./i-vu'v vt.
 
 OUTLINES 
 
 GEOLOGY: 
 
 INTENDED AS A POPULAR TREATISE ON THE 
 
 MOST INTERESTING PARTS OF THE SCIENCE. 
 
 TOQETH3R ^TITH AN EXAMINATION OP THE Q.C7E3TIO.V, 
 
 WHETHER THE DAYS OF CREATION WERE 
 INDEFINITE PERIODS. 
 
 DESIGNED FOR THE USE OF SCHOOLS AND GENERAL READERS. 
 
 
 BY J. L. COMSTOCK, M. D. 
 
 Author of an Introduction to Mineraloy*Elements of Chemistry, A System of 
 Natural Philosophy, and Introduction to Botany. 
 
 THIRD EDITION. 
 
 NEW YORK . 
 ROBINSON, PRATT, & CO. 
 
 63 WALL STREET. 
 1838.
 
 ENTERED, 
 According to Act of Congress, in the year 1834, by 
 
 J. L. COMSTOCK, M. D. 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Connecticut 
 
 BTEREOT7PED BY V. P. HIPLKT,
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 GEOLOGY is peculiarly adapted to impress the mind of the student 
 with ideas of the wisdom and power of the Creator, and to lead him 
 to the acknowledgment of a Great First Cause. In addition to this, 
 it is applicable to various, and highly important practical purposes. 
 Millions have bsen expended in boring for salt, in mining for coal, 
 and in searching for metallic veins, when even a slight knowledge 
 of the nature and geological positions of rocks, as indicated by ex- 
 ternal appearances, would have shown that such explorations would 
 be fruitless. 
 
 In the sinking of wells, in excavations for canals, roads, and build- 
 ings, and for a great variety of other purposes connected with both 
 civil and military engineering, a knowledge of geology is often of 
 the highest importance to the contractor, and not less so to the con- 
 tracting party. 
 
 Is it not time, then, that we should begin the study of the earth 
 on which we live, and from which, in common with all terrene 
 animals, we derive our subsistence 1 And can it be doubted, that 
 the knowledge to be derived from this source, is fully as important 
 to the youth of this great and unexplored country, as that pertain- 
 ing to the names and sources of rivers, the extent and situation of 
 seas, and the boundaries of nations, states, and towns, which our 
 scholars spend so much time in committing to memory 1 
 
 To supply the deficiency of books on this subjec't, adapted to 
 general readers and to our higher schools, is the object of this work. 
 
 Possibly the clergy of our country, who have no time to read ex- 
 tensive geological works, and thus to collect the scattered facts 
 which show the coincidence and connexion between the Scriptures 
 and geology, may find this little volume an acceptable assistance. 
 At the present day, when infidelity looks almost exclusively among 
 the higher departments of science for aid, ought not theologians, at 
 least, to understand the ground of such hopes, in order to make good 
 their own defence 1 An experienced soldier always looks well to 
 the strength of his outposts. 
 
 With respect to the matter of the following treatise, it is perhaps 
 sufficient to say, that almost every recent systematic geological 
 writer in the English language, as well as many periodical publi- 
 cations, have been consulted. The plan has been to treat of the 
 most interesting and important parts of the science, as a whole, and 
 hence particular notices on American geology have been omitted, 
 only in conformity to this design. 
 
 To those acquainted with the present state of geology, it hardly 
 need be said, that to have prepared a volume which should embrace 
 and unite the opinions of even the most recent and respectable 
 authors on many subjects contained within its outlines, would hav
 
 4 PREFACE. 
 
 been impossible : and to those who are not acquainted with this 
 science, it may be proper to state, that from the very nature of many 
 of its subjects, there must always exist a variety of theories to ac- 
 count for the same facts, until more is known concerning them. 
 This arises from the circumstance, that the causes of many phe- 
 nomena which the earth exhibits, have long since ceased, and there- 
 fore these causes must remain matters of conjecture. Thus coal is 
 found in the earth in great abundance, but none is formed at the 
 present day, and therefore the causes which have produced this 
 substance, or'at least the circumstances under which it was formed, 
 remain a subject of theory. 
 
 In other instances, the causes still exist, but their effects only are 
 apparent, as in the case of volcanoes and earthquakes. 
 
 In these instances, the leading facts are admitted by all, but men 
 have chosen to account for them in different ways, and thus differ- 
 ent theories have been proposed, to solve the same phenomena. 
 
 Again, in many things connected with the natural history of the 
 earth, the chief circumstance in question may rest on a variety of 
 collateral facts, of the bearing of which geologists differ in opinion. 
 Thus fossil plants, belonging to orders which at present only grow 
 in tropical climates, and the remains of animals whose species are 
 now found only in the hottest regions of the earth, occur in many 
 parts of Europe, and even in frozen Siberia. Hence some have 
 supposed that the climate of Europe has changed since the deposi- 
 tion of these remains, and that the plants grew, and the animals 
 lived, where their relics are now found : while others, reasoning 
 from what they consider conflicting facts, maintain that no change 
 of climate has'taken place, and that the main circumstance may be 
 accounted for, by supposing that these remains were transported 
 from hot climates. 
 
 At the present day, geological writers profess to maintain their 
 theories only by facts, and fair deductions from them, and thus in- 
 vestigations are constantly going on, and new facts are perpetually 
 accumulating, so that ultimately it maybe expected that this science 
 will consist of deductions from truths which are generally admitted. 
 But in its progress towards such a state, hypothetical reasonings, 
 under the restrictions which the present advanced state of the 
 sciences impose, are not to be deprecated, since this is often almost 
 the only means by which men are stimulated to that thorough in- 
 vestigation of facts and phenomena, which characterizes the prac- 
 tical geologists of the present day. 
 
 It must not, however, be understood, that geology consists chiefly 
 of the conflicting opinions of different authorities. On the contrary, 
 though of so recent an origin, it already embraces numerous series 
 of highly interesting, curious, and instructive facts, many of which 
 seem destined to be of great importance to mankind ; while others 
 are calculated to excite profound considerations. 
 
 An examination of the earth shows that its crust has undergone 
 great, and sometimes repeated mutations. The strata which once 
 corresponded, are now completely dislocated, one portion being 
 thrown up, broken, and distorted, while the other is depressed, and 
 equally mutilated ; the whole indicating the effects of an enormous 
 force acting from beneath, and at an unknown depth. 
 
 Every part of the earth, except the most recent deposites, present 
 similar phenomena, more or less striking, and in this manner the 
 original disposition and direction of all ancient stratified rocks
 
 PREFACE. 5 
 
 have become changed. In some instances, the changes have been 
 so great, as to repeat the original number of strata many times. 
 In one locality, this effect has been such as to produce from 30 to 
 40,000 strata, where the original number was only four. 
 
 We shall find that these dislocations are marks of wisdom and 
 beneficence, as well as of power; and that this earth would have 
 been but poorly fitted for the residence and comfort of man, had 
 thesa s:rata remained in a horizontal position. 
 
 The organic remains of plants and animals, the relics of a former 
 world, are not only objects of great curiosity, but afford to the mind 
 subjects of the deepest contemplation. Here we have before us the 
 remains of vegetables and animals which covered and inhabited 
 the earth thousands of years ago ; and some of them are so unlike 
 any existing species, that no living analogues are anywhere to be 
 found. 
 
 Other remains prove that monstrous reptiles, sixty or seventy 
 feet in length, once crawled among canes and rushes, which emula- 
 ted in height the forests of the present day ; while huge quadrupeds, 
 of unknown tribes, inhabited the higher grounds, where they 
 reigned lords of the creation. 
 
 Probably these are the remains of animals which were known to 
 Noah and his family; and possibly some of them belonged to the 
 identical beasts to which Adam gave names. 
 
 Thus has the earth preserved, for our examination and instruc- 
 tion, natural bodies of the earliest growth, and with which no 
 works of art can compare in antiquity. Even the re:nains of 
 Babylon and Egypt are infants in age, when compared with these 
 things. 
 
 With respect to what has been advanced on the subject of the 
 days of creation, we are aware that the opinions of several Ameri- 
 can, and some foreign geologists of high standing, are against us. 
 But having examined several learned expositions of the original 
 text, both for and against the admissibility of a different translation 
 from the common one, we are fully satisfied that the word rendered 
 day, connected as it is in the his ory of the creation, admits of no 
 other meaning. This, if so, ought for ever to settle the question ; 
 for the necessity, which geology, or the Hindoo tables, or the Egyp- 
 tian Zodiacs, or the strata at Etna, seem to present, ought never 
 for a moment to be admitted in the mind of a believer, as an excuse 
 for misinterpreting the plainly intended meaning of the Scriptures. 
 Both the Indian tables and the Egyptian Zodiacs presented much 
 stronger apparent proofs against the veracity of Moses, than any 
 which geology now opposes to his literal meaning. 
 
 We have only to add on this subject, that when it can be shown, 
 that the roots in philology admit of a different translation, and the 
 substrata in geology require it, we will cheerfully relinquish the 
 opinion here attempted to be maintained.
 
 PREFACE 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 IN the preface to the former edition of this work, it was stated 
 that the plan being to treat of the most important and interesting 
 parts of the science, articles of American geology had been admit- 
 ted only so far as might be necessary in conformity to this design. 
 The author has, however, become convinced by the communica- 
 tions of Professors of Colleges, and the Principals of other institu- 
 tions where the work has been introduced, that further illustrations 
 from the geology of our own country would make the work more 
 acceptable as a class-book ; and in conformity to such hints, the 
 present edition will be found much improved in this respect. For 
 these notices the author is indebted to a variety of American publi- 
 cations, but more particularly to Professor Hitchcock's " Report 
 on the Geology of Massachusetts," and Dr. Hildreth's Communi- 
 cation on the Valley of the Ohio, contained in the 59th No. of Silli- 
 man's Journal. 
 
 The article on the length of the creative days has also been par- 
 ticularly examined, most of it re-written, and several new objections 
 answered. On this part of his work, the author takes pleasure in 
 acknowledging the assistance of the Rev. S. F. Jarvis, D. D., Pro- 
 fessor of Oriental languages and literature in Washington Col- 
 _ege. Dr. Jarvis has not only had the kindness to collate many 
 passages of the Hebrew text with reference to the meaning of the 
 word yarn, but also to translate for his use the theory of Paradisi, 
 an abstract of which he has given in this work. 
 
 Besides these additions, the author has made many others, as the 
 subjects seemed to require, the whole amounting to nearly forty 
 pages, with twelve new illustrations by wood cuts. 
 
 It is hoped, therefore, that this edition will be found much more 
 worthy of public patronage than the former one. 
 
 HARTFORD, CT., January, 1831
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Adit, great Conrsh, . .216 
 Age of the world according to 
 
 Orpheus, . . .14 
 
 Cassander, . . .14 
 Aleutian Islands, . . .124 
 American deluge, . . .46 
 
 coal fields", . . .195 
 Animals, destroyed by the del- 
 uge, .... 91-93 
 
 extinct, not living species, 247 
 
 by what means did the an- 
 cient ones perish, . . 249 
 
 fossil amphibious . . 261 
 Antiquity of Nations, pretend- 
 ed, 93 
 
 Ark, Noah's, .... 96 
 
 its dimensions, . . 96 
 Atmosphere, temperature of the, 35 
 Anthracite, .... 189 
 Arrangement of shells in strata, 309 
 
 marine and fresh water, 311 
 Astronomical table, Indian, 370 
 
 Bagnes, flood of, . . . 49 
 Bakeweil on the fall of Mount 
 
 Grenier, . . . .68 
 Baltic, accumulations in, . 59 
 whether this sea has chan- 
 ged its level, . . 60 
 
 Basalt, 171 
 
 Basaltic rocks, . . .170 
 
 veins, . . . .202 
 
 Basalt, columnar, . . . 204 
 
 of Staffa, . . .206 
 
 Baths of San Vignone, . . 52 
 
 of San Filippo, . . 52 
 
 Beds of shells formed by sea 
 
 currents, .... 357 
 Bivalves, . . . .293 
 Big-bone lick, bones found 
 
 there, 257 
 
 Bone caverns, . . . 267 
 Boulders, ... 86, 87 
 De la Beche on, . .84 
 of Massachusetts, . . 88 
 large one at East Lyme, 87 
 from Norway, . . . 86 
 of the Alps, . . .81 
 Dr. Buckland on, . .80 
 
 Pnee 
 
 Breccia, osseous, . . . 273 
 
 Brande on the fossils of Essex, 242 
 
 on those of Sheppey, . 243 
 
 Buckland on the Deluge, . 80 
 
 on the Kirkdale cavern, . 228 
 
 on boulders ? . . .80 
 
 on caverns in Germany, 268 
 
 Buffon's Theory, ... 25 
 
 Burnet's Theory, ... 25 
 
 Calamites approximatus . 286 
 
 Caverns, bone, . . . 267 
 of Germany, . . . 269 
 of the Morea, . . . 279 
 
 Cavern of Kirkdale, . .228 
 bones found there, . . 229 
 Dr. Buckland on, . 228-231 
 of Gaylenreuth, . . 269 
 of Durfort, . . .276 
 ofKosritz, . . . 278 
 
 Climate, change of, . . 224 
 not so hot as formerly, . 226 
 causes which have chan- 
 ged, . . . .233 
 Herschell on, . . . 233 
 change not owing to astro- 
 nomical causes, . . 234 
 Dr. Ure on, ... 234 
 changed by the Deluge, . 238 
 change sudden, . . 237 
 Lyell on, ... 233 
 
 further remarks on, . 233 
 
 Celcius on the Baltic, . . 59 
 
 Central heat, .... 135 
 Lyell on, . . . .133 
 Baron Fourier on, . . 134 
 M. Cordier on, . . 135 
 does exist, . . .136 
 its volcanic agency, . 136 
 proved by the quantity of 
 lava from volcanoes, . 139 
 
 Chalk, 167 
 
 not found in America, . 167 
 
 Chinese, their false pretensions 
 to antiquity, . . .93 
 
 Cirknitzersee lake, . . .281 
 
 Continents elevated from the 
 
 sea, . 
 Coal fields, 
 
 . 163
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Coal, beds of; . . . 1 82 
 searching for, . . .183 
 indications of, . . .194 
 minerals found with, . 185 
 of Ohio 186 
 anthracite, . . .189 
 origin of coal, . . .189 
 American coal fields, . 195 
 wood coal, . . .190 
 marine fossils above, . 191 
 Columnar basalt, . . . 205 
 Coral reefs and islands, . . 74 
 Conchology, .... 292 
 
 Deluge, traditions of, . .94 
 was it universal, . . 96 
 did it destroy all the prim- 
 itive animals, . . 98 
 Buckland on, . . . 71 
 Ureon, .... 81 
 Cuvier on, . . .90 
 valleys formed by the, . 83 
 effects of in Massachusetts, 87 
 Denon on sand downs, . . 73 
 Density of the earth, . . 31 
 Diluvial action, . . 88 
 Diluvium, . . . .172 
 
 progress of, . . . 360 
 Creation, Mosaic history of, . 315 
 of heaven and earth, .315 
 days of, . . . . 329 
 of the firmament, . . 317 
 of the sun and moon, . 321 
 of the creeping things, .323 
 mammalia and man, . 324 
 Faber's history of the, 331-336 
 
 Dicotyledonous plants, . . 320 
 Dip, . ... .177 
 Dodo, extinct, . . . 249 
 Downs, 72 
 De Luc on, ... 73 
 Doctrine of successive creations,364 
 Durfort, cavern of, . . .276 
 human bones found in, . 276 
 Dyke, 179 
 
 Crocodile, fossil, . . .361 
 Cryptogamous plants, 319-321 
 Cuvier on the Deluge, . . 90 
 on distinguishing fossil 
 bones, . . . . 245 
 on ancient species of ani- 
 mals, . . . .244 
 thinks there are no new 
 species, . . . 243 
 his arrangement of fossils, 250 
 on the bone caverns of 
 Germany, . . .268 
 on Genesis, . . . 367 
 
 Delambre on Indian astronomy,374 
 Days of Creation, . . .329 
 Faber's theory of, . . 331 
 Silliman's theory of, . 337 
 
 Earth, density of the, . . 31 
 temperature of, . . 34 
 internal heat of, . . 133 
 has suffered changes, . 242 
 diameter of, 31 
 newness of proved, . . 67 
 Earthquakes of Calabria. . 117 
 effects on the obelisks, .118 
 Prince of Scilla killed by, 122 
 of Lisbon, . . . 122 
 theory of, ... 131 
 Monte Kuovo formed by, J25 
 elevation of Chili by . 125 
 Aleutian islands elevated 
 by, . . . .125 
 island raised from the sea 
 by, .... 124 
 
 indefinite periods, . . 340 
 of common length, . . 345 
 Stuart's criticism on, . 346 
 Penn's criticism on, . 348 
 Ureon, . . . .366 
 Macculloch on, . . 366 
 Cuvier on, ... 367 
 Delta of Geneva, ... 57 
 of the Rhone, ... 61 
 ofthePo, ... 63 
 of the Ganges, . . 63 
 Deltas in lakes, . .57 
 in the sea, ... 59 
 Deluge, Noah's, ... 79 
 time of, . . . .80 
 proofs of, . . . 81, 82 
 change of climate by, 90, 234 
 animals destroyed by, . 91 
 historical proofs of, . . 92 
 
 Egyptian Zodiacs, . . .376 
 Elephant, fossil, . . 91, 250 
 African, . . . .251 
 Siberian, . . . .252 
 bones found in England, 229 
 could now live in Siberia, 232 
 found in the ice, . 236, 253 
 with lone hair, . . 239 
 different species of, . . 250 
 his form of jaw, . . 251 
 Equisetums, fossil, . . .226 
 Eruptions, volcanic, . . 103 
 of Vesuvius, . . .105 
 of Skaptar Jokul, . .113 
 of Etna, . . . .110 
 ofSumbawa, . . .115 
 of Jorullo, . . .114 
 Etna, eruptions of, . . .110 
 beds of lava at, . .331
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Etna, ice found on, . . 1*1*2 
 Extinct shells, . . .304 
 
 P*e 
 
 Granite, veins ofj . 155 
 Greenstone, . . . .171 
 
 encrinite, .... 304 
 
 protrusion of, . . . 207 
 
 belemnites, . . . 305 
 
 Gypsum 166 
 
 ammonites, . . . 305 
 
 
 orthroceratites, . . 261 
 nautilus, .... 306 
 
 Haldon hill, geology of, . .85 
 Hildreth on Ohio coal, . . 186 
 
 
 on fossils found in, . . 182 
 
 Faber's history of the Mosaic 
 
 Heber, Bishop, sees a hairy 
 
 days 331-336 
 
 elephant, . . . .239 
 
 on the lava beds, . . 184 
 
 Henderson on the geysers, . 56 
 
 Fall of Mount Grenier, . . 68 
 of the Alps, ... 69 
 Falls of Niagara, ... 42 
 
 Historical proofs of the deluge, 92 
 Hitchcock on granite rocks, . 153 
 ofConway, . . .154 
 
 Fault 179 
 Fish, fossil, of Monte Bolca, . 309 
 
 the protrusion of green- 
 stone, . . . .157 
 
 Firmament, creation ofj . . 317 
 
 on the diluvium of Mas- 
 
 Fossil, definition of, . . 241 
 
 sachusetts, . . .87 
 
 Fossils, division of, . .241 
 
 History of plants, Mosaic, and 
 
 particular, . . . 250 
 
 natural, .... 318 
 
 Fossil quadrupeds, . . . 250 
 
 Hooke on earthquakes, . . 20 
 
 amphibia, . . . 261 
 
 Home on the deluge, . . 92 
 
 crocodile, . . . .261 
 
 Human bones, fossil, . . 275 
 
 elephant, .... 250 
 
 how came they in cav- 
 
 mastodon, . . . 255 
 
 erns, . . . .279 
 
 hippopotamus, . . . 258 
 
 Button's theory, . . .29 
 
 rhinoceros, . . . 259 
 
 Hyena's bones at Kirkdale, . 229 
 
 megatherium, . . . 259 
 
 
 human bones, . . . 275 
 
 Ichthyosaurus, . . . 264 
 
 plants and shells, . . 282 
 
 Iguanadon, ... .227, 264 
 
 plants, . . . .284 
 
 Igneous, oriein of granite, . 151 
 
 shells, . . . .304 
 
 rocks, difference in, . .168 
 
 fishes, . . . .307 
 trilobite, .... 307 
 
 origin of trap, . . .200 
 Iceland, geysers of, . . 56 
 
 Ganges, delta of, . . . 63 
 
 Ignatius Paradisi, his theory, . 367 
 Indian astronomical tables, . 370 
 
 sediment from its water, 66 
 
 Islands raised from the sea, . 124 
 
 Geology, meaning of, .13 
 
 Islands, coral, formation of, . 74 
 
 objects of, ... 13 
 
 
 coincides with sacred his- 
 
 Jorullo, eruptions of, . .114 
 
 tory, . . . .313 
 
 Jupiter Serapis, . . . 127 
 
 Genesis, geology coincides 
 with 325-328 
 
 Kepler's theory, . . .26 
 
 what facts contradict, . 349 
 
 Kirkdale, cave, . . .228 
 
 Geography of volcanoes, . 101 
 Geysers . . .54 
 
 bones found in, . . 229 
 Kosritz, human bones found in 278 
 
 Gneiss, 148 
 
 
 Globe, constitution of, . .31 
 
 Land and sea, proportions of; 33 
 
 density of, ... 31 
 
 Lava, 172 
 
 Great Lizard 227 
 
 Lake Cirknitzersee, . . 281 
 
 Graywacke, . . . .160 
 
 Leibnitz's theory, . . .24 
 
 Granite . 147 
 
 Lias , 168 
 
 composition of, . . 147 
 igneous origin of, . .151 
 
 Limestone, primitive, . . 150 
 secondary, . 150, 164 
 
 of cape Wrath, . . 152 
 
 transition, . . 160 
 
 of Actwonh, . . .153 
 
 now forming, . . 62 
 
 passing into basalt, . . 155 
 
 cannon covered with, . 62 
 
 of Glen Tilt, . . .157 
 
 formations, . . 356 
 
 ef different ages, . . 157 
 
 Limestone, . . . 316
 
 10 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Limestone, secondary not al- 
 ways formed of shells, . 362 
 Light, where did it first ema- 
 
 Noah's ark, ... 106 
 Neptunian doctrines, . . 27 
 New Holland animals, . . 248 
 
 nate, 316 
 
 New Jersey, marl and sheila 
 
 Lithodomus, . . . .129 
 
 found in, . . .87 
 
 Lyell on Niaeara Falls, . . ,44 
 
 Niagara, account of, . . 43 
 
 on American lakes, . . 47 
 
 
 on change of climate, .233 
 on the Rhone, . . .61 
 
 Organic strata, inferences from, 352 
 Oolite, . 168 
 
 on the geysers, . ' . . 56 
 on the water of the Ganges, 66 
 
 osseous breccia, . . 273 
 outcrop, . . . .177 
 
 on the eastern coasts of 
 
 outlier, . . . .179 
 
 England, . . .70 
 
 
 
 Paradisi, Ignatius, his theory, 347 
 
 Macculloch on the earth's di- 
 ameter, . . 31 
 
 Parkinson on fossil plants, . 288 
 fishes, . . . .307 
 
 on the destruction of rocks, 67 
 
 Pachydermata, . . . 295 
 
 on coral islands, . . 74 
 
 Parker's report on Pennsylva- 
 
 on petrifactions, . . 291 
 
 nia coal 195 
 
 his 40,000 strata, . . 355 
 
 Peat, 197 
 
 on the length of creative 
 days, . . . .366 
 
 bodies preserved in, . .198 
 Penn, his criticism on the word 
 
 Mantel on the saurians, . . 263 
 
 day, 348 
 
 on the Portland formation, 338 
 
 Pennsylvania coal fields, . 195 
 
 Marcet, Dr., on sea water, . 33 
 
 Petrifactions, .... 290 
 
 Mastodon fossil, . . 91, 255 
 
 Phytolithus varrucosus, . . 286 
 
 form of his grinders, . 256 
 
 caucellatus, . . . 288 
 
 found in America, . . 357 
 
 Pittsburgh, coal used there, . 197 
 
 first account of, from Cot- 
 ton Mather, . . .236 
 
 Plastic nature, ... 18 
 PI ay fair on Indian astronomy, 371 
 
 Marine worms, . . .143 
 
 Plesiosaurus, . . . 264-266 
 
 Megalosaurus, . . . 227, 262 
 Megatherium 259 
 
 Plott, Dr., plastic nature, . 19 
 Plutomans, . . . .27 
 
 Megalonyx, . . . .261 
 Metallic veins, . . . 208 
 
 Poles, how long are the days 
 at the, 244 
 
 Mineral veins, . . .207 
 
 Po, river, effects of, . . 40 
 
 Mines and mariners, . . 213 
 
 delta of in the Adriatic, . 63 
 
 Mica-slate, . . . .148 
 
 Pompeii, destruction of, . . 108 
 
 Monte Nuova formed, . 125-137 
 
 Porphyry, . . . .150 
 
 Monte Bolca, fossil fish of, . 309 
 
 Primary rocks, . . .147 
 
 Monocotylcdonous plants, . 319 
 
 
 Morea, caverns in the, . . 280 
 
 Quadrupeds, fossil, . . 243 
 
 Mosaic history of the deluge, 79 
 coincidence of geology 
 with, . . . . 313 
 
 Ravenna, formerly a seaport, 63 
 Rafts of Red river, . . 192 
 
 and natural history of 
 
 of New Orleans, . . 240 
 
 plants, .... 318 
 
 Red sea, coral reefs of, . . 74 
 
 Mosaic days, . . . .329 
 
 Remains, organic, . . . 240 
 
 Faber's theory of, . . .331 
 
 division of, . . .241 
 
 Silliman's theory of, . . 337 
 
 Rennell on the water of the 
 
 indefinite periods, . . 340 
 
 Ganges, . . . .66 
 
 Stuart's criticism on, . 346 
 
 Rhone, sea and land shells at 
 
 Penn's criticism on, . . 349 
 
 the mouth of, . . . 62 
 
 of common length, . .345 
 
 delta of, in Geneva lake, . 57 
 
 Mount Tom, .... 205 
 
 in the sea, . . .61 
 
 Hoi yoke, . . . .205 
 
 Rhinoceros fossil, . . . 91 
 
 , Grenier, fall of, . . 68 
 
 species of, ... 259 
 
 Mountain slides, . . 48 
 
 found on the Lena, . . 239 
 
 Multivalvea, . . . .293 
 
 Rock salt . . . - 164
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 11 
 
 Pace 
 
 Rock salt, origin of, . .165 
 
 Signs and seasons, days and 
 
 Rocks, distribution of, . . 67 
 classification of, . 146, 173 
 
 years, .... 322 
 Silliman, Professor, his theory 
 
 primary 147 
 transition, . . . 159 
 
 of the days of creation, .337 
 his remark about the poles, 345 
 
 secondary, ... 162 
 
 Slate, mica, .... 143 
 
 basaltic, . . . .171 
 
 clay, . . . 149, 161 
 
 tabular view of; . . 273 
 
 structure of, . . .131 
 
 different ages of, . . 276 
 trap, origin of, . . . 200 
 Romans, animals exhibited by 
 
 Steno, his work on fossils, . 19 
 Skaptar Jokul, eruption of, . 113 
 Springs, changes caused by, . 51 
 
 the, 243 
 
 phenomena of, . . .217 
 
 
 in hills, .... 223 
 
 Sandhills, .... 72 
 
 silic:ous, . . . .54 
 
 newness of the earth 
 
 of St. Michael, . . .64 
 
 proved from, . . 73 
 
 of Iceland, . . .54 
 
 Sandstone, . . . .161 
 
 Stonesfield, remains fonnd in, 264 
 
 Saurians, . . . 262-264 
 Sea, destroying effects of, . 69 
 
 Strata, arrangement of shells in, 304 
 more ancient than Genesis 
 
 on the English coasts, . 70 
 
 allows, . . . .351 
 
 mine under the, . . 215 
 level of unchanged, . . 67 
 Sea-water, composition of, . 33 
 
 our ignorance concerning, 352 
 diluvTal, . . . . 143 
 proofs of their elevation, . 144 
 
 Secondary rocks, . . . 162 
 
 tertiary, .... 170 
 
 limestone, . . .164 
 
 and stratification, . . 177 
 
 Sediment in river water, . 65 
 
 horizontal, . . . 177 
 
 Shells, 292 
 
 inclined 177 
 
 beds of, formed by the sea, 357 
 vast number of, . . 359 
 
 conformable, . . .179 
 Stuart, Professor, his criticism 
 
 marine and fresh water, . 311 
 
 on the word day, . . 346 
 
 fossil, . . . -304 
 
 Sumbawa, volcano of, . .114 
 
 Encrinite, .... 304 
 
 Sun and moon appear, . .321 
 
 Belemnite, . . . 305 
 
 
 Ammonites, . . . 305 
 
 Table of coincidences between 
 
 Orthraceratites, . . 306 
 
 revelation and geology, . 325 
 
 Nautilus 306 
 
 Tapir, fossil, .... 91 
 
 recent, Bivalve, . . .293 
 
 Temperature of the sea, . . 34 
 
 Univalve, . . . 293-295 
 
 of lakes, .... 34 
 
 Multivalve, . . 293-297 
 
 of the earth, . . .34 
 
 Barnicle, . . . .293 
 Mya, . . . .294 
 
 of the atmosphere, . . 35 
 at various heights, . . 36 
 
 Cardium, .... 295 
 
 Tertiary strata, . . . 170 
 
 Patella, . . . 297-299 
 Pholus, . . . .297 
 
 of Long Island, . . 87 
 Tiger killed on the Lena, . 238 
 
 Mytillus, . . . .293 
 
 Theory of volcanoes, . . 131 
 
 Ostrea, .... 293 
 
 of veins, . . . .210 
 
 Argonauts, . . . 299 
 
 Button's, .... 210 
 
 Dentalium, . . .300 
 
 Werner's 210 
 
 Bulla, . . . .300 
 
 Theory of the earth, Burnet's, 21 
 
 Voluta, . . . .301 
 
 Woodward's, . . .22 
 
 Buccinum, . . . 301 
 
 Whiston's, ... 23 
 
 S trombus, . . .301 
 
 Leibnitz, .... 24 
 
 Murex, . . . 302 
 
 Buffon's, .... 25 
 
 Turbo, . 302 
 
 Kepler's, .... 26 
 
 Conus, ... 303 
 
 Plutonian, . , .27 
 
 Helix, . . . .303 
 
 Werner's, .... 27 
 
 Nerita, .... 304 
 
 Button's, .... 29 
 
 Sienite. , . 149 
 
 Transition rocks. - . 159
 
 12 CONTENTS. 
 
 Pace 
 
 I'af. 
 
 Trilobite, .... 
 Trap, origin of, ... 
 mountains of, . 
 
 307 
 200 
 205 
 
 Volcanoes, geography of, 
 geological connexions of, . 
 proximity of to the sea, . 
 
 101 
 10 1 ! 
 103 
 
 veins of, . 
 
 202 
 
 of Iceland, 
 
 112 
 
 Tree, fossil, at Glasgow, 
 
 289 
 
 elevation of land by, 
 
 J 23 
 
 
 
 attributed to metallic ele- 
 
 
 Univalves, .... 
 
 295 
 
 ments, . 
 
 131 
 
 Ure, Lr., on fan palms, . 
 his tabular view of rocks, 
 
 227 
 173 
 
 attributed to ignition of 
 pyrites, .... 
 
 131 
 
 on the megatherium, 
 
 160 
 
 quantity of lava thrown 
 
 
 on the cooling of the del- 
 uge, .... 
 
 234 
 
 from, . 
 Volcano of Sumbawa, . 
 
 138 
 115 
 
 on the plesiosaurus, . 
 
 266 
 
 of Jorullo, 
 
 114 
 
 on the creative days, 
 
 366 
 
 of Vesuvius, 
 
 103 
 
 Veins, mineral, 
 
 207 
 
 Water, effects of running, 
 
 33 
 
 theory of, . 
 of granite, . 
 
 210 
 152 
 
 transporting power of, 
 composition of sea, . 
 
 40 
 33 
 
 of basalt 
 
 203 
 
 Wells, Artesian, 
 
 217 
 
 metallic, .... 
 
 208 
 
 of Modena, 
 
 20:1 
 
 of greenstone, . 
 
 207 
 
 of London, 
 
 221 
 
 Vegetable fossils, calcareous, . 
 silicious, .... 
 Verona fossils, 
 
 290 
 290 
 16 
 
 Wernerian theory, . 
 White mountain, slide of, 
 Whiston's theory, . 
 
 27 
 43 
 23 
 
 Vesuvius eruptions of, . 
 
 105 
 
 wants more time, 
 
 314 
 
 destroyed Pompeii, . 
 Volcanoes and earthquakes. . 
 
 108 
 96 
 
 Willey family destroyed, 
 Woodward's theory, 
 
 49 
 22 
 
 connexion between, 
 
 137 
 
 
 
 elevation of land by, 
 
 125 
 
 Zodiacs, Egyptian, . 
 
 376
 
 OUTLINES OF GEOLOGY. 
 
 THE term GEOLOGY comes from the Greek ge, the 
 " earth," and logos, "reason," or "discourse," and signi- 
 fies the doctrine, -or science of the Earth. 
 
 The object of Geology is to investigate the phenomena 
 of the external and internal parts of the earth to inquire 
 into the modifications and changes which have taken place 
 in the crust of the globe since its creation, and to account 
 for these phenomena in a rational and scientific manner. 
 
 This science, though of very recent date, has already 
 been the means of offering to the consideration of the 
 world, most important information, both of a physical and 
 moral nature. Many important geological facts, it is true, 
 have been long known ; but in attempting to account for 
 them, theorists have indulged themselves, until recently, 
 in the wildest imaginations, and the most unfounded and 
 singular fancies. 
 
 No subject of importance has come down to the philos- 
 ophers of the present age, so incumbered with false theo- 
 ries, false reasonings, and whimsical vagaries, as Geology. 
 
 It is true, that a few writers of early date have reasoned 
 correctly from the facts then known, but the great mass of 
 authors on this subject, seem to have had no other object 
 in view, but to establish theories founded on plausibilities, 
 without the aid of facts, or observations. 
 
 From the earliest antiquity men have been inquisitive 
 in relation to the origin and duration of the earth, and the 
 mutations which it has undergone already, or is likely to 
 undergo in future times. In the absence of knowledge 
 concerning the earth's structure, or of observations on the 
 phenomena which its surface exhibits, it was easier to 
 found theories, and reason for the ignorance then existing, 
 than to undertake long excursions in order to observe facts, 
 from which to reason correctly, and draw just conclu- 
 sions. 
 
 It appears, from the remotest records of profane history, 
 that philosophy had assigned to this earth a perpetual se- 
 ries of mutations, either by fire or water, or by both, 
 
 \
 
 14 GEOLOGICAL THEORIES. 
 
 Some supposed that this fair world was occasionally, or 
 periodically destroyed, and again renovated under a new 
 aspect; and that a new creation of men and animals took 
 place after every such renovation. The ancient Egyp- 
 tians believed that this world was subject to occasional 
 deluges and conflagrations, and that the gods by such aw- 
 ful judgments arrested the career of human wickedness, 
 and purified the habitation of man from his own guilt. It 
 was supposed that all the wicked were destroyed by such 
 disasters, and that the few who escaped, were the wise, 
 virtuous, and happy, but that their descendants gradually 
 became wicked, and were in like manner swept away by 
 the wrath of the gods. 
 
 Baron Humboldt states, that after the destruction of a 
 large portion of the inhabitants of Cumana, in South 
 America, by an earthquake, in 1766. an extraordinary fer- 
 tility ensued, in consequence of the rain which had accom- 
 panied the convulsion. On this occasion, says he, the 
 Indians celebrated, in conformity to an ancient supersti- 
 tion, by festivals and dancing, the destruction of the world, 
 and the approaching epoch of its renovation. 
 
