Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1873-11-08
IMPENDING HORRORS.
THE TERRIBLE PREDICTIONS OF THE
AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION.

n
Few know the terrible import of the
recent meeting Of the American Scien-
tific Association at Portland. In its
development of new horrors in store for
poor humanity, it was awfully prolific
Its 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 was to be obliterated,
was the gist of FIVE papers read by five
of the most scientific, trusted, and cele-
brated members of the Association. y
terrible and total extinction Of animal
life was foretold by all, the only ques-
ton being, which Of the five horrors
shall first develop itself and perform the
work of universal destruction.
THE Sun TO BE EXTINGUIsHED.
Professor Young, the most eminent
living student Of solar phpsics, read a
paper on the sun. That body, he argn-
ed, is a gigantic bubble, whose crust is
gradually thickening and whose size IS
diminishing. There is constant loss
of heat, which will end in its extinction,
as a producer Of warmth andlight. He
quoted Faye, Seechi, and others, to
prove that the material of the sun Is
gaseous, and that these gases are retain
ed by some kind of crust Through
this surface the tumultuous inner com
position is constantly squirting and out
breaking with great violence Hethlnks
that this crust may consist Of a sheet
of descending rain-not OF water, OF
course, but OF the materials whose va
pors are known to exist in the solar at
mosphere, and whose condensation and
combination are supposed to furnish the
solar heat" As this peculiar rain meets
the gaseous substances of the sun 1t CO.
alesces into a continual sheet, forming
"a sort Of bottomlcss ocean, resting
upon the condensed vapors underneath,
and pierced by innumerable ascending
lets and bubbles" This action OF the
suns envelope will be quenching OF
the great orb upon which we depend
for heat and light. 1t will grow smaller,
and more compressed and surrounded
by this crust, until it will be so hidden
and muffied as to be practically eXclud-
ed from the economy of the universe:
The result will be intense cold and
darkness, a cessation of all animal life,
and an immediate return to original
chaos.
TIE BUBBLE EARTH TO BURST.
General J. c. Barnard described the
interior of the earth IS molten fluid.
Previous notions had given the earth,
however, a rigid exterior surface from
one to two thousand feet deep. lie re-
futed this theory, and claimed for the
globe upon which we live somewhat the
construction of rubber ball filled with
melted lead. The surface is, he thinks,
a pliaLle coating that has been gradually
formed over the fiery mass inside. A
plobular form is maintained by rapid
rotary motion, the inner fluid sustaining
the soft shell in its position, so that the
undulations are imperceptlble to us
Thus we are being whirled through
space on a 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 disarrange-
ment or change in terrestrial phenome,
M would transform it all into 4 fluid
that would resolve itself into vapor
Gen. Barnard does not believe that the
surface is of an essentially different com
position from the liquid interior-lt has
only been condensed sufficiently to form
sort of capsule. The tenure Of the
worlds existence, therefore, IS exceed
inply uncertain. Any greatly disturb
inc infuence-the breaking out OF q
huge volcano, any change in the surface
that would render it brittle, the impact
of heavy meteor or comet-may, IN a
moment, ilumolate it, leaving humanity
to whirling death amid the horrors OF
inorganic space.
DARKNESS, SILENCE, AND DEATH.
Mr.. III. +. 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 mo-
tive power Of the earth, is being eXhaus-
ted by the prodigious lavishness of its
expenditure. 1t is supposed, he said;
that the satellite will fall into planets,
planets into suns and suns into 4 com
mon centre, after which darkness, ST.
lence. and death will reign" He was
not without a shadow of hope, however.
lie saw only two possible chances for
postponement, at least, OF the dreadful
catastrophe First, series OF natural
chemical evolutions attracting to the
sun vast amount Of combustible mate
rial: and second, the infinite magnitude
of the universe being sufficient to permit
a never ending concentration OF masses.
One dreaded effect of a loss Of sun-pow
err. he said, is a displacement of atmos-
pheric forces. Tidal influences or plan
etary collisions may hasten the final
dreadful catastrophe, which will be a
slowing of the machinery of the uni
verse, until growing stagnatlon culml-
mates in total extinction of life forces.
UNIVERSAL DROUGHT AND STARVATION
Professor Franklin Il. Houph foretold