The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1883-12-05
THE EARTH LII us vIaeR.
The End Not Yet--The Bright Side of Re-
cont Catastrophes.

cont Catastrophes.
The moon is dead, it has not life
enough left to OOze forth the thinnest
mud volcano or squirt out the feeblest
geyser, No thrOb ever reaches its snr-
face, and not the faintest,rumble iseYeT
echoed from its jagged niouIftai n'sideS
No earthquake wave can ever sweep its
island shores, for earthquakes there are
things of the almost infinite Kbast, and
the last drop of water quilted the sur
face of our planet B0ns ago. It's very at
mosphere has deserted it, and if, indeed
there were "man in the mOOn,' he
could never hear the sound of his own
V0iee. But IT by some means this my
thieal man cOnId have witnessed the
''lschia disaster" aud the "Java catas.
trophe." how he would have lOnged that
any such manifestations of life were
possible on bis iifeless planet, That Oe-
curTeneea like these referred to are cal
antilles every one must admit. aud some
may be apt to maintain that mans ar
rival In his earthly home has been pre-
fnatnFe, and that Providence" would
have acted more wisely and humanely
had he postponed mans advent on the
scene until eternal fires" had exhausted
themselves. But when that happens,
,s Jgeologlsts tell us, We may look upon it
AS the beginning of the end. Not even
the 900 degree heat OF the sun which
beats upon every part of the moon for a
fortnight at q time is able to rouse with
in its bosom the faintest sign OF life,
~ There is-eVidenee enough tOshOw that
at one period its volcanic activity must
d" have been of the most stupendOus kind,
far exceeding anything ever witnessed
on its mother earth, But that has gone
with its water and its atmosphere, and
- taken with it all possibility of life. We
are told that our existing volcanoes and
geysers and mud holes are but the dying
a remains of what at the time must have
been volcanic activity almost uniVer-
sal. Instead OF spasmOlle erupti0nS at
few isolated spots, we had constant
OutpOur of volcanic matter from wide
\, fissures7 extending across the earth's
s surface for many miles.
81 That the earth has not yet, however,
entirely lost its vigOr is evident from
the Java Outburst, which is the most
stupendOus phenomenon Of the kind on
record. So long as the old earth is equal
to efforts of this kind we need not mind
its latter end. When the blood leaves
the cold extremities and the heat has
not VigOr enough to send 1t to the sur
face the end is not far off; and when vol
canic and earthquake manifestations
cease from off the face of the earth, the
end may be within almost measurable
distance. Much of its ocean water will
have been absorbed by the underlying
rocks, and the atmosphere may be Tarer
p
and by, with the last ray of internal
heat, the last drop Of water, and the last
particle of air. Sail life will have van
ished, and dead earth will shine upon
dead mUOn. so long, then, as the
mother of us all has any yigOr left, we
must expect her to manifest it Occa-
siOnally as she has done recently at
Ischia and Java; so that, lamentable and
Tegretable as has been the loss of life at
these places, the catastTOphes are not
entirely without their bright side. Only
when the earth is as dead as the moon
will such catastrOpbes become impOssi
Bile.
Biologists and seismOlogists know
pretty well the lines upon which these
manifestations of the earth's yigOr are
likely to occur; lines of weakness they
call them, bat in view of the above con-
sideratiOns we might call them, rather,
lines of yigOT. Perhaps when they know
still more they will be able to tell their
fellows what places to avoid in planting
their settlements and building their
houses. But it is doubtful if such tell
ing would be of much avail. After the
most destructive Outbursts of EtnA and
Vesuvius, the decimated Inhabitants
have crept back to their old locations,
rebuilt their huts, and planted their
vines needless of their terrible lesson.
Already has building begun again even
in shattered Ischia, and If the proper
kind Of wooden houses be used, possibly
the next shaking the island gets may
lead to fewer calamities.
We have said that the Java Outburst
is the most stupendOus on record. An
island has been shattered and sunk and
sixteen others have raised their heads
above the surrounding waters. Some
hundred thousand people have been sac
rifced to their mothers anger, buried
beneath volcanic debris, OF swept off the
face Of the land by the volcanic wave.
The floor of the ocean over wide area
to the southeast of SumatTa has been
raised into plain above the waters, and
the effects of the general upheaVel have
been felt as far as the American coast
of the Pacific.
There can be little doubt that the
wave which was felt along the coast of
North America was prOpagated across
the Pacific from the Java outbreak
London Times.