 The Egyptian priests assigned certain periods of time 
 for the destruction and renovation of the world. Accord- 
 ing to Pritchard, in his Egyptian Mythology, the cycles, 
 or periods of these catastrophes, Avere variously estimated. 
 Orpheus supposed their duration to be 120,000 years ; Cas- 
 sander, 300,000 years, &c. The Greek philosophers and 
 stoics also, believed that the Earth was liable to be afflicted 
 by periodical catastrophes, both by flood and fire. The 
 first, they supposed, destroyed the whole human race, and 
 annihilated all animal and vegetable productions, and that 
 the second dissolved the Earth itself, but that this was 
 afterwards renovated or re-produced. 
 
 The connection between the doctrine of successive ca- 
 tastrophes, and repeated deteriorations in the moral char- 
 acter of the human race, is more intimate and natural to 
 the minds of men than might at first be imagined. For 
 in a rude state of society, all great calamities are regarded 
 by the people as the immediate judgments of Godson the 
 wickedness of man. Thus, says Mr. Lyell, in our own 
 times, the priests persuaded a large part of the population 
 of Chili, and perhaps believed themselves, that the great 
 earthquake of 1822, which convulsed that country was
 
 GEOLOGICAL THEORIES. 15 
 
 a sign of the wrath of heaven on them, for the great politi- 
 cal revolution just then commencing in South America. 
 
 We may observe from the accounts of travellers, and 
 voyagers among barbarous tribes in the South Sea Islands, 
 and in India, that earthquakes are almost universally con- 
 sidered among these people as judgments sent by a su- 
 preme, or superior being, on the wickedness of men. In 
 countries not subject to earthquakes, as among the Egyp- 
 tians, there are still traditions, or forebodings of conflagra- 
 tions, as we have already seen ; and so far as is known, 
 all nations and tribes, whether civilized or barbarous, are 
 not without their notions, however vague, of a flood of 
 water which destroyed at least most of the inhabitants of 
 their own country. Were it not most probable that this 
 idea has been handed down by tradition from the time of 
 Noah, it would often appear as though it were an innate 
 moral sentiment, designed by divine authority to impress 
 all mankind with the fear of punitive justice. 
 
 This subject will come under consideration when we 
 come to treat of the Deluge, and we will only remark fur- 
 ther at present, that it is believed, neither the ancient phi- 
 losophers, nor modern barbarians, ever entertained any 
 idea of the final destruction of the Earth, this belief be- 
 ing derived exclusively from the sacred scriptures. We 
 have seen that several ancient nations held to the doctrine 
 of perpetual changes, consisting of the alternate destruc- 
 tion and renovation of the Earth. A similar doctrine is 
 said to have been taught by the Gerbanites, a sect of as- 
 tronomers who flourished before the Christian era. They 
 believed that after every period of 36,000 years, there 
 were produced twenty-five pair of every species of ani- 
 mals, male and female ; and that these multiply and spread 
 over the face of this lower world. But that when a circu- 
 lation of the heavenly orbs was completed, which is finish- 
 ed in the above named space of time, then other species 
 of animals are created, together with new plants and other 
 things, and so it goes on for ever and ever. Oriental 
 History. 
 
 It is the light of revelation alone, to which we are in- 
 debted at the present day, for that knowledge and under- 
 standing which places us above, a belief in the false doc- 
 trines of heathen philosophy. Civilization and experience 
 never yet corrected the speculative philosophy, or the 
 religious opinions of heathenism.
 
 16 GEOLOGICAL THEORIES. 
 
 With respect to the knowledge which the ancients pos- 
 sessed of geology, nothing of importance can be said. The 
 Greek naturalists, and the Arabian physicians and philo- 
 sophers have recorded some few geological facts, and se- 
 veral Latin writers have noticed phenomena connected 
 with earthquakes and volcanoes, especially the rising of 
 islands out of the sea. But the geologist will search in 
 vain, for any facts or speculations concerning the history 
 of the Earth, worthy his notice, until the beginning of the 
 16th century ; when some shells dug out of the Earth at 
 Verona in Italy, became the subject of a controversy which 
 may be considered as having laid the foundation of geolo 
 gical knowledge. 
 
 These fossil, or petrified shells, were found in 1517, in 
 consequence of some excavations which were made for 
 the purpose of repairing some part of the city of Verona. 
 Such remains, it is true, had long before been discovered 
 in various places ; but no persons of learning or judgment 
 seem previously to have troubled themselves about such 
 matters. The idea seems to have prevailed, that these 
 were the products of what was then termed " plastic na- 
 ture ;" that is, that shells, and other organic remains, found 
 in the solid earth, above the sea, were not the exuviae of 
 animals, but were formed in the rocks where they were 
 discovered, and that they were nothing more than imita- 
 tions of real shells and bones. This idea was probably 
 suggested for the purpose of accounting for the appear- 
 ance of shells in places where it was supposed impossible 
 the sea should ever have been ; the idea that the sea had 
 changed its bed, or that the strata had been elevated by 
 subterranean forces, being then entirely unknown. At 
 present, such phenomena are readily accounted for on the 
 hypothesis that many parts of the earth have been thrown 
 up from the bottom of the sea by volcanic action. 
 
 The shells at Verona furnished matter for much specu- 
 lation, and many writers gave their opinions concerning 
 them, as well as of other fossils found in similar situations. 
 Among these, one writer named Fracastoro, gave it as his 
 settled conviction that these and other fossil shells, where- 
 ever they were found, had once belonged to living animals, 
 and at the same time ridiculed the notion that the " plas- 
 tic force" of nature ever formed them, or any other such 
 like productions. He also maintained that these belong- 
 ed to animals which grew and multiplied in the places
 
 GEOLOGICAL THEORIES. 17 
 
 where they were found, and that the time of their growth 
 was before Noah's flood. All this no doubt was true ; but 
 such new and strange doctrines raised against Fracastoro 
 many bitter opponents. His clear and philosophical views 
 were disregarded, his ideas concerning plastic nature corn- 
 batted, and the passions, as well as the arguments and 
 learning of the times, were arrayed against him. 
 
 The questions discussed, were, first, whether fossil re- 
 mains had ever belonged to living animals] and, second, 
 if this be admitted, whether all the phenomena concern- 
 ing them can be explained in consequence of the changes 
 which took place by the waters of Noah's flood. 
 
 At this period, the idea prevailed in the Christian world, 
 that the earth had undergone no considerable changes, ex- 
 cept those produced by the general deluge, and that, there- 
 fore, to attempt to shew that fossil remains had been ele- 
 vated by any other catastrophe, would be opposing physi- 
 cal appearances against Christian faith. The clergy, on 
 this ground, entered warmly into this dispute, but at the 
 same time, it appears that they allowed the subject to be 
 canvassad with considerable freedom, though the argu- 
 ments on both sides were often such as would have little 
 effect on the mind of a geologist at the present day. 
 
 " The system of scholastic dispu f nticn" says Mr. Lyell, 
 {speaking on this subject,) " encouraged in the universi- 
 ties of the middle ages, had unfortunately trained men to 
 habits of indefinite argumentation, anl 'they often preferred 
 absurd and extravagant propositions, because greater skill 
 an 1 acuteness was required to maintain them ; the end 
 and object of such intellectual combats, being victory, and 
 not truth." 
 
 No theory, at that period, was so whimsical as not to 
 find advocates, and as theories of the earth were chiefly 
 founded in opinions and conceits, rather than on facts and 
 observations, the greatest latitude was indulged in the dis- 
 play of ingenuity and imagination in their support. Some 
 of the inventions brought forward in the shape of argu- 
 ments against the doctrine that shells once belonged to 
 living animals, were indeed quite too ridiculous to have 
 come from any source claiming to possess the power of 
 reasoning. Thus one of the oppossrs of Fracastoro, by 
 name Mattioli, profe sed to account satisfactorily for the 
 facts in the case of the shells at Verona, and other such 
 like appearances, by supposing that a certain mate ria pin- 
 
 \ 

 
 18 GEOLOGICAL THEORIES. 
 
 guis, or fatty matter, set into fermentation by the heat of 
 the earth, gave form and substance to these objects. Ano- 
 ther author, Fallopio, of Padua, Professor, &c., conceived 
 that petrified shells, had been generated by fermentation, 
 in the places where they were found, and that in some ca- 
 ses at least, they had acquired their forms by the " tumul- 
 tuous movements of terrestrial exhalations." Fallopio 
 was the renowned professor of anatomy at the celebrated 
 school of Padua, and whose name, on account of his dis- 
 coveries, is seen in every book of anatomy, to this day. 
 Yet this learned man taught his pupils, from the chair of 
 that famous university, that certain elephant's tusks which 
 were dug up in some part of Italy, were nothing more 
 than earthy concretions. And agreeably to the same doc- 
 trines, he intimated, that in his opinion, some ancient va- 
 ses which were disinterred at Rome, were natural impres- 
 sions, formed by the plastic force of nature, and that they 
 were not the artificial works of man. To the same school 
 of reasoners belonged Mercati, who published a book in 
 1574, containing some good figures of fossil shells, preserv- 
 ed in the Pope's museum at Rome. In explaining these sub- 
 jects, the author has no doubt that the fossils there repre- 
 sented, are not real shells, but mere stones, which had as- 
 sumed the appearances of shells, " through the influence 
 of the heavenly bodies.' 11 Olivi, a contemporary author, 
 after much reasoning on these subjects, satisfied himself 
 that fossil shells, bones, and such like things, were nothing 
 more than the "sports of nature." 
 
 In the midst of those who entertained such fanciful no- 
 tions, which indeed were characteristic of the age, there was 
 not wanting a few, who, like Fracastoro, saw their folly 
 and ridiculous tendency, and who dared to assert the truth 
 on the subject of fossils. Among these was Palissy, a 
 Frenchman, who in 1580 undertook to show that shells 
 and bones, found in rocks, were really animal remains, 
 and that they had been deposited there by the universal 
 deluge, &c. 
 
 Although similar doctrines, as we have seen, had before 
 been advanced in Italy, it appears that in France they 
 were entirely new, for Fontenelle, who pronounced an 
 eulogy on Palissy before the French Academy, fifty years 
 afterwards, says, that he was the first who " dared to as- 
 sert in Paris, that the remains of testacea and fish, had 
 once belonged to marine animals." See Lycll, vol. i, p. 26.
 
 GEOLOGICAL THEORIES. 19 
 
 At about this period a host of writers of various merit, 
 arranged themselves on both sides of the question, " whe- 
 ther fossils were real organic substances ; and if so, how 
 they came in the places where they are found?" and other 
 such like subjects. The consequence was, that these wri- 
 ters began to investigate facts in proof of their theories, 
 and from this period may be dated the commencement 
 and dissemination of just opinions on the subject of geolo- 
 gy. At this time, Steno, a Dane of considerable reputa- 
 tion, demonstrated that some fossil teeth found in Tusca- 
 ny, were those of a species of shark still living in the 
 Mediterranean. Steno's work " On Gems, Crystals, and 
 organic Petrifactions inclosed in solid Rocks," was pub- 
 lished in 1669. He also maintained that fossil vegetables 
 had been living plants,* and hinted that these remains 
 might indicate the distinction between marine and river 
 deposites. 
 
 Steno, as well as some other writers on these subjects, 
 although anxious to make their doctrines and statements 
 agree with the Mosaic history, alarmed the clergy by their 
 deductions, and hence many theologians again entered the 
 field of controversy. The points which these reverend 
 men were chiefly desirous of protecting from the intrusion 
 of philosophy and physics, were, as before, the Mosaic his- 
 tory, especially that of the Deluge ; and knowing little of 
 geology, they accounted those as nearly confirmed here- 
 tics, who could not ascribe all marine organic remains 
 found in rocks, to the effects of the flood. We shall see 
 that the Mosaic history is, however, not contradicted by 
 supposing the shells in solid strata were deposited long 
 before that catastrophe occurred. 
 
 In the mean time, among popular writers, the old doc- 
 trine that petrified shells had never belonged to real ani- 
 mals, still maintained its ground. Even so late as 1677, 
 the famous Dr. Plott, in his " Natural History of Oxford- 
 shire," attributes the origin of fossil shells and fishes to 
 "a plastic virtue latent in the earth." 
 
 Our limits will not allow us to enlarge on this curious 
 subject, and to detail the different opinions which were of- 
 
 * Fossil strictly signifies any thing dug out of the earth, but in 
 geology this term is restricted to organic bodies which have been 
 petrified, or mineralized by long residence in the ground. Most 
 fossils are supposed to be of antediluvian origin. 
 
 \
 
 20 GEOLOGICAL THEORIES. 
 
 fered to the world by more of the early geological writers; 
 nor is this perhaps necessary, since the specimens already 
 given are examples of the prevailing opinions of the times. 
 The light of truth, however, gradually followed the ac- 
 cumulation of facts, and the doctrine of "plastic nature" 
 became obsolete, and ridiculous, in proportion as men 
 reasoned on what they saw. 
 
 About this time, the celebrated Robert Hooke, a name 
 well known in the annals of Mathematics and Natural Phi- 
 losophy, published his " Discourse on Earthquakes." 
 Hooke was at least a century before his contemporaries, 
 on this subject, and it appears that his discourse did more 
 to induce others to think and reason correctly on geologi- 
 cal subjects, than all who had written before him. He ridi- 
 culed most effectually, the old notion that fossil shells were 
 mere stones, so shaped by nature as to imitate such re 
 mains, or to use his own words, "formed for no other pur- 
 pose than to play the mimic in the mineral kingdom.' 1 
 He maintained, also, that many species of shells might be 
 extinct, or not now living; for it was known at that time, 
 that several fossils had been found, of kinds not known in 
 the living state. 
 
 At the present day, many hundred species of shells are 
 found, which are considered extinct, no living specimens of 
 the same havingany where been discovered. But in the days 
 of Hooke this idea was considered as improper, and even 
 heretical, since, as was claimed, it derogated from the wis- 
 dom and power of the Creator, in as much as it was de- 
 claring a want of perpetuity in his works. But Hooke, in 
 his defence, declared that such an opinion was not repug'- 
 nant to holy writ, for the scriptures taught that there should 
 be a final dissolution of all things, "and as when that hap- 
 pens, all the species will be lost, why not some beccme 
 extinct at one time, and some at another." 
 
 It will be observed that the early^ writers of Geology 
 admitted only the two epochs, the creation, and the del- 
 uge, as producing all the appearances which the globe ex- 
 hibits. They did not estimate the effects of earthquakes, 
 running streams, and mountain slides, which in the course 
 of ages have undoubtedly produced very considerable chan- 
 ges on the earth's surface. Hence early theorists attempt- 
 ed to make their doctrines agree with the changes which 
 they attributed to the flood, but which in many instances
 
 GEOLOGICAL THEORIES. 21 
 
 '.vere undoubtedly to. be assigned to causes now in opera- 
 tion. There was a prevailing timidity with respect to the 
 conclusions to be drawn from geological facts, lest they 
 should be brought to contradict the Mosaic history. But 
 this apparent want of confidence in the triumph of the 
 scriptures, was rather a desire to keep from the hands of 
 designing men any excuse to deny the veracity of Moses ; 
 and which arose partly from want of geological know- 
 ledge, and partly from the religious character of the times. 
 
 Under such circumstances, geological theorists directed 
 their efforts to account for the present actual appearances 
 of the earth, by allowing it a certain form at the creation, 
 and then ascribing the changes since made, to the No- 
 achian deluge. 
 
 We will now present the student with a short account 
 of several of the most celebrated early systems, or theo- 
 ries of the Earth ; at the same time premising that although 
 some of them are from the pens of those who ranked 
 among the most talented men of the age, still as theories 
 of the earth, they are devoid of any probable foundation in 
 truth. 
 
 Burners Theory. This was published in 1680,* and 
 its title is strikingly characteristic of that age. It runs 
 thus. " The Sacred Theory of the Earth, containing an 
 account of the original of the Earth, and of all the gene- 
 ral changes which it has undergone, or is to undergo, till 
 the consumation of all things." 
 
 Burnet supposed that the primeval earth, down to the 
 time of the flood, enjoyed a perpetual spring, and accounts 
 for this assumed fact by assuming that the plane of the 
 ecliptic was then coincident with the earth's axis, and that 
 the commotions during the flood turned the earth into its 
 present position, and thus produced the vicissitudes of the 
 seasons. He endeavours to show, that the original form 
 of the Earth as it rose out of chaos, was so contrived, as 
 to contain within itself the water necessary to produce the 
 deluge. A smooth crust of earth is made to conceal the 
 waters of the abyss from the time of the creation, but the 
 rain on the outside, together with the expansion of the 
 
 * Professor Brande quotes Burnet's book as being published in 
 1736, but this was probably a second edition. 
 
 \
 
 22 GEOLOGICAL THEORIES. 
 
 waters beneath by heat, rent this crust, which falling down 
 into the abyss, caused the universal flood, and at the same 
 time, by the inequality of the fragments, formed the moun- 
 tains of the earth as we now see them. 
 
 " Not satisfied with these themes, he derived from the 
 sacred scriptures, and from heathen authorities, prophetic 
 views of the future revolutions of the globe ; gave a terrific 
 description of the final conflagration, and proved that a new 
 heaven, and a new earth will rise out of a second chaos, 
 after which will follow the blessed millenium." 
 
 This was called, and is known to the present day as the 
 " Sacred Theory," and as absurd, and utterly void of all 
 foundation as it appears at the present time, it was receiv- 
 ed in that day with great applause. King Charles II. com- 
 manded it to be translated out of the Latin, in which it was 
 written, into English. Addison eulogised it in Latin ver- 
 ses ; Steele praised it in the Spectator, and Warton ranked 
 its author among the " first for understanding, judgment, 
 imagination and memory." These encomiums show that 
 Burnet, though ignorant of geology, was no ordinary wri- 
 ter, and that it was his fine taste, and his inventive genius 
 that caught the admiration of men, who, though judges of 
 these qualities, knew nothing of the science about which 
 he wrote. 
 
 Woodwards Theory. In 1695, another celebrated 
 theory of the earth was laid before the public. It was en- 
 titled " An Essay towards a Natural History of the Earth 
 and Terrestrial Bodies, especially Minerals ; as also of the 
 Sea, Rivers and Springs, with an account of the Univer- 
 sal Deluge, and of the effects it had on the Earth. By 
 Dr. Woodward, Professor of Medicine at the University 
 of Cambridge. 
 
 Professor Brande thinks that Woodward must be con- 
 sidered the first geological theorist who professed to have 
 minutely examined the crust of the earth, and to have 
 founded his system on the facts thus developed. He 
 made geological tours into different parts of England, and 
 examined strata, and collected specimens with a view to 
 illustrate his intended work. He also appears to have been 
 the first who drew up a series of geological enquiries, 
 which he sent to his friends abroad for the purpose of ob- 
 taining more extensive information on these subjects. 
 
 From these circumstances it might have been expected
 
 GEOLOGICAL THEORIES. 23 
 
 that Woodward's views would have been more sound and 
 enlarged than any of his predecessors or contemporaries ; 
 but it was the fashion of that day to form theories rather 
 than to state facts, and he fell into this common error. 
 
 His theory supposes that the whole terrestrial globe fell 
 in pieces and was dissolved by the waters of the flood, and 
 that the strata of the earth settled down from this promis- 
 cuous mass. In corrobo ration of this view, he insisted 
 that marine bodies, as shells, are lodged in the strata ac- 
 cording to the order of gravity, the heavier shells in stone, 
 and the lighter ones in chalk, and so of the rest. But 
 this doctrine was immediately contradicted by the fact, 
 that fossil bodies are often, however, mixed, the heavy 
 with the Light, in the same stratum. 
 
 Although Woodward's Theory is not founded on any 
 grounds, even of plausibility, still his book contains many 
 important facts, and in this respect was greatly in the ad- 
 vance of any of his contemporaries. 
 
 Whiston's Theory. The next famous work of this 
 school, and equally characteristic of that period, was that 
 of Whiston. Its title was, " A New Theory of the Earth, 
 wherein the Creation of the World in six days, the Univer- 
 sal Deluge, and the General Conflagration, as laid down in 
 the Holy Scriptures, are shewn to be perfectly agreeable 
 to reason and philosophy." Published in 1696. 
 
 Whiston was originally a disciple of Burnet, and adopt- 
 ed his views, until Sir Isaac Newton showed there was 
 no probability that the earth's axis had changed its direc- 
 tion, and consequently that the cause of perpetual spring 
 before the flood, as assumed by Burnet, was without foun- 
 dation, on which this part of his master's system was relin- 
 quished. 
 
 It seems to have been a principal point in all the geolo- 
 gical theories of that day, to account for the general deluge 
 by the action of some extraordinary natural cause. In con- 
 formity to this fashion, Whiston in the first place shows 
 how this earth was originally a comet, which being 
 modified, or re-modelled, was brought into its present 
 shape. The great heat which the earth retained, owing 
 to its igneous origin, inflamed the passions of the whole 
 antediluvian race, so that "every imagination of the 
 thoughts of man's heart was evil continually." The awful 
 catastrophe which swept this wicked race, with the excep- 
 
 \
 
 24 GEOLOGICAL THEORIES. 
 
 tion of Noah and his family, from the face of the earth, was 
 occasioned by the train of a comet, which passing near the 
 earth, was condensed upon it in the form of a deluge of 
 waters. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to say that such a supposition is 
 without a single circumstance in favor of its probability, 
 and therefore, being entirely hypothetical, is unworthy of 
 arguments either for or against it. 
 
 Whiston was the first who proposed that the first book 
 of Genesis should be interpreted differently from its ordina- 
 ry acceptation, so that it should not be heretical to believe 
 that the earth had existed for an indefinite period before 
 the creation of animals, and man. He had the art to throw 
 an air of truth or probability over the most whimsical and 
 improbable assumptions, and by absorbing the mind of the 
 reader with mathematical calculations, to make him assent 
 to propositions, which in themselves were utterly false. 
 
 Theory of Leibnitz. Leibnitz was one of the most pro- 
 found mathematicians of his time. His theory was pub- 
 lished in 1680, and is another curious specimen of imagi- 
 nary cosmogony. He supposed that this globe was ori- 
 ginally a luminous burning mass, and that from the time 
 of the creation it had been gradually cooling. When the 
 water which surrounded it in the form of steam, became 
 condensed by the cooling of the earth, then the sea was 
 formed, which at first entirely surrounded it in every part, 
 and was of such depth as to cover the highest mountains 
 Further consolidation of the earth by cooling, produced 
 rents, which opening into caverns beneath the crust, ad- 
 mitted a part of the universal ocean, thus leaving a por- 
 tion of the earth dry land, preparatory to the creation of 
 man, and for his habitation. He imagined, also, that the 
 temperature of the earth was continually diminishing, and 
 that the level of the sea was constantly sinking. The first 
 idea was considered as entirely groundless by succeeding 
 geologists, but recently the doctrine of subterranean heat 
 has been embraced by several respectable naturalists, and 
 is now the prevailing foundation of the theories of earth- 
 quakes and volcanoes. The gradual sinking of the sea, 
 is a doctrine which has had many strong advocates, and is 
 still supposed to have been proved by various tests. But 
 it will be seen in the progress of this volume, that facts 
 have decided against this hypothesis.
 
 GEOLOGICAL THEORIES. 25 
 
 We might occupy our whole volume with the different 
 theories which have been proposed, to account for the 
 present appearances of this earth, but we must close this 
 part of our subject, by an epitome of those of Buffon, and 
 Kepler, and with a short account of the Neptunian and 
 Plutonian doctrines. 
 
 Buffon 1 s Theory. This is principally an extension of 
 that of Leibnitz. He adds another comet, which by a vi- 
 olent blow upon the sun, struck off the mass of which our 
 earth is composed in a liquid state, and with the earth, all 
 the other planets which compose our system. 
 
 From such suppositions, Buffon was enabled to assume 
 data by which he arrived at several important conclusions. 
 Thus by estimating the heat of the sun (the earth being 
 originally of the same temperature) and comparing it with 
 the present heat of the earth, it could be told (by assum- 
 ing a rate of cooling) how long it had taken to cool down 
 thus far. Then as the other planets had come from the 
 sun at the same time with the earth, it could be calculated 
 by the same rules how many ages is still required to cool 
 the larger ones, so as to admit of their being inhabited, 
 and how far the smaller ones were now frozen, so as to 
 have destroyed all animal life. 
 
 He accounts for the spherical form of the earth and other 
 planets from their being set in motion while in a semi-fluid 
 state. With Leibnitz, Buffon supposed that the ocean 
 once enveloped the whole earth, covering the highest 
 mountains, and hence the appearance of shells far above the 
 level of the sea. The water afterwards ran into caverns 
 which opened into the earth, and thus the ocean subsided 
 to its present level. Soon, after Buffon's theory was 
 published, he received an official letter from the Faculty 
 of Theology at Paris, dated January, 1751, stating that 
 some of his propositions were reprehensible, and contrary 
 to the creed of the Church. One of these propositions 
 were as follows. " The waters of the sea have produced 
 the mountains and valleys of the land the waters of the 
 Heavens reducing all to a level, will at last deliver all, 
 over to the sea, which successively prevailing over the land, 
 will leave dry, new Continents like those which we in- 
 habit." The objectionable doctrine seems to have been 
 that in the opinion of Buffon the present mountains and 
 valleys of the earth are due to secondary causes, and that 
 3 S
 
 26 GEOLOGICAL THEORIES. 
 
 the same causes will destroy all the continents, hills, and 
 valleys, and re-produce new ones, and so on perpetually, 
 while the scripture doctrine warns us that there shall be 
 an end of all created things, &c. 
 
 Buffon was invited to a conference with the Faculty in 
 order to make an explanation, or rather a recantation of 
 his errors. To this he submitted, and having satisfied that 
 body of his Orthodoxy in a written instrument, called his 
 " Declaration," he was required to publish the same in the 
 next edition of his work. This declaration begins thus. 
 " I declare, that I had no intention of contradicting the text 
 of the Scriptures; that I believe most firmly all therein 
 related about the creation, both as to the order of time and 
 matter of fact ; and I abandon every thing in my book 
 respecting the formation of the earth, and generally all 
 which may be contrary to the narrative of Moses," &c. 
 
 Kepler's Theory. Kepler, one of the profoundest 
 mathematicians and astronomers the world has ever seen, 
 offered a theory of the earth more singular and whimsical 
 than any of his contemporaries, or predecessors. His no- 
 tions, indeed are so odd, and void of common sense, that 
 it might be supposed he intended to ridicule his brother 
 theorists by going beyond them in improbabilities, rather 
 than to offer the world his sober opinions. 
 
 Kepler supposed, or pretended to suppose, that the 
 earth contained a circulating vital fluid, and was possessed 
 of living powers and that a process of assimilation goes 
 on in it as well as in other animals. Every particle of 
 matter, according to him, is alive, and possesses volition 
 and instinct ; hence these particles attract and repel each 
 other according to their several sympathies, or antipathies. 
 Thus the particles of water will repel those of oil because 
 they have an antipathy to each other, but each fluid will 
 readily unite with another portion of the same kind 
 because the particles possess mutual sympathies. Each 
 kind of mineral substance is capable of converting masses 
 of other matter into its own peculiar kind, as animals 
 convert their aliment into blood. The burning moun- 
 tains are the respiratory organs of the globe ; and the 
 slates are the organs of secretion, as the glands are those 
 of the animal. The slates decompose the waters of the 
 ocean, in order to prepare its elements to produce earth- 
 quakes and volcanic eruptions. The metallic veins in th^
 
 GEOLOGICAL THEORIES, 27 
 
 strata of the earth, are caries or abscesses of the mineral 
 kingdom, and the metals themselves are the products of 
 decay ami disease, and hence the offensive odour of some 
 of these products. 
 
 These several theories, and a great variety of others, 
 have been invented in order to account for the same 
 phenomena, and to solve the same problem, viz. in what 
 manner, or by what changes, or events, are we to account 
 for the present appearances, or condition of the earth's 
 surface? The reader will observe in general, that these 
 theorists, instead of taking the trouble to observe facts 
 and to draw just conclusions from them, have in the first 
 place formed their systems, and supported them in^the 
 best manner they could, calling to their aid, ingenuity, 
 plausibility, and false argument. 
 
 The science of Geology never progressed until men saw 
 the folly of forming theories which had no concern with 
 facts. To record facts is the first business of the geolo- 
 gist, and if he cannot account for them in a rational and 
 scientific manner, to let them stand recorded until further 
 investigations. 
 
 Plutonian and Neptunian Doctrines. We shall close 
 this part of our volume by an abstract of the theories of 
 Werner and Hutton, commonly entitled the Neptunian 
 and Plutonian doctrines. 
 
 The theories of these two distinguished geologists for 
 the last half century have divided the opinions of geolo- 
 gical writers, each side insisting in the most positive and 
 uncompromising terms, on the truth of their adopted 
 cause. 
 
 The Plutonians or Huttonians, attribute most of the 
 present appearances of the globe, and the changes it has 
 undergone, to the agency of fire, not, however, entirely 
 rejecting that of water. 
 
 The Neptunians or Wemerians, on the contrary, affect 
 to prove in as positive terms that these same changes, and 
 appearances may, with the exception of volcanic products, 
 be traced entirely to the agency of water "to aqueous 
 solution, disintegration, and deposition." 
 
 There is one difficulty in attempting to expound the 
 doctrines of Werner, .which is, that we are obliged to take 
 them second handed, from the writings of others, he hav- 
 ing never himself published them in a connected view. In 
 
 \
 
 28 GEOLOGICAL THEORIES. 
 
 speaking therefore of Werner's theory, we can only avail 
 ourselves of such transient glimpses as he has himself 
 thought fit to give us, and must fill up the various chasms 
 with materials derived from the more extended sketches 
 and illustrations of his pupils.* 
 
 Werner's theory may be thus stated. The matter of 
 our globe was once in a soft, or fluid state, or at least its 
 nucleus was once enveloped by a chaotic aqueous solu- 
 tion of such a nature as to retain the various earthy 
 bodies found in the lowest strata in chemical combination ; 
 but this state of things was of short duration, and during 
 which, there was deposited from the water a variety of 
 crystalline aggregates, such as the different species of 
 granite, and what are called primitive slate, and primi- 
 tive limestones. These constitute the primary rocks, 
 or formations of the Wernerian school, and are sup- 
 posed to have had their origin before the creation of 
 animated beings, and hence no organic remains, such as 
 shells, are found in these rocks. The second class of 
 rocks are supposed to have been formed during the transi- 
 tion of the earth from its chaotic, to its habitable state, 
 and hence are called transition rocks. These are partly 
 crystalline aggregates, and partly mechanical deposites 
 from water: they contain the fragments of pre-existing 
 rocks cemented together, and sometimes contain imper- 
 fect remains of the lower orders of animals and plants, as 
 shells and impressions of ferns. Certain kinds of lime- 
 stone and sandstones belong to this class. These rocks 
 are derived from the fragmentary remains and the disinte- 
 gration of the primitive rocks. 
 
 The third class of rocks are supposed to have been form- 
 ed by the action of the natural elements on these, and by 
 which they have been broken down, and mechanically 
 diffused in water. The action of frost, water, and attri- 
 bution, are supposed to have chiefly produced this effect, af- 
 ter which the materials were deposited in horizontal stra- 
 ta. These are the Floetz, or flat rocks of Werner, and the 
 Tertiary, or secondary rocks, of later authors. They 
 abound in vegetable and animal remains, as ferns, shells, 
 fish, and bones. The newer limestone, red sandstone, and 
 coal strata, belong to this class. 
 
 * Brand's outlines of geology. P. 21.
 
 GEOLOGICAL THEORIES. 29 
 
 Above these rocks we find depositions of sand, and 
 gravel, and clay ; accumulations of peat, and other substan- 
 ces now in the progress of deposition, and which are inclu- 
 ded under the general terms alluvial formations. These 
 constitute the fourth class. The fifth class contains the 
 products of volcanoes, whether the result of fusion or not, 
 such as rocks thrown out without melting, volcanic mud, &c. 
 
 It is supposed that all the formations as they are term- 
 ed, or all the different kinds of rocks and strata now found 
 on the earth, will fall under one or another of these clas- 
 ses. But it will be seen hereafter, that this theory is, in 
 many respects, unsatisfactory, and that there are several 
 rocks, such as basalt and greenstone, which certainly are 
 not of aqueous origin, and which do not come within Wer- 
 ner's volcanic class. 
 
 Werner was appointed professor of mineralogy, at the 
 school of Mines, in Saxony, 1775, and was undoubtedly 
 a man of the highest ord^r of talents. His mind was at 
 once sound, imaginative, and richly stored with miscella- 
 neous knowledge. He had a great aversion to the me- 
 chanical labor of writing, and could never be persuaded 
 to pen more than a few brief sketches, and which never 
 contained a connected development of his geological 
 views. Although the natural modesty of his disposition 
 \vas excessive, approaching even timidity, yet he indulged 
 in th? most bold and sweeping generalization, and he in- 
 spired all his pupils, some of which became writers of great 
 eminence, with the most implicit faith in his doctrines. 
 
 " Their admiration," says Mr. Lyell, " of his genius, and 
 the feelings of gratitude and friendship which they all felt 
 for him, were not undeserved ; but the supreme authority 
 which he usurped over his contemporaries, was probably 
 in the event prejudicial to the progress of science." 
 
 The Plutonic, or Huttonian Theory owes its origin to 
 Dr. Hutton of Edinburgh. It was published in 1788, but 
 has been more recently illustrated, and defended in a re- 
 publication by Professor Playfair, also of Edinburgh. 
 
 We have already stated that the Plutonians attributed 
 the same phenomena to fire, which the Neptunians did to 
 water. The Plutonians, however, supposed that most 
 stratified rocks were deposited from water. 
 
 Hutton's Theory may be stated shortly, as follows. 
 The materials which compose the present surface of the 
 globe, have been derived from the ruin of ancient rocks, 
 3*
 
 30 GEOLOGICAL THEORIES. 
 
 which have been disintegrated and pulverized by the con- 
 tinued action of torrents and currents of water; and by the 
 same means these materials have been transported to the 
 bottom of the ocean. Here they have been consolidated, 
 partly by time, and partly by the pressure of the water, but 
 chiefly by the effects of subterranean heat. By the same 
 cause, more powerfully exerted, that is, by the expansive 
 power of volcanic heat, the strata thus formed have been 
 elevated from the bottom of the ocean, to occupy the situ- 
 ations under which they now appear. Thus the strata are 
 thrown into different degrees of inclination to the horizon ; 
 or are broken and dislocated ; or appear in nearly a verti- 
 cal position, depending on the degree of force, or the point 
 of its application. Sometimes, also, where the heat has 
 been most intense, an entire fusion of the materials has been 
 effected. The rocks which are not stratified, or not com- 
 posed of layers, as granite, are supposed to have under- 
 gone complete fusion, while those which consist of layers, 
 as mica slate, are supposed only to have been softened by 
 the heat. The same disintegration, and corrosion, and the 
 same transportation to the sea, is constantly going on with 
 respect to the present rocks, so that finally these materi- 
 als will again be restored to the sea, to be again raised 
 above its surface by volcanic fire, as before ; and as the 
 present continents were formed by the destruction of an- 
 cient rocks, so future continents will be formed in their 
 turn, by rocks now preparing for that purpose. Brandos 
 Outlines of Geology. 
 
 It is generally acknowledged at the present day, that 
 Mutton's theory will account for a much greater number 
 of geological phenomena than Werner's. It is impossi- 
 ble, for instance, to account for the present situation of 
 stratified rocks containing sea shells, unless we suppose, 
 either that the sea occupied the earth for ages, or that these 
 strata were formed under the ocean, and elevated by some 
 mighty force ; and as we know that islands are thrown up 
 from the sea, by volcanic force, at the present day, it is 
 reasonable to attribute the same effect to the same cause, 
 anciently.
 
 GENERAL FORM AND CONSTITUTION OF THE GLOBE. 
 
