Timely Topics

Northern Advocate, 26 April 1940, Page 4

Timely Topics

\ “The belief that a war in which a \ clear decision by land or sea or air [ seems distant and problematic may [ soon be ended by

•A DANGEROUS [ ILLUSION: >

a rising of the German people (or a coup by the Ger-

[man army) will stand no scrutiny." [says the “Spectator.” \ “The evidence for it is non-existent. [The war may some day end that way. fit is the only good way in which it 4 can end. Truth, no doubt, will ulti[mately penetrate, and every resource iof British propaganda'must be enlist?ed to drive home the fact that while [the restoration of Poland and CzeehoiSlovakia is an essential feature of the [Allied aims, the break-up of Gerfmany emphatically is not. 4 “But it would be fatal if blind beTlief in something we have no ground [for believing except that we desire fit led us to disregard one syllable of [the warnings of men like the Prime | Minister and Lord Halifax and M. fDaladier. when they tell us that the | struggle against embattled criminality 4 will inevitably be’ long as well as tstern. We can face that truth un- [ daunted. It will undo us only if we 4 wilfully reject it for illusion.” • 9 V * *

f “For every mile that we go down ithe rock temperature rises about 90 fdeg. F. in Europe, though rather more

l THE BOWELS OF f THE EARTH.

slowly in South Africa; but, of course, ventila-

| tion keeps the air fin mines cooler than the rocks. | “This (says Professor Haldane) i means that two miles down the rocks fare at the boiling point of water, [while ten or fifteen miles down they 4 are red-hot. . . . Whether it pays or foot, we shall, have to explore the first [forty miles of our planet’s crust, the f truly solid part. And we shall do it fit science goes on. The result may be [of as little economic value as the exfploration of Antarctica, or it may pay [as well as the exploration of Canada. |lt may make gold as plentiful as cop-4-per, which would merely wreck our [monetary systems, or diamonds as 4cheap as tin, in which case we should juse them for a great variety of cutting tools, for the bearings of machinery, and for miscroscope lenses. , It may merely clear up a few doubtful scientific points. Human curiosity will not be satisfied till we have got to the earth’s centre. I cannot imagine how this would even be attempted, but I certainly cannot say that it is impossible. It will not be easy or safe. ■ but miners are as brave as airmen, and when we begin to run short of some essential minerals we shall turn our eyes downward, and begin the exploration of the unknown depths below us."