The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1908-05-19

cosmography of the universe:
ssIn the book of Hammannuah the
Old we learn through extended expla-
nation that the earth turns upon itself
In the form of a circle; that some are
on top. the others below; that all crea-
lures change in aspect, following the
manner of each place, keeping, how
ever. In the same position. But there
are some countries of the earth that
are lightened while others are in dark
ness. These have the day when Tor
the former it is night, and there are
countries in which it is constantly day
or In which at least the night contln-
ues only some instants. These secrets
were made known to the men Of the
secret science, but not to the geogra-
pliers"
Maimonides 1190 A. d. held that
the earth had the form of a globe; that
1t was inhabited at both extremities OF
a certain diameter; that the inhabit-
ants had their heads toward heaven
and their feet toward each other, yet
they did not fall off.
In India at a very early period the
astronomer Arya-bhata (born A. D.
476) held to the opinion that the earth
revolved upon its own axis. 1t is
known that the Chaldeans at very
ancient period calculated with certain
ty eclipses of the moon and closely ap-
proximated the time of eclipses OF the
sun. DR.. Schlegel gives the great an
tiquity of $4,000 years to the Chinese
astronomical sphere.
Though astronomy affords the means
of determining with great precision
the relative masses of the earth, the
moon and all the planets, it does not
enable us to determine the absolute
mass of any heavenly body in units OF
the weights used on earth. To deter
mine the absolute mass of the globe Its
mean density must be known, and this
is something about which direct obser-
| walton can give no information. as we
cannot penetrate more than an mslg-
nificant distance into the earth's inte-
rior. The most probable mean density
of the earth is 5.6-that is, the earth Is
So times as heavy as ball of pure
water of the same size. From this and
similar estimates the weight of the
globe has been calculated to be six mil
ion million tons.
Archimedes, the greatest ancient ge-
ometer. Is accredited with the saying,
"Give me where I may stand and !
win move the worldr' With a lever Of
sufficient length this task might posi-
bly, be accomplished But let us see
what it would require to accomplish it
with the forces at our command. The
weight of the globe has been calculat-
ed to be six million million tons.
To move this weight one foot steam
engine Of 10000 horsepower would
have to work necessarily for a period
Of seventy thousand millions Of years.
During this time the engine would use
up forty million million quarts Of wa
ter, a quantity sufficient to cover the
whole globe 300 feet high. Now. as to
the fuel consumed by the engine, If its
boiler was good and working econom-
ically 1t would require four thousand
million tons of coal to feed it during
the seventy thousand million years.
To ship such a quantity of coal by rail-
way It would take two hundred thou
sand million cars of a capacity OF
twenty tons each. These cars, when
placed in line, would form train so
long as to encompass the earth forty
five times, and If this train should
move with a velocity Of twenty-five
miles an hour it would take 1t five mil
lion years before 1t could traverse the
distance of its own length.
This calculation shows that the globe
rests pretty firmly In the place assign
ed to it by nature and how difficult
would be the task suggested by the
great mathematician.
1t is known what happens when
rapidly running train comes to a sud-
den standstill We are thrown for
ward in the direction of its motion.
The same result would follow the sud
den stopping Of the earth's motion,
only on a much larger scale. Every
thing on it's. surface would be hurled
into space with a velocity hundreds of
times as great as that of the swiftest
express train.
But we should have hardly the time
to realize this somersault into space be-
cause of the other immediate result
viz, the transformation of the earth's
motion into a heat so intense as to
raise the temperature of the air by
hundreds Of degrees. turn seas, lakes
and rivers into steam and instantly
consume forests, buildings and cities.
And men and animals would instan-
taneously perish from the mere breath
ing of the hot air, and their corpses
would be incinerated In the general
confiagration- In short, the result
would be a tragedy such as is depicted
by St Peter for the judgment day.
Scientists have given the tempera-
ture which one would feel when pene-
trating to the center Of the globe. To
obtain this estimate of heat they had
to confine themselves to simple OBJ
servations on the rise Of temperature
in mine shafts. Biologists believed
that the mean temperature OF the
earth increased by / degree with
every hundred feet OF descent. With
these figures for a basis they calculated
that the mean heat of the central nu-
cleus must be 1920 degrees f.
This was good mathematics, but in
correct, for observations made In Ne
vada with instruments of great pre-
cision showed that the heat OF the
central nucleus was much greater.
For the experiment of 1897 silver
mine was selected, and there they
found that at $500 feet under the
earth's surface the air showed tenn
perature of "a degrees F. and the wa
ter of 100 degrees. In the vicinity, at
Yellow Jack shaft, the mine reaches
depth of 5000 feet, and the thermome-
ter shows constantly 139 degrees F., so
that miners cannot work there for
more than fifteen minutes at stretch.
The works in the Simplon showed like
wise an uncommon subterranean heat,
and the calculations justify an assump-
ton for the central nucleus of tenn
perature of 6S0,000 to 100000 degrees,
the same as is assumed of the sum-
Leon Landsberg in Chicago Record
Herald.
Missionary Work.
$50 you once lived in Africa, SamT'
sYas, sab"
"Ever do any missionary work out