The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-03-08

llIs
In one of physiological lectnres--aview
which, though contrary to the opinion
entertained by Humboldt, Agassiz, and
most scientific mon, until quite recent
", is entertained by Sir Charles Lyell
and Others. That our earth commenced
to revolve while in fluid state, is held
to be certain from It's very shape; butit
had been generally taken for granted,
rather than proved, that congelation
would commence at the surface. No
doubt this Is the case with water in
cooling into ice, but this Is owing to o
we'll known and exceptional law, by
which, instead of contracting in becom-
ing solid, it commences rather to ex-
pand at abont seven degrees above the
freezing point, and continues to DO 80
until it becomes ice. mo
D. But most bodies become more heavy
~ they cool, and hence, except where
they give off their heat with great "a
pidity, would seem to have a tendency
to solidity at the bottom first, and the
opinion is now being entertained that
this must be the case with our earth.
In favor of liquid centre, it has
been urged that as We descend into
mines and caves we find the tempera-
ture increasing at q regular and per-
fectly calculable ratio, and which con-
tipuing all known substances would
naturally be in o state of fusion at q
depth Of say from eighteen to twenty
five miles. And this must probably be
the case practically but for the effect Of
pressure, which is wen known to be
favorable to solidifcation. Where any
body expands in fusion, this last effect
is always at least retarded by pressure
We al know that the temperature OF
which water and spirits boil and be,
come vapor, depends upon the quantity
of atmospheric or other pressure, and it is
only under the usual amonnt Of this, OF
about fifteen pounds to thesquare inch,
that water boils at 2l2 degrees. +
A distinguished mathematician In
England, of the name of Hopkins, by a
series of mathematical calculations
based on the procession of the equinox
es, has announced the conclusion that
the earth, if not solid throughout, must
at least Be 50 to. the depth OF eight hun
dred miles; while another series.of cal
culations, based upon the effect of the
moon on the tidal system of our globe
has been made to prove that the crust
of the earth, if only crust, is at least
two thousand five hundred miles Trick,
and when that is once admitted. it be-
comes qnite as easy to suppose it solid
the rest Of the distance to the centre.
About the same conclusion has been
reached by Archdeacon Pratt, at Cal
cutta, from the height and vastness OF
the Himalaya mountains, the weight OF
which would crush in any mere crust,
snch rs has ordinarily been assigned OF
late years to our earth. ~--,.-.r
These considerations all tend to show
how little we really know at present of
the interior of our globe. The substan-
tial similarity of the matter of it with
that of the sun, and of even the farthest
fixed star, has been demonstrated, or as
nearly so as the case admits, so that the
formation of our stellar universe from
mist is every way confirmed;
but the various effects of high degrees
of temperature in dissociating sub
stances found in combination at lower
degrees renders us unable to tell pre-
cisely what metals would be separated
and precipitated first, so as to form the
base of a globe like ours. Nearly all
the metals that we know seem to have
been deposited more or less as oxides.
But at present we seem to stand only at
the entrance of what may and will be
known OH all these subjects. That
there must be at least vast subterranean
currents of liquid matter, melted with
fefvent heat, if the whole center is not
in state of fusion, seems certain, from
the vast extent of many of the phenom-
ena connected with the earthquakes
and volcanic eruptions. But what Is
truth, and what mere conjecture, In
matters deep beneath the inspected
crust Of the globe, who shall now tell!