fI~BEWARE! END "OF "THE _ WORLD~F
U ONLY 12,000,000 YEARS AWAY! L
By G. FREDERICK WRIGHT, A. M., LL. D. p
Then the Seen Will Shrink,l, Lose Its Heat and Inhabitants of the Earth I I
k Will Freeze and Startle to Death. |J
""*"High Urobved Scientists Ha*)e It All Hy 8 *"* B TEMP*
Worked Out —"Things Are in a "had Way" H
—VKASON-INO from the princl- I Warns Adherent of Nebular Hvnathesi* I suu will hilve bPCOm e so far cooled
Ple« of the pretty goner- 1 warns Adherent ©/ JVebular Hypothesis I ofl that wo BhaU be indifTwrent t0
<"Vv ; a^' cei '' e nebular hy- | —World's Center GitJind Forth Warmth I everything else that happens.
_[ \\ pothesis the end of the [ * I Another limit to the future of the
v> world is to be reached very j May SatJe \/s for a Time. "But \Tlttmate I habitable portion of the earth is
rr;,rr i 2a=sys 1 <w U
earths day. For it is evident that the EsSk „ ? ..
i i> .i « P™ ili'l iniijiiii>■■ ■ ii■!—mwii innii iiiiiiii■!■—n■ iii iJBII OVGr the iantl surface of tiic world.
sun cannot keep on radiating hear at W.rJmSaBmM
Bffjfaffi 1 «mm ■■ "-uujw.ijjiujEWSS'L WBaytS Wallace estimates that one foot of
the present rate, or, indeed, at any
rate, forever. As Lord Kelvin has
well said, we know that the sun is
cooling off just as certainly as we
should know that a hot stone which
we encountered in a field was cooling
off, though we had not seen it long
enough to measure the rate of its
cooling. Heat is not a permanent
quality of any known object. The sun
must be losing its heat, and hencp in
time will become a cold and lifeless
object.
If things continue togo on as they
now do, astronomers tell us. the sun
will lose its life-giving heat long before
12,000,000 years have elapsed. Like all
other cooling bodies, the sun must be
diminishing in size. Its diameter must
be contracting. Newcomb estimates
that in less than 5,000,000 years the
sun's diameter will contract to one
half its present length, so that the
sun will occupy only one-eighth of the
space it now occupies. It is hardly possible for it
after that to continue to furnish as much heat as
it does now, but it must then cool off with great
rapidity.
This reasoning is based on the supposition that
the sun is not yet a solid body, but is so hot that
its mass is still in a gaseous state. But the force
of gravity upon the sun is so great that the gas is
compressed into a much smaller proportionate com
pass than it is on the earth. The force of gravity
on the surface of the sun is 27 times that on the
earth, so that a man weighing 150 pounds on the
earth would weigh nearly two tons on the sun. So
great is this pressure of gravity on the gases of
the sun that are they reduced to one-quarter the
density of the solid nucleus of the earth. Hut so
long as the nucleus of the sun continues to be
gaseous it will continue to grow hotter as it dimin
ishes in size. So soon, however, as it loses suf
ficient heat to allow the material to take on the
solid form, a crust will be formed and the radiat
ing heat will rapidly diminish. Probably, also,
the radiated will diminish long before that
lime, even though the sun is growing hotter, be
cause of the diminishing size of the globe.
The only way that the astronomers can see to
avoid this slow paralysis of the sun, and so of the
whole solar system, is that lately proposed by Prof.
Langley in a sensational article depicting what
would happen if a dark world moving at an incred
ible speed in space should come so near our sun
that, the two would collide. In this case the origi
nal heat of the sun might be restored, but the ca
tastrophe would practically produce such an ex
pansion of its volume and such an increase of its
radiating power that everything on the earth would
be burned up, producing about such phenomena as
are described by the Apostle Peter. Indeed, the re
semblance between the words of the apostle and
the theory of the Washington astronomer was as
striking as it was unexpected, so much so that some
readers may not know from which source the fol
lowing quotation is taken:
"The heavens shall pass away with a great
noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with
fervent, heat, and the earth a»d the works therein
shall be burned up."