 Although in a popular sense the form of the earth is that 
 of a globe, yet science has long since determined, that its 
 figure is not that of a perfect sphere, but of an oblate 
 spheriod, the diameter at the equator being greater than 
 at the poles. This difference has been variously estimat- 
 ed, but if we consider the polar, to the equitorial diameter 
 in the proportion of 304 to 305, we shall perhaps come as 
 near the truth as the present state of observations will 
 allow. This allows the poles a compression equal to 
 TUT, and the two diameters as follows. 
 
 Equitorial diameter, about - - 7,924 miles. 
 
 The Polar diameter - - - 7,898 miles. 
 
 Difference. 26 miles. 
 
 This estimate is from the authority, of Daubuisson. 
 Dr. Macculloch makes the difference somewhat greater, 
 but we need not here go into comparisons on a point 
 where no two authors agree, the difference of a few miles 
 being a matter of no consequence to our present purpose. 
 
 This form of the earth is precisely such a one as it 
 would have taken had it been a homogenous semi-fluid 
 with a rapid motion round its axis. This form may be 
 illustrated by fixing a ball of soft clay on a spindle and 
 setting it in motion. The ball will be flattened at the poles 
 or axis of motion, and elongated, or thrown out, at the cir- 
 cumference, or equator. This is obviously the conse- 
 quence of the greater centrifugal force at the circumfer- 
 ence than at the centre of motion. 
 
 Density of the Earth. It has been attempted to 
 estimate the density of the whole earth from- that of a 
 particular mountain. For this purpose Dr. Maskelyne 
 made an experiment on mount Schihallien, a high precipi- 
 tous cliffi in order to ascertain the force of its attraction, 
 on a suspended plummet; with the view of deducing the 
 density of the whole earth by comparing its attraction
 
 S2 CONSTITUTION Ot 
 
 with that of the mountain. From such data it was found 
 that the mean density of the earth was to that of the 
 mountain as 9 to 5 ; and from hence it was concluded that 
 the interior of the globe must be composed of substances 
 whose density was about double that of the mass of the 
 mountain. But it was subsequently found that the speci- 
 fic gravity of the mountain, an item in these calcalations, 
 had been estimated too high, and by the corrections made 1 
 by Mr. Playfair, the density of the earth obtained in this 
 way was found to be only 5. That is, the whole earth, 
 bulk for bulk, is five times the weight of water. This 
 estimate, which is most generally received at the present 
 day, makes it necessary to suppose that the interior of the 
 earth is much more dense than its surface ; for the heaviest 
 rock with which we are acquainted has a density of only 
 3, and the lightest about 2|, while the specific gravity of 
 the ocean is a little more than 1. The specific gravity of 
 the earth's surface including the water, therefore, cannot 
 be much above 2i. But the mean density of the whole 
 earth being 5, is more than double that of its surface, and 
 hence the interior of the earth must have a greater density 
 than 5, to counterbalance this want of weight at the 
 surface. 
 
 From these considerations, it has been supposed that 
 the interior of the earth, instead of being compcsed of 
 rocks, like the surface, must consist of metallic substances. 
 It has also been shown from mathematical calculations 
 that there is a gradual increase of density towards the 
 centre of the earth, and hence it has been thought still 
 more probable that its nucleus is of a metallic nature. 
 
 La Place, with this view of the earth's structure, has 
 estimated its density at the centre. If 5, 4 be taken as its 
 mean density and its superficial densities be assumed as 3, 
 13; 3, 2; 2, 79; and 2, GO, then on the theory of the com- 
 pressibility, the density at the centre will be 1 3, 25 ; 1 4, 54 ; 
 15, 78; and 20, 10, respectively. The least of these is 
 about double the density of iron, and the greatest exceeds 
 that of gold, being about equal to that of hammered 
 platina, the most ponderous of all known substances. 
 But both philosophy and conjecture are alike useless 
 on this subject, for in spite of both, we must remain 
 ignorant concerning the composition of the earth's 
 centre,
 
 THE GLOBE. 33 
 
 f ., . ..^, -.-^ t< . -.'.,. .. 
 
 Distribution of Sea and Land. Nearly three fourths 
 of the whole surface of the globe is covered by water. 
 The surface of the Pacific Ocean alone is estimated to 
 be somewhat greater than all the dry land with which we 
 are acquainted. (Daubuisson.) 
 
 The greatest elevation of land is about 25,000 feet above 
 the level of the sea ; but its greatest depression, being con- 
 cealed by the water, cannot be ascertained, and hence the 
 quantity of water which the oceans contain cannot be es- 
 timated with any degree of accuracy. La Place, however, 
 has made a computation of the mean depth of the sea, 
 founded on the theory of the tides, by which he concludes 
 that it is about twelve miles. Concerning the bottom of 
 the sea, we know little more than that it consists of moun- 
 tains and valleys, like the surface of the land. This is as- 
 certained by the rocks, and islands which rise above the 
 surface of the water, and the reefs and deep water, which 
 are known to exist alternately, below it. The sounding 
 line of the mariner not only detects this unevenness of 
 the submarine surface, but also the steep acclivities of its 
 mountains and the gradual risings of its sand banks. 
 
 Composition and specific gravity of the Sea. The 
 whole ocean is composed of salt water, though it varies 
 considerably with respect to the quantity of solid matter 
 it contains. At the mouths of rivers, and in bays which 
 receive streams from the land, it is obvious that the water 
 cannot be so fully saturated with salt, as it is where it is not 
 thus diluted. There is also a difference with respect to 
 the quantity of salt which different oceans contain, inde- 
 pendently of any such circumstance. This is ascertained, 
 not only by the analysis of their waters, but also by their 
 different specific gravities. 
 
 It will be remembered that the standard, or unity, by 
 which specific gravities are estimated, is distilled water, 
 which is 1 ; and therefore the greater the quantity of solid 
 matter any water contains, the greater will be its specific 
 gravity. 
 
 Dr. Marcet instituted a series of experiments on sea wa- 
 ter from different parts of the world, from which he ob 
 tained the following results and conclusions. 
 
 1. "That the Southern Ocean contains more salt than 
 the Northern, in the ratio of 1.02919 to 1.02757." 
 
 2. "That the mean specific gravity of sea-water, near
 
 14 CONSTITUTION OF 
 
 the equator, is 1.02777, intermediate between that of th- 
 northern and southern hemispheres." 
 
 3. " That there is no notable difference in sea-water, 
 under different meridians." 
 
 4. " That there is no satisfactory evidence that the sea 
 at great depths, is more salt than at the surface." 
 
 5. " That the sea, in general, contains more salt where 
 it is deepest and most remote from land ; and that its salt- 
 ness is always diminished in the vicinity of large masses 
 of ice/' 
 
 6. " That small inland seas, though communicating 
 with the ocean, are much less salt than the ocean itself. 
 
 7. "That the Mediterranean contains a larger propor- 
 tion of salt than the ocean." 
 
 Temperature of the Earth. The superficial tempera- 
 ture of the earth, if not entirely due to the heat of the sun, 
 is greatly influenced by it. Still local circumstances cause 
 considerable variations in different places situated under 
 the same latitudes. These circumstances will be noticed 
 in their proper place. 
 
 Geological investigations have proved that the tempera- 
 ture of the earth has not always remained the same ; but that 
 the climates of different countries, and probably the su- 
 perficial heat of the entire globe, have greatly deteriorated, 
 since the time when the elephant inhabited Siberia, and 
 the mastodon, the forests of North America. This subject 
 will be examined under the articles "Change of Climate," 
 and "Organic Remains." 
 
 With respect to the internal temperature of the Earth, 
 the prevailing opinion among geologists of the presen* 
 day, appears to be that the heat increases in some propor- 
 tion to the distance of the descent from the surface. That 
 this is the case, seems to be proved by the experiments 
 made in mines, situated in different parts of the world, an 
 account of which will be given hereafter. 
 
 Temperature of the Sea and of Lakes. The maximum 
 density of fresh water is at the temperature of 40 degrees 
 of Fahrenheit, and it has been considered that sea-water 
 follows a similar law of condensation. Now water being 
 free in its motion, arranges itself according to its density, 
 that which is at, or near the temperature of 40, occupy
 
 inr GLOB*. 95 
 
 ing the lowest place, while that which is warmed by the 
 sun, is superincumbent on this. 
 
 In 1819 and 1820, Mr. De laBechemade numerous ex- 
 periments, with great care, on the temperature of the Swiss 
 lakes, and from which he found that between the surface 
 and the depth of 40 fathoms, there was a material varia- 
 tion of temperature. From one to five fathoms, in the month 
 of September, the heat was from 64 to 67; but be- 
 low this, the temperature decreased down to 40 fathoms. 
 From 40 to 90 fathoms, the thermometer stood almost uni- 
 formly at 44; and from 90 to 164 fathoms, it invariably 
 stood at 43 5' 
 
 In the winter, these experiments were repeated, and it 
 was found that the temperature of the water followed the 
 same law. 
 
 The temperature of the sea at different depths, accords 
 sufficiently with the observations already made ; the tempe- 
 rature diminishing to the depth where the fluid attains its 
 greatest density, below which it remains the same, or at 
 a similar temperature. It appears, however, that there is 
 considerable difference in the temperature of different seas, 
 at similar depths. Thus Capt. Kotzebue, in latitude about 
 36 N. and longitude 148 W. when the surface of the 
 water was nearly 73, found the temperature 57, at 25 fa- 
 thoms; 52 8' at 103 fathoms; and 44 at 300 fathoms. 
 White the same observer in lat. 30 39' S. found a tempe- 
 rature of 49 5' at 35 fathoms ; and in a similar latitude 
 S. 38 8' in 196 fathoms. It will be observed, however, 
 that the same law is maintained, both in salt and fresh 
 water, viz. a decrease of temperature downwards. But this 
 fact is not at variance with the probability of an internal, 
 er central heat, since the waters arrange themselves in the 
 order of their densities, and this would take place, whether 
 the bottoms of deep seas were cold or warm, 
 
 Temperature of the Atmosphere. The atmosphere is 
 composed of two gaseous substances, called oxygen and 
 nitrogen, and in the proportion of 20 parts of the first, to 
 80 of the last. From its refractive powers, it has been 
 calculated that the atmosphere reaches to the height ol 
 about 45 miles above every part of the earth. 
 
 The heat which is constantly radiating from the earth, 
 is absorbed by the atmosphere, so that its temperature in 
 hot climates often exceeds that of the human system. That
 
 36 CONSTITUTION 0V 
 
 the temperature of the air is dependent on the heat of the 
 earth's surface, is proved by the well known fact, that it 
 constantly diminishes as we ascend upwards, or recede 
 from the earth. Hence, in the hottest climates, there is a 
 region a few thousand feet above the earth, to which its 
 heat never ascends in such quantity as to prevent perpetu- 
 al congelation. 
 
 The line of perpetual snow, we should suppose would 
 differ in elevation, (under equal circumstances,) accord- 
 ing to the distance from the equator. It is, however, 
 liable to considerable variations, probably from local cau- 
 ses. 
 
 The following table, from Encyc. Britannica, article Cli- 
 mate, presents the different elevations at which there is 
 constant frost, under different latitudes. 
 
 Lat. Height in feet. Lat. Height in feet. 
 
 15,207 
 
 5 15,095 
 
 10 14,761 
 
 15 14,220 
 
 20 13,478 
 
 25 12,557 
 
 30 11,484 
 
 35 10,287 
 
 40 9,001 
 
 45 7,671 
 
 50 6,334 
 
 55 5,034 
 
 60 3,818 
 
 65 2,722 
 
 70 1,778 
 
 75 1,016 
 
 80 457 
 
 85 117 
 
 From this table, we learn that there is no regular 
 correspondence between the latitude and the height of 
 perpetual frost, and that the difference in this respect is 
 much greater than might have been expected from the 
 influence of local causes. Thus the difference between 
 the freezing height at the equator, and in latitude five de- 
 grees, is only one hundred and twelve feet ; though at the 
 other extreme, from eighty to eighty-five degrees, this 
 difference is upwards of three hundred feet. Much the 
 greatest difference is in the temperate latitudes, as be- 
 tween thirty-five degrees, and forty degrees, where the ele- 
 vation is from 10,287, down to 9,001, making a difference 
 of 1,286 feet in five degrees. Whether these differences 
 are entirely dependent on local causes, we have no means 
 of deciding. 
 
 In the elevation of mountains to the region of perpetual
 
 THE GLOBE. 37 
 
 frost, and in such a disposition of things, as that their sum- 
 mits should constantly be covered with snow, there is a strik- 
 ing display of wisdom and design. Such mountains, in ar- 
 dent climates, not only temper the atmosphere below, but 
 serve as perpetual reservoirs of water, during the summer, 
 from the melting' of the ice, and thus become the parents 
 of innumerable streams, without which, many regions 
 would be uninhabitable. 
 
 EFFECTS OF CAUSES NOW IN OPERATION ON EARTIl's 
 SURFACE. 
 
 The earth almost every where presents appearances 
 which cannot be traced to causes now existing, or which 
 have existed since the historical era. No high mountains 
 have been elevated, or deep valleys formed, within the age 
 of history, nor can these great effects be attributed to the 
 slow causes now in operation. It is true that occasional 
 excavations by uncommon floods of water are made, and 
 now and then there happens a subterranean convulsion, 
 which elevates a small portion of earth, but such effects, 
 though supposed to have operated constantly, from the re- 
 motest period which the imagination can suggest, \vill ne- 
 ver account satisfactorily, for the changes which the sur- 
 face of the earth has undergone since the creation. We 
 may hence conclude, either, that the causes which produ- 
 ced such mighty effects, have entirely ceased, and are un- 
 known to us, or that they operated with infinitely greater 
 force formerly than at present. 
 
 If we attribute the elevation of mountains, to subterra- 
 nean fire, and the excavation of the great valleys, to floods 
 of water, it is obvious that these causes must have been infi- 
 nitely more powerful at some remote period than at pre- 
 sent. 
 
 It being one of the great objects of Geology to point out 
 the changes which the crust of the earth has undergone, 
 and if possible to account for them ; it becomes necessary 
 that the causes now operating, and the effects of which 
 are apparent, should be distinguished from those, the ef- 
 fects only of which, are certainly known at the present day. 
 
 We begin with the "Effects of causes now in operation," 
 that we may be enabled to judge how far they have been 
 the instruments of producing the changes which it is evi-
 
 38 EFFECTS OF RUNNING WATER. 
 
 dent the earth has undergone, and how far, with more time, 
 or greater force, they might account for the phenomena 
 which the earth presents. 
 
 General effects of running water. It is well known 
 that mountains, or lands elevated far above the level of the 
 sea, attract the moisture of the atmosphere, in some pro- 
 portion to their elevation. By this provision, the higher 
 regions of the earth become perpetual reservoirs of wa- 
 ter, which descend and irrigate the plains and valleys below. 
 Thus a great proportion of the water which falls upon the 
 earth, is carried first to the higher regions ; and then made 
 to descend, often by steep declivities, towards the sea, so 
 that it requires a rapid velocity, and removes a greater 
 quantity of soil than it would do, if the rain was equally 
 distributed on the mountains and plains. Thus without 
 reference to the disintegration or decay of rocks, the wa- 
 ter constantly transports more or less soil and gravel from 
 the hills to the plains. 
 
 Among the most powerful agents in effecting the decay 
 of rocks, is the mechanical action of water, especially in 
 cold climates. It is well known that water expands in the 
 act of freezing. The effect of this expansion is so pow- 
 erful as to burst bomb-shells, and large ccnrcn, when 
 closely confined in them. When, therefore, water falls 
 into the fissures of rocks, and there freezes, the rocks are 
 rent apart with the force of a powerful lever ; and the more 
 porous ones are divided into small pieces. These are of- 
 ten further divided by the frequent fall, and consequent 
 crushing and grinding motion of one rock on another on 
 the declivities of the mountains. Water also has the pow- 
 er of dissolving considerable quantities of some kinds of 
 rocks, especially those of the limestone and gypsum kinds. 
 The Oxygen of the atmosphere is another cause of the de- 
 cay of rocks. " This element is gradually absorbed by all 
 animal and vegetable substances, and by almost all mine- 
 ral masses exposed to the open air. It gradually destroys 
 the equilibrium of the elements of rocks, even the hardest 
 aggregates belonging to our globe." Sir H. Davy. 
 
 When earthy matter has been once mixed with running 
 water, a new mechanical power is obtained by the attrition 
 of sand and pebbles, borne along by the violence of the 
 stream. Rapid streams charged with foreign matter, and 
 thrown against their rocky sides, will, in the course of time,
 
 EFFECTS OF RONXIXO WATER. 39 
 
 produce excavations, in consequence of which, rocks are 
 often undermined and precipitated into their beds. The 
 water being thus obstructed, accumulates, and cuts for it- 
 self a new ch nine!, taking \vith it an additional quantity of 
 earth. In this manner, also, the stream is often made to 
 take a new direction, perhaps obliquely across the valley- 
 through which it runs. The unequal hardness of the soil 
 is another cause of change in the direction of streams, and 
 so also are logs of wood, leaves, and other matters with 
 which streams are often charged. When from these, or 
 other causes, a current is made to deviate from its course, 
 it gradually wears a curve into the opposite bank, where 
 the water for a moment accumulates, and then receiving 
 a different direction from the lower side of the curve, 
 shoots across to the opposite side, where a similar curve 
 is soon formed, and the water made to re-cross the channel 
 as before. Thus we often see brooks and rivers crossing 
 and re-crossing the valleys through which they run, many 
 times; and sometimes, after taking a wide sweep, return- 
 ing again nearly to the point where the same water had 
 passed, an hour, or many hours before. When this hap- 
 pens, and every one has seen 
 such instances, it is often the 
 case that during some over- 
 flow of the stream, the water 
 cuts across the isthmus at A, 
 as seen in the diagram, and 
 thus forms an island. Incon- 
 sequence of this, the water not only takes a new direction 
 at that particular point, but often the foundation is thus laid 
 for considerable changes below the island. 
 
 These serpentine windings, not only take place in trout 
 brooks, but in the largest rivers, and thus become the 
 means of levelling and fertilizing tracts of country of 
 greater or less extent. The Mississippi, through a con- 
 siderable part of its course, cuts across its immense valley 
 in the manner here described, and sometimes after run- 
 ning ten or twenty miles, returns back again nearly to the 
 same point. The fertile valley of the Connecticut has 
 been formed in a great measure by the same means. The 
 rich meadows, now every year irrigated by its waters, 
 have been formed in the course of time, by the changes of 
 its bed. This is shown by the logs of wood uncovered 
 in its banks by every new change its current makes at 
 the present time. Charcoal and other organic substances
 
 40 THE RIVER PO. 
 
 stances have been found 20 feet below the present surface 
 of its banks. 
 
 In estimating the transporting power of water, we are 
 apt to forget its buoyancy, and on which indeed its power 
 of moving heavy substances, such as rocks, in a great mea- 
 sure depends. The specific gravity of many rocks is little 
 more than twice that of water, that of granite and lime- 
 stone being about 2.50, that is, two and a half times, bulk 
 for bulk, the weight of water. Hence a stone weighing 
 twenty-five pounds in the air or under ordinary circum- 
 stances, will weigh only fifteen pounds when immersed in 
 water. Those who have never tried the experiment of 
 lifting a stone under water, will be surprised to find, with 
 what ease he can raise a block of granite to the surface, 
 above which, however, with all his efforts, he cannot lift it. 
 If a man can lift a stone weighing one hundred pounds 
 whose specific gravity is two, in the air, he can lift one 
 weighing two hundred pounds in the water, because the 
 fluid lifts just one half of its \veight. It is from our not 
 taking this circumstance into account, that we are often sur- 
 prised at the power of torrents to move stones of great size. 
 
 According to experiments recorded in the Encyclope- 
 dia Britannica, a velocity of water equal to three inches 
 per second is sufficient to tear up fine clay, six inches per 
 second fine sand twelve inches per second fine gravel ; 
 and three feet per second small stones. It is obvious, 
 however, that the depth of the water will influence these 
 results, and that the power of moving bodies will be in 
 proportion to its depth and velocity. 
 
 Since the time of historical records, the power of run- 
 ning water has produced many, and great changes in va- 
 rious parts of the world. In some instances, lakes have 
 been filled up, in others, deep ravines have been formed. 
 in others \vhole districts have been ruined in consequence 
 of rivers having changed their beds, and in others, conside- 
 rable tracts of land have been accumulated, or sometimes 
 swept away, by the force of mountain torrents. 
 
 Effects of the River Po. The Po affords a grand example 
 of the manner in which a great and rapid stream, bears 
 down to the sea, the alluvial matter poured into it by a 
 multitude of tributaries, descending from lofty chains of 
 mountains. The changes gradually produced by this 
 river in the great plains of Northern Italy since the time
 
 THE RIVER PO. 41 
 
 of the Roman Republic have been exceedingly disastrous 
 to some parts of that country. Extensive lakes, and 
 marshes, have been slowly filled up, as those of Placentia, 
 Parma and Cremona, while others have been drained by the 
 sams cause. Since 1390 the Po deserted its bed through 
 a part of the territory of Cremona and invaded that of Par- 
 ma, its old channel being still obvious, and retaining the 
 name of Po morto, or dead Po. The town of Bres- 
 sello, which formerly stood on the left bank of the river, 
 now stands on the right, the river, not the town, having 
 changed its locality. In the ancient parish records it is 
 stated that several churches were taken down and after- 
 wards rebuilt at a greater distance from the new bed of 
 this devastating stream, and in 1471 the friars of a monas- 
 tery pulled down their edifice and erected it at a greater 
 distance from the Po. 
 
 To keep this wild stream within bounds, a general sys- 
 tem of embankment, through the plains of Northern 
 Italy, was commenced in the thirteenth century, which 
 has continually been increased until the present time. 
 The increased velocity of the river, in consequence of its 
 being thus confined, causes it to transport to the sea a much 
 greater quantity of alluvial matter than it would otherwise 
 do, because there are no sluggish intervals where its 
 waters can deposit their sediment. Hence the delta of 
 the Po, even since the memory of man, has greatly increas- 
 ed. The ancient city of Adria was originally a sea port 
 of the Adriatic, but it is now twenty miles from the shore. 
 In the twelfth century, Adria was about six miles from the 
 shore, the Po having added fourteen miles of alluvial 
 soil since that period. 
 
 But notwithstanding more alluvial matter is carried into 
 the sea in consequence of this embankment, more is also 
 deposited in its bed; for that which would be spread upon, 
 the plains during an overflow is now confined within the 
 narrow limits of its banks. In consequence of this con- 
 stant deposition, it is found necessary every year to re- 
 move the mud and sand from the bed of the river, and 
 place it on the embankment, otherwise the water would 
 be in danger of breaking through, and destroying the 
 whole plain below. 
 
 This system has been so long continued, that at the 
 present day, the Po crosses its plains to a considerable dis- 
 tance, on the top of a high and continued mou-nd like the 
 4*
 
 42 FALLS OF NIAGARA. 
 
 waters of an aqueduct, and to the great hazard and terror 
 of the people in the valleys every spring. 
 
 M. de Prony, who has recently been employed by govern- 
 ment, to examine the present condition of this river, and if 
 possible to suggest some method of security against a ca- 
 tastrophe which every year threatens the lives and proper- 
 ty of so many inhabitants, ascertained that the bed of the 
 Po is now higher than the roofs of the houses in the city 
 of Ferrara, near which it runs. The magnitude of these 
 barriers, already so immense, it is found necessary to in- 
 crease every year, to prevent an inundation. Lyell and 
 Cuvicr. 
 
 When we consider that the smallest stream breaking 
 through or running over this embankment, would, if not 
 discovered within a few seconds, destroy, in spite of all 
 human power, many cities, towns, and villages, with all 
 their inhabitants, we may in some degree conceive of the 
 constant anxiety which those must feel who reside within 
 the danger. 
 
 Falls of Niagc ra. This is the most magnificent water- 
 fall in the world. It is situated between lake Erie above, 
 and lake Ontario below, the cataract being formed by the 
 passage of the water from one lake to the other. The 
 distance between the nearest shores of these lakes is about 
 thirty-seven miles, and the height of Erie above Ontario 
 is, according to Mr. Featherstonhaugh, 322 feet. On 
 flowing out of the upper lake, the river is almost on a 
 level with its banks, so that if it should rise perpendicular- 
 ly eight or ten feet, it would lay under water the adjacent 
 flat country of Upper Canada on the west, and part of the 
 State of New- York on the east. The river where it 
 issues, is about twenty-five feet deep, and three quarters of 
 a mile wide. Its descent is fifty feet in half a mile. Goat 
 Island, at the very verge of the cataract, divides the water 
 into two parts. The stream on the American side is 1,072 
 feet wide ; and the curvature of the great Horse-shoe fall 
 is 2,376 feet wide, making the width of the whole at the 
 falls, 3,448 feet. 
 
 Although the aggregate descent from Erie to Ontario is 
 322 feet, the perpendicular fall at the cataract is less than 
 one half this distance. 
 
 The following particulars are from Mr. Featherston- 
 haugh's journal.
 
 FALLS OF NIAGARA. 43 
 
 feet miles. 
 
 Fall from Erie to the rapids above the Cata- 
 ract of Niagara, 15 in 23 
 Fall of the rapids to the edge of the Cata- 
 ract, 51 % 
 Fall of the Horse shoe Cataract, 150 
 From Horse-shoe fall to Lewiston, 104 > . 
 From Lewiston to Ontario, 2 $ 
 
 322 36i- 
 
 There is no doubt but the Falls of Niagara at some re- 
 mote period, were at Q,ueenstown, which is about seven 
 miles below their present situation. The breadth of the 
 gorge or excavation made by the waters, is, on approach- 
 ing the falls, about 1200 feet, but is much narrower to- 
 wards Q,ueenstown. 
 
 The kind of rock through which it passes consists of 
 limestone and shale, the latter a dark coloured shelly form- 
 ation, 80 feet thick, lying under the limestone. The 
 limestone is 70 feet thick, above which is the ordinary 
 soil of the country. 
 
 The limestone is hard, and lies in horizontal strata at 
 the edge of the falls ; but the shale is soft, and is acted upon 
 with much greater facility than the limestone, so that the 
 latter rock often overhangs the former perhaps forty feet 
 at the edge of the precipice. 
 
 The blasts of wind charged with spray, which rise out 
 of the pool into which this enormous cascade is projected, 
 strike against the shale beds, so that their disintegration 
 is constant ; and the superincumbent projecting limestone 
 being left without a foundation falls from time to time in 
 immense rocky masses. When these enormous fragments 
 fall, a shock is felt, often at considerable distances, ac- 
 companied by a noise resembling a distant clap of 
 thunder. 
 
 The waters which expand at the falls, where they are 
 divided by the island, are contracted again after their union 
 into a stream averaging not more than 500 feet broad. 
 In the narrow channel, immediately below this immense 
 rush of waters, a boat may pass across the stream with 
 safety. The pool into which the cataract is precipitated 
 being 170 feet deep, the descending water sinks down and 
 forms an under current, while a superficial eddy carries the
 
 44 FALLS OF NIAGARA. 
 
 upper stratum back towards the main fall. See Mr. 
 Bakewell, Jr., on the falls of Niagara, London Maga 
 zine, 1830. 
 
 There is no doubt but the falls of Niagara were once at 
 Queenstown, as above stated and have gradually cut their 
 way through the rock to their present situation. 
 
 Mr. Lyell, who refers all the changes which have taken 
 place on the earth's surface to "causes now in opera- 
 tion," states that the recession of the falls have been at the 
 rate of fifty yards in forty years, and therefore a little 
 more than three feet on an average in each year. 
 
 If the ratio of recession says he, " had never exceeded 
 fifty yards in forty years, it must have required nearly 
 ten thousand years for the excavation of the w r hole ravine ; 
 but no probable conjecture can be offered as to the quan- 
 tity of time consumed in such an operation, because the 
 retrograde movement may have been much more rapid 
 when the whole current was confined within a space not 
 exceeding a fourth, or a fifth part of that which the falls 
 now occupy. Should the erosive action not be accele- 
 rated in future, it will take upwards of thirty thousand 
 years for the falls to reach lake Erie (twenty-five miles 
 distant) to which they seem destined to arrive in the 
 course of time, unless some earthquake changes the rela- 
 tive levels of the districts. The table land extending from 
 lake Erie, consists uniformly of the same geological for- 
 mations as are now exposed at the falls. The upper 
 stratum is an ancient alluvial sand, varying in thickness 
 from 10 to 140 feet ; below which is a bed of hard lime- 
 stone about 90 feet in thickness, stretching nearly in a 
 horizontal direction over the whole country, and forming 
 the bed of the river above the falls, as do the inferior 
 shales below. The lower shale is nearly of the same 
 thickness of the limestone." 
 
 " Should lake Erie remain in its present state until the 
 period when the ravine recedes to its shores, the sudden 
 escape of that great body of water would cause a tremen- 
 dous deluge, for the ravine would be more than sufficient 
 [in depth we suppose,] to drain the whole lake, of which 
 the average depth was found, during the late surveys, to be 
 ten or twelve fathoms." Lyell' s Geology, vol. 1, page 
 179182. 
 
 Such is the tenor of Mr. Lyell's reasoning when at- 
 tempting to " explain the former changes of the earth's
 
 FALLS OF NIAGARA. 45 
 
 surface by reference to causes now in operation;" and 
 thus to deny the Mosaic history of the creation, and of the 
 deluge. 
 
 Although he owns that no probable conjecture can be 
 afforded with respect to the time which has elapsed since 
 the falls of Niagara were at Queenstown, still, it is obvious 
 that the impression intended to be left on the mind of the 
 reader is, that it was about 10,000 years ago; that is, about 
 4,000 years before the creation of the world, according to 
 Moses, these falls were at Q,ueenstown. And at some future 
 period, say 30,000 years hence, there will be a great flood 
 in America, just as there have happened great floods at 
 different periods according to what he calls the "uniform- 
 ity of the order of nature." 
 
 Now let us see, in the first place, whether the data stated 
 by the author, can possibly \varrant the supposition that 
 the falls of Niagara have been 10,000 years, or even half 
 that time, in passing from Glueenstown to their present lo- 
 cation. 
 
 Mr. Lyell, who quotes Capt. Basil Hall for his author- 
 ity, makes the falls 800 yards wide at the verge of the pre- 
 cipice : viz. the American fall 200 yards, and the Horse-shoe 
 fall 600 yards wide. The channel below the falls towards 
 Queenstown, according to the same authority, is 160 yards 
 wide. Mr. Featherstonhaugh, (Monthly American Jour- 
 nal, No. 1,) we have already seen, makes all these widths 
 more considerable. But we will take Mr. LyelPs own 
 account. 
 
 The old channel being 160 yards wide, is exactly one 
 fifth the width of the present falls. Now supposing the 
 retrograde movement of the cataract had been in propor- 
 tion to its width, then according to Mr. Lyell's estimate it 
 could have been only 2000 years in travelling from 
 Queenstown to its present place; for 160 being a fifth of 
 800, and allowing the present movement to be at the rate 
 of 7 miles in 10,000 years, then, being only a fifth as wide, 
 anciently as now, there is reason to believe that it moved 
 at least five times as fast. But reasoning from the data 
 before us the time must have been even less than 2,000 
 years, for it is plain that a given quantity of water, say a 
 yard in breadth, would perform the work of excavation 
 more than five times as rapidly as it would if spread over 
 five yards in breadth. It is however but fair to state that 
 the falls at Queenstown were not so high as they are at
 
 46 FALLS OF XlA^Afc.1. 
 
 present, and therefore, estimating the quantity of water 
 the same as at present, the movement must have been slow- 
 er than now. For, we know that the denudatmg, or ex- 
 cavating power of water, bears not only a proportion to 
 its depth and rapidity, but also to the heighth from which 
 it falls, so that cataracts of little elevation produce no per- 
 ceptible effects for centuries, while, if the same quantity of 
 water were precipitated from a height of several hundred 
 feet, the whole precipice would gradually retrograde up 
 the stream. Allowing, therefore, that the falls moved 
 only at half the rate above estimated, this would fix the 
 time at 4000 years since they were at Queenstown. 
 
 Now, without giving any opinion as to the real 
 epoch, when this cataract was at Queenstown, for there are 
 no grounds on which such an opinion ought to be formed; 
 still we must be permitted to say, that according to the 
 data Mr.Lyell has given us, it is quite plain that the cata- 
 ract of Niagara could not have been more than 3 or 4000 
 years in moving from Queenstown to its present place, 
 instead of 10,000 years, which impression, if any, he 
 conveys. 
 
 American Deluge. With respect to the deluge which 
 Mr. Lyell predicts will happen about 30,000 years hence in 
 North America, we will state the grounds on which his 
 profoundly scientific vision presages a catastrophe so aw- 
 ful to this devoted country. 
 
 "It was," says he "contrary to analogy to suppose that 
 nature had been at any former epoch, parsimonious of time, 
 and prodigal of violence, to imagine that one district was 
 not at rest Avhile another was convulsed that the disturb- 
 ing forces were not kept under subjection, so as never to 
 carry simultaneous desolation over the whole earth, or 
 even over one great region." ****. "In speculating on 
 catastrophes by water, we may certainly expect great 
 floods in future, and we therefore presume that they have 
 happened again and again in past times. The existence 
 of enormous seas of fresh water, such as the North Ame- 
 rican lakes, the largest of which is elevated more than 
 600 feet above the level of the ocean, and is in part 1200 
 feet deep, is alone sufficient to assure us, that the time will 
 come, however distant, when a deluge will lay waste a 
 considerable part of the American continent. No hypo- 
 thetical agency is required to cause the sudden escape of
 
 FALLS OF NIAGARA. 47 
 
 the confined waters. Such changes of level and opening 
 of fissures, as have accompanied earthquakes since the 
 commencement of the present century, or such excava- 
 tions of ravines as the receding cataract of Niagara is now 
 effecting, might break the barriers. Notwithstanding, 
 therefore, that we have not witnessed within the last 3000 
 years the devastation by deluge of a large continent, yet 
 as we may predict the future occurrence of such catastro- 
 phes, we are authorized to regard them as part of the 
 present order of nature, and they may be introduced into 
 
 feological speculations respecting the past, provided we 
 o not imagine them to have been more frequent, or gen- 
 eral than we expect them to be in time to come." Prin- 
 ciples of Geology, vol. 1, p. 88. 
 
 It is on such grounds that one of the most voluminous 
 and learned among the recent English geologists disputes 
 the Mosaic history of the deluge; and we have introduced 
 the above extract to show, that even men of argument on 
 other subjects, often reason in the most ridiculous man- 
 ner, and on grounds totally false, when they undertake to 
 deny the truth of the Holy Scriptures. 
 
 Mr. Lyell's argument runs thus. "Because there are 
 groat lakes in North America situated 600 feet above the 
 sea, and because the cataract of Niagara is receding to- 
 wards these lakes at the rate of fifty yards in forty years; 
 therefore we may anticipate great floods in future, and we 
 therefore presume that they have happened again and 
 again in past times." Consequently we must presume 
 that all the changes the earth has undergone by water, 
 have been produced by such catastrophes, and therefore 
 Noah's flood never happened, and so the Mosaic history 
 :s not to be believed. 
 
 It is plain that Mr. Lyell's zeal to show that there 
 has been no universal deluge, made him forget, that in 
 another part of his volume he states that the quantity of 
 sediment which is every year deposited in lake Erie is 
 such, that it will finally be filled up and become dry land, 
 and as he does not expect the cataract of Niagara will 
 drain this lake until the end of 30,000 years, we may hope 
 that it will become solid within that period. 
 
 But independently of this oversight, no person of the 
 least reflection, Avhether geologist or not, would for a mo- 
 ment believe that a lake, formed like a dish, and surround- 
 ed on all sides by solid limestone rocks 90 feet thick, as
 
 48 V/KIYS MOUNTAINS. 
 
 Erie is, could be drained to its bottom in a few hours by 
 the action of its own waters. Suppose the cataract of 
 Niagara now at the outlet of lake Erie and moving into it 
 at the rate of 50 yards in 40 years, or a little more than a 
 yard per year, we would inquire of Mr. Lyell how long a 
 period would be consumed in draining it to the bottom, 
 and whether the escape of its waters thus sudden " would 
 cause a tremendous deluge," as he asserts. 
 
