The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1872-03-07
GheGtteIEiaeneer:
will the Eearth Become a Dead starr
ny rRoF. j. BRAENERD.

.,a.pnt condition OF the heavily bodies
Previous to the introduction OF THIS In
.,rument, the physical condition OF the
s"n and other celestial bodies was mere
S matter Of conjecture. Now, the elements
,hat enter into the composition Of our
Sreat lnminary, and the process ny when
Irht and heat are transmitted, are unuer'
s,6ol with reasonable certainty. we can
now analyze meteOrs, aud name inc Gle
" that form our comets. Even the
lived stars whose distances defy compu'
taiion arc shown to be composed OF mat
ter ike that with which we are IN con-
' We learn that the planets that compose
mr. own solar system have periods In
,%cir existence, answering to those OF In.
fancy and age, and that the elements oil
,Lcif COMPOSITION are now, and have been
"rsdually passing from an inCandescent
state like gas, to that OF a tluidofsOlid form
In The study Of these phenomena We
have accumulating evidence that the ma
terials that constitute our globe were
once in a state OF elementary, selflumi
nous vapor, occupying an extent equal
perhaps, 10 the orbit OF the moon, and
having a disC.like form, like that which
now surrounds the sun called the zodiaCaI
light,
The revelations of geology show that
the earth was once without u solid crust
melted. fluid mass OF mineral matter
surrounded by dense and heated atmOs'
plere, containing the elements which now
IOnn the waters of the ocean. The union
Of oxygen and hydrogen, In the form Of
water, Is known TO produce an intense
heat, a heat sufficient TO melt the most
refractory bodies known; in fact, this Is
true in relation To decentralization OF oxy.
gen with any other element than hydro.
zen: and as II Is known that oxygen con.
Stitues about Une.half of the substance Of
our globe, being found in union with al.
most every other clement, Il is no marvel
that the primitive earth should have been
in fluid state from heat, arising from
such chemical unions, and surrounded by
dense and luminous atmosphere of thou.
sands of miles in depth, radiating light
and heat into the regions of space in the
same manner that the sun now gives light
and heat to us. And this radiation OF
heat from the earth has been incessant
through unnumbcred ages, and still con.
tinues; and, however slow may be this
action at the present time, It is neVerthe,
less certain; and the consequences Of thi:
cooling process was early manifested
resulting in an increasing density OF the
earth as a whole, contracting its circum.
ference, thus causing inequalities in its
surface, forming both the bed Of the ocean
anil great mountain ranges.
Primarily, the changes upon the earth's
surface were due wholly TO the contraction
its crust by loss of heat, but after the
formation ofthe ocean, by the condensa.
ton OF the watery vapOr that surrounded
the granite globe, other agencies were
brought into action to produce such
changes.
All the stratifled rocks have been form.
ed by the agency Of water, usually by thu
joint action Of the mechanical arrange
ment of undisSolved material of older
rocks and the chemical deposition of mat
Ter held in solution, by which tho undis
solved particles were cemented together
or the stratitied rocks may have beer
altogether formed by chemical deposition
and capitalization, and stratitied by u re-
arrangement ofparticles.
The thickness of the crust of the cartL
at the present time, embracing both the
granite and stratitied rocks, varies from
Ten to thirty miles, and this thickness il
constantly increasing, both from the depo
sIIiOn ofncw matter in the depths Of The
ocean and the cooling Of the underlying
granite.
The vast interior Of nearly eight thou
sand miles is one vast cauldron Of melted
matter, pressed upon all sides by the con,
sIantly contracting solid crust that sur
rounds it, finding only occasional vent in
volcanic eruptions in the form Of melted
lava. The fluid mass, which constitutes
the nucleus of the earth's crust, is iluc
luatlng but not c6mpressible, and tht
solid rock, whether stratifled or print
tive, floats upon its surface as ice float!
upon water. The cooling process con-
sIanIIy going on in the earth's crus
causes a pressure upon the interior fluid
mass, and would, were no other agencies
brought into action, produce a gradual
and quiet flow Of lava from the natural
vents with which the crust Of the earth Il
provided.
The known contraction of granite rock
from temperature Of six hundred degrees
"a red heat to sixty, Qhe mean tempera.
lure OF tho surface ROCKY would shorten
Tue circumference Ofthc earth's crust more
than liIiy miles; and to this agency alone
may be attributed tho formation of our
most stupendous mountain ranges and the
great depresSions of the oceans bed.
The ocean has a depth in many places
oil more than five miles, and our highest
mountains present a corresponding alti.
Jude; but were these mountains 10 be lev.
eled, the beds of the seas and oceans filled
Up and the waters of the globe equally
distributed over It's surface, the fluid en-.
Selope would not exceed three thousand
'eGI IN depth, (about three.tiiths Of mile
lhat the mean temperature of the cartl
constantly being reduced is n fact nd,
MlItGd by such men rs Fourier, Herschell
Won Humboldt, and others, and were ID
present solid crust of sufficient strength tC
sustain the pressure Of It's own weight tht
Htal refrigeration OF its inirrinr unltor