But the suggestion of the astronomer was pure
speculation. There are no apparent signs of any
such approaching catastrophe as I)r. Langley sug
gests as possible. At any rate, we may settle
down to the conclusion that so far as astronomical
forces are concerned the present order of things
will not be disturbed for three or four million
years.
But an equally gloomy prospect is before the
world in the distant future from another cause
which is in slow operation. The length of the
earth's day is slowly increasing through the re
tarding influence of the tides produced by the
moon. To be sure, this effect Is so slight that it
has not been directly perceptible since accurate
methods of measuring the time of the earth's
revolution on its axis have been observed. But
that it must be taking place is as sure as that
friction will stop a railroad train when the steam
is turned off.
The tides raised by the moon's attraction are
distributed by the continents so as to present
many anomalies, but when considered in them
selves they act the same as a wave three feet lrigh
constantly running in an opposite direction to
the revolution of the earth, and so by friction re
tarding its motion. Astronomers are agreed that
similar tides produced on the moon have reduced
her revolution on her axis to a period of 28 days.
Eventually the revolution of the earth will be
reduced so that our day will be several times long
er than now. When that time comes the nights
will be so cold that nothing can stand it, and if
they could the days will be so hot that what was
left by the cold would be destroyed by the heat.
But that time, also, is so far in the future mat the
present generation may put It out of their minds.
This catastrophe will not arrive for many million
years yet. Indeed, before that time arrives the
the earth's surface is, on the average,
wnshed away by the streams every
3,000 years and deposited at the bot
tom of the ocean. This amounts to
more than 300 feet in a million years.
As the main elevation of North Amer
ica is 748 feet, and that of Europe 671
feet, it follows that by the operation
of present forces Europe will be
washed Into the sea in 2,000,000 years,
and America in 3,000,000 years.
What providence has in store for us
after that, no man knows. If the sunk
en portion shall rise at the end of that
period, as It did at the end of the coal
period, there will be dry land to live
on, but It is doubtful if it have such
stores of iron and coal as have blessed
the present race of human beings.
There are two other sources of heat
to which we may look with much con
fidence and hope. It was more than
a dream of Ericsson to invent an en
gine which could be run by collect
ing the direct rays of the sun through
immense sun-dial 3, thus generating
the heat necessary to set in motion
the wheels of industry. But the suc
cessful carrying out of his plans
would necessitate .the transfer of our
groat manufacturing centers to the
rainless regions of the world where
perpetual sunshine prevails. It. therefore, will
not be impossible that the desert of
Sahara and the sandy wastes of Central Asia shall
in the future usurp the place now assumed by
the localities in proximity to the great coal fields
of the world, while the latter become overgrown
with briars and brambles like the mounds of many
an ancient center of civilization.
Still another possible source from which we
may draw infinite quantities of heat and power
is to be found in the heated center of the earth.
As we descend below the surface of the earth,
the temperature rises on an average of one degree
in CO feet. At a depth of two miles, therefore,
the temperature of boiling water would be reached,
and at a depth of five miles a temperature of
more than 400 degrees. It would, therefore, not
seem by any means impossible to bore into the
earth deep enough to make a portion of its heat
available for all ordinary purposes.
The world, however, is concerned with impend
ing catastrophes nearer at hand. The prosperity
of the present time is largely due to the rapid
ity with which we are using up the reserved stores
of nature upon or near the surface of the earth.
Thus geology, while it opens up to mankind the
stores of good that are buried for safekeeping in
the depths of theearth, points to their limited quan
tity, and calls upon men to use them economically
and leave as much as possible for future genera
tions. Wastefulness of these limited stores is a
sin. At the same time it gives the philosophical
student of history a sobering view of the destiny
of man. Nothing is more certain than that man
has not been always on the earth, and that he is
not always to stay here. The world is like a
transcontinental railroad train and the human
race like a passenger who gets on at one end and
has to get off at the other. Out of mystery man
came and into mystery he goes. The visible world
is a passing show. All_ that, is unchangeable lies
in the world of the unseen.
