Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 144, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 June 1915 — WHEN LIFE SHALL CEASE. [ARTICLE]

WHEN LIFE SHALL CEASE.

A 'French Scientist Puts It Two MU* f ~ lion Years Hence. Scientists tell us that life on the earth began about 2,000,000 years;ago. It has generally been accepted that life will last 95,000,000 years. Ninety-five million years is a fairly long time. None of ns Who are alivetoday need worry about what will take place 95,000,000 years hence. ;Even the most altruistic can scarcely be Inspired by love for an inconceivably remote posterity. Bat the French savants are altogether disturbing. Here comes one, ;M. Verronet, who says that the earth will permanently freeze within the next 2,000,000 years and that life will vanish. This is bringing the tragedy 'nearer home. We would gladly accept the older reckoning. Verronet places mankind of-today about midway between the beginning land the end. He oomputes that In the future life will exist as long as ; lt has already existed. He specifies only one forty-elghtth as long a life as those who have studied in the past. There Is only ope consolation to be derived from the Verronet reckoning. As fax as toe inflennoe of today is concerned, 2,000,000 years is as good as 96,000,000. In either event those who are comfortably laboring today canned expect to be lovingly remembered when the cataclysm of lee mokes, to* earth a barren wilderness.