The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-04-02
THE GEOLOGY OF KANSAS.
Professor Williston Before the Wichita
University Extension

! the geoioglSt, 1t is but rarely that our
text books devote any attention to the
subject. We will not dwell upon it
here, all the more for the reason that
you have already listened to its more
important aspects as they have been pre-
sented to you by Professor Miller.
We will discuss the present condition
of the earth only, and its physical his
tory since it has become habitable
globe. First let me premise by the state
ment that this history is based upon in
exorable, Interchangeable laws Of nature.
Did we not assume that the laws of
| physics and chemistry were the same IN
the earliest ages of our planet as they
are now we could draw no correct con-
clusions. Heat, light, electricity. chem
ical attraction and chemical afhnities
have been the same in kind, though pos
sibly different in intensity from the very
beginning, and will be until the end OF
time. As the child grows and develops
from the inception of life to maturity
and decay, SO the earth has been one
continued growth and development, and
evolution from the simple to the COM
pick. 1t has not yet reached maturity,
but when it does, its history will then be
like that of a man himseif-decadence
and death. When we look about US, il
seems hardly possible that things have
been in the past as in the present; that
lands ara now forming as then, that
mountains are now growing or decay
ing, hills and valleys making and pass
ing away, continents rising from the
sea, or sinking beneath them. Such,
| however, is the case. The earth, as
well as man, is not finished. Change is
| the unceasing, inevitable, primal law of
all nature, and nothing on earth is per-
/ feet. 1t is because man in his feeble
ness can not grasp the greatness Of Gre
alton that he has so long misinterpreted
the great facts in the earth'S history.
Because his life is 50 very brief a
span, he does not comprehend
| how 80 much has been brought about by
! the present forces in past ages. Not
many years ago it was believed that the
world counted but a few thousand Of
! years in its history; we now recken its
age by scores of millions of years, and
the age of man by scores of thousands.
Only little while ago we attributed
the stupendous results of the past; to
extraordinary causes, to the direct IN
reference of the Creator. Instead of
seeing continuous and continued de-
velopment, we sought to explain the
growth by acts of destruction and re-
creation. Today the student every where
is taught that the earth and all upon it
have been involved from the simplest
beginnings, that there have been no
catastrophes, no cataclysms, no re-
creations in the physical world, that the
Creators plans have been as constant as
the Creator himself.
In ancient times it was believed that
the earth was fiattened disc. every.
where surrounded by water. The con-
viction that the earth was sphere led
to the discovery Of our continent by Col
umbus, 400 years ago, and its sphericity
was proven by Magellan's voyage around
it. We have known, however, for some
time, that the earth is not a perfect
sphere, but is what is called an oblate
spheroid, that is. the diameter of the
equator is about 26 miles greater than
that at the poles. Furthermore, the
equatorial circumference is not perfect
circle, but an ellipse, the diameter which
passes through western Africa being
little greater than any other. The equa-
torial diameter is very nearly 1925 miles.
Yet further, it has been shown that the
surface of the ocean does not have the
regular curve of a spheroid even, that
where the water is the deepest the sur
face is the nearest the earth's center,
curvature due to the mutual attraction
of all bodies for each other incorporation
to their size and proximity.
From numerous experiments, it APP
pears that the mean density of the earth
is very nearly five and one times that of
water, a conclusion of much importance
in more respects than one. Nearly. all
the rocks of which the earth's crust is
composed range between two and a half
and three times the density of water.
Even iron has a less density than the
earth. As the external portion of the
earth is almost wholly composed of ma
teriaIs so much lighter than the earth it.
self, the conclusion must naturally be
that the interior is composed of denser,
bodies that is of metals like gold, silver,
lead, mercury, etc.
The composition and density of the
caELIl ) lIlISlfct Ididldtbt iCodo tS ~ JIC
INQUIRY as to what is its condition. Not
long agoit was generally believed that
the earth was liquid, molten mass, GOV.
cred over by thin crust. At the pres
ent time it is almost universally believed
by biologists that the earth is solid
throughout, or nearly SO. The distance
to the center OF the earth is nearly four
thousand miles; the deepest hole that has
L.
one mile. To make the comparison
more appreciable, take an orange and
puucture its skin with the finest of
needles to the depth Of one-half of the
thickness of a halr, and you have the
relative proportion of the earth's crust
that is actually known from excavation.
One would hardly think that any re-
liable conclusions whatever could be
drawn from such an Insignificant depth;
and vet important and almost certain
conclusions are afforded by them.
1t is absolutely certain that the tenn
peratnre of the innermost parts of the
earth must be vastly greater than is
needed to melt even the most refractory
substances. Why then are they not
molten: For the following reasons: 1t |
Is known that nearly every substance ex- |
hands upon assuming the melted or !
iiauid state. ice, anatomy, bismuth and /
perhaps some others being the only ex-
ceplions. Further. ii is known that il a 1
substance is prevented from expanding. /
its fusing point becomes greatly raised !
Place a mile of rocks over a mass OF iron
ard probably no amount Of heat that we I
could apply would suffice TO make 1t ex- /
Dand. and thus allow it to become Hquii. /
But we should have to go about twenty
81 into the interior OF the earth hefor. {