OF .LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, OR Accessions No. Shelf No. GEOLOGY. DUBLIN: PRINTED BY W. POWELL, 68, THOMAS STREET. He spoke and they were made; He commanded and they were created. GEOLOGY IN ITS RELATION TO BY C. B. Bubltn: GERALD BELLEW, 79, GRAFTON STREET. LONDON : CHARLES DOLMAN, 61, NEW BOND STREET ; BDBNS AND LAMBERT, 17, PORTMAN STREET, PORTMAN SQUARE; T. JONES, 63, PATERNOSTER Row. EDINBURGH : MARSH AND BEATTEE, HANOVER STREET. 1853. 13 EARTH SCIENCES LIBRARY JT PREFACE. THE following work is not intended as a regular treatise on Geology, nor does it add new discoveries to those already made in this infant science : its objects are, however, important. It distinguishes useful and interesting knowledge, from idle and absurd speculations ; divests scientific truths of every semblance of fable and romance ; substitutes arguments founded on reason and religion, for theories based upon vague and insufficient data; and elevates to its legitimate position among modern branches of popular knowledge, a science hitherto of no good repute, on account of the irreligious purposes to which it has been perverted. In these pages, the erroneous opinions of geologists are refuted, without impugning the rational inferences drawn from geological facts ; the line of demarcation is carefully traced between just, legitimate deductions, and opinions founded on mere possibilities ; discrepant theories are so contrasted as to make it appear that no one of them possesses those characters by which any system, having truth or consistency for its basis, can be recognised ; and every effort is made to disarm that hostility which, with much apparent justice, has generally existed against this useful and interesting branch of know- ledge. Geology has, for several years, engaged the attention of the learned, and numerous theories have been devised to explain its pheno- mena. Systems have been framed to accord with the preconceived notions of philosophers ; every fossil is made the subject of some new hypothesis ; and all this to establish the " immeasurable age of our planet," and the countless lapse of ages through which animals and vegetables are supposed to have existed. It may be well to ob- serve here, that no argument in favour of the indefinite age of the earth can be deduced from the distance of the fixed stars, and the progressive motion of light, as the distinct light of the sun, and each of the fixed stars, was cast to its utmost limit, the very in- stant they were called into existence. The radiation of light from centres is necessary to produce those beautiful "diversities of light and shade which adorn the universe ; but, as God saw that all the works he made were good, he saw, too, that they were perfect. Light moves progressively from those luminous bodies to which it is attached, but it moves and radiates only in the track which the first rays that emanated from the hand of the Creator, had marked out to those that were to follow. The most remarkable of the theories alluded to, relate to the change of the earth, from its original nebulous or fluid state, to its present con- dition ; and to the production of the various orders of rocks. " Geology teaches," says Dr. Hitchcock, " that the time has been when the earth existed as a molten mass of matter. I should be sustained by many probabilities if I were to go further, and maintain that the time was when the globe existed in a gaseous state." Phillips, alluding to the theory of rock-formation, says, " the matter of metamorphic rocks, derived from rocks of the granitic kind, and suspended in vast oceans, was, when deposited, subjected to a great heat from below, which IV PREFACE. gave it, in its reconsolidation, much of that crystalline texture which it had in its plutonic form." It is too evident, how these and similar notions tend to the sub- version of Scripture. Were the earth a fragment of the sun, struck off from that luminary by the impact of a comet, as Whiston imagined ; or did it owe its origin to the accumulation of nebulous matter, it would be useless to assert that no fiery nucleus existed within it, or that no classes of rocks owed their origin to a central heat. If chalk, and limestone, and silica, are animal productions, as some geologists affirm ; if coal owes its origin to the vegetable world ; and if existing continents have been formed of the worn-down materials of by-gone worlds, it would be useless to argue in favour of the literal meaning of Scripture, or to assert that sufficient time for the accomplishment of such mighty works elapsed within the historic period. And could it be shown that extinct plants and animals had no connexion with existing races, it would be to little purpose to cite Scripture against the doc- trine of successive creations of organic beings. These geologists may justly be classed among those of whom Balrnez speaks thus : " There is a universal and constant fact in the history of the human mind viz., its decided inclination to invent systems in which the reality of things is completely laid aside, and where we only see the workings of" a spirit which has chosen to quit the ordinary path, in order to give itself up to its own inspirations. The history of philosophy is a perpetual repetition of this phenomenon, which the human mind shows, in some shape or other, in all things which admit of it. When the mind has conceived a peculiar idea, it regards it with that blind and exclusive predilection which is found in the love of the father for his children. Under the influence of this prejudice, the mind de- velops its ideas, and accommodates facts to suit it ; that which at first was only an ingenious and extravagant idea, becomes the germ of important doctrines ; and if it arise in a person of an ardent disposi- tion, fanaticism, the cause of so much madness, is the consequence." The rash opinions of geologists, which have made the science a term of reproach in the world of reason and religion, are too numer- ous to be noticed in this preface, but are stated at full length in the following pages. The existence of a central-heated nucleus is dis- proved ; coal, chalk, limestone, &c., are shown to be true minerals ; extinct plants and animals, proved to have been portions of the ex- isting systems, and the precise forms wanted to fill up the hiatus in the present races ; and the species which now inhabit the earth, are shown, generally, to have been created with powers capable of en- during all those changes of circumstances which could result from al- terations in the physical geography of the earth. Every one friendly to a science of paramount importance to the mining and agricultural pursuits, and to almost every other depart- ment of national industry, should labour to allay that hostility which has long existed against geology. The advantages accruing to society from the several discoveries made in this science, should not be re- linquished because infidels have attempted to make it subserve their own anti-Christian and impious purposes. The facts of geology should not be condemned because of the many extravagant theories to which