IF A COMET HIT THE EARTH.

Shannon News, 2 October 1925, Page 4

IF A COMET HIT THE EARTH.

Prepare for the next bombardment of the earth by an erratic comet, hold tight while the North Pole swings—round we go, and in a few days or hours a few of the inhabitants of Great Britain will find themselves sitting on an island in the middle of tlje Pacific. The rest are nowhere. This is the first impression of what may happen in th e future left by reading an astonishing book, called ‘‘The Riddle of the Earth,” written by some brilliant and learned person who conceals his indentity under the assumed name “Appian Way.” He asserts that the earth is continually bombarded by meteors, that these meteors introduce elements which create new air, water, and other things, and that these violent, infjerjections cause th e storms and wet weather. The bombardment causes th'e earthquakes and makes volcanoes erupt. Look out for a volcanic eruption or an earthquake, he says, in effect, and you will find hurricanes and floods. It is curious, on this point, to observe that the break in the hot weather came with reports of earthquakes in America. The shape of a volcano, he asserts, shows the usual theory that they are eruptions from the insid e of the earth to be nonsense. If an explosion occurs under the earth surface, it blows upward, but outwards. It does not j create a mountain pile. Tip a load of sand out of a cart, says “Appian Way,”t and you have the volcano form —a dump. Shoot the sand upwards and it falls scattered. The earth is not shrinking, but

growing larger, lie continues. The dumping from the .skies increases its bulk, and as it becomes heavier —and becaus e it becomes heavier —the earth recedes further from the sun. One proof of this, he declares, is that the length of the year is always increasing. This means that the earth takes longer to go round th e sun because its orbit has become larger. When Avebury Ring was put up by the prehistoric inhabitants of Britain, the year was only 360 days, suggests “Appian Way,” and for that reason the ring contains only 360 great monliths.

The secret of the world, which the ancients pierced, is that the volcano represents the female principle, while the meteor represents the male principle. The volcanic dump is fertilised by the meteoric shower, and thence comes forth new life. Where did man come from? His elements, apparently, were showered from the heavens on a volcano, were erupted by the volcano on the volcanic soil, and so come to life. So came all life into the earth.

One consequence of the dumping of enormous fresh weights) on the earth from time to time has been, according to “Appian Way,” that tli e earth’s axis has shifted. The Cordilleras ,the Himalayas, and the other great mountain chains have all been dumped on the earth® in successive bombardments, and the change in weight at a particular part of the earth’s surface has caused the earth to swing round. Thus, he suggests, the North Pole may at one time have been where one of the islands of the Pacific is now, and where the 'North Pole now exists stood formerly a tropical forest. “These." says “Appian Way,” “are matters to which .students of meteorology should direct their careful attention, for they have a vital bearing upon the world at the present time.

and in the near future. “The effect of it is that the Northern Hemisphere lying within the volcanic belt remains pre-emin-ently in the danger zone, and in the event of any great catastrophe may be expected to feel its full and awful

effects until such time as by a transfer of weight, due to some accretion of material, the earth axis will shift to a fresh direction, and once again, as has occurred during the great geological changes, another part of the earth surface will be enveloped within the regions of the Pole.”