Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1870-06-29
For the Clearaold Republican.
OUR PLANET, AND ITS INTER
NAL STRUCTURE.

The most simple of scientific facts
arc those least understood by the gem
erality of readers, and the best attest
ed and most carefully developed Of
modern truths are those that receive
the calumny of men welded to preju-
dices they cannot defend, and deceived
by errors they do not understand.
1t is n melancholy fact, that men
whose names now, are emblazonod in
the galaxy Of fame, the beautiful sein-
tilations of whose genius, flashing like
summers lightning in the troubled
sky of science, light the weary pale
faced student amid the thorny paths,
where lie the pearls of hidden nature,
were men whom cotemporaneous pub
lie opinion had doomed TO life Of
woe. Harvey to whom we owe un.
appreciated debts of gratitude, for his
unparalleled discovery OF the circu-
latory system; Davy to whom Eng
land owes the past and present pros
perity of her mineral wealth. Wash
ington, oven our own Washington,
who made every sacrifice for our
country's good, had to contend with
the tides Of popular feeling, and each
had to struggle with tho consoling
hopo that fnturity would do justice
to bis memory.
Such opposition likewise do some
facts of modern science meet with al
the hands of those who do not under
stand them; as the formation OF the
earth, the relative age Of successive
strata, tho form, size, and habits OF
the fierce batrachians, hugo birds, and
mighty mammoths, that roamed sole
monarchs Of an uninhabilod world.
To the same scale of disputed facts, is
referred the well attested geological
principles, that the interior ot our
earth is u molten mass Of fiery liquid,
where tho hardest substances
esectbe and boil as pot
The eye of the experienced geologist
easily detects the igneOus agency OF
other days, in the numerous upheavals
whose Jagged edges project from our
mountain sides. Besides the assorli
yus of scientific men, We have not only
palpable evidence, but irreiragable
proofs of the earth's internal heat
| 1t is observed that the influence o
the solar rays cease after the frsI
hundred feet from the surface, but on
entering mines below that depth, The
temperature increases about ten Fab
for every sixty or seventy feet. Ever
at this increase n point would b'
attained at no very great depth
where it would be impossible for th'
hardest rocks and metals TO withstand
the excessive heat.
The question then propounds itself
does this heat continue TO increase
may it not be owing to local causes
Aud before great depths were reached
might not heat be entirely suspended
To the first we might reply, that il
all parts of the world, and in ever,
kind Of rock through which mine
pass, the same phenomena has beoi
observed.
As TO the second, we can unhcsita
tingly reply that from the most care
ful observations of men, who visitci
certain wells in different parts of th
world, the above rule is verified. Th
water from the well of Grenelle n
Paris, rising from the depth Of $50
foot. has a constant temperature q
$40 Fab. whilst the thermal record q
the city shows q mean temperatur
of $50 Fab. This shows an averav
increase in the temperature Of th
water of 10 Fab. for every sixty-tw
feet. Very accurate observation
made on this point by Walierdin,
Creuzat, in France, in two wells q
depths Of 2000 and 2500 feet, prove
, that temperature increased l. Fal
every fiftv.eve feet for tho first lsO
feet q descent, after which il increase
b 10 Fab. for every forty-four feet
The hot springs in our own an
other countries 90 far in ostablishin
the existence and increase Of tho II
ternal heat of the earth.
, These proofs, it seems, should |
sufficient to convince the most skept
cal Of tho truth Of our proposition
y but there are yet more cogent reasoi
e that enforce upon the minds Of Il
doubtful tho belief Of this theor,
Looking at the vast collections.
plutonic rocks that make the bills
T. the eastern States valuable for bull
ing purposes, the gigantic column
y aud beautiful grottos of trap rock
that onchant the eye Of tho travele
e. make the pleasure-seeker stop ar
gaze to the giddy heights Of the pc
pendioular bluffs that line tho shor
Of our Columbia, compel us to pond
!, over the fact that we stand where II
earthquake shook and the yoloai
=, Numbered.
cs Looking westward over the field
waters, we sec active volcanoes gir
ling the vast Pacific Ocean, as solon