R. Byrd, in
|
|||
|
|
describing the desolate character of the two polar regions, writes:
|
|||
|
|
"The Arctic Ocean, monotonously flat, treacherous in its power and
|
|||
|
|
shifting surface; the Antarctic, immobile, appalling in its
|
|||
|
|
grandeur and silence, a mighty mausoleum for the dead land hidden
|
|||
|
|
beneath its snow. ... Here [in the Antarctic] is a vast area as big
|
|||
|
|
as the United States and Mexico combined that has never sustained
|
|||
|
|
a human race, as far as we know." (New York Times, June 8, 1930.)]
|
|||
|
|
Planets would be so "placed" in their distances from the sun that
|
|||
|
|
they would be neither too hot nor too cold to support life. Mercury
|
|||
|
|
and Venus, now too close to the sun, would be moved further out;
|
|||
|
|
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto would be moved further
|
|||
|
|
in. Mercury would be so timed in rotating on its axis that it would
|
|||
|
|
not forever present the same side to the sun. The major, or larger,
|
|||
|
|
planets of our system would not be abandoned as cold, barren orbs,
|
|||
|
|
but their surface areas cultivated. Energy would not be wasted in
|
|||
|
|
shooting comets and meteors through space, or in spinning the whole
|
|||
|
|
galactic system like a huge merry-go-round once in every
|
|||
|
|
300,000,000 years. In a word, all the senseless, time-wasting play
|
|||
|
|
of cosmic motion would be stopped. Energy, of which there is enough
|
|||
|
|
to turn galactic systems around, would be put to useful purposes.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
And what would intelligence not do in respect to correcting
|
|||
|
|
the faulty tilting of the world's axis? "In the well-known
|
|||
|
|
inclination of the axis of the earth towards the plane of its
|
|||
|
|
orbit, known by the name of the angle of the ecliptic, which is the
|
|||
|
|
cause of the change of the seasons, many perceive a design of
|
|||
|
|
heaven intended for our welfare," writes Ludwig Buchner. [Force and
|
|||
|
|
Matter, p. 111.] "But they do not consider that they are
|
|||
|
|
confounding effect and cause, and that our organization would most
|
|||
|
|
probably be different were the inclination of the ecliptic
|
|||
|
|
different or non-existent. Besides, this very angle of the
|
|||
|
|
ecliptic, the object of such mistaken praise, does not even seem to
|
|||
|
|
be in any way conducive to our advantage; and if it were in our
|
|||
|
|
power to change this slope of the axis of the earth towards the
|
|||
|
|
plane of the earth's orbit, we should most certainly do it and
|
|||
|
|
thereby bring about a greater equality in the seasons. For if the
|
|||
|
|
earth's axis were perpendicular to its orbit, there would be in our
|
|||
|
|
latitude, for instance, a perpetual spring, calculated in all
|
|||
|
|
probability to lengthen human life."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Our little earth now remains to be considered as a place of
|
|||
|
|
habitation. Two-thirds of its surface is covered with water, and,
|
|||
|
|
as some one has jocosely remarked, is more suitable for raising
|
|||
|
|
fish than human beings. Only two strips of temperate zone encircle
|
|||
|
|
the earth; the rest of its surface is divided between two wide
|
|||
|
|
expanses of polar region and a burning equatorial belt. Man either
|
|||
|
|
freezes or swelters, or lives in fluctuating temperatures of
|
|||
|
|
dangerous extremes. Nowhere is there a celestial thermostat at work
|
|||
|
|
to give us a decent average temperature throughout the globe. In a
|
|||
|
|
thermatic sense there is no intelligence manifested in the way our
|
|||
|
|
earth is heated.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
41
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
SATELLITES DISPROVE DESIGN
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
WHAT may be said for the heating, may also be said for the
|
|||
|
|
lighting system of our planet. Only half the earth's surface can be
|
|||
|
|
lighted by the sun at one time. According to the Bible, the moon
|
|||
|
|
was made to "rule" the night. Imagine your own city, or town, or
|
|||
|
|
your own reading-room at night depending on the illumination of the
|
|||
|
|
moon. Without Edison's electric light, our nights would be long,
|
|||
|
|
dreary affairs, spent either in complete darkness or in the feeble
|
|||
|
|
light of the moon. As for the sun, with candle power enough to
|
|||
|
|
light a billion worlds, it cannot even reach the so-called "ends"
|
|||
|
|
of the earth and give the Eskimo light for more than six months of
|
|||
|
|
the year, let alone, through its stupendous power, melt the great
|
|||
|
|
ice-packs and snow-barriers of the polar regions.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
As an abode for life, our earth is, by the nature of its
|
|||
|
|
rotundity, a poorly shaped body. On account of the curvature of its
|
|||
|
|
surface, only one side of it can be illuminated at a time, and,
|
|||
|
|
even though it rotates on its axis, it is impossible for the sun to
|
|||
|
|
warm and illuminate the entire half exposed to its rays. The direct
|
|||
|
|
rays of the sun are unnecessarily severe at points on and near the
|
|||
|
|
equator, where men must swelter and slave under the burning heat of
|
|||
|
|
a tropical sky, while the Eskimo must be content with the few
|
|||
|
|
glancing sun-rays which reach the polar areas. While vast regions
|
|||
|
|
of land around the south pole are buried under perpetual deposits
|
|||
|
|
of ice from 2,000 to 10,000 feet thick (report of the Byrd
|
|||
|
|
Expedition), the Sahara and Gobi deserts must wilt under the
|
|||
|
|
terrific heat of the sun. In such an arrangement there are no signs
|
|||
|
|
of an intelligent distribution of light and heat. If the
|
|||
|
|
superintendent of a building were to freeze tenants in one part of
|
|||
|
|
the structure and roast others almost to death, he would not be
|
|||
|
|
praised for his handling of the heating plant, nor would he be
|
|||
|
|
thought particularly intelligent if he kept some of them in total
|
|||
|
|
darkness half the year.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The alternations of day and night or of light and darkness,
|
|||
|
|
which are believed by some to be beneficial to man, are really
|
|||
|
|
detrimental in part, since they shorten, by many years, the narrow
|
|||
|
|
span of his conscious existence. A man of sixty who has slept an
|
|||
|
|
average of eight hours daily will have lived only forty years of
|
|||
|
|
his life in a conscious condition. The alternations of day and
|
|||
|
|
night reduce man's wakeful moments considerably: a third of his
|
|||
|
|
life is spent in mental oblivion. It is quite easy to conceive an
|
|||
|
|
arrangement by which our world might be properly lighted and
|
|||
|
|
heated, where there would be no lost years spent in unconsciousness
|
|||
|
|
and where man would be safe from the horrible visitations of floods
|
|||
|
|
and cyclones and the other cruel hazards of life. [Referring to the
|
|||
|
|
earthquake of Lisbon in 1775, Edward Hull, in his Volcanoes: Past
|
|||
|
|
and Present, p. 221, states: "The inhabitants had no warning of the
|
|||
|
|
coming danger. ... In the course of about 6 minutes, 60,000 persons
|
|||
|
|
perished." Edward Greenly (The Earth, Its Nature and History, p.
