The St. Johns herald., 1893-09-28
SOLID ALL THROUGH.
A New Theory as to the Earth and Req.
 sons for Entertaining It.


 sons for Entertaining It.
 Although man has lived upon the earth for thousands of years and made many discoveries, he has not yet mas tered it's surface, much less solved all the problems it presents, says the Bal timore Sun. In some respects he knows more about the planets and stars, that are millions of miles away. than he does about the globe on which he lives and moves and has his being. But if his knowledge of the earth's surface is limited, it is nevertheless much greater than his knowledge of it's interior. It was the belief of sci entists years ago, and is still the be- lief of the majority of tolerably we'll read people, that this earth of ours is a molten mass covered by a thin crust of chilled and hardened material. One of the suggested reasons for this be- lief is the observation that the temper ature of rocks increases as one de- scendS into the earth at the rate of one degree for about sixty-four feet. It has been assumed from this observa- tion that temperature which would melt the rocks would be reached be- fore going many miles. Volcanic action has also suggested molten in terior, and so also has the appearance of rocks subjected to great heat. But scientists do not accept these observa- tions as conclusive. On the contrary, they show that so far as these observa- tions go the question is still left open, and that there are certain other facts which appear more conclusively to show that the earth is solid or nearly solid. The increase of temperature in the interior of the earth is accom- panied by increase of pressure, which, it is believed, raises the melting point, so that notwithstanding the ob- servations in mines the melting point of rocks may never be reached. More over, volcanoes may not be vents for the interior molten mass nor for large reservoirs. The matter they eject may be rendered fluid or gaseous at the mo- ment of eruption by a sudden with drawal of pressure or by the action of water. The proofs of the theory that the earth is solid are so much depen- dent upon mathematics that they can only be described in general terms. They relate mainly to the action of sun and moon upon it in the creation of tides. Astronomers have calculated that the earth offers as much resis- tance to tidal deformation as would a globe of steel, and hence it is not a molten mass with a thin crust, but 6: solid or nearly solid body. Prof. New comb has added another kind of proof. Some small, varying changes of lati- tude have been detected and shown to be periodic, and these periods are shown to correspond with what would theoretically occur. if the earth were solid, while they do not correspond with what would occur from similar Reflections of the axis of molten mass thinly encrusted. While these argu- ments may not be considered conclu- sive they are entitled to more respect than those which at one time were ac- cepted as showing that the earth is a mere crust cooled upon the surface of a molten mass. The new view of the earth is much more satisfactory than that of Descartes. "Firm as rock" will have added strength to it's mean ing when it is established that the rocks are not liable to fall through the supporting crust into cauldron, where they may be melted and disappear.