Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-01-11
"The Earth . Gasometsr.''
From the Newark Advertissr.l

From the newark AdVertlsorl
The very suggestive expression fifth
esrth's crust" shows the poor opinion
entertained by scientists of the stabilit,
of this piece Of our habitation. The poI
ular theory is that the so-called crust O
the earth, upon the outside of which vi
pass the few years of our worldly exist
enee, is about thirty miles thick, aud rest
in reality upon great sea OF liquid fire
the throes Of which produce disturbances
known as earthquakes and volcanoes
With this theory as a fixed belief, it II
very natural for people to point down.
ward in indicating that sultry place IN
mentionable to ears polite. ihe Sctes
tifc american, however, inclines to a
different theory, and maintains that thu
increasing heat of the earth below the
surface no more demands o vast internal
furnace for its existence than does the
superior temperature at the earth's sur
face over the inferior temperature OF the
cloud line or the mountain tops. Both
msy be assigned to the same, or SINH
lar cause, that of weight or pressure, OF
both combined; to what other occult OF
unknown causes, as electricity, magnet
ism, gslvanic agencies, the nature oil
which we do not understand, the editor
thinks it immaterial now to inquire:
1--WE have never yet penetrated the
crust of the globe, nor even probed the
crater of volcano, and reached the great
internal cavity. If the crust is, as has
been estimated, about thirty miles thick,
the amount of force necessary to raise
the tons of liquid lava to the orifice of a
mountain is simply inconceivable, and
its effects on the surrounding walls and
the surface would be sufficient to msteri-
ally change the physical characteristics
of the country for hundreds of miles
srouud. So, if the earthquake receives
its impetus Of motion and its almost in
calculable power from the agitation of an
internal sea OF liquid igneous matter,
confined within crust of thirty miles in
thickness, and the throes of this sea are
transmitted and communicated through
this mass to the surface, would the most
disastrous earthquake known to history
or tradition be sufficient to account for
the exercise of such powcr7 The force
that could move, or break, or shake, the
crust of the globe would be sufficient
to turn our continents into bottomless
seas and our oceans into mountainous
deserts. At most, we have q shaking OF
the surface, q superficial disturbance of
the ocean; but no disappearance of the
sea through some cavity reaching the
molten center of the globe, and no vom-
ting forth of a constant mass of steam.
yapor and lava sufficient to destroy all
animal life, and to make the earth des-
ert. Volcanoes and earthquakes may be
accounted for without descending to so
great depth. If the earth's crust is
thirty miles thick, there is ample room
for the reservoirs of all the power-gen-
Grating materials necessary for the pro-
duction of eruptions and earthquakes.
That this crust is not solid or homoge-
neous is not only proved by theories
based on analogous truths, but is actually
demonstrated by mining, well-boring,
aud existence of immense csverns, with
plains ard hills, aud lskes-a subter-
ranesn landscape"
1t is contended by this authority that
the earth-not merely it's interior, but the
crust of the glohe-is gas holder, as is
shown by a number of facts. All our
coal, whether bituminous or anthracite,
contains infammable gases; coal mines
are infested with it, and many of the
delivers in their depths annually lose their
lives by its explosion, either from acct
dental causes or spontaneous IGNITION.
1t is said that emissions of il hammable
gas are q necessary concomitant to we'll
boring, and that in the oil regions this
gas is frequently and extensively used az
fuel for driving the engines, or rather for
generating steam. A notable instance is
mentioned of large mandatory in
Erie, Pa, the machinery of which is
driven and the buildings lighted by the
gas from an unproductive oil well. The
establishment is that of 81. Jsrecki x Co.,
brass workers. For more than two years
they have led gas, by means Of three
inch irel pipe, from an unsuccessful
oil well twelve hundred feet distant from
the mandatory, and used il as fuel for
their boilers and as lights for their
works. The flow never stopped, never
changed in amount of pressure; the gas
is of good lighting properties, and when
at night or on Sundays the works are
stopped, the gas still comes, at night being
lighted at the mouth of pipe Of two or
two and O half inches diameter, situated
near the top Of the main building. This
light is sufficient to illuminate several
streets and squares in every direction,
and the escaping gas makes noise az Of
escaping steam, that may be heard at
long distance, while the gas fame is net
less than four or FIVE feet high.