|
|||
|
|
23) writes: "The destructiveness of volcanoes to man and his works
|
|||
|
|
is well known. ... On May, 8, 1902, at 7:50 A.M., the Pelee volcano
|
|||
|
|
in Martinique broke out with a roar which was heard 100 miles away,
|
|||
|
|
and an avalanche of red hot dust wiped out the city of St. Pierre,
|
|||
|
|
with its 30,000 inhabitants, in less than one minute."] But none of
|
|||
|
|
these things are considered in the birth and formation of worlds.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
42
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Our satellite, the moon, is a cold, barren orb, which shines
|
|||
|
|
by the reflected light of the sun. Nearer to us than any other
|
|||
|
|
body, it has been photographed to excellent advantage. Without
|
|||
|
|
rivers or seas, it is a burnt-out cinder in space. Volcanic craters
|
|||
|
|
are plainly visible, but there are no signs of those conditions
|
|||
|
|
which are essential to the maintenance of life. "No trace of water
|
|||
|
|
or of an atmosphere," writes George Forbes, [Astronomy, p. 109.]
|
|||
|
|
"has been found on the moon. It is possible that the temperature is
|
|||
|
|
too low ... the moon seems to be dead." Its habitability is out of
|
|||
|
|
the question. "Life," remarks Simon Newcomb, [Astronomy for
|
|||
|
|
Everybody, p. 127.] "in the form in which it exists on our earth,
|
|||
|
|
requires water at least for its support, and in all its higher
|
|||
|
|
forms air also. We can hardly conceive of a living thing made of
|
|||
|
|
mere sand or other dry matter such as forms the lunar surface." The
|
|||
|
|
fantastic stories of life on the moon belong to the realm of pure
|
|||
|
|
fiction. "We cannot suppose it to be inhabited," writes Garrett P.
|
|||
|
|
Serviss, [Astronomy in a Nutshell, p. 154.] "at least by any forms
|
|||
|
|
of life familiar to us on the earth."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Of what use, then, is this cold, dismal world, with its
|
|||
|
|
volcanic craters fifty miles wide and its bleak mountain ranges,
|
|||
|
|
moving perpetually around us? And why should there be phases of the
|
|||
|
|
moon, varying by degrees from a thin, crescent-shaped strip of
|
|||
|
|
light reflected on its surface to an occasional "full" moon
|
|||
|
|
thirteen times a year? If the moon, as God-believers insist, was
|
|||
|
|
"intended" to illuminate the night, it is a distinct failure, since
|
|||
|
|
the greater part of its time is consumed in reflecting only narrow
|
|||
|
|
strips of feeble light and sometimes no light at all! An arc light
|
|||
|
|
which varied as much in intensity as the moon could not be depended
|
|||
|
|
upon to light a back alley. The teleologist who sees "design" where
|
|||
|
|
there is none should explain what "purpose" is served by the moon
|
|||
|
|
other than to raise huge tidal waves on the earth and drown people
|
|||
|
|
in floods. The moon is a mere "drag" on the earth. It does not
|
|||
|
|
support life itself, and its senseless revolutions around us are
|
|||
|
|
quite in keeping with the whole futility of cosmic movement.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Again, why, if its movements in space are guided by
|
|||
|
|
intelligence, should the moon eclipse the sun? Why should its
|
|||
|
|
orbital "adjustment" be so badly timed as to bring this satellite
|
|||
|
|
between the earth and its luminary and blot out light? A total, or
|
|||
|
|
even partial eclipse of the sun is a mere case of the moon "getting
|
|||
|
|
in the way."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The earth is a better "moon" to its own satellite than the
|
|||
|
|
moon is to us. As a reflector of sunlight, the earth gives to the
|
|||
|
|
moon better illumination at night than we receive from the moon.
|
|||
|
|
Earthlight is ten times brighter than moonlight, and an observer on
|
|||
|
|
the moon would see the earth as a "moon" possessing ten times the
|
|||
|
|
surface and ten times the brilliancy of the lunar orb. But as there
|
|||
|
|
are no observers on the moon, our earthlight shines to no advantage
|
|||
|
|
and is lost on a dead world -- another example of reverse order in
|
|||
|
|
the "scheme" of celestial "intelligence." The feeble character of
|
|||
|
|
moonlight may be realized by recalling that full moonlight is only
|
|||
|
|
1/500,000 that of sunlight.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
43
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
As with the moon, so with the other satellites of our system,
|
|||
|
|
all of which are equally useless. Not one in all the twenty-six
|
|||
|
|
which encircle the planets is known to be inhabited. Their sole
|
|||
|
|
"function" in space is to whirl incessantly around their parent
|
|||
|
|
bodies in aimless revolutions. If there is "wisdom" in this, and in
|
|||
|
|
the general character of satellites, it is for some one to explain.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Why should Mars be attended by two ridiculously small
|
|||
|
|
satellites, each of which has a diameter of seven miles (Newcomb),
|
|||
|
|
[Astronomy for Everybody, p. 188.] and which are as useless to Mars
|
|||
|
|
as two apples would be hovering over the city of Boston? Why,
|
|||
|
|
should Saturn be attended by flattened rings -- the remains of a
|
|||
|
|
shattered satellite? Why should Jupiter and Saturn have nine moons
|
|||
|
|
each, and Neptune only one? Why this uneven distribution if
|
|||
|
|
satellites are essential to planets? Indeed, why should there be
|
|||
|
|
any satellites at all, seeing that planets which do not possess
|
|||
|
|
them get along the same as those that do? And where, in the
|
|||
|
|
"placing" of these bodies, is the so-called "harmony" of the
|
|||
|
|
spheres about which we hear so much? Jupiter itself has more
|
|||
|
|
satellites than Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Uranus and Neptune put
|
|||
|
|
together. And two of these planets have none at all.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Of what use, it may be asked, are the asteroids -- that group
|
|||
|
|
of midget planets, or tiny worlds -- that lie scattered midway
|
|||
|
|
between the minor and major planets of the solar system, or at a
|
|||
|
|
point where, under Bode's law, a planet ought to be? They number
|
|||
|
|
thousands, and only four of the entire aggregation are known to
|
|||
|
|
have greater diameters than 100 miles. This swarm of miniature
|
|||
|
|
worlds revolving around the sun are mere globules in comparison to
|
|||
|
|
the size of the earth, the largest being Ceres, with a diameter of
|
|||
|
|
only 480 miles.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Their origin is well known. They are the shattered remains of
|
|||
|
|
a single giant body, or, as Jeans puts it, [The Universe Around Us
|
|||
|
|
p. 242.] "the broken fragments of a primeval planet." Why a planet
|
|||
|
|
with a celestial engineer in charge should have broken into
|
|||
|
|
thousands of pieces is something for the theists to explain. The
|
|||
|
|
asteroids are the floating debris of a shipwrecked planet which, in
|
|||
|
|
all probability, moved too close to the danger zone of the giant
|
|||
|
|
planet Jupiter, and was shattered to bits under the law of Roche's
|
|||
|
|
Limit. "Physically," writes Garrett P. Serviss, [Curiosities of the
|
|||
|
|
Sky, p. 256.] "they are most insignificant bodies, their average
|
|||
|
|
diameter probably not exceeding 20 miles, and some are believed not
|
|||
|
|
to exceed ten." Their bulk, as Serviss points out, would hardly
|
|||
|
|
furnish enough gravitational pull to hold a man to the surface, and
|
|||
|
|
one might at will step off lightly into space. The thought of any
|
|||
|
|
of these globes being inhabited by human-like beings may be readily
|
|||
|
|
dismissed.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
COMETS AND ASTEROIDS SERVE NO PURPOSE
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
NO one in his proper senses can ascribe the slightest use to
|
|||
|
|
the existence of comets. For ages they have served no other
|
|||
|
|
conceivable "purpose" than to frighten people out of their wits.
