HAMILTON SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION. 129 



men and creatures, endued with small strength and vitality, be- 

 coming hungry, die by tliousands. And then seven blazing suns, 

 appearing in tlie firmament, drink up all the waters of the earth 

 that are in the rivers or seas. And then everything of the nature 

 of wood and gra.ss, that is wet or dry, is consumed and reduced to 

 ashes. And then the fire called Samvartaka, impelled by the 

 winds, appeareth on the earth that hath already been dried to 

 cinders by the seven suns. And then that fire, penetrating 

 through the earth, consumeth the nether regions, as also every- 

 thing upon this earth, and that fire destroyeth all things in a 

 moment/' 



Accepting the truth of these remarkable predictions of scrip- 

 ture, and of some of the most ancient records of the East, let us 

 endeavor to explain how, from an astronomical point of view, the 

 catastrophe of the end of the world by fire might be brought about 

 by the operation of natural causes. 



Many consider that such a conflagration as we are considering 

 might one day be brought about by a terrific outburst of the in- 

 ternal fires of the earth. We have in the existing volcanoes, of 

 which there are 300 in activity, direct evidences of the pent-up 

 fires that rage within the earth itself, but geology teaches us 

 cxDuclusively that the earth is cooling down and will doubtless con- 

 tinue to do so for many years to come. Indeed the granite and 

 other igneous rocks are standing proofs of the time when even the 

 crust of this old earth of ours was in a molten condition. Besides, 

 St. Peter distinctly says that the fire will come from without. 

 "The heavens," meaning the earth's atmosphere, not the earth, 

 being on fire, is to be the immediate cause of destruction. 



Others have sought for a po,ssible cause of destruction of the 

 earth by an outburst of the sun, and this is far more likely, al- 

 though not at all probable when we examine existing conditions. 

 Astronomers are quite familiar with the daily outbursts on the 

 sun, as indicated by the huge red flames, prominences as they are 

 called, which are revealed by the spectroscope. Some of these 

 solar outbursts have been known in recent years to throw out 

 tongues of living fire 300,000 miles in length — or nearly 40 times 



