NEW THEORY OK THK ORIGIN OF THE EARTH. Si 



(Muibled her to hold uj^on her surface, lest' the considerable i)art 

 which has been returned to the solid e.irtli by carbonization and 

 oxidation; and the ocean-making [)rocess is still iictive. Prot. 

 Fairchild holds that the Mtiuosphere has been a slow growth 

 from a {>i-ol)al);e tilmof carbon ditxide to its present volinne, and 

 the growth is still in [irogress .hrough vt>lcanic and other 

 exudations und by i'fde;ise of g;ises in the decay '^f the crystal- 

 line rocks. 



The carbon dioxide, Prof. F;iirchild |>oints out, must have 

 been the tirst of the elements of the atmosphere to be retained on 

 the surface of the growing globe. The enlargement of the 

 earth and its increased power of attraction or gravitation added 

 the lighter gases to the air. The primitive atmosphere of almost 

 [)ure carbon dioxide would have been deadly to life. But this 

 gas was absorbed in large quantities in the carhonization of the 

 crystalline rocks. Nitrogen, on the other hand, has suffered 

 little loss, so that it has become the principal element of the 

 aimos[)here. Oxygen is a more uncertain quantity, and the 

 varying amounts in the air at different geological e})ochs is still 

 a matter of speculation. 



He shows that in volcanoes we see to-day one 

 method by which water \fi transferred from the interior to the 

 surface of the globe. The existence of water in the earth'? 

 interior, even in the quartz of the crystalline rocks, he declares, 

 has not been sufficiently c<msidered. The steam that comes out 

 of volcanoes we have been accustomed to think of as water that 

 has trickled down into the volcano from subterranean springs, 

 and been converted into steam by the hot lava. But the new 

 theory is that the volcano manufactures its own water vapor. 

 One process is by squeezing it out of the rock crystals. There is 

 another water-making process, more surprising still. 



Everyone knows that water is made up of hydrogen and 

 oxygen gases, in the proportion of two to one. An interesting 

 laboratory experiment is the combining of these two gases bv 

 an explosion. The result is the formation of a tiny quantity of 

 water. The force of exploding oxygen and hydrogen gases 

 when forming into water is twice the power of dynamite. Right 



