The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-28

l It must be conceded if this earth was | in the dawn of creation mass of fire. | or if the gases were mere afame in the | long ago, gradually coaling as it whirled | through space. that there necessarily must | have been time when the crust or earth | shell was not as dense or as thick as 1t now is. From the great mass of volcanic data already collected we feel sure that
 volcanic agencies were more frequent
 and more forceful than now, in the early
 periods of the earths history.
 The greatest volcanic out pourings in modern times seem small and insignif1- cant when compared with those in the
 earths early history 1t is true that
 Skapter threw out a mass, estimated by
 Hershell to equal 20 cubic miles; that Vesuvlus belched forth enough. melted lava to cover one square mile to a depth of 20 feet: that Tomboro discharged enough molten matter to have covered all of Germany to depth of 25 inches and that the thunderous crash was heard for more than 500 miles, and felt in all civilized lands; but these, the greatest eruptions of modern times, were as gentle breeze when compared with de- vastating cyclone When we leave the field of estimates and examine the actual out pouring of molten earth In the northwest
 ern part of the United States and the ad- joining section of Canada. The evidence as seen today-not trying to account Tor any part that may have gone into the ocean or since that day carried away by water-shows an area, lava covered, that is greater than all of the southland, rom Tthe Mississippi river, thence east to the Atlantic ocean, and from the ohio rlVer to the Gulf of Mexico, and not lew
 paltry inches in depth. but thoukahas upon thousands of feet in thickness Ihe
 writer measured this outflow in many
 places where it was from 1000 to 5000 rect
 in thickness. and the United States Geo. logical Survey has measured the thickness where the perpendicular height exceeded 60OO feet and owing to the enormous hs- sures canyons and gorges the measure ments are made as accurately as we can measure the length of city block
 The only argument of value so far ad- vanced against a molten condition of the earth is that in all mines and borinss TOT salt. oil or gas as you go down in earth, after the first 50 feet in depth. each 6o feet on the average gives one more degree of heat so that at a depth oi 5o mics the heat would be so intense as to melt even our basic rock. The speelhc gray ity of the whole earth is estimated to pc five and half times heavier than water or two and a half times heavier than granite, hence it is assumed that the inner central part of our globe must have beer so compressed as to account for the discrepency in the specific gravity or
 water and known rock, and the specific gravity of the earth. ., Ii is our duty not only to examine all the testimony in the case. but to give eacn assumption fair treatment. In order that we may not seem to be unfair we will nresent the argument relied on to pro d,tce such compression. The geologists' | init of measure-weight--is one cubic
 mile of earth, and one cubic mile weighs approxffnately i0.000oO0 tons. Let us i therefore say that the earth's crust m-
 stead of being 90 miles in thickness IS oo
 miles thick, then one mile square at the
 sn,race of the earth and then down to
 where it is yet in molten conditio,'
 would give us 800, ,00O,000 of tons, which | would give a compressive force thou-
 sandfold greater than our minds can un- | derstand. Clarke estimates the cubical | contents of the earth to be two hundred
 and fifty thousand millions of cubic miles l and that it's surface is more than l9opo'We
 of square miles. .,.
 Hence it follows. they argue, that the immense pressure exerted by the immense | mass of earth has so compressed the in- | ner core as to account for its density, us
 specific gravity
 l To the task of disproving this plausiple theory we address ourselves. That the conclusion would be true if there were nc counteracting forces. or agencies, we aa- init. Everywhere in all nature we ma
 opposing forces and agencies, We nave | good and evil light and darkness, neat
 and cold. oentripetal and centrifugal
 forces. positive and negative. So. too
 we have not only compressive force, que
 to the weight of earth. water and ar
 but we have expansive forces within tna' forces outwardy.
 That the expansive energy from withih pressing upwardly and outwardiy, couh, .terbalances the compressive force must he admitted. and we have already shown
 when the expansive forces were more Epowerful than the force exerted by pres | sure We have record of l30Ooo earth-
 oual<es within the last half century.
 We have the records in history of vol canic outbursts through the safety vaiVes | of the earth--the craters of our volcanoes ! We have the records that cannot he gam said of the overthrow of towns and cities ' of burving cities as completely as mar can bury any treasure; then We have tne mute. silent testimony of the Book Of Ills Works. where the rocky pages tell 10 us that the great internal force has not ohl>
 upheaved masses of rocks and minera matter. but that it has uplifted the | mighty deep so that ocean waves ros' to 50 and 50 feet in height, and whose I,..... ,:,,o x,.ac mora than 200 miles long