National Republican., 1881-11-26
NOT DRYING UP,
Plenty of water ON thc Face or the Earth
-Rrasons why.

-HfnsOns why.
"W. II. b." in the New York Sun, says,
In relation to the recent article about the earth
drying up: l beg leave to controvert OH several
material points, quoting the writer's words as fol-
lows:
water on the suriace of the earth has been steadily
diminishing for many thousand years. There was
time when the Caspian Sea communicated with
the Black Sea, and when the Mediterranean COW
cred the greater part Of the Desert OF Sahara
How does the diminution Of the area OF those
two seas prove decrease of the quantity Of water
on the whole earth2 We know that the Zuyder
Zee, containing 1865 square miles, was of trihlng
extent prior to the food OF 1917. AMI any part OF
the Desert ofsahara lying below the sea level may
yet become sea by the bursting OF the barriers Of
the ocean or the Mediterranean. And 1t Is said
that our own Salt Lake Is increasing in size.
Biologists tell us that at one period the whole
earth was covered with water.
But how do they attempt to prove III Only
a priori, upon the hypothesis Of q cooling world,
which maintain Is untenable
Tho fact that the continents of dry land now
exist Is proof that there Is less water on our globe
now than there was In It's infancy.
Is not this non scqufturf Do not gcologists also
tell us that there was once n continent in the Pa
chc Ocean, now sunken 1000 feet below the sur
face Of the water7 Do they not fetch up fossils
from that depth, which lived and died ages ngo
near the surfacc2
The rivers and smaller streams of our Atlantic
States are visibly smaller than they were twenty
five years ago.
Yes. because the forests have been cut down and
tho land cultivated. II Is not certain, believe,
that our rainfall Is diminishing, but II is certain
hat the frcshets increase as the area of cultivation
enlarges.
The level OF the great lakes is falling year by
year.
Certainly, Just as the outlets wear deeper.
HarDors are everywhere growing shallower.
Only where the land level Is rising, or where
earth is being deposited in the harbor
The harbor of Toronto has grown shallow, in
spite OF the fact that IL hps been dredged out so
that the bottom rock has been reached.
The shoaling is due, apprehend, to the gradual
deepening of the outlet of the lake.
The growing shallowness Of the Hudson is more
evident above Albany than II y IN the mde-waier
which was once navigablc by Indian canoes, the
upper Hudson Is now almost bare of water In
many places during the summer
The removal OF the forests and cultivation OF
the land sufficient to account for the partial
drying of the streams In summer. Lake Cham.
plain Is but wideued river, and Its outlet being
at tidewater In the st. Lawrence, II Is not strange
that the stream should be filling up. Our Hudson
had an outlet ages ago beyond Sandy Hook, and
IL II was then navigable at all above the present
harbor the site of New York city must have been
ON nlgn DluH.
In oil other parts Of the world there Is the same
steady decrease OF water in the rivers and lakes
The decrease in rivers, Iapprehend, is apparent
rather than real, caused by the extension of the
| cultivated area The data in regard to lakes arc
too meagre and uncertain. Hns the Dead Sea
diminished in size within historic times2 Hns
the volume Of water in the Nile decreased, either
at its high or low stagep
What is becoming of our water? We
must accept the theory that Ike the water of the
moon our water Is sinking into the earths interior
What proof is there that there was never any
water In the moon Instead ofbeing an d,worn-
out body, maintain that the moon is all infant
compared to the earth. 1t Is cold body, because
II has not grown big enough to get hot. All
planets are growing. Millions of meteors fall to
the earth every twenty -four hours. They strike
the atmospheric cushion. ignite, and gently fall In
dust or vapor But the moon having no atmos-
phere, they dash against Its crust with fearful
velocity; and suspect that what are supposed to
be volcanic crnters In the moon are only the marks
of great metcors, melting portion OF the surface
In their fall. But whether this be so not these
mcteors must increase tho size of the planets and
as they grow their internal beat increases by ihc
pressure of gravity, until at tlastthey become suns