The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1899-08-02
LAST MAN IN The WORLD.
,,pxr,FIC SPECULATION AS TO
HIS FATE.
,r One Of Number of Dire atful
Things May Overtake Him BE.
fore He Breathes His
Final Gasp.

Final Gasp.
Astronomers tell US that the day
,-+ come when the earth will, like
~. moon. wheel through the heavens
3,od and barren bali of matterair-
-. Waterless,. lifeless. But long,
Iocg before that time man VIII be
or+inct. will have disappeared so ut>
torIv that not so much as the bleached
,eoI4toD Of a human being will be Visl
Ma en- all the millions Of square miles
fine surface of this planet.
Unless by some huge and universal
cataclysm the whole race is swept at
oncp into eternity, 1t is bat reasonable
tn suppose that man, like any other
race of animals, will disappear slowly,
and eventually there will be but sim
ole human being left-some old, old
man, gray-headed and bearded, and
left to wander alone in solitude
that may be imagined, but not de-
scribed.
How will he die, this cast relic Of the
teemng millions that oHce transform
cd the face of the globe and ruled I'M
disputed masters of every other living
thing? There are many tates that may
befall linn. He may so mad with the
horror of loneliness and himself end
his own miserable existence. Ee may
be eaten by tho vast reptiles or giant
insects which will then probably infest
the solitudes,
But bis fate may be far Weirder and
more dreadful. Scientists say that
as we burn the coal and timber we
are still SO richly supplied with we
let loose into the atmosphere an ever
increasing volume of carbOnic acid
gas. Much of this is taken up by
plants, but not all. 1t must increase
and eventually poison the breathable
air filing the valleys and mounting
slowly to the hiItCps, where the last
remains Of animal life are striving for
existence. The last man VIII climb
higher and higher, but eventually the
sut0cating invisible food will reach
and drown him.
Again, it is said that the earth as it
gets older is cracking like dry mud.
These cracks VIII increase until at
last they will let the waters of The
ocean and rivers sink into the fiery
center of the globe. Then will occur
an explosion so terrible as may startle
the inhabitants of neighboring worlds
The last man In this case will proba>
bly, be some Arctic explorer or Eskimo,
whom the vast plains of ice around
will save from instant death and leave
to grill a few moments till the ice con-
linents are swallowed by rcdhot gases
and steam.
Suppose these earth cracks develop
more slowly, they may suck away the
water without devastating explosions.
Then the last mans fate will be the
worst describable. He viii dle Of thirst.
The scene of his death will probably
be the great valley in the bed of the
Atlantic ocean, off the Brazilian coast,
half way between Rio Janeiro and the
Cape, where now six miles If green
water lie between the steamers keel
and the abysmal slime beneath.
There, hopelessly digging in the ever
drying mud, he must perish and leave
bis bones to parCh on Waterless
planet.
The Antarctic polar ice cap has been
growing thicker and heavier for I'M
counted ages. The distance from the
South Pole TO the edge OF this ice cap
400 miles. The Ice rises steadily
from the edge to the center. At that
center it cannot be less than twelve
miles in thickness-tWICe as thick as
Mount Everest is high. Suppose 1T
splits. Imagine that gigantic mass OF
water and Ice that VIII come sweeping
up north over the oceans and cont.
nents of the earth. Where, then, VIII
the last man breathe his fir al gasp?
high up in the SHOWS of some great
range he will perish miserably of cold
and starvation, looking on a huge
shallow sea, beneath whose tossing
waters will lie the whole of the races
of the world.
Or last. and perhaps dreariest fate OF
oil, The human race may Outlive other
mammals, and last until the sun, as
some day it must, grows dull aud cold
ana vegetation dies from the chilled
earth The miserable remnant OF
earth,s people must Their slowly die
Out after ages Of an existence to which
ludL OF the Eskimo nf foTaV - T4-
disc.
10 dlarrhoea Dr. NJ. A. Simmons Liver
vi l. In. L. L l. AChrnI II