Woodville Republican. (Woodville, Miss.) 185?-current, 1889-07-13


earth is undoubtedly nearly correct II
is the form that any ball Of plastic
matter would assume If made TO re-
volve rapidly around any given axis
1t being acknowledged that the poles
of the earth have several times changed
positions. was not before each change
the difference between the equatoria,
diameter and polar diameter even
greater than it is now on account Of the
greater Elasticity OF the esrth's mass
in those early geological epochs? Per-
haps skeptical astronomers will rise
and explain what reasons there were
for these changes of place OF the poles
that do not still exist; and, If they
were the result Of celestial accidents
such as contact with comets or other
heavenly bodies, changes in the sun, or
subterranean action-whether those
causes do not still operate and may not
again exercise as potent an influence.
We know that some 600 years ago parts
Of Greenland were habitable that are
now covered with ice and snow. This
would seem to suggest causes still in
operation. Any one who observes the
weather knows that for the last quar-
ter of a century the springs have been
later and colder, and that the greater
frequency Of cyclones and tornadoes in
dicates some radical change OF climate.
Ask any observant man of three score
and ten what was the character OF the
seasons fifty years ago, and ten to one
he will tell you that the winter broke
up and fruit trees were in blossom a
month earlier than now.
But this is not all. A careful exam
ination Of map OF the world will show
that the Northern and Southern Hem
ispheres are unequally balanced as re-
CARDS the distribution of land and wa
ter. Nearly all the land is north of the
equator there being south Of that line
only tho southern part OF Africa and
South America, Australia and some
islands Of no great Importance. Here
is another element OF instability, the
northern half weighing. shas been as
certained by an accurate calculation,
many billions OF tons moro than the
southern half Therefore suppo5ition
that the fatness OF the poles is the
same, but this is based on geodetic sur
veys. nearly all OF which have been
made in the Northern Hemisphere.
Take a body of any form, and If the
parts are not equally distributed about
its axis, II one end of it is larger or
heavier than the other, it will, in pop
ular parlance, "wobble;" that is, il it
has freedom OF movement What is to
prevent the earth's wobbling or devil
ating slightly from its plane of rotation,
ii one end OF it Is heavier than the other
or has not precisely the same formp
The greater diameter at the equator
tends to steady it, but were the relative
angle OF the axis changed, no matter
how little, the equator would change
place. and there would soon follow the
notifications of form necessary to the
maintenance OF the difference between
the polar and equatorial diameters.
Books have been written to show
where the poles must have been at diff
ferent epochs to render possible the
climatic changes that the world has
undergone. In the earliest period OF
rock formation the south pole was near
the Antarctic circle, south Of the Indian
ocean. In the metamorphic period it
was in mid-Atlantic near the equator
In the cretacean period little south
east of Cape Horn, and in the tertiary
few degrees southwest of the Cape OF
Good Hope, in other early epochs it
was in the western part of Australia
and in the Indian ocean not far south
OF Hindostan. When it was on or
near tho equator the climate Of what
is now the Polar regions was torrid,
and of what is now the temperate zones
similar to what 1t is at present.
Tho earth, it will be seen, has under
gone many changes more remarkable
than future change of the position OF
its north pole 40 or so degrees to the
southwest, or into the midst of the par
adise that we call California 1t is a
frail body and in universe that is full
of uncertainties. Fixed stars, the suns
of other planetary systems, have burned
up in space before our eyes. Changes
are going on in the sun of whose effects
we are at liberty to imagine the worst
Let the north pole change its place to
some point near the northern shore OF
Lake Superior, and the whole United
S ates would become uninhabitable. A
new race of Esquimaux might possibly,
in that event, live on the northern
shore OF The Gulf of Mexico. II it
should be transferred TO the mouth Of |
the Mississippi, retreat of those who
could get away to the northern part OF
British America or to Greenland would |
be in order. That one of these changes
of axis might also result in the end of
all things earthly is among the posi-
bilities. San Francisco Chronicle.
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