Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1891-10-10
WHAT Is INSIDE OF THE EARTII.
The Question as Affected by What Is
Known of the Interior Hcnt.

The Question as Affected by What Is
Known of the Interior Hont.
Many scientific men are devoting their
lives to finding out all that can be learned
about the interior of this wonderful
globe of ours One of the interesting
problems on which they are engaged is the
depth and geological limits of the per.
manently frozen soil. The British Asso-
citation has collected a large amount of
data on this question. 1t has already
told us some curious things, such as the
fact that excellent wheat lands north of
Manitoba overlies frozen earth that never
thaws.
Some geolOgists find strata of rock that
they are able to show must have been
buried at remote age 10,0 900 feet under
the surface These upturned edges of
rock, which some terrible convulsor
lifted to the air, give us glimpse of the
condition of the interior some way be.
low the greatest depth to which we can
attain. The workmen in the deepest
mines in Europe sweter in almost intol,
cradle heat, and yet they have neve,
penetrated over one-seven-t -thousaudth
parth of the distance from the surface to
the center of the earth. In the lower
levels of some of the Comstock mines the
men fought scalding water and could
labor only three or four hours at time,
until the Sutro tunnel pierced the mines
and drew off some of the terrible heat,
which had been 120 degrees.
The deepest boring ever made--that az
Sperenberg, near Berlin-penetrates only
4,172 feet, about 1000 feet deeper than
the famous artesian well at st. Louis.
The result of this imperfect knowledge is
that there are more theories and disputes
among scientific men with regard to the
interior of the earth than about any other
problem of physical science. Some EN-
1nent physicists, for instance, like Sir
William Thompson, have believed that
the crust of the earth is at least 100 miles
thick. The majority adduce good rea.
sons for believing that the crust is only
25 to so miles thick. All agree that the
temperature within the earth continue.
to increase as it does near the surface-at
the rate of one degree Fahrenheit fol
about every 50 feet of descent. All igne
Gus rocks must be fused at no great depth.
In fact at this rate of increase the tenn.
perature at 200 miles is $4,000 degrees
Fahrenheit, which is Professor Rosetti's
estimate of the probable temperature of
the sun. 1t is improbable, however, that
this rate of increase is maintained for a
great distance, and many physicists be-
lieve that at some unknown but not very
great depth the increase in temperature
ceases. One of the most wonderful
things in the study of science is the fact
that the mysteries of one science are
sometimes completely or partly explained
by knowle lge CLEANED in some other de-
partment of study. 1t is thus that the
naturaists who have investigated tho
fauna and flora of scores of Pacific islands
have learned how far south Asiatic types
prevail and have added great weight to
the conclusions of geologists that these
islands were once part of the big con.
tinent north of them. -Goldthwaite's Ge.
ographical Magazine.