AN ÆTHER VOYAGE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2436, 21 November 1900, Page 69

AN ÆTHER VOYAGE.

By a. Banker. It it were -possible to cast off for a time the trammels of out bodily frame, and to 10am in space 'freely and rapidly as can now our spiritentity—our nmid — what a succession of marvellous spectacles should we behold, even if we confined our sether- voyage to the nanow limits of our own solar system. First we should transport ourselves to that lifeless world, which, dead itself, and void of vital spark 01 any vestige of that mysterious principle — Life — is yet most beautiful in death, fair, surpassing fair, even as though she were in the virgin prime oi her youth, ai*d revelling in the living essence. But as we approach nearer and nearer to our lovely satellite, we find that though now cold and still, without air, without water, at one time in her histoiy she was the scene oi mighty and fiery peilurbations. On all sides gigantic volcanic craters, enormously surpassing an size and extent any upon this earth, bear evidence that her entiie globs must then have been one great furnace, furiously vomiting forth in all directions flaming cataracts of fire, massive incandescent rocks, ancl torrents of seething molten hr\a. But now all is cold and drear ■ the atmosphere which must then have surrounded it, and the water which doubtless also existed, all swept away into space, leaving but the lifeless skeleton of a dead world. And now, leaving this cheerless, though from afar sweet and lovely orb, as we speed through the osfcher we le&cry a considerable number of diminutive planets, some only a few yards in diameter, while others in the same orbit, as Pallas, the largest of these minor planets, are in volume more than two thousand times less than that of oui earth. But all these little sliming orbs— remnants of a great planet which by some means or other, and for some great leason or other, was shattered into fragments — are Tevolvmg on their own axis, and at the same time arc travelling at piodigious speed round the parent sun ; so that, as we traverse their orbit, we see m all directions brilliant little shining globes careering round at a rate twenty times quickei than that of a cannonball. Leaving this sliUeiing cluster, -we now; axsive

near that most magnificent spectacle of all in our system, or perhaxss even in -any -other system, giant ringed ancl belted Saturn. Viewed through a powerful lens even fiom our distance of a thousand million miles, the roble planet presents a spectacle of surpassing wonder and grandeur; but now, arrived within close purview of his glory, the overwhelming and majestic sublimity of the wondrous scene must transfix the startled beholder with the prcfouudest awe and amazement. Hanging there, suspended in space, the gieat globe encircled by a series of gigantic shining rings, the outer more .than half-a-miliion miles in circumference and twenty thousand miles wide; and attended by a number of brilliant satellites of enormous proportions, the great belted sphere, with its aureola of glory, rivals almost a sun in lustrous splendour and magnificence. And if we alight upon fhe darker side of the jjln.net, his nighc must be almost as day, fbi (.except at the equator) the mighty rings, believed to be formed of diminutive'satellites, as th_e sand oi£ the seashore ior multitude lighted upl>y thn hidden sun, will, except in the cone of the shadow, appear as prodigious illuminated arcs of dazzling light extending iiom horizon to horizon upwards towards the zenith.

I But the .brief limits of this article for! tf\ further reforeiice to the planetary wonders; perhaps some other opportunity Z' ,y occur. Suffice it to say that, when the final Great Assizo is over, and the Eternal Judge has allotted to those who_ have loved ar.d served Him varied positions in the realms of glory r in virtue of His own merit?, which tkey.aie allowed to claim, then will these beatified ones, in the company of their guardian angel who has been i at their side throughout then 1 life, be able for , themselves to explore all these glories, and to i visit all these strange and startling wonders. 1 — A new American tramway ticket has been adopted in Xieed?. A tiny machine carried round the waist of the conductor prints ench ticket, showing the exact time of issue, the amount 'of the fare, and the stage to which the passenger is entitled to travel. — The .total number of copies of newspapers printed throughout the world in one year is estimated at 12,000 million. To print the-se 781,260 t.ong of paper. Tht oldest newspaper is said to be the Kin-Pau, of Pekin, which has been published continually for 'over 1000 years.