INTERLUDE-
THE STORY INTERRUPTED.
CHAPTER XX.
MY UNBIDDEN GUEST PROVES HIS STATEMENT AND REFUTES
MY PHILOSOPHY
Let the reader who has followed this strange story which I am directed to title
" The End of Earth," and who, in imagination, has traversed the
cavernous passages of the underworld and listened to the conversation of those
two personages who journeyed towards the secrets of the Beyond, return now to
upper earth, and once more enter my secluded lodgings, the home of Llewellen
Drury, him who listened to the aged guest and who claims your present attention.
Remember that I relate a story within a story. That importunate guest of mine,
of the glittering knife and the silvery hair, like another Ancient Mariner, had
constrained me to listen to his narrative, as he read it aloud to ine from the
manuscript. I patiently heard chapter after chapter, generally with pleasure,
often with surprise, sometimes with incredulity, or downright dissent. Much of
the narrative, I must say,- yes, most of it, appeared possible, if not probable,
as taken in its connected sequence. The scientific sections were not
uninteresting; the marvels of the fungus groves, the properties of the inner
light, I was not disinclined to accept as true to natural laws; but when
The-Man-Who-Did-It came to tell of the intra-earth salt deposits, and to explain
the cause of the disappearance of lakes that formerly existed underground, and
their simultaneous replacement by beds of salt, my credulity was overstrained.
" Permit me to interrupt your narrative," I remarked, and then in
response to my request the venerable guest laid down his paper.
" Well?" he said, interrogatively.
" I do not believe that last statement concerning the salt lake, and, to
speak plainly, I would not have accepted it as you did, even had I been in your
situation."
" To what do you allude?" he asked.
" The physical abstraction of water from the salt of a solution of salt; I
do not believe it possible unless by evaporation of the water."
" You seem to accept as conclusive the statements of men who have never
investigated beneath the surface in these directions, and you question the
evidence of a man who has seen the phenomenon. I presume you accept the
prevailing notions about salt beds, as you do the assertion that liquids seek a
common level, which your scientific authorities also teach as a law of
nature?"
" Yes; I do believe that liquids seek a common level, and I am willing to
credit your other improbable statements if you can demonstrate the principle of
liquid equilibrium to be untrue."
" Then," said he, " to-morrow evening I will show you that fluids
seek different levels, and also explain to you how liquids may leave the solids
they hold in solution without evaporating from them."
He arose and abruptly departed. It was near morning, and yet I sat in my room
alone pondering the story of my unique guest until I slept to dream of caverns
and seances until daylight, when I was awakened by their vividness. The fire was
out, the room was cold, and, shivering in nervous exhaustion, I crept into bed
to sleep and dream again of horrible things I can not describe, but which made
me shudder in affright at their recollection. Late in the day I awoke.
On the following evening my persevering teacher appeared punctually, and
displayed a few glass tubes and some blotting or bibulous paper.
" I will first show you that liquids may change their levels in opposition
to the accepted laws of men, not contrary to nature's laws; however, let me lead
to the experiments by a statement of facts, that, if you question, you can
investigate at any time. If two vessels of water be connected by a channel from
the bottom of each, the water surfaces will come to a common level."
He selected a curved glass tube, and poured water into it. The water assumed the
position shown in Figure 11.
" You have not shown me anything new," I said; " my text-books
taught me this."
" True, but I have exhibited that which is the foundation of your
philosophy regarding liquids. Let me proceed:
" If we pour a solution of common salt into such a U tube, as I do now, you
perceive that it also rises to the same level in both ends."
" Of course it does:"
FIG. II.
" Do not interrupt me. Into one arm of the tube containing the brine I now
carefully pour pure water. You observe that the surfaces do not seek the same
level." (Figure 12.)
" Certainly not," I said; " the weight of the liquid in each arm
is the same, however; the columns balance each other."
" Exactly; and on this assumption you base your assertion that connected
liquids of the same gravity must always seek a common level, but you see from
this test that if two liquids of different gravities be connected from beneath,
the surface of the lighter one will assume a higher level than the surface of
the heavier."
