"THROUGH THE UNIVERSE."

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14019, 26 March 1909, Page 6

"THROUGH THE UNIVERSE."

'■•■■ ■ ." ♦ — LECTURE BY MR. CLEMENT WRAGGE. To be taken on " a ."* voyage through the universe" was the privilege of those who assembled at the Choral Hall last night The pilot was Mr. Clement Wragge,; the well- . known astronomer and meteorologist, who, after/ completing ; a tour> ; through ;<■* Great Britain, India, Australia,, and Southern New Zealand, : : has opened' a series of lectures. -her©.: -;';.. '-'...;.. :: -'-. ' : '-''':'.''";"'''."...'-"--' : V, '''"'-,■ r y ['.'/'' ■/.';- '■:'■' In his first leoture last; night on "A Voyage Through the Universe," Mr. Wragge * was assisted /by a scries of woni derful ; photographic ' views ■ taken /of tho heavens and the heavenly bodies ' from the famous Lick, Paris, ... and Green--1 wich Observatories, - and his explanations ' were lucid and interesting to the highest ) degree. After dwelling upon the immensity I of the ; universe, he showed .the audience i magnificent views of the heavens, as seen from the polar' regions, 'and reminded ' thosepresent that they were gazing at suns, every ', one of which was greater than our own sun, I which was only of the second-rate order;;. J- he also displayed views of many of the more *■ important constellations in ; the sky. . i ~ > The lecturer showed how suns were born, he described the wonders of "The Milky > Way," and then the wonders of our own l "second-rate " sun, , with its great "spots," gigantic tongues' of flame, which shoot up ' for hundreds of thousands of miles, and the wonders of' the eclipse. He illustrated, too, } how ; the sun-spots, or storms; of terrific inl tensity,'.; had i- their influence, on the earth, i Those great sun-storms, he said— he i said it with all due reverence—affected the -, earth "as V surely as - God made -apples.'- • Then he gave a magnificent series of views / of the moon, with its wonderful i mountains r and enormous dry beds, formerly occupied . by tho ocean, and concluded with an imagin- ' ary voyage of a man who wished to be asso- > dated more with the works of the "Almighty ' and who, after getting as far as Saturn, was ; ower-awed, and desired to get back. i It was throughout a lecture of intense in . terest. The Choral Hall was not large 1 enough to hold all those who desired admission, hundreds being turned away from the . doors. Mr. Wragge will lecture again tonight and to-morrow night. ■• .'•■.-. ;;, -