|
|||
|
|
History records the terror-stricken condition of whole populace at
|
|||
|
|
the approach of these "ominous" visitors in the sky. [When Halley's
|
|||
|
|
comet appeared in 1456, "it struck terror into all people," wrote
|
|||
|
|
John W. Draper. "From his seat, invisible to it, in Italy, the
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
44
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
sovereign pontiff, Calixtus III, issued his ecclesiastical
|
|||
|
|
fulminations; ... in vain were all the bells in Europe ordered to
|
|||
|
|
be rung to scare it away; in vain was it anathematized; in vain
|
|||
|
|
were prayers put up in all directions to stop it." (History of the
|
|||
|
|
Intellectual Development of Europe, vol. II, p. 253-254.)] They
|
|||
|
|
are, in themselves, disintegrating bodies, which, according to
|
|||
|
|
Newcomb, are wasting themselves away through progressive
|
|||
|
|
dissipation. Entire dissolution has been reached by several well-
|
|||
|
|
known comets.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
One might reasonably inquire why comets possess tails hundreds
|
|||
|
|
of millions of miles long. ["The great comet of 1843 had a tail
|
|||
|
|
200,000,000 miles long." (The Outline of Science, vol. I, p. 36).]
|
|||
|
|
And why should these celestial visitants carry a dangerous stream
|
|||
|
|
of particles often resulting in meteoric showers? There is no
|
|||
|
|
answer here but that found in the blind urge of undirected forces.
|
|||
|
|
It would be difficult to conceive of anything more lacking in
|
|||
|
|
"purpose" than these bodies burning up their substance in an age-
|
|||
|
|
long grind of skyrocketing through space.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The eccentric behavior of comets offers very clear proof
|
|||
|
|
against the thought that they are pursuing "fixed" or predetermined
|
|||
|
|
courses laid down by intelligence. These sensitive bodies are so
|
|||
|
|
low in density that they are frequently deflected from their paths,
|
|||
|
|
and switch violently into new orbits. The curves which they
|
|||
|
|
describe are anything but "orderly"; they vary from time to time,
|
|||
|
|
and it is not infrequent for a comet to be captured by passing too
|
|||
|
|
near a larger body. In such cases the old orbit ceases to exist and
|
|||
|
|
the comet starts out afresh in a new orbit. If it comes too close
|
|||
|
|
to a larger body, its fate is sealed: it is disrupted into
|
|||
|
|
fragments. Two comets have been actually seen to break into two,
|
|||
|
|
and a third to divide into four, parts. The breaking up of these
|
|||
|
|
bodies by sudden and violent action does not bespeak an intelligent
|
|||
|
|
control.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Were we really to believe in a heavenly engineer, there would
|
|||
|
|
be no need to speak of stellar cataclysms. All would be serene and
|
|||
|
|
in good working order. The facts are the reverse.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
He who thinks there are no catastrophes in the skies knows
|
|||
|
|
little of stellar activities. The flattened rings of Saturn and the
|
|||
|
|
tiny asteroids are the respective remains of a damaged moon and a
|
|||
|
|
smashed planet. A star which rotates too rapidly will burst, as
|
|||
|
|
Jeans put it, [The Universe Around Us, p. 228.] "like an overdriven
|
|||
|
|
fly-wheel, into parts of nearly equal size." Why this should happen
|
|||
|
|
under the "guiding hand" of a Celestial Engineer is for some one
|
|||
|
|
other than the atheist to explain. "Spectroscopic binary and
|
|||
|
|
multiple systems are the relics of stars which have broken up
|
|||
|
|
through excess of rotation, and they do not in the least resemble
|
|||
|
|
the solar system." This "excess of rotation" spoken of by Jeans
|
|||
|
|
ends in nothing more imposing than the split-up of a star and the
|
|||
|
|
two parts circling each other. "Apart from this," says Eddington,
|
|||
|
|
[Swarthmore Lecture, 1929, Science and the Unseen World, p 11.] "no
|
|||
|
|
regular plan of further development is known." The two stars are
|
|||
|
|
simply left to carry on the "god-planned" process of chasing each
|
|||
|
|
other.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
45
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The heavens are strewn with the wreckage of stellar wastage
|
|||
|
|
and conflagrations. The vast ocean of the sky is filled with
|
|||
|
|
derelicts, not in twos and threes, or even in baker's dozens, but
|
|||
|
|
by the billions. Meteorites are the rubbish of larger bodies. They
|
|||
|
|
swarm like fish in the sea, and on a clear summer's night may be.
|
|||
|
|
seen as "shooting-stars." "It is estimated," says the "Outline of
|
|||
|
|
Science," [Vol. 1, p. 35.] "that between ten and a hundred million
|
|||
|
|
meteorites enter our atmosphere and are cremated every day."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Not all meteorites are cremated by passing through our
|
|||
|
|
atmosphere, but fall as huge stones from the sky. The largest of
|
|||
|
|
these plunge headlong to earth and bury themselves in deep pits.
|
|||
|
|
One which has been recovered weighs 363/2 tons. [This is
|
|||
|
|
"Ahnighito," the largest meteorite in the world, brought from
|
|||
|
|
Greenland by Commander Peary in 1897.] Others, splintered into
|
|||
|
|
fragments, fall as showers of stones. There are on exhibit in the
|
|||
|
|
American Museum of Natural History in New York specimens from some
|
|||
|
|
500 of the 700 meteorites which are known to have fallen throughout
|
|||
|
|
the world. Among the principal features of the collection are 2000
|
|||
|
|
or more individual masses from the stone shower which occurred when
|
|||
|
|
a large meteorite exploded near Holbrook, Arizona, in 1912.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The hurling of these "rocks" from heaven, either as single
|
|||
|
|
pieces or as showers of stones, does not reflect the slightest
|
|||
|
|
consideration for the safety of life; it is hardly conceivable that
|
|||
|
|
such barrages as these can be construed as the gentle "love-taps"
|
|||
|
|
of a heavenly Father. It is only another incident of the blind-
|
|||
|
|
working activities of outer space. No one in his right mind would
|
|||
|
|
think of throwing confetti like this around.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Nor are meteoritic showers particular as to when or where they
|
|||
|
|
strike. "They occur," writes Lazarus Fletcher, [Article
|
|||
|
|
"Meteorite," Ency. Brit.] keeper of minerals, British Museum, "at
|
|||
|
|
all hours of the day and night, and at all seasons of the year;
|
|||
|
|
they favor no particular latitudes. The number of stones which
|
|||
|
|
reach the ground from one fireball is very variable. In each of the
|
|||
|
|
two Yorkshire falls only one stone was found; the Guemsey County
|
|||
|
|
meteor yielded 30; at Toulouse, as many as 350 are estimated to
|
|||
|
|
have fallen; at Hessle, over 500; at Knyasinya, more than 1000; at
|
|||
|
|
L'Aigle, from 1000 to 2000; at both Pultusk and Mocs no fewer than
|
|||
|
|
100,000 are estimated to have reached the earth's surface. The
|
|||
|
|
largest single mass seen to fall is one of those which came down at
|
|||
|
|
Knyahinya, Hungary, in 1866, and weighed 547 pounds."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Doubtless unnumbered trillions of these stones fall into the
|
|||
|
|
seas and on desert and forest wastes, but this is not out of
|
|||
|
|
consideration for man, but rather because barren tracts of water
|
|||
|
|
and land make up the larger areas of the globe. It is equally true
|
|||
|
|
they fall in inhabited portions of the world. But whether on
|
|||
|
|
sparsely- or densely-populated centers, it is certain that these
|
|||
|
|
"pot-shots" from heaven are not guided by intelligence. They are as
|
|||
|
|
little "directed" in their courses as the stars and planets
|
|||
|
|
themselves. And these of course are not "guided" at all.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
It would be superfluous to enter further into a consideration
|
|||
|
|
of conflagrations: they are sweeping the skies daily and on a far
|
|||
|
|
more stupendous scale than is generally supposed. Enough has been
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
46
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
said to indicate the torrential storm of iron that sweeps through
|
|||
|
|
outer space and bombards our atmosphere daily with the fury of a
|
|||
|
|
thousand whirlwinds.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
We hear much of what is called the "music of the spheres," but
|
|||
|
|
this music, as Eddington points out, more closely resembles "jazz."