they have given rise. The instrument should not be doomed along with the hand which directs its operations. PREFACE. T Several well-meaning geologists have been led into error by the analogical mode of reasoning. " If," say they, " the earth be now in a state of refrigeration, it must have formerly been much hotter ;" and this mode of argument being plausible, the transition was easy to that of the fusile, or gaseous state of the whole globe. From the degrading and elevating causes now in active operation through every part of the globe, geologists infer the existing lands to be but " one item in the series of worlds which have passed away, and are to succeed the present continents." By similar reasoning on organic fossils, they conclude, that " distinct races of plants and animals, occupied this earth for indefinite ages, anterior to the creation of man ; that successive geological eras are marked by forms of Me quite distinct from any that followed, or had preceded them ; and that whole fami- lies of organic beings naturally die away, and are succeeded by new races, which are constantly being introduced on earth." Those who advocate the eternity of matter, may, with some show of consistency, use this mode of argument ; but such as believe in the Scripture narrative, and in one great miraculous, omnipotent act of creation, have no such palliative for their erroneous opinions. To reason from analogy, we must always compare parallel cases. We may say that Newton acquired his science, as Demosthenes did his eloquence, by long study and intense application ; but we cannot say that Solo- mon's wisdom was so acquired, though such would be our conclusion were we ignorant of the, source whence it proceeded. If we trace the existence of plants or animals through a series of generations, we are justified in deducing analogical conclusions, but not so when the first plants and animals, as they came from the hands of the Creator, are the subject of our consideration. In them, we would, too, discover every trace of a former existence which they never enjoyed ; every mark of a previous infancy through which they never passed. Here our analogy, though true in appearance, would be false in effect. Our reasoning holds good as long as the cases are analogous, but fails altogether as soon as we judge of created beings by those produced in the ordinary mode of generation. The same is true as regards the whole earth ; we could apply those laws by which its physical changes are now marked, to its state, when the work of the six days was accomplished ; and yet, how void of truth would be the inference ! As we know nothing of the earth when new, -*nd as it came from the hands of the Creator, we have every roi&on to -believe it was perfect in all its parts, with as many indica- Jons of a long-anterior existence, as the most acute disciple of Cuvier would discern in the " Numerous living creatures, perfect forms Limb'd and full grown," whidi sprang into life when God said, "Let the earth bring forth the livf ig creature in its kind, cattle and creeping things, and IK-UM- of the earth," "mt such could have been formed by animalcula. It is, merefore, beyond doubt, that all these substances exist independently of animal or vegetable aid, and that whatever may have been the discoveries of Ehrenberg, or any other philosopher, in chalk, tending to prove its origin from the animal CHALK. 77 creation, such discoveries, if at all worth notice, must have been made on particular species of chalk, and cannot, therefore, he extended to the whole formation. " We see no reason," says Lyell, " for supposing that lime may not have existed, as well as any other mineral substance, before the first organic beings were created, if it be assumed, that the arrangement of the inorganic material of our planet preceded, in the order of time, the introduction of the first organic inhabitants." But as Scripture concurs with the natural order of events to prove the antecedence of the inorganic kingdom, we see no reason why chalk and silica, as well as lime, may not have existed before organic beings. But granting that these substances existed previously to organic beings, whence were they originally derived ? The act of creation supplies the only rational answer to the query, and as recourse must be had to this solution, what advantage can geologists derive from the supposition that this took place a hundred millions, or even a thousand millions of years back ? Length of time alters not the creative act : an eternity would have preceded it in that case, as well as if creation took place but a thousand or six thousand years ago. Geology, as a science, has nothing to gain by the antiquity of the earth. The facts already noticed show evidently, that chalk - formations, containing animal-remains, may exist without affording any proofs that chalk derived its origin from animals ; and this conclusion is confirmed by the fact, that " no chalk, nor roestone, nor oolite exists in the United States, though the localities where these might be expected are sufficiently marked"* by all those external signs by which geological science would lead us to find these mineral? Why, thi> w are these minerals wanting in the United States ? Is it because there were no insects to form them ? or, because the locality was unfavourable ? No ; it is simply because they were not created there. * Information for the People, < United States.' H 3 78 CHALK. To show that chalk might have been the work of in- sects, and might, consequently, have occupied an immense length of time in its formation, the coral-reefs of the South Seas are cited as analogous productions. The following remarks of Lyell will, however, prove that no such infer- ence can be justly drawn, even though we grant that both formations were analogously produced. " The calcareous matters termed coral-reefs, are by no means exclu- sively the work of zoophytes; a great variety of shells, and among them some of the largest and heaviest of known species, contribute to augment the mass. In the South Pacific great beds of oysters, mussels, and other shells, cover in profusion almost every reef, and in the beach of coral-islands are seen the shells of echini and broken fragments of crustaceous animals : masses of very compact limestone, such as could only be produced by precipitation, are also found, even in the uppermost and newest parts of the reefs. The coral-islands may be but a chain of sub- marine mountains, crested by coral-formations."* MM. Quoy and Gaimard are of opinion, that the species which contribute most actively to the formation of solid masses of coral, do not grow where the water is deeper than twenty-five or thirty feet ; others think they may commence at a depth of ninety feet. Under these circumstances, and considering the multitude of labourers, there is no necessity for supposing myriads or millions of years for the formation of these coral-reefs, when a few hun- dreds may suffice, notwithstanding the slow growth of coral. The circular or oval forms of the coral-islands of the Pacific, with lagoons in their centres, naturally suggest the idea that they are nothing more than the crests of submarine volcanoes, having the ruins of the craters over- grown with coral ; and this is rendered still more probable, as the coral- banks of the Red Sea are not of a round, but square form, which shows the zoophytes do not build circular islets with a central cup-shaped cavity. How frequently are simple facts, for which we cannot at * Geology, vol. ii, p. 299. CHALK. 