Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-03-01
THE CRACK OF DOOM.
The Dissolution of the Planet We
Inhabit-PrOf Wurtz's Theory i'm
Regard 70 the END of All Things
The Destruction of Carbon by the
MOIlusks-The Coming New Zoie

From the New York World.

The Destruction of Carbon by tn
MOIlusks-The Coming New Zoi
Cycle.
From the New York World.
'There are chemical changes now &C
tive on the earth's surface whose con
tinuance must inevitably bring about thu
final extinction of man, and ultimately
that of all other life on our planet. = =
Comparatively and geologically speaking
the end is near"
This startling announcement, made By
Prof Wurtz, is, according to some authori
ties, based on strict deduction from physica
law Carbonic acid forms one-thous
andth part of the atmosphere of our globe,
and is the fundamental nutriment of vita
existence, furnishing, as it does, the car.
bon to grow plants. 1t is evident that,
compared with other constituents of the
atmosphere, this gas exists to but very
limited extent in the form in which alone
it can support vegetable life, and the
only means by which it is
restored to the air are the
combustion and decay of organic bodies,
and the respiration of animals. If the
gas were used only By plants, these
means of its restoration to the air would
be sufficient to counterbalance its con-
sumption, and for this reason The ap-
proximate number of living species of
plants is 100, 000-the individuals of each
species outnumbering those of each species
of animals. The number of species in
the animal kingdom is, approximately,
radiates, 10000; mollusks, 10000; ar
ticulates, 500, 900; vertebrates, 10000
making in all $50, 900 1t is thus seen
that, animals being so much in excess of
| plants, they would throw out more gas
than would be sufficient to support the
vegetables, taking bulk by bulk. Plants,
in decaying, would restore carbon to the
| air, and, as nearly all that animals take
| from the air they restore to it, an equilib-
rum would be kept up. But there are
other instrumentalities which are unceas-
ingly disturbing this equilibrium and with
drawing the gas from the atmosphere.
What are these instrumentalities which
are thus Untiringly rendering the globe I'M
| fit to support organic life?
Within the sea are living beings prepar-
| ing destruction to all life. The devil-fish,
of which Victor Hugo has given such a
romantics and horrible description, is as
nOught when compared with the mute,
| inglOriOus clam, and the delicious but
deadly oyster, who, like the heartless
monster that he is, lies in his bed and
bides his time, watching in grim repose
his evening prey. Babbage undertook to
show that the destruction of one animal
by another produced more happiness than
the world would know, if no such de-
structiOn went on, which was a scientific
way of saying that if no animal ate, none
would live, and that animals like to live.
1t took many pages of the Bridgewate..
treatlses to prove this astounding fact; but
what sOlace is that to the eaten-althOugh
it gives moral support to the eaterl We
feel justified in eating oysters, but all
to think that all the while they are nib
bling at cur vita1s, while pretending mere
| ly to be assimilating infusoria. Yet such
is the horrible fact. Disguise it as we
may; shut our eyes TO it; turn our backs
| and refuse to see tit is still there. The
oysters are after us.
The ocean covers about three fourths
Of the earth's surface, or Il, 900, 600
miles, but it is not nearly so deep. Ma
rine animals with calcarcous shells or
skeletons secrete carbOnates from the
ocean water, the carbOnic acids of these
carbonates having originally come from
the atmosphere. When we consider the
almost infinite number of these fish with
calcareOus shells or skeletOns-those large
fish who will take in carbon if they can
get tive must admit with Prof. WurtZ,
that they are likely to cause the ''great
machine to run down." and let ''aillnity
obtain its final victory over its mysterious
antagonist, vitality"
| Water, at ordinary temperatures, readi-
ly absOrbs carbOnic acid, and, under the
usual pressure of the atmosphere, it takes
up its own bulk of it. When the gas has
passed from the water, and become aeon
stituent of the shells of fishes, it is prema-
nently locked there, and ever afterward is
unavailable for purposes of organic life.
| Thus, the water of the ocean is forced &c
draw from the air Immediately above it in
order to maintain its regular and natural
proportion of carbon. This it is constant
ly doing; to replace every atom of the gas
which becomes shell, the ocean extract:
4 OllG thlOlll NUN tlil1 Which, Is luuf
steadily rendered less and less fit for the
| growth of plants, and consequently les;
and less fit for supporting animal life.
MOllusks were the very first beings who
set about to take away our carbon. The
most ancient forms of animal life found
in the lowest fossiliferOus races are mol
lusks, represented by the IinguI1 and the
abOllLs Fishes were in the early times 8
weak and pusillanimous race, destitute Of
backbone-theymerely had back cartilage;
but, as time went on, they, too, learned
the advantage of carbon, and soon became
stiff-necked and Overbearing, multiplying
as they did, to an alarming extent. II is
| heartrending to think of, but it is never
| theless a fact, that the first fish who haC
gone so far as to be true verterbrates, anC
have firm and carbOnaceOus backbones
appear in our own State in the corallin'
formation of the upper Heidelberg; mo-
can the Catskill group be held entirely
guiltless, for they soon followed. Evil il
far more contagious than good. And thu
; | oysters got bigger and fatter, and more o
| them, and the fish became more Officious
; and grew and grew under the superfcie
of the sea; and, since that time, they havu
: been taking away our carbon, stealthil,
2 and nOisefessly, it is true, but not, there
fore, less fatally.
: Then plants followed in the conspiracy
| In the old times carbon was as plentiful
: as heart could wish. In the carbOnife
5 riOus age, the earth, not content with il
fishes and clans, sent out trees to rob us
G Giant ferns anu all imaginable shapes an,
5 forms of plants grew in rank luxuriance
t and as soon as they had got all the carbO
G they wanted the earth shook its back an
S laid them away for coal. This was a
D very well, if it had not gone on, for
gave men show, and when there wa
r Just enough carbon in the air to let bin
5 live, he awaited himself the OppOrtunit
: and lived But the thing is being carrie
e too far. II should be stopped now; bu
i unfortunately, the fishes have the best {
: us. If the worst comes to th
: worst, we must set fire to OF
e coal mines and release the Carlo
d there stored, for, as Prof. Wurtz says
+ ''Geologically speaking, the end is near.
Let man do his best to ward it off; Il
: him build his Birminghams, his Pitts
y | DuISS, anu HIS CieLlellls, anu ehuo enu0d
It vOr TO restore the rapidly vanishing equi
e ibrium, but by so doing he is only part
: ally and temporarily winding up the ms
d chine only to see it run down again
L Nothing better could be said in cOnclusio
than in the Professors own words:
Into the ocean depths this precious col
: stituent of the air is continually under
n going
= | "a sez-change
Ir.tn anrnnth innt rich and Al