The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1878-02-20
La table e6t nil@e.
Ia eharc eSqul-s
Que ron Ne crise
lriuduOns. tncs Aml- -

Irinquons, ines anAs
Very well but are we at soup or dessert !
Who can say, alas that coffee is not to be
served Immediately Wo 90 on and on,
careless OF the future OF the world, without
ever asking ourselves if, by chance, this
trail bark that bears us over the ocean OF
the Infinite is not in danger Of upsetting,
Or IL its old hull, worn hy time and racked
by the Agitations of the voyage, has not
some leak through which death, drop by
drop. is being iniiltrated into its framt
which il also the frame Of humanity.
The world, which for us is the terrestrial
globe, has not always existed. 1t has com.
nenced: Their il will end. Whenl That
= the question. And, firstly, we ask if the
world can end through accident or pertur.
baton Of actual laws. We should not know
how to admit it. Such an hypothesis would
% an absolute contradiction of the opinion
we intend to sustain in this article. 1t is
therefore very clear that we canno adopt
ii. All discussion would be in truth i'm
possible IL we admit the opinion we propose
20 combat. Thus. behold the first point
perfectly established; the earth will NOT
Se destroyed by accident; it will end IN
consequence OF the action Of the very laws
Of its actual life; it will die, as they say, n
natural death. But will it die of old age 7
Will It die of diseaseg i do not hesitate
10 reply-no, it will not die of old age. Yes,
1t will die of disease, in consequence OF
excess. have said the earth will end by
means Of the action of the very laws of its
actual life. 1t matters now to inquire what
Ia, Of all the agents operating for the sup.
port Of the life Of the ~terraqueous globe,
that which is one day to destroy it. l tell
1t without hesitation. This agent, it is
hat even to which the earth primarily owes
her existence; it is heat. Heat will drink
the sea, heat will cot the earth, and this is
how it will happen.
One day, observing the working of loco
motives the illustrious Stephenson asked n
great English chemist what was the force
which caused these machines to move. The
chemist replied, 1T is the sun"
In truth, ali the heat we set ut liberty
when we burn vegetable c~ombustiblo. wood
or coal, has been stored there by the sun.
A piece of wood, n bit of coal, is literally,
then, nothing else than n conserve of solar
rays.
How will it be II the animal population,
il the human species, in its turn follows the
same progress? How will it be If some
considerable transformation, born OF the
Developments of animal life upon the sur.
face of the globe, comes to modify the
structure of the lands, to displace the basin
Of the seas, and TO assemble humanity upor
~ NA1S AtAAAAN NhAu lLlOlt
permeable to solar heat? Now that is pre-.
cisely what is going to happen. When we
compare the world with what it once was,
We are Immediately startled by a fact which
caps before our eyes; this fact is the
development of organic life upon our globe.
From the highest submits of the mountains
TO tho deepest CULTS of the sea, millions
upon millions of animalcules of animals, of
tJptoc'Inous or OF superior pleutes, labor
night and day. This labor went on fast
enough already before the epoch when man
.irst appeared upon Garth. But since the
sppeRtsrca o. man 1t has developed with O
rapidity which every day accelerates.
While humanity remained confined upon
two or three points of Asia, Europe, and
Africa this was UNDECIDED, because, save
these places Of concentration, the genera
life was still able to disperse at ease upon
:he open spaces the too great accumulation
upon certain points of the civilized earth
,E Is thus that colonization has peopled by
degrees countries until then uninhabited
ard uncultirated. Then commenced the
arst phase Of the progress of life by human
agricultural phase. During ten
centuries we went on in this manner. But
then We discovered the great coal deposits,
Ano nearly at the same time steam and
enemstry. Then the earth entered the in
dnstriai phase, which has only commenced
within the last sixty years. It is evident to
those who have looked into things that dur
ing . haif century both beasts and people
snow . tendency to multiply, to abound, to
swarm In a truly alarming proportion We
eat more, We drink more; we breed sill.
worms, feed poultry, and fatten beef. AZ
the same time. we plant upon every side.
we make clearings; we invent the fruitful
rotation Of crops; we compose artificial fer.
tiizers which double the productiveness Of
the land ; we are not content with what the
land produces, We SOW beautifully in our
rivers salmon at 5 francs a slice, oysters at
"A sous the dozen. During this time we
feTment enormous quantities of wine, beer.
and cider. We diEtii veritable rivers Of
brandy, and then we burn millions of tons
Of coal. without counting the incessant per