" Agreed; however tortuous the channel that connects them, such must be the
case."
" Is it not supposable," said he, " that there might be two
pockets in the earth, one containing salt water, the other fresh water, which,
if joined together, might be represented by such a figure as this, wherein the
water surface would be raised above that of the brine?" And he drew upon
the paper the accompanying diagram. (Figure I3.)
" Yes," I admitted; " providing, of course, there was an equal
pressure of air on the surface of each."
" Now I will draw a figure in which one pocket is above the other, and ask
you to imagine that in the lower pocket we have pure water, in the upper pocket
brine (Figure 14); can you bring any theory of your law to bear upon these
liquids so that by connecting them together the water will rise and run into the
brine?"
" No," I replied; " connect them, and then the brine will flow
into the water."
" Upon the contrary," he said; " connect them, as innumerable
cavities in the earth are joined, and the water will flow into the brine."
" The assertion is opposed to applied philosophy and common sense," I
said.
" Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise, you know to
be a maxim with mortals," he replied; " but I must pardon you; your
dogmatic education narrows your judgment. I now will prove you in error."
He took from his pocket two slender glass tubes, about an eighth of an inch in
bore and four inches in length, each closed at one end, and stood them in a
perforated cork that he placed upon the table.
Into one tube he poured water, and then dissolving some salt in a cup, poured
brine into the other, filling both nearly to the top ( Figure 15 ). Next he
produced a short curved glass tube, to each end of which was attached a strip of
flexible rubber tubing. Then, from a piece of blotting paper such as is used to
blot ink, he cut a narrow strip and passed it through the arrangement, forming
the apparatus represented by Figure 16.
Then he inserted the two tubes ( Figure 15 ) into the rubber, the extremities of
the paper being submerged in the liquids, producing a combination that rested
upright in the cork as shown by Figure 17.
The surfaces of both liquids were at once lowered by reason of the suction of
the bibulous paper, the water decreasing most rapidly, and soon the creeping
liquids met by absorption in the paper, the point of contact, as the liquids
met, being plainly discernable. Now the old man gently slid the tubes upon each
other, raising one a little, so as to bring the surfaces of the two liquids
exactly on a plane; he then marked the glass at the surface of each with a pen.
" Observe the result," he remarked as he replaced the tubes in the
cork with their liquid surfaces on a line.
Together we sat and watched, and soon it became apparent
that the surface of the water had decreased in height as compared with that of
the brine. By fixing my gaze on the ink mark on the glass I also observed that
the brine in the opposing tube was rising.
" I will call to-morrow evening," he said, " and we shall then
discover which is true, man's theory or nature's practice."
Within a short time enough of the water in the tube had been transferred to the
brine to raise its surface considerably above its former level, the surface of
the water being lowered to a greater degree. ( Figure 18) I was discomfited at
the result, and upon his appearance next evening peevishly said to the
experimenter:
" I do not know that this is fair."
" Have I not demonstrated that, by properly connecting the liquids, the
lighter flows into the heavier, and raises itself above the former
surface?"
" Yes; but there is no porous paper in the earth."
" True; I used this medium because it was convenient. There are, however,
vast subterranean beds of porous materials, stone, sand, clay, various other
earths, many of which will answer the same purpose. By perfectly natural laws,
on a large scale, such molecular transfer of liquids is constantly taking place
within the earth, and in these phenomena the law of gravitation seems ignored,
and the rule which man believes from narrow experience, governs the flow of
liquids, is reversed. The arched porous medium always transfers the lighter
liquid into the heavier
one until its surface is raised considerably above that of the light one. In the
same way you can demonstrate that alcohol passes into water, sulphuric ether
into alcohol, and other miscible light liquids into those heavier."
" I have seen you exemplify the statement on a small scale, with water and
brine, and cannot question but that it is true on a large one," I replied.
" So you admit that the assertion governing the surfaces of liquids is true
only when the liquids are connected from beneath. In other words, your thought
is one-sided, as science thought often is."
" Yes."
