The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1892-10-17
WHAT IS INSIDE OF THE
EARTH.
The Question as Affected by
What is Known of the In
terror Heat.
Ito be continued.)

(From Goldthwaite's Geographical
Magazine.l
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 geo.
logical limits of permanently frozen
soil. The British Association has
collected 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
Monitoba overlies frozen earth that
never thaws.
Some geologists find strata of rock
that they are able to show must have
been buried at a remote age 10000
feet under the surface These
upturned edges of rock, which
some terrible convulsion lifted
to the air, give US a glimpse
of the condition Of the interior some
way below the greatest depth to
which we can attain. The workmen
in the deepest mines In Europe swell
ter in almost intolerable heat, and
yet they have never penetrated over
one seven thousandth part OF the dis
lance from the surface to the center
of the earth. In the lower levels of
some of the Comstock mines the men
fought scaldiDg water and could lab
or only three or four hours at a time,
until the Sutro tunnel pierced the
mines and drew off some of the ter
rible heat, which had been 120 de-
grees.
The deepest boring ever made
that at Sperenberg, near Berlin
penetrates only Alp feet, about 1000
feet deeper than the famous artesian
we'll at st. Louis. The result of this
imperfect knowledge is that there are
more theories and disputes among
scientific men with regard to the in
terror of the earth than about any
other problem of physical science.
Some eminent physicists, for instance
like Sir William Thompson, have be-
lieved that the crust of the earth is
at least 100 miles thick The major
ity adduce good reasons for believing
that the crust is only twenty-five to
fifty miles thick. All agree that if the
temperature within the earth contin-
ues to increase as it does near the
surface-at the rate of one degree
Fahrenheit for about every fifty five
feet of descent-all igneous rocks
must be fused at no great depth.
In fact, at this rate of increase the
temperature at 200 miles is $4,000
degrees Fahrenheit, which is Prof.
Rosetti's estimate of the probable
temperature of the sun. 1t is i'm
probable, 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 com.
pletely or partly explained by know
ledge cleaned In some other depart.
ment of study. 1t is thus that the
naturalists who have investigated
the fauna and flora of scores of Paci
fic islands have learned how fan
south Asiatic types prevail, and have
added great weight to the conclu
sions of biologists that these islands
were once part of the big continent
north Of them.