The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1895-11-28
THE GREAT LAKES DRYING UP.
But Millions of Years Will EIapse Before
the Water Is All Gone.

| But Millions of Years VIII EIapse Before
the Water Is All Gone.
The professors of natural sciences
| and the editors of the various technical
| journals, true to the axiom which says
| that such persons are the last to grasp
| an important idea or to let slip an eX.
ploded theory, are just awakening tG
the fact that the amount of water on
the earth's surface is fast diminishing
in quantity.
The great Virgins, he of the advanced
school of astronomical weather prOph
est, has made the very surprising dis
coyery (?) that the region adjacent to
the great lakes is becoming as arid as
the plains of western Kansas and Ne
| braslla, and that the water surface of
! the lakes themselves is lowering very
rapidly, owing to evaporation and de-
1iciency in supply We sincerely con-
graduate Prof, Virgins. These con-
! gratulations are not extended on ac-
count of his revelations concerning the
arid conditions of the lake regions and
our planet i'll general nor OF his being an
advanced astronomical meteorological.
| We bestOw our compliments solely be-
cause his drying up-of-the-lakes an
nouncement bears evidence of the fact
that the professor has been spending
the early days of the ''sere and yellow
leaf" in looking over the back files of
the secular newspapers. Our only proof
of the foregoing lies in the fact that Wig
! gins has never before advanced the the
DRY that the earth is drying up, whereas
it is a well-known fact that the great
daily and weekly newspapers have been
sounding the alarm for the past ten or
15years.
Over 200 years ago the great Sir Isaac
| Newton first set forth the theory that
the earth would eventually become as
dry and lifeless as the moon is now sup
posed to be. In 1920 Laplace read an
article before the Paris Academy of
Science inwhich he gave many proofs in
support of the opinion that the old age
OF the earth would be spent in cycles of
extreme aridity. Newton's ideas on
that score were so far in advance of the
scientific knowledge of the time in
" iliN II llI NCNl tIlClt w
to give reasons for his opinoin on that
subject. Laplace's proofs and eNplana-
tons are so burdened with technicali-
ties that they are bewildering to the
average intellect.
Years ago, perhaps even further in
| the past than the date set above the
wide-awabe daily press seized upon the
drying-up theory as a unique and in
teresting subject for editorial discus
sion. Before Virgins had ever be-
thought himself to gain notoriety by
posing as a weather prophet, the great
dailies of this city, Chicago and New
| York contained periodical editorials
under such heads as THE Earth Drying
/ Up" Our Arid Planet" Better Save
Water" etc. In January, 1882, more
| than year before prof. +. Stone Wig
gins first made himself prominent by
predicting a cyclone of sufficient
breadth and power as to smooth all the
wrinkles out of the topography of the
| North American continent. Richard
| a. Proctor, the brainy English astro-
nomical lecturer, gave proof that the
waters of the earth are diminishing at
the rate of the thickness of a sheet of
writing paper each year. In view of
the above references to the "drying-up
! theory" is it not plain that Virgins
should be congratulated and compli-
mented because of his late discoveries
/ in that line?
Fourteen years ago the Republic,
then the Missouri Republican, used the
following language in an editorial on
this subject: The biologists tell us
that the water surface on the whole
earth is being rapidly lowered. =
! This diminution in the water supply is
fast becoming appreciable.
| The level of the great lakes is falling
year by year" We quote the passage
1 in order to draw the attention of the
scientists of the present decade to the
! fact that years ago somebody knew that
the great lakes We're slowly drying up.
We advance no theory of our own in
explanation of this idea that the earth
is losing its water supply. We will say,
however, that Prof. Proctor, the great
! dSbIbuOllltI dDONC, NdS Vi lllC
! opinion that as the earth's interior fires
| die out it becomes porous and the waters
sink entirely out of reach of surface
( inhabitants. At the rate it is now dis
appearing, Proctor said that it will take
I5,000,0O0 years to obliterate every trace
of water from our planet. If the above
figures had the ciphers cut off we should
be a little careful about wasting water;
as it is, we shall not use a smaller glass
for drinking purposes or forego the
luxury of bath for several years to
come.-St. Louis Republic.
Humanity Always Seeking Equality.
Perhaps it is because we know So
ciety to be merely make-believe in its
equality that SO many society people
regard a real equality as impossible,
and are content to remain in the make
believe. But even the pretense of
I