 The title of Mr. LyelPsbook being, " An attempt to ex- 
 plain the former changes of the Earth's surface, by re- 
 ference to causes now in operation" is itself an attack on 
 the sacred Scriptures, but we are happy to believe that 
 Christianity is in little danger from his arguments. 
 
 Mountain Slides. Instances have happened in various 
 parts of the world, where considerable changes have been 
 produced in the surface of the globe, by the sliding of large 
 portions of earth, together with fragments of rocks, from 
 the declivities of mountains. These changes are readily 
 distinguished from those occasioned by the general 
 deluge, not only by their local and more recent appear- 
 ance, but also by the direction in which these precipitated 
 rocks remain with respect to the range of the mountain 
 from which they have fallen. For the great currents of 
 the deluge left their effect in lines corresponding with the 
 ranges of most of the high mountains and considerable 
 valleys, where they are still to be seen; whereas occasion- 
 al slides leave their effects at the feet of the mountains, in 
 piles, or downward ranges. 
 
 Slide of the White Mountains. The White Moun- 
 tains are situated in New Hampshire, and are the highest 
 land in New-England. The slide to be described took 
 place in August, 1826, and was in consequence of the fall 
 of an immense quantity of rain on the mountain. 
 
 On both sides of the river Saco, innumerable rocks and 
 stone, many of them of sufficient size to fill a common 
 apartment, were detached, and in their descent swept down 
 before them in one promiscuous and frightful ruin, forest 
 shrubs, and the earth in which they grew. No tradition 
 existed of any similar catastrophe at former times, and the 
 growth of the forests on the flanks of the mountain clearly 
 proved, that at least for a long interval, nothing similar 
 had occurred. One of these moving masses was af.er-
 
 FLOOD OF BAGNES. 49 
 
 wards found to have slid three miles, consisting of rocks, 
 earth, trees, &c., with an average breadth of a quarter 
 of a mile. The excavations commenced generally in 
 a trench a few yards in depth, and a few rods in width, 
 and descended the mountain, widening and deepen- 
 ing until they became vast chasms. Forests of spruce 
 and hemlock were apparently prostrated with as much 
 ease as if they had been fields of grain. The valleys of 
 the rivers Amunoosuck and Saco presented for many 
 miles, an uninterrupted scene of desolation; all the bridges 
 being carried away and the ground strewed with the 
 wrecks of trees and rocks, and in many instances large 
 quantities of soil. In some places the road was excava- 
 ted to the depth of 1 5 or 20 feet ; and in others it was co- 
 vered with rocks, trees and soil to as great a height. In 
 various places, as shown by the remaining marks, the 
 water rose to the height of 25 feet above its ordinary 
 level. 
 
 But these thing are of little consequence when com- 
 pared with the human suffering which this catastrophe 
 occasioned, for a family of nine persons were destroyed on 
 the night of the 28th, and not one lived to relate the cir- 
 cumstances. 
 
 This family, named Willey, occupied a house at the 
 foot of the mountain, a most lonely place, six miles from 
 any other human habitation. It was a resting place for 
 travellers. On the morning of the 28th the house was 
 found standing but not a human being was there. In 
 the course of a few days seven out of the nine bodies 
 were found at a short distance below the house, buried 
 under the ruins of the mountain, and most of them 
 shockingly mangled. It appeared that one of the heaviest 
 slides from the top of the mountain had rushed in the 
 most impetuous manner towards the house, but when 
 within six feet of it had divided, and passed on each side, 
 leaving the house untouched, but sweeping away the sta- 
 bles and horses. At this time it is supposed that the fami- 
 ly left the house, and met their destruction ; had they re- 
 mained, all would have been safe, Silliman's Journal 
 for January, 1829. 
 
 Flood in the Valley of Bagnes, in 1818. The Valley 
 of Bagnes forms a part of the main valley of the Rhone, 
 above the lake of Geneva, in Switzerland. Through this 
 5
 
 50 FLOOD OF BAGNES. 
 
 valley passes the river Dranse, which falls into the Rhone 
 above the lake. In 1 8 1 8, in consequence of the fall of ava- 
 lanches, the Dranse was completely dammed up, so that a 
 barrier of ice remained across its channel, until the melting 
 of the snow in the spring, formed a lake in its bed, a mile 
 and a half in length, about seven hundred feet wide, and 
 in some places two hundred feet deep. To prevent the 
 consequences apprehended from the sudden bursting of 
 this barrier, the people cut a tunnel through it, several 
 hundred feet in length, before the water had risen to any 
 considerable height. When the water had accumulated 
 so as to reach this tunnel, or gallery, it ran through, and 
 melting the ice it drained oft about one half of the lake. 
 But at length, on the approach of the hot season, the cen- 
 tral portion of the remaining mass of ice gave way with a 
 tremendous crash, and the residue of the lake was emp- 
 tied in half an hour. In the course of its descent, the wa- 
 ter encountered several narrow gorges, and at each of these 
 it rose to a great height, and then bursting its barriers, 
 rushed forward with increased violence, sweeping along 
 rocks, hous s, trees, bridges, and cultivated lands. For 
 the greater part of its course, the flood resembled a moving 
 mass of rocks and mud, rather than of water. Some frag- 
 ments of primary rock of enormous magnitude, and which 
 from their dimensions, might be compared, without exag- 
 geration, to houses, were torn out of a more ancient allu- 
 vion, and borne down for a quarter of a mile. The veloci- 
 ty of the water in the first part of its course, was thirty- 
 three feet per second, which diminished to six feet, before 
 it reached the lake of Geneva, where it arrived in six 
 hours, the distance being 45 miles. 
 
 This flood left behind it on the plains of Martigny, thou- 
 sands of trees torn up by the roots, together \vith the frag- 
 ments of many buildings. Some of the houses in the town 
 of Martigny were filled with mud up to the second story. 
 After expanding" in the plain, where the town stands, it 
 passed into the Rhone, and did no further damage. Ma- 
 ny lives were destroyed by this flood, and the bodies of 
 several persons were found on the surface of the Geneva 
 lake, thirty miles from the place where they were swept 
 away. 
 
 Inundations precisely similar, and from the same cause, 
 are recorded to have happened in former periods. In 
 1 595, the town of Martigny was destroyed by such a flood,
 
 ^ED BY 
 
 CHANGES EFFECTED BY SPRINGS. 51 
 
 and from sixty to eighty persons perished ; and in a simi- 
 lar catastrophe which took place,, fifty years before, one 
 hundred and forty persons lost their lives. 
 
 For several months after the debacle just described, the 
 river Dranse, having no settled channel, shifted its posi- 
 tion continually from one side to the other of the valley, 
 carrying away newly erected bridges, undermining houses, 
 and continuing to be charged with as large a quantity of 
 earthy matter as the fluid could hold in suspension." 
 See Ed, Phil. Jour. vol. 1. p. 178: and LyelVs Geology, 
 vol. 1. p. 194. 
 
 Now although we have no disposition to deny that great 
 changes have been wrought on the face of the earth by 
 the power of running streams, the bursting of lakes, &c. 
 yet all these effects combined, utterly fail to account for 
 the appearances enumerated under the article " Deluge." 
 The phenomena presented by the great valleys of the Alps, 
 the Pyrenees, and the Jura, cannot be attributed to any 
 cause, but a sudden and mighty torrent of water, such as 
 no one has thought fit to ascribe to the bursting of a lake, 
 and of which history contains no account, except that of 
 the Noachian deluge. 
 
 CHANGES EFFECTED BY SPRINGS. 
 
 The Theory of springs will be reserved for another place. 
 At present, our object will be to show the effects which 
 springs have had in changing the surface of the globe. 
 
 It is obvious that springs of pure water, unless uncom- 
 monly powerful, will produce but little effect on the surface 
 along which they run, and with a few exceptions, their ex- 
 cavating effects are scarcely to be taken into account. But 
 springs which contain carbonic acid gas, often hold con- 
 siderable quantities of calcareous matter in solution, and 
 which is deposited along their courses, producing what geo- 
 logists term calcareous tufa, or travertine. 
 
 These deposites are generally porous, and mixed with 
 leaves, bits of wood, mud, &c. but when more pure, they 
 are so solid as to be employed for building stones. Ma- 
 ny of these springs are thermal, or warm, and abound 
 chiefly in volcanic countries. 
 
 In those parts of France and Italy which skirt the Ap-
 
 5& SAN FILLIPPO. 
 
 ennmes, innumerable mineral springs, chiefly containing 
 carbonate of lime, issue from the ground. As the water 
 evaporates, the lime is left on the surface, and thus the 
 ground in some parts of Tuscany is covered to a consider- 
 able extent with the kind of deposite called Travertine, 
 already noticed. In some places these deposites are solid 
 and smooth on the surface, much resembling currents of 
 lava. 
 
 Baths of San Vignone. This spring is also in Tusca- 
 ny, and affords a striking example of the rapid precipita- 
 tion of carbonate of lim from thermal waters. The spring 
 issues from near the summit of a hill about one hundred 
 feet high. The water is hot, but Mr. Lyell, from whom 
 this account is taken, does not give its temperature. 
 
 So rapid is the deposition from this water, that a pipe 
 leading from the spring to the baths, and inclined at an an- 
 gle of thirty degrees, is found to contain a coat of solid 
 limestone half, a foot thick every year. A mass of solid 
 rock below the hill, formed by this water, is two hundred 
 feet thick. This is employed as a building stone, and in 
 quarrying it, Roman remains of art, such as tiles, have 
 been found five or six feet below the surface, being covered 
 by the deposite. 
 
 Baths of San Filippo. These baths are situated only 
 a few miles from those already described. The waters 
 which supply them are impregnated with carbonate of 
 lime, and sulphate of lime, (gypsum.) They flow from 
 the spring immediately into a pond where in twenty years 
 a solid rock is deposited thirty feet thick. A curious 
 manufactory which produces medallions in basso-reliei:o is 
 carried on at this place. 
 
 The water is first allowed to stand in a cistern where 
 the sulphate of lime is deposited. It is then conveyed to 
 a chamber through a tube, from the end of which it falls 
 ten or twelve feet, the current being broken by numerous 
 small sticks crossing each other, and by which means the 
 spray is dispersed around the room. Here are placed the 
 moulds of the medallions to be formed, which are first 
 rubbed over with a little soap. The water striking on 
 these moulds leaves particles of carbonate of lime, which 
 gradually increasing, leaves exact and beautifully white 
 casts of their figures.
 
 SILICIOUS SPRINGS. 53 
 
 The solid matter left by this spring, is a mass of lime- 
 stone and gypsum rock, a mile and a quarter long, the third 
 of a mile in breadth, and in some places at least two hun- 
 dred and fifty feet in thickness. The length of this depo- 
 site terminates abruptly, being crossed by a small stream, 
 which carries away the undeposited matter with the waters 
 of the spring, otherwise it would have been much more 
 extensive. 
 
 The quantity of matter deposited from these springs, 
 show the newness of the earth, or at least of the present 
 order of things on its surface ; for had they existed at the 
 period when Mr. Lyell supposes the cataract of Niagara 
 was at Queenstown, and discharged their waters, and form- 
 ed depositions as they do at the present day, and which it 
 is certain they did at the time of the Romans, these strata 
 ought to have been at least ten thousand feet thick. It is 
 true, however, that these thermal springs being caused by 
 volcanic heat, might have been formed within the last two 
 thousand years. 
 
 It is apparent from what has been stated concerning cal- 
 careous springs, that in the lapse of ages considerable chan- 
 ges must have been made in the earth's surface from this 
 source. But it must not be forgotten that this cause is lo- 
 cal in its nature, being confined chiefly to volcanic districts ; 
 and that even such districts seldom contain springs which 
 work such changes as are above described. 
 
 Silicious Springs. Although we possess no chemical 
 process by which water can be made to dissolve pure silex, 
 or flint, yet in the great laboratory of nature, this effect is 
 produced. There is, however, a process in chemistry, in 
 which by a previous combination, silex becomes soluble in 
 water, and which, perhaps, affords an analogy to the pro- 
 cess employed by nature. If silex be finely pulverized, 
 and then melted with a quantity of common alkali, the 
 whole becomes soluble in hot water. Now springs con- 
 taining any considerable quantity of silex, are always of 
 high temperatures ; and it is to the great degree of heat 
 which exists at their sources, together with small portions 
 of alkali which volcanic rocks contain, and which the 
 water dissolves, that we are to attribute the property these 
 waters possess, of holding silex in solution. Springs con- 
 taining any considerable quantity of silex, are, however, 
 exceedingly rare, and are mentioned here, rather on thi*
 
 54 GEYSERS. 
 
 account, than for the changes they have produced on the 
 earth's surface. 
 
 Springs of St. Michael. The hot springs of St. 
 Michael, one of the Azores, have been long celebrated. 
 These waters rise from among volcanic rocks, and hold 
 large quantities of silex in solution. As the waters de- 
 scend from the fountain, they deposite their silex in the 
 form of what is termed silicious sinter, which may be 
 considered as answering to the travertine, or tufa, of calca- 
 reous springs. 
 
 The herbage and leaves along the course of the stream 
 are more or less encrusted with silex, and exhibit all the 
 successive steps of petrifaction, from a soft state to a com- 
 plete conversion into stone. Branches of ferns, such as 
 now grow in the vicinity, are thus changed, still preserv- 
 ing their appearance of vegetation, except that they have 
 acquired an ash grey colour. Dr. Webster, Ed. Phil. 
 Jour. 
 
 Geysers of Iceland. But the Geysers of Iceland afford 
 the most remarkable examples of the deposition of silex. 
 These springs are situated in a volcanic district, the sur- 
 face of the ground out of which they rise being covered 
 with streams of ancient lava, through the fissures of which, 
 steam, and hot water, are emitted in various places. 
 
 The great Geyser, which has excited so much interest, 
 on account of the singular phenomena which it exhibits, 
 rises out of a basin at the summit of a circular mound, 
 composed of silicious incrustations deposited from the 
 spray of its waters. The diameter of this basin or crater 
 is 56 feet in one direction, and 46 in the other. 
 
 In the centre of this basin is .a natural pipe seventy- 
 eight feet in perpendicular depth, and from eight to ten 
 feet in diameter, gradually widening as it opens into the 
 basin. The basin, as the spring intermits, is sometimes 
 empty, but is more commonly filled with beautifully trans- 
 parent boiling hot water, which is often in a state of vio- 
 lent ebullition. During the rise of the water up the pipe, 
 especially when the ebullition is most violent, subterra- 
 nean noises are heard, like the distant firing of cannon, 
 and a slight tremor of the earth is felt near the place. 
 The sound then increases, and the motion of the earth be- 
 comes more violent, until at length a column of water is
 
 GEYSERS. 55 
 
 thrown up from the pipe, in a perpendicular direction to 
 the height of from one to two hundred feet, attended with 
 loud explosions. This is continued, with interruptions 
 like an artificial fountain, for a few minutes, the water at 
 the same time giving off immense quantities of steam and 
 vapor, when the pipe is evacuated by the discharge of 
 its whole contents of water, and there follows an immense 
 column of steam, which rushes up with amazing force 
 and a loud thundering noise, after which the eruption, or 
 paroxysm terminates, and the Geyser becomes quiet. 
 
 If stones are thrown into the pipe, or crater, during an 
 eruption, they are instantly ejected, and such is the explo- 
 sive force of the steam, that masses of hard rock thrown 
 in, are returned into the air, shivered into small fragments. 
 Mr. Henderson, late a resident in Iceland, and well ac- 
 quainted with these phenomena, states that by throwing 
 stones into the pipe of the Geyser, he could bring on an 
 eruption in a few minutes, and that in such cases the frag- 
 ments of stone as well as the water were thrown much 
 higher than usual. When an eruption had been brought 
 on in this manner, and the water had been ejected, the 
 steam continued to rush up, with amazing force, and at- 
 tended by a deafening roar, for nearly an hour, but the 
 Geyser, as if exhausted by this effort, did not give symp- 
 toms of a fresh eruption when its usual interval had 
 elapsed. 
 
 In the different explanations which have been offered to 
 account for phenomena so singular and astonishing, and 
 which have been no where else observed, most writers 
 agree in supposing a subterranean cavity, where water 
 and steam collect, and where the free escape of the steam 
 is interrupted at intervals, or until it acquires sufficient 
 force to overcome the resistance occasioned by the pres- 
 sure of the water. This will be readily understood by the 
 annexed diagram, reduced from Mr. Lyell, and we may 
 remark that the theory is the same with that of intermit- 
 ting spring, only that the Geyser acts by steam, while the 
 other is explained on the principles of the syphon. See the 
 Author's Nat. Philosophy, p. 107.
 
 In explain- 
 ing this cut, 
 suppose wa- 
 ter percolat- 
 ing from the 
 surface of the 
 earth, or from 
 springs be- 
 low, finds its 
 way into the 
 subterranean 
 cavity d, by 
 the fissures/* 
 f, while at the 
 same time 
 steam of an 
 
 extremely high temperature, emanates from volcanic rocks 
 into the same cavity through the fissures c c. A portion 
 of the steam in the first place would be condensed into 
 water, but its temperature continuing to increase by the 
 latent heat of the steam, the lower part of the cavity would 
 soon be filled with the boiling fluid, while the upper part 
 would be filled by steam under considerable pressure. 
 The steam continuing to form, the water being now too 
 hot to condense it, would soon by its expansive force, 
 drive the water up the pipe or fissure c, b, whatever 
 might be its height, and thus the basin at the surface 
 would be filled, and an eruption take place. When the 
 pressure is thus diminished, the steam in the upper part of 
 the cavity a, would expand, or probably a portion of the 
 boiling water under diminished pressure would be instant- 
 ly converted into steam, and the passage being free, would 
 rush up the pipe in the same manner as is seen and heard 
 on opening the safety valve of a steam boiler. If the 
 pipe be choked up artificially with stones, even for a few 
 minutes, a great increase of heat would be occasioned, 
 since the steam would thus be prevented from escaping, 
 so that the water would be made to boil in a few minutes 
 and thus an eruption would be brought on, as stated by 
 Mr. Henderson. 
 
 This explanation accounts for all the phenomena ob- 
 served in the Geysers, and although we cannot be certain 
 of its truth, still there is every reason to believe that such
 
 LAKE OF GENEVA. 57 
 
 a cavity exists, and it is certain that steam is the moving 
 power. 
 
 Mr. Lyell forms a theory of earthquakes on this expla- 
 nation. See Seat aiid Theory of Earthquakes. 
 
 DELTAS IN LAKES. 
 
 Considerable changes have taken place by causes now 
 going on, in consequence of the deposition of earthy 
 matter at the mouths of rivers where they enter lakes, or 
 seas. We have already given an account of the accumu- 
 lation of land along the shores of the Adriatic in conse- 
 quence chiefly of depositions from the river Po. The 
 quantity of matter thus carried down by different rivers, 
 of similar magnitudes, differs exceedingly ; this difference 
 depending much on the rapidity of the stream, and its 
 liability to overflow its banks at certain seasons. 
 
 Delta of the Lake of Geneva. The Lake of Geneva is 
 thirty seven miles long, and from two to nine miles broad. 
 The Rhone enters at one end of this lake and the city of 
 Geneva stands at the other. The water where it dis- 
 charges itself near the city is exceedingly clear and trans- 
 parent, but at the upper end it is commonly turbid, in con- 
 sequence of the matter brought down by the Rhone. 
 
 Mr. De La Beche, after numerous soundings, found that 
 the depth of the water in the middle of the lake was from 
 one hundred and twenty, to one hundred and sixty fa- 
 thoms; but on approaching the mouth of the Rhone, 
 the water began to grow shallower at the distance of a 
 mile and three quarters from that end of the lake. It 
 may be stated therefore that the strata annually produced 
 by the river are about two miles in length. From sound- 
 ings it has been ascertained that in some places the de- 
 posites from the Rhone are probably from six to nine 
 hundred feet in thickness; and from the remains of some 
 Roman buildings on the border of the lake, Mr. Lyell 
 judges that this accumulation has taken place within the last 
 eight hundred years. " If," says he " we could obtain the 
 depth of this accumulation formed in the last eight centu- 
 ries, we should see a great series of strata, probably from
 
 58 LAKE OF GENEVA. 
 
 six to nine hundred feet thick, and nearly two miles in 
 length, inclined at a very slight angle." 
 
 Mr. Lyell proposes a plan for estimating the time when 
 the Lake of Geneva, or the Leman Lake will become dry 
 land by the accumulations from the Rhone. 
 
 The capacity of the lake being obtained, "it would," 
 says he, " be an interesting subject of inquiry, to deter- 
 mine in what number of years the Leman lake would be 
 converted to dry land. It would not be difficult to obtain 
 the elements for such a calculation, so as to approximate 
 at least to the quantity of time required for the accom- 
 plishment of this result The number of cubic feet of 
 water annually discharged by the river into the lake being 
 known, experiments might be made in winter and summei 
 to determine the proportion of matter held in suspension, 
 or in chemical solution, by the Rhone." 
 
 Such calculations, however, after all the data that could 
 be obtained, would be exceedingly uncertain, and since 
 the elements proposed by the author have not been 
 obtained, we do not extract his speculations on this 
 subject. 
 
 But were it ascertained exactly how much alluvial 
 matter is carried down by the Rhone at the present day. 
 still this would decide nothing definitely with respect to 
 the time during which this accumulation has been forming. 
 According to Mr. Lyell' s supposition above cited, a part 
 of the delta has formed at the rate of about a foot in a year, 
 namely, from six to nine hundred feet in eight hundred 
 
 nrs. Now allowing that the Rhone has, on an average, 
 t osited a foot of matter a year in the lake, and has con- 
 tinued to do so ever since the deluge, then the accumula- 
 tion ought to be at least four thousand feet thick, which 
 would long ago have filled up the Leman lake, and made 
 it solid ground. The phenomena of this lake, therefore 
 clearly shows that either it has not received the Rhone 
 for so many years, or if so, that its waters contained less 
 solid matter anciently than at present. In either case, 
 it is quite certain that no argument can be derived from 
 the present condition of this delta, in favour of the high 
 antiquity of the present form of the earth. But on the con- 
 trary, if any conclusions can be drawn from this source, 
 they are in direct coincidence with the idea that the pre- 
 sent order of things are of recent origin, and therefore iq 
 confirmation of the truth of the sacred history pf the deluge,
 
 BALTIC SEA. 
 
 DELTAS IN THE SEA. 
 
 Accumulations in the Baltic. The question whether 
 the waters of the Baltic sea have been sinking, or whether 
 they have remained stationary, has been a subject of con- 
 troversy since the middle of the last century. Celcius, a 
 Swedish astronomer, attempted to prove that the waters 
 of this sea had suffered a depression at the rate of about 
 forty-five inches in a century, from the earliest times. He 
 contended that the proof of this change rested not only 
 on modern observations, but also on the authority of the 
 ancient geographers, who stated that Scandinavia, now a 
 peninsula, was formerly an island. But most of the argu- 
 ments of Celcius and his followers show that they did not 
 sufficiently distinguish between the shallowing of the water 
 by the deposition of sediment, and the actual lowering of 
 the sea. It appears that the sinking of the waters, on which 
 estimates were chiefly made, were at the mouths of rivers, 
 and in bays, where in the one case inland sediment might 
 be expected, and in the other where loss of depth might 
 be occasioned by the shifting of sand bars by the current 
 of the sea. But the facts stated concerning the gradual 
 conversion of the Gulf of Bothnia into dry land merit 
 more attention. Thus it was shown that at Pitea, half a 
 mile of land had been gained in forty-five years, and that 
 at Lulea a mile of ground had been added in twenty-eight 
 years. Ancient ports on the same coast had become in- 
 land cities. Considerable portions of the gulf were also 
 shown to have become three feet shallower in the course 
 of fifty years many old fishing grounds had been 
 changed into dry land, and small islands had been joined 
 to the continent. Besides these changes, it was asserted 
 that along the coast of West Prussia, and Pomerania, 
 anchors, and the hulls of old ships, had been discovered 
 far inland. 
 
 But since it was possible that all these facts might be ac- 
 counted for by the accumulation of land, instead of the de- 
 pression of the waters, Celcius derived a stronger ar- 
 gument still for his theory from the exposure of certain 
 insular rocks in the gulf of Bothnia, which were once 
 entirely covered by water. These rocks, it was shown, 
 had risen in the course of a hundred and fifty years, from 
 below the water to the height of eight feet above its sur-
 
 60 BALTIC SEA. 
 
 face, and there they stood, the most certain and perma- 
 nent of all witnesses, that the sea was so much lower 
 than formerly. To this it was opposed, that this island 
 consisted of sand and drift stones, and that during great 
 tempests, not only more sand, but additional stones, also, 
 were thrown upon it. Besides this, icebergs, heavily laden 
 with stones and rocks, sometimes floated in this sea, when 
 the ice was breaking up in the spring, and the fact that 
 this low island had gradually increased in height, was readi- 
 ly accounted for by supposing thatthe stranded ice fields had 
 forced these stones above the level of the water, where ol 
 course they would remain after the ice was melted away. 
 
 This question, about which volumes were written in 
 the course of half a century, was finally settled by a cu- 
 rious, but conclusive proof, brought forward by the oppo- 
 sers of Celcius. On the Finland side of the Baltic, there 
 grew, close to the water's edge, some large pine trees. 
 Some of these were cut down, and by counting the con- 
 centric rings of annual growth, it was found that they had 
 stood there four hundred years. Now according to Cel- 
 cius, the sea had sunk fifteen feet during that period, so 
 that were this the case, these trees must have commenced 
 their growth in at least two fathoms of water, a thing ab- 
 solutely impossible. It was also proved that the walls of 
 several ancient castles, as those of Sonderburg and Abo, 
 reached the edge of the water at the present day, and 
 therefore, had the water sunk, these foundations must have 
 originally been laid below the level of the sea. Very- 
 ample proofs from other sources have also been adduced, 
 that the level of the Baltic has suffered no change for 
 eight hundred, or a thousand years. 
 
 But notwithstanding the proofs are quite positive that 
 the hypothesis of Celcius can only be substantiated by de- 
 ceptive arguments, drawn from progressive accumulations 
 of solid matter in the water ; still there are many intelli- 
 gent men who maintain that the waters of the Baltic are 
 suffering a constant diminution. So lately as 1821, seve- 
 ral Swedish officers, belonging to the pilotage department, 
 declared in favor of this opinion. The weight of evi- 
 dence is, however, entirely opposed to the theory of Cel- 
 cius, and there can be little doubt but the Baltic Sea has 
 remained at its present level from time immemorial. Ly- 
 elFs Geology, vol. 1. p. 227. 
 
 We have been thus particular in this account, that the
 
 DELTA OF THE RHONE IN THE SEA. 61 
 
 geological student might observe how much difficulty some- 
 times occurs in deciding questions of this nature, and con- 
 sequently how much experience and judgment ought to 
 be exercised before any positive opinion is advanced on 
 some geological points, in themselves apparently of the 
 most simple kind. The great question, also, whether the 
 waters of the ocean are diminishing, as has been maintain- 
 ed by several writers, is involved in the question of the 
 Baltic; for since this sea communicates with all other seas, 
 and oceans, its gradual depression would prove a corres- 
 ponding diminution of the sea all over the earth. But from 
 the above account there is no doubt, that the supposed 
 sinking of the Baltic is entirely a deception, arising from 
 alluvial accumulations brought down by rivers, and the oc- 
 casional shifting of sand banks by the currents of that sea. 
 
 Delta of the Rhone in the Sea. We have seen that 
 the Rhone deposits large quantities of sediment in the 
 lake of Geneva, and have noticed with what crystalline 
 transparency the waters of that lake are discharged to con- 
 tinue the same river towards the sea. But, says Mr. Ly- 
 ell, "scarcely has the river passed out of the Leman Lake, 
 before its pure waters are again filled with sand and sedi- 
 ment by the impetuous Arve, descending from the highest 
 Alps, and bearing along in its current the granitic detri- 
 tus [broken rocks] annually carried down by the glaciers 
 of Mount Blanc." The Rhone, also, afterwards receives 
 vast contributions of transported matter from the Alps of 
 Dauphiny, and the primary and volcanic mountains of 
 central France, so that when it reaches the Mediterrane- 
 an, it discolors the waters of the sea to the distance of ma- 
 ny leagues. 
 
 The advance of the delta of the Rhone into the Sea, is 
 proved by many circumstances, and particularly by the 
 facts that an island described by Pomponius Mela, an an- 
 cient Latin geographer, is now far inland, and that a loca- 
 tion which was a harbor in 898, is now three miles from 
 the shore. It is also known that Psamodi, which was an 
 island in 815, is at the present time six miles from the sea 
 -v As the Rhone enters the sea by several mouths, at con- 
 siderable distances from each other, a large tract of country- 
 is brought within its influence, and thus besides extending 
 the land along the shore, marshes of great extent have, 
 6
 
 62 DELTA OF THE RHONE IN THE SEA. 
 
 during the lapse of ages, been filled up by its annual de- 
 posites. 
 
 In the course of this river it receives the waters of a 
 vast number of springs containing carbonate of lime in so- 
 lution, and which mixing with the waters of the Rhone, 
 is not deposited until it reaches the sea. Hence the Delta 
 of this river, instead of consisting of loose incoherent sedi- 
 ment, like the deposites from most other rivers, consists 
 chiefly of solid rock ; the carbonate of lime acting as a ce- 
 ment to the sediment, when this exists, or in its absence, 
 forming limestone nearly pure. This is a well ascertain- 
 ed fact, for large masses of this rock are quarried for va- 
 rious purposes, and are found to consist of sand consolida- 
 ted by a calcareous cement, and mixed with broken shells. 
 After the sand has been deposited, the waters still hold a 
 portion of the carbonate in solution, which is thrown down 
 in a purer state, and even sometimes in the form of crys- 
 talline masses. As an example, there exists a cannon in 
 the museum of Montpelier, taken up from near the mouth 
 of this river imbedded in crystalline limestone. 
 
 Thus we see that solid limestone is now constantly 
 forming, in which are imbedded shells as in the ancient 
 marbles, which some geologists have contended were 
 thousands of years older than the creation according to 
 Moses. This circumstance is important, and will be ad- 
 verted to in another place. 
 
 In a late survey of the coast of the Mediterranean, the 
 employed at the mouth of the Rhone were obliged 
 to quit their moorings when the wind blew strongly from 
 the south-west. Captain Smith, one of the officers on 
 this service, states, that when the ships returned after 
 such a wind, the new sand banks in the Delta were found 
 covered with a great abundance of marine shells, which 
 were swept there by the current caused by the wind. 
 This circumstance appears to explain phenomena of some 
 importance in geology. In some ancient strata it has 
 been claimed that marine and fresh water shells alternate 
 with each other, and hence it has been supposed that at 
 least in such places, the sea had retired for a time, while 
 fresh water occupied its place; after which the sea again 
 resumed its former bed ; and so alternately as often as the 
 different kinds of shells were repeated. But it appears 
 from the above statement, that the explanation of such 
 appearances is very simple, and that it is unnecessary to
 
 DELTA OF THE GANGES 63 
 
 believe that the ordinary course of nature was changed 
 in order to produce such effects : for, at the mouth of the 
 Rhone, a strong south-west wind only is required, to occa- 
 sionally mix the shells of the sea with those which are 
 brought down by the fresh water, or which live in its cur- 
 
 Delta of the Po in the Adriatic. We have already 
 described the effects which the Po has produced and is 
 now producing in some parts of the country through 
 which it passes. But we must notice more particularly 
 the changes which this mighty torrent, assisted by the 
 Adige, has produced at its delta in the Adriatic. 
 
 These two rivers, with numerous smaller streams, drain 
 some of the loftiest ridges of the Apennines, together 
 with one side of the great Crescent of the Alps. The 
 combined influence of these rivers have produced an en- 
 ormous increase of alluvial matter along the coast of that 
 sea. From the northernmost point of the gxilf of Trieste, 
 where the river Isonzo enters, down to the south of Ra- 
 venna, there is an uninterrupted series of recent alluvial 
 deposites, forming dry land, more than one hundred miles 
 in length, and from two to twenty miles in breadth. 
 There is evidence that this great alluvion has been formed 
 within the last two thousand years. Adria, a city which 
 gave name to the Adriatic, was originally a sea-port ; it 
 is now twenty miles from the sea. Ravenna and Spina 
 were also built on the sea, but, at the present time, the 
 first is four, and the last ten or twelve miles from the 
 water. 
 
 Delta of the Ganges. The Ganges and the Burram- 
 pooter descend from Himmala mountains, the most lofty 
 on the globe. The latter river may be considered as a 
 branch of the former, and falls into it long before their 
 united waters reach the sea. The Ganges is discharged 
 into the bay of Bengal, which forms a vast indenture into 
 the continent of more than two hundred miles in length. 
 The Delta of the Ganges commences more than 200 
 miles from the Bay of Bengal in a direct line, and 300, if 
 the distance be estimated along the windings of the river. 
 That part of the Delta which borders on the sea, is divi- 
 ded by a vast number of rivers, or creeks, all of which 
 are salt except those which communicate with the prin-
 
 64 DELTA OF THE GAXGKS. 
 
 cipal arms of the Ganges. This tract is famous under the 
 name of Sunder bunds, being the common haunt of tigers 
 and alligators. Its extent, according to the account of 
 Major Rennell, is equal to the whole principality of Wales. 
 Its base, bordering on the sea, is about two hundred miles 
 in length, and, on each side, it is enclosed by an arm of 
 the Ganges. Besides these, through which the water of 
 this immense river is now discharged, there are six other 
 great openings through the Delta into the sea, each of 
 which has evidently at some ancient period, been the 
 principal bed of the river. During the period of over- 
 flow the greater part of this vast Delta is covered with 
 the water of the river, so that the Ganges appears to be 
 flowing into a vast lake, instead of itself inundating, and 
 sweeping a whole territory of India. So great is the 
 quantity of mud and sand carried down by this immense 
 current, at such seasons, and so vast the quantity of water 
 it discharges, that the ocean is discoloured by it to the 
 distance of sixty miles from its mouth. 
 
 In various parts of this delta great accumulations, or 
 islands, are formed in the course of a few years, and per- 
 haps as soon swept away, and similar ones formed in 
 other places. Some of these, which are islands during 
 freshets, Major Rennell states, are equal in extent to the 
 Isle of Wight, and thickly inhabited. The people are, 
 however, always in danger of being swept away by floods 
 of uncommon height. In 1763 such an inundation hap- 
 pened, the water rising six feet above ordinary floods ; and 
 consequently the inhabitants of one of these districts of 
 considerable extent, were, with their horses and cattle, to- 
 tally engulfed, and perished in the water. 
 
 These examples of the effects of running water in 
 changing the surface of the Globe are sufficient for the 
 purposes intended. In all parts of the world, such effects 
 are constantly taking place, to a greater or less extent. 
 
 The aggregate accumulation of solid ground by the for- 
 mation and extension of deltas on the surface of the whole 
 earth, must be very considerable during every year ; and 
 yet these effects are hardly appreciable in relation to the 
 changes they produce on the entire surface of the globe. 
 It is true, that the course of navigation is in a few instan- 
 ces obstructed, or changed, by these accumulations, but in 
 general the same sea ports of which the earliest records 
 of history give any account, are still accessible.
 
 SEDIMENT IN RIVER WATER. 65 
 
 Had these accumulations commenced at very remote 
 periods as some have contended, and continued to the 
 present time, it is quite certain that many lakes now exist- 
 ing 1 would have become dry land, and that the deltas of 
 rivers falling into the sea, would have been far more ex- 
 tensive than we find they are. All the facts, therefore, 
 which are connected with the effects of rivers in the 
 formation of dry land, tend to show that the present 
 form of the earth has not existed more than a few thou- 
 sand years, and that it has suffered no considerable chan- 
 ges from running streams, as one of the causes now in 
 operation. 
 
 QUANTITY OF SEDIMENT IN RIVER WATER. 
 
 Having in the preceding pages given such an account 
 of the effects of rivers in forming solid depositions, as our 
 limits will allow, it is proper here to present the geologi- 
 cal student with an account of the estimates and experi- 
 ments, which have been made, to ascertain the quantity of 
 solid matter water is capable of holding in suspension. 
 
