The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-06-27
Second Dialogue-some years hence -,
THE EARTH'S CLEAN FACE.
The Soil ON 1t Less than the Powder
on My Lady's Cheeks.

New York Commercial Advertiser.
little figuring sometimes brings out
startling facts. Here is the latest surprise
for such it will be to most people, Prob
lem-How much soil is there upon the lace
of the earth?
parently; it is only natural to think of the
earth as earthly. If a beauty expert were
to face Mother Earth he would probably
inSinuate that her complexion is rather
muddy But this would be a slanderous
falsehood as will presently be shown In
reality, the amount Of earth on the ea rms
ion powder which my lady dusts upon her
cheek.
inexhaustible soil of the prairies and the
fertile fields all over the world, amply sut-
ficient to feed many times its present popu-
lation if properly cultivated. 1t appears
impossible that the sum total can be SO
insignificant. But let us see.
AS matter of fact, the earths SOIL mas
little depth. Try the experiment almost
anywhere. Dig down. it is not far to bed
rock Take an extreme case, In Egypt the
soil is exceptionally deep: For untold ages
the Nile has been depositing over its sur
face layers of mud washed down from re-
mote regions. Yet even here the depth is
not really great. In the center of the val
ley it is said to vary from minimum OF
forty to a maxium of about seventy feet.
Along the edges the bare bones OF the earth
protrude through the barren sand.
But making a generous estimate, assum-
ing that the average depth of soil all over
the world amounts to fifty feet, includlng
sand, gravel and the dry dust OF the desert
everything but sold rock; and ignoring
the huge powders and intrusive Lodges that
form SO conspicuous a feature of the land
scape in most countries; assuming, 100.
that the average depth of soil on the bed
of the ocean is no less than that allowed
for the dry land, more than liberal as
sumption. the statements made above are
fully justified. The grand total is proper
tionately less than the powder upon lazy
cheeks: and very few of the children OF
good Mother Earth have faces as free from
soil as hers.
The dimeter of the earth is about eight
thousand miles. Fifty feet is less than the
one-hundredth part of a mile. The layer
of soil on the earths surface is therefore
less than t-hundred-thousandth of
the earth's diameter.
Now, to make a comparison. Eight inches
is a very fair allowance for the diameter
OF the human head. Regarded as a small.
terrestrial globe, its scale would be about
one thousand miles to the inch. The layer
Of soil on the earths surface, therefore,
would be represented by an inappreciable
film upon the human face scarcely the one
hundred-thousandth part of an inch in
thicknessi
What do these figures really mean? II
lustration is necessary to make them IN
The ne-hundred-thousandth part of an
inch represents about the degree of accu-
scopic lenses-the most exact and perfect
work achieved by the hand of man. 1t ap-
proximately represents the thickness of
soap-bubDle. 1t is probably less than tbs
thickness of the faint print left by the fin
gers when they are pressed upon pain OF
glass.
But this extreme tenuity may be illus
trated in another way, still more striking
The wave length of violet light is about
one-sixtythousandth of an inch; that OF
the red rays about ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF
an inch. The thickness assumed is there
fore less than the length of the shortes
light wave-less than half the length OF the
red waves.
Such film, of course. would be quite
imperceptible upon the human countenance.
! The slightest visible stain represents q
relative depth of soil greater than Mother
Earth ever tolerates upon any portion of
| her fair face.
| There is another way in which the Com
| parson may be made, with results no less
| unexpected. Imagine all the soil scrapec
| from the surface of the earth and madt
into ball of mud-how large would this be-
Massed In this way the sum total would