79 first account, magnified* into difficulties, and the most ex- travagant theories devised to explain them, which, subse- quently, a single fact overturns. Bocks of great extent appear to have been composed of the shells and remains of auimalcula. The limestone on the left banks of the Rhine appears to be a mass of fossil-snail-shells. This phenomenon, however, is explicable on natural grounds, when we consider that the small deltas of the torrents which enter the Swiss lakes, are strewed thickly with in- numerable shells, brought down from the valleys in the Alps during the melting of the snows in the preceding spring. So the sands and mud on the borders of the Rhine are covered with shells, which have multiplied in the lakes, stagnant pools, marshes, &c., and which may have formed those rocks in a few centuries. Some geologists may imagine these to have been formed at periods of time " incalculably remote." " The inferior white marly chalk," says Lyell, " passes into the upper greensand, this again passes downwards into clay and marl, called gault. The greenstone- formation is a mechanical deposit, made up of sand, clay, marl, im- pure limestone, &c. But we naturally inquire how it could happen, that throughout a large submarine area, there could be formed, first, a set of mechanical strata, such as the greensand, and then, over the same space, a pure zoo- phytic and shelly limestone, such as the white chalk. Certain causes, which, during the first period, gave rise to deposits of mud, sand, and pebbles, must, consequently, have ceased to act; for it is evident, that no similar sedi- ment disturbed the clear waters of the sea in which the white chalk accumulated. The only hypothesis which seems capable of explaining such changes, is the gradual submergence of land which had been previously exposed to aqueous denudation."* Here are certain strata, peculiarly arranged, exhibiting marks of mechanical deposition, for which geologists can- not account according to their theories. Lyell is so per- * Geology, vol. iv, p. 263. 80 CHALK. plexed as to " where the continent was placed from the rains of which the wealden- strata were derived, and hy the drainage of which, a great river was fed," as to feel him- self " half tempted to speculate on the former existence of the Atlantis of Plato;" a speculation, indeed, which says little for geology, and still less for his theory of the wealden- strata. The act of creation, by which determinate positions were assigned to peculiar forms of matter, and the subse- quent vicissitudes to which matter, in all its forms, is ever liable, will account for the appearances of these strata more rationally than the theories of geologists, in which imagination has generally too large a share. The aqueous denudation of a stratum could, in some cases, be as effectually produced by subterrene currents as by the passage of water over the surface ; and deposits of mud, sand, and pebbles could have been formed by water in cavities deep in the bowels of the earth, as well as by seas or rivers. Much of the mechanical arrangement of the greenstone-formation mfty be thus explained, as satis- factorily as by extraordinary elevations and subsidences, or imaginary revolutions, submergences, &c., if simple ex- planations, which have nothing but truth and common sense to recommend them, could be relished as well as the fanciful speculations of the learned. FLINTS. CHAPTEE X. Flints, quartz, whose sum is thirteen miles;* hence, 1001 x x 500 = 13 miles, and #='1371 feet, and 1000 x = 137' 1 feet ; that is, the increased length of the outer division, pro- duced by centrifugal force, will he nearly 138 feet. If the depth of the great ocean be three miles, this external di- vision would be 103 feet ; and if the general depth were only two miles, still, the external division of the column would be very great : it would be sixty-nine feet. As this external division is intended to represent the ocean, the inference must be, that, had the earth been fluid, a depth near the surface, equal to that of the existing sea, would, by the centrifugal force, be increased in the above propor- tion. Now, as the land and sea are at their highest ele- vation in the middle regions of the earth, the water, in reference to the adjacent countries, is different from what * The sum of this progression is justly assumed at thirteen miles ; for, though a sphere in becoming a spheroid, by rotation or otherwise, would not be so much elevated above its former level ; yet, if addi- tional fluid be conceived to be supplied, so that no polar depression take place, the equatorial elevation will fully amount to this. But as polar depression and equatorial elevation must necessarily occur in the change of the earth's form, it may be well to remark, that in such cases, the depression is double the elevation. Let R = the radius of the globe, and p = -5236. Then will the solidity of the sphere be 8R S x P- Let x = the elevation E e, (see figure), and y = the depression N n. Then the major axis QE = 2R + 2#, and the minor axisN S=2R 2y; hence, (2R+2z) a x (2 R 2y)xp = solidity of the spheroid. But as the solidity of the sphere and spheroid must be equal, 8 R 3 x P = (2 R -f- 2 x)* x (2 R 2 y) x P, rejecting the common multiplier p, 8R S = (2R + 2ar) 8 X (2R 2y) = 8R 3 -f 16 R 2 x + 8 R x * 8 R 3 y 16 R y 8 a; 3 y, cancelling 8 R 3 at both sides, and rejecting the small quantities which do not con- tain R a , we get 16 R 9 # = 8 R a y, and dividing by 8R Z , we have 2x = y, that is, twice the elevation equal to the depression. Hence, if the earth were to change its form from that of a sphere to an oblate spheroid, the equatorial region would have been raised but 4J miles above its former level, while the polar region would have sunk 8| miles, causing a difference of 13 miles between the pole and equator. PHYSICAL CAUSES OF THE DELUGE. 