 It is proper, however, that we should also state, that 
 few, if any of these estimates, can be considered as more 
 than approximations to the truth ; still they are such as are 
 quoted by the best writers, and are probably as accurate 
 as any in existence at the present day. Major Rennell 
 states that a glass of water taken out of the Ganges during 
 the height of its annual flood, yields about one part in 
 four of mud. " No wonder, then," says he, " that the sub- 
 siding waters should quickly form a stratum of earth, or 
 that its delta should encroach upon the sea." The same 
 writer who resided many years in the vicinity of the Gan- 
 ges, computed with great care the quantity of water 
 which that river discharges into the sea, and which by his 
 estimate amounted, during a year, on an average, to eighty 
 thousand cubic feet, for every second of time. When the 
 river is at its greatest height during its annual inundation, 
 and consequently its motion much accelerated, the quan- 
 tity discharged per second, by the same estimate, was four 
 hundred and five thousand cubic feet. 
 
 Mr. Lyell has made a computation of the quantity of 
 solid matter carried down by the Ganges, taking as his
 
 66 SEDIMENT IN RIVER WATER. 
 
 data, the experiment of Major Rennell, and his estimate of 
 the quantity of water it discharges. " If it were true," 
 says he, " that the Ganges in the flood season contained 
 one part in four of mud, we should then be obliged to sup- 
 pose that there passes down every four days a quantity of 
 mud equal in volume to the water which is discharged in 
 the course of a day, or twenty-four hours. If the mud be 
 assumed to be equal to one half the specific gravity of 
 granite, (it however is more,) the weight of matter daily 
 carried down in the flood season would be about sixty 
 times the weight of the great pyramid of Egypt. If the 
 Ganges discharges 405,000 cubic feet of water per second, 
 which was the estimate of Major Rennell, then, in round 
 numbers the quantity of mud discharged per second, 
 would be 100,000 cubic feet, which being multiplied by 
 86,400, the number of seconds in 24 hours, would give 
 8,640,000,000 cubic feet of mud going down the Ganges 
 per day. The weight of this (allowing as above) would 
 be equal to that of 4,320,000,000 cubic feet of granite. 
 Now about twelve and a half cubic feet of granite weigh 
 a ton, but throwing out the half, the matter discharged by 
 the Ganges every day is 360,000,000 of tons. This is 
 sixty times the weight of the great pyramid of Egypt, which 
 if solid is computed to weigh 6,000,000 of tons." 
 
 But although the Ganges maybe supposed to transport 
 a much greater quantity of mud, even according to its 
 size, than any other river, still there can be little doubt 
 but Major Rennell very far over-rated the quantity of 
 solid matter its waters contained. The Rhine, when 
 most flooded, has been computed to contain one part of 
 mud in a hundred of water, and Sir George Staunton by 
 several observations, calculated that the water of Yellow 
 River, in China, contained earthy matter in the proportion 
 of one part to two hundred. In this proportion he esti- 
 mated that the waters of that river brought down 48,000,000 
 of cubic feet of solid matter daily. 
 
 According to the calculations of Manfredi, the celebra- 
 ted Italian hydrographer, the average amount of sediment 
 in all the running streams on the globe, is one part in 1 75. 
 From such data, he estimates that it would take a thou- 
 sand years to raise the general bed of the sea a single foot, 
 provided none of this sediment was thrown back again 
 upon the shores. 
 
 From what has been stated, the reader will observe that
 
 DESTRUCTION OF ROCKS. 67 
 
 althoug h a considerable number of experiments have been 
 made on this difficult subject, there remains much more to 
 be done before satisfactory results can be offered. It is 
 however, certain, that great quantities of solid matter are 
 transported by running streams ; and with respect to lakes 
 and ponds there can be no doubt, but they are gradually 
 filling- up, and that if the same causes continue which we 
 have described, all these bodies of water will finally be 
 replaced by dry land. 
 
 But there can be no possible estimate made of the time 
 required for such an event, since the quantity of solid 
 matter which streams transport, must be constantly de- 
 creasing in proportion, as lakes and ponds approach the 
 level of the country in which they are. In a flat country 
 therefore, a lake may remain for centuries without any 
 appreciable elevation of its bottom. 
 
 The great depth of some lakes at the present day, when 
 these circumstances are considered, is a good proof of the 
 newness of the present order of things on the earth, and 
 consequently, of the truth of the Mosaic history of its crea- 
 tion. 
 
 With respect to the level of the sea, it has been shown 
 that no change has taken place in the Baltic, and we may 
 also state at this place, that it Avill be seen hereafter, that 
 the remains of Roman buildings show that the Mediterra- 
 nean sea has not changed its level for the last 2000 years. 
 We may therefore conclude, that either the quantity of 
 matter carried into the sea has made no appreciable differ- 
 ence with its general level, or that as much solid matter is 
 thrown on the land at one place as is carried into it in an- 
 other 
 
 DESTRUCTION OF ROCKS. 
 
 The causes now described which have produced changes 
 on the surface of the earth, are chiefly such as transport 
 loose materials from one place to another. But there is 
 another cause of change, which although noticed in the 
 first part of this article, must be more particularly describ- 
 ed. This is the destruction of rocks. 
 
 " If in contemplating," savs Dr. Macculloch, " the tow- 
 ering peaks, and the solid precipices of an alpine region, 
 braving the fury of the elements, and the floods of winter,
 
 68 
 
 FALL OF MOUNT ORENIER. 
 
 the spectator is at first impressed with the character of 
 strength and solidity, which nature here seems to have 
 conferred on her works, it requires but a moment's reflec- 
 tion, to show that every thing around him bears the marks 
 of ruin and decay. Here he learns to withhold his regret 
 at the perishable nature of all human labors, at the fall 
 of the strong tower, and the solid pyramid, when he sees 
 that the most massive rocks, those mountains which seem 
 calculated for eternal duration, bear alike the marks of 
 vicissitude and the traces of ruin." 
 
 " In these great revolutions, however, other agents 
 must co-operate ; and the first here to be considered is the 
 power of frost. Expanding as it freezes, the water which 
 has entered the fissures acts with irresistible force, and 
 detaches those enormous masses, which in the seasons of 
 winter and spring, daily fall from the mountains. In 
 Greenland, it is said that these effects often take place 
 with a noise emulating thunder ; but if less conspicuous, 
 they are sufficiently common in all alpine regions that are 
 subject to the extreme vicissitudes of heat and cold." 
 Geology, Vol. \. p. 248. 
 
 To this cause, in a great measure, is to be attributed the 
 ruin of sea cliffs, which on some coasts present such stri- 
 king and singular appearances. The constant action of 
 the ocean lashing the inferior parts of these cliffs, also 
 produces its effects, and is often the cause of large masses 
 being precipitated into the water. The perpetual rubbing 
 of the smaller stones against the larger, on the borders of 
 the sea, is another cause which in the course of time pro- 
 duces considerable effects ; and hence all such stones have 
 lost their angles, and become completely smooth and 
 rounded. 
 
 Fall of Mount Grenier. The fall of a part of Mount 
 Grenier, one of the calcareous mountains of Savoy, illus- 
 trates the effects of frost, and the gradual undermining of 
 rocks by torrents. Mount Grenier is upwards of 4000 
 feet high, and rises abruptly above the plain on which it 
 stands. The top, or cap, is an immense mass of lime- 
 stone, 600 feet thick, below which are strata of a softer 
 kind, and it is to the decay of the latter that the fall is at 
 tributed, the cap being undermined by the gradual erosion 
 and removal of the under strata. The fall took place in 
 the year 1248. The larger masses, says Mr. Bakewell,
 
 DESTROYING EFFECTS OF THE SEA. 69 
 
 evidently came from the upper, or highest part of the 
 mountain, and the velocity they acquired by the fall must 
 have been at least 300 feet per second, before they reach- 
 ed the ground. As these immense masses struck oblique- 
 ly against the base of the mountain, they thus acquired a 
 projectile force which spread them far into the plain. 
 These masses were in such quantity, and were projected 
 to such distances, as to cover nine square miles of surface, 
 and to entirdy bury five parishes, together with the town 
 and church of St. Andre. In the course of years the 
 rains, or currents of water from dissolving snow, have fur- 
 rowed channels between the larger masses of stone, and 
 washing away part of the loose earth, have left an im- 
 mense number of conical hills still remaining. So deep 
 and vast was the mass of ruins which covered the town of 
 St. Andre, and the other parishes, that except a small 
 bronze statue, no individual article belonging to any of 
 them has been found to this day. BakeweWs Geology. 
 
 Fall of Rocks, from the Alps. A part of a mountain near 
 Servos, belonging to the Alpine range, and on the road to 
 Chamouny, fell down in the year 1751. This continued 
 several days, mass after mass being precipitated, while an 
 immense volume of dust, the consequence of friction, by 
 the sliding of the rocks on each other, rose so high, and 
 was so dense as to have been seen at the distance of twen- 
 ty-five miles. A succession of reports, like the firing of 
 heavy cannon, announced the fall of these masses day and 
 night. The aggregate amount thus precipitated was 
 estimated by Donati at 3,000,000 of cubic fathoms, or 
 fifteen millions of cubic feet, a quantity sufficient to form 
 a large hill. 
 
 DESTROYING EFFECTS OF THE SEA. 
 
 Mr. Lyell has adduced many instances of the power of 
 sea waves to move large masses of solid rock. In the 
 Shetland Isles this effect has been quite surprising. In 
 1818, during a storm, a mass of granite, nine feet by six, 
 was thrown by the waves up a declivity to the distance 
 of 150 feet; and, in the winter of 1802, a mass of rock
 
 
 70 INROADS OF THE SEA. 
 
 eight feet by seven, and five feet thick, was moved to the 
 distance of ninety feet, by the same force. 
 
 The reader, who remembers the immense power which 
 velocity gives a sea wave, as above illustrated, will be at 
 no loss to comprehend why the strongest ships are some- 
 times reduced to fragments in a few minutes ; nor will he 
 wonder at the destroying effects which a wide ocean must 
 produce on a coast, which is not guarded by a strong bar- 
 rier of solid rocks. . 
 
 Destruction of the Village of Mathers. The village of 
 Mathers, on the east coast of Scotland, was destroyed by 
 an inroad of the sea, in 1795. This town was guarded by 
 a barrier of limestone rock next the shore, but during a 
 storm the waves of the ocean broke through this barrier, 
 and in one night destroyed and swept away the whole 
 village. The sea penetrated 150 yards inland, where it 
 has maintained its ground ever since. 
 
 Eastern Coasts of England. The eastern coasts of 
 England are constantly suffering from the inroads of the 
 sea. On the old maps of Yorkshire, many spots are 
 marked as the sites of towns which are now sand banks in 
 the ocean. A greater or less portion of the coasts of Nor- 
 folk and Suffolk, are every year swallowed up by the sea 
 The town of Sherringham, on this coast, exhibits a melan 
 choly proof of this fact. With respect to this town, Mr. 
 Lyell states, that at one point there is now a depth of 
 water of 25 feet, (sufficient to float a frigate,) where only 
 48 years ago, there stood a cliff fifty feet high, with houses 
 upon it. Further to the south are cliffs more than 200 
 feet high, more or less of which are every year precipita- 
 ted into the ocean, in consequence of being undermined 
 by the waves. The whole site of the ancient town of 
 Cromer now forms a part of the bed of the German ocean, 
 the inhabitants having gradually pulled down their houses 
 and removed inland as the sea encroached upon them ; 
 and, from their present situation, they are in danger of 
 being dislodged by the same cause. From this neighbor- 
 hood, in the year 1822, a mass of earth and rocks was 
 precipitated into the sea, to the extent of twelve acres, 
 the cliffs being 250 feet high; and on the same coast, three 
 ancient villages, several manors, and large portions of a
 
 INROADS OF THE SEA. 71 
 
 number of parishes have, from the same cause, gradually 
 disappeared, and been replaced by the ocean. 
 
 Since the time of Edward the Confessor, as appears by 
 the records, the sea-coast town of Dunwich has lost in 
 succession, a monastery at one time ] at another, several 
 churches; at another, 400 houses; and, subsequently, 
 another church ; the town hall and jail, together with 
 many other buildings, all precipitated into the sea. 
 
 These are given as specimens of the devastating effects 
 of the sea in different parts of the world, and, by which, 
 it appears that if on the one hand, large tracts of coast are 
 forming, and encroaching upon the ocean in one part of 
 the world, as in the Baltic, and on the coasts of Italy, so 
 on the other hand, the sea is encroaching on the land in 
 other parts, probably to an equal extent. 
 
 In many instances, inundations from the sea have been 
 the means of effecting, not only great changes in the sur- 
 face of the earth, in a short period of time, but also of de- 
 stroying vast numbers of human beings. On the coast of 
 Holland these disasters have been peculiarly destructive, 
 as well as on the coast opposite. 
 
 A considerable peninsula which lay between Groningen 
 and East Friesland, and was thickly inhabited, was partly 
 overwhelmed in 1277, and a considerable portion of the 
 land carried away, with many houses and inhabitants. 
 During the fifteenth century, other portions were destroy- 
 ed by the same cause, and a part of the town of Forum, a 
 place of considerable size, was swept away. In 1507, not 
 only the remainder of Forum was ingulfed, in spite of 
 the erection of dams, but also several market towns, villa- 
 ges and monasteries, were entirely destroyed, together 
 with their inhabitants. 
 
 Further to the north, anciently lay the district of North 
 Friesland. This was a peninsula ; but in 1240, the sea 
 destroyed the land next the coast, and thus formed an 
 island called Northstrand. This island was originally of 
 considerable extent, but the sea, from time to time, swept 
 away small portions of it, until the inhabitants became so 
 concentrated, that when the island was only four geogra- 
 phical miles in circumference, their number was still nine 
 thousand. At last, on the night of the llth of October, 
 1634, a flood from the sea swept over the whole island, 
 and destroyed at once a great proportion of the inhabi- 
 tants, all the houses, churches and cattle, carrying away
 
 72 DOWNS. 
 
 even the land that had sustained them. By this dreadful 
 calamity, there was swept away 1300 houses, with all the 
 churches, 50,000 head of cattle, and more than 6000 
 people. 
 
 We might continue these accounts with regard to the 
 changes which have taken place on the same coasts to 
 great length ; but our design being chiefly to give exam- 
 ples, rather than general details, we will here conclude 
 this part of our subject. 
 
 DOWNS, OR SAND HILLS. 
 
 In some sections of country, the fine sand that is thrown 
 up by the sea, is carried by the wind to considerable dis- 
 tances, and in such quantities as to cover the land entirely, 
 and to fill up lakes and estuaries. Occasionally, also, 
 there are sand plains at a distance from the sea, where ve- 
 getation seems never to have taken root, and where, con- 
 sequently, there is nothing to prevent the sand from spread- 
 ing in all directions by the force of the winds. 
 
 On the coasts of France and Holland, long chains of 
 sand hills have been formed from the sea, which have ef- 
 fected important geological changes, by barring up the 
 mouths of rivers and bays, and thus preventing the ingress 
 of tides, and changing the course of currents. 
 
 On the north coast of Cornwall, in England, a conside- 
 rable extent of country has been inundated by drifting 
 sand and pulverized shells from the sea shore. Some of 
 the hills thus formed are several hundred feet high. By 
 the shifting of these sands, the ruins of several ancient 
 buildings have been discovered, showing that these chan- 
 ges have been in progress for many centuries. In some 
 places this sand has become so compact as to be employ- 
 ed for architectural purposes, the cementing agent being 
 oxide of iron, which the water carries, in solution, from 
 the upper to the lower strata. 
 
 But it is in the East, and especially on the borders of 
 Egypt, that the devastating effects of sand has produced 
 the most calamitous consequences. In Egypt, these are 
 called sand floods, and of their effects De Luc has given 
 the following statement : 
 
 " The sands of the Lybian," he says, " driven by the
 
 DOWNS. 71 
 
 west winds have left no lands capable of tillage on any 
 parts of the western banks of the Nile, not sheltered by 
 mountains. The encroachment of these sands on districts 
 which were formerly inhabited and cultivated, is evidently 
 seen M. Dcnon informs us, in his Travels in Lower and 
 Upper Egypt, that summits of the ruins of ancient cities, 
 buried under these sands, still appear externally ; and that 
 but for a ridge of mountains, called the Lybian chain, 
 which borders the left bank of the Nile, and forms, in the 
 parts where it rises, a barrier against the invasion of these 
 sands, the shores of the river, on that side, would long 
 since have ceased to be habitable. " Nothing can be more 
 melancholy," says Denon, "than to walk over villages, 
 swallowed up by the sand of the desert, to trample under 
 foot their roofs, to strike against the summits of their 
 minarets, to reflect that yonder were cultivated fields, that 
 there grew trees, that here were even the dwellings of 
 men, and that all have vanished." 
 
 Da Luc draws an argument from these sand floods in 
 favor of the newness of the earth, and of the truth of the 
 Mosaic history of the creation. 
 
 " If then," he continues, " our continents were as an- 
 cient as has been pretended, no traces of the habitation of 
 men would appear on any part of the western bank of the 
 Nile, which is exposed to this scourge of the sands of the 
 desert. The existence, therefore, of such monuments, at- 
 tests the successive progress of the encroachment of the 
 sand, and these parts of the bank, formerly inhabited, will 
 forever remain arid and waste." 
 
 " It is, therefore, not solely to her revolutions and 
 changes of sovereigns, that Egypt owes the loss of her 
 ancient splendor ; it is also to her having been thus irre- 
 coverably deprived of a tract of land, by which, before the 
 sands of the desert had covered it, and caused it to disap- 
 pear, her wants had been abundantly supplied. Now, if 
 we fix our attention on this fact, and reflect on the conse- 
 quences which would have attended it, if thousands, or 
 only some hundreds of centuries had elapsed since our 
 continents first existed above the level of the sea, does it 
 not evidently appear, that all the country on the west of 
 the Nile would have been buried under this sand before 
 the erection of the cities of ancient Egypt, how remote 
 soever that period may be supposed, and that in a coun- 
 try so long afflicted with sterility, no idea would even
 
 74 CORAL ISLANDS. 
 
 hare been formed of constructing such vast and numerous 
 edifices? When these cities, indeed, \vere built, another 
 cause concurred in favoring their prosperity. The navi- 
 gation of the Red Sea was not then attended with any 
 danger on the coasts ; all its ports, now nearly blocked up 
 with reefs of coral, had a safe and easy access ; the vessels 
 laden with merchandise and provisions could enter them 
 and depart without risk of being wrecked on these shoals, 
 which have risen since that time, and are still increasing 
 in extent." " Thus the reefs of coral which have been 
 raised in the Red Sea, on the east of Egypt, and the sands 
 of the desert which invade it on the west, concur in attest- 
 ing this truth, That our continents are not of a more re- 
 mote antiquity than has been assigned to them by the sa- 
 cred historian in the Book of Genesis, from the great era 
 of the Deluge." 
 
 FORMATION OF CORAL ISLANDS. 
 
 It is but recently that any observations tending to in- 
 lerest or inform the naturalist, have been made on the 
 production of Coral Islands. But the great extent to 
 which these islands have been formed, together with the 
 rapidity with which it has been said they are increasing, 
 give this subject a considerable degree of interest, not 
 only in respect to geology, but also as it regards com- 
 merce. 
 
 On this subject Dr. Macculloch says, " The production 
 of the Coral Islands of the great Pacific ocean, which en- 
 danger this navigation and that of the Indian Archipelago, 
 and are tending fast to destroy that of the Red Sea, is a 
 fact completely distinguished from all other subjects of 
 geological investigation. It also forms a most interesting 
 branch of the present inquiries ; and it is the more indis- 
 pensable to examine it, because it has hitherto been unac- 
 countably neglected by other geological writers." 
 
 " It is sufficient here," he continues, " to speak in the 
 most general terms of a tribe of animals, for whose de- 
 scription, works on Zoology must be consulted. In a 
 popular view, a coral is a calcareous structure, inhabited 
 by numerous small animals or polypi ; and each form of 
 coral possesses its own species. Each, therefore, forms
 
 CORAL ISLANDS. 75 
 
 a sort of colony, the inhabitants of which are disposed in 
 minute cells, which they construct themselves, thus pro- 
 ducing the general structure, by their joint labors, as if aL 
 were actuated by one design and one mind." 
 
 " This is the obvious appearance. But in reality the 
 entire coral plant is one animal. A continuous animal 
 structure pervades the whole, and the calcareous matter, in 
 whatever form, must be viewed as the shell, being a secre- 
 tion, or deposition of earth in. its substance." Geology, 
 vol. 1. p. 337. 
 
 The coral insects, of which there are many species, 
 belong to the class POLYPI and order Coralliferi, of Cu- 
 vier. See Animal Kingdom, vol. iv. p. 387 95. They 
 are a singular and curious tribe of animals, some of which 
 are too minute to be examined by the naked eye. 
 
 The Coralliferi constitute that numerous suite of species 
 which were formerly considered as marine plants, and of 
 which the individuals are in fact united in great numbers 
 to constitute compound animals, mostly fixed like plants ; 
 either forming a stem or simple expansion, by means of 
 a solid internal substance. The individual animals are all 
 connected by a common body, and are nourished in com- 
 mon, so that what is eaten by one goes to the nourish- 
 ment of the general body of all the other polypi. Animal 
 Kingdom, ib. 
 
 The common coarse white coral, full of pores, may be 
 considered as an aggregate of the shells, or habitations of 
 one family of these animals. On inspecting a piece of 
 this substance while growing, or building under water, 
 when these animals are at work, small whitish protuber- 
 ances may be seen projecting from these pores, which 
 being touched, or on removing the coral from the water, 
 are seen to contract and disappear, but re-appear again 
 when the coral is returned to the water. These are the 
 animals which construct the coarse coral only. Those 
 which build the compact kinds, as the red, white, and 
 black, and which (particularly the red) are so much valu- 
 ed for ornamental purposes, are of a different species from 
 these, and are so exceedingly minute as to be of difficult 
 detection. 
 
 Many species of this tribe are free, and swim with the 
 current, but those which produce the mighty effects about 
 to be described are fixed in their cells. For an account of
 
 76 CORAL ISLANDS. 
 
 these species, see Parkins&n's Organic Remains, and Cu- 
 vier's Animal Kingdom. 
 
 It is for geography, not for a work of this nature, to 
 describe the islands and rocks produced by the coral 
 tribes. It is here sufficient to mention the islands south 
 of the equator, between the West Coast of America, and 
 New Holland, crowding the whole of that sea, under a 
 rapid increase, accompanied by still more numerous rocks, 
 destined perhaps to become the seats of vegetations, and 
 the habitations of man ; perhaps at length to form a conti- 
 nent in the Pacific Ocean. To these, abounding particu- 
 larly between New-Holland, New-Caledonia, and New- 
 Guinea, I may add those of the Indian Archipelago, inclu- 
 ding Cosmoledo, Chagos, Juan de Nova, Armante, Cocos, 
 and the Maldive, and Laccadive islands. 
 
 When we consider the feebleness of the means, and the 
 minuteness of the agents, the extent of these reefs and 
 islands is a subject of equal curiosity and surprise. 
 Among these, Tongataboo is sixty miles in circumference, 
 and is elevated ten feet above the water. But this is but 
 an insignificant work, when compared with the great coral 
 reef on the eastern coast of New-Holland, which extends 
 in an uninterrupted course the distance of three hundred 
 and fifty miles. This, together with several islands of the 
 same, form a continuous line of one thousand miles 01 
 more in length, varying from twenty to sixty miles in 
 breadth. To form a just conception of such a production, 
 we should imagine it exposed from the foundation. It is 
 a mountain ridge, which bears comparison with many of 
 the larger tracts of terrestrial limestone in height; the 
 soundings in that sea being generally from 1000 to 1500 
 feet deep ; and with respect to extent of range, it would 
 far exceed any limestone formation known. Macculloch, 
 vol. i. 337. 
 
 But though we may be astonished at the vast produc- 
 tions of these diminutive animals, it is their instinct which 
 ought still more to interest and surprise us. For, when 
 we remember that in many other instances, numbers do 
 compensate for individual weakness, and that there are 
 myriads of millions of these constantly at work, our aston- 
 ishment rather arises from a consideration of their num- 
 bers than the amount of their labors. And here we can- 
 Bot but admire the beneficence of the Creator in having
 
 CORAL ISLANDS. 77 
 
 given the pleasures of existence to such hosts of instinct- 
 ive beings, and though buried in the depths of the ocean, 
 their enjoyments are not less than if watched by the in- 
 quisitive eye of man. 
 
 From the very low order of these animals in the scale 
 of being, \ve should have little reason to expect they 
 would exhibit any evident signs cf intelligence ; and yet 
 as in other cases, we can here trace the most positive 
 marks of design in the Great First Cause, in the adapta- 
 tion of the means to the end proposed. 
 
 These animals cannot work above the water, and as 
 they chiefly inhabit an ocean, where the wind constantly 
 blows from one quarter, they raise their structure in a per- 
 pendicular direction on the windward side, so that when 
 they come near the surface of the water, where the rolling 
 of the sea would a part of the time leave them naked, the 
 waves are thus broken and they can continue their labors 
 to the leeward. The effect of this arrangement is the 
 erection of a barrier on the one side, so that these little 
 animals can work with facility and comfort on the other, 
 and under similar circumstances, all the reasoning and ex- 
 perience of man would have answered no better purpose, 
 than the instinct of these little worms. 
 
 After the windward side has been protected, the next 
 part raised to the surface is at some distance to the lee- 
 ward. The whole, when first seen, consists of a chain of 
 detached rocks usually placed in a circular form, including 
 an area of various dimensions, but often of several hun- 
 dred fret in diameter. In the progress of the work, the 
 intermediate parts, whether circular or straight, are grad- 
 ually filled up, so that on the outside, the walls are per- 
 pendicular, and the water deep, but within, the water 
 gro\vs deeper from the margin towards the centre, produ- 
 cing a solid mass of rock, the upper part of which is in 
 the form of a basin. This cavity is at first a kind of salt 
 lake, but is gradually filled up by the labors of the ani- 
 mals, until finally the sea is so far excluded, that during 
 calm weather the rain freshens the water in it, and thus 
 at once end the labors and lives of these industrious 
 creatures. 
 
 In process of time, when these animals continue their 
 work around such a basin, so as to prevent the sea from 
 dashing into it, and the rain has washed away all the salt, 
 it becomes a pond of fresh water, forming a supply per
 
 78 CORAL ISLANDS. 
 
 nz.ps, for the otherwise perishing mariner, who happens 
 to be wrecked on these bold shores. And this undoubt- 
 edly is but a part of that beneficent design and foresight, 
 for which such myriads of these animals were brought 
 into life. 
 
 The highest parts of these reefs being towards the 
 wind, at certain seasons of the year, when the tides are 
 low, these parts will be exposed to the force of the waves, 
 Avhich will break off the most slender parts, and wash them 
 to the leeward, where the animals are still at work, and 
 by whom these fragments are wedded to the principal 
 mass. In this manner, an island is raised permanently 
 above the water, and by a continuance of the same pro- 
 cess, considerable islands are gradually elevated above 
 high water mark in the midst of the ocean. 
 
 It is not difficult to imagine how such islands may be 
 clothed with vegetation. The seeds of plants are known 
 to float thousands of miles, and still retain their vegetative 
 powers. Such seeds taking root in the crevices of these 
 rocks, produce plants, which by their annual decay, to- 
 gether with the decomposed coral, soon form a soil fit for 
 others. These in their turn decay, and in that warm cli- 
 mate, where vegetation is luxuriant, there is formed, in a 
 few years, a soil fit for shrubs and trees. 
 
 Many of these islands are only four or five fed above 
 high water mark ; and it is apparent, that the mode of for- 
 mation above described, would require many centuries to 
 elevate them to any considerable height. Indeed, it is not 
 probable that the parts near the shore would ever acquire 
 any additional elevation, since occasional high tides 
 would carry away the vegetable matter deposited there. 
 But as some of these islands are far above the level of 
 the sea, we must look for some other cause of elevation 
 besides the waters of the ocean, and the decay of vegeta- 
 tion. Tongataboo is ten feet above high water, at the 
 water's edge, and even this is higher than can be account- 
 ed for from the causes described. But this is a slight ele- 
 vation when compared with that of many others, for one 
 of the Tonga islands, formed entirely of coral, is in some 
 parts more than 300 feet high. It is hardly necessary to 
 remark that this elevation cannot be accounted for by 
 supposing a depression of the ocean, since this cause 
 would have given all the other islands in that sea a simi- 
 lar height, and besides, it is well known that the sea has
 
 THE DELUGE. 79 
 
 not materially changed its level for the last 2000 years. 
 We must therefore attribute the elevation of these islands 
 to some force acting beneath them ; and as we are unac- 
 quainted with any power, equal to such an effect, except 
 that of volcanoes, so there can be little doubt but the force 
 of submarine fire, was the active cause of their elevation. 
 One of these islands, indeed, contains a volcano always 
 on fire. 
 
 THE DELUGE. 
 
 No part of the Mosaic history has produced more ridi- 
 cule, among infidels, or has been attacked with greater 
 hopes of success, than that of the universal deluge. 
 
 " That the whole earth, (say these men,) was ever sur- 
 rounded with water so deep as to cover all its mountains, 
 is a supposition not only unphilosophical, but absolutely 
 impossible. It is unphilosophical, because even admitting 
 that there is a sufficient quantity of water in the sea to 
 produce such a deluge, still no adequate cause can be as- 
 signed for the production of such mighty effects. But 
 allowing a cause which might have moved the whole 
 ocean out of its bed, and cast it upon the land, still such 
 an effect could not have been produced as a universal flood, 
 since it would have required many times more water than 
 exists on the whole earth, to have covered all its mountains 
 at the same time." 
 
 We shall not stop to answer these objections, but pro- 
 ceed to show, that notwithstanding these and many more 
 have been urged against the probability of the Noachian 
 flood, still no fact can be better established, since it has 
 the concurrent testimony of sacred, natural, and civil his- 
 tory in its favor. 
 
 The period of the deluge is fixed by chronological 
 writers at the year 1 656, after the creation, corresponding 
 to the year 2348 before the Christian era. These two 
 sums make the period of the creation, 4004 years B. C. 
 According to Mr. Blair, on the 10th day of the second 
 month, which was on Sunday, Nov. 30th, B. C. 2347, God 
 commanded Noah and his family to enter into the ark ; 
 and on the next Sunday, December 7, it began to rain, 
 and continued to rain forty days, after which the deluge
 
 80 THE DELUGE. 
 
 prevailed 110 days, making its continuance 150 days from 
 the beginning. On Wednesday, May 6th, 2348 B. C. the 
 ark rested on Mount Ararat. The tops of the mountains 
 became visible on Sunday, July 19th, and on Friday, No- 
 vember 18th, Noah and all they that were with him came 
 forth out of the ark. 
 
 Without reference to sacred history, we never could 
 have known the time when this great flood happened 
 the fact itself, although we ought to require nothing more 
 than the word of that history to establish its truth, is still 
 capable of the strongest proof from the appearance of the 
 earth's surface. Baron Cuvier, after having spent a large 
 portion of a long life in investigating the natural history 
 of the earth, comes to the following conclusions on the 
 subject of the universal deluge, 
 
 " I can concur," says he, "with the opinions of M. M. 
 De Luc and Dolomieu, that if there be any thing deter- 
 mined in geology, it is that the surface of our globe has 
 been subject to a vast and sudden revolution, not longer 
 ago than five or six thousand years ; that this revolution 
 has buried and caused to disappear, the countries former- 
 ly inhabited by man, and the species of animals now most 
 known, that, on the contrary, it has left the bottom of the 
 former sea dry, and has formed on it the countries now in- 
 habited ; that since this revolution those few individuals 
 whom it spared, have propagated and spread over the lands 
 newly left dry, and consequently it is only since this epoch, 
 that our societies have assumed a progressive march ; have 
 formed establishments ; raised monuments, and combined 
 scientific systems." Cuvier Revolu. Globe, 180. 
 
 The effects of that grand and awful cataclysm are still 
 to be traced in every country, and in nearly every section 
 of country on the globe. Vast accumulations of rounded, 
 or water worn pebbles, huge blocks of granite, and im- 
 mense beds of sand and gravel, are found in places where 
 no causes now in operation ever could have placed them; 
 and still that they have been moved is evident from the 
 circumstances, or the places where they occur. " In the 
 whole course of my geological travels," says Prof. Buck- 
 land, " from Cornwall to Caithness, from Calais to the 
 Carpathians ; in Ireland, in Italy, I have scarcely ever 
 gone a mile without finding a perpetual succession of de- 
 posites of gravel, sand or loam, in situations that cannot 
 be referred to the action of modern torrents, rivers or
 
 THE DELUGE. 81 
 
 lakes, or any other existing causes. And, with respect to 
 the still more striking diluvial phenomena of drifted mass- 
 es of rock, the greater part of the northern hemisphere, 
 from Moscow to the Mississippi, is described by various 
 geological travellers, as strewed on its hills as well as its 
 valleys, with blocks of granite, and other rocks of enor 
 mous magnitude, which have been drifted (mostly in a di- 
 rection from north to south,) a distance, sometimes many 
 hundred miles from their native beds, across mountains, 
 valleys, lakes and seas, by a force of water, which must 
 have possessed a velocity to which nothing that occurs in 
 the actual state of the globe, affords the slightest parallel." 
 See ReliquicR Diluviance. 
 
 If it be inquired how it can be ascertained that blocks 
 of granite have been transported from a distance, and 
 that they do not belong to disrupted mountains in the 
 vicinity, it is answered that there is a peculiarity in every 
 formation or range of rocks or mountains, by which the 
 mineralogist can readily distinguish them. Thus the cal- 
 careous rock of Gibraltar, and the iron ore of Elba, spe- 
 cimens of which every collection contains, are readily 
 distinguished even by the most common observer from all 
 other minerals. To the practised eye of a mineralogist, 
 combined with the analysis of the chemist, no difficulty 
 occurs in identifying any specimen with the rock to which 
 it belongs. 
 
 On the secondary mountains of Jura, particularly on 
 the slopes facing the Alps, a great many loose fragments 
 of primitive rock, some of them containing a thousand 
 cubic yards, occur. These are strewed over the surface, 
 at the height of two thousand five hundred feet above the 
 level of the lake of Geneva. They no where stand high- 
 er, or are more numerous than opposite to the largest, 
 and deepest valleys of the Alps. They have undoubtedly 
 travelled across the line of these valleys, their composi- 
 tion proving clearly, the mountain ridges from which they 
 came. We may hence infer, that at the period of their 
 transfer from the Savoy Alps, the lake of Geneva did not 
 exist, otherwise they must have remained at its bottom, in- 
 stead of being found on its opposite boundary mountain. 
 Ure's Geology, p. 362. 
 
 In estimating the transporting power of water, it must 
 not be forgotten, as already noticed, that a solid, when 
 immersed in a fluid becomes lighter by the weight of the
 
 82 THE DELUDE. 
 
 bulk of the fluid which it displaces. Thus, if a rock be 
 twice as heavy, bulk for bulk, as water, then when im- 
 mersed in that fluid, it loses just one half its weight. A 
 man may lift a stone under water with great ease, but if 
 not aware of the above fact, he will be astonished to find 
 that he cannot, with all his might, raise it above the sur- 
 face. 
 