|
|||
|
|
It is anything but harmonious or symphonic in result and has all
|
|||
|
|
the blind-staggers and jerkiness, and even the harsh raspings of an
|
|||
|
|
instrument out of tune. To some of us the "melody" of the universe
|
|||
|
|
is more like the squealing of pigs
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The rotation of Uranus is all out of harmony with that of
|
|||
|
|
other members of the system. This planet turns, not from west to
|
|||
|
|
east, but in a north-to-south motion. As a consequence the planet,
|
|||
|
|
if it had life on it, would offer the most abominable conditions in
|
|||
|
|
the matter of seasons. The tipping of its axis is all out of
|
|||
|
|
alignment with the rest. Not only is this planet askew, but the two
|
|||
|
|
outer satellites of Jupiter "are unlike the great majority of the
|
|||
|
|
members of our system in that they revolve from east to west."
|
|||
|
|
(Newcomb). [Astronomy for Everybody, p. 175.] And, as if this were
|
|||
|
|
not enough, we find two of the satellites of Uranus traveling in
|
|||
|
|
orbits which "are nearly perpendicular to the orbit of the planet."
|
|||
|
|
(Newcomb). [Ibid. p. 191.]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Lastly, consider the orbital abnormalities of our own
|
|||
|
|
satellite, the moon. So poorly "timed" is it, in its rotation on
|
|||
|
|
its axis with its revolution around the earth, that it always
|
|||
|
|
presents the same face to us. The same may be said of the planet
|
|||
|
|
Mercury, one face of which is eternally facing the sun, and whose
|
|||
|
|
inhabitants, if it had any, would have to swelter forever under the
|
|||
|
|
scorching beams of the sun. And what may be said about those
|
|||
|
|
erratic wanderers, the comets, whose orbits cover such staggering
|
|||
|
|
distances in space? It is the contention of the theist that these
|
|||
|
|
bodies were "made" to be admired. Yet Donati's Comet, which was
|
|||
|
|
last seen in 1858, will not return till about 2000 years. If any
|
|||
|
|
reader missed seeing it then, he may simply wait until it comes
|
|||
|
|
again.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Truly, as Buchner remarks, [Force and Matter, p. 105.] "never
|
|||
|
|
has been found the slightest trace of an arbitrary finger ordaining
|
|||
|
|
the spheres of the heavens and appointing the courses of the earth,
|
|||
|
|
the suns, and the comets."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
CHAPTER V
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
DARKNESS: THE ETERNAL DRIFT
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Brief and powerless is Man's life; on him and all his race the
|
|||
|
|
slow, sure doom falls pitiless and dark. Blind to good and evil,
|
|||
|
|
reckless of destruction, omnipotent matter rolls on its relentless
|
|||
|
|
way; for Man, condemned today to lose his dearest, tomorrow himself
|
|||
|
|
to pass through the gate of darkness, it remains only to cherish,
|
|||
|
|
ere yet the blow falls, the lofty thoughts that ennoble his little
|
|||
|
|
day, disdaining the coward terrors of the slave of Fate.
|
|||
|
|
-- BERTRAND RUSSELL. [Mysticism and Logic, p. 56.]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
47
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
When I look up at the starry heavens at night and reflect upon
|
|||
|
|
what it is that I really see there, I am constrained to say, "There
|
|||
|
|
is no God." It is not the works of some God that I see there. ...
|
|||
|
|
I see no lineaments of personality, no human traits, but an energy
|
|||
|
|
upon whose currents solar systems are but bubbles.
|
|||
|
|
-- JOHN BURROUGHS. [The Light of Day, p. 164.]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
If we turn from contemplating the world as a whole, and, in
|
|||
|
|
particular, the generations of men as they live their little hour
|
|||
|
|
of mock-existence and then are swept away in rapid succession; if
|
|||
|
|
we turn from this, and look at life in its small details, as
|
|||
|
|
presented, say, in a comedy, how ridiculous it all seems! It is
|
|||
|
|
like a drop of water seen through a microscope, a single drop
|
|||
|
|
teeming with infusoria; or a speck of cheese full of mites
|
|||
|
|
invisible to the naked eye. How we laugh as they bustle about so
|
|||
|
|
eagerly, and struggle with one another in so tiny a space! And
|
|||
|
|
whether here, or in the little span of human life, this terrible
|
|||
|
|
activity produces a comic effect.
|
|||
|
|
-- ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER. [Studies in Pessimism, p. 24.]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The world is a comedy for those who think, a tragedy for those
|
|||
|
|
who feel.
|
|||
|
|
-- HORACE WALPOLE. [Will Durant's The Story of Philosophy, p. 375.]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE MYTH OF THE PRESIDING MIND
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
JEANS assures us [The Mysterious Universe.] that "nature
|
|||
|
|
abhors accuracy and precision in all things," yet in the face of
|
|||
|
|
this rational declaration tells us that "the Great Architect of the
|
|||
|
|
Universe now begins to appear as a pure mathematician." The remark
|
|||
|
|
itself could conveniently serve as a sop for the religious. It is
|
|||
|
|
difficult to conceive a pure "mathematician" who would be so stupid
|
|||
|
|
as to abhor "accuracy" and "precision" in his work, since these are
|
|||
|
|
the first requirements of a mathematical mind. And an "architect"
|
|||
|
|
whose work showed as much abhorrence of "accuracy" and "precision"
|
|||
|
|
as nature does could be neither a "great" architect nor a "pure"
|
|||
|
|
mathematician. Jeans is wrong: there is no Mathematician nor
|
|||
|
|
Architect in the clouds.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Dr. Herbert Dingle, [Science and Human Experience.]
|
|||
|
|
honorary secretary of the Royal Astronomical Society of England,
|
|||
|
|
quite properly takes Jeans to task: "It would not be difficult to
|
|||
|
|
show, I think, that in some respects his metaphysical conclusions
|
|||
|
|
are actually at variance with his scientific beliefs." Dr. Dingle
|
|||
|
|
is a bit too conservative. Jeans' metaphysical beliefs, in every
|
|||
|
|
respect, are hopelessly at odds with his scientific conclusions.
