The judgment of science now inclines to the belief that the mass of the earth's interior is made up of fiery gases held together under pressure of gravity to a density comparable to that of steel. This pressure, of course, is greatest at the center, where it amounts to forty-five million pounds per square inch. If it were possible to sink a hole at Chicago to an indefinite depth, the bore, about twelve miles below the city, would reach rocks of a pasty consistency, due to great heat. At twenty-five miles all substances, including rocks and metals, would be molten and fluid-which means that they would flow if conditions were as upon the surface of the earth. Two hundred miles further down the gaseous core of the planet, a mass of fire without flame, but inconceivably hot, would be entered.

It was said above that such a condition of affairs down below is not understood by ourselves in the sense of realizing it. Yet there are times when, especially in certain parts of the world, it makes itself obvious enough that is to say, on occasions when vol

composed of debris thrown out at various times by the pipe. Another such ashpile is Mont Pelee, on the island of Martinique, where during a recent eruption many thousands of people lost their lives. Indeed, the whole of Martinique is merely a cinder-mass marking the spot where

OUR LATEST VOLCANO.

canoes burst forth. A volcano, it should be understood, no matter how big, is simply an ash pile surrounding the upper end, or vent, of a huge pipe which runs down into the gaseous core of the earth. Such a pipe is in reality just such a conduit as the one already described, in imagination, as sunk through the crust of the globe in the neighborhood of Chicago.

There are a great many such pipes scattered over the surface of the earth. One of them has for its vent the crater of a very picturesque mountain near Naples, called Vesuvius. As for the mountain, it is nothing but an ash-pile,

ages ago volcanic vents opened in the sea bottom two miles below the surface of the ocean.

There is a whole battery of these volcanic pipes in the Lesser Antilles, forming a sort of chain, and when one of them starts up others of the series are likely to follow suit-as was the case during the late eruption of Mont Pelee, when a volcano on St. Vincent began to spout fire. But, in order to grasp with a full understanding the character of the problem, one should realize that Mont Pelee, Vesuvius, and all of the other pipes, wherever situated, draw their fires from a common source-that is to say, from

the gaseous interior of the globe. They are safety-valves, through which the core-stuff, ever seeking an outlet, makes its way at intervals, pouring forth with consequences usually most disastrous. Yet it was exactly in this fashion that all

observations, the thermometer rises one degree for every seventeen feet of descent into the bowels of the earth!

It is suggested by Prof. Hallock that, inasmuch as only about two years, or at most three, would be required for sinking such a pair of holes as he describes, the experiment ought not to be regarded as a very formidable one-especially if some enlightened and public spirited multimillionaire would supply out of his overflowing purse the fifty thousand dollars required. Such a plant, if once put successfully into operation, would furnish heat and power for all time to come at almost no expense. The steam supplied by it might be utilized for heating houses, for running machinery, or for raising crops of winter vegetables under glass. But if no other end were attained than the solving of the scientific problem involved, the money-about the price J. P. Morgan pays for an average Old Master-would be profitably expended.

of the crust of the earth was originally formed.

In speaking of the Calumet and Hecla mine it might have been well to mention the fact, that, as shown by the experiments of Prof. Agassiz, the temperature in that great excavation increases; as one goes downward, by only one degree for every two hundred and twenty-four feet -a fact due to the chill of the glaciers aforementioned. It is interesting to compare this with the state of affairs at Yankton, where, as indicated by recent

That we shall, in the not-distant future, find some practical means of utilizing the heat of the earth's interior for industrial purposes is the already expressed opinion of many men of science, among whom may be mentioned Prof. T. C. Mendenhall, formerly superintendent of the U. S. Coast Survey, and Prof. W. J. McGee, the eminent geologist. Said Prof. McGee on a recent occasion, in conversation with the writer: "We shall some day have artificial volcanoes, which we will control as we do the furnaces in our houses, employing them to furnish both heat and power. They will operate the machinery of our factories, run our street cars, and even illuminate our cities."

