The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-01-14
By '. B. Lawlor.

Dy '. Q. L0WtW.
 NT E have been accustomed for many w generations to- speak of terra oma and returning to solid earth. Is oere such a thing as terra firma, and Dow far is earth solid7 Recent re- Narch in geology has done much to oater our views on the substantial and Rgid nature of the ground on which we carry on our daily work. Catas- arophic events like the recent Gillian earthquake are striking reminder of the weakness of the outer portion of the earth, or earth's crust, as it is called by geologists. How few of us realize, however, that our solid rock formation is rising and falling every day and that the earth's crust is slip ping over the inner nucleus so as to produce striking freaks in distribution of vegetation and climates in geological time
 Prof. Michelsen of Chicago recently determined experimentally that the earth is being pulled up eight inches every day by stresses such as produce tides in the ocean. From the Lick Ob- servatory comes the startling news that the latitude of that locality has changed appreciably in the last few years, and that the whole surface of Northern California is moving slowly north ward.
 Analogous to these phenomena are the extensive warpings now evident on various parts of the globe, resulting io a sinking of one coast and the elevation of another. Thus the Atlantic coast of America in the neighborhood of Att lantic City is steadily sinking, while the west coast of Scotland is steadily rising.
 Phenomena such as these have been creating more and more interest among geologists and all thinking men. The old theory of a hot interior still has a certain amount of weight, inasmuch as it explains a number of these points quite satisfactorily. Tbus the contrac- ton of the earth's nucleus would nat urally lead to the foundering of por- tions of the earth's crust, the shorten ing of the circumference thus produced bringing about compression or sQueez- ing of the strata Thus portions would be elevated into mountain passes. Re- cent discoveries in radioactivity, how ever, has done much to shake our con- fldence in this idea. Thus, It Is now a known fact that the earth con- tains a large amount of radioactive elements which are slowly disintegrat- ing. Radium itself, for instance, Is breaking down into the gas helium and lead This process of disintegration is being so widely studied by physicists that it has now been found even pos sible to break up nitrogen into hydro gen and helium. In view of this whole sale destruction of our hitherto inde- structiffe clements, it is becoming more and more doubtful if any of our so- called clements are really elements and incapable of. destruction. It is even possible, and indeed probable, that gold may some day be produced by the breaking down of other elements and the ancients' dream of the philosopher s stone be materialized. In nature, at any y~rate, a number of radioactive els- ments are known to be undergoing de- struction. This destruction, or degra- dation, as 1t is called by scientists. is very slow, taking several million years in some cases. In breaking down, fhase elements produce heat, so that with our present knowledge it is possible to understand the esrth's becoming warmer year by year. instead of cool ing, as was generally assumed. The phenomena referred to at the beginning of the article are known to have oc- cured in earliest geological times. so that while radioactivity tends to dis prove our earlier hypothesis for crustal movements, it does not furnish us, di- rectly at least, with any new cxplana- fion.
 The most striking contribution to the exclamation of these disturbances which are directly connected with earth Quakes, lava hows. volcanoes. &c.. is the formulation of the theory of isoe- fasy. principally by Americans and Anglo-Indians, during recent years