Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-03-12
He KnetC all about 1t.
New York GraDhic.l


New York Graphic.l
A mild. man with dreamy
look on his face came into the editorial
rooms of the Graphic the other day and
asked to see the astronomical editor. On
being told that that gentleman was at the
walking match, he said he would wait
awhile, and seating himself on the as
tronomer's tripod he fell to munching
peppermint drops The astronomical ed
ltor returned in about an hour, and the
mild-mannered man said: "Say, be you
the astronomical editorF'
II am,' was the reply
81 am from Ohio" said the mild-man-
nered man, ssand, bein' as was in town,
thought I'd drop IN and give we my no.
lions on comets. Mebbe you got my let
ter the other day biddin' you godspeed in
your noble work. Say, mister, what 'ued
be the result if a comet like PrOctor's
should fall onto the central loominaryg"
"No result whatever" said the astrOn-
CYNICAL editor. ssThat was shown long
ago"
"Kecken you're out there, mister"
said the dreamy man, putting another
DCpDClulln0 QlOR LII Liz AAAO0oAA' 1870
on that if the comet should fall onto the
sun the earth 'ud all freeze up tight as a
millpond in Janooary,''
ooh, nonsense" said the astromlcal
editor; "what are you talking about"
"Reckon 1t would, mister" continued
the visitor. "'cause, We see, when the
comet had fell into the sun 1t 'ud all flare
up together and burst out into awful heat
! L. + I, hof n hn
the result, mister?'
"Why in that case" was the reply,
''the earth would get hotter, and if the
comet has sufficient mass, why-"
"Reckon you're wrong agln, miStee"
said the mild-mannered man; 'tWouldn't
do anything of the sort. We see, fust
off, the heat 'ud rarely the air, and next
ways, it 'ud evap'rate all the water on the
globe, ocean and all. Now, evaporation
always produces cold, and as the waters
was 'vaporated. why, the earth 'ud grow
colder and colder all the time, and as
there is about 100000 times as much
water as solid ground, by the time all the
seas was dried up the earth 'ud be cold
enough to freeze brass monkey"
sGreat Scott!'' said the astronomical
editor, "and then the earth would be like
the moen, cold and Iifeless mass with
out any water"
"Guess you're wrong agin, mister"
said the stranger, tipping over a little to
get some peanuts from his overcoat pock-
ct. ssGueSs yov're all wrong. Ye see,
the earth 'ud then be so cold that it 'ud
kinder chill the steam, and the hull sky
'ud come down in dellige of
ram SIGH as we haven't
seen since Noahs time. Now
vapor of water holds about 1000 degrees
of latent heat, and when 1t is condensed
it kinder gives this UP again, and sets the
seas a-bilin' agln-
s'Heavens!" said the astronomical edi-
tor, ''and SO it would go on with alter
nate increments of heat and cold"
s'Reckon you're wrong, mister" said
the mild hammered man, "cause there's
Jest as much heat as there is cold, and
they would kinder nootraliZe each other,
and So"
81 see, | see!" shouted the astronomical
editor; cit would all amount to the
same"
emo 'twouldn't," said the son of Ohio.
:tYou're out there, calklate. Steam is
gas, same as air is q gas. The air, as L
hev proved, bein' raretied, 'ud expand
and drawer up the steam after it, and the
more it drawed it the rarer the steam 'ud
get. Now, water is one thing and steam
is another; When ye turn the former
into the latter the product okepies 2,4O0
times more space than the latter, and,
beln' lighter, in THIS case gravity would
lose its grip ON the oceans turned into
steam and sucked up by the ascending,
rarefied air. Ordinarily the air is about
100 miles high, but this, multiplied by the
2, 400 higher space when steam and air is
mixed, would send the what was once the
air and water to distance Of 240, 900
miles, which is just the distance Of the
moon, in which case"
81 see it all now," cried the astronom-
ical editor; ssthe earth would lose it's air
and water, which would go to the moon,
revivifying and"
"Reckon it wouldn't, mister" SAID the
mild man from Ohio, ''for We see that
"Blumbyt '' sang out the editor, ''put
on your hat and go over to the postoffice
for the mail Come, be lively."
eyes, SIR" said the astronomical ed
ltor essay, got any cigarets about you.
Toni Ta-ta, mister ~