containing no solid matter, but an atmosphere like our own. They had aiready waxed warm in defending their respective arguments, and their dispute began to attract the attention of the passengers on deck. “ Your theory,” cried Professor Hopfer, “is absurd. As a man of science, you ought to know that if one digs down into the earth, he finds the temperature rising at the rate of about 2° R. for every hundred feet, which gives a heat of some 2,000 degrees at a depth of 100,000 feet below the surface. Quod erat demonstrandum
“This antiquated theory of yours, which is at present held only by those who are entirely ignorant of scientific principles,” answered Professor Schlei, “ has long ago been discarded by those who are better informed. It seems that you are not aware of the fact that at the boring of the artesian well at the insane asylum of St. Louis, the temperature increased in the manner described by you only until a depth of 3,209 feet had been reached, where it became 106 degrees, after which it began to sink, and at a depth of 3,817 feet the ther mometer stood at 105 ; at ten feet farther down at 104, showing a decrease of 1° R. for every ten feet, which at 10,000 feet would give a cold of 900 degrees, showing that the inner strata of the earth’s crust are in a frozen state. Verb. sap. sat.”
“ It seems more probable,” remarked the other, “ that the observations at the digging of that well were taken by the inmates of the asylum. A schoolboy would laugh at your theory, if he ever heard of volcanoes, the safety valves of the earth.” “ Because,” replied his opponent, “ the schoolboy would be asinine enough to imagine that the fire of the volcanoes came from the centre of the earth, while those who have studied the matter know that it comes from chemical de compositions taking place within the crust of the earth. Do you want to make people believe that they are standing upon the top of a fiery mass of thousands of miles in diameter, with only an egg shell between them and a glowing hell below, which at any time might burst and send them to perdition ? ” “ I had some suspicion,” he was promptly answered, “ that you are in your dotage. Now I am certain of it, and arguments would be wasted upon you. If you were capable of reasoning, you would comprehend that we are not living on the periphery of a soap-bubble, which is at any moment ready to explode. You do not seem to know that Descartes had a similar theory and was forced to give it up, and that, according to the newest discoveries, our planet is a seven axial rotating ellipsoid. You seem to be ignorant of the fact that Gylden of Stockhalm has solved the mathematical problem of the three bodies, by introducing the transcendental periodical functions discovered by Jacobi, and that he esti mated the medium density of the earth as being 57.’' This was a stunner for Mr. Schlei, but he quickly recovered. “ I hope,” he exclaimed, “ to live long enough to demolish you and your doc trines. I shall certainly write a book exposing your ignorance. I shall go to the North Pole and enter through Symes’ hole into the interior of the earth, to enjoy a good laugh at your stupidity.” “ And have you forgotten, then,” said Mr. Schlei, “ that I am on my way to Naples, where I will dig a tunnel connecting the crater of Vesuvius with the Mediterranean ? I will put out the fires of the volcano, and of the whole