Evening star., 1939-01-19
Of Sturs, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Field, Laboratory
And Study
BIZ Thomas r. Henry.

~uO StoOy
By Thomas r. Henry.
Earth pulsations, millions Of years in
duration, cause the irregularities of the
earths surface, according to theory
reported to the Geological Society Of
America by DR.. w. H. Bucher of the
University of Cincinnati.
DR.. Bucher defines such pulsation
as alternate swelling and shrinking
within the center of the earth which
can be likened to human breathing"
I'm the past" he says, "geologists have
thought that whatever ultimately causes
mountains and valleys on the face Of
the earth is the result of continuous
process, like constant shrinkage. I am
convinced that the difficulties they get
into with this explanation vanish when
the process is assumed to reverse itself
at intervals like pulse. 1t is my belief
then that the volume beneath the crust
instead of shrinking continually shrinks
only certain amount, expands a GER
tain amount, and then shrinks farther
than before. would explain the Allan
tic Ocean by suggesting that the broad
band of the ocean is lower than the
adjoining continents because it was
stretched The light granite crust of
which both the continents and the Allan
tic Ocean consist was stretched, and
where it was stretched the most it be-
came thinnest, and therefore lower.
LESS than 80 per cent Of the face of
the earth is accessible to view. The
result is that we hold a multitude of
conflicting views concerning the forces
that deform the earth's crust. What
kind of forces would cause the pulsation
do not know, but am convinced that
such force will be found"
Evidence that the crust of the earth
Is slowly rising to its pre-glacial level
was contained in another report made
to the Geological Society by DR.. Reginald
A. DAILY of Harvard University.
1t is now known, he said, that the
earth shells lying between the levels of
SO and 300 miles below the surface are
highly viscous, but nearly as weak as
"otCi OlluSI IIlC "ClSiiO VI Vic III Sdt
Ice caps piled up 10000 years ago the
crust was "basined' and Since the ice
melted the basins have slowly become
shallower by the lesurely recoil of the
crust.
"The restoration of the pre-glacial
shape of the rock earth is not quite
completed" Dr. DAILY said but the pres
ent rate of the recoil has been measured
From this rate and from other facts of
observation the extreme weakness of the
sub-crustal materials seems clearly
established"
Another theory of mountain formation
has been advanced by DR.. David T..
Griggs of Harvard University. He lays
the process to slow, crushing convection
currents deep under the crust.
BY means of circular currents made
by revolving drums in large glass bowl
he has been able to reproduce the basic
peculiarities of structure of the Rocky
Mountains, the Alps, Himalayas and
other great mountain chains. The ap-
paratus supposedly Stimulates conditions
of actual mountain building on a scale
OF about one to a million. Representing
the earth'S granite crust, thought to be
about so miles thick, is a thin, sticky
layer of mixture of sand and machine
oil. This crust" floats on a thick,
sirupy liquid, representing the viscous
substratum believed to underlie the con-
tinents at a depth of from 80 to so miles
Convection currents are stimulated by
the drag on the water glass of two large
drums side by side, slowly revolving
toward each other.
"An old theory" DR.. Griggs said, 'is
that mountains are evidence of earth
shrinkage, comparable to the wrinkles
on a dried apple. But shrinkage of
200 miles in the earth's radius is needed
to explain the worlds mountains-a fig
ure out of line with modern knowledge
OF heat conditions underground. Theo-
rles that mountains arise from earth
tides, or from the centrifugal force of the
earth's spinning, are discounted by the
fact that these forces seem far too small
to have any great effect Others hold
! that the forces to create mountains may
have arisen from the drift of the conti-
nents, from the melting and expansion
| OF fragments of the crust, or from a
| combination of many such forces. The
| present theory is purely speculative and
| the evidence is presented to the society
for suggestion. Much progress may be
made by using models in which the
| physical properties of the earth's outer
shells are accurately scaled down.
What may prove new respiratory
tract disease has just been reported to
the American Medical Association.
1t produces symptoms, according to its
discoverer, DR.. Hobart A. Reimann of
Philadelphia of typical pneumonia or
| OF inflammation of the brain. DR.. Rel
mann has encountered it in eight pa
| tients. He has determined that it was
| not caused by the virus of epidemic
| influenza nor by the causative agents OF
any of the other known respiratory tract
| diseases.
The ailment occurred in adults and
| began as a mild infection of the respira-
tory tract, followed by the pneumonia or
encephalitis symptoms. Difficult breath
ing, cyanosis, hoarseness, cough without
sputum, drowsiness and profuse sweating