, 1880-02-05
Drying Up.

and Death of a World" presented his
viows as to the future OF the earth.
He estimates that our world has existed
as an Independent whole five hundred
millions of years. OF this time, one
hundred millions of years were occupied
in the change of the earth from vapor-
Gus to q solid and liquid state. For
three hundred millions Of years there
was too great degree of heat on the
earth for it to be the abode Of life, and
for one hundred millions Of years the
frame of the earth has been very much
as it is now.
In reaching this conclusion, Professor
Proctor accepts as evidence illustrating
the processes of the earth, the condition
of the other planets. On the theory
that the larger the planet the slower it
would cool, he finds that Jupiter will
cool down to our present standard
in 3,000,000,000 years, and that the
moon reached the condition cf the
earth 42O,000,0OO years ago. That is to
say, Jupiter is very moist and the moon
very dry. Jupiter represents the earth
as it was millions of years ago, and the
moon the dry, uninhabitable condition
it will reach in about twenty-five mil
lions Of years. r
This general statement simply indi-
Gates Professor Proctors line of specula
ton or argument. IIookingat Jupiter,
he sees the humid condition of the
earth as it was in the past, and, turning
his telescope on the moon, sees what the
earth will be in years to come In one
case he sees the atmosphere surcharged
with vapor, which is in time to become
seas and rivers on the surface Of the
planet. In the other he finds no atmos-
phere OF appreciable density, no water
on the surface, and no signs of life.
Around Jupiter the vapor is so dense
that the surface of the planet cannot be
seen, except where some tremendous
force has torn the cloud away. On the
moon there are the dry beds of seas and
rivers, the wide craters of extinct vol
canoes, and numerous signs to indicate
that the moon once was as our world is
now. On the one hand is great world
cooling gradually to the point when it
will become the scene Of busy life, and
on the other a smaller world, cold, dead,
deserted. d, .s.. --.,.
Taking observations in all directions,
Professor Proctor arrives at the conclu.
sion that the waters now on the surface
of the earth will gradually soak into the
interior, the crust cooling and breaking
into large cavities. As there is room in
the interior for twice as much water as
now finds place on the earth's surface,
the crust, as the interior cools,s will, be-
come dry and dead. There will be no
seas and rivers, no atmosphere, no life,
The progress toward this period Of uni
vsrsal death will be gradual, extending
over 25,000,o00 years. There is less
water now than there was in the time
Of Adam, and less than there was in the
time of Christ The earth having
reached the maximum stage Of develop
ment, is now on the decline--is wearing
out as it were, is on the grade toward a
state OF desert dryness. " l.....I.L
~ Those who look with favor on this
theory will not be slow to remember
that the Desert Of Sahara was once
part Of the ocean; that the 30 called
great American Desert was at one time
great sea that there were in the time
of Alexander many rivers in Central
Asia which are now dry channels; that
tho Caspian Sea is many feet lower than
it was 1000 years aio.
Many people now living will tell you
that Lake Michigan is seven feet lower
than when they first settled on its shores;
that many swamp Districts are now good
farming land; that many streams which
forty years ago could not be forded ex-
oept in Summer are now little rills; that
large ponds Of twenty years ago have
now no existence. Do these things point
to the truth of Professor PrJctor's
theory9 If Lake Michigan falls seven
feet in fifty years it will be easy to see
that the chain of great lakes will be as
dry as Sahara long before the twenty
five million years have elapsed.
Professor Proctor does not tell us
what is to become of the dried up and
useless worlds, but leads us to infer that
higher orders Of the universe are to sue
ceed them. Inter Olean.
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