The Press., 1900-03-29
LAST MAN ON EARTH.
WHAT is THE DREAD FATE THAT
AWAITS THIS MORTALi

WHAT is THE DREAD FATE THAT
AWAITS THIS MORTALi
Naay Theories an to the Manner of
Life ami Death That VIII BE the
Portion of the Last Relic of HUI
na.anity an 1t Now Exists.
Astronomers tell us that the day
must come when the earth will. like
the moon, wheel through the heavens
a dead and barren ball of matter-air-
less. waterless. lifeless. But kng, long
before that time man will be extinct,
will have disappeared SO utterly that
not SO much as the bleached skeleton
Of human being will be visible on all
the millions of square miles Of the
surface of this planet.
Unless by some huge and universal
cataclysm the whole race is swept at
once into eternity it is but reasonable
to suppose that man, like any other
race OF animals. will disappear slowly
and that eventually there will be but
a single human being left-some old.
old man, gray headed and bearded. and
left to wander alone in solitude that
may be imagined, but not described.
How will he die. this last relic Of
the teeming millions that once trans
formed the face of the globe and ruled
| undisputed masters of every other liv
ing thing? There are many fates that
may befall him. He may go mad with
the horror of loneliness and himself
end his own miserable existence. He
may be eaten by the vast reptiles or
giant insects which will then probably
infest the solitudes.
But his 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 in
creasing 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.
| filling the valleys and mounting slowly
to the hill tops, where the last remains
of animal life are striving for exist
| ence. The last man will climb higher
and higher, but eventually the suffocat-
ing invisible food viii reach and
drown him.
Again, it Is said that the earth as It
gets older Is cracking like dry mud.
| These cracks will increase until at last
| they will let the waters of the oceans
and rivers sink into the fiery center of
the globe. Then will occur an explo-
sion so terrible as may startle the in
habitants Of neighboring worlds. The
last man in this case will probably 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 continents are
swallowed by redhot 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 will die 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 Janeire
| and the cape. where now six miles OF
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
his bones to parch on a waterfess
planet.
The antarctic polar ice cap has beer
growing thicker and heavier for nm
counted ages. The distance from lhs
south pole to the edge of this ice cap Ii
1,4OO miles. The ice rises steadily from
the edge to the center. At that captel
1t cannot be less than IL miles in thick
ness-twice as thick as Mount Everest
is high.
Suppose it splits. Imagine the gi
gantic mass of water and ice that will
come sweeping up north over the oceans
and continents of the earth! Where
then. will the last man breathe his
final gasp? High up in the SHOWS oil
some great range he will perish miser
ably of cold and starvation, looking
down on huge shallow sea. beneath
whose tossing waters will lie the whole
of the races of the world.
Or last, and perhaps dreariest fate oil
all. the human race may outlive othel
mammals and last until the sun, al
some day it must, grows dull and colo
and vegetation dies from the chilled
earth. The miserable remnant Of
earth's people must then slowly die ou
after ages Of an existence to which
that Of the Eskimo of today is para
| Use.