Part 22 (1/2)
”That often occurs,” was the reply; ”a volcanic wave results, and a volcano may thus rise from the ocean's depths.”
”Is there any danger to the earth itself? May it not be riven into fragments from such a convulsion?” I hesitatingly questioned.
”No; while the configuration of continents is continually being altered, each disturbance must be practically superficial, and of limited area.”
”But,” I persisted, ”the rigid, solid earth may be blown to fragments; in such convulsions a result like that seems not impossible.”
”You argue from an erroneous hypothesis. The earth is neither rigid nor solid.”
”True,” I answered. ”If it were solid I could not be a hundred miles beneath its surface in conversation with another being; but there can not be many such cavities as that which we are now traversing, and they can not surely extend entirely through its ma.s.s; the great weight of the superinc.u.mbent material would crush together the strongest materials, if a globe as large as our earth were extensively honeycombed in this manner.”
”Quite the contrary,” he replied; ”and here let me, for the first time, enlighten you as to the interior structure of the terrestrial globe. The earth-forming principle consists of an invisible sphere of energy that, spinning through s.p.a.ce, supports the s.p.a.ce dust which collects on it, as dust on a bubble. By gradual acc.u.mulation of substance on that sphere a hollow ball has resulted, on the outer surface of which you have hitherto dwelt. The crust of the earth is comparatively thin, not more than eight hundred miles in average thickness, and is held in position by the central sphere of energy that now exists at a distance about seven hundred miles beneath the ocean level. The force inherent to this sphere manifests itself upon the matter which it supports on both sides, rendering matter the lighter the nearer it lies to the center sphere. In other words, let me say to you: The crust, or sh.e.l.l, which I have just described as being but about eight hundred miles in thickness, is firm and solid on both its convex and concave surface, but gradually loses in weight, whether we penetrate from the outer surface toward the center, or from any point of the inner surface towards the outside, until at the central sphere matter has no weight at all. Do you conceive my meaning?”
”Yes,” I replied; ”I understand you perfectly.”
After a pause my pilot asked me abruptly:
”What do you most desire?”
The question caused my mind to revert instantly to my old home on the earth above me, and although I felt the hope of returning to it spring up in my heart, the force of habit caused me involuntarily to answer, ”More light!”
”More light being your desire, you shall receive it.”
Obedient to his touch, the bow of the boat turned from the gulf we had been considering towards the center of the lake; the responsive craft leaped forward, and in an instant the obsidian parapet disappeared behind us. On and over the trackless waste of gla.s.s-like water we sped, until the dead silence became painfully oppressive, and I asked:
”Whither are we bound?”
”Towards the east.”
The well-timed answer raised my spirits; I thought again that in this man, despite his repulsive shape, I beheld a friend, a brother; suspicion vanished, and my courage rose. He touched the lever, and the craft, subject to his will, nearly rose from the water, and sped with amazing velocity, as was evident from the appearance of the luminous road behind us. So rapid was our flight that the wake of the boat seemed as if made of rigid parallel lines that disappeared in the distance, too quick for the eye to catch the tremor.
Continuing his conversation, my companion informed me that he had now directed the bark toward a point east of the spot where we struck the sh.o.r.e, after crossing the lake, in order that we might continue our journey downward, diagonally to the under surface of the earth crust.
”This recent digression from our journey proper,” said he, ”has been made to acquaint you with a subject, regarding which you have exhibited a curiosity, and about which you have heretofore been misinformed; now you understand more clearly part of the philosophy of volcanoes and earthquakes. You have yet much to learn in connection with allied phenomena, but this study of the crude exhibition of force-disturbed matter, the manipulation of which is familiar to man under the above names, is an introduction to the more wonderful study destined yet to be a part of your field, an investigation of quiescent matter, and pure motion.”
”I can not comprehend you,” I replied, ”as I stated once before when you referred to what you designated as pure motion.”
CHAPTER x.x.xII.
MATTER IS r.e.t.a.r.dED MOTION.
”It is possible--is it not?--for you to imagine a continuous volley of iron b.a.l.l.s pa.s.sing near you in one line, in a horizontal direction, with considerable velocity. Suppose that a pane of gla.s.s were to be gradually moved so that a corner of it would be struck by one of the b.a.l.l.s; then the entire sheet of gla.s.s would be s.h.i.+vered by the concussion, even though the bullet struck but a single spot of gla.s.s, the point of contact covering only a small area. Imagine now that the velocity of the volley of bullets be increased a thousand fold; then a plate of gla.s.s thrust into their track would be smoothly cut, as though with a file that would gnaw its way without producing a single radiating fracture. A person standing near the volley would now hear a deep purr or growling sound, caused by the friction between the bullets and the air. Increase gradually the rapidity of their motion, and this growl would become more acute, pa.s.sing from a deep, low murmur, into one less grave, and as the velocity increased, the tone would become sharper, and at last piercingly shrill. Increase now the rapidity of the train of bullets again, and again the notes would decrease in turn, pa.s.sing back again successively through the several keys that had preceded, and finally would reach the low growl which first struck the ear, and with a further increase of speed silence would ensue, silence evermore, regardless of increasing velocity.[10] From these hundreds of miles in a second at which the volley is now pa.s.sing, let the rapidity be augmented a thousand times, reaching in their flight into millions of miles each second, and to the eye, from the point where the sound disappeared, as the velocity increased, a dim redness would appear, a glow just perceptible, indicating to the sense of sight, by a continuous line, the track of the moving missiles. To all appearance, the line would be as uniform as an illuminated pencil mark, even though the several integral bullets of the trail might be separated one from another by miles of s.p.a.ce. Let a pane of gla.s.s now be thrust across their track, and from the point of contact a shower of sparks would fly, and the edges of gla.s.s close to either side of the orifice would be shown, on withdrawing the gla.s.s, to have been fused. Conceive now that the velocity of the bullets be doubled and trebled, again and again, the line of red light becomes brighter, then brilliant, and finally as the velocity increases, at a certain point pure white results, and to man's sense the trail would now be a continuous something, as solid as a bar of metal if at a white heat, and (even if the bullets were a thousand miles apart) man could not bring proof of their separate existence to his senses. That portion of a pane of gla.s.s or other substance, even steel or adamant, which should cross its track now would simply melt away, the portion excised and carried out of that pathway neither showing itself as scintillations, nor as fragments of matter. The solid would instantly liquefy, and would spread itself as a thin film over the surface of each ball of that white, hot ma.s.s of fleeing metal, now to all essential conditions as uniform as a bar of iron. Madly increase the velocity to millions upon millions of miles per second, and the heat will disappear gradually as did the sound, while the bright light will pa.s.s backward successively through the primary shades of color that are now known to man, beginning with violet, and ending with red, and as the red fades away the train of bullets will disappear to the sense of man.
Neither light nor sound now accompanies the volley, neither the human eye nor the human ear can perceive its presence. Drop a pane of gla.s.s or any other object edgewise through it, and it gives to the sense of man no evidence; the molecules of the gla.s.s separate from in front to close in from behind, and the moving train pa.s.ses through it as freely as light, leaving the surface of the gla.s.s unaffected.”
[10] A scientific critic seems to think that the shrill cry would cease instantly and not gradually. However, science has been at fault more than once, and I do not care to take liberties with this statement.--J. U. L.