333 it would have been had the earth been spherical, and so constituted as to resist the tendency of the centrifugal force to change its form, as we suppose it to have been before the deluge. Then the sea, only, felt the influence of the centrifugal force, and was precisely as much affected as the external division of the supposed equatorial fluid column. But that division was shown to amount to 137 feet when the radius of the earth was divided into 1000 equal parts; hence, the equatorial sea, previous to the deluge, would have been more or less elevated above the adjacent land in proportion to its depth. Had it been but two miles deep, it would have been sixty-nine feet above its present level; if three miles deep, 103* feet; and if four miles, 137 feet. As the equatorial regions are supposed to have been elevated about 4 miles above their former level, it is natural to conclude that extraordinary changes in physical geography then took place. Much of the African and Arabian deserts, of the low lands within the tropics, were sea-bottoms ; while great tracts towards the poles, now oc- cupied by deep seas, were either dry land, or covered with much shallower water than at present. Several modem men of science are of opinion that the Sahara is the site of an ancient sea, and that " an immense sea once oc- cupied the south of Europe, and extended from the Atlantic to Asia, and comprehended the south of France, Spain, Sicily, part of Italy, Dalmatia, part of Syria, &c." Rennel affirms that " the sea once washed the base of the rock on which the pyramids of Memphis stand, the present base of which is washed by the inundation of the Nile, at an elevation of 70 or 80 feet above the level of the Medi- terranean." Perhaps no geological inference is better supported than this theory is by the following fact, which furnishes direct evidence of the former state of Egypt and northern Africa. " Proceeding from Cairo in a south-east direction, the traveller passes for five miles along a valley, through which a river-torrent appeared to have flowed, skirted on both sides by low, brown, rocky ridges. He then turns sud- 334 PHYSICAL CAUSES OF THE DELUGE. denly off to the right, and beyond the first range of sand- hills, finds, spreading as far as the eye can reach, a vast expanse of rolling hillocks, covered with prostrate trees. At first sight these wear exactly the aspect of rotten wood dug out from a Scotch or Irish peat-bog ; the colour and amount of decay seem the same. They are lying in all positions and directions on the surface of the burning sand, some forty or fifty feet in length, and one or two feet in thickness, not continuous or entire, but in a line broken across, left in their places like sawn trunks. On touching them, instead of proving mouldering and de- cayed, they turn out to be hard, and sharp as flint ; they ring like cast iron, strike fire with steel, and scratch glass. The sap -vessels and medullary rays, the very bark and marks of worms and insects, and even the spiral vessels, remain entire ; the minutest fibres of the vegetable struc- ture are discernible by the microscope. The trees are scattered loosely, and at intervals, over the desert, all the way from Cairo to Suez, a distance of eighty-six miles."* As these trees " lie upon the surface of bare drift-sand and gravel, reposing on limestone-rocks of the most recent tertiary formation," their silicification must have occurred within the recent period, as " the texture and colour of the imbedded oyster-shells seem as fresh and pure as if brought not six weeks from the sea." These facts, and the many other indications of extensive submersion which northern Africa and southern Asia pre- sent in many places, afford proofs, not " that the whole desert is manifestly one of the most recent of our up- heavals," but that previous to the deluge it was the bottom of an extensive ocean, and that the vast sea or lake in which these forests were petrified, was subsequently con- verted into an arid waste by the revolutions which occurred in the physical geography of this district, not in the re- mote eras of geologists, but within the period assigned by the inspired writer to the existence of our planet. * Papers lately laid before the Literary and Philosophical Associa- tion of St. Andrew's, by Dr. Buist, of Bombay. Edinburgh Journal. PHYSICAL CAUSES OF THE DELUGE. 335 Tasso also alludes to this circumstance : " First marched the forces drawn from Egypt's lands. Four were their chiefs, and each a troop commands. Two came from Upper, two from Lower Nile, Where ocean's waters once o'erspread the soil; Now lie far distant from the briny flood, Those fields which once the coasting sailor viewed." Others imagine the Old and New Worlds to have been formerly united; at one side, by Greenland, Iceland, Scottish Isles, &c., and on the other, by the Aleutian chain of islands. There are many circumstances which make it probable that England was once united with France, Ireland with Scotland, and many of the northern European islands with the continent. That vast tracts of land existed in the southern hemisphere before the deluge, is a far more rational conjecture than even the existence of a southern continent at present, notwithstanding the recent explorations and discoveries in that region of the globe. " The prize essay given by a society at Amiens, in 1753, on the subject whether England had been for- merly united with France, was gained by Desmarest, then a young man. His arguments in favour of the union were founded on the identity of the composition of the cliffs on a submarine chain on the identity of the noxious animals, &c." It may be objected to this hypothesis, that we indulge too much in speculation ; but let it be remembered, that this speculation is founded on well- authenticated facts, and on scientific truths. And if geologists claim the right of speculating on what may and what might* have oc- * " They felt themselves" (the early geologists), says Lyell, " at liberty to indulge their imagination at what might be, rather than in- quiring what is." The following passage from book iv, p. 364, is one of the many instances in which Lyell indulges his own imagination in guessing " at what might be, rather than inquiring what is." " We may suppose," he says, " a vast submarine region, such as the bed of the western Atlantic, to receive for ages the turbid waters of several great rivers like the Amazon, Orinoco, or Mississippi, each draining a con- siderable extent. The sediment thus introduced might be spread over an immense area by the action of a powerful current like the gulf- stream. In another part of the same ocean let us suppose masses of 336 PHYSICAL CAUSES OF THE DELUGE. curred in past times, why may not we also claim some indulgence in that way, especially as we found our specu- lations, not on vague conjectures, hut on admitted truths. The great equatorial sea, which, in the case we suppose, would have occupied the vast deserts of the South, and extended, with very little interruption round the globe, would have considerably modified the distribution of heat on the surface of the earth, and produced corresponding changes in climate and temperature. The trade winds, which are principally caused by the rarified air of the African and Arabian deserts, would have been particularly affected. The greater amount of evaporation from the torrid zone, and the consequent humidity of climates in general; the extraordinary change in the physical geo- graphy of the earth, and, perhaps, the general decrease of temperature,* might have rendered Siberia a fit habita- coralline and shelly limestone to grow like those of the Pacific over a space of several thousand miles in length, and 30 or 40 of latitude in breadth, while volcanic eruptions give rise to igneous rocks, &c. It is evident that during such a state of a certain quarter of the. globe, limestone and other rocks might be formed, and retain a common character over spaces equal