The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1885-09-26
DOWN Below
fess'r - snts Of Temperature at Various
RoIufa Reneafh the Earxh,s zu-s.-a


Messur - rnts Of Temperature at Various
Points Beneath the Earth's Surface.
II is supposed that il Is very bot in the
middle of the earth; and the Germans,
like a philosophical people. are now
going to some expense in order to End
out how hot ii is. Not that we are
without some OF those clever guesses
called scientific inductions. The French
have their own views on the subject, 90
have the Austrians. 50 have we. But
in these cases the information obtained,
such AS II is. has been arrived at in the
pursuit. of something else. II is more
noble to go to the cost of obtaining
knowledge for its own account; and il
strikes us as almost unfair to the Ger
mans that the heat indicated Nv their
boring should be hess ikan that cal
culated on ANY other data.
II ID generally held that at depth of
fifty feet an underground zone is reached
in which the temperature is the same
all over the world and at all seasons of
the year. And this temperature is said
TO be 80 Tor, to be more accurate,
50.5) degrees of the thermometer of
Fahrenheit, $50 of which degrees meas
! ure the difference between the temper
AZURE OF boiling and of freezing water
| under ordinary conditions.
A well sunk 10 The depth of |. s02 feet
at Grenelle. suburb of Paris, took
seven years and two months of difficult
labor to complete; and, when the water
bearing stratum was reached, the water
| rushed up with such force as to rise l2O
feet above the surface. This water was
observed TO have uniform tempera-
ture OF sis degrees Fahrenheit, show
ing an increase of temperature at the
rate of one degree Of Fahrenheit for
| every fifty feet below the neutral zone
above mentioned. At Kissengen, in
Bavaria, brine well has been bored to
depth of 1900 feet. But the water
has only temperature of sixty-six de-
grees- In Algeria the temperature of
seventy-nine degrees Fahrenheit is
shown by water springing from borings
of not more than 2s0 feet But this was
said to be miracle. The artesian
wells in Chicago are 700 feet deep. and
have temperature Of only fifty-seven
degrees Fahrenheit.
Measurements of temperature not alb
solutely dependent on the flow of water
are more consistent In their results than
| the above. In the Cornish mines the
| temperature increases one degree for
every sixty feet. In the Dukenfield
lead mine the increase is one for every
| sixty-three feet. At Rosebridge, near
Wigau, temperature of so degrees
Fahrenheit is found at a depth of 1876
/ / n
zot at depth of 3.0l7 feet. the temper
AZURE recorded is 1902 degrees Fahren-
heit. The new German boring is made
near Schladebach; the depth is reached
| 1866 feet, and the temperature note is
| 120 degrees Fahrenheit. The respect
i've increase of temperature in the last
three cases is degree in Sc. in 53.5 and
in IS feet; SO that either the earth is
much cooler near Schladebach than in
England and in France, or for some
other reason the result of the German
boring indicates a slower rate of in
| crease OF temperature than either of the
above cases cited.
At the Cornish rate of increase, which
is pretty nearly mean of the various
estimates, the temperature at which wa
ter boils will be prevalent at depth of
| fifty-four miles, which is less than one
SEVENTEEN part of the distance TO the
center Of the earth, the temperature of
the combustion of ordinary coal must
prevail if the law Of the increase of tenn
pefature with depth remains constant.
10 go any further, to indicate in de-
gress of the thermometer the theoretic
heat at the center or any other point. is
nothing but scientific trifing. Nor is
any great practical good likely to result
from experiments to show whether. in
| any given spot, temperature increases
with every fifty three feet or with every
sixty-five feet that we burrow in mag
| nation below the soil
There is, however, o certain object
in attempting to discover the approx
| mate law of increase of temperature
with depth. In 1871 report was pre-
| sented to Parliament from the com
missioners appointed to inquire into the
several matters relating to coal in the
United Kingdom" The commission
ers took the eminently practical view
that Cooking to possible expedients
which the future may elicitfor reducing
the temperature, they considered
| that it might be fairly assumed
that a depth of at least 1000
feet might be reached At this
depth the temperature probably exceeds
1872 degrees Fahrenheit. As to its re
duction," it is to be remembered that
the heat, whatever it be, is not that oil
the air alone, but that of the earth on
| and within which the miner has to
stand or to lie; and that, as to ire
ducing" it. it is fed from reservoirs OF
the capacity of the globe.
| AT the temperature of the blood,
which is SO degrees Fahrenheit. con-
tinuous exertion is impossible to the
European. This temperature is reached
apparently at depth of about $3.50
feet; which is 314 feet lower than the
deepest colliery in England. But long
before the imposs BILE is attained the
costly and the difficult commence. A
temperature of 80 degrees Fahrenheit
is probable at depth of 1900 feet. Far
within this limit. in the Monkwearmouth
mines, at a depth of 1.64O feet. shorter
hours are required for the miner, and the
cost increases in proportion. These
considerations reduce the nationally
probable contents of our coalmeasures
Chose known to exist in the United
Kingdom) from the 10000. 900, 900 OF
tons estimated by the commissioners to
SO, 900. 900. 900 of tons extractable with
our present means; and we are bringing
it to the surface at the annually in
creasing rate OF 100 900, 600 of tons per
year. The supply will last our time, nc
l doubt; but centuries are but small