(Copyright, 190S, by Joseph B. Bowles.)
BIGGEST SBWBR
IN WORLD **+*
c 57" LOU/3 BU/L D/HG A/V IMMENSE
DRAINAGE SYSTEM
ill i - J
Mjf 112 J 1 ■ : r ; ; ,
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iiiiiminiiniinu. 'I
The big sewera of Paris have gained
a world-wide notoriety; sewers in
which the criminal classes could hide
and escape detection, and big enough
ta permit fair-sized boats sailing
through them. But now one American
city at least has, or rather has in the
course of construction, a sewer which
far exceeds in size anything which
Paris possesses, or any other city of
the world, for that matter. It is big
enough to permit a big tug to steam
through its bricked and cemented
walls. It is known as the Harlem
Creek sewer and will be 29 feet in
diameter in its largest section and
from 27 feet to 18 feet in the smaller
sections, the main section and the two
branches measuring over four miles
in extent and the whole draining more
than 6,000 acres of land. There are
longer sewers than this, and there are
drainage systems, not sewers, which
drain much larger tracts of land, but
there is no sewer in the world that
combines such great size with extent
of area drained, and there i 3 no city
drainage system in the world that in
ai.y way compares with it.
To the average person a 20-foot
sewer means nothing at all, because
the usual man or woman knows little
about sewers; but to engineers and
contractors it means something stu
pendous in sewer construction. Six
teen feet has heretofore been the ex
treme size for city sewers, and most
sewers are from 10 to 12 feet in
diameter, with branch lines very much
smaller, in some cases only a foot or
18 inches in diameter. When these
figures are considered and compared
with the dimensions of the Harlem
Creek sewer, even the uninitiated can
not fail to see what an enormous work
the city of St. Louis has in hand in
its new sewer. The Harlem Creek
sewer is nearly twice as large in its
internal diameter as any other sewer
yet built. Prom its lowest point to
the top of the arch it is more than
twice the height of a high-ceilinged
room and almost thrge time 3 the
height of the ordinary modern ceilings.
From the surface of the water when
the sewer runs at ordinary capacity
to the top of the arch is 19 feet 6
inches, or half again the height of the
ordinary room. Gasoline launches
could sail up this sewer without diffi
culty at any stage of water, and when
the flow is low a tugboat would have
no trouble in steaming from one end
of the large section to the other. If
the bottom of the sewer were level, a
loaded van could drive through it and
stMl have room to spare at the top.
The Harlem Creek sewer was be
gun July 13, 1906, and Sewer Commis
sioner Fardwell expects to have the
public section, or that section running
from Florissant avenue to the river,
completed within another year. The
entire system will probably not be
finished for three or four years more,
and all the connecting lines will not
be laid till the section drained be
comes more thickly populated.
The popular idea of large sewers
has been gained from the lurid pic
tures which Victor Hugo and Eugene
Sue have drawn of the sewers of Paris,
and from what the many less illus
trious writers have said of the sewers
of London and other European cities.
London has the most complicated
ard longest sewer system owing to its
great extent and enormous popula
tion, but there is no city in Europe,
as there are none of any size in Amer
ica except St. Louis which does not
have to treat the sewage before dis
posing of it.
The elaborate pumping stations
which the sewer departments of New
York and Chicago are obliged to main
tain for sanitary reasons cost those
cities thousands of dollars every year,
while the treating plants in European
sewer systems are the most important
and expensive parts of the systems.
