Grand River times. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1851-18??, 1853-06-01
THE WORLD ON FIRE.

IHE WOkLD ON F1kE.
The general theory embraced by some lead
ing men of Science in reference to the cause of
volcanoes, is that they are the smoke pipes Of
the great fire in the interior Of this earth. They
believe that we are living on the top of a huge
white hot cauldron, and that the volcanoes in DIFF
ferent parts of the world are merely vents of this
internal fire.
The following are the views of Prof. Sill
man, Of Yale College, on the subject embrac-
ed in a lecture recently delivered in New York ::
The internal heat of the earth is proved by di-
rect experiments. A gentleman is still living
in Paris who first called the attention of geolo-
gists and philosophers to this subject. He was
one of those scientific men who accompanied
Napoleon to Egypt, when he went on that great
eypedition-for Napoleon took with him not on
ly the weapons Of war, but he took much
more important cOhort-that is, men Of science,
and art, and literature, able TO explore and ex-
anime all the antiquities of that most important
and venerable country. A great literary work
resulted from this expedition, which proved to
the world that the interior of the earth was in
heated state, bringing together facts already
known, in regard TO mines and springs. This
general principle announced, has been followed
up repeatedly by very deep borings, called are-
sian wells. The deep well in Paris had been
worked upon for seven years, without reaching
water, when Arago came forward and gave the
government assurance that if they would contn-
ue their work, and 90 through the beds of chalk,
they would, in all probability, find water. They
continued their work till they got down through
the chalk when the water rose up in a great vol
ume of twelve feet. This water still flows there
and doubtless will continue to flow to the end
IF tima This Iofpr m fnnpd f,,h ha hot
Many other artesan wells have been made all
over Europe, for various purposes, and the uni
form result is, that we find the water increasing
in heat The lower we 60 down. Add to this the
testimony Of those who work in very deep
mines, and we ascertain the fact that the rate of
heat increases about one degree for every foot
of descent; so that, if we were to 90 down two
miles, we should find boiling water, and at ten
miles we might reasonably expect to arrive at
ignited rocks. Is then all beneath us on fire ?
| am not prepared to say, with some, that this
is the case, although there is strong evidence to
justify such theory. Witness the geysers of
lceland-where hot waters are gushing up from
the earth age after age, ana century after GEN.
tury. The result of all observations on springs,
goes to show that they are thermal-that is, of
a higher temperature. The Azores present a
very important fact in example. The hot
springs of Lucca, in the Appenipe Mountains,
are large spouting springs, of high tempera-
tule, so copious that they may be relied upon
for hot baths all the year round. Another case
is the hot springs of Bath in England. These
are the more remarkable as there are no volca-
noes in the British Islands. We know that from
the time of the Romans these waters have new
er ceased to gush up in vast abundance.
The hot springs of the Rocky Mountains are
also very important, and the great salt lake in
Virginia is very hot. Taking the artesian wells
and the thermal, we have, from these sources
the best evidence of the heated temperature OF
the internal portion of the earth, and this is pa-
ced beyond all question by the great volcanoes
in the world. And here we have decisive evi.
dence that the heat which will melt the solid
rock is not connected with any external cause;
for, among the cold, icy mountains, there are
volcanoes bursting up to the height of 10000
feet. .,tfu e.lJ H1lst
, In Spain and South America we find great
volcanoes bursting out. The fact is, the world
is on fire. 1t always has been on fire. 1t was
kinded at the time Of its creation, and has been
burning ever since. foi m.