|
|||
|
|
[The fault is not Jeans' but belongs to metaphysics. Michelet
|
|||
|
|
describes metaphysics as "the art of befuddling one's self
|
|||
|
|
methodically." (Durant's The Story of Philosophy, p. 397) This
|
|||
|
|
definition has never been surpassed.]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
One must be careful at all times to distinguish between the
|
|||
|
|
scientific knowledge and the religious utterances of men of
|
|||
|
|
science. Even some of our most brilliant workers in the field of
|
|||
|
|
knowledge frequently carry around with them, not only rudimentary
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
48
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
organs, but rudimentary thoughts. The fact that a man is an
|
|||
|
|
illustrious authority in the field of science is no guarantee that
|
|||
|
|
he cannot utter at times his fair share of unmitigated nonsense.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Thus Sir James Jeans -- whose astronomical facts and figures
|
|||
|
|
are freely referred to in the course of this work, and for whom the
|
|||
|
|
author entertains a lively respect -- sees behind the phenomena of
|
|||
|
|
the universe a presiding mind, or a cosmic Mathematician. Being an
|
|||
|
|
excellent mathematician, Sir James easily endows his deity with the
|
|||
|
|
attributes of his own profession. It is an understandable procedure
|
|||
|
|
for one who believes in God. The pious artist, with pallet and
|
|||
|
|
brush, who looks at a rainbow or a glorious sunset, will no doubt
|
|||
|
|
see these things as the work of a Great Landscape Painter. The poet
|
|||
|
|
hears rhythm in the ripple of the brook, the musician the music of
|
|||
|
|
the breeze. Each, according to his vocational training and his
|
|||
|
|
inherent nature, endows what he sees with ideas associated with his
|
|||
|
|
particular activities. It is probable that the gardener or tiller
|
|||
|
|
of the soil imagines his god as a Great Agriculturist. The
|
|||
|
|
physician, in daily contact with the miseries and agonies of the
|
|||
|
|
world, might well look upon God as the Divine Torturer who
|
|||
|
|
strangles babies with diphtheria germs or who breaks their backs
|
|||
|
|
with the bacillus of infantile paralysis. Indeed, once we place a
|
|||
|
|
thinking being behind the phenomena of the universe there is no end
|
|||
|
|
to the attributes with which he can be endowed. God can be looked
|
|||
|
|
upon as anything from a Dispenser of Sunshine to a Dispenser of
|
|||
|
|
Cholera Germs; from a Maker of Stars to a Manufacturer of Tapeworms
|
|||
|
|
and Lice.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Happily, no one but the theologians and the ignoramuses take
|
|||
|
|
the religious rumblings of scientists seriously; and Jeans'
|
|||
|
|
departure into the world of ghosts would not be mentioned here
|
|||
|
|
except as a typical instance of such departures.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Sir James is too well informed and far too able a reasoner not
|
|||
|
|
himself to distinguish between his own scientific knowledge and his
|
|||
|
|
religious fancies, and so he has prefixed his remarks with a
|
|||
|
|
qualifying admission: "I would say, as a speculation, not as a
|
|||
|
|
scientific fact, that the universe and all the material objects in
|
|||
|
|
it -- atoms, stars, and nebulae -- are merely creations of thought
|
|||
|
|
-- of course not of your individual mind, but of some great
|
|||
|
|
universal mind underlying and coordinating all our minds." How
|
|||
|
|
admirably this "universal mind" is "coordinating all our minds" may
|
|||
|
|
be seen in the diverse opinions held by Sir James and Dr. Millikan,
|
|||
|
|
each of whom holds an opposite view as to the ultimate end of the
|
|||
|
|
universe, To Millikan, God is "still on the job" building up; to
|
|||
|
|
Jeans he is tearing down; to the atheist "he" is doing neither one
|
|||
|
|
thing nor the other, since no god exists. The coordination of our
|
|||
|
|
thoughts by a Supreme Thought is metaphysical twaddle.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Were there really a Cosmic Mathematician at work behind the
|
|||
|
|
universe, we might reasonably expect results in keeping with
|
|||
|
|
mathematical precision, and a Vacuum Calculator in the skies whose
|
|||
|
|
ultimate aim is the "heat-death" of the universe -- an extinction
|
|||
|
|
taught by Sir James -- might well have spared himself the trouble
|
|||
|
|
of getting busy at all, or of engaging in abstruse mathematical
|
|||
|
|
formulae in order to get nowhere. A mathematician who worked toward
|
|||
|
|
such empty endings as the smash-up of his work would be a fit
|
|||
|
|
subject for a padded cell.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
49
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The "heat-death" of the universe predicted by Jeans consists
|
|||
|
|
of the annihilation of every star through radiation, until there
|
|||
|
|
will be nothing left but an ocean of energy at its lowest ebb. It
|
|||
|
|
is an "end" hardly in keeping with his belief in a presiding mind.
|
|||
|
|
Literally, it is the smash-up of things without the semblance of a
|
|||
|
|
"come-back". "Many, giving rein to their fancy", writes Jeans, [The
|
|||
|
|
Universe Around Us, p. 322.] "have speculated that this low-level
|
|||
|
|
heat energy may in due course reform itself into new electrons and
|
|||
|
|
protons. As the existing universe dissolves away into radiation,
|
|||
|
|
their imagination sees new heavens and a new earth coming into
|
|||
|
|
being out of the ashes of the old. But science can give no support
|
|||
|
|
to such fancies." In a word, the plan behind the universe believed
|
|||
|
|
in by Jeans is the destruction of the universe! And the plan was
|
|||
|
|
devised, adopted and put into motion by a Supreme Mathematician
|
|||
|
|
some 10,000,000 million or more years before the stars emerged from
|
|||
|
|
nebulae! Such is the fantastic nonsense taught by those who muddle
|
|||
|
|
their science.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
To think as Jeans does, is to imagine a super-mathematical
|
|||
|
|
genius -- a sort of Celestial Jeans -- sitting up nights,
|
|||
|
|
calculating how billions, of stellar bodies should be moved, in
|
|||
|
|
order that, a few billion years later, one of their number might
|
|||
|
|
closely approach the sun and thereby produce the earth; and how
|
|||
|
|
that particular globe should be slowly condensed, in order that on
|
|||
|
|
May 23rd, 1999, at six o'clock in the morning (Daylight Saving
|
|||
|
|
Time), a particular bird should be at a particular spot in order to
|
|||
|
|
pick up a particular worm for breakfast. Were the universe operated
|
|||
|
|
by a Supreme Mathematician, as Jeans thinks it is, we should have
|
|||
|
|
to believe that every event and detail of our lives entered the
|
|||
|
|
calculation -- which means that God knew every outcome from the
|
|||
|
|
"beginning." We should have to believe that God knew a cancer would
|
|||
|
|
grow here, [The "Mathematician" who, billions of years ago,
|
|||
|
|
"figured out" so accurately where cancers should grow cannot be
|
|||
|
|
admired for his amiability. "We do not condemn our worst
|
|||
|
|
criminals," remarks Prof. J.B.S. Haldane, "to anything as bad as an
|
|||
|
|
inoperable cancer involving a nerve trunk." ("God-Makers," The
|
|||
|
|
Rationalist Annual, 1931)] and a world war would occur there; [In
|
|||
|
|
his Mr. Btitling Sees It Through, H.G. Wells makes his leading
|
|||
|
|
character exclaim: "Why! if I thought there was an omnipotent God
|
|||
|
|
who looked down on battles and deaths and all the waste and horror
|
|||
|
|
of this war -- able to prevent these things -- doing them to amuse
|
|||
|
|
himself -- I would spit in his empty face."] that a mass of
|
|||
|
|
rotating gas would eventually evolve influenza germs and the
|
|||
|
|
priests of the Spanish Inquisition. In a word, the vast mistakes,
|
|||
|
|
follies, blunders and brutalities of existence all arose from
|
|||
|
|
mathematical formulae and well-planned "design". "I see," remarks
|
|||
|
|
the distinguished mathematician, Bertrand Russell, [The Scientific
|
|||
|
|
Outlook, p. 118.] "no comfort to be derived from the supposition
|
|||
|
|
that this very unpleasing universe was manufactured of set
|
|||
|
|
purpose."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
VAIN IMAGININGS OF THE THEOLOGIANS
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
WERE we to take seriously the loose-end thinking of some of
|
|||
|
|
our scientific benefactors, we should be obliged to become Quakers
