The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1888-03-10
POPULAR MYSTERIES.
Questions Whose Solution Has Taxed the
Powers of Many Generations.

Questions Whose Solution Has Taxed the
Powers of Many Generations.
"Alas," cried witty FrenchmaD,
lately, "for the unfortunate man who
lives in the twenty-frst century! There
will be no enchanted. mysterious cor
ner left on the earth for him. Africa
and the Arctic circle will be covered
with railway stations and summer tour
ists."
School-boys to-day do not under
stand how full of mystery the world
was to their reat-grandfathers In
every continent wide blots on the map
were marked "Unexplored Territory
There were five especial mysteries
which tormented our ancestors. One
was the source of the Nile. at is
highly improbable" says u learned di-
vine of the last century, that this
geographical secret will ever be dis
covered by man" Another was the
truth concerning the lost Atlantes. a
fair and fertile country, which tradi-
ton said had been engulfed ages ago
in the Atlantic Ocean. The center of
the earth also gave much uneasiness
to curious people. There were many
theories concerning it. 1t was a gulf
of liquid fire; it was q mass of ice; it
was the abode of the damned; it WAS a
busy, beautiful world. filed with in
haDitants, as was the surface of the
earth. Books describing this unknown
inner continent were published by al
legged explorers. Symmes' Hole was
the entrance to it, and Svmmes told
many tales of his adventures under
ground.
A fourth un8olvod mystery was the
location of the magnetic pole. Various
theories were propounded to explain
the attraction of the magnet to the
north. One of the most popular OF
these, three centuries ago, was the ex-
istence of a huge monster, which was
said to live under the sea near Green
land, toward whom all magnets were,
for some ineXplicable reason, drawn.
Occasionally he raised his head above
the ocean, and spOuted forth water,
which fact nationally explained all tidal
waves ard water-spouts; the high tides
on the Newfoundland coast were pro-
duced by the breath from his nostrils.
Another mystery, even yet unsolved,
was the sudden. total disappearance of
colony of Danes from the west coast
of Greenland. 1t was conjectured that
they had penetrated the sea of ice
which covers that country to its eastern
coast. There they were still supposed
to live, in II tropical climate, amid fruit
and flowers. No navigator for three
centuries has been able to reach this
eastern coast; hence this legend still
remains to delight superstitious sailors.
But as these old-time mysteries dis
appear, others have arisen more pro-
found and close at hand. The nature
and quality of the elements, and their
relation to each other open a region OF
research which will tax the powers OF
many generations to come. Men for
ages told childish tales to each other OF
genii and enchanted lamps, while the air
was full of unusual electricity around
them, and steam served only to cook
their food. 1t may be that the common
est substances which we handle to-day
may possess tremendous energies that,
when understood and trained to the
service of man, will change the face OF
| the earth. YOUTHS Communion.