Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1904-02-06
OLD MOTHER EARTH.
hARpLY ANY TWO SCIENTISTS AGREE
AS TO ITS AGE.

Hardly any two scientists agree as 10
the age of the earth-that Is, as TO the
length of time which has elapsed since
the earth's crust became solid. Consid-
ering the very slow rate at which rocks
are deposited by water and the I'M
mense thickness Of the beds OF these
"stratified" rocks, as they are called
Il seems that at least 1,OOO,OoV.ooo
years have passed since the globe evolv-
ed In It's present shape out of the whri-
ing mass of incandescent matter which
It must once have been.
But Lord Kelvin, arguing from the
known rate Of loss Of heat, declared
that not more than 1O0,000,OOO years Is
the limit of time which has passed by
since firm rocks appeared and life be-
gan upon the earth. More recently Pro
lessor TAFT declared that a tenth or
Lord Kelyin's estimate might be nearer
the truth. All biologists, however, de-
clare that the latter estimate Is 100
low.
We know with the utmost exactitude
how heavy our little world Is. III you
nut down the figure 6 and follow II by
twenty-one naughts, you have 1t within
a very few million tons. Roughly
speaking, this implies that the eartn
a. Eve and one-half times as heavy as
a globe of water Of the same size.
But in spite of this accurate knowi-
edge Of the earth's weight, we have no
real idea Of what is the condition OF
things inside our planet. Thousands or
experiments made in all parts or the
world show that the temperature rises
on an average about degree for every
sixty feet below the surface. II this
rate Of increase continues regularly
toward the center, that part OF the
globe must be at a heat so appalling
that Imagination is unable to grasp 1t.
When this fact of increase Of tempera-
ture with depth first became ascer-
tained biologists got the Idea that we
were living upon furious furnace OF
which volcanoes were the escape pipes.
Now we know better than that we
have found. among other things, that
an EARTHQUAKE In Japan is able to reg
lister itself in England. This actually
happened In the case of the disaster IN
north Japan some years ago, when 80
900 people lost their lives. A tremor OF
this kind could not pass unless the
earth had a rigidity approaching that
of steel, and observations of tides ana
the attractions exercised upon US by
sun and moon have made 1t pretty Ger
tain that our world is just about as
hard and solid as so much steel.
This does away with the liquid inte-
rior theory and makes It fairly certain
that the earth Is solid all through,
with perhaps occasional Accommodations
of fluid rock here and there In parts
where for some reason or other the
pressure is not so great as 1t is IN 9TH
ers.
It also upsets the old theory OF volca-
noes. and the modern idea with regard
to these mountains Of death and de-
struction Is that water from the sur
face finds its way through a few miles
below the surface, and then, being sud
denly turned into steam, causes an ex-
plosion, or series of explosions, ike
boiler burstings on a gigantic scale.
Every schoolboy knows that the
shape of the earth is an oblate spheroid
that is to say, that it is fiattened 1T
tie like an orange at the two poles. The
polar diameter of the earth is actually
twenty seven miles less than its diam
eter at the equator. But 1t is as yet not
absolutely ascertained whether the fiat
tening is similar at both poles. Some
arctic explorers appear to be OF the
opinion that the fattening is greater al
the north than at the south pole.
Another rather startling fact Is that
the equator is not perfect circle. IL
YOU could drop q plumb line from Ire
land through to New Zealand 1t Wouio
be somewhat longer than another
which cut the earth at right angles TO
It. The difference has not yet been as
certained with absolute accuracy.
We are accustomed to talk OF sea
level as an invariable quantity. 1t Is
positively startling to find how very
far from level the sea is; not, of course
merely from the passing influence OF
tides and winds, but there are great
and permanent elevations in the sea-
positive mountains, In fact. 1t Is cal
culated that in the bay Of Bengal the
water lies at level exceeding that OF
the Indian ocean by fully 300 feet and
that of the Pacific ocean along the
coast Of South America may be heaped
up as much as 1000 feet higher than
the water in the opposite Atlantic
These water mountains depend upon
the attraction Of great mountain mass
es, the bay Of Bengal upon. the Himala-
vas and the south Pacific upon the
American Andes. ~.
The height of our highest mountains
has been measured to within an inch
or two, and we have accurate informa-
ton on the subject of the great depths
Of the sea, but we do not yet know
with any certainty how deep is the at
mospheric envelope of the earth. Al
one time twenty-seven miles was given
as the limit. This was increased to
forty, and soon even this estimate was
extended to 100.
Our only means Of measurement Is
by the meteors, which spring into ar
lncandescent blaze through friction
when they strike our atmosphere. As
man cannot live at a much greater
height than five miles, 1t may be thai
we shall never learn exactly how thicl
Is the atmospheric ocean at the bottom
Of which we crawl.-St. Louis Globe
Maternal Pride. p Aiu0