The New Orleans daily Democrat., 1877-12-23
THE END OF THE WORLD.
An Entertaining Description of the De-
structiOn Of the Earth by An
Eminent French Scientist.

StfuctiOn OF the EArth ny An
Eminent French Scientist.
Paris Figarol
Fifty thousand years have rolled over
the earth. Industry has thrived; the
human race increased with wonderful
rapidity until the world begins to be
over populated. All the coal beds have
leum wells are dry the forests cut down.
We begin to use the oxygen OF the
air and the hydrogen Of the water as
fuel. The earth, fully exposed to the
rays OF the sun, grows hotter and
hotter.
Flowers wither, leaves grow yellow,
parchments shrivel, everything dries
and breaks to pieces. Animals grow
smaller through the effect of evapora-
tion. Man in turn becomes meagre and
dries up. All temperaments blend In
one-the bilious, and the last of the
lymphatics offers with tears his daugh-
ter, and 100, 100000 of dowry, to the last
Of the scrofulous, who has not cent Of
The heat augments and the springs are
exhausted. The ater-carriers rise by
degrees to the rank of capitalists, then
to millionaires. Finally the great water
bearer Of the prince ends by becoming
one of the first dignitaries of the State.
All crimes and infamies which are now
done for gold one does then for
glass Of water, and love himself aban-
doning his arrows and culver, replaces
them by a flask Of ice water. In this
torrid atmosphere one pays for piece Of
ice thirty times its weight in diamonds.
The Emperor Of Australia, in a fit of
mental alteration, has tutti frutti
made which cost him a year of his in
yf
tune by obtaining a hectolitre Of cool
water in forty-five degrees. The rivers
dry up. Lobsters hustle tumultuously,
running after threads Of warm water
which leave them upon the beach
changing color and turning to scarlet.
Fishes with bursting heart and dis
tended fins are left by the stream ex-
tended stomach upward. Humankind
begins to weaken visibly. Strange pas
sions, unheard Of rage, violent loves,
insensate pleasures, make life series
of furious detonations, or rather con-
tinuous explosion, which commences at
birth and finishes by death. In this
world. terrified by an implacable COM
bustion, all is red. cracking, broiled,
roasted, and after the water evaporates,
one feels the air diminish as it rarifies.
Frightful calamity The streams and
rivers have disappeared. The seas begin
to grow warm then become heated. Be-
hold them already simmering as under
a gentle fire. At first the little fishes,
asphyxiated, turn over upon the sur
face. Afterward come the seaweed that
the heat has detached. From the
depths finally arise, cooked blue and
giving out their fat in large drops, the
whales, the enormous pieuvre, the shark
and the kraken, believed to be fabulous;
&Loc \, 4
With these fat things, herbs and fishes
cooked together, the smoking ocean
becomes an immense bowl Of soup. A
penetrating kitchen odor spreads over
all the inhabitable earth. A century Of
this reigns. The ocean is evaporated;
no traces Of its existence remain save
some heaps Of fishes scattered over the
desert plains.
The end commences. Under the triple
influence Of heat, of asphyxia and OF
dessication humankind is annihilated
little by little. Man is exhausted,
scaly, and at the last shock falls to
pieces. In the place Of vegetables
nothing remains to him but some me-
dint Of watering them with vitriol. To
quench the thirst which devours him,
to reanimate his calcined nervous sys-
tenn, to liquefy his albumen, which
coagulates, he has no other liquids than
sulphuric acid or aquafortis. Vain ef-
forts At each breath Of wind which
agitates this anhydrous atmosphere
thousands OF human creatures are in
stantly dried up; the cavalier upon his
horse, the advocate at the bar, the Judge
upon the bench, the acrobat upon his
rope, the workman at his window, the
king upon his throne, are suddenly
mummified.
And then comes the last day. There
are now but thirty-sev left wandering
like spectres Of touchwood in the midst
Of frigbtful population Of mummies,
who regard them with eyes similar to
Zante currants. And they take hands
and commence furious round. At each
turn one Of the dancers stumbles and
falls dead, with dry noise. The thirty
six turns finished, the survivor remains
alone in presence of this miserable heap,
in which are gathered the last debris Of
the human race. He throws last
glance over the earth. He says adieu to
the name Of all, and from his poor burnt
eyes falls tear-the last tear Of hui
He gathers it in his hand he
drinks it and dies looking at the skies.
tremblingly; then two. then three, then
braced, burns an instant, is extinguish-
ed. All is ended. The earth is dead.
Mournful and frozen, it rolls sadly
through the silent deserts Of the infinite,
and Of SO much beauty, SO much glory,
so many joys, so many tears, so many
loves, no more remains than a little cal
cined stone-miserable wanderer across
the luminous spheres of the new worlds.
Adieu, earth! Adieu,, touching SOU
vsnirs Of our history, of our genius, of
our sorrows, of our loves! Adieu, ma
ture! Thou whose sweet and serene
majesty consoled so we'll our sufferings!
Adleu, cool and shady woods, where
during the beautiful summer nights by
the silvery light of the moon we heard
the nightingale sing! Adieu, terrible
and charming creatures who lead the
world with tearior smile, and whom
we call by names so sweet! All! sina,
you are no more! truly all is finished.
The earth is dead.
New American Sewing Machine. 1856 Canal
street.