to a large portion of Europe." If this mode of accounting for the formation of secondary strata be admissi- ble, surely the theories of the early geologists are entitled to some consideration ; for it is fully as difficult to have seas and mighty rivers at hand to form strata, as to have comets in readiness to strike off fragments from the sun, or to produce the deluge by their aqueous tails. With such early and such late geological theories to account for the phenomena of nature, our hypothesis to account for the deluge cannot be deemed extravagant by modern philosophers. * Lyell supposed a great equatorial sea and polar continents to be the " position of land and sea which might produce the extreme of cold of which the earth's surface is susceptible." And, on the con- trary, that equatorial continents and polar seas would be that " posi- tion of land and sea which might give rise to the extreme of heat." In the first case he concludes, that " not only land as extensive as our existing continents, but immense tracts of sea in the frigid and temperate zones, might present a solid surface covered with snow, and reflecting the sun's rays for the greater part of the year ; that within the tropics, the sky would no longer be serene and clear, as in the pre- sent era, but masses of floating clouds would cause quick condensation of vapour, so that fogs and clouds would deprive the vertical rays of the sun of half their power. The whole planet would, therefore, re- ceive annually a smaller proportion of the solar influence, and the external crust would part, by radiation, with some of the heat which had been accumulated in it during a different state of its surface." PHYSICAL CAUSES OF THE DELUGE. 337 tion for those animals whose relics nre so widely scattered through the low lands and along the river-banks of this inhospitable region. One certain result would, in this case, have existed, that the districts inhabited by terrestrial animals would have more nearly approximated each other in temperature than they do at present, and the constitu- tion of animals would have been gradually inured to the change. Had the Almighty, in order to produce the deluge, so ordained, that by means of the centrifugal force, the earth, from being spherical, assumed the spheroidal form, the following effects would naturally result. The whole equa- torial region being raised, and the polar tracts propor- tionably depressed, the ocean could no longer remain, with respect to the surrounding land, at that height which it had maintained while the earth was spherical, and, con- In the second case he supposes, that " if there were no arctic lands to chill the atmosphere and freeze the sea, and if the loftiest chains were near the line, it seems reasonable to imagine that the highest mountains might be clothed with a rich vegetation to their summits, and nearly all signs of frost would disappear from the earth. When the absorption of the solar rays was in no region impeded, even in winter, by a coat of snow, the mean heat of the earth's crust would augment to considerable depths, and springs would be warmer in all latitudes. The waters of lakes and rivers would be much hotter in winter, and would be never chilled in summer by melted snow and ice. A remarkable uniformity of climate would prevail amid the archipelagos of the temperate and polar oceans, when the tepid waters of equatorial currents would freely circulate. The general humidity of the atmosphere would far exceed that of the present period ; for increased heat would promote evaporation in all parts of the globe. The winds would be first heated in their passage over the tropical plains, and would there gather moisture from the surface of the deep, till charged with the vapour, they arrived at the extreme northern and southern regions, and then encountering a cooler at- mosphere, discharged their burden in warm rain." Vol. i, p. 7. These numerous assumptions are liable to many objections. The land in the arctic region is far greater than in the antarctic, and yet the temperature is higher by at least 10 Fah. Humboldt supposes a much greater difference of temperature to exist between both he- mispheres. This is directly contrary to what may be inferred from Lyell's hypothesis. Captain Cook was of opinion that the ice of the southern, predominated greatly over that of the northern zones. In Sandwich Land, in 59 S. lat, the line of perpetual snow descends to the level of the sea, and in the Island of Georgia, 54 S., the snow 2 G 338 PHYSICAL CAUSES OF THE DELUGE. sequently, in seeking its proper level, it would flow with great violence from the central to the polar regions. But, in consequence of the unequal velocities with which places in different latitudes are carried round by the diurnal mo- tion of the earth, a body moving with a uniform motion from the equator to the poles, or from the poles to the equator, cannot remain upon the same meridian, and hence, the cold air of the north, moving towards the equator, to occupy the place of the rarefied air which has ascended to the upper regions of the atmosphere, actually becomes a north-east wind ; and south-east winds in the southern hemisphere, are produced by similar causes. Currents moving from the equator to the poles, arrive at each point in their onward progress with velocities greater than that of the earth at these points ;* consequently, the reaches the beach, while in Scotland, in 58 N. lat. the summits of the highest mountains do not attain the limits of perpetual snow. Ice from the south comes nearer the equator by 10 than the ice of the north, and this fact demonstrates, that ice may be found in the sea, and that polar seas may contain it as abundantly as polar land. Water being a bad conductor of heat, will receive it more slowly than land ; but it will also part with it more slowly. An equatorial conti- nent would radiate by night more of the heat it had received, than an equatorial ocean ; while a polar sea could not possess a higher tem- perature than a polar continent, as in both cases the line of perpetual congelation would be at the level of the sea. There is no reason to suppose that mountains on an equatorial continent could be clothed with verdure to their summits, as many mountains now on the line are covered with perpetual snow. Nor can we suppose that a heated continent, exposed to the direct rays of the sun, would afford circum- stances more favourable to humidity, than those which now exist. It is far more probable, that vast tracts of equatorial land would present arid wastes like the Sahara, than fertile plains like those of the temperate regions. As the heat of the sun is always a constant quantity, and its diffu- sion over the surface of the earth subject to so many modifying causes, it is difficult to say what arrangement in the physical con- stitution of the earth's surface would produce the extremes of heat and cold. We do not deem it important to discuss this point at present, as our object is to show that a subsidence at the poles, and a corresponding elevation at the equator, would afford a natural cause for modifying the climates of the earth, and probably be instrumental in producing the universal, simultaneous submersion of the whole earth. * A current from the equator to the north acquires the velocity of the earth on its axis at any point, and partly retains this velocity in PHYSICAL CAUSES OF THE DELUGE. 