" Now as to the beds of salt deep within the earth. You are
also mistaken concerning their origin. The water
of the ocean that runs through an open channel
from the one side may flow into an underground
lake, that by means of the contact action ( suction )
of the overlying and surrounding strata is being continually emptied of its
water, but not its salt. Thus by absorption of water the brine of the lake in
time becomes saturated, starting crystallization regularly over the floor and
sides of the basin.
Eventually the entire cavity is filled with salt, and
a solid mass of rock salt remains. If, however, before the lake becomes solid,
the brine supply is shut off by some natural cause as by salt crystals closing
the passage thereto, the underground lake is at last drained of its water, the
salt crystallizing over the bottom,and upon the cliffs, leaving great crevices
through the saline deposits, as chances to have been the case with the salt
formations through which I passed with my guide, and have recently described to
you."
" Even now I have my doubts as to the correctness of your explanations,
especially concerning the liquid surfaces."
" They are facts, however; liquids capable of being mixed, if connected by
porous arches ( bibulous paper is convenient for illustrating by experiment )
reverse the rule men have accepted to explain the phenomena of liquid
equilibrium, for I repeat, the lighter one rushes into that which is heavier,
and the surface of the heavier liquid rises. You can try the experiment with
alcohol and water, taking precautions to prevent evaporation, or you can vary
the experiment with solutions of various salts of different densities; the
greater the difference in gravity between the two liquids, the more rapid will
be the flow of the lighter one into the heavier, and after equilibrium, the
greater will be the contrast in the final height of the resultant liquid
surfaces."
" Men will yet explain this effect by natural laws," I said.
" Yes," he answered; " when they learn the facts; and they will
then be able to solve certain phenomena connected with diffusion processes that
they can not now understand. Did I not tell you that after the fact had been
made plain it was easy to see how Columbus stood the egg on its end? What I have
demonstrated by experiment is perhaps no new principle in hydrostatics. But I
have applied it in a natural manner to the explanation of obscure natural
phenomena, that men now seek unreasonable methods to explain."
" You may proceed with your narrative. I accept that when certain liquids
are connected, as you have shown, by means of porous substances, one will pass
into the other, and the surface of the lighter liquid in this case will assume a
position below that of the heavier."
" You must also accept," said he, " that when solutions of salt
are subjected to earth attraction, under proper conditions, the solids may by
capillary attraction be left behind, and pure water finally pass through the
porous medium. Were it not for this law, the only natural surface spring water
on earth would be brine, for the superficial crust of the earth is filled with
saline solutions. All the spring-fed rivers and lakes would also be salty and
fetid with sulphur compounds, for at great depths brine and foul water are
always present. Even in countries where all the water below the immediate
surface of the earth is briny, the running springs, if of capillary origin, are
pure and fresh. You may imagine how different this would be were it not for the
law I have cited, for the whole earth's crust is permeated by brine and saline
waters. Did your ' philosophy ' never lead you to think of this?"
Continuing, my guest argued as follows: " Do not lakes exist on the earth's
surface into which rivers and streams flow, but which have no visible outlet?
Are not such lakes saline, even though the source of supply is comparatively
fresh? Has it never occurred to you to question whether capillarity- assisted by
surface evaporation ( not evaporation only as men assert ) is not separating the
water of these lakes from the saline substances carried into them by the
streams, thus producing brine lakes? Will not this action after a great length
of time result in crystalline deposits over portions of the bottoms of such
lakes, and ultimately produce a salt bed?"
" It is possible," I replied.
" Not only possible, but probable. Not only probable, but true. Across the
intervening brute strata above the salt crystals the surface rivers may flow,
indeed, owing to differences in specific gravity the surface of the lake may be
comparatively fresh, while in the quiet depths below, beds of salt crystals are
forming, and between these extremes may rest strata after strata of saline
solutions, decreasing in gravity towards the top."
Then he took his manuscript, and continued to read in a clear, musical voice,
while I sat a more contented listener than I had been previously. I was not only
confuted, but convinced. And I recalled the saying of Socrates, that no better
fortune can happen a man than to be confuted in an error.