 There is no difficulty in conceiving that immense blocks 
 of rock may be moved by water, since the weight lost by 
 immersion, is in exact proportion to the bulk ; and there- 
 fore if a little brook will move a pebble, by the same law, 
 a great flood will transport a mountain. The blocks of 
 granite found on the opposite side of the lake of Geneva, 
 were probably carried there by the action of the deluge, 
 after which the retiring waters scooped out the lake, and 
 left both in the situation in which they are now found. 
 Many of the plains on the north of Europe, exhibit on their 
 surfaces, large blocks of granite, called boulders, with their 
 sharp angles worn off, showing that they hdve been rolled 
 from a distance. Their surfaces never exhibit the smooth- 
 ness of sea-worn pebbles, nor do their forms show the ef- 
 fects of long-continued friction, like rocks which are found 
 on the shores of the ocean, a proof that the catastrophe 
 which forced them from their original situations was not 
 of long continuance. Sir James Hall has even discovered 
 the traces of such movements on rocks now in their ori- 
 ginal situations in the f icinity of Edinburgh. That dis- 
 trict consists of hills and valleys, the surfaces of which are 
 strewed with the wrecks of former rocks, which have been 
 moved from their ancient positions by some mighty pow- 
 er. Channels, or furrows may be observed on the surfaces 
 of solid rocks, across which these have been forced. The 
 clay, covering the surfaces of these rocks, being removed, 
 they are found to resemble a road along which many 
 heavy bodies have been recently dragged, as if every 
 heavy fragment had made a scratch of greater or less 
 depth as it passed. These furrows are parallel to the gen- 
 eral direction in which the diluvial current passed, as 
 shown by the forms of the hills and valleys. 
 
 That the diluvial waters -reached the summits of lofty 
 mountains, is evident from the boulder blocks of Mount 
 Blanc, being thrown over on the high acclivities of Mount 
 Jura. Professor Buckland says, that the Alps and Car- 
 pathians, as well as every other mountainous region which
 
 THE DELUGE. 83 
 
 he has visited, boar the same evidence of having been 
 modified by the force of water, as do the hills of the lower 
 regions. 
 
 Besides the evidence which the situations of rocky 
 masses exhibit of a great flood, there are proofs of the 
 same, to be found almost everywhere among the hills and 
 valleys. Thus many hills have been formed by the re- 
 moval of the earth, which forms the valley between them, 
 circumstances proving that such valleys did not always 
 exist, but that the strata forming the two hills were once 
 continuous. 
 
 Suppose that on digging wells, on two hills separated 
 by a valley, there should be found a bed of gravel ten feet 
 thick, then a layer of clay, then a bed of chalk, &c., and 
 that these formations should correspond exactly with each 
 other, both in respect to kind, direction and thickness; 
 then the inference would be unavoidable, that these strata 
 once continued through the valley, and that both the hills 
 and valley were formed by the removal of the earth from 
 the latter, and that this must have been effected by a stream 
 of water now existing, or by a great flood. But in the 
 cases to which we refer no such streams exist, nor from 
 appearances ever did exist, there being no sources of water 
 by which they could be supplied. 
 
 No adequate cause can therefore be assigned for such 
 an effect, except it be the Noachian deluge. The adjoin- 
 ing cut shows the two hills ; the correspondence of the 
 strata through each, and the wells by which they are 
 pierced. Such examples, it is believed, are of very com- 
 mon occurrence, and would often be observed were due 
 notice taken of the strata when digoing wells on opposite 
 hills. 
 
 Immense beds of sand and water-worn pebbles are found 
 deposited in places and situations which cannot be account- 
 ed for on any supposition, except that of a temporary and 
 sweeping flood of waters.
 
 84 THE DELUGE. 
 
 Mr. de la Beche, under the head 
 of "Erratic Block Group,' 1 "Geolo- 
 gical Manual," p. 157, has described 
 and figured a deposition of gravel 
 which occurs at Warren Point, near 
 Dawlish, and which we copy as an 
 illustration of the subject. The fig- 
 ure is a section of the point, and is a 
 mixed example of a fault, and of 
 transported gravel upon it, b b, con- 
 glomerates, or pudding stones, and 
 c c, strata of the red sandstone formation, fractured or 
 broken into faults, by the dykes / f, so that continuous 
 strata are displaced as seen in the cut. Upon these frac- 
 tured strata rests a bed of gravel a a, composed of chalk, 
 flints, and green flinty sand, mixed with a few pebbles 
 similar to those in the conglomerates b b. This sand has 
 evidently been deposited since the fracture, for it rests 
 quietly upon it, and appears never to have been disturbed 
 since its deposition. The chalk and green sand of this 
 district have once covered very considerable spaces, 
 though the latter is now seen only on I-laldon Hills, near 
 this section, but separated from it by an intervening val- 
 ley. There are many other dislocations so covered on 
 the same coast, (Plymouth ;) where these appearances 
 can be observed with the greatest ease, especially at low 
 water. 
 
 " It might be supposed," says Mr. De La Beche, " that 
 these chalk flints and pieces of chert, (a flinty stone,) were 
 merely the remains of superincumbent masses of chalk and 
 green sand, which have been destroyed, by meteoric agents, 
 the harder parts falling down on the top of the fracture. 
 We can scarcely consider this physically probable, or 
 even possible; for it supposes the removal of more than 
 600 feet of sandstone and conglomerate, (for not until that 
 height above this section would the green sand and chalk 
 come on,) without scarcely leaving any of the pebbles, cr 
 large masses of the red sandstone, while the flints and 
 cherts, which belonged to the upper, and consequently 
 first destroyed rocks, remain." 
 
 " Let us now consider," continues our author, "another 
 class of appearances. Over the whole of this district^ 
 (Plymouth,) where transported gravel occurs, the sur- 
 face of the rocks, (it being of no importance what they
 
 THE DELUGE. 85 
 
 happen to be,) is drilled into cavities and holes, similar 
 to those well known on the chalk of the east of England. 
 The following sections will illustrate this. 
 
 a, a, gravel, principally of flint 
 and chert, resting in a hollow of 
 the red sandstone, b, b, between 
 Teignmouth and Dawlish, the 
 lines in the gravel following the 
 outline of the cavity. 
 
 a, a, in the next figure, is gra- 
 vel composed in a great mea- 
 sure of flints, among which are 
 some large rounded pieces of 
 
 silicious breccia, resting on ca- 
 vities in pipe-clay. 
 
 " Other examples might easily be adduced, but these are 
 here given, because the geological student can easily ob- 
 serve'them. They seem to point to some general agent, 
 which in its passage over the land, has produced similar 
 effects on various rocks, forming cavities, and depositing 
 fragments, transported from greater or less distances." 
 
 Mr. De Li Beche further remarks, " that the form of 
 the valleys in that district are gentle and rounded, and 
 such as no complication of meteoric causes, that inge- 
 nuity can imagine, seems capable of producing ; that nu- 
 merous valleys occur on the lines of the faults; and that 
 the detritus "(broken rocks) is dispersed in a way that 
 cannot be accounted for by the present action of mere 
 atmospheric waters. I will more particularly remark," 
 says he, " that on Great Haldon Hill, about 900 feet 
 above the sea, pieces of rock which must have been de- 
 rived from levels not greater than 700 or 800 feet, and 
 even less, occur in the superficial gravel. They certainly 
 are rare, but may be discovered by diligent search. I there 
 found pieces of red sandstone, porphyry, and a compact 
 silicious rock, not uncommon in the graywacke of the 
 vicinity, where all the rocks occur at a lower level than 
 the summit of Haldon, and where certainly they could not 
 have been carried by rains or rivers, unless the latter be 
 supposed to delight in running up hill." 
 
 In continuing this subject with respect to the lowlands 
 of Sidmouth and Lyme, Mr. De La Beche says, " it may 
 sometimes be possible, with the aid of ingenuity, to pro- 
 duce a case of transport by a long continuance of such 
 
 e
 
 00 THE DELUGE. 
 
 natural effects as are now seen, but in other situations, 
 such explanations seem altogether valueless, and unphilo- 
 sophical. 
 
 Not only are gravels brought from various distances, 
 but even huge blocks, the transport of which, by actual 
 causes, into their present situations, seem physically im- 
 possible. Professor Buckland mentions that he found 
 among the transported gravel of Durham, twenty varieties 
 of slate and greenstone, which do not occur in places 
 nearer than the lake district of Cumberland. Professor 
 Sedgwick remarks that the boulders of Shap granite, 
 which is so peculiar as not to be confounded with any 
 other rocks in the north of England, are not only drifted 
 over the hills of Appleby, but have been scattered over 
 the plain of new red sand stones ; rolled over the great 
 central chain of England into the plains of Yorkshire ; 
 imbedded in transported matter of the Zees ; and even 
 carried to the eastern coast of the Island. Ann. of Phil. 
 1825. 
 
 Between the Thames and the Tweed, pebbles, and even 
 blocks of rock, are discovered, of such a character that 
 they have been considered, we believe, by all competent 
 judges, as having been derived from the coast of Norway, 
 where only similar rocks are known to exist. 
 
 Mr. Phillips states, that the diluvial accumulation in 
 Holderness, on the coast of Yorkshire, is composed of a 
 base of clay, containing fragments of pre-existing rocks, 
 varying in roundness and size. The rocks from which 
 the fragments appear to have been transported are found, 
 some in Norway ; others in the Highlands of Scotland, 
 and in the mountains of Cumberland others, in the north- 
 western and western parts of Yorkshire ; and no incon 
 siderable portion appears to have come from the sea 
 coast of Durham, and in the neighborhood of Whitby. 
 In proportion to the distance they have travelled is the 
 degree of roundness they have acquired. Phillips' Illus. 
 Geol. Yorkshire. 
 
 In this country similar phenomena almost everywhere 
 present themselves to the eye of the observer. Beds of 
 water-worn pebbles, such as are now found only on the 
 borders of the sea ; and immense blocks of granite lying 
 in situations to which it is evident they must have been 
 transported, and where no causes now in operation could 
 possibly have placed them, are not uncommon occurrences.
 
 THE DELUGE. 87 
 
 The whole of Long Island is either a diluvial or a ter- 
 tiary formation, and in which bones are sometimes found. 
 Near the east end of that island lies the skeleton of a whale, 
 a mile from the shore. A part of the bones are, or were, 
 a few years ago, in a good state of preservation. The 
 same formations extend to various distances from the sea, 
 along the coasts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, 
 and the other maritime states, to Alabama. Through the 
 greatest part of this immense tract, diluvian deposites, with 
 shells, are found. In New Jersey, from ten to twenty 
 feet below the surface of this formation, is found a green- 
 ish blue marl, containing various shells, as Ammonites, 
 Bellemnites, Chama, Ostrea, Terebratula, &c. (These 
 will be found figured and described towards the end of 
 this volume.) 
 
 Boulders of various sizes are seen in many places. In 
 East Lyme, Ct. near the road leading from Rope Ferry 
 to Saybrook, at a location called Keeney's hill, there is a 
 huge block of granite, weighing, by estimate, nearly four 
 hundred tons. Any person, after a moment's considera- 
 tion, would conclude that this rock must have been trans- 
 ported from a distance ; for its present situation is in an 
 open field, on or near the summit of a considerable hill, 
 there being no rocks of the same, or indeed of any kind 
 on the surface near it. On examining the neighborhood, 
 however, the inquirer will soon find that it came from a 
 granite hill, of small elevation, situated about two miles 
 in a northwest direction, and therefore must have been 
 moved towards the southeast, and this is confirmed by the 
 direction of the hill on which the rock stands, and of the 
 valley below. The erratic rocks of Europe have all been 
 moved in the same direction. 
 
 Professor Hitchcock, in his report on the Geology of 
 Massachusetts, appears to have examined the diluvial de- 
 posites of that state with much attention, and has shown 
 that the current there, was also from the north and north- 
 west, towards the southeast. "The conclusion," says 
 he, " to which I have been irresistibly forced by an exam- 
 ination of this stratum in Massachusetts, is, that all the 
 diluvium, which had been previously accumulated by va- 
 rious agencies has been modified by a powerful deluge, 
 sweeping from the north and northwest, over every part 
 of the state, not excepting the highest mountains ; and that 
 since that deluge, none but alluvial agencies have been 
 operating to change the surface."
 
 88 THE DELUGE. 
 
 " The diluvium of Plymouth and Barnstable," he con- 
 tinues, " consists almost entirely of white sand, some peb- 
 bles, and a very large number of boulders of primary 
 rocks. These boulders consist chiefly of granite, sienite, 
 and gneiss, with occasional masses of gray wacke conglom- 
 erate, common felspar and porphyry. They all corres- 
 pond with the rocks found in place along that coast, in the 
 vicinity of Boston and Cape Ann ; and no one, it appears to 
 me, can see the marks of degradation along that coast, 
 who will not be convinced that a large portion of the peb- 
 bles and boulders of Plymouth and Barnstable counties, 
 came from thence " p. 142 3. 
 
 Some of the boulders are from ten to twenty, and even 
 thirty feet in diameter, and frequently occupy nearly the 
 whole surface, so that one can hardly persuade himself, 
 when he examines them at a distance, that they are not 
 genuine ledges. 
 
 In various parts of the state, the diluvium is piled up 
 in elevations of various extent and height, leaving corres- 
 ponding depressions. Near the extremity of Cape Cod, 
 the hills and valleys thus formed, are of astonishing height 
 and depth, the elevations being sometimes 300 feet ; and 
 yet these inequalities are obviously the results of currents 
 of water, since they are precisely of the same shape of 
 those seen in the dry beds of rivers. 
 
 Examples of the diluvial action, if not equalled in the 
 magnitude of its effects, are still as apparent to the observ- 
 er in almost every part of the state. 
 
 Fig. 4. 
 
 Another class of effects, from which professor Hitch- 
 cock not only concludes that a mighty current of water 
 once swept over the surface of Massachusetts, but from 
 which he also infers its direction, is the existence of
 
 THE DELUGE. 89 
 
 grooves, furrows, and scratches upon the surfaces of the 
 rocks that have never been moved from their places. 
 
 The adjoining sketch, fig. 4, exhibits a rock of this de- 
 scription, near the turnpike from Boston to Chelmsford, 
 near the line between Bedford and Billerica, and not far 
 from the sixteenth mile stone from Boston. The rock is 
 intermediate between gneiss and mica slate. Its strata 
 seams run in the direction of a a ; and the grooves and 
 scratches in the direction b b. The direction of these 
 grooves is nearly north and south ; and this is their gener- 
 al course in every part of the State, east of Hoosac moun- 
 tain. Commonly, however, they run a few degrees east 
 of south and west of north. 
 
 A great number of other instances are adduced, present- 
 ing similar phenomena, in different parts of the State, all 
 of which correspond with the above, in respect to the di- 
 rection of the furrows. 
 
 Mr. De La Beche, after having described the various 
 facts which exist in many parts of Britain, indicating the 
 transportation of rocks, stones, and sand, comes to the fol- 
 lowing conclusions. " The probability, therefore, as far as 
 the above facts seem to warrant, is, that a body of water 
 has proceeded from north to south over the British isles, 
 moving with sufficient velocity to transport fragments of 
 rock from Norway to the Shetland isles, and the eastern 
 coast of England ; the course of such a body of water hav- 
 ing been modified and obstructed among the valleys, hills, 
 and mountains, which it encountered ; so that various mi- 
 nor and low currents having been produced, the distribu- 
 tion of detritus has been in various directions." 
 
 If the supposition of a mass of waters having passed 
 over Britain be founded on probability, the evidences of 
 such a passage, or passages, should be found in the neigh- 
 boring continent of Europe, and the general direction of 
 the transported substances should be the same. Now this 
 is precisely what we do find. In Sweden and Russia, 
 large blocks of rock occur out of place, in great numbers, 
 and no doubt can be entertained, that they have been trans- 
 ported southward from the north. The same phenomena 
 are observed in Germany, the Netherlands, and indeed in 
 nearly every part of the old world, where observations 
 have been made. The lower parts of the last named 
 countries contain huge blocks of transported rock, which 
 8*
 
 90 THE DELUGE. 
 
 are proved by their mineralogical characters, to have been 
 derived from the northern regions. 
 
 South of Germany and the Netherlands, various obstruc- 
 tions arise in the form of mountains ;' and if the supposition 
 of a mass of waters be correct, it would be thrown out of 
 its original course, in various directions, and from lofty 
 mountain ranges, such as the Alps, there would be a re- 
 action, and a back wave retrograding through the valleys, 
 would leave deposites, perhaps in the form of small hills, 
 as is often seen in various parts of the world. M. Elie de 
 Beaumont has described, probably, the effects of such a 
 backward action, in an immense quantity of debris which 
 has been driven from the central chain of the Alps, out- 
 wards. 
 
 A question of importance now presents itself, with re- 
 spect to the general changes which were produced on the 
 surface of the earth by this moving mass of waters. Did 
 the valleys exist as they do now, when this deluge began, 
 or were they formed by its action ? De Luc, Von Bush, 
 Beaumont, and several other geologists of the first class, 
 have presented the world with a detail of facts, from which 
 they all infer that the great valleys existed previously to 
 the catastrophe which tore the rocks from the Alps, and 
 scattered them on either side of that chain of mountains. 
 It is most probable that the same conclusion ought to be 
 drawn, with respect to all other great valleys, there being 
 no good reason to believe, that they were excavated by the 
 waters which transported the rocks and sand banks above 
 described. Still, as we have already noticed, there is no 
 doubt but the mass of waters which moved rocks weighing 
 hundreds of tons, often to the distance of many leagues, 
 produced great changes on the surface of this globe, and 
 that many, or perhaps most of the smaller valleys, as well 
 as the beds of rivers, may be attributed to its effects. 
 
 From the facts and circumstances thus thrown together, 
 there is sufficient evidence that the earth has been de- 
 luged by a flood of water, which in its course transported 
 great masses of rock from one place to another ; excavated 
 valleys, formed hills of diluvial detritus, and finally left 
 its effects on the surface of the globe, which are almost 
 everywhere apparent at the present day. Geologists gen- 
 erally agree that this deluge could not have taken place 
 at a very remote period of time ; perhaps four or five thou- 
 sand years ago, and therefore this period corresponds suf-
 
 THE DELUGE. 91 
 
 ficiently near to that at which the Mosaic history states 
 the Noachian deluge to have happened, to convince any 
 unprejudiced mind that the effects of water above describ- 
 ed, can only be imputed to that flood, an account of which 
 is given in the book of Genesis. 
 
 Animals destroyed by the deluge. The animals suppos- 
 ed to have been destroyed by the deluge, and whose re- 
 mains have been discovered in diluvial deposites, are the 
 following. It is not certain, however, that the destruction 
 of the whole list was contemporaneous, but the bones of 
 all are found in superficial gravels, sands or clays, which 
 believers in the Mosaic account consider as belonging to 
 the effects of the general and punitive deluge. 
 
 1. Elephas primigenius, (Blumenbach,) Primitive Ele- 
 phant. Remains found in various parts of Europe. Very 
 common in Siberia, Russia, and most northern parts of 
 Asia, where the tusks are uninjured, and are dug up and 
 sold for ivory to a great extent. It is also found in the 
 northern parts of North America. This is the mammoth 
 of the Russians. 
 
 2. Mastodon maximus, (Cuvier,) Great Mastodon. 
 Found in Ohio, Kentucky, New York, and other parts 
 of North America. It has tusks like the Elephant, but 
 was a larger animal. It is the mammoth of the Americans. 
 Of this animal, there are six species, differing chiefly with 
 respect to size. The M. maximus is found only in North 
 America. The other species occur in various parts of 
 Europe, and in South America. 
 
 3. Hippopotamus major, (Cuvier,) Great Hippopotamus. 
 Found in various parts of England, and in Bavaria. 
 
 Hippopotamus minutus. Little Hippopotamus. It is 
 found in France. 
 
 4. Rhinoceros. Cuvier has determined four species of 
 this animal in the fossil state, none of which belong to 
 either of the three living species. These fossil bones are 
 common in some parts of Europe, but none of them have 
 been found in America. 
 
 5. Tapirus giganteus. The bones of the gigantic Tapir 
 are found in many parts of France, Bavaria, and Austria. 
 
 6. Cervus giganteus. Great Elk. Found in Ireland, 
 Silesia, banks of the Rhine, and near Paris. 
 
 7. Cervus. Several species of extinct deer are found in 
 various parts of Europe.
 
 92 THE DELUGK. 
 
 Bos. The Ox. The bones of the ox tribe are common 
 in several parts of Europe. 
 
 8. Hyena. The fossil remains of this animal, are also 
 common in Europe. 
 
 9. Equus. The Horse. Common in many places. 
 
 10. Megalonyx. (Jefferson,) Green Briar. Virginia. 
 Not yet found in any other place. 
 
 11. Megatherium. Buenos Ayres. 
 
 Historical proofs of the Deluge. Notwithstanding the 
 abundant proofs, which, in the opinions of most geologists, 
 the earth presents of a general deluge, there are still some 
 respectable writers on that subject, who, giving no credit 
 to the Mosaic history, seek out other causes, to which they 
 attribute the effects generally assigned to that catastrophe. 
 
 It is a point of great importance in geology, to show 
 clearly, that this earth was once drowned by a flood of 
 waters, because if this be not a truth, few facts in the natu- 
 ral history of the earth can be depended upon, since few 
 are better established, than that there was a deluge. This 
 being in relation to our subject, merely a question of sci- 
 ence, we at present claim nothing for the truth of the 
 Mosaic history, as an argument in its favor. 
 
 The fact of a universal cataclysm is not only shown by 
 the appearance of the earth, but by civil history, by tradi- 
 tion, and by the condition and number of its inhabitants. 
 
 The paucity of mankind, and the vast tracts of unin- 
 habited land which are mentioned in the history of the 
 primitive ages, show that the human race at present on 
 the earth, are but of recent origin, and that they sprung 
 from a small stock ; and to this may be added that the 
 great number of petty kingdoms and states in the first 
 ages, concur to the same purpose. Home's Introduction, 
 vol. i. p. 170. 
 
 The existing population in North America, is in itself 
 sufficient to show the recent origin of the present race of 
 man. Had the millions of people which existed before 
 the deluge, continued to increase in the same ratio that 
 the Americans have, during the last two hundred years, 
 and this without reference to emmigration, is it probable 
 that any part of this earth would now remain uninhabited? 
 Were we to make an estimate of the number of inhabitants 
 which North America will contain two thousand years 
 hence, taking the last two hundred as data, where should
 
 THE DELUGE. 93 
 
 we find a vacant spot, during the existence of such count- 
 less millions ; and yet the present race have continued to 
 increase, we suppose, for more than four thousand years. 
 If there was no catastrophe which destroyed the great 
 body of mankind, and had they continued to increase from 
 the creation, is there not every reason to believe, nay, is it 
 not quite certain, that their numbers would have been vast- 
 ly more numerous than they actually are ? 
 
 Pretended Antiquity of some Nations. It has been 
 said, that several nations could trace their antiquity to pe- 
 riods before the historical date of the deluge. These pre- 
 tensions, when carefully examined, have been found, in 
 every instance, to be entirely groundless. 
 
 It is well known that the Hindoos claim the highest an- 
 tiquity for their nation and their learning. Sir William 
 Jones, who examined the authorities on which these high 
 claims were founded, became convinced, that such preten- 
 sions were without the least foundation in truth. " We 
 find," says that eminent scholar, " no certain monuments, 
 or even probable tradition, (among these people,) of na- 
 tions planted ; empires and states raised ; laws enacted ; cit- 
 ies built; navigation improved; commerce encouraged; 
 arts invented ; or letters contrived, above twelve, or at 
 most, fifteen or sixteen centuries before the birth of 
 Christ." Indeed, it is known from the researches of those 
 who have made the literature and antiquities of that nation 
 a subject of study, that they possess no authentic history 
 which dates anterior to the third or fourth century of our 
 era. 
 
 There is a popular opinion that the Chinese are able to 
 trace the history of their nation to a very remote antiqui- 
 ty ; and yet, on examination, they do not pretend to pos- 
 sess any knowledge of their own nation, anterior to the 
 eleventh century before the Christian era, and even this 
 is probably, almost, if not entirely fabulous. 
 
 We shall notice further on this point, that the preten- 
 sions which the Egyptians have made to the great antiqui- 
 .y of their nation, appear to have been founded on their 
 mode of reckoning time, by which a year consisted of a 
 lunar month, or thirty days, instead of 365 days ; and that 
 the claims of the Chaldeans to profound science and re- 
 mote antiquity, are equally unfounded. According to Be- 
 rosus, they knew so little of Astronomy, the oldest of th
 
 94 THE DELUGE. 
 
 sciences, as to consider the moon a luminous body, which 
 sheds its own light, instead of borrowing it from the sun. 
 In fine, so far as examination has been made, the his- 
 tory, the arts, the antiquities, and the languages of all na- 
 tions, concur to prove the comparatively recent origin of 
 the present races of men. 
 
 Tradition proves the Mosaic account of the Deluge. 
 A tradition of the deluge, in many instances very nearly 
 coinciding with the account given of that catastrophe by 
 Moses, has been almost universally preserved among the 
 ancient nations. It is indeed a very remarkable fact con- 
 cerning that event, that the memory, or traditions of most 
 nations ends with some traces of its history, however im- 
 perfect. This is even the case with several of the nations 
 recently discovered, and before unknown to the civilized 
 world, and which therefore could not have derived this 
 tradition from the history of Moses, or from the commu- 
 nication of travellers. 
 
 Without reciting, in detail, the abundant proof which 
 authors contain on this subject, we must content ourselves 
 by adverting to a few of these traditions. 
 
 Josephus affirms that Berosus, the Chaldean historian, 
 has related the circumstances-of a great deluge, in which 
 all mankind perished except a few, and that Noachus, the 
 preserver of the human race, was carried in an ark to the 
 summit of an Armenian mountain. Josephus also testi- 
 fies that Hieronirnus, the Egyptian historian, who wrote 
 the antiquities of the Phoenicians, and Nicholas of Da- 
 mascus, together with other writers, in common with Be- 
 rosus, speak of this same deluge. Likewise there is a 
 fragment preserved of Abydemus, an ancient Assyrian 
 historian, in which it is said, not only that there was a 
 deluge, but that it was foretold before it happened, and 
 that birds were sent forth from the ark three different 
 times to see whether the waters had abated. This frag- 
 ment also states that the ark was driven to Armenia. It 
 is hardly necessary to observe how nearly these accounts 
 agree with that of Moses, and yet it is by no means sup- 
 posed, that they were derived from the sacred writings, 
 but from the traditions of the nations among whom these 
 historians resided. 
 
 Among the Greeks, Plato mentions the great deluge- 
 in which cities were destroyed, and the useful arts lost
 
 THE DELUGE. 95 
 
 And Diodorus affirms that there was a tradition among 
 the Egyptians, that almost all animals perished by a gen- 
 eral deluge, which happened in Deucalion's time. 
 
 Now commentators and scholars inform us, that Deuca- 
 lion's flood, and that of Noah's are the same. Plutarch, in 
 his account of the sagacity of animals says, that a dove 
 was sent out by Deucalion, which coming back to the ark 
 again, was a sign that the flood continued, but afterwards 
 flying away, proved that there was dry land. 
 
 Lucian mentions Deucalion's flood, and states that only 
 a remnant of the human family was saved from its effects. 
 He also says that the present race of man was not the first, 
 but that all were destroyed, except Deucalion and his fam- 
 ily, and that this destruction was caused by the wickedness 
 of man. 
 
 Many more examples of a similar kind are noted by au- 
 thors, but we shall only mention that traditions of the 
 flood, more or less mixed with fable, are retained by the 
 Hindoos, Burmans, and Chinese. The tradition of the 
 latter refers not only directly to the deluge itself, but also 
 to the cause of it, viz., the wickedness of man. Similar 
 traditions are also traced among the ancient Goths and 
 Druids, as well as among the recent Mexicans, Brazilians, 
 and Nicaraguans ; to which may be added the newly dis- 
 covered people of Western Caledonia, the Otaheitans, be- 
 fore their conversion to Christianity and the Sandwich Isl- 
 anders. See Bishop Newton's works, and Home's Intro- 
 duction, vol. i. 
 
 From these various facts it is manifest, that the heathen 
 were not only acquainted by tradition with the fact of a 
 universal deluge, but also with many of its circumstances, 
 and that these traditions often bear a striking analogy to 
 the account given by Moses. 
 
 In closing this part of our subject, we may remark, that 
 few facts stated in history, can bring to its support so much 
 concurrent testimony, as that of a universal deluge. The 
 face of the earth almost everywhere records its effects, 
 and often in the most eloquent and striking manner, so 
 that the rocks themselves are everlasting witnesses against 
 the folly of unbelievers. Profane history is not silent on 
 this subject, but brings forward her testfmony in quantity- 
 more than sufficient to establish an ordinary fact. Tradi- 
 tion, though blunted by fable, clearly testifies to the same 
 truth. And, lastly, the Sacred Scriptures, written by th
 
 96 THE DELUGE. 
 
 express command of Divine authority, have not only de- 
 scribed, in the most simple and lucid terms, this awful ca- 
 tastrophe, but have explained the reason why such a ca- 
 lamity was brought upon our race 
 
 The Ark of Noah. It has been objected against the 
 Mosaic history, with confidence, and undoubtedly often 
 with considerable effect, that it is very improbable, Noah, 
 at that period of the arts, could have constructed an ark of 
 sufficient capacity to contain specimens of all the animals 
 on the earth, together with his own family, and such a 
 quantity of provisions as to sustain the whole for the term 
 of 150 days. But this objection will instantly vanish when 
 the dimensions of this vessel are considered. 
 
 The dimensions of Noah's ark were three hundred cu- 
 bits in length, fifty in breadth, and thirty in height, and 
 consisted of three decks, stories, or floors. Reckoning the 
 cubit at a foot and a half, or eighteen inches, Dr. Hales 
 has proved that the ark was of the burden of 42,413 tons, 
 as we compute the tonnage of ships at the present day. 
 A first rate man of war is between 2,200 and 2,300 tons, 
 and consequently the ark had a capacity of stowage equal 
 to eighteen such ships, the largest now in use. It might 
 therefore have carried 20,000 men with provisions for six 
 months, besides the weight of 1,800 cannon, and other ne- 
 cessary equipments and military stores for such an arma- 
 ment. Can it be doubtful, therefore, whether this vessel 
 had sufficient capacity to contain eight persons, and about 
 200 or 250 pairs of four footed beasts, a number, to which, 
 according to Buffon, all the various distinct species may 
 be reduced, together with pairs of such fowls, reptiles, and 
 creeping things, as cannot live under water, and provisions 
 for the whole, even for a year.* 
 
 Was the Deluge Universal? We have stated at the 
 
 * Dr. Hale's Analysis of Chronology, vol. i., p. 328. The reader 
 who desires to pursue this subject, will find a good summary in 
 Home's Introduction to the Critical study of the Scriptures, vol. i. 
 But the books which treat the subject more at large, and in con- 
 nexion with Geology, are Howard's History of the Earth and Man, 
 4to. Buckland's Reliquiae Diluvianae. Cuvier's Theory of the 
 Earth. Ure's New System of Geology, and Penn's Comparative 
 Estimate of the Mineral and Mosaical Geologies.
 
 THE DELUGE. 97 
 
 beginning of this article that an objection had been raised 
 against the truth of the Mosaic history, on account of there 
 not being supposed a sufficient quantity of water now on 
 the earth, to cover the mountains as there represented. At 
 the epoch of the creation, the whole earth was surrounded 
 \vith water, otherwise there is no meaning in the com- 
 mand, " Let the waters under the heavens be gathered 
 together unto one place, and let the dry land appear." If 
 it be objected that this was before the elevation of the hills 
 and mountains, and that the earth at that time was a 
 smooth ball, and therefore might be entirely covered by a 
 thin stratum of water, it requiring much less to cover a 
 smooth, than an uneven surface, still, until it can be shown 
 to what depth the earth was then covered, it cannot be 
 proved that there was not a sufficient quantity to cover 
 the mountains as they now exist. As there have been no 
 new creations, the quantity of water now existing, is un- 
 doubtedly the same that it was when it surrounded the 
 whole earth. It is now chiefly collected into one continu- 
 ous ocean, the depth of Avhich is in general entirely un- 
 known. Calculations, it is true, have been made, on the 
 quantity of water the oceans, seas, and lakes contain, with 
 a view of estimating the aggregate amount on the earth. 
 But it is obvious, that not even an approximation to the 
 truth can be offered en this subject, until more is known 
 concerning the depths of the different oceans, than at 
 present. Besides, it is not necessary to suppose that all 
 the mountains were covered on the same day, or even- 
 week, for the deluge might have swept the earth from one 
 country to another, in a manner similar to the great tides 
 of the present day. The only difficulty in the way of 
 such a hypothesis, is the length of time which the moun- 
 tains continued covered where the ark rested. But as 
 there is every reason to believe that the eastern portion 
 of the globe was the only one then inhabited, and as the 
 deluge was a punitive measure, brought on by the wick- 
 edness and violence of man, we may reasonably suppose 
 that it began first, and continued longest in the countries 
 where he dwelt. Perhaps the " windows of heaven" 
 were opened only over that devoted portion of the earth, 
 and from thence the flood swept in all directions to other 
 parts. It is certain that all parts of the earth which have 
 been examined, contain monuments of a sweeping deluge ; 
 i nd that the mountains in various countries were covered 
 9
 
 98 THE DELUGE. 
 
 by it, is proved not only by the removal of great masses of 
 rock from their places, but also by the organic remains 
 of quadrupeds and fish, found buried at great heights 
 above the sea, and under such circumstances as to show 
 that they were deposited there by water. 
 
 It is not however supposed that in every instance where 
 such remains are found far above the sea, they were de- 
 posited by the deluge, as it will be seen in another place, 
 that limestone, and other strata containing shells, have 
 been elevated by subterranean forces. 
 
 The universality of the deluge is sufficiently proved, 
 therefore, by the appearance of the earth, and that it cov- 
 ered the mountains, at least many of them, there is good 
 reason to believe, independently of the assertions of Scrip- 
 ture, though the physical evidence on this point is per- 
 haps not conclusive. 
 
 Were all the animals existing in the primitive world 
 preserved in the ark ? It is certain that there once existed 
 quadrupeds on the earth, which are unknown at the pre- 
 sent time, and which it is nearly as certain do not any- 
 where exist. The remains of these extinct specif s, as we 
 have already shown, are found in almost every par f . of the 
 world. Did these races perish at the time of the deluge, 
 or did they gradually become extinct, before or since, that 
 catastrophe ? 
 
 Many fossil bones are in such a slate of preservation, as 
 to prove that their races were in existence at no very re- 
 mote period. This is especially the case in cold climates, 
 as in Siberia, where the tusks of elephants are undfcayed. 
 Still, time produces the decomposition and total destruc- 
 tion of all organized substances, when exposed to the 
 atmosphere, or buried in the ground, and among the Sibe- 
 rian bones, there are some which show its effects much 
 more than others. These, therefore, we may suppose, 
 other circumstances being equal, are the most ancient. 
 But in general, the Siberian bones of quadrupeds, as well 
 as those found in other countries, and attributed to the 
 flood, appear to be of about the same antiquity, and be- 
 sides, these remains, or those of similar species, wherever 
 found, appear to have been buried under similar circum- 
 stances. The kind of deposite in which they are found is 
 eyerywhere similar, and apparently of the same age, and 
 hence geologists have generally come to similar conclu-
 
 THE DELUGE. 99 
 
 sions with respect to their antiquity, and the manner in 
 which thfe animals Avere destroyed. A sudden, violent, 
 and general catastrophe, appears to have destroyed these 
 ancient races, and at the same time, to have buried them 
 in its effects. The deposites in which the bones are in- 
 terred, are what geologists term diluvial, that is, belong- 
 ing to the deluge. This is the latest formation, with the 
 exception of the alluvial, which is constantly deposited at 
 the present time. 
 
 Taking these circumstances in connexion, it is thought 
 that there are sufficient reasons to conclude, that the lost 
 species of quadrupeds became totally extinct at the epoch 
 of the general deluge, the history of which is given by 
 Moses, and that they perished by the same catastrophe 
 which destroyed every individual of the human race, ex- 
 cept Noah and his family. 
 
 A comparison of the bones of the fossil species, with 
 those of present ones, show that they generally were of a 
 different species. Hence we must come to the conclusion, 
 that not all, or every species of quadrupeds existing before 
 the deluge, were preserved in the ark, but that many races 
 perished by its waters. 
 
