The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1873-10-25
IMPENDING HORRORS.
Ine Terrible Predictions OF the Amerj-
can Scientific Association.


Few know the terrible import of the
recent meeting of the American Scien-
tltlc Association at Portland. In it's
development of new horrors in..store for
poor humanity it was awfully prolific.
It's members We'd with each other in
predictions of coming commissions of
nature, and sustained their arguments
with truths brought to light from the
deepest and darkest wells of science.
That humanity is to be obliterated was
the glst of five papers, read by five of
the most scientific, trusted. and cele-
brated members of the Association. A
terrible and total extinction of animal
lie was foretold by all, the only ques
ton being which of the FIVE horrors
would first develop itself and perform
the work of universal destruction.
THE SUN To BE ExTINGUIsHED.
Prof. Young, the most eminent living
student of solar physics, read paper
on the sun. That body he argued, is a
gigantic bubble. whose crust is gradual
ly thickening and whose size is dimin-
1shlDg. There is a constant loss of
heat, with its extinction as a producer
of warmth and light. He quoted Faye,
SecchI, and others to prove that the
material Of the sun is gaseous, and that
these gases are retained by some kind
OF a crust. Through this surface the
tumultuous inner composition is con
stantly squirting and outspurting, with
grand violence. He thinks that this
crust " may consist of a sheet of de
scending rain-not of water of course,
but of the materials whose vapors are
known to exist IN the solar atmosphere
and whose condensation and combina
ton are supposed to furnish the solar
heat, As this peculiar rain meets the
gaseous substance OF the sun it coales
ces into continuous sheet, forming
& a sort of bottOmless ocean, resting
upon the condensed vapors underneath,
ana pierced by innumerable ascending
jets and bubbles" This action of the
suns envelop Will be a quenching of
the great orb upon which we depend
for heat and light. 1t will grow small
er, and more compressed and surround
ed by the crust, until it will he so hid
den and mutfled as to be practically
excluded from the economy of the uni
verse. The result will be intense cold
and darkness, cessation of ali animal
life, and an Immediate return to origi-
nal chaos.
THE BUBBLE EARTH To BURST.
General J. q. Barnard described the
Interior of the earth as molten fluid.
Previous notions had given the earth,
however, rigid exterior'surtace from
one to two thousand feet deep. He re-
thnnru ola 81 g. he
globe npOn which we live somewhat
the construction of rubber ball filled
with melted lead. The surface is he
thinks, 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 its position,
so that the undulations are impercepti-
bic 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 dlSarrangement or change in ter
reStrlal phenomena would transform it
al INTO Il fluid that would resolve itself
into vapor. General Barnard does not
believe that the surface is of an essen
tally different composition from the
liquid interlor-it has only been con
densed sufficiently TO form a sort of
capsule. The tenure Of the worlds ex-
lstence, therefore, is exceedingly un.
certain. Any greatly disturbing inhu-
ence-the breaking out of huge vol
cano, any change In the surface that
would render 1T brittle, the impact of a
heavy meteor or comet-mav, 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 Dissipation of Energy" by say
ing " Since the days of the 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. 1t 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 a postponement, at least,
of the dreadful catastrophe First, a
series of natural chemical evolutions
attracting to the sun a vast amount of
combustlble material and, second,
the iltinlte magnitude of the universe
being sufficient to permit never-ending
conc Cntration Of masses. One dreaded
effect of a loss of sun power, he said,
is a displacement of atmospheric forces.
Tidal influences or planetary collisions
may hasten the dreadful catastrophe,
which Will be slowing of the ma
chlnery OF the universe, until growing
stagnatiou eliminates III total extinc-
ton of life forces.
UNIVERSAL DRoUTH AND STARVATION.
Prof. Franklin b. HouGh foretold
perpetual drouth-the result of a clear
ing off of the forests. "The con.
trast, y 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 a matter of alarm but when we
consider the effect upon streams
practical illustrations of large ones be