339 earth is actually left behind by the fluid, and hence, such currents become south-west in the northern, and north- west in the southern hemisphere. The waters of the Pacific Ocean, therefore, in flowing towards the north, would be driven against the west coast of North America ; the north branch of the Atlantic against the western coasts of Europe and Africa, and the other oceans against the corresponding coasts of the other conti- nents. The existing continents becoming thus the barriers against which the oceans were impelled, would have been to- tally submerged by the accumulating waters. The currents from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, penned up between the continents, and pressed by the flow of waters from the wide expanses behind, would sweep about the north pole, and accumulate, so as to overtop every barrier; and rushing again from the north over the adjoining conti- nents, would unite in many instances with other torrents, produced by the rain of forty days and forty nights, and be thus fully adequate to submerge the highest mountains. The waters of the southern hemisphere would likewise circulate round the south pole, there accumulate, and, by the reaction of such masses of fluid, would return again towards the equator ; and thus might the earth have been submerged simultaneously, without any new creation of water, and without derogating in the slightest degree from the miraculous power by which secondary causes were made instrumental in punishing man's delinquency. The Scripture narrative evidently refers to some extra- ordinary commotion in the sea, where it says, that " all the fountains of the great deep were broken up." The opening of the flood-gates of heaven is sufficiently ac- counted for by the rain of forty days, but without sup- posing some violent disturbance of the ocean, we cannot conceive what the breaking-up of the fountains of the great deep can mean. The abundant lava which probably passing to the next point ; but, as the velocity in the more northern point is slower, the earth is, as it were, left behind, and the motion of the current must be towards the east, and it must be a south-west current 340 PHYSICAL CAUSES OF THE DELUGE. concurred in producing this extraordinary change in the earth's form, might also be instrumental in augmenting the rain at this period ; for the number of volcanoes and volcanic islands cast up in this convulsion, in con tact with water, must have generated considerable volumes of steam, which, by condensation, must have greatly increased the amount of rain. Indeed, there is reason to think that many of the great volcanoes of the Old and New Worlds, as well as some vast mountain-chains, were produced on this occasion. Were the Andes or Himalayas raised at this time, how different must have been the physical con- stitution of these regions before the deluge from what they are now ; and, in truth, we cannot suppose the ele- vation of the equatorial regions to have produced the deluge, without also admitting that vast mountain-masses were upheaved in the convulsion. The singular fact, that the highest and most remarkable mountain-ranges occur towards the middle regions of the earth, strengthens the probability of this idea. But it must not be imagined that the whole surface of the earth would have been deranged by this change of form : no ; the position of countries, the beds of oceans, seas, or lakes, or the course or basins of rivers, would not have been altered. " The whole hydrographical basin of the St. Lawrence," says Lyell, " might be upraised during these convulsions, yet, that river might continue, even after so extraordinary a revolution, to drain the same elevated region, and convey its waters in the same direc- tion to the Atlantic."* We have said, that had the earth been spherical before the deluge, and of such a nature as to resist the effort of the centrifugal force to change its form, a vast equatorial sea would have existed, which, in respect to the surround- ing countries, would have been far above the level of the present sea. Had the earth's form been then changed to its present shape, the ocean should adapt itself to the new form of the earth, and, consequently, could not hold the same position respecting the adjacent lands. A great body * Geology, vol. iv, p. 178. PHYSICAL CAUSES OF THE DELUGE. 341 of water would thus have to descend from the middle regions of the earth towards the poles, upon an inclined plane, sloping about one foot in every 480 feet, and thus would mighty torrents have been formed. Were the di- urnal motion of the earth to cease at present, the water of the middle zone would flow towards the north and south ; two vast polar seas would be formed, and the torrid zone would then become one arid continent. The centrifugal force produced by the diurnal motion maintains the equili- brium of the ocean on this inclined plane ; but as this force is limited in amount, it could not keep the surplus water which occupied the torrid zone before the deluge, in its former position. The vast volume, thus rendered free to move, would be driven, by the diurnal motion of the earth combined with the motion of the waters, north and south against the coasts of the existing continents, and by the impelling power from behind, would sweep over them with all the impetuosity of the deluge. It will assist us to conceive the velocity of water moving on a plane which slopes about one foot in four hundred and eighty, when we learn, that a river whose bed slopes three inches in a mile, or one foot in 21,120 feet, moves at the rate of three miles an hour.* The rush of water, in the first instance, from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, from the south-west, over the land of the northern hemis- phere, and its subsequent return towards the south, from the north-east, would leave all these traces of its ravages which modern writers describe as yet existing on the northern slopes of the Alps, the Apennines, and the other great mountain-chains of the old continent.f In the general elevation of the equatorial land and sea, the resistance opposed to the elevating power being gene- rally less where the ocean was deepest, the bed of the sea was upraised, and the sea itself rendered shallower. A far greater rush of waters towards the poles than could result from the surplus water already alluded to, was pro- * Arnott's Physics. f Cardinal Wiseman's Sixth Lecture on Science and Revealed Religion, vol. i, p. 32. 