HOLES IN THE EARTH.

Evening Post, Volume L, Issue 66, 14 September 1895, Page 2 (Supplement)

HOLES IN THE EARTH.

♦ The mile hole in the earth which M. Paschal Grousset proposes to dig at the Paris Exposition in 1900 is not (says a correspondent) so extraordinary after all, when the depth is considered. In many parts of the world there are mines which have reached a point as near or nearer I the centre of the earth than the one in Paris will. In Belgium the Viviere-Beunis mine, in the province ofGilly, is 1100 metres deep. The Paris hole -will be 1500 metres. About thirty miles to the south of Berlin lie the Sperenberg mines, whose bottom is 1300 metres below the surface, and at Scheldebach, also in Germany, there is one which has penetrated to the depth of 1910 metres. At Wheeling, W. Va., there is a mine nearly 5000 feet down. As one of the objects of the exploration of the earth's interior at Paris is to ascertain some facts regarding the temperature a comparatively little distance towards the centre of the earth, and so to make some speculations that will not be all guesswork as to the existence pf a central fire, it may be stated that at the Sperenberg mines the highest degree of heat recorded is 110 Fahr., at Scheldebach 135, and at Wheeling 110. The temperature increases on the average 3 degrees Fahr. for every 130 feet of decent. The Paris project, which was at first hailed with, considerable enthusiasm, is now being talked of with lukewarmnesß, the thrifty Gallic mind having realised the large amount of money it would cost, and its utter uselessness as a moneyearning novelty after the Exposition is over.