The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1883-10-19
NO. 745.
THE EARTH IN ITS VIGoR.
The End Not Yet-Lincs of "Weakness"-
The Bright Side of Recent Catastrophes.
London Times.

London Times.
The moon is dead. IL has not life enough
left to ooze forth the tniest mud volcano o.
squirt out the feeblest geyser. No throb eve
reaches its surface, and not the faintes
rumble is ever echoed from its jagged noun
tain sides. No earthquake wave can evel
sweep its island shores, for earthquakes there
are things of almost infinite past, and the
last drop of water quilted the surface of oul
planet aons ago. Its very atmosphere has
deserted it, and If, indeed, there were q
man in the moon," he could never hear
means this mythical man "could have
witnessed the "Ischia disaster" and the
"Jaya catastrophe" how he would have
longed that any such manifestations of life
were possible on his lifeless planet. That
occurrences like these referred to are calam.
tiles, every one must admit, and some may
be apt to maintain that mans arrival in his
earthly home has been premature, and that
"Provldence" would have acted more hui
namely and wisely had he postponed mans
advent on the scene until the "internal fires"
had exhausted themselves. But when that
happens, geologlsts tell us, we may look upon
it as the beginning Of the end. Not even
the 6O0' heat of the sun which beats upon
every part of of the moon for fortnight at
a time is able to rouse within its bosom the
faintest sign of life. There is evidence
enough to show that at one period its volcanic
activity must have been of the most stu
pendous kind, far exceeding anything ever
witnessed on 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
are but the dying remains of what at one
time must have been a volcanic activity al.
most universal. Instead of spasmodlc erup-
tions at few isolated spots, we had con-
stant outpour of volcanic matter from wide
fssures extending across the ear,h's surface
for many miles.
That the earth has not yet, however, en-
tirely lost Its vigor is evident from the Java
outburst, which is the most stupendous phe-
nomenon of the kind recorded. So long as
the old earth is equal to efforts of this kind,
we need not mind It's latter end. When the
blood leaves the cold extremties and the
heart has not vigor enough to send it to the
surface, 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 rarer and less life-giving than It is
now; by and by, with the last ray of internal
heat, the last drop of water, and the last
particle Of air, oil life will have vanished,
and dead earth will shine upon a dead
moon. So long, then, as the mother of us
all has any vigor left, we must expect her to
manifest it occasionally as she has done re-
Gently at Ischia and Java; so that, lamenta-
BILE and regretable as has been the loss of
life at these places, the catastrophes are not
entirely without their bright side. Only
when the earth Is as dead as the moon will
such catastrophes become impossible.
Biologists and seismologists know pretty
we'll the lines along which these manifesto
tions Of the earth's vigor are likely to occur;
lines of weakness, they call them; rather,
lines of vigor. Perhaps when they know
still more they may be able to tell their fel-
lows what places to avoid in planting their
settlements and building their houses. But
it is doubtful If such telling would be of
much avail. After the most destructive
outbursts of Etna and Vesuvius, the deci-
mated inhabitants have crept back to their
old locations, rebuilt their huts, and planted
their vines, needless of the terrible lesson.
Already has building begun again even in
shattered Ischia, and If the proper kind of
wooden house be used, possibly the next
shaking the island gets may lead to fewer ca
lamties.
We have said that the Java ouLburst Is the
most stupendous on record. An island has
been shattered and sunk, and sixteen others
have raised their heads above the surround
ing waters. Some hundred thousand people
have been sacrificed to their mothers anger,
buried beneath volcanic debris, or swept of
the face of the land by the volcanic wave.
The floor of the ocean over a wide area to
the southwest of Sumatra has been raised
into plain above the waters, and the effects
of the general upheaval 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.
ho End Ax,et tha varld