The Georgetown news., 1855-10-04
Is tie Centre of the Earth a 1Eass CT Gres

~ lne centre OF the Earth n nsSsS CT fire:
This highly interesting question is now
engaging large share Of attention from
scientific men. That the interior of the
earth is now fluid mass Of matter is gen
orally credited hypothesis, resulting from
the reasoning and researches of "the leaned
IN the speculative sciences" and upon such
authority is taught in our schools and col
leges. The substance Of this hypothesis is
that at one time the matter Of the earth ex-
listed in state of gas, and that by chemi-
cal action in this nebulous mass, light and
heat were produced, which causing a gen
eral coniiagratlOn, gave as q result the min
.eral crust that compasSeth our globe This
crust is sixty miles in thickness, and encIo-
ses the great bulk Of the earth--a vast sea
Of molten lava. The proofs adduced for
thI5 Inferior fire, are, mainly, hot springs,
volcanoes, and the high temperature of deep
mines. AS an offshoot OF this theory it is
held by some that the sun, on account of its
immense size, has not yet cooled down to
the condition Of our globe, but is passing
slowly into that condition; hence a period
must arrive--if true-Wben the sun viii
cease to give light, and when it will become
dark body. This, however, can have but
little bearing upon the question at issue,
and as it conflicts with the belief that the
great lumnary is an Opaque body whose
light and heat radiateS from luminous at
mosphere, it need not be noticed further in
this connection.
The Scientific American, in late num-
Der, advances some very plausible argu-
ments in opposition to the doctrine of fiery
centre. In view Of the fact that gaseous
matter i'll becoming fluid, gives out great
quantities Of heat, it inquiries what has be-
come OF the immense amount Of heat given
out by the solidification Of the sixty miles
Of crust? The granite rocks, it says, do not
exhibit the marks Of fire. "IfsthiS earth
had been once a molten mass, they would be
a homogeneous Stag, composed of ali the
known metals and minerals, but such is not
their composition. There is also no posi-
tive evidence that the water in thermal
springs is heated by an internal fire in the
earth, or that mines, from the same cause,
become warmer as they increase in depth.
The practical miners Of Cornwall attribute
the temperature Of the mines to the decOm-
position Of minerals therein. The copper
mines are hotter than the lead mines, aud
the former mines become cooler as the ore
diminishes, although they may be increasing
in depth. The waters OF certain mines once
hot have become cool as the ore diminished
and the shafts descended. Water flowing
through the mines containing iron and cop
per pyrites must produce decomposition,
and generate great heat; this is proof a
gainst the internal heat Of the earth being
the cause Of hot water springs and heat in
mines. And we can easily account for
mines becoming hotter gradually as we de
scend by the superintendent pressure of
the atmosphere and defective circulation.
Just as the atmosphere becomes cold as the
pressure diminishes III ascending high eieya-
tionS"
1t is not contended. we believe, that the
evidence in favor Of ''internal fire" is of a
positive nature. as in that case, the reason
lug would cease to be hypothetical But
the evidence for the affirmative is accumu-
latlve, and to such degree that it has been
considered by a vast majority in the scien-
tltic world. almost conclusive To most
readers, we presume. the negative made out
in the article noticed, will hardly prove
strong enough to alter that opinion, though
it deserves much consideration Even admit
ting what has been alleged as the cause Of
the high temperature Of springs and mines,
it by no means follows that 10 the same or
igin may be traced the mighty stores by
which rivers Of fire are poured from the
bowels Of the earth. And the same may be
said of numerous other phenomena which
bear testimony to the theory Of "internal
FIRE" 1t is stated in the Bbliotheca Sacra
that Prof Guyot, of Cambridge, intends
to publish an exposition Of the Creation of
the Universe upon the basis of the nebular
hypothesis, embracing the internal fire the
ory as one that can be sustained.