 The divine command to Noah, that he should take into 
 the ark " of every living thing, of all flesh, two of every 
 sort," must therefore be understood as a universal term, 
 with a Limited signification, as is often the case in scrip- 
 ture language, and particularly with respect to the word 
 which we translate all. Thus Dr. Hammond, in his note 
 on Cor. i. 1 3, says that this word is not always to be taken 
 in its utmost extent ; " but according to the use in like 
 phrases, in all languages, Avherein the universal sign, 
 affixed, either to persons, or times, or places, or things, 
 signifies only a greater number, but not all, without ex- 
 ception." 
 
 In like manner, Schleusner observes that the word all, 
 every, in scripture, is often employed indefinitely, to sig- 
 nify various of different kinds ; and often, also, to denote 
 many, a great number. 
 
 In the narrative of the deluge, this word is repeatedly 
 employed in this indefinite manner. Thus, Gen. vi. 17, 
 " And behold I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon 
 the earth, to destroy all flesh wherein is the breath of life, 
 from under heaven." And in another verse, li for all flesh 
 had corrupted his way upon the earth." Now it does not
 
 100 VOLCANOES AND EARTHQUAKES. 
 
 appear that it was the intention of the Almighty, literally 
 to destroy all flesh, since Noah and his family", together 
 with the animals \vhich he took into the ark, were saved ; 
 nor does it appear that every individual had corrupted his 
 way, for " Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." 
 
 Precisely similar language is used with respect to the 
 animals to be taken into the ark. Thus, verse 1 9, " And 
 every living thing, of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou 
 bring into the ark." Now no one will contend that the 
 fish of the sea were intended to be included in this com- 
 mand, and yet the terms employed " every living thing," 
 would include these, equally with terrestrial animals. 
 
 The terms of the Mosaic history, therefore, give us lib- 
 erty to conclude, that all the antediluvian species, without 
 exception, were not admitted into the ark ; and consequent- 
 ly, we may consider the extinct species, whose bones are 
 found in the earth, as exceptions to the general terms of the 
 divine command, without the least violation of the intended 
 meaning of the sacred scriptures. 
 
 The more ancient bones, or those of the same species 
 which are more decayed than others, we may suppose be- 
 longed to animals which died natural deaths, before the 
 time of the catastrophe which destroyed the remainder of 
 the "race ; while those in a similar state of preservation, 
 and found under similar circumstances, may be considered 
 as having belonged to animals which perished by the same 
 catastrophe. 
 
 VOLCANOES AND EARTHQUAKES. 
 
 Having, in the preceding pages, given such a history 
 of the changes produced by water, as our limits would 
 allow, we now come to those which have been produced 
 by .fire, as the great cause of volcanic phenomena, the 
 most tremendous and startling exhibitions, of which the 
 experience of man can conceive. 
 
 The effects of water, in changing the form of the earth, 
 we have seen, are, with a few exceptions, gradual, and 
 sometimes so slow, as even to require centuries to pro- 
 duce any considerable results. The changes produced by 
 earthquakes, on the contrary, are often as sudden as 
 they are calamitous and fearful, sometimes in a single
 
 VOLCANOES AND EARTHQUAKES. 101 
 
 hour, or even in a moment, not only reducing to frag- 
 ments the most solid and costly monuments of man, but 
 also mutilating the face of the earth itself tearing down 
 mountains elevating islands in the depths of the ocean, 
 or burying whole territories under inundations of liquid 
 fire. 
 
 Geography of Volcanoes. It is a striking circumstance, 
 in the history of volcanoes and earthquakes, that these 
 awful exhibitions of nature have hitherto been almost en- 
 tirely confined to certain regions of country. At present 
 the Andes of South America are among the best defined 
 of these regions. Beginning with Chili, in the 46 of south 
 latitude, and proceeding north to the 27 of the same lati- 
 tude, we shall find a line of volcanoes so uninterrupted, 
 that hardly a degree is passed without the occurrence of 
 one of these agents in an active state. About twenty arc 
 enumerated within that space, and there is no doubt but 
 many more exist, some of which are dormant, and per- 
 haps some have become extinct. How long an interval 
 of rest entitles a volcano to be considered as extinct, is not 
 determined. Those which have always been inactive 
 since the era of history, may perhaps be so considered. 
 The volcano of Ischia, in Italy, was silent for a term of 
 1700 years, after which it again commenced a series of 
 eruptions. 
 
 The volcanoes of Chili have their chimneys pierced 
 through mountains of granite, thus exhibiting the effects 
 of a degree offeree, of which man, without the existence 
 of such phenomena, could have nowhere gained the least 
 conception. Villarcia is one of the principal volcanoes of 
 this district. It is so elevated as to be visible at the dis- 
 tance of 150 miles, and burns without intermission. Every 
 year the inhabitants of this province experience shocks of 
 earthquakes. In 1822, the whole coast of Chili, to the 
 extent of 100 miles, was elevated several feet by a sub- 
 terranean convulsion, of which we shall give an account 
 hereafter. 
 
 Proceeding to the north, where the Andes attain their 
 greatest elevation, we find in the province of Quito, Co- 
 topaxi, Antisana, and Pichinca, all of them in an active 
 state, and frequently emitting flames. Tunguragua, is 
 also in the same district. This mountain, in 1797, threw 
 out a deluge of mud, which filled valleys a thousand feet 
 9*
 
 102 VOLCANOES AND EARTHQUAKES. 
 
 wide, and six hundred deep, forming barriers by which 
 rivers were dammed up and lakes formed. North of Q,uito, 
 in the provinces of Pasto and Popyan, occur six other 
 volcanoes ; and in the provinces of Guatimala and Nica- 
 ragua, which lie between the isthmus of Panama and 
 Mexico, there are no less than twenty-three volcanic 
 mountains, all of them situated between the 10 and 15 
 of north latitude, some of which are constantly in an ac- 
 tive state. 
 
 This great volcanic chain, after being thus extended 
 from south to north, nearly in a direct line, is continued 
 through a great part of Mexico from west to east. Here 
 are five active volcanoes, known by the several names of 
 Tuxtla, Oribaza, Popocatepest, Jorullo and Colima. Still 
 north of Mexico, in the peninsula of California, there are 
 at least three, and according to some, five burning moun- 
 tains. 
 
 Thus we see that this volcanic chain extends nearly in 
 an uninterrupted course from Chili to the north of Mexico, 
 a distance of nearly 4000 miles. 
 
 Another continuous volcanic, range, of nearly equal 
 extent, begins at the Aleutian Islands, belonging to Rus- 
 sian America, and by a circuitous route, ptisses to the 
 Molucca Islands. Through this whole extent, earthquakes 
 of the most terrific description are common. 
 
 But our limits will not permit the enumeration of all the 
 volcanic tracts described by authors. Besides those al- 
 ready mentioned, Kamtschatka has seven burning moun- 
 tains ; the island of Java contains thirty-eight great vol- 
 canoes ; the Molucca Islands contain several, and among 
 them that of Sumbawa, which, in 1815, suffered one of 
 the most tremendous eruptions recorded in history. The 
 Islands of Jesso and Niphon, and Sumatra, contain more 
 or less volcanoes ; and from the Caspian sea to the 
 Azores, is a volcanic range. Of Sicily and Italy, it is 
 hardly necessary to speak in this enumeration, since the 
 descriptions of Etna and Vesuvius, of Herculaneum and 
 Pompeii, are well known, and are sufficient to indicate the 
 volcanic disposition of that part of Europe. The West 
 India Islands have occasionally suffered great calamities 
 from this cause; and Iceland contains many burning 
 mountains, among which is Skaptar Jokul, which, in 1783, 
 suffered an extraordinary eruption, which we shall de- 
 scribe.
 
 VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS. 103 
 
 The whole number of volcanoes known is about 200. 
 See Von Hojfs Geology, vol. ii, and LyelVs Geology, vol. i. 
 Article ' Geography of Volcanic Regions." 
 
 General Characters and Geological Connexions of Vol- 
 canoes. The forms of volcanic mountains are generally 
 so peculiar as to be distinguished from all others. They 
 are commonly of considerable height, and sometimes very 
 lofty. When solitary, they are of a conical form, and 
 more or less truncated, that is, bearing the appearance of 
 having been cut off at the top. When active, or but re- 
 cently extinguished, the truncation has within it a cavity 
 tf greater or less size, called the crater. 
 
 The accurate form of a perfect crater is an inverted co- 
 noid, and on Cotopaxi and TenerirTe, they are surrounded 
 by Avails of lava, but most commonly this part is composed 
 of ashes Avhich have fallen doAvn during eruptions. The 
 size of the crater does not necessarily bear any proportion 
 to that of the mountain. In some mountains both the size 
 and shape varies Avith every eruption. 
 
 Proximity of Volcanoes to the Sea. In nearly all in- 
 stances, volcanoes are seated near the sea, or in the vi- 
 cinity of a large body of Avater, and it Avas formerly 
 thought that proximity to the AA r ater, was absolutely ne- 
 cessary to their action ; nor is it certain that this is not 
 the case. The only exception to this general fact, is Jo- 
 rulio, one of the burning mountains of the Andes, Avhich 
 is situated more than a hundred miles from the ocean, nor 
 does it appear that any considerable body of AA'ater is near 
 it. It ha?, ho\veA r er, been suggested, from some circum- 
 stances observed with respect to this mountain, that it may 
 possibly communicate Avith the sea by a deep fissure. 
 
 In many instances, volcanoes have thrown out mud or 
 AA'ater, instead of lava, and ashes; and in some instances, 
 fish of A^arious kinds have been found in the water thus 
 emitted, though no previous suspicion had existed, of a 
 communication betAveen the mountain and the sea. 
 
 VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS. 
 
 The action of most volcanoes is periodical, or inter- 
 mitting, though this is not the case with all. Vesuviut
 
 104 VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS. 
 
 and /Etna are sometimes dormant for a series of years, but 
 Stromboli, in the vicinity of the former, has been constant- 
 ly burning, ever since two hundred and ninety-two years 
 before the Christian era, being upAvards of two thousand 
 years. Jorullo has continued to emit flames ever since 
 1759, at which time it was elevated from the plain on 
 which it stands. But Vulcano suffered no eruption for 
 eleven centuries, and we have already noticed that Ischia 
 lay dormant for seventeen hundred years. 
 
 The appearances which attend volcanic eruptions, are 
 various. In some instances, flames issue suddenly and 
 silently from the cone, affording only splendid picturesque 
 phenomena. But in others, the scene is the most terrific 
 and appalling of which the imagination can conceive. For 
 these descriptions we must, however, refer to particular 
 eruptions, an account of which will follow. 
 
 The eruptions of Vesuvius and ^Etna, these mountains 
 being in the midst of a highly cultivated people, are best 
 described. Indeed, from the time of Pliny, to the present 
 day, these have been the subjects of interesting and learned 
 dissertations. 
 
 In general, the first appearance of an eruption consists 
 in a column of smoke rising to a great height, and then 
 spreading out in the form which Pliny compared to that 
 of a pine tree. This is followed by explosions from the 
 craters; by trembling of the earth, or perhaps by its alter- 
 nate rising and falling ; the whole being attended by a 
 rumbling, subterranean sound, forming both an eruption 
 and an earthquake. Flame is then seen to issue from the 
 cone, attended by red hot stones, often thrown to the 
 height of several hundred feet, producing in the night, 
 those brilliant and terrific phenomena, so often described. 
 During the emission of the black smoke, and before the 
 flame issues, there are often the most vivid flashes of 
 lightning, which add greatly to the splendor of the scene. 
 After these phenomena have existed for a longer or a 
 shorter time, the melted lava, rising to the edge of the cra- 
 ter, flows over it, and runs down the side of the mountain 
 into the plain below. This is in the form of a torrent of 
 liquid fire, often narrow, but sometimes many miles in 
 width. It sometimes proceeds rapidly, but more often 
 slowly, the last portions of lava passing over the first, in 
 small cascades. Sometimes, or from some mountains, 
 there is much smoke, and but little lava ; while from oth-
 
 PARTICULAR ERUPTIONS. 105 
 
 ers, or at other times, the crater vomits rivers of melted 
 matter, without srnoke or flame. 
 
 The eruption of lava is often followed by showers of 
 ashes, which consist of finely divided particles of lava, and 
 which are often wafted by the wind, to the distance of seve- 
 ral hundred miles. 
 
 The quantity of matter ejected by some volcanoes, is 
 astonishingly great. Brieslak, an Italian geologist, calcu- 
 lated that the quantity of lava which flowed from a volcano 
 in the island of Bourbon, in 1796, amounted to 45,000,000 
 of cubic feet; and that the quantity from the same, in 1787, 
 was 60,000,000 of cubic feet; and during one eruption 
 from a mountain in Iceland, the lava flowed about ninety 
 miles, having a width of at least twenty miles, and in some 
 plices, a depth of several hundred feet. 
 
 PARTICULAR ERUPTIONS. 
 
 We shall describe a few volcanic eruptions, selecting 
 only those which have been the subject of peculiar, or sci- 
 entific interest, or which have produced extraordinary ef- 
 fects, either with respect to the destruction they have caused, 
 or the quantity of lava they have ejected. 
 
 Eruptions of Vesuvius. The most ancient eruption of 
 this Italian mountain, of which there is any particular de- 
 scription, was in A. D. 79, at which time the cities of Her- 
 culaneum and Pompeii were destroyed. It does not ap- 
 pear that any lava, or melted matter was emitted at this 
 eruption; the ejected substances being sand, ashes, and 
 mud. But it is certain that this mountain had previously 
 emitted lava, since the streets of these cities are paved with 
 this substance. The first stream of lava, of which there 
 is any account, was in 1036, being the sixth or seventh 
 eruption on record. From this period, all the eruptions 
 which have taken place, are recorded, and many of them 
 described by scientific men, and at great length. 
 
 Some of them produced considerable changes, not only 
 in the form and appearance of the mountain itself, but also 
 of the country in the vicinity. That of 1538, elevated 
 the land along the coast of Naples many feet, destroyed 
 many villages, and produced Monte Nuovo, which is still
 
 106 PARTICULAR ERUPTIONS. 
 
 440 feet in height. A description and figure of this moun- 
 tain will be given hereafter. 
 
 From about the end of the 18th century to 1822, the 
 great crater of Vesuvius had been filling up gradually, 
 with lava which boiled up from below, so that the bottom 
 of the cavity presented a kind of rocky plain covered with 
 blocks, crags, and hillocks of volcanic matter. But dur- 
 ing the latter year, in the month of October, the form and 
 appearance of the ancient crater was entirely changed. 
 The explosions at that time were so violent during twenty 
 days, as to break up, and throw out the whole of that ac- 
 cumulated mass, leaving an immense gulf, or chasm, about 
 three miles in circumference, and in some parts 2000 feet 
 deep. At the same time about 800 feet in height, of the 
 original cone or top of the ancient crater, was carried 
 away by the explosions, so that Vesuvius became reduced 
 in height from about 4200 to 3400 feet. Forbes in Ed. 
 Journal, and Scrape in Jour, of Science. 
 
 In ascending the mountain, its sloping sides are found 
 to be covered with loose materials intermixed with each 
 other without the slighest order, and just as they fell from 
 the crater. But on arriving at the crater itself, the be- 
 holder is surprised to find that every thing is there arranged 
 in the most perfect symmetry, and that the materials are 
 disposed in regular undulating strata. These consist of 
 alternate layers, composed of lava, sand, ashes, and scoria, 
 lying in distinct beds, and alternating with each other. 
 These have resulted from the different colors, and coarse- 
 ness of these materials, and which severally remain in the 
 same situation and succession as they fell from the air dur- 
 ing the different eruptions. 
 
 In some parts of the crater, are seen dykes, or veins of 
 more compact matter intersecting the above described strata. 
 These are on the outside of the cone, and being harder 
 than the volcanic matter through which they have passed, 
 they have resisted decomposition, and therefore project 
 above the surface. 
 
 These have undoubtedly been formed by the filling up 
 of open fissures with liquid matter forced up from below. 
 At what period they were formed is unknown, but if such 
 fissures are formed by the cooling, and consequent shrink- 
 ing of the crater, after an eruption, it is probable that at 
 the next eruption, these are filled with the fused matter,
 
 PARTICULAR ERUPTION*. 107 
 
 so that some of these veins may be formed at every 
 eruption. 
 
 Fig. 5. 
 
 In the adjoining diagram, fig. 5, from Lyell's Geology, 
 these veins or dykes, are represented, as also is the cone 
 and crater of Vesuvius, and a part of the ancient Somma, 
 as they appeared in 1828. a, Mount Somma, or the re- 
 mains of the ancient cone of Vesuvius ; b, the Pedamentina, 
 a terrace-like projection, enclosing the base of the recent 
 cone of Vesuvius on the south side ; c, Atrio del Cavallo, 
 so called, because travellers leave their mules there, when 
 they prepare to ascend to the cone, on foot ; d e, the crater 
 of Vesuvius left by the eruption of 1822; /, a small cone 
 in the bottom of the crater, thrown up in 1828. In the 
 bottoms of many craters there are several of these small 
 conns, which are constantly emitting steam, or smoke, 
 and sometimes throw up lava; g g, dykes intersecting the 
 ancient strata of Somma ; h h, dykes intersecting the re- 
 cent cone of Vesuvius. 
 
 Immense volumes of steam, or aqueous vapor, are 
 evolved from the craters of volcanoes, during eruptions. 
 These vapors, being condensed by the surrounding at- 
 mosphere, often fall down in torrents of rain. The rain 
 precipitates the volcanic dust from the air, and sweeps 
 that along which had fallen on the declivity of the moun- 
 tain, until a torrent of mud is produced. Such torrents 
 are as much to be dreaded as the inundations of mud 
 which are sometimes thrown from the volcano, and with 
 the exception of the heat, are more disastrous than burn- 
 ing lava, being much more rapid in their descent. In 
 1822, one of these mud streams descended from Vesuvius, 
 -and after destroying a district of cultivated ground, sud-
 
 108 PARTICULAR ERUPTIONS, 
 
 denly flowed into the villages of St. Sebastian, and Massa, 
 where filling the streets, and some of the houses, it suf- 
 focated seven persons. 
 
 Destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum, These cities 
 were overwhelmed, and destroyed in the year A. D. 79, 
 and most probably either by an alluvion of mud, such ns 
 we have just described, or by an emission of the same 
 kind of matter from the mouth of the volcano. 
 
 It has been supposed, that it was by an eruption of lava 
 that these cities were destroyed; but Lippi, an Italian wri- 
 ter, has shown that many facts presented by their ruins 
 are incompatible with this opinion. Thus the casts, or 
 impressions of persons which still remain, especially of a 
 woman, found in a vault at Pompeii, cannot be accounted 
 for on the supposition of flowing melted lava, nor of fall- 
 ing volcanic ashes, for the first would hare utterly destroy- 
 ed the form of the body, and the second could not have 
 reached through the roofs of the buildings. 
 
 " There is decisive evidence," says Mr. Lyell, " that no 
 stream of lava ever reached Pompeii since it was first built, 
 although the foundations of the town stand upon the old 
 lava of Mount Somma, several streams of which have been 
 cut through in making excavations. At Herculaneum, 
 the case is different, although the substance which fills the 
 interior of the houses and vaults, must have been intro- 
 duced in a state of mud, like that found in similar situa- 
 tions in Pompeii : the superincumbent strata differ wholly 
 in composition and thickness. Herculaneum was situated 
 several miles nearer to the volcano, and has, therefore, 
 been always more exposed to be covered, not only by 
 showers of ashes, but by alluvions, and streams of lava. 
 Accordingly, masses of both have accumulated on each 
 other above the city, to a depth of nowhere less than 
 seventy, and in some places 112 feet. The tuff or mud, 
 which envelops the buildings, consists comminuted vol- 
 canic sand mixed with pumice. A mask imbedded in this 
 matter has left a cast, the small lines and angles of which 
 are quite perfect, nor did the mask present the least indi- 
 cation of heat." 
 
 These cities were both seaports, and Herculaneum is 
 still near the shore, but Pompeii is at some distance from 
 it, the intervening land having been made, at various times, 
 by volcanic matter.
 
 PARTICULAR ERUPTIONS. 109 
 
 Herculaneura was discovered 1713, by the accidental 
 circumstance of a well being dug, which came directly 
 upon the theatre, where the statues of Hercules and Cleo- 
 patra were found. These cities are mentioned by ancient 
 authors, as being among the seven flourishing towns of 
 Campania; they were originally settled by Greek colo- 
 nies. 
 
 Both at Herculaneum and Pompeii, temples have been 
 found with inscriptions, commemorating the event of their 
 rebuilding after having been overthrown by an earthquake. 
 This earthquake happened in the reign of Nero, sixty- 
 three years after the Christian era, and sixteen years before 
 the catastrophe by which they were finally destroyed. 
 
 It is supposed that about one-fourth of Pompeii is uncov- 
 ered, presenting streets, walls, temples, houses, and monu- 
 ments of art, many cf them in the same condition as they 
 were nearly 2000 years ago. Being covered with a del- 
 uge of mud, even the paintings have been preserved, and 
 the wood remains in a perfect state. In some instances, 
 the walls of the buildings are rent, probably by the earth- 
 quake which happened before the fatal eruption, but the 
 edifices chiefly remain entire. 
 
 Circumstances of great interest and curiosity are every- 
 where indicated among these ruins. Columns have been 
 found lying upon the ground half finished, showing that 
 the workmen were driven from their labors ; and the tem- 
 ple for which they were designed, remains unfinished. In 
 some places the pavement in the streets has sunk down, 
 but, in general, it remains entire, consisting of great flags 
 of lava, in which two immense ruts have been worn by 
 the constant passage of wheel carriages. When the hard- 
 ness of this stone is considered, the continuity of these ruts, 
 from one end of the town to the other, is not a little re- 
 markable, for there is nothing like it in the oldest pave- 
 ments of modern cities. 
 
 Only a very small number of skeletons have been 
 found in either city, and it is therefore certain, that most 
 of the inhabitants had time to escape, and also to take 
 with them most of their valuable effects. In the barracks 
 of Pompeii, were the skeletons of two soldiers chained to 
 the stocks; and in the vault of a house, in the suburbs, 
 were the bones of seventeen persons, who appear to have 
 fled there to escape the shower of ashes. They were 
 found enclosed in indurated tuff or mud, which flowed 
 10
 
 110 ERUPTIONS OF ETNA. 
 
 from the mountain. In this was preserved the cast of a 
 woman, perhaps the mistress of the house, with an infant 
 in her arms. Though her form was impressed in the 
 rock, nothing but her bones remained. To these bones a 
 chain of gold was suspended around the neck, and rings, 
 with precious stones, were found on the finger-bones of the 
 skeleton. 
 
 The writings scribbled by the soldiers on the walls of 
 the barracks are still visible ; and the names of the 
 owners, over the doors of their houses, are often easily 
 read. 
 
 The colors of fresco paintings on the stuccoed Avails, 
 in the interior of the buildings, are frequently almost as 
 vivid as if they were just finished. Some of the public 
 fountains have their pavements decorated with shells, 
 laid out in patterns, still retaining, in all respects, their 
 original condition ; and, in the room of a painter, who 
 was, perhaps, also a naturalist, was found a large collec- 
 tion of shells, comprising a great variety of the Mediter- 
 ranean species. These were in as good a state of preser- 
 vation as if they had remained the same number of years 
 in a museum. 
 
 The wooden beams of the houses at Herculaneum are 
 black on the exterior, but when cleft open, they appear 
 to be nearly in the state of ordinary wood, and the pro- 
 gress made by the whole mass towards the state of lignite, 
 [mineralized wood,] is hardly appreciable. Even small 
 substances, of vegetable origin, are often found in a state 
 of entire vegetation. Fishing nets are abundant in both 
 cities, and often quite perfect; and in a fruiterer's shop 
 were found vessels full of almonds, chestnuts, and walnuts, 
 all in perfect shape. And what is still more extraordi- 
 nary, in a baker's shop was discovered bread, Avith the 
 name of the maker stamped upon the loaf, thus, Eleris Q. 
 Crani Riser. On the counter of an apothecary was a box 
 of pills, converted into a fine earthy substance, and, by its 
 side, a small cylindrical roll, evidently prepared to be cut 
 into pills. LyeWs Geol. vol. i. p. 350 360. Forbes' Ed. 
 Journal, Jan. 1829. 
 
 Eruptions of Etna. Etna appears to have been peri- 
 odically active from the earliest times of history, for Di- 
 odorus Siculus mentions an eruption of it, which caused 
 a district of country to be deserted by its inhabitants be-
 
 ERUPTIONS OF ETNA. ill 
 
 fore the Trojan war ; and Thucydides informs us that be- 
 tween the time when Sicily was colonized by the Greeks, 
 and the commencement of the Peloponnesian war, that is, 
 in 431 B. C., there had occurred three eruptions of this 
 mountain. 
 
 But, notwithstanding notices of this mountain were 
 recorded thus early, the first eruption which has been par- 
 ticularly described, was the great one of 1669. An earth- 
 quake, previous to this eruption, had levelled many of the 
 villages and towns in the neighborhood, and at the com- 
 mencement of which, an extraordinary phenomenon hap- 
 pened in the plain of St. Lio. Here a fissure, six feet 
 wide, and of an unknown depth, opened in the ground, 
 with a loud, terrific, crashing noise, and ran in a tortuous 
 course nearly to the top of Etna. Its direction was from 
 north to south, and its length twelve miles. This fissure, 
 as it opened, emitted vivid flashes of light. Five other 
 parallel fissures of considerable length, afterwards opened, 
 one after the other, emitting smoke, and giving out the 
 most horrid bello wings, which were heard to the distance 
 of forty miles. 
 
 This case may, perhaps, explain the manner in which 
 the dykes were formed in the cone of Vesuvius, already 
 described and figured, for the light emitted by these fissures 
 would seem to indicate, at least in some instances, that 
 they were, to a certain height, filled with glowing lava. 
 
 The lava, during this eruption, having overwhelmed 
 and destroyed fourteen towns, some of them containing 
 three or four thousand inhabitants, at length arrived at 
 the walls of Catania, a populous city, situated ten miles 
 from the volcano. These walls had been raised sixty feet 
 high, towards the mountain, in order to protect the city, 
 in case of an eruption. But the burning flood accumula- 
 ted against the wall so as to fill all the space around and 
 below that part, and finally poured over it in a fiery 
 cataract, destroying every thing in that vicinity. 
 
 From Catania, the lava continued its course until it 
 reached the sea, a distance of fifteen miles from its source, 
 in a current about 1800 feet broad, and forty feet deep. 
 While moving on, its surface was, in general, a mass of 
 solid rock, or cooled lava, and it advanced by the protru- 
 sion of the melted matter, through this hardened crust. 
 
 As an illustration of the intense heat of volcanic mat- 
 ter, the Canon Recupero relates, that in 1766, he ascend-
 
 112 VOLCANOES IN ICELAND. 
 
 ed a small hill, composed of ancient volcanic matter, in 
 order to observe the slow and gradual manner in which a 
 current of liquid fire advanced from Etna. This current 
 was two and a half miles broad ; and, while he stood ob- 
 serving it, two small threads of lava, issuing from a cre- 
 vice, detached themselves from the main stream, and 
 approached rapidly towards the eminence where he and 
 his guide were standing. They had only just time to 
 escape, when they saw the hill on which they had stood a 
 few minutes before, and which was fifty feet high, entirely 
 surrounded, and, in about fifteen minutes, entirely melted 
 down into the burning mass, so as to be incorporated with, 
 and move on along with it. 
 
 Discovery of Ice on Mount Etna. A remarkable dis- 
 covery of a great mass of ice, on Mount Etna, was made 
 in 1828. In that year, in consequence of the protracted 
 heat of the season, the supplies of ice at Catania and the 
 adjoining parts of Sicily, failed entirely, and the people 
 suffered considerably for the want of an article, considered 
 as necessary to health as well as comfort in that hot 
 climate. 
 
 In this dilemma, the magistrates of Catania directed 
 search to be made for some crevice or natural grotto, on 
 Mount Etna, where drift snow might possibly still be pre- 
 served. During this search it was discovered that near 
 the base of the highest cone there lay a vast mass of ice, 
 covered by a lava current. At what period this current 
 was emitted is unknown, nor can it be conjectured what 
 proportion of the ice was melted by the burning matter, 
 but it appears that nothing but the flowing of the lava 
 over this glacier, can account for its preservation. 
 
 A large number of workmen were immediately em- 
 ployed to quarry this ice for the use of the Catanians ; but, 
 it is said, that its hardness rendered the expense of obtain- 
 ing it so great, that there is no probability of a similar un- 
 dertaking, unless under similar circumstances. 
 
 VOLCANOES IN ICELAND. 
 
 Iceland is both a volcanic country, and a country of vol- 
 canoes. A considerable proportion of its surface is COT
 
 VOLCANOES IN ICELAND. 113 
 
 eretl with ancient or modern lava, and it is now subject to 
 the most dreadful calamities from this source. 
 
 With the exception of Etna and Vesuvius, the most 
 complete chronological records of volcanic eruptions are 
 those of Iceland. From these it is ascertained, that from 
 the 12th century, there has never been an interval of more 
 than forty years, and rarely more than twenty,' without 
 eruptions and earthquakes in some part of that country. 
 Single eruptions of Mount Hecla have sometimes contin- 
 ued for six years. In many instances the whole island 
 has been convulsed by earthquakes, during which moun- 
 tains were rent asunder, hills sunk down, and rivers have 
 deserted their former channels. 
 
 Eruption of Skaptar Jokul. In 1783, this volcanic 
 mountain suffered one of the most extraordinary eruptions 
 recorded in history, both with respect to the quantity of lava 
 it threw out, and the calamities it occasioned. 
 
 The river Skapta, a considerable stream, was for a time 
 completely dried, by a torrent of liquid fire from this 
 mountain/ This river was about two hundred feet broad, 
 and its banks from four to six hundred above the level of 
 the water. This defile was not only entirely filled to a 
 considerable extent by the lava, but it also crossed the river 
 by the dam thus formed, and overflowed the country be- 
 yond, where it filled a lake of considerable extent, and great 
 depth. 
 
 This eruption commenced on the 1 1th of June, and on 
 the 18th of the same month, a still greater quantity of lava 
 rushed from the mouth of the volcano, and flowed with 
 amazing rapidity, sometimes over the first stream, but gene- 
 rally in a new course. The melted matter having crossed 
 some of the tributary streams of the Skapta, completely 
 dammed up their waters, and caused great destruction 
 of property and lives by their overflow. The lava, after 
 flowing for several days, was precipitated down a tre- 
 mendous cataract, called Stapafoss, where it filled a pro- 
 found abyss, which that great water-fall had been exca- 
 vating for ages, and thence the fiery flood continued its 
 course. 
 
 On the third of August, a new eruption poured forth 
 fresh floods of lava, which taking a different direction 
 from the others, filled the bed of another river, by which 
 10*
 
 114 VOLCANOES IN ICELAND. 
 
 a large lake was formed, and much property and many 
 lives destroyed. 
 
 The effects of this dreadful calamity may in some meas- 
 ure be imagined when it is known, that although Iceland 
 did not, at that time contain more than fifty thousand in- 
 habitants, there perished nine thousand human beings by 
 this single eruption, making nearly one in five of the 
 whole population. Part of them were destroyed by the 
 burning lava itself, some by drowning, others by noxious 
 vapors which the lava emitted, and others in consequence 
 of the famine, caused by the showers of ashes which cov- 
 ered a great proportion of the island, and destroyed the 
 vegetation. The fish also, on which the inhabitants de- 
 pended, in a great measure, for food, entirely deserted the 
 coast. 
 
 The quantity of lava which Skaptar Jokul emitteddur- 
 ing this eruption, was greater than is recorded of any other 
 volcano. The two principal branches or streams of lava, 
 flowed chiefly in different directions. The length of the 
 smallest was forty miles, and of the other fifty miles. The 
 breadth of that branch which filled the Skapta, was from 
 twelve to fifteen miles, and the other about seven miles. 
 The ordinary depth of each was about 100 feet, but in 
 narrow defiles it was more than 600 feet deep, and in many 
 places from 200 to 300. 
 
 Allowing that the united breadth of this vast lava stream 
 was 20 miles, and the whole length 90 miles, then this 
 mountain, at a single eruption, threw out a quantity of lava 
 which covered a surface of 1800 square miles, an area 
 equal to the fourth part of the State of Connecticut, and 
 nearly one half the size of Rhode Island. 
 
 When it is considered that the depth of the whole might 
 average 150 feet, we may go into calculations concerning 
 the quantity of matter thrown out, but we ean have no con- 
 ception of the force required to elevate such a stream of 
 melted rock through the crust of the earth. 
 
 Eruption of Jorullo, in 1759. Jorullo is situated in the 
 interior of Mexico, about 100 miles from the nearest sea. 
 This mountain, as already stated, affords the only known 
 instance of a volcano, at a distance from some ocean. It 
 also affords an instance of the production of a new volcanic 
 mountain, within the memory of man.
 
 VOLCANO OF SUMBAWA. 115 
 
 In June, 1759, subterranean sounds of an alarming kind 
 were heard by the inhabitants of this district, and these 
 were followed by earthquakes, which succeeded each 
 other for two months. In the month of September, flames 
 were seen to issue from fissures in the ground, and from 
 the same place, red hot rocks were thrown to an immense 
 height. Soon after, six volcanic cones were formed of 
 lava and the fragments of rock, thrown up from the earth, 
 in the same neighborhood. The least of these was three 
 hundred feet in height. In the midst of these cones, rose 
 Jorullo, which was formed in the same manner, and soon 
 rose to the height of 1600 feet by the accumulation of lava 
 and fragments of rock. The small cones ceasing their 
 action, Jorullo became the great outlet of volcanic matter, 
 and continued to emit lava and large fragments of primi- 
 tive rock, for many months. Jorullo has continued to emit 
 flames ever since its formation. 
 
 Volcano of Sumbawa. Sumbawa is one of the Molucca 
 Islands ; and the mountain from which occurred, on 
 some accounts, the most extraordinary volcanic eruption 
 of which any accounts have been recorded, is called Tom- 
 boro. 
 
 This eruption commenced on the 5th of April, 1815, but 
 was most terrific on the llth and 12th of that month, nor 
 did it cease entirely, until sometime in the following July. 
 The explosions so much resembled the firing of heavy can- 
 non at a distance, that the people of many vessels at sea, 
 supposed there was a great naval engagement within hear- 
 ing, but could not imagine what nations were engaged. 
 
 The commanders of some ships, and of several English 
 forts, gave orders to prepare for battle, though they were 
 several hundred miles distant from the mountain. At Su- 
 matra, these tremendous explosions were distinctly heard, 
 though not nearer than 900 miles from Tomboro. They 
 were also heard at Ternate, in the opposite direction from 
 Sumatra, at the distance of 720 miles from the mountain. 
 
 So immense in quantity was the fall of ashes, that at 
 Bima, forty miles from the mountain, the roof of the Eng- 
 lish Resident's house was crushed by the weight, and many 
 other houses in the same town were rendered uninhabita- 
 ble from the same cause. At Java, 300 miles distant, the 
 air was so full of ashes, that from this cause at mid -day, it 
 is said the darkness was so profound, that nothing like it
 
 116 EARTHQUAKES. 
 
 had ever before been experienced, during the most stormy 
 night. 
 
 Along the coast of Sumbawa, the sea was covered with 
 floating lava, intermixed with trees and timber, so that it 
 was difficult for vessels to sail through the mass. Some 
 captains, though at a long distance at sea, mistook this 
 mass for land, and sent out their boats in order to ascertain 
 the safety of their situations. The sea, on this and the 
 neighboring coasts, rose suddenly to the height of twelve 
 feet, in the form of immense waves, and as they retired, 
 swept away trees, timber, and houses, with their inhabi- 
 tants. All the vessels lying near the shore were torn from 
 their anchorings, and cast upon the land. Violent whirl- 
 winds carried into the air men, horses, cattle, trees, and 
 whatever else was in the vicinity of the mountain. Large 
 trees were torn up by the roots, and carried into the sea. 
 But the most calamitous part of the account still remains; 
 for such were the tremendous effects of the burning lava ; 
 the overflowing of the sea ; the fall of houses ; and the vio- 
 lence of the whirlwind, that out of 12,000 inhabitants on 
 this island, only twenty-six individuals escaped with their 
 lives, all the rest being destroyed in one way or another. 
 
