Evening star., 1922-01-29

they dig it.
! Flammarion speaks of the radium
! age. the age of platinum, the period
, of unknown metals. Modern science
! deems the mass Of heavier metals
situated deeper down than We have
! ever been to seek them.
Aluminium, the lightest metal, is
scattered all over the earth's surface
but such gold. platinum and radium
which men discover are found in ac.
! cidental veins or deposits heaved ut
! from lower down. Even when wash.
ed down in sand from mountain tops
those mountain tops had been up.
/ heayed in cataclysms.
| Deeper down. exclaims Flam.
marion. there may be metals too heavy
to have ever come to the surface
being too deep. even. for the up.
f1inging in veins. Whether or no,
| they lie within the possible reach OF
/ the big holes remains q fascinating
problem. quite apart from the more
certain riches Of radium. Camille
| Flammarion, who started the idea oi
the hole, thinks their existence prae-
! tically certain.
Now, the heavier that metals are
atomically. the more valuable they
! are. Think OF a world without rust
world in which gold and platinum
| should be as cheap as iron is today.
What health. economy and convent
ence to live in platinum! You do not
/ wash platinum spoon! You pass
| it through the fame, a moment, and
| it comes out pure and shining.
From the big hole is to come un.
limited motive force-not from in.
terror heat. but from its cause.
Aye. dream Of Jumps Of radium as
! big as your head! II science had ten
pounds Of radium today to burn i,
would work miracles. The greatest
| difficulty might be to protect the
| men, down there, not SO much from
its heat as from its direct rays
When scientists get ten.pound lump.
| to work with they will turn out your
perpetual motors in q few years-ii
| 1t does not blast them while expert
| menting. The powers which compen-
| safe the loss Of the earth's heat to
| outer space must be terrific. Had
| we depended on the sun alone to keep
US warm we would have long been
living on a SNOWFALL.
THE Big Hole must be six miles
deep. The true depth, OF course,
is "x-the depth at which its heat
prevents them going deeper (if pre-
vented) will be that at which the
earth gives up its secret. The calcu-
lations which attain this beautiful
conclusion are said to be as convinc.
Ing as complicated.
| OF course, the conditions will be
immensely more favorable than in q
stuffy mine. One hears talk about the
big hole being 500 yards in diameter
| This means more than q mile around
| its mouth. at the surface. In such q
| vast circle. or in half it, for that mat.
ter. the refrigerating, pulverizing and
suction conduits. alternating with the
elevators, electric cables, etc, will
| find space to be on a titanic scale
compared with the first use Of some
Of the devices in the just completed
parrellel tunnel Of the Simplon or the
! oil wells Of Texas. They have plan.
ned gigantic machines to Keep the
sides of the big hole frozen, deer
down. Giant perforators and exca.
vators. some resembling those seen a,
Panama. will tear out rock and dirt
while fighting the increasing heat
with liquefied air.
Between two and three miles deep
accordilg to old geothermic theories
the temperature of boiling water
should be reached.
(Now much Of this is guesswork foI
all who have not seen the blue prints
One hears only the big outlines. But
there is certainly talk about utilizing
these temperatures to aid in general;
ing force. at once. to combat them
and to dig deeper! In vast refrtg.
Grating halls, cut horizontally into
the holes sides, such machines are tt
operate.)
WYE hear of pulverised rock and dir
w to be sucked up tn giant tubei
around the circumference Of hundred
Of elevators for workmen and debris
Of vast floors reiching partially
across the hole at appropriate depths
for giving working space. OF casing
thu walls with cement and steel and
Of more and more refrigerating ap'
paratus ana liquefied air everywhere
All of which (nsverthelsss) leavei
the true secret Of the big hole still {
mystery. Exactly what they seek
how they expect to harness It. Il "it'
be radium. their plans for getting 4
It, In face of difficulties and expens&-
such questions remain - unexplained
as the strange .conAdepce OF thost
who claim some first.hand knowledg,
Of the project.
ii is . sporting chance Of billion
aires. -
No government would dare risl
such work. No promoter coui'
sell $4,000 worth OF its stock. Ye
the idea Of oplossai hole in tn
ground Is not nSw.
In more radical form. Il caused tn
famous dispute between voltaire an
| the eighteenth century scientis,
'MaupertuiA whom Frederick tn
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s5t saslss