Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-22
TO INITIATE NATURE.
Unique Function of a New
Washington Institution.
[ PROCESS OF MAKING EARTH
To Be Investigated by Carnegie Geo.
physical Laboratory.
WILL MANUFACTURE ROCKS
Powerful Machinery Never Before
Used-Volcanic Action to Be Re-
produced-Artificial Gems.

Copyright 1905 by John Elfrsth Watkins.)
To initiate Dame Nature In her mysterious
= processes of earth building is the unique
z function allotted to the geophysical labora-
tory which, by July ] next. will have been
built by the Carnegie Institution upon a
hill overlooking the northwest section of
Z the national capital.
Just how old earth was made still remains
8 one of the riddles of the sphynx. This
spinning top on which we dwell is one Of
natures laboratories. in which she has
worked these cons upon cons. To know
Just how the great physicist accomplished
her unalterable work therein, science now
plans to set out and do likewise-to build
as she has builded. If man can create Or
Eanc life after the methods of Prof Loeb
and others, why, then, can he not create
. the Inorganic abode of life? And it is pc
culiarly fitting that a part of the millions
which Andrew Carnegie took out of the
earth's crust should be expended In search
ing for the secrets of that vast shells man
ufacture.
fore. But this is a bold age. Man is now
the creator" recently exclaimed one of our
inventors OF organic life. But the geo.
physicists who. in this new Carnegie labor
atory, will initiate natures feats at earth
building do not strive to create planets and
launch them off into the vast etheric abyss
Not even the millions of the great iron
master suffice to construct a laboratory
sufficiently spacious These savants merely
plan to manufacture on a small scale what
nature has made on a vast one. Their
research will be the purest of pure science
and there is nothing in their hopes which
appear fatuous.
How Earth Was Made.
, As to how earth was made, biologists
have so far gathered this: In the beginning
our sphere was. as the sun is today, a mass
Of heated vapor This gradually cooled,
and as its temperature diminished there
came a time when this rapidly-whirlng
mass could no longer exist as gas or liquid.
Portions at the surface began to freeze
The crust thus formed, grew thicker, and
by its greater weight and greater contrac-
ton pressed more heavily upon the cooling
interior, Where ever crack or weak spot
existed In the crust, the still liquid inter-
for broke through. At first there was
fairly uniform mixture of the elements
forming this mass, and certain combinations
soldifed to form the first crust. When por-
lions of the remaining liquid interior or
the earth were forced through this crust,
In the weak spots. these soft masses, whose
compositions had changed, gave, when
cooled and hardened, kinds of rock different
from the original crust 1t was all kind
OF evolution about which science, as yet,
knows little-hence the geophysical labora-
tory.
SO then, II scientists would learn to know
cesses one by one, repeating what nature
has done. To accomplish this, they will,
in this new laboratory, reproduce as nearly
as possible the enormous temperatures and
pressures used by nature in her terrestrial
laboratory. Only thus can they learn how
actual rocks and minerals were formed.
No such laboratory is in existence any
where In the world. No other has been
planned. far as is known.
Terrific Temperatures Needed.
These temperatures and pressures to be
obtained In imitation of nature will be
tremendous. The gamut of the average
ina gination does not reach above a tenn
perature sufficient to heat metal red hot.
But, after all, red hot substance is only
about 600 degrees Fahrenheit. Our stoves
are lined with kind Of rock which will
stand red and almost white heat with
out any damage whatsoever. But in ma
b. lures furnace all rocks were melted once
and many are melting today. At tenn
perature higher than red heat copper and
gold will melt; still there Is no difficulty
In finding rocks out of which TO line the
furnaces in which to melt them and the
crucibles which will hold them while melt
ing: Hotter still must be the furnaces in
which glass is made or iron melted, but
still there found rocks out of which
to make the pots holding these materials
Of commerce while they seethe in liquid
form. Platinum. long regarded as the
metal requiring the highest heat for melt
ing. can be melted in quicklime vessels
without injury to the vessels. At this tenn
perature of molten platinum, however.
nearly all of the ordinary rocks will have
become fluid. Asbestos, commonly consid-
cred as freproof, will run like water at
at the great heats whereat many of these
minerals remain solid. There is iridium,
which melts at 5000 degrees Fahrenheit,
and osmum at many degrees higher still.
But even at this terrific temperature there
are a number OF minerals remaining stub
bornly solid. Among these are lime, mag
nesia, alumina and zircon.
Greatest Artificial Heat.
To generate a heat sufficient to melt
these the laboratory will be equipped with
electric arcs capable of generating a ter
rife heat of 5000 degrees Fahrenheit. This
greatest possible artificial heat will not,
however, represent the highest tempera-
ture reached by earth's furnace. Even II
this 5000 degrees Fahrenheit. at which
lime and magnesia melt and boil. were
doubled there would not be reproduced in
the laboratory the heat which the earth
probably reached at one time and which