Newport daily independent., 1906-04-06
would Solve Many Questions ua- known to ths Scientific World-- Estimated Cost s25, 900 900
 and to Take S5 ' ears.

Experiments to D. tried Ia tas wash inston monumeat by officers of ths geo" logical snrvsy to try to determine ths comprsssIFeneS<; ot tue earth's mass, has awakened widespread interest la scientific circles Coming as 1t does oa the heels of pyoiAct bcoaChed by Charles Alge-non Parsons, ot Eugl land, to bore a hole l2 miles into the eartAs ths scientific world has much food fas speculation,
 Prof Parsons estimates that to sfns . shaft F miles eep would cost s25, ,300.. 000, and tha$ t would require S yeara to accomplish. 1t. This shaet, cut down iats the earta. would represent ths equivalent of hole one foot deep in a mass 6Ss feet thick. 1t would solve many questions that the scientific kuoSi' adge of the world has left unanswered. yet 1t would Investigate only shs crust aud leave thousaads Of wiies of the la- terior mass sttil untouchsd.
 The amount of compression aS Che globes center shoytd, to some extent at least. define the character of the mass of which it Is formed, Et is argued that the great n ass Of ths interior of the earth ls solid. Against the contention that the planet, under crust 25 miles thick. ia 8 mass of 5ery liquid Is acrayed ths fact of the known density of the globe That density in the earth's entirety is about 5.5 times the density of the water that covers three-quarters of tho sur- taco.
 The assumption of comparatively thin crust requires. according 10 Sir William Thompson, that this crust should have a. rigidity possessed ny 10 known substance. The sun exerts such ! strain upon the substance 9f tha earth that the planet could not maintain f's shape as 1t does he maintains, unless th. supposed crust were at least 2 900 oc e,500 miles in thickness
 There is a gradual increase iu tha tenn perature while penetrating the surfaca of the crust. This increase in some lo~ calities is as rapid as one degree for each 56 feet of descent. ia others oEe degree for E to 85 feet
 In the Comstoct silver mines of Nte- vada, at 2 depth ot 2.065 feet. Fatec has a temperature 9f TO degrees. Fahra1- heit. The deepest excavations in tha earth are at the Calumet and FecIa cop per mines in Michigan where theIouge5t perpendicular shaft goes down 303 feet, while ona of the standing shafts is more than 8 900 feet in length
 There are in these mines 250 miles ot lateral galleries Colossal engines acs required to vanti'ate the immense sub terranean city and to keep the tempera- ture endurabIe ir the lower levels Al deep mine borins5 prove how stupAnd- ousiy dificuIt would De the task of da- scending below thA milo level.
 At the lowest rate of increase in tha temperature in penetrating the earth t1s heat at the depth s'capstad bT NJ C7-- sons, l2 miles down would be 8)0 F. grees Fahrenheit This heat though far from the fusiug point of wrought iron (3, ,280 degrees would render tda use of tools, even if she lower b0riugs of the shat were CorstrUc5e3 as they are iu Oi, Wests a difficult process. T. would defg :he most eoEos5a s2hame of artificial ra- frigeration to render such depths avail. able for entrance by human beings.
 No considerations of commercial ben eft enter into the plans of MT Parsons in suggesting the Emile boring into the crust of the earth. T. $ scheme purely IF the interest of scientific knowledge.