Evening journal., 1902-12-23
FATE OF LAST
(. MAN ON EARTH
Many Theories AS to Manner
of Life and Death of
Last Human Being

Astronomers tell us that the day
must come when the earth will. like
Nle moon. wheel through the heavens
dead aud barren ball Of matter air
less. waterless, lfelcss But long, long
before that time man viii be extinct
viii have disappeared so utterly that
not so much rs the bleached Skeleton
OF n human being win 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 Il Is but reasonable
70 suppose that man, like amy other
race OF animals, will disappear slowly
and that eventually there will be but
single human being lofi-some old.
old man. gray headed and bearded, and
left to wander alone IN solitude That
may bo imagined, but not described.
How win he die, this last relic of
the teeming millions that once trans
formed the face Of the globe and ruled
undisputod masters of every other liv-
ing thing? There are many fates that
may hefall him. He may go mad with
the horror of loneliness ana 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
sull so richly supplied with. we let
/ Inf
croasing volume of carbonic ncid gas.
Much Of this is taken up by plants.
but not all. II must increase and
/ eventually poison the breathahle air,
filling the valleys ana mounting slowly
TO the hill tops, where the last remains
of animal life are striving FOR exist
\ ence. The last man win climb higher
\ and higher, but eventually the suffocat-
ing invisible food win reach and
drown him.
Again, 1t Is said that the earth as It
gets older Is cracking like dry mud.
These cracks viii increase until Mt 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
i last man in this case will probably be
4 seme arctic explorer or Eskimo whom
The vast plains of ice around win save
from instant death and leave to grill a
few moments till the Ice continents arc
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 win be the
worst describable He viii die of
thirst. The scene OF his death VIII
probably be the great valley in the bed
A of the Atlantic ocean, or the Brazilian
coast, half way between Rio JaneiI'o
and the cape, where now six miles of
green water lie between the steamers
keel and the abysmal slime beneath
There, hopclessly digging In the ever
drying mud, he must perish and leave
his bones TO parch ON a waterless
planet.
The antarctic polar ice cap has been
growing thicker and heavier for un.
counted ages. The distance from the
south pole to the edge OF this ice cap Is
Ifiup Hilct. IiC Ice rises otclully from
the edge to the centor At that center
it cannot be less than II miles IN thick.
ness-twice as thick as Mount Everest
Is high
Suppose It splits. Imagine the gl.
eantic mass Of water and ice that will
/ come sweeping up north ovcrthe oceans
] and continents Of the earth. Where,
then, viii the last man breathe his
final gasp? High up in the SHOWS OF
+, some great range he win perish miser-
ably Of cold and starvation, looking
down on aThuge shallow sea, beneath
whose tossing waters viii lie the whole
Of The races of the world.
. Or last and perhaps drearlest fate OF
all, the human race may outliYe other
mammals and last until the sun. as
some day it must, grows duh and cold
and vegetation dies from the chilled
earth. The miserable remnant OF
earth's people must then slowly die oul
after ages Of an existence to which
1 that Of the Eskimo Of today is a para
disc