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Show HOW THE WORLD WILL END. Our Planet Will Die Not by Accident, bu a Natural Death. According to all probability, notwithstanding notwith-standing all the circumstances which threaten it, our planet will die not of an accident, but a natural death. That death will be the consequence of the extinction of the sun in 20,000,000 5-ears or more ; ierhaps 30,000,000 since its condensation condensa-tion at a relatively moderate rate will give it, on one hand, 17,000,000 years of existence, while on the other hand the inevitable fall of meteors into the sun may double this number. Even if yon suppose the duration of the sun to be prolonged pro-longed to 40,000,000 years, it is still incontestable in-contestable that the radiation from the 6un cools it and that the temperature of all bodies tends to an equilibrium. The day will come when the sun will be ex- j tinct. Then the earth and all the other i planets of our system will cease to be the J abode of life. They will be erased from the great book and will revolve, black cemeteries, around an extinguished sun. Will these planets continue to ex ' t even then? Yes, probably in the case of Jupiter and perhaps Saturn. No, beyond be-yond a doubt, for the small bodies, such as the earth, Venus, Mars, Mercury and the moon. Already the moon appears to have preceded us toward the final desert. des-ert. Mars is much further advanced than the earth toward the same destiny. Venus, Ve-nus, younger than us, will doubtless survive sur-vive us. These little worlds lose their elements of vitality much faster than the sun loses its heat. From century to century, from year to year, from day to I day, from hour to hour, the surface of I the earth is transformed. On the one I hand, the continents are crumbling away and becoming covered by the sea, w-hich insensibly and by very slow degree tends to invade and submerge the entire en-tire globe. On the other hand, the amount of water on the surface of the globe is diminishing. A careful and reasonable calculation shows that by the action of erosure alone all the land on our planet will be covered by water in 10,000,000 years. Camille Flammarion in Astrouomie. |