The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-04-28
A Hole NEARLY A NILE DEF.
THE NOVELTY TO BE PREPARED
FOR THE NEXT PARIS FAIR.

work Will show the Thickness of
the Chalk Formation on which
Paris Rests.
From the New York sun.
The great novelty at the Paris fair Of
1900 will be, It is expected. a dive into the
bowels Of the earth. VI. Groussets plan,
which, it has been announced, has been ap-
proved by the management. is to dig a
series of eigth vertical shafts, each 500
feet in length. one beginning where anoth-
er leaves on. Two passenger elevators
are TO run IN each shaft, and there are
to be galleries or stations at the end Of
each elevator journey, where refreshments
will be served under the blaze Of electric
lights. We are told that the excavation
viii be thoroughly ventilated, by what
means has not yet been made known, and
that the traveller who descends to the
lowest gallery depth viii be 1850 feet
below the surface from which he started
The estimated cost is 81 $1,000 which, one
would think, is quite moderate for so
large an undertaking. The protector says
he hopes TO throw new light upon the
question of the increase of temperature
as greater depths within the earth's core
are attained, and upon other sUbterranean
problems.
One thing is quite certain, and that is
that the men who will dig this prodigious
hole will not be involved in the predica-
ment that defeated the Russian merchant
In fakutsk, Siberia, abou' sixty years ago.
The Lena river water was not good
enough for him, and so he decided to dig
well. His men had only excavated a
Few feet with pick and shovel when they
qeclared that they had struck solid rock
IL was only frozen earth, however. and
so the merchant kept his men poking
away, expecting every day to get through
the StTdtem or frozen earth He was little
surprised when the summer season ended
ana ne was still in solidly frozen soil; but
me next spring he courageously began
work again. and did not stop until he had
aug his way through 1O5 feet of earth as
hard as a rock. Then he covered the hole
Win boards, and decided to use river water
The Academy of Sciences in St. Peters
ourg heard the story, and thought 1t
would be good thing, in the interest
OF science, TO carry on the work The
academy however wearied of paying the
pllls when its diggers had reached a depth
OF 90 feet and were still in solidly frozen
GROUND. FROM the temperature at the
bottom they estimated that the ground
was probably frozen to a depth of over
6OO 1eet. The big hole, with its frozen
Walls, still exists, unless some one in
quite recent years, has taken the trouble
to I'LL 1t up.
There is reason to doubt that NJ. Grous-
very much to our present knowiedge Of
subterranean problems, as he seems to
nope ~ VIII Borings have now been car
RED about 800 feet nearer the center of
the earth than IL is proposed to extend
the underground pleasure route in Paris
II Is probable that the deepest boring vel
mace IS that at Schladebach between
Leipzig and Merceburg, Germany. where
a distance of about $40 feet from the sur
lace mas been attained, with a tempera-
ture at the bottom of 56.6 degrees cent?
grade, a little more than half tho NO,
between the freezing and the boiling point
OF water Nobody can tell yet whether
the passengers at the Paris fair will he
mace very comfortable by the heat at
the bottom of the shafts. Such a thing
as uniform rate of heat increase APP
parently does not exist in the subterra-
mean regions Mr.. G.. X Gilbert saws that
the rate of increase varies in Different
pages pages ranging from one degree Fahren-
mai rate is, perhaps, one degree in rs
cent 10 one degree Fab~enheit
Tor each 30 feet. The general or nor
feet. There are many local causes thar
greatly affect the increase of heat For
instance in some of the lower levels Of
the Comstock mines in Nevada, though
not more than one-half as deep as the
boring at Schladebach, the men could
work only three or four hours at a time
Owing to the terrible heat. This was
caused by scalding water forced up from
lower depths, which raised the tefnpera-
ture TO 10 degrees Fahrenheit
4, II does not quite follow that because
a
mile into the earth that he will find there
almost intolerable heat But then again
ne may AS the excavation is to be by no
means the deepest on record and as
we have no. reason to believe that any
lining out of the common will be found
II VIII not be surprising if about the only
sclentlnc interest attaching to the en-
terprise will be the revealing of the sub
terranean conditions underlying Paris. The
WORK wlll be quite sure, at least to tell
us how thick is the formation of chalk
which underlies Paris; for we known
that the same formation that shows it.
selt IN glittering whiteness in the cliffs
OF OF Dover is spread far over France and
that Paris is built above it.
we often hear the erroneous statement
that the temperature of the earth in
creases as descent is made from the sur
face into the crust. A moments reflec.
ton would tell any one that usually the
temperature decreases until a point is
reached where solar and atmospheric in
nuences no longer have a particle effect
In this latitude the line of perpetually even
temperature is believed to be gained at
a depth OF about sixty feet. Below that
line no influence from without penetrates
and the increase in heat begins as the
thermal influences below assert their
sway. But the Paris shafts will NOT re-
veal to us the line of even temperature in
that neighborhood, for it has long been
admitted to the excavation under the
Paris observatory. where hangs the famous
Thermometer that has not been removed
from its place for over one hundred wears
and, registering steadily IL 50 degrees CEN
tigrade, 1t has never recorded in all that
time a variation of over two-one,bun]
dredths of a degree In other words If
hangs practically on the line of unchane-
ing temperature which is found every
where within less distance from the s,Ir-
race, according to the environing condi-
tions.
1t Is not likely that the great hole of the
Paris fair can present many special al
fractions for visitors. Perhaps the novelty
Of the descent a considerable dis+anne
into the earth will I'LL the elevators TThe
effect is likely to be rather ener-yatino
There will be none Of the sense of ex hila9
alton such as comes from being lifted 10 a
considerable hight and none of fhe
inspiriting sensations derived from
the wide-spreading view obtained from
elevations. From top to bottom it can be
made little more than a hole in the ground
with none of the subterranean SCENERY
and variety that give such zest to the Ia
bors of NJ. Martel, the great French ex
plorer of caverns.
AS feat of engineering the project will
undoubtedly be very interesting Tbe
pressure of the superintendent mass
upon the walls of the lower levels will he
very great. Who knows that some rocl1
stratum will not be encountered that viii
prove too soft to Withstand the pressure
Who knows that some unexpected ana
hopeless difficulty, such as an unconfroIia
BILE inpouring of water, may not he rnet9
When NJ. Eiffel planned his tower he lxneu,
Just what he was doing, and he had dem