MR PROCTOR'S LECTURE.

Press, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4756, 30 October 1880, Page 3

MR PROCTOR'S LECTURE.

The Oddfellows' .Hall was again crowded last evening, when Mr Proctor gave the last of his series of lectures on astronomy, the subject being—" The Star Depths: or the Glories of the Heavens." The lecturer had a task of peculiar difficulty before him in treating this subjeot comprehensively and clearly, owing to its vast magnitude. But, as before remarked, Mr Proctor's forte or specialty, appears to be a natural aptitude for imparting clearly and impressively—so that it is retained by the hearer—tbe knowledge of which he is himself possessed. Thus last night'e audience were, in the course of one hour and a half, placed in possession of a greater amount of information touching the wonders of the heavens, than could be gathered by reading in a month. Mr Proctor commenced by referring to the activity in the stellar depths by way of correcting the erroneous but very natural impression of the average ordinary observer, that the regions of the stars were eeeneß of uninterrupted tranquility. He then spoke of the position occupied by certain bodies whose distance had been ascertained in relation to our world, and explained that in most instances the distance was so great as to be beyond computation. With regard to their characteristics, astronomy had ascertained that each star was a sun, very much of the same kind as the sun of our own system, and each was characterised by tho boundless activity which pertained to our central orb. In order to convey a notion of how tremendous must be the forces that operated in these stars, it was necessary to consider the distances by which they were separated from the earth. The earth's orbit round the sun presented a basa line of no less than 185,000,000 miles in length; yet the nearest star in the heavens—one of the two "Pointers" that formed so conspicuous an object in these Southern skieswas so distant as to present not the remotest difference in sire and brightness from whichever point of that vast orbit it waa viewed. He proceeded to show that many of these stars were very considerably larger, and of a higher nature than our sun, and gave the result of scientific research in reference to their peculiarities. And as the same substances were shown to existiin the anns o* toe whole system of the galaxy aa were _own to have existence in our system, it was fan* to assume that all were governed by one uniform law. In speaking of "onfc-bbzing anns, he noticed a marvellous change that had i taken place in a star durusg the year 1866. It suddenly blazed forth with an increased iuitre that changed it from a star of the eighth magnitude to one of the second. This, he thought, was probably tbe result of an external cause, collision with come rapidly moving meteorio matter perhaps. Such a catastrophe might happen to our sun, but tbe probability was very remote. In reference to the uniformity of law that had been recog- ; niied ia the works of the universe, Mr Proctor i dwelt on the fact that we were compelled to

: acknowledge the neoesrity of a creating mind to give it birth; thus wo were surely dri»-»' to admire and revere, although we might never underetand, the workings of the Supreme Being who vai in all and through aIL The lecture was illustrated by disgrsnw and pictures, which, as tbey appeared, were fully explained. Mr Proctor is announced to lecture in Lytt*lv>n to night.