PRESENT SCIENCE IS CHAOTIC 155 



fire. The firemen came and the more water they 

 used the greater was the heat generated, until an 

 explosion wrecked the neighborhood. In like manner, 

 water in the fissures of the earth act chemically 

 upon various minerals and produce similar results. 

 Two or three layers of different metals in the earth 

 produce a galvanic battery and results in the dis- 

 aster of a volcanic explosion or an earthquake. 



A silver dollar, a twenty-dollar gold piece, and a 

 piece of copper of similar size, placed one on top of 

 the other, with pieces of moist paper blotter be- 

 tween them, will generate sufficient electricity to 

 send a telegram. Two iron tablespoons tied to- 

 gether with a piece of copper wire and their ends 

 dipped in water will generate an electric current suf- 

 ficient to send a cablegram across the Atlantic Ocean. 

 So says Prof. Trobridge of Harvard. If this is 

 true, what a fearful volcano or earthquake may be 

 produced by water moistening the clay or substance 

 between the thousands of acres of different mines or 

 metals one above the other in the outer crust of 

 the earth? 



These things are marvelous to contemplate and 

 paralyze the imagination. 



