The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-04-21
observations Made Where the Bar
Ometer Showed Only Inches.
New York Herald.

new 1Ork Herald.
No library is now considered we'll selected
or properly equipped for general reading,
whether IL Is that OF the student the
business man, which has not at least one
shelf devoted TO astronomy. But the still
more absorbing question is, what relation
does our little earth bear TO these wonders
that fill space. and how long has II existed,
and how long will il continue to exist, and
what are its peculiaritiss? 1t would seem
necessary to know something about these
matters before we roam abroad TO follow
the movements OF the great systems so far
away that even arithmetic grows dizzy
when trying to express 1t, for the same rea-
son that one ought TO have a fair acquaint-
ance with his own country before he visits
Europe. 1t Is absurd to grow eloquent over
the Rhine without having seen the Hudson,
or to get wild about the Alps and ignore
the Rockies.
A book of this character has just been is.
sued by the Cassell Publishing Company,
and We take the earliest opportunity 10
bring IL 10 the notice of our readers. The
author is well known among US care
ful scholar and a thor0ughly reliable cola
charge of the department of geology in
University College, London, and has been
honored with more degrees conferred by
other colleges, than we have space to enum-
crate. The Professor covers a very wide
range, but you can choose the special topic
In which you wish information and find
all that is needful in the chapter in which
ii is discussed. He says:
THE land is mans natural abode, so 1t
shall be described first though ii occupies
only about three-tenths OF the surface of
the globe, for the area Of dry land is.
roughly, 5000 900 square miles; OF the ocean,
137,20O,OOo. Taking the mean level OF the
ocean as plane of measurement, we find
that its average depth never exceeds the
SUBMITS Of mountain chains reach great
elevation. yet the greater part of the dry
land. as 1T now exists, lies comparatively
low, 81 per cent. Of the whole surface be-
ing less than six thousand feet-a thou
sand fathoms-above sea level. To one who
has gazed on the giant peaks oil the Alps,
on 10Th oh x-frraf l=
of Switzerland the plains of north
ern Italy this statement may seem almost
Incredible. but 1T Is affirmed that if the
whole mass of the alpine chain were spread
out over Europe alone 1t would not in
crease the elevation of that continent by
more than twenty-five feet.
THE average depth of the depression
occupied by the ocean is AGO feet this is
nearly equal to the height which the Mat
terhorn, so familiar TO most alpine travel
ers. attains above sea level. Less than half
the ocean (42 per cent? lies within sound
ings of thousand fathoms, and an APP
preciable portion about per cent? ex-
ceeds three thousand fathoms, the greatest
known depth being 4,655 fathoms, or about
a thousand feet less than the height Of
the depressions occupied by seas. as it is
important to remember, are on far
grander scale than the mountain chains.
AT the sea level the mercuride barometer
stands approximately at thirty inches. At
elevations above it the length of the column
diminshes the height of the station in
creases. the alteration amounting very
roughly to rather less than an inch for
every thousand feet of ascent. At the
great St Bernard Hospce, $50 feet above
the sea, the barometer stands at 22.2 inches;
on Pixies Peak. IL 1874 feet, 17.17 inches; at
the summit of Mount Blanc, .7S1 feet,
nearly half the atmosphere, by weight, lies
below the observer, and the highest
dome of Chimborazo. which is about $500
feet above the sea, Mr.. Whymper on one
occasion obtained a reading of AL, on an
other of 14.0i inches: but in Messrs. Cox
well and Glaisher's highest ascent, at an
elevation of n 0f0 feet tho barOOoatri0 IL
ing was only seven inches.
THE question has been raised whether the
rarity of the air on the summit of such a
peak Mount Everest might not prove
fatal and man meet with the death of a
fish out of water Mr.. Whymper's obser-
vations in the Andes of Ecuador showed
that though eXertion undoubtedly became
more difficult and a painful initiation had
! to be undergone in a region more than 16
600 feet above the sea, the vital powers
were not seriously diminished even on the
summit of ChimboraZo"