|
|||
|
|
because Eddington is, or Sandemanians because Faraday was, or
|
|||
|
|
perhaps even Catholics like Pasteur or Mendel. Or we might even
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
50
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
write pious rubbish about the Book of Revelation because Newton
|
|||
|
|
did, or swallow mediumistic gibberish after the manner of Lodge and
|
|||
|
|
Lombroso. What really counts is not the religious drivel which men
|
|||
|
|
of science write, but their solid demonstrations, and Jeans' Cosmic
|
|||
|
|
Mathematician is as much a myth as the bewhiskered god of the Jews.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Thinking no more existed before the stars than did breathing
|
|||
|
|
or walking, or digesting one's dinner. "If we say, as was said long
|
|||
|
|
ago, 'In the beginning was Mind,' we may be expressing or trying to
|
|||
|
|
express a great truth, but we have gone beyond science." [The
|
|||
|
|
Outline of Science, p. 57,]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Not only have we "gone beyond science," but we have slunk back into
|
|||
|
|
the realm of nursery-tale non-sense, where cows jump over moons and
|
|||
|
|
dishes run away with spoons. So far as astronomy is concerned, the
|
|||
|
|
primeval chaos from which stars were born may have been created by
|
|||
|
|
anything at all, from Jehovah himself to Simple Simon or Puss in
|
|||
|
|
Boots -- there is no limit to the stretch of one's imagination --
|
|||
|
|
but sober reflection leads us to conclude that the primeval mist
|
|||
|
|
existed on its own account and gave birth to the stars by inherent
|
|||
|
|
properties of its own. All attempts to read a mind into nature, to
|
|||
|
|
see in stellar activities the work of an invisible being, have
|
|||
|
|
hopelessly failed, and the real naturalist of the heavens looks to
|
|||
|
|
no other causes than those resident in matter itself. As Dr. Harlow
|
|||
|
|
Shapley observes, [Harper's, May, 1923.] "The rise and decay of
|
|||
|
|
massive stars, the birth of planets, the organization of stellar
|
|||
|
|
systems" exclude anything "more supernatural than obedience to the
|
|||
|
|
laws of gravitational astronomy and physical chemistry."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The "crude imagery," as Jeans calls it, [The Universe Around
|
|||
|
|
Us, p. 328.] which pictures "the finger of God agitating the ether"
|
|||
|
|
may be set aside "by insisting on space, time and matter being
|
|||
|
|
treated together and inseparably as a single system, so that it
|
|||
|
|
becomes meaningless to speak of space and time as existing at all
|
|||
|
|
before matter existed." Matter, therefore, is coexistent and co-
|
|||
|
|
eternal with space and time, and from it all things arise. This is
|
|||
|
|
materialism, and beside it all metaphysical utterances are fit only
|
|||
|
|
for the waste-basket.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"So far as science is concerned," wrote the distinguished
|
|||
|
|
astronomer, Richard A. Proctor, [Our Place Among Infinities.] "the
|
|||
|
|
idea of a personal God is inconceivable." The idea of a personal
|
|||
|
|
god is conceivable, but wholly unbelievable. Personal or
|
|||
|
|
impersonal, God is a delusion. It is a delusion because the very
|
|||
|
|
concept of the universe being guided by intelligence is obviously
|
|||
|
|
and probably false. From every domain of science there is a wealth
|
|||
|
|
of evidence which shows the blind urge and senseless activities of
|
|||
|
|
natural phenomena.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The whole rank absurdity of theism finds its most ludicrous
|
|||
|
|
aspects in its rejuvenated form, where God is represented as a sort
|
|||
|
|
of brainless personality hovering over the elements and telling
|
|||
|
|
them what to do. An "intelligence" thus running around loose in the
|
|||
|
|
universe, without body or brain and directing the course of the
|
|||
|
|
stars, is quite as ridiculous as the anthropomorphic concept of the
|
|||
|
|
deity as a Jewish patriarch with a long beard, who commands stars
|
|||
|
|
to come into existence by the power of his will. As a "spirit," God
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
51
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
is a ghost -- and ghosts exist for science only in the distorted
|
|||
|
|
brain cells of mentally feeble persons. As a "refined" abstraction
|
|||
|
|
of metaphysics, it may be classed with the smile of the Cheshire
|
|||
|
|
Cat which Alice of Wonderland saw, and which obligingly remained
|
|||
|
|
after the cat was gone. In a word, neither in astronomy nor in any
|
|||
|
|
other branch of science is there need to postulate a cosmic "mind"
|
|||
|
|
behind or within phenomena. Stars are not fashioned by a ghost any
|
|||
|
|
more than waves are made by Father Neptune or babies are brought by
|
|||
|
|
storks.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The heavens no more proclaim the "glory of God" than they
|
|||
|
|
proclaim the glory of Mumbo Jumbo or the Sultan of Sulu. What they
|
|||
|
|
do proclaim is a ceaseless round of time-consuming movements which
|
|||
|
|
ends in the annihilation of stars. Eddington himself, Quaker reared
|
|||
|
|
and pious though he is, repudiates, with some trepidation, the
|
|||
|
|
silly attitude of the Psalmist's creed. "Probably most
|
|||
|
|
astronomers," says he [Swarthmore Lecture, 1929. Science and the
|
|||
|
|
Unseen World, 17.] "if they were to speak frankly, would confess to
|
|||
|
|
some chafing when they are reminded of the psalm 'The heavens
|
|||
|
|
proclaim the glory of God.'" But not all astronomers "speak
|
|||
|
|
frankly" in dealing with religion.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
There is something really pathetic in the statement that the
|
|||
|
|
universe was made for man. There is something even more pathetic in
|
|||
|
|
the belief that it was made for the "glory of God."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The small-dimensional world hatched by superstition gives way
|
|||
|
|
before astronomy: the further we peer into space, the smaller does
|
|||
|
|
our earth become, and the more we are removed from anything
|
|||
|
|
resembling heavenly solicitude. Stellar activities are neither
|
|||
|
|
moral nor immoral: they do not think, do not know what they are
|
|||
|
|
about. Everywhere there is the blind sequence of physical activity.
|
|||
|
|
The sun no more exists to warm us than it does to scorch the
|
|||
|
|
Arizona desert or stunt life in equatorial Africa; stars are not
|
|||
|
|
"made" in order that mariners may find their way at sea; they exist
|
|||
|
|
on their own account, and have existed for billions of years before
|
|||
|
|
the earth emerged from the sun; the moon is no more interested in
|
|||
|
|
the happy crooning of sweethearts than the floods and devastating
|
|||
|
|
tidal waves it causes on earth. Everywhere in the heavens are non-
|
|||
|
|
planned forces at work, behind which there is no celestial being,
|
|||
|
|
no God.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
There is no eternal justice in the heaven, no helping hand.
|
|||
|
|
The stellar depths are silent as the grave to human misery and
|
|||
|
|
want. The vast abyss of space is both our womb and our tomb. It
|
|||
|
|
cares neither for our coming nor our going, our arrival or
|
|||
|
|
dismissal. ["A single hurricane," says John Stuart Mill, "destroys
|
|||
|
|
the hopes of a season; a flight of locusts, or an inundation,
|
|||
|
|
desolates a district; a trifling chemical change in an edible root
|
|||
|
|
starves a million of people. The waves of the sea, like banditti,
|
|||
|
|
seize and appropriate the wealth of the rich and the little all of
|
|||
|
|
the poor with the same accompaniments of stripping, wounding, and
|
|||
|
|
killing as their human ante-types. Everything, in short, which the
|
|||
|
|
worst men commit either against life or property is perpetrated on
|
|||
|
|
a larger scale by natural agents. Nature has noyades more fatal
|
|||
|
|
than those of Carrier; her explosions of firedamp are as
|
|||
|
|
destructive as human artillery; her plague and cholera far surpass
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
52
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
the poison-cups of the Borgias." (The Idea of God in Nature) "If,
|
|||
|
|
indeed, there were a judgment-day," writes Winwood Reade, in his
|
|||
|
|
excellent work, 'The Martyrdom of Man,' p. 518, "it would be for
|
|||
|
|
man to appear at the bar, not as a criminal, but as an accuser."
