The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1886-04-01
The Final Coniiagra!icn.


is given to the words Of Holy Writ, that
the world is enc day to be c"nsanctl by
fire. How this great fina ccnAsgra;icn
is to come about has puzzled the intellec.
and Imagination Of many deyout people.
Will our planet, imperccp'i6!y ,iecreas.
ing its orbit with oach circIirg year,
finally fall into the SIN? Or shall the
earth be struck by some wandering comet,
or gigantic aeroli,c, whose impact shall
kindle flame that canao: be quenchel?
Or shall some hitch in the machinery of
the spheres throw the universe into mex
tricable confusion and consume suns,
planets, stars and moons in one big
blaze?
Such are some of the older theories on
the subject. Later theories have invoked
chemical agencies. a man is said to
have committed suicide il California
some years ago because he had discovered
an agent that would transform water into
fire. He had tried it on wells and ponds,
and SO impressed was lie with the dread
full consequences that would ensue if he
should be tempted to try it on the ocean,
or to impart the secret to others through
whose insanity or carlessness this desirrc'
tive agent might reach the ocean, that
he killed himself at once in order that
his terrible secret might die with him.
All these theories, fortunately, are in
vested with vague uncertainty, arc in.
volvcd in q haze of misty iu.uri,y, that
are very comforting to the victims Of lie
terror that accompanies Il belief in the
literal burning up of the world. The
earth has logged along !or so-.anny11'
thousand years without falling into tlY
sun or making, SO far as the wisest
tronomers can judge, any approach \,
such e catastrophe, that it seems We
reasonable to suppose that it will ce
tinue to jog along in the same old W m
at least until its presen' Inhabitants shair :.
have no concern in the question. The
same may be said Of tie theories of
come,ic collision and Of !. general wreck
of the system Of the universe. And as
to the chemists, we may safely trust that
if any of them finds a means Of destroy.
ing the world it will nc! be used.
Recent events, however, furnish
grounds for new and very plausible
theory in regard to the burning of TIC
world, theory that Attributes the con-
fagration to well.known natural agencies
agencies which at present threaten to
get beyond human ccat'cl, aad BY which
the world, and possibly the universe, may
be destroyed, not only in our own time,
but ir the course Of a few years, or even
months. II will be remembered that
within The past year what is knowa as
natural gas" has come into very general
use in parts of Pennsylvania. Thisgas is
obtained b. boring through the surface of
the earth into carties where the gas has
been stored BY the processes Of nature,
and whence it escapes into the upper air
as soon as an outlet is offered. The ex.
istence of these stories of gas in the
earth was discovered by accident, and at
first the wells were regarded as mere
curiosities, the country for miles being
Illuminated by tie flames of the gas that
was set on fire at the mou;;. CT each we'll
as soon as discovered. 1t occurred to
some one at length to utilize this gas,
and means having been devised 10 regu-
late its distribution, the supplying OF
natural gas become great business, ex.
teuding to many cities and towns.
Just here the new theory takes hold.
The mains get out of order, they leak,
the gas escapes in great quantities, and
instead of mingling with the upper sir
in condition Of irnocuous desnslude, it
floats about iu clouds ready to be ey-
ploded at the first spark and to set fire
to everything with whicli it Games in
contact. Already we read in dispatches
from Murraysyille, near Pittsburg, Pa,
that "there is no chance of shutting off
the gas, as the pipes arc burned off close
to the ground. One we'll is On fire, and
the flames arc shooting one hundred and
fifty feet. If the other wells are ignitcd
and the fire spreads to the gas which is
floating in town, there will be success.
ion of explosions and fires. The people
are moving their goods from their houses
in Murraysvil!e and along the line near
the leak. Two of the Taylor family who
were burned by gas explosion yesterday
arc dead, and three other persons are ex.
pected to die" This already, in the
very infancy, as it were, of natural gas.
Gas wells have been discovered in Ohio,
New Mexico and California, and will,
doubtless, like oil wells, be discovered in
many localities, perhaps in Europe and
Asia as we'll as in this country. When
we have circle of gas wells extending
from Pennsylvania through the Ohio
Valley to the Missouri Valley, thence to
the Pacific, and via Alaska and Behring's
Straits to Siberia and on through Russia
in Europe to Germany and even Eng
land, who knows wha. may happen?
Even with the few wells now running,
what would occur if the fire by some
chance should be conveyed to the great
gas wells in the bowels Of the earth?
Might not the sea be dried Up and the
mountains hurled from their foundations?
Indeed, might not the earth be blown to
fragments converted, so 10 speak, into
decillions of incendiary rockets for cx.
tending the condagratiou to the rest of
the universe. Who knows ?-Ne,cs and
Courier.
Don't Do 1t.