The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1911-11-17

Then One Side of the World viii BE q
Desert Furnace, the Other a Black,
Icy Waste, and Mankind viii Find
Itself In cramped Quarters.
The world is slowing down in its
daily rotation. and the days are get
ting longer, according to Professor
Louis A. Bauer of the Carnegie insti-
tute, Washington Magnetic storms
are putting a magnetic brake on the
earth, and IL they continue to construct
this brake, ut the rate measured for
the past ten years, in Just 1920 years
this good old earth will no longer be
turning on its axis, but Will settle
down with one side in perpetual sun
shine, blasted by whitening heat, and
the other side In endless darkness and
cold, corresponding to the extreme fri
gidity OF interstellar space.
Observe It Is not claimed that the
earth positively will come to stand
still In this year 5231 A. D., but sim.
ply that It is being subjected to
brake that may stop It by that time.
Probably most scientists would argue
that magnetic storms win be less vio-
lent In future, that other forces will
intervene and that the stopping Of the
earth win be postponed q great many
years beyond the date named.
But all scientists will acquiesce in
the statement that the earth is slow
ing down and sooner or later will come
to stop.
When the earth stops turning the
side toward the sun viii become over
heated, and water will dry up. and
clustering deserts will cover the sur
face. Near the edge of the sunlit side
there Will be temperate zone, where
the sun viii always be one hour high
or thereabouts, remaining at the same
height above the horizon year In and
year out Every hour viii be like 6
o'clock in the morning Of summer
day. To this delightful region the
worlds population will flock.
A little removed from the hot aren
will be the twilight zone. also quite
habitablc. with the sun unendlng at
the horizon
zone VIII be insupportable. as a rule.
vet on the outer edges. where the sun
is but two or three hours high, people
may live In n temperature OF 100 to
lao degrees by means OF various cool
ing contrivances.
On the dark, cold side OF the earth
oil the water will be frozen solid.
Even mercury will freeze In that aw-
| full chill. 1t Will BIO impossible for
| human beings to penetrate more than
three or four hundred miles into the
dark and frigid zone, which will be
far more inaccessible than are now
tho polar wastes.
The fact that all the water on the
cold side of the earth will be frozen
and all the water on the hot side dried
up and evaporated will tend to cause
great disturbance of the continents
and oceans of the globe. There must
be some sort of Encouragement, and
1t would seem that the oceans would
tend to seek the habitable temperate
zone, which would then DO the equa-
| tors equivalent. Since the enrth's
surface contains very much more wa
ter than land II Is extremely probable
that the temperate zone will not con
tain nearly enough land to satisfy the
population and that there will be con-
tinuous struggles for possession of
valuable soil. 1t Is even conceivable
that large portion of the people
may BIO driven to seek permanent
residences in sailing vessels or steam
craft, subsistng by fishing.
During the period when the enrth's
days are lengthening perceptbly great
social changes must come about. due
TO the difference In hours. When the
days get to bo forty hours long Il will
surely be necessary to arrange for a
period of rest and sleep In the middle
OF the day.
AS the days lcngthen until they ex-
coed weeks duration all sorts of com
pllcntions will ensue. and the days,
weeks and months will become hope.
lessly mixed Scientists agree that the
lunar month will lengthen as the day
lengthens, though the day will increase
the more rapidly. According to Pro
fcssor Ernest w, Brown of Haverford
college, who has given special atten-
tlon TO this subject. there VIII come a
time when the month and the day viii
both be OF tho same duration.
AS the earths day gets longer and
longer the time viii come when n day
IL n year long. Then there will be no
more days and nights, no weeks and no
months. The earth always will have
one side to the sun. and the moon will
have one side TO the earth, and the two
will turn around the sun once year
as IL fixed on n rigid bar. There will
be no more seasons on the earth--no
spring. summer, autumn or winter.
The weather of the several seasons
can be experienced only by travelling
10 and fro between the hot and cold
zones
IL is clear that property values In
more than half the planet will be wipea
out. Cities and farms throughout the
dark half OF the globa will be buried
under perpetual glaciers. Correspond
ingly values VIII rise enormously II
real estate on the inhabited strip thaS
lies Just on the cool edge of the hot
hemisphere. No one knows, no one
can calculate at this time, what part
of the earth Will be included In this
habltable strip or belt any more than
he can predict which half of the world
will be hot and which cold. st. Louis
Post Dispatch