Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1903-08-24

spinning steadily round certain IiXed
axis, Sc that the poles remained in eX-
actly the same spots. Quite recently
has come the discovery HAT the north
pole executes a sort Of complicated
waltz. always moving. but never stray
ing more than 80 feet from its mean
position. 1t is Prot f. II. Tu5nzr, T,
R s. who suggests the alternating
accumulations q snow AMI ice a the
possible cause= Of tais phenomenon.
aEa It IS said tAe British royal aztro.
nemfeaI society ts=a55ag % establish
number of stations IN hi2l latitudes
Wit lie Object of testing this pheno-
u.enen cf the Waiting poles.
Hardly any Two scientists agree as
to the age Of the earth-tAat is, as
to tie length Of time which has elaps-
ed since the earth's crust became
solid. Considering the very slow rate
at-waich rocks are deposited by water,
and the immense thickness OF the
beds of these '.stratifeds rocks-as
they are ealled-it seems that at least
/ 1,ooosaeo 0oo years have passed since
the s.obe evolved III its present shape
out of the whirlins mass OF iacandes-
cent matter vhiehz8 must once have
beea
BHf Lord Kelvin. arguing from the
known rate OF ross Of heat declares
that not more than 100, ,0o0, ,000 years
IS tie limit of time which has passed
By siage irm rocks appeared and life
began upon the earth. More recently,
Prot. TAFT has shown reason to be-
Eeye gHat tenth OF Lord kelyin's
estimate may be nearer the truth. All
biologists. however. declare that the
lattar e innate it too low
We know with the utmost exactitude
how heavy our little world is - you
put down the figure 6, and follow it
by twenty-one noughts, YOU have it
w,t!.n a very few million tons.
Roughly speaking this implies that
the earth is five and a half times as
heavy as a globe of water of the same
size
But in spite of this accurate knowl-
edge of the earth's weight. we have
no real idea of what is the condition
of things inside our planet Thous.
ands OF experiments made in ali
pe;ature rises on an average about l
degree for every 60 feeI below the
surface If this rate of increase con-
tinues regularly toward the center.
that part Of the globe must lie at
heat SO appalling that imagination is
unable TO grasp it. When this fact OF
increase OF temperature with depth
first became ascertained. geologists
got the idea that We were living upon
thin crust Of firm rock which coated
furious furnace. of which volcanoes
were the escape pipes
Now we know petter than that We
have found among other things. that
an earthouake in Japan is able to
register itself in England This ae
1ually happened N the case Of the
disaster in north Japan four or five
years ago when 10000 people lost
their lives a tremor Of this kind
rigiditv approaching chat of steel, and
observa1i@1.s 0f tides and the attrac-
tions ex ;s-i upon u3 Ny sun and
moon ha"@ asaie = pretty certain that
our w5n'' Z .,lSt ahaar as hard ana
solid as - ~5tzh steet.
Tbs tf.-e~ way WI .Na ':~,,; -
1eriar tae and makes l. fairly cer-
tain thai .he =ar-h Is solid all through.
VIII r1e-'-at cassaaal aceumu,ations
q iusd re X ao.e an# there IA parts
where fa 80 reason cc- other tie
pressure IS - a great a. : is IN
other
II alzo ~rs5rS he old theory q vol
canoes ar -te modern tdsa Nth re.
sar5 TO thes4 mountains q ,eath and
destrH rta1 : -har water from the
surface aads Is way through cracks
down ;ato 10 heated rock masses a
few miles belaw he surface ana
these being suddenly turned into
steam. causes - explosion Or series
OF explosions. #He 6oilerburstings on
d gigantic scale