The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-08-12
END OF THE WORLD.
Or Rather the Extinction of the Present
Population.
From the Philadelphiu Times.

that has been forgotten for more than
three hundred years has recently been
brosght to light, and is seriously dis
turbing the calm of mind of the vola-
tile French people. 1t is a lugubri-
Gus prophecy of Frere Philippe Oil
various, of the Abbey Of Citeaux, aud
runs thus i:
I'm the year 1896 Paris will be blot
ted out, never to reappear. Much
evil and nothing good in those days.
Many great cities will be burned. y
To make the matter worse, it is af-
6rmed that the Frere Olivarius had in
his day "a great reputation for pers-
picacity." But, as he goes still fur
tber and announces the end of the
world for 1899, it makes a difference
to Paris of only three years after all.
The subject of the dissolution of all
things earthly, when the heavens shall
be rolled together in scroll, and time
shall be no longer for this little star
of the universe called the earth, has
always exercised strange fascination
over the minds of men.
Renewed attention has been given
to this subject during the last few
years. Camille Flammarion, the emf
nent French astronomer, has written
much upon the subject, and in one
recent work has vividly described the
possibility of the destruction of the
world by collision with comet. Lieut..
Totten, Of the United States army,
and military instructor at Yale Col.
lege, has also attained considerable
notoriety by his predictions based up
on deductions from Biblical chronolo-
gy and prophecy. Prof. Falb, Of Vi
emma, an accomplished scientist, who
has achieved reputation throughout
all Europe for his meteorological
knowledge, and particularly for his
extraordinary familiarity with the
habit and customs of earthquakes, has
also given considerable attention to
the subject, and, on the whole, has
commanded more respect than most Of
his fellow prophets.
Prof. Falb' 5 predictions Of seismatic
disturbances have been remarkably
filled. His warning of the great
earthquake at Zante, May 6 and 7,
1893, was published by newspapers all
over the world the day before the
earthquake occurred. Another ex-
ample of his accurate fore-knowlsdge
is shown in the fact that on March 81.
1893, he wrote to the Tourist Club, of
Vienna, accepting an invitation to
lecture about earthquakes, but added
that he would like better to defer the
lecture until after April 13, as an
earthquake would occur by that time
which would aid him in giving them
enlightenment. AS u matter of fact
an earthquake occurred April 8, and
was felt all over Southern Hungary.
Prof. Falb's prophecies 60 back over a
number of years, and have been usual
ly made from nine to twenty months
in advance, and have in almost every
instance been correct.
The latest prediction of Prof. Falb
is even more disturbing than that of
any he has heretofore made. He as
serts that on November l3, 1899, that
heavenly wanderer, known as the
comet of 1866, will appear and collide
with the earth, and then it will be th'
end of the earth as far as we are con-
cerned.
Prof. Falb believes all the deep
down interior of the earth is filled
with molten mass which is subject
to ebb and flow like the waters of the
ocean. Between the earth and this
molten mass, which is gradually cool
ing, there is only shell of an average
of eighteen miles in thickness. In
some places the earth's crust is thick
er than in others.
Where it is thinnest the confined
terrible forces of the under world,
chiefly in the form of gas, seek con-
stantly to escape, and when the press
ure of the atmosphere around the
earth is lowest the gas finds an outlet.
usually in well-defned districts, gen.
orally through the volcanic vent holes.
But beyond the constant pressure of
gas Prof. Falb has the theory that the
molten mass beneath us is subject to
the influence of the moon, which pro-
duces waves, and occasionally great
tidal waves, which sweep round the
inner crust of the world with terrific
force, shaking the earth in its passage.
Prof. Falb has published every year
the list of days on which he expects
seismic convulsions. These he calls
the critical days." and these days
are those when the moon approaches
close to the earth.
Opposed to Prof. Falb are the sci
entists who believe that the comet is
going to get the worst of it, and point
70 the fact that the comet Lexell
when it went too near to Juniper, was
thrown off it's course and sent flying
out of our planetary system.
A few years ago an investigator de-
clared that the taking Of so much coal
and petroleum from the bowels of the
Eastern United States was going to
change the balance of the hemisphere
and tip up the Eastern coast, sub
merging the Pacific slope; and Bos-
ton scientist anticipated Prof, Falb to
some extent, declaring that both the
Atlantic and Pacific coasts would soon
be submerged, owing to seismic dis
turbances-so tremendous that within
twenty-five years 'large portions Of
New Jersey and lower New York city,
with the water boundaries of Connect
icut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts,
and Maine, are to be known no more
forever to the physical geography of
the earth.
Another scientist, Edward R. Gar.
cynski, has also spoken upon this sub,
ject. His predictions a. less specific
than those of Prof. Falb as to date,
and yet in some respects they are
strikingly similar.
Mr.. Garcynski does not look fol
seismic catas rophe, but he holds that
the time is rapidly drawing near when
a. glacial drift wave or polar avalanche
will sweep over the earth. destroying
nearly all animal life and nearly all
traces of the occupation of mankind
but, he adds, there are parts of the
world that arc never failing refuge
and which, through the tender mercy