Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1919-07-13

Our earth racing through space, bonn
barded by I46,ooo.ooo, 900 meteor.
year, sweePing through clouds of eo.mi,
dust and steadily growing larger like
snowball rolling down a hill-"The pic.
ture shows how our globe winds prob.
ably appear from tho moon, tho metsors
flashing into fire they hit our atmos.
Phere. tho eosmie dust shining in tho sum,
rays, tho mysteriou, zodiacal light stream.
ing behind il.
There are no more deserts now thar
there ever were. Geologic records show
areas once arid are now fertile and onc.
fertile areas are now arid
The content OF the atmosnhars h..
changed but little. II any.
small proportion OF carbon dio1id,
is essential to plant life and animal life
while large proportion would be fatal r.
air breathing animals" says professor,
Chamberlain. III the three or four hun
dredths OF one per cent now present were
lost all life would go with It; II II wer,
increased to few per cent the hiehe,
life would be suppressed or radicals,
changed. And yet. on the one hand. tn,
theoretical sources OF supply are alum
oant; while on the other. the agencies o,
oepletlon are efficient and active. There
Is little escape from the conclusion thai
ever since the birth OF air breathing lih
some 100000 or 40, 1000 900 years ago Tn.
Interplay OF these agencies OF supply and
depletion has been SO balanced thai
neither fatal excess nor fatal defcienc,
has been permitted to cut short the history
OF the higher life.
"ln even more serious way the habita
bility OF the earth Is conditioned on a nan
row range Of mean temperatures range
roundly speaking, OF 100 degrees cent?
grade. This is scarcely per cent of tho
range OF natural temperatures on the earth
and still smaller per cent of the range
OF temperatures In the heavens. A few
miles above us and a few miles below U.
fatal temperatures prevail. It Is pro
1oundly significant that the thermal states
OF the narrow zone OF life on the face OF
the earth should have been kent within ga
close variations as to permit the millions
Of species forming the great genealogical
lines leading up from the primitive types
to have perpetuated their lineages in un.
broken continuity for such ages, while tho
prevalent temperatures a few miles above
them or few miles below them, as we'll
as In space generally. would have been
fatal"
While the forces OF the degree of main.
tenance OF human life on earth seem to
have been fixed for all ages, and will re.
main fixed for countless other ages, over
turning the gloomy predictions Of an earth
dying OF cold, It would seem that the great
danger that we do face Is this very pres.
ence of fragments in the course along
which we race. AS Professor Chamberlain
says:
Present knowledge points to one tanei.
Bile possibility Of disaster-colisIon with
some celestial body or close approach ia
some sun or other great mass, large enough
to bring disaster by its disturbing or dis.
ruptive effects.
THE motions Of the stars, howeyar II.
In diverse directions, and collisions and
close approaches between them ara theo.
retically possible, If not probably, and even
inevitable. There are also in the heavens
nebulae and other forms OF scattered mat.
ter and doubtless also dark bodies which
may likewise offer possibilities Of collision
The appearance Of new stars flashing out
and then gradually dying away
the actual occurrence Of such
events"