Omaha daily bee., 1900-02-11
HEAT INSIDE OUR PLANET
Center Of the Earth a Furnaces Of Tremsn'
dous Heating Power,
WHY IT DOES NOT BLOW UP
what Would Happen Were IL Brought
TO the surfacc-An Eminent
GcoloRiSt Discusses
Ia the Question.

copyright, 1900. by y. 5. shaler.)
Physical ecience has undoubtedly attained
more than half It's total development within
the nineteenth century. though 1t is true
that the scientific gains OF the century do
not include such splendid achievements as
the Newton theory OF gravitation, the CO.
pernican account OF the solar system, or the
primary concepts OF the atomic hypothesis.
The rate OF advance in scientific knowledge
has been more uniform also in the last hun
dred years than in the earlier centuries.
The discoveries in each field have served as
never before to help on inquiries in adjacent
fields, with the result that the explorers
have moved forward in touch with one an
other. Nearly every branch of science has
helped and been helped by the others. To
this interaction Of learning-a marked
feature of our age-we may in large meas
ure attribute the surprising advance it has
won. To it we clearly owe the singularly
rapid gain which has been made in all that
relates to the explanation OF the earth.
Geological science is not a distinct branch
Of learning, as is chemistry or astronomy.
1t is a body Of varied knowledge, drawn
from the stores of all the others and so com
bined as to render an account Of what has
gone on in and upon this sphere.
The conditions under which the group Of
sciences termed geology has developed have
BET certain important limits to its successes.
A hundred years ago the pioneers had just
fairly begun to interpret the tangle OF rocks
which make up the so-called crust of the
earth and to speculate as to the meaning Of
the evidence concerning the condition OF it's
interior. From the point OF view OF sclen-
tifc inquiry these speculations had advanced
but little beyond the position to which they
had been brought by electricity a century
before. The real advance in the science
was attained in the main by close study OF
the structure and attitude of the rocks, to-
gether with the organic remains which those
laid down in water so often contain. In this
way the division OF the past history of the
earth into ages, epochs or periods. a task
begun in earlier times, has been carried 90
far that we now have a fairly clear idea as
to the way In which the record Is divided
into chapters and sections. and a general,
though still very incomplete, knowledge of
the order of events on those parts of the
crust which have been lifted above the level
of the sea. This store of facts enables us
fairly to interpret so much Of the history
OF the earth as is written in stratifed rocks
that have at no time in their history been
buried to a greater depth than from twenty
to thirty miles below the surface.
Deepest Depths Hard to study.
While the facts revealed in the newer
stratifed rocks-those which commonly lie
in a little changed form near the surface
are easy TO be interpreted, there are diff
culties in this work which increase in rapid
measure as they concern beds that have
been deeply buried. The reason for this Is
that, in proportion as the strata are COW
cred by others subsequently laid down, they
-- .s-sA - rio urhnrn they. a rn
subjected to a number of physical and
chemical actions, concerning which we can
Know nothing by direct observation-we can
not submit this sphere TO dissection. The
deepest mining work penetrates only about
one four housandth of the way TO the
center. So far as We can ascertain, tho old
est and for a time deepest buried rocks have
not been more than one or two score miles
below the sea level.
The first and in some ways the most i'm
portant point that our century has made
as to the depths OF this sphere consists in a
determination OF the heat of its interior
and the origin thereof. The evidence of =
high temperature in the depths OF the earth,
afforded by hot springs and volcanoes, is 50
clear that the Greeks appear TO have noted
its meaning and to have conjectured the en-
istence of some kind of a central fire, burn
ing after the manner OF u luIudCe' lulS
view, indeed. appears TO have been COM
mcnly held by all the early geologic in
ouirers who considered the facts. So, too, it
has long been known that there was in some
mines a distinct increase in heat to be noted
in any considerable descent. The main gain
in this inquiry has consisted of a determina-
ton as TO the rate OF increase and the sources
OF his high temperature which exists in the
depths. Many careful observations, dis
tributed over all the continents, show US
that for all the distance We have pence
trated with shafts and borings, the increase
is at an average rate of one degree Fahren-
heit approximately for each fifty feet or
depth. At this rate the temperature at the
center would attain to about iOO,0 600 degrees.
The Earth Not Fluid Inside.
But there are various reasons why this
intense heat cannot really exist. How, then.
can We account for the error? II may be
explained by what We may observe or com
pute as taking place in any cooling body.
Ii is a perfectly warrantable supposition
that the earth. at a remote period, was in a