Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1904-01-20
OLD MOTHER EARTH.
HARDLY ANY TWO SCIENTISTS AGREE
AS TO ITS AGE.

Atom In the Boundiess yaiv~r.,
Upon which We Dweii-Theorie.
About the Interior III Our Globe.
Hardly any two scientists agree as to
the age OF the earth-that is. as TO the
length OF time which has elapsed since
the earth's crust became solid. Conslsl-
ering the very slow rate at which rocks
are deposited by water and the i'm
mense thickness OF the beds OF these
"stratifed" rocks. as they are called.
IL seems that at least 100000 900
years have passed since the globe evoiv-
ed In lis present shape out of the whirl-
ing mass of incandescent matter which
IL must once have been.
But Lord Kelvin. arguing from the
known rate OF loss OF heat. declared
that not more than 100000. 600 years Is
the limit OF time which has passed by
since firm rocks appeared and life be-
gan upon the earth. More recently Bro
fessor TAFT declared that a tenth OF
Lord Kelvin's estimate might be nearer
the truth. All biologists. however de-
clare that the latter estimate Is too
low.
We know with the utmost exactitude
how heavy our little world is. III YOU
put down the figure and follow II by
twenty-one naughts. you have II within
very few million tons Roughly
speaking. this implies that the earth
is five and one-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 Thousands OF
experiments made In all parts Of the
world show that the temperature rises
on an average about n 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 II.
When this fact OF increase OF tempera-
ture with depth first became ascer-
tained biologists got the idea that we
were living upon n furious furnace. OF
which volcanoes were the escape pipes
Now we know better than that. We
have found. among other things. that
an earthquake i'm Japan is able 10 reg
lister itself IN Eng, ind! This actuaRS
happened I'm the case Of the disaster In
north Japan some years ago. when 30
600 people lost their lives. \ tremor Of
this kind could not pass unless the
earth Ind rigidity approaching that
OF steel. ana observations OF tides and
the attractions exercised upon us by
sun and moon have made Il pretty GER
fnf h,s
hard and solid rs - 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 I'm parts
where for some reason or other the
pressure is not so great rs Il is I'm 9th
ers.
IL 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 n few miles
below the surface. and then. being sud
denly turned into steam. causes an ex-
plosion, or series OF explosions. like
boiler burstings on a gigantic scale.
Every schoolboy knows that the
shape OF the earth is an oblate spheroid
that is 20 say. that IL is fattened n lit
tie like an orange at the two poles. The
polar diameter OF the earth is actually
twenty-seven miles less than its diam
eter NJ the equator But IL IS as yet not
absolutely ascertained whether the fiat
tenlng is similar ut both poles. Some
arctic explorers appear 10 be OF the
opinion that the fiattening is greater at
the north than ut the south pole
Another rather startling fact is that
the equator is not perfect circle. II
you could drop plumb line from Ire
land through tO New Zealand IL would
be somewhat longer than another
which cut the earth az right angles TO
IL. The difference has not yet been as
certained with absolute accuracy.
We are accustomed TO talk OF sea
level as an invariable quantity. Ii 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. II is cal
culated that in the bay OF Bengal the
water lies at level exceeding that Of
the Indian ocean 10y fully 800 feet and
that OF the Pacific ocean along the
coast OF South America may be heaped
up rs much rs 1000 feet higher than
the water I'm the opposite Atlantic.
These water mountains depend upon
the attraction of great mountain mass
es, the bay OF Bengal upon the Hlmala-
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 Informal
ton on the subject Of the great depths
or the sea. but we do not yet know
with any certainty how deep is the at
mospheric envelope of the earth. AT
one time twenty 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 IN
ipcandescept blaze through friction
when they strike our atmosphere. As
man cannot live at much greater
height than five miles II may be that
we shall never learn exactly how thick
is the atmospheric ocean at the bottom
OF which we crawl-St. Louis Globe.
Democrat.
In nearly forty instances languag es
have been first reduced to writing nv
she British and Foreign Bible society.