My Web Site Page 115 Ovations 02

Ovations

Sitemaps

Let us attempt to visualize the conditions which we think exist in a newly-formed star of average mass. It should be essentially spherical, with surface fairly sharply defined. Our Sun has average specific gravity of 1.4, as compared with that of water. The average density of the very young star must certainly be vastly lower; perhaps no greater than the density of our atmosphere at the Earth's surface; it may even be considerably lower than this estimate. The diameter of our Sun is 1,400,000 kilometers. The diameter of the average young star may be ten or twenty or forty times as great. The central volume or core of the star is undoubtedly a great deal denser than the surface strata, on account of pressure due to the star's own gravitational forces. The conditions in the outer strata should bear some resemblance to those existing in the gaseous nebula.

As to the extent of time during which there was no life, we have no means of determining. That it was almost infinitely long is made apparent by the researches of eminent scholars on the cooling of lava. Toward the close of this extended period of time faint traces of life appear. Not life as we are apt to think of it. No nodding flowers were kissed by the sunshine of this early time. The earliest forms of flowerless plants, such as sea-weeds, and in dry places possibly lichens covering the rocks, were the highest forms of vegetable life. Animal life, if present, for the fact is denied by some, occurs in the very lowest form, merely structureless bodies, with no especial organs of sense, or nutrition: and their motion consisting simply in protruding and withdrawing hair-like processes.<4> Such was the beginning of life. This vast period of time, which includes the beginning, is known among geologists as Archean time.

When Tite had finished his story, the old man began his by saying: "Heaven forgive me, for I am a great sinner, and have much to answer for in the next world. I was born in Bristol, England. My father was a clergyman of the established church. I have no remembrance of my mother, for she died when I was an infant. When I was fifteen years old I was sent to sea as a means of bettering my morals. I served first on board an Indiaman, made two voyages to China, and was wrecked on the coast of Malabar; and when I got home my father or friends procured me the position of midshipman on board a man-of-war. I served on board the frigate Winchester, and other of His Majesty's ships, I did, for fifteen years, and was only a midshipman at the end. Heaven forgive me for my sins. It seemed there was no promotion for me. I was then transferred to His Majesty's packet service, and assigned to the brig Storm, carrying six guns, and the mails between Plymouth and the North American provinces. She was a beauty of a craft, that Storm was. She used to carry a crowd of canvas, and jump the seas like a sea-bird. I was four years first officer of that craft, was proud of what she could do, and the devil took advantage of my ambition, and created within me a longing to be in command of her, and make myself heroic by roaming unrestrained on the free sea. That feeling kept increasing until it become a passion with me. Then it was my misfortune to fall in love. Yes, love was a misfortune to me. I had courted and was engaged to the daughter of a rich old man who had made all his money in the West Indies, and still had plantations there.

This page is Copyright © Cake Placebo. All Rights Reserved. My Web Site Page 115 is a production of Cake Placebo and may not be reproduced electronically or graphically for commercial uses. Personal reproductions and browser or search engine caching are acceptable.

Ovations provided by My Web Site Page 115 are included only for information. The entertainment value of My Web Site Page 115's ovations may vary on the basis of your personal needs. Cake Placebo and My Web Site Page 115 take no responsibility for the content provided by other Web sites. Links are provided "as is" without liability or warranty.