The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1873-02-20
HE'LL. i. ON .lE,lA EARTH.
Is this Planet One Mighty Vol
canic Fire?-A Strange Report
from Belgium - Great Out
burst of Lava-Startling News
from Europe just Published.

,.a4 saH1 o1l--l Db5D ssW 81
-GFrom the San Francisco sunday Chroniclel
We have received the following
document. which purports to be re-
port prepared by the United States
singular that no telegraphic mention
has been made of so, startling an. oc-
currence. The report is one thai will
excite the deepest interest, and, al
though not youching tor lis correct
ness, we herewith present it. Moth
ing of a more startling nature than the
events described ever occurred in the
worlds history. Our correspondent
says:
The following extracts from the re-
United States Consul at Bruges, in
Belgium, 10 the Secretary of State,
published in the. Washington City
Telegraph of the Both ult., will fully
explain what is meant by the "Great
Scare in Belgium"
Our extracts are not taken continu-
ously, as the entire document would
be too yoluminous for our pages.
Before proceeding to detail the ac-
tual state. of affairs at Dudzeele. near
the line of canal connecting Bruges
with the North Sea, it may not be out
of place to furnish succinct history
of the explorations out of which the
present alarming events have arisen.
1t will be remembered by the State
Department that during the short in
terregnnm OF the provisional Govern
ment of France, under Lamartine and
Cavaignac in 1848, proposition was
submitted by France to the Govern
ments of the United States, Great
Britain and Russia, and which was
subsequently extended to King Leop-
old, OF Belgium, to create an "Interna-
tional Board for Subterranean Explo-
ration" in furtherance of science, and,
in order, primarily, to test the truth
of the theory of igneous central fusion,
first propounded by Leibnltz, and af-
terwards embraced by most of con-.
temporary geologists /; bu.. also with
the further objects of ascertaining the
magnetic condition of the earth's'
crust, the variations of the needle at
great depths, and finally to set at rest
the doubts of some of the English
mineralogists concerning the perma-
nency of the coal measures, about
which considerable alarm has been felt
in all the manufacturing countries of
Europe. -,--.,,, ...s.,,Js =
1t is unnecessary to detail the pro-
ceedingsi for the first few months af-
ter the Organization of the commls-a
sion. Prof. Watson, of Chicago, the
anthor of scientific treatise. called
'sPrairie Geology" was, selected by
President Fillmore as the first repre-
sentative of the United States Rus
,sia sent Olgokoff: France, iAfago Je-
uno; England, Sir Edward Sabine
the present President of the Royal
Society; and Belgium, .Dr. Seechi,f
since so famous for his spectfoscopic
observations on the fixed stars These
gentlemen, after organizing at Paris,
spent almost an en- ire year in
travelling before site for the scene of
operation was selected. Finally, on
was broken by actual work. at Dud-
zeele in the neighbofbood of Bruges,
in the Kingdom of Belgium. 2le ti.s
After giving all the considerations
and scientific facts which led to the
choice of locality, the report then pro-
ceeds to give the details of a very sue
cessiul contrivance for forcing air into
the shaft at the greatest depths, which
we do not deem il importantto quote.
The first operations were to enlarge
the the shaft SO as TO form an opening
40 bv IG0 feet, English measure. This
consumed the greater part of the year
lS49, SO that the real work of sinking
was not fairly under way until early
in 1850 But from that period down
to the memorable 5th of Novemb Der,
1872, the excavation steadily progress
ed.
AS the deepening progressed the
heat of the bottom continued to in
crease, but it was soon observed in
the experts After attaining the
depth of 1860 about the height of
Mt. Blanc-which was reached early
in 1864, it was noticed Tor the first
time that the laws of temperature,
gravitation and heat augmented in a
ratio proportioned TO the square of
the distance from the surface down.
ward. Hence the increase at great
depths bore no relation at all to the
apparently gradual augmentation near
the surface. AS early as June, 1868,
it became apparent that the sinking, If
carried on at all, would have 10 be
protected by some athermanous or ad-
iathermic covering. Prof. Tyndall
was applied to, and at the request
of Lord Palmerston made a vast
number of experiments on non-con-
Quoting bodies. As the result of his
labors, he prepared q compound solG-
tion about the density of common
white lead, composed of selenite alum
and sulphate ofcopper, which was laid
OH three or four thicknesses, first up