The Era-leader. [volume] (Franklinton, La.) 1910-current, 1913-12-25
WHY IS THE MOON?
Mass of Motion Matter Made
Room for Our Oceans.
According to Learned Scientists Some
5000, 100000 Cubic Miles Of Mat
ter Was Hurled From Earth
100000 Years Ago.

100000 Years Ago.
For the origin Of our moon L.
places majestic nebular hypothesis
needs slight modification, says the
Kansas City Star. Sir George H. Oar
win. In his theory Of tidal evolution.
traces back the earth-moon system to
a hot. oblate sphere covered with .
solid crust some thirty-ive miles
thick. This as yet moonless planet
may be pictured as whirling upon it.
self with terrific speed in period Of
five OF our hours. Tides created by
the sun and the acceleration Of rota-
ton caused weakening Of the CEN
trtfugal force, and at a critical point
this instability overcame gravitation
and some 5,0o0,oOO,OOO cubic miles Of
molten matter was sundered from the
earth and hurled outward to revolve
In close proximity to the parent
planet.
Now, when we scan the earth atten-
lively for indications that may con-
firm this origin we are confronted
with many instructive facts. Prof. W.
H. Pickering has shown that II the
earth be viewed from a distance in
space, directly above a point 1000
miles northeast Of New Zealand, the
land areas that compass this waste of
waters are disposed in an almost per-
feet circle. This roughly circular
chasm, the Pacific, is more eloquent
Of the creation epic Of our moon than
written volumes.
In his inaugural address delivered
at Columbia university. New York. in
1908. Prof. Albrecht F. K. Penck spoke
on the geographical and geological
similitude between the eastern coast
Of North America and the western
coast Of Europe, as follows:
In very remarkable way these
two sides Of the Atlantic repeat the
same structural features; there is an
astonishing symmetry, as Edward
Suess has shown clearly. In Sweden
and Finland we find the same round.
ed and glaciated surface. the same
numerous lakes, as in Canada. 1t is
very interesting to see how the Appal'
achian region ends at Newfoundland,
forming the projecting eastern corner
of North America. and just opposite
in south Ireland, in south Wales and
Cornwall and in Brittany the belt Of
the old Hercynian mountains Of Eu-
rope begins. Marcel Bertrand main
tanned that we have here to deal with
the two ends of one very extensive
belt Of mountains which extended
through the north Atlantic ocean"
Commenting on this part Of the lee.
ture, Prof. Andrew H. Patterson OF
the University Of North Carolina said:
PROF. Penck Is evidently not consid'
ering this (tidaD theory at all in his
lecture, and yet 1t seems what he has
to say lends a greater probability tc
the theory"
That the great oceans which cover
the earth are permanent In place Ii
evident from the fact that the average
height Of the land above sea level II
about 1850 feet. while the average
depth Of the seas and ocean is 1886
feet. Thus the average depth Of thu
water ie over six times the mean ele
walton of the land.
A strong argument for the perma
nence Of the continents Is the fac
that no marine deposits Of any geol
ogic period extend over an apprecia
BILE portion Of each continent Thi'
should have been the case II the!
were ones covered with oceans fol
any length Of time. and the failure o
such continuity of marine fossils II
proof of the immunity Of the LAM
from past submersion.
Osmond Fisher has shown that oh
servations made with the pendulum
on islands proved the suboceanic crus
to be bo<h thinner and denser thar
the crust under the continents. Aftel
the moon had been hurled from thu
present ocean basins these latte1
would be thinner than the continenta
crust, but would solidify and become
compact when the water vapor In tn,
air condensed and ran into the basins
To the silvery orb that illume'
earth's dark nights. then. we owe no
only our tides, but our vast and deel
oceans themselves. To her we owl
also the more important continental
areas on which high types Of nam
malta could evolve. For without thu
latter habitat we must ever have re
ENTHUSIASTICALLY as well az indi
vidually-of very low order Of men
tai development, a race Of cold blood
ed fishes, or at best amphibians.
The ancient jewellers In Arcad!
J boasted that their beatidc race came
into existence before the moon her
self, bu4 they were probably ignoran
Of the period they claimed for thei
ancestry. They must needs hav'
:, mounted back in time some 57,00o.o0'
years, In which case their race woul<
be hallowed, indeed. by prelunar anti