|
|||
|
|
Man has never been an object of cosmic care. He must do things for
|
|||
|
|
himself.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Only the ceaseless drive of nonthinking forces could be
|
|||
|
|
responsible for such aimless and senseless gyrations as the stars
|
|||
|
|
exhibit over protracted periods of time. No mentality above the
|
|||
|
|
level of an idiot would devise such madhouse "schemes" as that of
|
|||
|
|
spinning billions of globes for amusement or of tossing them around
|
|||
|
|
aimlessly to prove itself intelligent. The debacle of the heavens
|
|||
|
|
cannot be traced to design.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
From the welter of lifeless globes our own little world
|
|||
|
|
emerged through the chance encounter of two stars. It came into
|
|||
|
|
existence as an exceptional occurrence in the life of the stars.
|
|||
|
|
"Among so many myriads of stars," writes Eddington, [Swarthmore
|
|||
|
|
Lecture, 1929, Science and the Unseen World, p. 11.] "there will be
|
|||
|
|
a few which by some rare accident have a fate unlike the rest. In
|
|||
|
|
the vast expanse of the heavens the traffic is so thin that a star
|
|||
|
|
may reasonably count on traveling for the whole of its life without
|
|||
|
|
serious risk of collision. The risk is negligible for any
|
|||
|
|
individual star; but ten thousand million stars in our own system
|
|||
|
|
and more in the systems beyond afford a wide play for chance. If
|
|||
|
|
the risk is one in a hundred millions some unlucky victims are
|
|||
|
|
doomed to play the role of 'one.' This rare accident must have
|
|||
|
|
happened to our sun-an accident to the sun, but to us the cause of
|
|||
|
|
our being here." There is no guidance here, no conscious cause at
|
|||
|
|
work among the stars.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
CHAPTER VI
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE FINAL IMPLICATIONS
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Theism is doomed in all ages the advance of civilization to
|
|||
|
|
its heights has brought about an increasing disbelief in all
|
|||
|
|
religion. Now that, for the first time in history, we are
|
|||
|
|
universalizing culture, the prospect is clear. No refinement of the
|
|||
|
|
idea of God can save it from disappearance. --
|
|||
|
|
JOSEPH McCABE [The Future of Religion, p. 60.]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
If indeed the world in which we live has been produced in
|
|||
|
|
accordance with a Plan, we shall have to reckon Nero a saint in
|
|||
|
|
comparison with the Author of that Plan. Fortunately, however, the
|
|||
|
|
evidence of Divine Purpose is non-existent; so at least one must
|
|||
|
|
infer from the fact that no evidence is adduced by those who
|
|||
|
|
believe in it. We are, therefore, spared the necessity for that
|
|||
|
|
attitude of impotent hatred which every brave and humane man would
|
|||
|
|
otherwise be called upon to adopt toward the Almighty Tyrant. --
|
|||
|
|
BERTRAND LORD RUSSELL [The Scientific Outlook, p. 130.]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
If you are in the habit of believing in special providences,
|
|||
|
|
or of expecting to continue your romantic adventures in a second
|
|||
|
|
life, materialism will dash your hopes most unpleasantly, and you
|
|||
|
|
may think for a year or two that you have nothing to live for. But
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
53
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
a thorough materialist, one born to the faith and not half plunged
|
|||
|
|
into it by an unexpected christening in cold water, will be like
|
|||
|
|
the Superb Democritus. a laughing philosopher. --
|
|||
|
|
GEORGE SANTAYANA. [Reason in Science, pp. 89-90.]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Convinced that there is no eternal life awaiting him, he [man]
|
|||
|
|
will strive all the more to brighten his life on earth and
|
|||
|
|
rationally improve his condition in harmony with that of his
|
|||
|
|
fellows. --
|
|||
|
|
ERNST HAECKEL. [The Wonders of Life, p. 108.]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The belief in God may continue awhile in virtue of the lack of
|
|||
|
|
intelligence of some, of the carelessness of others, and of the
|
|||
|
|
conservative character of the mass. But no amount of apologizing
|
|||
|
|
can make up for the absence of genuine knowledge, nor can the flow
|
|||
|
|
of the finest eloquence do aught but clothe in regal raiment the
|
|||
|
|
body of a corpse. --
|
|||
|
|
CHAPMAN COHEN. [Theism or Atheism? p. 128.]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
BRIEFLY summarized, the salient points of cosmic evolution
|
|||
|
|
from nebulae to man are as follows: There are, on Eddington's
|
|||
|
|
calculation, more than 300,000 million stars inside the sun's orbit
|
|||
|
|
alone. These stars, weighed en masse, have a weight equal to about
|
|||
|
|
270,000 million suns the size of our own. This is the raw material,
|
|||
|
|
the amazing cosmic "batter", from which our planetary system came.
|
|||
|
|
The relation between the amount of material used and the puny
|
|||
|
|
result obtained is ludicrous in the extreme. It is like mixing a
|
|||
|
|
batter of dough as big as the sun to bake a single crumb of bread.
|
|||
|
|
A baker who worked on the basis of that much material as a means to
|
|||
|
|
an end would be considered a dolt.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The time period consumed is equally deadly to the assumption
|
|||
|
|
of an intelligent process. Stars, according to Jeans, [The Universe
|
|||
|
|
Around Us, p. 326.] have existed for from five million million to
|
|||
|
|
ten million million years, and the atoms that compose them "may
|
|||
|
|
have previously existed in nebulae for at least a comparable, and
|
|||
|
|
possibly for a much longer, time." This means roughly that the
|
|||
|
|
universe in its transitional period from nebulae to man, has
|
|||
|
|
consumed approximately between ten million million and twenty
|
|||
|
|
million million years. This is the time it has taken the "Infinite
|
|||
|
|
Intelligence" of the universe to reach the "desired" end. And the
|
|||
|
|
end? It can be found in any good work on evolution depicting the
|
|||
|
|
long, cruelly-drawn-out, ghastly struggle of life, from amoeba to
|
|||
|
|
man. [Man's descent from a primitive anthropoid ape, resembling the
|
|||
|
|
chimpanzee of today, is no longer a matter of dispute among leading
|
|||
|
|
anthropologists. "All the evidence now at our disposal" said Sir
|
|||
|
|
Arthur Keith, in his presidential address to the British
|
|||
|
|
Association, Leeds, 1927, "supports the conclusion that man has
|
|||
|
|
arisen, as Lamarek and Darwin suspected, from an anthropoid ape not
|
|||
|
|
higher in the zoological scale than a chimpanzee." Our pre-ape
|
|||
|
|
ancestry necessarily extends back to creatures even lower in the
|
|||
|
|
scale of life than the long-tailed, tree-living monkeys from which
|
|||
|
|
we are also descended. "60,000,000 years ago," writes J.B.S.
