New Britain herald., 1926-02-26
WHEN THE EARTH
 "MELTS"

IHehl lnaue py lfotc SSor JoAn Joy, professor Of geology and mnorology at the University Of Dublin, in ref erence 10 his thesis that the earth's crust is constantly growing hotter and in 30 or 30 millions of years this planet will melt.
 The prospect has nothing in common with q vaudeville joke. Professor Joly tells Us that when the time comes nne-tcnths of our continents will sink into molten lava. This may happen so quickly that the newspapers of the day may not be able to get out an extra in time to carry the story before the final collapse ends tho suspense and worry.
 Professor Joly's postscript that the substratum will then cool grad ually and the continents will rise again gives us little consolation. By that time survivors upon one-tenth of the land which did not sink into the lava will have been cooked, fried and boiled in steam for ages.
 All Of which makes an arrcsting deduction Of the aims Of fate re- garding the destiny Of this old planet; but we are not convinced of it's certainty. Professor Joly may have conviccd himself about all he speaks. but he hasn't convinced a multitude of scientific colleagues. which rather remotely--very re- motely, we might stress--includes ourselves.
 The Jolyian hypothesis is contrary 10 the widely current scientific view that the earth is cooling rather than growing hotter. The evidence in the rocks seems 10 bear out the assumption that the earth was once hot and that as it gradually cooled the land masses and oceans formed as we find them.
 It was only recently that a scicn- tist yielded the opinion that the du- ration of human life upon the earth would be only 1,000,N0a "ears. How long man existed upon the planet is q subject of debate, but it seems ! certain it was less than half that | period. According 10 this belief he i has 500, 900 more years of activity here still ahead of him; and as MaWrus or Mark Twain would have said, we are sure, much can happen in that time. Personally VIC think he has more than 500. .000 years of jazz ing around ahead of him; hut what We think personally makes little diff ] ference 10 the destiny of mankind But come 10 think of it, the specu- latons of other rseudo-scientists 1 likewise may make little difference,
 In any event, the question before If ,g eli og ft.HlII- 1 tion, mndamcntalism or permanent peace. We know a lot about all of i them but not quite enough. Some ! day, in about million years or so, We may do better. The first 500,- o0o years will be the hardest.
 And by the way, when the earth is a million years older. and mankind has had time to develop q millennium sort of existence, there will he no more static flying machines will be as common as Forls there will be no more hard work, and the
 brothlrhool of man will be q : r.aN,y instead uf d theory.
 The beauty about the situation is Inc millennium may last much longer
 thon inc duration of If" from its
 beginning 10 th" rrosrn, time. . Scientists and editorial writers may 1 disagree upon details Of the pas,
 and the futurr, but there can b"
 little opposition to the bolict that so far mankind has been in it's in- 1 fancy or has just begun to s"e
 further than it's front doorstep,