The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1896-11-23
pooMspAY spEcuLATIoNs.
DAscusaHoma an 10 the Fate oR Humanity
the Last Great Day.

DlncusaHona aA 20 the Fate OF Humanity
the Last Great Day.
The probable fate of the last man
has often been discussed, and dozens
of theories have been advanced by
persons who honestly believe that
they have solved the problem. That
there will be a time when this little
world of ours will no longer exist
there is not the least shadow Of .
doubt, but exactly how the human
race will perish and disappear from
the face of the globe in the question
that has interested the philosophers
of all ages.
Some profess to believe that the
oceans are gradually encroaching on
the land surface, and that eventual
~ the last man will be drowned.
Opposite to this is the much talk
ed of theory that the water'on the
earth's surface is slowly drying up,
the amount being appreciably less
now than it was at the opening OF
the century. The apostles of this
unique theory say that IL the drying
mp process continues for a few thou
sand years longer the earth will be-
come as arid as the moon, and the
last man will perish for want of wa
ter.
Some believe that the earth will
fall to pieces; others that a monster
planet will plunge into the sun,
causing that great luminary to blaze
up and burn to cinders the earth
and the other planets in its train.
There have been dozens of other
theories, some of them equally curl
ous, advanced by men who have
been making the subject study. But
the most remarkable solution of the
question is the opinion lately ex-
pressed by leading German mete-
orologist and astronomer. He says
that the internal fires of the earth
are rapidly dying out, and that the
sun is sure to burn out and become
cold and dark.
This, he says, is proved by the fact
that ice is rapidly accumulating at
the poles of the earth and slowly
creeping down toward the temperate
zones. Places visited by Kotzebue,
Franklin, Ross, Parry, Lyon and
others during the first quarter of
the present century and pronounced
by them as being free from ice dur
ing June, July and August are now
covered with several feet of the
crystal deposit, which is capped with
snow throughout the year. This
certainly proves that the earth's
glacial zones are rapidly and perma-
nently enlarging and that the old
German apostle of the freeze out
theory has a basis for his caloula-
tions, to say the least.
That Europe is on the borderland
of another glacial epoch has been
shown by Flammarion, the great
French speculative astronomer. Dur
ing the last so years every kingdom,
empire, republic and principality in
that country as we'll as those of
Asia has lost from 6 to 14degrees in
its mean annual temperature. In
France, Germany and Italy the
northern limit of the growth Of the
vine is being steadily forced south
ward. In South America and Sou th
Africa similar conditions are noted.
| At Rio de Janeiro the annual tenn.
perature has been steadily going
down since the date when meteoro-
logical records were first kept in
that oity. The German authority
just cited declares that this will 60
steadily on, with the effect of mar
rowing down the habitable area OF
the globe. At last shivering human.
ity will all collect along the equator.
Finally that, too, will become a
region of ice and snow. Then the
time will come when the overcrowd-
ed human beings will all be starved
or be frozen in a heap.-St. Louis
Republic.