The herald., 1895-08-14
FOUND BY THE NEEDLE.
It Indicates the Existence Of q Huge but
Inaccessible Mass of Iron.


Science has demonstrated that there lies
under the historic Russian town of Mos
COW a mass of iron ore miles in length and
breadth, and powerful enough to defect
the magnetic needle and pull plumb line
from the. vertical throughout large re
gion, but Investigation also makes it prob.
able that this mass is about seven miles
below the surface-a fact calculated to cool
the ardor of speculators for some time tc
come. We translate from Gaea, Leipsic
an account Of the discovery of this inacccs.
sible ore bed, which human eye has never
seen:
"When recently, for the first time in 30
years, new triangulation of European
Russia has been begun, the remarkable
fact was discovered that in the neighbor-
hood of Moscow the plumb line suffered q
very notable deviation from the vertical.
This deviation appeared greatest with a
zone that extended about 10 kilometers (2a
miles north, and south and $50 kilometers
G12 miles, east and west. Here the lower
end of the line was deviated II seconds to
the moth of the vertical.
About 12 kilometers OK miles) south of
Moscow, on a line running approximately
east and west, its direction is normal,
while farther south the lower end Of the
line is deviated about five seconds toward
the south. So noteworthy q deviation of
the line in a level region seems to indicate
that heavy masses of considerable thick
ness must be situated there under the
earth's surface. Great masses of iron were
naturally thought Of first, and an attempt
was made to demonstrate tho existence Of
such masses by means of measurements of
terrestrial magnetism. The scientist, Fl.
Fritsche, so we'll known on account of his
researches in terrestrial magnetism, made
in June, 1898, n magnetic survey of the
nei9hborhood of Moscow for so kilometers
600 miles) around. The terrestrial mag
netic clements were precisely measured for
81 localities, and indicated cartographical-
ly on map. 1t was shown that in zone
90 kilometers (1a1a miles } wide from
north to south and 100 (93 miles) long
from east to west, including Moscow, the
total intensity Of the earth's magnetic
force is considerably greater than north or
south of this zone. The anomaly is great
or than in the eastern.
GA chart of the anomalies of magnetic
inclination shows that the deviation of the
magnetic needle from the horizontal is
greater than the normal north of Moscow
and smaller to the SOUTH and the chart of
the anomalies Of declination deviation
from true north) shows similar irregulari-
ties. These researches lead to the conclu-
sion that where tho local attraction was
observed, in the neighborhood Of Moscow,
huge masses of iron lie buried under
ground, and that they possess north mag
netism in middle zone and south mag
netism in two subsidiary zones stretching
north and south therefrom. The question
how deep this mass lies cannot certainly
be answered, but, according to Fritsche's
estimate. it may be assumed that the mid
die zone lies scarcely less than 5000 feet
below the surface. An exploration of this
immense mass of ore is therefore i1npossi
BILE, owing to the depth at which it is stu
ated. "--Iiiterary Digest.