Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1873-10-23

Jets and bubbles. This action of the
SUMS envelop will be q quenching of
the great orb upon which we depend
for heat and light. II will grow small
er, and more compressed and surround
ed by the crust, until it will be so hid
den and muffled as to be practically
excluded from the economy of the uni
verse. The result will be intense cold
and darkness, cessation of all animal
life, and an Immediate return to origi-
nal chaos.
THE BUBBLE EARTH TO BURST.
General j. g. Barnard described the
interior of the earth as q molten fluid.
Previous notions had given the earth,
however; rigid exterior|suriace from
one to two thousand feet deep. He re-
futed this theory, and claimed for the
globe npon which we live somewhat
the construction of rubber ball filled
with melted lead. The surface is he
thinks, a pliable coating that has been
gradually formed over the fiery mass
inside. A globular form is maintained
by rapid rotary motion, the inner fluid
sustaining the soft shell in it's position,
SO that the undulations are impercepti-
BILE to us. Thus we are being whirled
through space on huge globule, the
surface of which floats on an interior
of liquid fire. Only the rotary. speed
of this bubble keeps it together, and
any Encouragement or change in ter
restrial phenomena would transform it
all into fluid that would resolve itself
into vapor. General Barnard does not
believe that tho surface is of an essen
TALLY different composition from the
liquid interior-it has only been con-
densed sufficiently to form q sort of
capsule. The tenure Of the worlds ex-
istence, therefore, is exceedingly I'M
certain. Any greatly disturbing i;nflu-
ence-the breaking out of huge VOL
cano, any change in the surface that
would render it brittle, the impact of
heavy meteor or comet-may, in me-
ment, immolale it, leaving humanity to
whirling death amid the horrors of in
organic space.
DARKNESS, SILENCE AND DEATH.
Mr.. H. F. walling began an essay on
the g Dissipation of Energy" by say
ing !" Since the days of tho ancients
it has been known that all motion is
gradually developed by friction, and
must finally cease, unless maintained
by external power" The heat power
of the sun, which he regarded as the
motive power of the earth, is being ex-
hausted by the prodigious lavishness
of its expenditure. It is supposed, he
said, that the satellite will fall into
planets, the planets into suns, and
suns into common centre, after which
darkness, silence and death will
reign" He was not without shadow of
hope, however. He saw only two possible
chances for postponement, at least,
of the dreadful catastrophe First, a
series of natural chemical evolutions
attracting to the sun vast amount of
combustible material; and, second,
the infnite magnitude of the universe
being sufficient to permit never-ending
concentration of masses. One dreaded
effect of loss of sun power, he said,
is displacement of atmospheric forces.
Tidal influences or planetary collisions
may hasten the dreadful catastrophe,
which will be slowing of the ma
chinery of the universe, until growing
stagnatiOn eliminates in total extinc-
ton of life forces.
UNIVERSAL DR0UTH AND STARVATION.
Prof. Franklin B. Hough foretold
perpetual drouth-the result of u clear
ing off of the forests. "The con.
trast, " he said, "between an open and
sunburnt pasture and one interspersed
with clumps of trees must have been
noticed by every careful observer. The
fact that furniture in houses too much
shaded will mould is an instance of the
humid influence of trees, and the re-
suits of woodland shade explain the
fullness of springs and streams in the
forest, which dry up and
disappear when the trees are re-
moved" The rapidity with which
forests are disappearing has already
been matter of alarm but when we
consider the effect upon streams
practical illustrations of large ones be-
ing lessened and small ones extinguish-
ed-there is cause for fright. Land
will become unwatercd, and conse
quently sterile crops will lessen in
volume until the arid and tree}ess
plains refuse to respond to the incite-
ment of the farmer; universal famine
will ensue and the world, entirely de-
populated by starvation, will sink into
acknowledgements, until some new
change calls another form of life into
existence.
INSECTS TO END THE HUMAN RACE.
DIR. LIE Conte, the new President of
the Association, read paper ON the
enormous increase and destructiveDess
of injurious insects. The present
actual damage done by insects to crops
in the United States is over three mil
lions of dollars, yet these figures give
but m inkliDg of what the increase
promises for the future. "Just now"
says DR.. LIE Conte, ga portion only of
the insect tribes are sufficiently numer-
GUS by nature to inflict injury upon
man and his possessions, but civiliza-
ton destroys the balance of
life which naturally keep down
increase, and permits in the case of in
sects-those previously insignificant in
nnmbers-to become prominent fac
tors in work of destruction" The
only methods suggested by this scien-
fist to avert a calnmitous plague were to
"abandon the crops and starve ont the
.,Wxious insects, y Or to establish ga
system of checks on their increase
equivalent to those existing before
civilization intcrfered." Either Of these