The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1900-08-22
THE END OF MANKIND.
Interviews With Astronomers and Other
Scientists
Ne,cs and Courier.

be necessary then to consume extrava-
CANT quantities Of oxygen
Billions of years. Nothing more
definite" Such is the lease given to
earthly life by Astronomer George A.
Hill, also of the naval observatory
staff. 'The earth will ultimately be-
come like the moon," he continued.
"All water on our planets surface
will gradually dry up. We will grow
colder and colder as a result Of loss
of our moist atmosphere. which acts
as blanket, holding our heat back
and preventing its escape iuto space.
Our oceans will ultimately be dry
abysses. All animal and vegetable
life will, of course, go. Mankind will
be dried up OF frozen out. After
moisture and vegetation vanish there
will be nothing left to keep the earth's g
crust dark. 1t will turn white. like
the sands Of the deserts, as it dries.
Snow will cease. There will be no
electricity, no thunder storms"
s'Isn't there a possibility that some
other calamity will meanwhile put an
end to earthly life?"
There are two catastrophes which
might occur. The earth might lose
its present position in the solar sys.
tenn or it might be converted into a
burning ball, glowing with fire. Either
effect must result from the earth's 8 or
tho suns collision with some other
body in space. A comet hitting US?
No, think that would have little
effect. A comet hitting the earth
would produce about the same relative
shock as feather hitting base ball.
A comet is a gaseous substance. We
went through the tail Of one in 1883,
when Hawaii's volcano went into
eruption. The only effect was a
haziness and red glare in the sky.
We did not seem to pass through this
comets nucleus-its central mass.
TO ali appearances that apparently
solid part was immense. But when
; We came to weigh it there was nothing
to it. It seemed to be Of the same
material which composed the tail.
There has never been record Of q
comet sufici ntly large to knock the
earth ouis Of position. The largest
would give ua, red sky, nothing more
serious.
~ An immense meteor would be more
likely 60 end the earth than would q
comet Of any size. Suppose our
! planet were struck <by q meteor one
half it's size. There may be meteors
oe such magnitude. If there can be
small ones there can probably be large
ones. the largest which havs struck
the earth within historic times have
weighed but few tons. Such bodies
falling upon our surface might kill
one or two persons. Nothing more
serious would result. In space there
have been meteors apparently as large
as the great planet Jupiter. But
they have been probably less than
two hundred miles away and something
like ten feet in diameter. But if a
large one should knock the earth hard
enough to change it's present balance
the suns great attraction would proba-
bly, draw our planet in. Then we
would all be frizzled up. A meteor
one-half the earth's size and weight
might accomplish this. Itmight take
a year before we ultimately reached
the sun, but we would be destroyed
before We got half way there.
CAT 45,00O.OOO miles, or half the
distance from the sun, the earth 8
temperature would rise possibly to 500
or 600 degrees. No life could with
stand such heat, os course. Should
the earth stay at this distance year
would be but three months long. Our
velocity would be four times as fast as
it is now. We would buzz around at
/ the rate Of 72 miles a second. Our
buildings and all.loose objects would
/ probably be thrown off into space by
centrifugal force.' AS for ourselves
and all other animate objects, they
would all have been obliterated by the
heat.
IT Isaid that the earth might also
strike something so hot as to actually
] setit on 6re. In such an event it
would never burn up entirely. It
j would go from an incandescent to q
gaseous form, and ultimately cool
down into a solid again. There is
nothing lost in nature. Fire could
not; extinguish q planet.
eyes, it isItrue that within millions
OF years we will either a.:.ke CO pass