|
|||
|
|
Haldane, "our ancestors were mammals, probably not unlike lemours;
|
|||
|
|
300,000,000 years ago amphibians, somewhat resembling newts or mud-
|
|||
|
|
puppies; and 500,000,000 years ago very primitive fish, combining
|
|||
|
|
some of the characters of sharks and lampreys." ("Some Dates," The
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
54
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Rationalist Annual, 1928) And Darwin himself writes, Descent of
|
|||
|
|
Man, p. 183: "At a still earlier period the progenitors of man must
|
|||
|
|
have been aquatic in their habits. ... In the lunar or weekly
|
|||
|
|
recurrent periods of some of our functions we apparently still
|
|||
|
|
retain traces of our primordial birthplace, a shore washed by the
|
|||
|
|
tides. ... These early ancestors of man, thus seen in the dim
|
|||
|
|
recesses of time, must have been as simply, or even still more
|
|||
|
|
simply, organized than the lancelot or amphioxus." Man's earlier
|
|||
|
|
ancestors were worm, which themselves arose from still lower forms.
|
|||
|
|
The "Adam" of the race was a microscopic speck.]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The process of planetary birth is exceedingly round-about, and
|
|||
|
|
depends upon the most fortuitous circumstances. A nebula must first
|
|||
|
|
of all rotate for aeons before it condenses into stars. Now stars
|
|||
|
|
are intensely hot, gaseous bodies, and cannot bear life at any
|
|||
|
|
stage of their existence; planets alone cool to a point where life
|
|||
|
|
becomes possible. But planets, by a bad stroke of cosmic "wisdom,"
|
|||
|
|
are exceedingly scarce. A star before it can give birth to a planet
|
|||
|
|
must approach another star close enough to raise "tides" on its own
|
|||
|
|
surface. The chance of any star doing this is infinitely small,
|
|||
|
|
considering the vast distances which separate the stars. It is a
|
|||
|
|
case of blind man's buff, in which a fortuitous meeting of stars is
|
|||
|
|
like the drawing of a single prize from countless blanks. When, by
|
|||
|
|
the merest chance, two stars do approach to within about three
|
|||
|
|
diameters' distance of each other, a group of planets is born. "The
|
|||
|
|
calculation shows," says Jeans, [The Universe Around Us, p. 332.]
|
|||
|
|
"that even after a star has lived its life of millions of millions
|
|||
|
|
of years, the chance is still about a hundred thousand to one
|
|||
|
|
against its being a sun surrounded by planets." Now if life is
|
|||
|
|
important to the universe, planets ought to be more numerous than
|
|||
|
|
the stars, and their process of origin should depend upon something
|
|||
|
|
more indicative of intelligence than a fortuitous meeting of stars.
|
|||
|
|
A "hundred thousand to one" chance of anything occurring is not
|
|||
|
|
reflective of "plan" or "design". The result is precisely what
|
|||
|
|
might be expected in a blind and groping series of events. Even
|
|||
|
|
when a planet is born it is not assured of life; and of the nine
|
|||
|
|
planets of our system only one is an inhabited world. It is a
|
|||
|
|
dismal picture of stellar "wisdom".
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
And even after a planet is born, it must, in order to be a
|
|||
|
|
suitable abode for life, be neither too hot nor too cold, too near
|
|||
|
|
nor too far away from its sun. If it is either of these it will
|
|||
|
|
remain among the number of lifeless globes. Out of 300,000 million
|
|||
|
|
stars only a handful of planets has been born, and of this handful
|
|||
|
|
only one is known to possess life. The result is even less than
|
|||
|
|
what might be expected under the laws of chance or in the spinning
|
|||
|
|
of a roulette wheel.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Six specks of dust floating about Waterloo Station make up, in
|
|||
|
|
bulk, the relative equivalent of the tiny substance which comprises
|
|||
|
|
the stellar universe. Turn off, at midnight, the lights in Waterloo
|
|||
|
|
Station and you have a fair idea of the blackness and dreariness of
|
|||
|
|
interstellar space. Next, turn off the heat in the great railway
|
|||
|
|
terminal, and allow the temperature to fall to the frigidity of
|
|||
|
|
interstellar space, and you will have an entrancing picture of the
|
|||
|
|
"glory" of the heavens at 4.690 below zero! "A thermometer," writes
|
|||
|
|
Jeans," "placed out in interstellar space, far from any star, would
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
55
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
THE ATHEISM OF ASTRONOMY
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
probably show a temperature of only about four degrees above
|
|||
|
|
absolute zero, while still lower temperatures must be reached out
|
|||
|
|
beyond the limits of the galactic system." Absolute zero, we must
|
|||
|
|
remember, is not to be confused with that of either the Centigrade
|
|||
|
|
or Fahrenheit scales, but is sufficient, as the same writer reminds
|
|||
|
|
us, to freeze "air, hydrogen and even helium, the most refractory
|
|||
|
|
gas of all, solid."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
And what must we think of this alleged intelligence in the
|
|||
|
|
skies, which, after toiling for billions of years, produces nothing
|
|||
|
|
more imposing than the equivalent of six specks of dust in a great
|
|||
|
|
railroad terminal? If there is "glory" in this, there is glory in
|
|||
|
|
producing that which is next to nothing. "The extreme emptiness of
|
|||
|
|
astronomical space," as Jeans calls it, [The Universe Around Us, p.
|
|||
|
|
106.] really constitutes the chief item of celestial observation.
|
|||
|
|
Our "star-filled" universe is a poverty-stricken affair.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
In sum, the picture of the universe presented by astronomy is
|
|||
|
|
one of dismal stretches of time and space and unparalleled
|
|||
|
|
desolation. In the eternal abyss of space-bleak, cold, and dark --
|
|||
|
|
are no signs of a Cosmic Consciousness.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Such is the message which astronomy brings: a message which is
|
|||
|
|
more reassuring to man in his more contemplative moods, since it
|
|||
|
|
proves that not even planets and world constellations can forever
|
|||
|
|
endure. His extinction at the hands of the blind agencies
|
|||
|
|
responsible for his existence will be followed in due time by the
|
|||
|
|
extinction of every star. "With universes as with mortals," says
|
|||
|
|
Jeans," "the only possible life is progress to the grave."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Out of star-dust man came, and into it he will sink again, as
|
|||
|
|
oblivious of his own passing existence as he was before that
|
|||
|
|
existence painfully and slowly evolved and separated him, for one
|
|||
|
|
brief instant, from the blindly-groping Whole. Into the eternal
|
|||
|
|
chasm of cosmic destruction all things flow. Matter, time and space
|
|||
|
|
are the sole permanents of existence: the rest perish. What then
|
|||
|
|
are kingdoms and scepters, miters and tiaras, honors and dishonors,
|
|||
|
|
in the solitudes of space! With princes and beggars, loves and
|
|||
|
|
hatreds, laughter and tears, ignorance and knowledge, they are
|
|||
|
|
doomed to destruction in the eternal maelstrom of space as the
|
|||
|
|
mightiest of suns!
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Across the sky is written in blazing stars: waste,
|
|||
|
|
extravagance, futility! Little wonder that, peering through his
|
|||
|
|
telescope, the great astronomer Lalande [Buchner's Force and
|
|||
|
|
Matter, p. 105.] could say: "I have searched through the heavens,
|
|||
|
|
and nowhere have I found a trace of God."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
**** ****
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Reproducible Electronic Publishing can defeat censorship.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The Bank of Wisdom is always looking for more of these old,
|
|||
|
|
hidden, suppressed and forgotten books that contain needed facts
|
|||
|
|
and information for today. If you have such books please contact
|
|||
|
|
us, we need to give them back to America.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
**** ****
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
56
|
|||
|
|
|