THE WORLD BEYOND OUR SENSES 



ed in the scale, we should find liquids, like liquid 

 air, which would boil violently in a trough of solid 

 ice; mercury our slippery, unstable mercury- 

 would be so hard it might be used for a trip-ham- 

 mer; bodies of every sort would acquire an as- 

 tonishing elasticity, so that a bullet or a billiard- 

 ball dropped upon a hard surface would rebound 

 as if it were india-rubber. 



In a recent address, Professor Dewar, of the Royal 

 Institution in London, pictured the aspect of the 

 earth could it be cooled to 200 degrees centigrade 

 (as no doubt it will in time). First we should have 

 solid oceans of ice, and, covering these, the atmos- 

 phere would condense to an ocean of liquid air, 

 covering the entire earth's surface thirty-five feet 

 deep. It would mean an unending winter, three 

 times more intense than the bitter cold of the 

 poles. 



In such a world, matter would take on properties 

 that seem to us rare and curious now. For one 

 thing, most substances would be phosphorescent 

 or, better still, luminescent and glow at night, after 

 being illumined in the day, with many-colored lights. 

 Milk, solid of course, would send out pale-blue rays; 

 eggs would shine like globes of light, and the white 

 of the egg, in particular, when properly treated, 

 would give out enough light to read the newspaper. 

 There would be no need of lamps, for the walls and 



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