2 G 8 342 GENERAL REMARKS. duced, and these vast volumes of water sweeping over our continents, together with the rain of forty days and forty nights, would undoubtedly have submerged the most ele- vated regions of the earth ; and the deluge might be si- multaneously universal, without the creation of new water, without the violation of any scientific principle, and with- out deviating from the plain and simple meaning of the narrative which records this awful catastrophe. CHAPTER XXVI. Early condition of the earth State of geological knowledge Physical effects of the deluge Spheroidal form of the earth Density of the earth Different theories contrasted Unwarranted inductions of geologists Original matter Properties of matter Eange of human knowledge Mysteries of nature Human reason Mysteries of nature and religion contrasted True philosophy Object of creation Opinions of Buckland and Tucker Man Glory of the Creator displayed in the visible world Immensity of creation Concluding remarks. IT would be rash and unwise to travel by unknown and dangerous by-ways, when a safe, open path lies before us. In like manner, it is reprehensible and foolish to adopt crude and undigested theories, when well- authenticated facts, and principles based upon religion and science, afford results more satisfactory. Recent discoveries have flung open the flood-gates of speculation; and theories without number have been devised to meet the difficulties which present themselves. Philosophers have considered these discoveries in every point of view ; and, in almost every instance, a new hypothesis has been fashioned, if not to explain the difficulty, at least to suit the fancy of the theorist. The former existence of the earth as a wandering meteor, as a fragment of the sun, as nebulous matter, GENERAL REMARKS. 343 as an aggregate of material particles, accumulating for unlimited ages, are the philosophical theories of its ori- gin. Universal fluidity by heat, an existing central fiery nucleus, countless years of existence, the destruction and reformation of continents, &c., are theories invented to explain the various forms of stratification. Submersion of continents, changes in the ocean-bed, successive and distinct creations of organic life, are deemed necessary hypotheses to account for fossils. The gradual refrigera- tion of the earth's crust, extraordinary convulsions, &c., have been introduced to account for rents and fissures in strata, and for slips or dislocations in mineral veins; while strange alterations in the physical condition of the visible world are supposed necessary to explain the im- aginary changes of climate which, geologists say, have occurred in the frigid and temperate regions of the earth. In a word, though every new hypothesis subverts some older one, still, every new discovery is sure to be ushered in by some peculiar theory ; and such is the state of this science at present, that we can hear no new lecturer on geology who has not some novelty to introduce. There are no phenomena which may not be accounted for by those causes to which we have already referred. Oceanic currents, in constant operation for thousands of years ; mighty rivers, sweeping to the sea the vast quan- tities of matter which composed the beds in which they flow at present ; earthquakes, shaking the earth, and shattering its external crust in innumerable places ; vol- canoes, upheaving islands, nay, groups of islands, for- ming huge mountains in a few days, or even hours, and discharging rivers of lava and showers of scoriae ; hur- ricanes, levelling forests, destroying the works of man, and spreading devastation in their progress ; these, with a multitude of other causes, co-operate in producing num- berless changes in every portion of the visible world. And should these not suffice, we have facts, and science, and experiments, to demonstrate the spheroidal figure of the earth ; we have science and analogy to prove this form to have been assumed, and that the cause which 344 GENERAL REMARKS. produced it, is known ; we have reason and common sense ; we have the testimonies of philosophers, and we have Scripture authority to show, that this earth was never in a state of universal fluidity by heat ; hence, we are justified in concluding, that a change of the earth's form has occurred some time after its creation. This change of form, the causes which produced it, and the consequent results, have been noticed. Should any geo- logical phenomena exist, which come not under the widely- extended operations constantly going on, the effects of the deluge, and the convulsions which produced it, are fully adequate to account for such phenomena, and to satisfy every geologist whom fact or argument can in- fluence. If geological discoveries require us to admit, that moun- tain-masses were thrust up through previously-formed strata, we can feel no difficulty in making that admission, when, perhaps, half the earth's surface was elevated se- veral miles, and a corresponding subsidence of an equal extent occurred at the same time. In one place, moun- tains, or even mountain- chains, might have been upheaved ; in another place, such might disappear in the general subsidence ; numerous volcanoes might then have been formed by pressure on the lava-seas beneath, in their efforts to move forward when impelled by centrifugal force. The central cones of France, and the extinct volcanoes and volcanic remains of other countries, might owe their origin and existence to this cause. The numerous rents and fissures in strata, the clefts and chasms in rock and mountain, the dikes and veins in mines and quarries, may well be referred to this great cause, should any other be deemed insufficient to produce them. Should rocks of organic origin occur amidst other strata, the fact may be referred to the period of the deluge, with much more reason than to those vague and visionary geological eras and events, of whose existence no proof can be adduced.* * It is no proof of the igneous origin of plutonic rocks, that they GENERAL REMARKS. 345 The derangement of strata, the different level at which portions of the same fissure-beds of rocks are sometimes found to exist, the displacements, dislocations, &c., &c., so frequently occurring in mining districts, can, with every appearance of truth and reason, be referred to this cause. We do not affirm absolutely, nor with proofs amounting to demonstration, that the elevation of the equatorial, and depression of the polar regions, did actually take place at the period of the deluge, or that this catastrophe was pro- duced by such means, though circumstances make it highly probable that such was the case ; our great object is to show the possibility of a universal and simultaneous submersion of the whole earth by natural means, with- out the creation of additional water. Divine power might have done all this by means " far beyond the reach of philosophical inquiry ;" but in showing the possibility of effecting all this by natural means, we only give addition- al reasons to support the principle maintained throughout this work, namely, that there have been no successive creations of material beings. Had water been created at the deluge, and subsequently annihilated, or otherwise removed, it would afford some argument to those who advocate the distinct creations of organic beings. They may, perhaps, with some degree of reason, assert, that if matter was created to submerge the earth, organic bodies may also, with equal propriety, be created, if circum- stances required such an exertion of creative power. We cannot, however, admit that there has been a second crea- tion of either organic bodies, or of any material sub- stance. The earth, as a whole, is about five times the density of water, as known to us. Had there been a globe of water pass, by a series of gradations, into the volcanic ; for, a passage may be also traced from them to the aqueous rocks. Nor is it a proof of their igneous origin, that they contain no organic remains ; for exten- sive masses of rock, which geologists refer to the Neptunian family, are also devoid of such remains. Masses of strata in contact with lava, would evidently be indurated ; but as lava, according to the chemical hypothesis, must have been formed after the earth was made perfect in all its parts, it follows, that the granitic series of rocks owe not their origin to lava, as Lyell would have us believe. 