The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-04-28
Wonders in Paris in 1900.

Qren. DILL hhP.
Wonders in Paris in 1900.
Regardless Of the war clouds that
hang so heavily owe Europe, the gay
Parisians continue their preparations
for the International Fair, which they
have projected for the year 1900.
Those ingenious citizens have devised
some novelties for it which promise to
astonish the world. Among them a
monster bicycle-not ''built for two
but for two thousand persons. 1t will
be the largest wheel ever made, and
it would require a giant more than
twice stall as the Colossus of Rhodes
to mount it and push the pedals.
Imagining that a rider Of such huge
proportions could be found to operate
it, he would be able to scorch around
the world in less than two hours.
The big wheel is expected to be to
the next Paris Exposition what the
Eifel Tower was to the last one-its
most talked-of feature. 1t will stand
out above the tallest of the exposition
buildings, and will be in itself a COM
plete building, constructed of the
best Bessamer steel. 1t will have two
large entrances, one at the bottom of
each of its wheels, cut right through
the tires. Winding stairways will
lead up the front and back of each
wheel, through the forward and rear
standards, to the backbone of the ma
chine. The handle bar and saddle
will be reached by flights Of spiral
steps. The stairs will be lighted by
numerous windows, through which
fine views Of the grounds will be seen.
The prospect from the windows of the
handle bar will be the best of all. The
saddle will support a broad platform,
on which open-air banquets and dan
ces will be given. In the backbone Of
the great wheel there will be a grand
salon to be used as a banquet hall.
The long table, which will run it's en-
tire length, will comfortably accom-
modate six hundred persons at dinner.
While this is a large conception, it
does not seem to US to do credit to the
ingenuity of our Partisan friends. It
cannot be called an absolutely original
idea, for it is simply an adaptation to
the bicycle of the notion which gave
Coney Island it's famous Elephant;
and we suppose the story Of the Tro-
jan horse was the original inspiration
of all such structures. Much more
novel is the project Of NJ. Paschal
Grousset, a Radical Deputy, for max
ing the French Worlds Fair Of 1900
memorable. he proposes to bore a
mine in the middle Of the Fair ground
1850 feet deep. he puts the cost of
this big bore at not over three million
dollars. Of course, the fun for the
visitors would be the descent into the
hole in the ground, and, to make the
downward journey entertaining, NJ.
Grousset proposes that galleries shall
be excavated at certain intervals.
which shall he lighted electrically and
filled with exhibits of underground
wonders.
The Deputy prime object. howev-
er, in boring down so far is to testand
settle the very old conjecture that
there is a central fire at the heart Of
the earth that burns endlessly with
fervent heat. As far back as we have
any records Of human history there has
been a widely entertained surmise that
the surface of our planet was only q
crust over a pie Of fire. The old Stoics
believed it, and that some day the
heat would burst through the crust
and consume the planet. The old
Scandinavian bards filled their songs
with prophecies of a like purport. In
the books Of the A%pocrypha the same
fiery ''end Of things created here is
predicted. It is found Zoo, in the
Bible. St.. Peter certainly entertained
it when be predicted that "the heav-
ems shall pass away with a great noise
and the elements shall melt with fer
vent heat; the earth also and the
sun also and the works that are there
in shall be burned up" Biologists,
too, have ~speculated upon the exist
ence Of the earth, and miners have
found that, in some instances, after
passing a certain depth the tempera-
ture of a mine rises l degree Cent?
grade for every ITO feet Of additional
depth. Now, if that ratio Of greater
heat to greater depth is maintained,
then, at a depth Of little less than
10, 1000 feet the inside temperature of
the earth is 100 degrees greater than
that of the air above its surface. At
the same rate of progression the tenn
perature of the earth's interior at TO-
600 feet from it's surface is 666 degrees
"a point at which nearly all substan-
ces would melt.
NJ. Grousset's belief is that the
question whether this progress toward
the melting point actually goes on or
not, and whether our world is, as the
ancients believed, a hollow ball OF
dirt enclosing a literal lake of fire,
will be forever settled by his project
ed bore of 1850 feet. He assumes
that by the time the borers get down
that far they will find the temperature
so much increased (if the ancient guess
is correct) that a continuous increase
until the melting point is reached will
be practically verified. If the Paris
exhibition of 1900 has this deep SUBJ
terranean shaft for one of its leading
wonders it will have scientific as we'll
as a popular interest, and there will
be a theological interest in it besides.
Who knows but that the prying curl
osity of modern mar may provide pop.
ular excursions to the suburbs Of
Sheol, via "gay Paree,' in 1900.
- If you always do good as you
have opportunity, you will never be