TRANSFORMATION is in progress in the world's most populous empire a transformation which all thinkers agree in describing as momentous. Powerful Viceroys like Chang Chih-tung and Yuan Chi-kai are sowing their provinces with schools of Western learning; and the sixteen other provinces are doing the same. The broadminded Tuan Fang, Viceroy of Nanking, who has traveled much, has actually ordered the erection of an immense girls' school in his capital city. And the old literary examinations have been abolished; offerings to the dead prohibited; and cultivated Chinese educated in America and

England are fast rising into prominence. The Chinese penal code, 2,000 years old, has been entirely revised, and horrible. tortures and methods of capital punishment-such as the "slicing" and strangulation-abolished forever.

Nine thousand miles of railroad are under construction, including one line from Pekin to Hangkow; and to descend abruptly to smaller things, but with vast social consequences, the Empress Dowager has declared against the footbinding of the women. An Imperial edict has gone forth, and societies have been formed in all parts of the Empire against the ancient practice; and each of the eight great Viceroys has put forth proclamations of his own against it. Truly China is awakening from her

sleeping sickness, guided and directed by Japan.

But surely the most significant of all the many signs is the momentous edict giving warning of the total suppression of the opium traffic and smoking all over the Empire, which is to be accomplished within ten years. Each year the area of home-grown poppy is to be reduced ten per cent, otherwise land will be confiscated. On the other hand a bonus will be given for early cessation in culture.

All urban opium smokers must register at the Mandarins' offices and rural people with village head men. Smokers above sixty will be dealt with leniently, but those under that age must decrease their consumption twenty per cent per annum. Otherwise magistrates and officials generally will be put out of office, and scholars stripped of academic honors.

Shops for the sale of the drug may be closed gradually; but smoking dens must be closed within six months. And the trade in pipes and lamps must cease within a year; while officials are charged to distribute free or at cost all the most scientific antiopium remedies.

Most important of all, however, the supply is to be cut off at its fountain head, which is India. The Tsung-li-Yamen, or foreign office at Pekin, has approached the British Minister with a scheme to abolish Indian poppy culture within the ten years of the edict. But the trouble is, the serious gap such a step would leave in India's revenue; and India, as we all know, is a precarious country to govern, for millions of her people are forever hovering between starvation and bare living.

Her Government has already received upwards of $1,750,000,000 out of this trade, which has been an immense standby ever since the old "Company" days of the Thirties. "I do not deny," said the Marquis of Ripon when Governor General, "that it (opium) is not a satisfactory branch of our revenue; but I say distinctly I will be no party to abandoning that revenue, unless I can clearly see my way to replace it with some other form of taxation which would be neither oppressive to the people, nor strongly repugnant to public opinion."

But since, as I will show, England has literally forced this pernicious drug upon China at the bayonet's point, it is thought the Home Government might contribute to India's finances for a few years, for "The crime has been a National one; so let the expiation be National, too."

It is also pointed out that since Russia

has been crippled in a military sense for years to come and could therefore make no southward movement through Himalayan Passes, even if she were so inclined, India's military establishment might be reduced and the money so saved used to counterbalance the loss of revenue brought about by a cessation of the opium traffic.

I doubt whether in all history you will find so distressing a story as this forcing of a curse on a helpless nation for the sake of money. Let me review the story briefly: It is nearly two centuries since opium-smoking reached China from Formosa; but the habit spread slowly at first. An Imperial edict was issued against it as early as 1729; and China has fought bitterly against the poppy until this hour, when her tardy victory seems in sight.

In the early years of the nineteenth century the old East India Company, whose charter gave them a monopoly of China trade, maintained floating warehouses full of opium at the mouth of the Canton River. But the Chinese attitude, then as now, was uncompromisingly hostile to its importation, so "John Company" must needs dissemble. They did

not carry it in their own vessels, but sold it to private agents in Calcutta, granting them licenses for its importation into China. This done, they gravely assured the Chinese Government they were in no way responsible for the actions of these men!

Naturally, conflicts soon arose between the smugglers and the Chinese Preventive Service; and this at a time when smuggling was a capital offense in England. Commissioner Lin was speedily sent by the Emperor to Canton to put an end to the nefarious traffic. He seized and destroyed 20,283 chests of the drug -"smuggled into China in the teeth of the Chinese laws," as John Morley described it in the British Parliament.

But the British agent on the spot viewed Lin's action as an outrage, and actually began war against China for trying to protect herself against the detestable industry. More surprising still, England resolved to see that war through. There was no pretense that China was in the wrong, for the British Cabinet had sent out orders that the opium smugglers should not be shielded. The unhappy Chinese troops advanced