346 GENERAL REMARKS. equal in magnitude to the earth, portions of such a mass would have been compressed to a far greater extent than any pressure that can he produced by artificial means. Still, the density of the earth is " greater than if the whole were water;"* consequently, much of its interior must be far heavier than granite, other portions may be much lighter, but, en masse, the average would not equal half the specific gravity of lead or silver. Had the earth been fluid, its density would far exceed its present amount ;f and hence, being solid, it could not assume the sphe- roidal form immediately after its creation. There is reason, therefore, to suppose that this change of form took place at the time of the deluge, and if so, we can be at no loss for natural causes to account for every geological phe- nomenon. The facts in support of this view are undeniable, and the principles on which the hypothesis is based, are purely scientific. The conclusions are not opposed to Scripture, reason, science, nor to the general opinion of the Chris- tians of all ages ; and hence, these conclusions must be admitted by all who make not idle speculations the bases of their theories. Our arguments in favour of the literal * Newton's Principia, book iii, prop. 10, p. 180. f Were the earth liquid by heat at any former period, the external part would evidently have been the lightest, and its surface would consist of matter like the lava of volcanoes. Metals would have sunk in the fluid, and be very far from the surface. In smelting ores, such is the case ; the metal sinks in the fused mass, and is thus separated from the slag, or lava. Had the whole earth been in a similar state of fluidity, we can perceive no reason why similar results should not en- sue ; why the heaviest bodies would not be lowest, and the central parts, though fluid by heat, yet so dense by the pressure of the in- cumbent matter, as to exceed, by many degrees, the heaviest bodies with which we are acquainted. If, as Dr. Arnott states, (Physics, vol. i, p. 262), water at the depth of 1,000 fathoms, loses a twentieth of its bulk, and is, consequently, increased a twentieth in weight and density, what shall we say of the compression of fluid matter at the depth of several miles ? At the centre it would, doubtless, be far heavier than gold or platinum, but with only this density at centre, and lava or melted rock at the surface, the average density of the earth, as a whole, would be considerably more than five times that of water, a circumstance which proves the earth not to have been fluid by heat at any former period. GENERAL REMARKS. 347 meaning of Scripture are based upon science and the existing phenomena of nature. We could not, for a mo- ment, imagine that fire, or water, or star-dust, or any such agents, could have produced the vast frame of crea- tion. We have shown that fire and water have been powerful instruments in modifying the structure and pro- perties of matter ; but we could not suppose them to have generated all existing bodies. These elements have acted upon previously- existing substances, and effected con- siderable alterations in some of them. Geologists, not distinguishing between the formations and the originals, have erroneously ascribed to these elements, results which they have not accomplished. Water has made deposits from worn-down materials ; and these deposits have been subsequently indurated by heat, or by combination with other substances, or by the action of the elements ; this has led to the extended induction, that all indurated or stony substances of a certain class, have been similarly formed ; whereas, no such induction should have been in- justice made. Volcanic rocks are the evident production of fire : here, again, geologists extend their inferences, and trace a connexion between lava or volcanic rocks and granite, and then conclude, that granite also was produced by fire from pre-existing matter; whereas, in reality, the granitic series of rocks were formed so at first by the Creator. It is true, that many geologists do not pretend to trace matter to its origin, but merely to account for its present state in bodies as they now exist, without any re- ference to the condition of matter previous to its being subjected to the operations of those causes by which they suppose the present bodies to have been produced. But, although they do not, like infidels and pantheists, ascribe the origin of the earth to fire-mist, or nebulous matter, or to fragments of other bodies supposed to have been formed of this imaginary matter ;* yet, the " inde- * This supposed matter appears, by Lord Rosse's telescope, to be as- semblages of fixed stars, which could only be distinguished en masse by former telescopes ; and hence originated the idea of fire-mist, star- dust, i 'lly; the kangaroo, for example. MEDUSA. Marine radiated animals, without shells. MEGALONYX. A gigantic extinct animal. : IIERIUM. An extinct gigan- tic animal, resembling a sloth. MEGALOSAURUS. An extinct gigan- tic amphibious animal, of the saurian or crocodile tribe. - MEGALOSAVRUS BUCKLANDI. An extinct monster, named after Dr. Buckland. MENSTRDUMS. Liquids used in in- fusions. METALSTONE. A stratum common in coal-measures. METALLOID. The metallic base of an alkali. METALLIFEROUS. Producing metals. METAMORPHIC ROCKS. Rocks sup- posed to have been produced from the worn-down materials of primary rocks. METEORIC. Resembling a me- teor. MICA. A mineral of a shining sil- -very appearance, capable of be- ing separated into very thin leaves. The shining scales in granite are mica. MICA-SLATE, MICA-SCHIST, MI- CACEOUS SCHISTUS. This class of rocks contains a large por- tion of mica, mixed with quartz. It belongs to the hypogene or primary series. MINERAL VEINS. Fissures in rocks, filled with substances different from the rock. MIOCENE PEBIOD. That which next succeeds the Eocene. MONAD. A term applied by Buffon and his followers to animalcula which they supposed to consti- tute the elementary molecules of organic beings. MONITOB. An animal of the lizard tribe, some species of which are found in a fossil state. MONOCOTYLEDONS. Plants with only one cotyledon, or seed-lobe. Palms, grasses,