much higher conducting power than rocks, and especially strata, of any
kind. Therefore there can be no doubt, we think, that the inner surface
of the shell must be at a very much higher temperature than what would
preserve it in its liquid state, and that the matter composing it is
liquid to a depth where it might be solidified by the pressure of
superincumbent matter. We do not see how convection currents could be
instituted, much less kept up, in melted matter, under the viscosity,
and, at least quasi-solidity, sure to be produced by pressure of tens
of thousands of pounds on the square inch, and therefore we do not take
them into account. Any way, whatever may be the temperature of the
interior surface of the shell, the same must be that of the imprisoned
gases, because there convection currents could and must exist--were
they even only created by the rotation of the earth and attraction
of the moon--and cannot fail to keep the whole of the hollow part at
the same temperature. It would be absurd to suppose that these gases
could be at a lower temperature than the upper layers, counted from the
region of greatest density, of the interior surface of the shell.
This section of our work may now be brought to a close by stating the
conclusions at which we have arrived, leaving the results involved
by them to be discussed separately, which we shall proceed to do
immediately without binding ourselves so strictly, as we have done
hitherto, to the avoidance of anything that may be looked upon as
theorising or speculating. We believe we have conducted our operations
in the most strict conformity to the law of attraction, and have no
doubts whatever about the form of the interior of the earth resulting
from them; but there may be some room for small variations in the
details of the various densities, and the position of the interior
surface of the shell, arising from the pressure of the gases in the
hollow centre, and the weight they will, in consequence, add to the
general mass of the earth. The conclusions are as follows:--
(1) That the earth is not solid to the centre, nor is it possible that
it could be, according to the law of attraction, but is a hollow sphere.
(2) That its greatest density must be at the region where the greatest
mass of matter is to be found--as must have been always the case from
the time it was a globe revolving on its axis, whether gasiform,
liquid, or solid--which is now at 817 miles deep from the surface; and
that the greatest density may not be much more than the mean of 5·66
times that of water ascribed to it by astronomers.
(3) That the inner surface of the shell of the hollow globe cannot be
much over or under 2000 to 2200 miles from the outer surface.
(4) That the hollow part of the globe must be filled by an atmosphere
consisting possibly in part of vapours of the chemical elements, and by
gases at a very high degree of pressure.
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