St Louis has none of this to contend
with, having unexcelled natural drain
age with a river into which to empty
its sewage, which is of such a charac
ter that it purifies itself without arti
ficial assistance. The sewage prob
lem is, say engineers, one of the sim
plest with which St. Louis has to deal,
for It practically solves Itself. There
fore it Is all the more remarkable that
that city should be able to boast of
the largest sewer in existence. In
most Instances great difficulties to be
overcome give rise to great results,
but here is a case of a great result
without the stimulus of a great diffi
oulty, and the city should take all the j
I more credit for its enterprise on that
I account.
Tlie sewer question is a wonderfully
i interesting one from other standpoints
than that of sanitation. Though sup
posed to be absolutely a modern sub
ject, it is one of the most ancient, of
problems and was studied as long ago
as the time of Solomon. The oldest
sewer in the world was built by King
Solomon and extended from withia
the walls of Jerusalem to a point out
side the walls, where the waste which
It carried was used to fertilize the
vineyards and gardens of the farmers
of the immediate neighborhood. Ac
cording to recent discoveries made in
the vicinity, it is believed that this
sewer, which was a tunnel 7% feet in
diameter, built of mas<mry, was aban
doned because a spring which supplied
water to a portion of the city was di
verted from its course when the sewer
was constructed. The pool of
Dethesda, the healing waters of which
were eagerly sought by the ill and in
flim in Biblical times, is believed to
be the inside terminus of this old sew
er, and the "troubling of the waters"
which was the signal for those who
watched to descend into the pool is
supposed to be due to the periodical
bubbling of the spring beneath.
In ancient Rome sewers were con
sidered of as much importance as
aqueducts. The oldest sewers, or
cloacae, were built by Tarquinlus
Priscus, about 200 B. C., while the lar
gest, the Cloaca Maxima, was in use
26 centuries, and was only abandoned
within the last ten years. The Cloaca
Maxima was ten feet six inches wide
and 14 feet high in the interior, with a
solid masonry wall on all sides. The
intercepting sewers were open chan
nels five feet wide, and are described
as large enough for a loaded hay cart
to drive through without difficulty.
These channels were paved throughout
with slabs of stone, like those used
in the Roman streets.
In ancient Rome only the streets and
the public buildings were connected
with the sewers, and householders had,
therefore, to carry waste water and
garbage into the street and throw it
into the open sewers. In recent years
the municipality of Rome has installed
a fine modern sewer system, and the
abundant supply of water which the
aqueducts of the ancient Romans
have provided renders the flushing of
the sewers an easy matter, and gives
the city one of the most satisfactory
drainage systems in Europe.
When the United States consul at
Marseilles wrote to the mayor of the
city for permission to make investiga
tions with regard to the disposal of
garbage, sewage and other city waste,
for his government, he was answered
in this wise:
"Garbage is one of the finest dishes
of the place. Well cooked and nicely
prepared, as they do it in the country,
it is something exquisite."
As an example of Gallicizing of the
"American" language, this is a gem.
As a hint to American sanitary of
ficers, it is more, it is sublime. With
its new garbage reduction plant and
its splendid new sewers, St. Louis bids
l'air to soon dispose of its offensive ref
use so effectively that the people of
the city will be like the mayor of Mar
seilles, unable to distinguish between
the thing, garbage, and another thing
the name of which it resembles, cag
bage, and in another quarter of a cen
tury may make the same reply if asked
the same question.
Indian Followers of Solomon.
There is a custom, which embodies
the wisdom of Solomon, observed by
the Pueblo Indians. Once a year, an
Indian, garbed in the skin of a moun
tain lion, which represents his god,
whips such of the children of the
community as are between the ages
of four and ten, both for the wrong
they have done and the wrong they are
going to do. The happiness of these
children, who have paid the peDalty of
their misdoings for a year in advance,
is difficult to estimate. The respect of
the Indian boy for his elders, and his
obedience to his parents, testifies to
the efficacy of this treatment and sug
gests the wisdom of its introduction
to the gilded youth of the metropolis.
—Outing Magazine.
Take Much Wealth Into Canada.
It has been stated on British au
thority that American immigrants iu
to Canada are taking $50,000,000 worth
of property into that country each
year. 1