 The whole island was completely covered with ashes, or 
 other volcanic matter. In some places, the bottom of the 
 sea was so elevated, as to make shoals, where there was 
 deep water before ; and in others, the land sunk down, and 
 was overflown by the sea. 
 
 The details of this awful calamity were collected, and 
 published by Sir Stamford Raffles, then Governor of Java, 
 who required all the residents in the various districts under 
 his authority, to send him a statement of the circumstances 
 which fell under their several observations. See Raffles' 
 Hist, of Java ; and Brande's Quart. Jour. vol. i. 
 
 EARTHQUAKES. 
 
 Having thus given a short history of a sufficient num 
 ber of volcanic eruptions, to acquaint the geological stu- 
 dent with the phenomena, and of the tremendous as well 
 as calamitous effects of these mighty agents, we will next 
 refer to the subject of earthquakes, as resulting from the 
 same cause.
 
 EARTHQUAKE OF CALABRIA. 117 
 
 Earthquake of Calabria. " Of the numerous earth- 
 quakes," says Mr. Lyell, " which have occurred in differ- 
 ent parts of the globe, during the last 100 years, that of Ca- 
 labria, in 1783, is the only one of which the geologist can 
 be said to have such a circumstantial account, as to enable 
 him fully to appreciate the changes which this cause is 
 capable of producing in the lapse of ages. The shocks be- 
 gan in February, 1783, and lasted nearly four years, to 
 the end of 1786." The importance of the earthquake in 
 question, arises from the circumstance, that Calabria is the 
 only spot hitherto visited, both during and after the con- 
 vulsions, by men possessing sufficient leisure, zeal, and 
 scientific information, to enable them to collect and de- 
 scribe with accuracy, the physical facts which throw light 
 on geological questions. Lyell, vol. i. p. 412. 
 
 Authors who witnessed the phenomena of these con- 
 vulsions, are quite numerous. Among them, it is said that 
 Pignataro, a physician, who resided at the centre of the 
 earthquakes, and who kept a register of the number and 
 force of the shocks, is among the most correct. The 
 Royal Academy of Naples, also sent a commission from 
 their own body to Calabria, accompanied by artists, with 
 instructions to describe and illustrate by drawings, the ef- 
 fects of these terrible convulsions ; and Sir William Ham- 
 ilton, who surveyed this district before the shocks had 
 ceased, has added many facts not recorded by others. Our 
 limits will, however, allow only a very brief summary of 
 the facts, from these several sources. 
 
 The subterranean concussions were felt beyond the con- 
 fines of Sicily ; but if the city of Oppido, in Calabria, be 
 taken as the centre, a circle around it, whose radius is 
 twenty-two miles, would include the space which suffered 
 the greatest calamities. Within this circle, all the towns 
 and villages were almost entirely destroyed. 
 
 The first shock, which took place on the 5th of Febru- 
 ary, 1783, threw down, in the space of two minutes, a 
 greater part of the houses, within the whole space above 
 described. The convulsive motion of the earth, is said to 
 have resembled the rolling of the sea, and that in many 
 instances, it produced swimming of the head, like sea-sick- 
 ness. This rolling of the surface, like the billows of the sea, 
 was like that which would have been produced by the agi- 
 tation of a vast mass of liquid matter under the ground. 
 
 In some walls which were shattered, the separate stones
 
 118 
 
 EARTHQUAKE OF CALABRIA. 
 
 were parted from the mortar so as to leave an exact mould 
 where they had rested, as though the stone had been care- 
 fully raised from its bed in a perpendicular direction ; but 
 in other instances, the mortar was ground to powder be- 
 tween the stones, as though they had been made to re- 
 volve on each other. 
 
 It was found that the swelling, or wave-like motions, 
 and those which were called vorticose, or whirling, often 
 produced the most singular and unaccountable effects. 
 Thus, in some streets, in the town of Monteleone, every 
 house was thrown down, except one, and in some other 
 streets, all except two or three ; and these were left un- 
 injured, though differing in no respects from the others. 
 
 In many cities all the most solid edifices were prostra- 
 ted, while those which were slightly built, escaped ; but, 
 in others, it was precisely the reverse, the massive build- 
 ings being the only ones that remained standing. 
 Fig. 6. 
 
 But, perhaps, the most singular effect was that pro- 
 duced on a pair of obelisks, at the convent of St. Bruno, 
 where the different stones composing these monuments, 
 were moved on each other, in a manner altogether un- 
 accountable, unless, indeed, it can be suppose^ that the 
 earth, where each stood, underwent a rapid gyratory mo- 
 tion. The shock which shook the convent, is said to have 
 been of that kind which writers describe by the term vor- 
 ticose, or whirling. The annexed cut, fig. 6, will convey 
 an idea of these effects.
 
 EARTHQUAKE AT CALABRIA. 119 
 
 The pedestal of each obelisk remained in its original 
 situation and place ; but the separate stones were turned 
 partly around on each other, as represented in the figures ; 
 some of them being moved eight or nine inches out of their 
 places, but none were thrown down. 
 
 It appears from the statements, that in many instances, 
 where the ground was fissured, the motion must have been 
 from below, upwards, for these fissures opened and closed 
 alternately, as though the ground, in that particular spot, 
 had been violently lifted up with a force from below, by 
 which a fissure was formed, but, the force ceasing instantly, 
 the ground again assumed its former position, and the fis- 
 sure closed. Perhaps the escape of some gas or steam 
 through the fissure, produced this effect. 
 
 In many instances, these fissures were so wide as in an 
 instant to swallow up men, trees, and even houses, and 
 when the earth sunk down again, it closed upon them so 
 entirely, as not to leave the least vestige of what had hap- 
 pened, nor were any signs of them ever discovered after- 
 wards. In the vicinity of Oppido, the centre of these con- 
 vulsions, many houses were precipitated into the same great 
 fissure, which immediately closed over them; and, in the 
 same neighborhood, four farmhouses, several oil stores 
 and dwelling-houses were so entirely ingulfed, that not a 
 vestige of them were seen afterwards. 
 
 In some instances, these chasms did not close. In one 
 district, a ravine, formed in this manner, a mile long, 100 
 feet broad, and thirty feet deep, remained open ; and in an- 
 other, a similar one remained, three-quarters of a mile 
 long, 150 feet wide, and 100 feet deep; in another instance, 
 there remained such a chasm thirty feet wide, and 225 feet 
 deep. 
 
 In various places, the ground sunk down, and lakes 
 were formed, which, being fed by springs, have remained 
 ever since. The convulsions also removed immense 
 masses of earth from the sides of steep hills into the val- 
 leys below, so that, in many instances, oaks, olive orchards, 
 vineyards, and cultivated fields, were seen growing at the 
 bottoms of deep hollows, having been removed from the 
 side hills of the vicinity. In one instance, a mass of earth 
 200 feet thick, and 400 feet in diameter, being set in mo- 
 tion by one of the first shocks, travelled four miles into 
 the valley belo 
 
 ey 
 
 nv. 
 
 The violence of the upward motion of the ground waa
 
 120 EARTHQUAKE AT CALABRIA. 
 
 singularly illustrated by the inversion of heavy bodies ly- 
 ing on the surface, and which can hardly be accounted for, 
 except on the. supposition that they were actually thrown 
 to a considerable distance into the air. Thus, in some 
 towns, a considerable proportion of the flat paving stones, 
 were found with their lower sides uppermost. Mr. Ly- 
 ell accounts for this effect, by supposing that the " stones 
 were propelled upwards by the momentum which they had 
 acquired, and that the adhesion of one end of the mass 
 being greater than the other, a rotary motion had been 
 communicated to them." But it is difficult to conceive 
 how a whirling motion, so rapid as to produce such an ef- 
 fect, could have been communicated to a whole town, 
 without producing seme consequences still more extraordi- 
 nary. 
 
 In the plain of Rosarno, a different effect was produced 
 from any yet described. This plain consists of an alluvial 
 soil, which, after the commencement of the earthquakes, 
 was found covered with circular hollows, containing water, 
 and around the hollows, were fissures radiating from their 
 sides in every direction, as represented by fig. 7. 
 
 Fig. 7. 
 
 These were, for the most part, about the size of carriage 
 wheels, but sometimes larger or smaller. When filled 
 with water to within a foot or two of the surface, they 
 appeared like wells, but more commonly they were filled 
 with dry sand, sometimes with a concave, and at others 
 with a convex surface. On digging into the earth, these 
 cavities were found to be funnel-shaped, the moist loose 
 earth in the centre, indicating the tube through which the 
 water had ascended. The annexed cut, fig. 7, is intended 
 to represent a section of these inverted cones, when the 
 water had disappeared, leaving nothing in it but dry mi- 
 caceous sand. This sand appeared to have been brought
 
 EARTHQUAKE OF CALABRIA. 121 
 
 up from beneath by the water which was sometimes found 
 over the sand. 
 
 Fig. 8. 
 
 But our limits will not allow the description of other ef- 
 fects and appearances, which this dreadful calamity produ- 
 ced, some of which are equally curious and inexplicable. 
 
 We must not, however, close this account without re- 
 ference to an incident connected with the destruction of hu- 
 man life, as well as to the number of responsible beings 
 which were suddenly called to the world of spirits, by this 
 appalling act of a mysterious Providence. 
 
 The Prince Scilla had persuaded many of his people to 
 betake themselves to their fishing boats, as a place of safety, 
 on the first indications of an earthquake, which in that vo'l- 
 canic country are so well understood, and which create so 
 much alarm. The Prince himself had set the example, 
 by going on board of one of these boats. On the fifth of 
 February, when the first violent shock happened, many 
 of these people were sleeping in their boats near the shore, 
 while others were on the shore, at a place little elevated 
 above the sea. With this convulsion the earth rocked, 
 and suddenly there was precipitated a great mass of rock 
 from Mount Jaci, on the pftiin where the people had taken 
 refuge, and immediately after the water rose to a great 
 height above its ordinary level, and swept away the sleep- 
 ing multitude. The wave then instantly retreated, but 
 soon after returned again with increased violence, bringing 
 back many of the people, and animals, which it had car- 
 ried away. At the same time every boat in the vicinity 
 was overwhelmed, or dashed against the beach, and thus 
 destroyed. The Prince, who was an aged man, with 
 11
 
 122 EARTHQUAKE OF CALABRIA. 
 
 1400 of his people, were thus swept away, and perished in 
 the sea. 
 
 The number of human beings who were destroyed by 
 this series of earthquakes, was estimated by Sir William 
 Hamilton, at about 40,000, besides which nearly 20,000 
 more died by epidemics, which were occasioned by insuf- 
 ficient nourishment, and the noxious vapors arising from 
 the new lakes and pools of water, which this terrible catas- 
 trophe occasioned, thus making the whole number that 
 perished 60,000. 
 
 In countries where volcanoes exist, and which are also 
 subject to earthquakes, experience has taught, that the 
 earthquakes cease, or become harmless, so soon as an erup- 
 tion from the mountain commences. On the supposition 
 that the earth constantly contains within it an ocean of 
 lava or melted matter; that earthquakes are caused by 
 some disturbance of this liquid ; and that volcanoes are its 
 chimneys, or outlets when thus disturbed, this fact would 
 admit of an easy explanation. In another place we shall 
 bring forward many circumstances, to show that this theory 
 may be true, and shall only remark here, that the Cala- 
 brian earthquakes may be brought as an item in support 
 of this doctrine, -for neither Etna nor any of the Italian 
 volcanoes, suffered the least sign of eruption during these 
 destructive convulsions. 
 
 Earthquake of Lisbon. This great earthquake hap- 
 pened in the month of November, 1755, and with respect 
 to the wide extent to which it was felt, exceeded all others 
 of which there is any account. 
 
 The first intimation of its approach was a loud subterra- 
 nean noise, somewhat like distant thunder, and immedi- 
 ately afterwards, the city of Lisbon was shook with such 
 violence as to prostrate nearly all its houses. The wretch- 
 ed inhabitants, with so short a warning, were unable to take 
 the least precaution for their safety, so that in about six 
 minutes 60,000 people perished. 
 
 The sea at first retired, and laid bare the bed of the har- 
 bor, after which it immediately rolled back, in an immense 
 wave, rising fifty feet, at least, above its ordinary level. 
 The largest mountains in Portugal were shaken to their 
 foundations, and several had their summits rent in a man- 
 ner which struck every beholder with astonishment.
 
 EARTHQUAKE OF LISBON. 123 
 
 But the most extraordinary and calamitous effect which 
 was produced at Lisbon, was the sinking of a quay, to- 
 gether with the thousands of inhabitants with which it was 
 covered. This work was built entirely of marble, and just 
 finished at an immense expense ; and on it, after the first 
 shock, a vast concourse of people had collected as a 
 place of safety, having left the city to escape the fall of the 
 houses. But it proved the most fatal spot in the vicinity, 
 for at the next shock the earth opened and instantly 
 swallowed up the whole quay, with the multitude which 
 had there assembled, and so completely were the whole 
 retained by the closing of the earth, that not a single dead 
 body ever rose again to the surface. A great number of 
 small boats and other vessels, near the quay, filled with 
 people, as a place of safety, were also precipitated into the 
 yawning vortex, and it is stated that riot a single fragment 
 of any of these boats were ever seen afterwards. It was 
 believed that the water where the quay stood was un- 
 fathomable, but its depth was afterwards found to be 600 
 feet. 
 
 The immense area over which this earthquake was felt, 
 is very remarkable ; for not only was every part of Spain 
 and Portugal convulsed, but the shocks were perceived 
 with greater or less intensity in England, Holland, Italy, 
 Norway, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Corsica, the 
 West Indies, at Morocco and Algiers in Africa, and in a 
 part of South America. At Algiers the shock was so 
 violent as to throw down many buildings ; and a village, 
 not far from Morocco, was swallowed up, and 10,000 in- 
 habitants perished. A great wave from the sea swept 
 nearly the whole coast of Spain. At Cadiz its height is 
 said to have been sixty feet, and its devastations in pro- 
 portion. 
 
 The shock was also felt by ships far at sea, and, in seve- 
 ral instances, the concussion was such as to make the peo- 
 ple suppose their vessels had struck on a rock. In one 
 instance it is said that the people on board a vessel off the 
 West Indies, were thrown up a foot and a half from the 
 deck. This circumstance may be accounted for from the 
 inelasticity of water, so that a violent and sudden move- 
 ment of the bottom of the ocean, would be communicated 
 to the surface and to the ship, through the medium of the 
 fluid, with nearly the same force as though the vessel had 
 been on the ground itself.
 
 124 ALEUTIAN ISLANDS 
 
 Islands raised from the Sea. Numerous instances are 
 recorded of the elevation of islands, of greater or less ex- 
 tent, from the bottom of the sea. 
 
 Writers of antiquity have mentioned several such in- 
 stances. The elder Pliny says that the celebrated islands 
 of Rhodes and Delos, according to tradition, are sea born, 
 and that, after these, several smaller islands rose up from 
 the bottom of the same sea. Strabo also asserts, positively, 
 that Hiero was produced in the midst of flames, and both 
 Plutarch and Justin relate, that the formation of this 
 island was attended with much fire, and a great boiling of 
 the sea. 
 
 But we are not entirely dependent on the ancients for 
 facts of this kind, many instances of the elevation of islands 
 having been witnessed in later times. 
 
 Captain Tillard, of the Royal British Navy, was an eye 
 witness to the rising of an island from the ocean, in 1812. 
 
 At some distance off the coast of St. Michael's, one of 
 the Azores, an immense body of smoke was observed to 
 issue from the water, and from the midst of the smoke, 
 there suddenly burst forth a black column of cinders, ashes 
 and stones, in the form of a spire. This was accompanied 
 by vivid flashes of lightning from the thickest part of the 
 volcanic smoke, and the whole was surrounded by occa- 
 sional waterspouts. 
 
 The water at this place was thirty fathoms deep, and 
 after the volcanic phenomena had lasted four days, the 
 crater began to appear above the surface of the water, and 
 soon became twenty feet high in the midst of an island 400 
 feet in diameter. At this time the cliffs of St. Michael's 
 were shattered by an earthquake, and the island continued 
 to rise until it became at least 200 feet above the level of 
 the sea. 
 
 This island was named Sabrina, after Captain Tillard's 
 ship. It did not, however, long continue visible, for being 
 formed chiefly of ashes and cinders, and not by the eleva- 
 tion of the solid rocks, it was soon swept away by the waves 
 of the ocean. 
 
 Aleutian Islands. In the year 1806, there arose from 
 the sea a new island, among the Aleutian group, north of 
 Kamtschatka. This, according to Langsdorf, who after- 
 wards visited the spot, was four geographical miles ir cir- 
 cumference; and the geologist, Von Bush m^rs from its
 
 MONTE NUOTO. 125 
 
 not having subsided, that it does not, like Sabrina, consist 
 of ejected volcanic matter, but of solid rock, thrown up 
 from the bottom of the sea. 
 
 In 1814, another island was added to the Aleutian group, 
 from the bottom of the sea. This was much larger than 
 the former, and its highest part was elevated to the aston- 
 ishing height of 3000 feet above the level of the sea. 
 
 In 1820, a new island was thrown up among the Ionian 
 group, on the coast of Greece. 
 
 In 1757, eighteen small islands were elevated from the 
 sea, in the vicinity of the Azores. 
 
 In 1783, the same phenomenon happened on the coast 
 oi Iceland. 
 
 Many other instances of sea born islands are recorded, 
 but we need not extend this list, our chief object being to 
 show that islands are elevated from the ocean by the force 
 of volcanic action. 
 
 Elevation of Land by Volcanic Power. In Novem- 
 ber, 1822, there happened a series of subterranean convul- 
 sions on the coast of Chili, which continued three months, 
 and which shook that part of South America to the extent 
 of 1400 miles from north to south. On the morning 
 after the first shock, the whole line of coast along Valpa- 
 raiso, to the distance of 100 miles, was found to have been 
 raised above its former level. Mrs. Graham, who was pre- 
 sent, and who writes this account, states that on the morn- 
 ing of the 20th, the wreck of an old ship, which lay at 
 a small distance from the shore, but which could not be 
 approached, on account of the depth of the water, was 
 now easily accessible. She also found the former bed of 
 the sea, along the shore, laid bare, with muscles, oysters, 
 and other shell fish, adhering to the rocks on which they 
 grew, and abundance of fish, dead and on dry land. At 
 Valparaiso, the elevation of the land was found to be 
 three feet, but at other places, the rise was from four to 
 five feet. 
 
 Formation of Monte Nuovo. Monte Nuovo, or New 
 Mountain, was chiefly thrown up on the night of the 29th 
 of September, 1538. Its situation is in the neighborhood 
 of Naples, a region everywhere volcanic. 
 
 The site of the present Monte Nuovo was formerly a 
 little town, where invalids resorted on account of the ther- 
 11*
 
 126 FORMATION OF MONTE NUOVO. 
 
 mal baths which existed there. On the evening above 
 mentioned, after many previous shocks of an earthquake, 
 the ground opened in the form of a wide fissure, which 
 ran towards this town, with a tremendous noise, accompa- 
 nied with the discharge of pumice stones, blocks of lava, 
 and ashes. At the same time a gulf, of considerable ex- 
 tent, opened in the suburbs of the town, by which many 
 houses were swallowed up. The sea also retired, leaving 
 its bed naked along the shore. 
 
 The fissure which had reached the town, continued to 
 discharge volcanic matter for 36 hours, during which time, 
 its quantity was such as to form the mountain in question. 
 
 Fig. 9. 
 
 The annexed drawing, fig. 9, will show the form of this 
 mountain. No. 1, the mountain. No. 2, a part of the cra- 
 ter. Its height has been lately determined to be four hun- 
 dred and forty feet above the level of the bay of Naples. 
 Its base is eight thousand feet, or nearly a mile and a half 
 in circumference, and the depth of the crater, four hun- 
 dred and twenty-one feet from the summit, so that the bot- 
 tom of the crater is only nineteen feet above the level of the 
 sea. 
 
 No lava flowed from this crater, but the matter ejected, 
 which fell down and formed the mountain, consisted of 
 masses of ancient lava, ashes, pumice, and slaty stones. 
 These blocks of ancient lava, prove the volcanic origin of 
 the ground below the present mountain. 
 
 We have thus given such an account of volcanoes, earth- 
 quakes, and the elevation of islands and land, by subterra- 
 nean fire, as our limits will allow.
 
 TEMPLE OF JUPITER 8ERAPIS. 
 
 127 
 
 The design of these facts, is not merely to satisfy the 
 curiosity of the reader, but, as will be seen in the sequel, to 
 account for phenomena which the earth presents, by show- 
 ing an analogy between the effects of known and unknown 
 causes. Thus, the earth almost everywhere indicates, by 
 the position of its strata, that its crust has been disturbed 
 by subterranean forces ; and marine remains show that a 
 great proportion of the dry land has once been under the 
 sea. That these changes have been effected by the same 
 cause which elevates islands from the sea, at the present 
 day, we shall endeavor to show in another place. 
 
 Temple of Jupiter Serapis In a few instances, it is 
 known that portions of land have several times changed 
 their level, with respect to that of the sea ; and of which 
 the following is an interesting and curious example. 
 
 The temple of Serapis, a celebrated monument of an- 
 tiquity, is situated on the little bay, called Baise, within the 
 bay of Naples. 
 
 A geological examination of the coast of Puzzuoli, along 
 this bay, shows that the land has been elevated about 
 twenty feet, at a period not very remote, so that, without the 
 evidence presented by the temple, there is sufficient proof 
 that the land in the vicinity has changed its level. 
 
 If the coast along the shore, between Naples and Puz- 
 zuoli, be examined, it will be seen that the tract of fertile 
 land which intervenes between the present shore, and the 
 high, rocky cliffs, was evidently once under the water, and 
 that the ancient shore was near these cliffs. 
 
 Fig. 10. 
 
 The inland cliff near Puzzuoli, is in many places about 
 eighty feet high, and quite perpendicular. At its base, the 
 new deposite attains the height of twenty feet above the 
 sea. This consists of sedimentary matter, mixed with ma- 
 rine shells, showing that it was formed under the water.
 
 128 TEMPLE OF JUPITER 8ERAPI8. 
 
 The annexed cut, fig. 10, from Mr. Lyell, will explain 
 the situation of this coast in 1828. a, on the right, shows 
 the situation of antiquities, on a hill south of Puzzuoli ; b, 
 ancient cliff*, now inland ; c, terrace composed of marine 
 deposites of recent date, a, on the left, represents the re- 
 mains of Cicero's villa, at the north of Puzzuoli ; b, an- 
 cient cliff) now inland ; c, terrace composed of recent ma- 
 rine deposites ; d, temple of Serapis. 
 
 The soil of these level deposites is considered so valua- 
 ble, that a wall has been built for its protection against the 
 washing of the sea ; but, in some places, the wall has been 
 thrown down, so that the strata are exposed. These con- 
 sist of alternate layers of mud and pumice, enclosing 
 abundance of marine shells. One stratum contains large 
 quantities of the remains of ancient art, as tiles, and pieces 
 of Mosaic pavement.* 
 
 The remains of the works of art are found below, as 
 well as above the marine shells. Among the shells are 
 the Cardium, Donax, Buccinum, and Ostrea. (These will 
 be found, figured and described, towards the close of this 
 volume.) 
 
 Now, there are no tides in the Mediterranean, by which 
 these shells could have been cast upon the shore ; and the 
 remains of ancient buildings at other places, show that 
 there has been no change in the level of this sea, for the 
 last two thousand years ; hence, we must conclude, that the 
 land along this coast has been elevated about twenty feet 
 above its former level. 
 
 But in addition to the above evidence, the remains of 
 the temple of Serapis show that the edifice has under- 
 gone several changes of level, when compared with the 
 sea. 
 
 With respect to this temple, Mr. Lyell, who has lately 
 visited the spot, says, " It appears, from the most authen- 
 tic accounts, that the three pillars, now standing erect, 
 continued down to the middle of the last century, half 
 buried in the new marine strata above described. The 
 upper parts of the columns being concealed by bushes, 
 
 * Ancient Mosaic pavement consists of small pieces of stone, gen- 
 erally marble, of different colors, arranged in figures, sometimes 
 representing groups of men and animals, in commemoration of 
 some historical event. These are cemented so as to form a con- 
 tinuous solid mass. The floors of ancient churches and temples 
 were often thus made.
 
 TEMPLE OF JUPITER SERAPIS. 
 
 129 
 
 had not been discovered, until 1 750, when they were seen 
 to form part of a splendid edifice. On examination, the 
 pavement was found still entire, and upon it lay a number 
 of magnificent columns, a part of which were of African 
 breccia,* and a part of granite. The original plan of the 
 building could be traced distinctly : it was of a quadran- 
 gular form, seventy feet in diameter, and the roof had 
 been supported by forty-six noble columns, twenty-four of 
 which were of granite, and the rest of brecciated marble. 
 The large court had been surrounded by apartments, sup- 
 posed to have been used as bathing rooms ; for a thermal 
 spring, still employed for medicinal purposes, continues 
 to flow from just behind the ruins, and the water of this 
 spring, it is said, was conveyed to the chambers by mar- 
 ble conductors." Lyell, vol. i. p. 453. 
 
 Since the discovery of these remains, many antiquaries 
 have entered into elaborate discussions, on the question 
 to what deity this edifice was consecrated ; but from its 
 situation and construction, there is more reason to suppose 
 that it was a bathing house, than a heathen temple. 
 
 But our object will be to show what geological changes 
 these antiquities indicate. 
 
 Fig. 11. The annexed cut, fig. 11, 
 
 represents Serapis, as it now 
 appears, reduced from the 
 drawing of Mr. Lyell. These 
 pillars are forty-two feet in 
 height, and their surfaces are 
 smooth and entire to the 
 height of about twelve feet 
 above the pedestal,the reason 
 of which will appear direct- 
 ly. Above this, is a zone, 
 twelve feet in length, where 
 the marble has been pierced 
 by a marine perforating 
 shell fish, called by Cuvier, 
 Lithodomus. It is a species of the Mytilus of Linnaeus 
 and the Modiola of Lamarck. 
 
 * Breccia is a rock composed of broken, angular pieces of stone, 
 generally of various colors, cemented by the band of nature. The 
 pillars of the capitol, at Washington, are of this kind of marble.
 
 ISO TEMPLE OF JUPITER SERAPIS. 
 
 These animals enter the stone by a small orifice, which 
 they make themselves when quite young, and as they in- 
 crease in size they enlarge their habitations in proportion. 
 They are nourished by the sea water, which is admitted 
 through the small aperture. These animals have not the 
 power, or perhaps inclination, to leave their cells ; hence 
 their houses, during life, become their tombs at death. 
 
 The limestones on the shores of the Mediterranean, are 
 frequently full of the excavations of these animals. The 
 genus Pholas, also contains some species which penetrate 
 rocks. Both are figured under the articles " Multivalves" 
 and "Bivalves," towards the end of this volume. These 
 animals cannot pierce silicious rocks, such as granite. 
 
 As these animals cannot live, except when immersed in 
 salt water, we must infer that these pillars were for a long 
 time submerged, and that, during part of that period, their 
 lower portions were covered up by the rubbish already 
 mentioned, while their upper ends reached above the 
 water. This accounts for the reason why their middle 
 portions only, are perforated by these animals. On the 
 pavement of the temple lie several columns, broken in 
 pieces. These are perforated on their fractured ends, as 
 well as on other parts, showing that they had lain under 
 water for a long time after they were broken. 
 
 The platform of the temple is at present just under the 
 water, and the upper part of the perforations on the 
 standing columns is at least twenty-three feet above the 
 water, from which it is clear that these columns must 
 have continued for a long time immersed in the water, 
 while in an erect position, after which they must have been 
 raised, by the rising of the ground, to their present 
 elevation. 
 
 Thus it appears that the temple of Serapis was first de- 
 pressed by the sinking down of the ground where it 
 stands, so that the water of the sea surrounded these pil- 
 lars about twenty feet above its present level ; after which 
 it was again raised to its present situation, by the eleva- 
 tion of the coast. It is hardly necessary to say, that the 
 cause of these changes, was undoubtedly the same which 
 has produced the elevation of islands, and the sinking 
 down of the ground in other places.
 
 VOLCANOES. 131 
 
 SEAT AND THEORY OF VOLCANOES. 
 
 It was formerly believed that the seat of volcanoes was 
 superficial, and that the heat which fused the rocks, and 
 sent them forth in the form of lava from the mouths of 
 volcanoes, was owing to the combustion of mineral coal. 
 It is a sufficient refutation of this hypothesis, that were the 
 whole interior of the earth composed of coal, it must have 
 long since been exhausted in the vicinity of ancient burn- 
 ing mountains. Also, that no geologist ever supposed 
 coal to exist below granite mountains, which are often 
 pierced by volcanic apertures. 
 
 The cause of volcanoes has also been attributed to the 
 spontaneous ignition of pyrites, or metallic sulphurets. 
 
 With respect to this theory, in the first place, there is 
 no evidence that the interior of the earth is composed of 
 the sulphurets of the metals, nor is this in the least degree 
 probable ; and second, were this ascertained to be the case, 
 and could the theorist contrive to perpetuate its ignition, 
 or to make it occasional, as circumstances required, still it 
 would fail to account for the phenomena of earthquakes 
 and volcanoes. But lastly, the products of volcanoes are 
 not such as would result from the ignition of the sulphurets 
 of the metals. This is sufficient. 
 
 Since the great discovery of Sir H. Davy, that the earths 
 and alkalies are the oxides of metallic substances, it has 
 been proposed to account for volcanoes and earthquakes, 
 by the admission of water to these metallic elements. 
 
 This theory may be thus stated. If pure potash or 
 soda be deprived of its oxygen, there remains a brilliant 
 silver-white metal, so light as to swim on the surface of 
 water. 
 
 These metals have an affinity of oxygen so strong, that 
 when thrown on water, the fluid is decomposed, the oxy- 
 gen being absorbed by the metal so rapidly as to occasion 
 a degree of heat, which sets the hydrogen on fire. Thus 
 by throwing these metals on water, combustion is excited, 
 and the oxides of potassium, and sodium, or in other words, 
 pure potash or soda is formed. 
 
 Now if we suppose that at the creation, the elements of 
 things were formed in a distinct and separate state, and that 
 the condition of the earth's surface at the present time is 
 owing to the exercise of chemical affinities, then we might
 
 132 SEAT ANJ) THEORY OF VOLCANOES. 
 
 consider the imerior of the earth, at the present time, to 
 be composed of elements in their simple and uncon'ibincd 
 state. This being admitted, the earth at a certain depth 
 consists of the bases of these earths, and alkalies in their 
 uncombined and metallic forms ; for, being- excluded from 
 any substance containing oxygen, there has been no op- 
 portunity since the creation, for these substances to com- 
 bine and form compounds. It is well known to chemists, 
 that the metallic bases of the alkalies may be kept in their 
 elementary state for any length of time, by excluding 
 them from the air, or by immersing them in naptha, a 
 substance containing no oxygen. Hence, as combustion 
 is excited when these metallic bases come in contact with 
 water, (if the above suppositions be true,) there exists an 
 analogy, by which it has been thought the phenomena of 
 earthquakes might be accounted for, by the admission of 
 water to these substances. 
 
 There are, however, insuperable difficulties in this hy- 
 pothesis. Carbonate of lime is one of the most abundant 
 materials of which the crust of our earth is composed. 
 This, in the opinions of many geologists, had its origin in 
 organized remains, being the product of sea shells, consol- 
 idated in a manner, which it is unnecessary here to ex- 
 plain. It is quite certain that a great portion of limestone 
 is really the product of moluscous animals, of which the 
 coral reefs, and the mountains of shells, are a sufficient 
 proof. If, therefore, lime is the product of organized be- 
 ings, it was not created in an elementary form, and there- 
 fore cannot produce the fire of volcanoes by the union of 
 its elements, though calcium, its base, may excite flame by 
 contact with water. 
 
 Silex, or flint, another substance which enters largely 
 into the composition of the earth, and of which the primi- 
 tive rocks are chiefly composed, does not possess an in- 
 flammable base, and therefore cannot be supposed to par- 
 ticipate in causing any igneous phenomena. 
 
 The specific gravity of the earth, also, being at least 
 five times that of water, shows that it is not composed, 
 principally, of substances lighter than that fluid. 
 
 Besides, the phenomena of earthquakes and volcanoes, 
 even admitting the interior of the earth to be composed of 
 metallic elements, are not such as could be accounted for 
 by the admission of water to these substances ; nor are the 
 products of volcanic action, in the form of lava, pumice,
 
 I 
 
 SEAT AND THEORY OF VOLCANOES. 133 
 
 and ashes, such as would result from the oxygentation of 
 metallic elements. This theory, therefore, has not even 
 plausibility in its favor. 
 
 In the present state of geological knowledge, it is not to 
 be expected that any theory which can be proposed, will 
 account for every circumstance connected with earthquakes 
 and volcanoes. But that which explains the greatest num- 
 ber of these phenomena, is founded on the hypothesis of a 
 "central fire," that is, a mass, or masses of lava, or melted 
 matter, deeply seated towards the centre of the earth. The 
 two hundred volcanoes, existing in different parts of the 
 globe, are the chimneys, or occasional outlets of this ocean 
 of liquid fire. 
 
 When this mass is disturbed, as by the admission of 
 water, an earthquake is the consequence, and this becomes 
 more or less disastrous, according to the degree of internal 
 commotion. When the pressure of the steam, into which 
 the water is converted, becomes excessive, then the lava is 
 forced up one of the chimneys, and poured forth on the sur- 
 face of the earth, and thus a volcano is produced, and at the 
 same time the internal pressure is relieved. 
 
 The hypothesis of a central fire, under various modifica- 
 tions, appears to be the prevailing doctrine of the geolo- 
 gists of the present day. " If," says Mr. Lyell, " we sup- 
 pose a great number of large subterranean cavities, at the 
 depth of several miles below the surface of the earth, 
 wherein melted lava accumulates, and that water, penetra- 
 ting into these, is converted into steam ; this steam, together 
 with the gases generated by the decomposition of melted 
 rocks, may press upon the lava, and force it up the duct of 
 a volcano, in the same manner as it drives water up the pipe 
 of a geyser. (The geyser is described under ' Silicious 
 Springs.') But the weight of the lava being immense, 
 the hydrostatic pressure, exerted on the sides and roofs of 
 such large cavities, and fissures, may well be supposed to 
 occasion, not slight tremors, such as agitate the ground be- 
 fore an eruption of the geyser, but violent earthquakes. 
 Sometimes the lateral pressure of the lower extremity of 
 the high column of lava, may cause the more yielding stra- 
 ta to give way, and to fold themselves into numerous con- 
 volutions, so as to occupy less space, and thereby give re- 
 lief, for a time, to the fused, and dilated matter. Some- 
 times, on the contrary, a weight equal to that of the vertical 
 column of lava, pressing on every part of the roof, may 
 12
 
 
 134 SEAT AND THEORY Of VOLCANOES. 
 
 neave up the superincumbent mass, and force lava into 
 every fissure, which, on consolidating, may support the 
 arch, and cause the land above to be permanently elevated. 
 On the other hand, subsidences may follow the condensa- 
 tion of vapor, when cold water descends through fissures, 
 or when heat is lost by the cooling of the lava." 
 
 If this globe, towards its centre, is composed of an igne- 
 ous fluid, then we might expect that the nearer we approach 
 it, or the deeper we descend below the surface, the higher 
 we should find the temperature, and many experiments tend 
 to prove that this is actually the case. 
 
 Baron Fourier, who has investigated this subject with 
 much attention, concludes, "that the rays of the sun pene- 
 trate the globe, and occasion annual and diurnal variations 
 in its temperature, but that these periodical changes cease 
 to be perceptible at a certain depth under the surface. Be- 
 low that depth, the temperature caused by the sun has long 
 ceased to have any influence. If, therefore, it is found that 
 the temperature of the deep recesses of the earth become 
 perceptibly greater, in proportion as we recede from its sur- 
 face, it is impossible to ascribe this increase to the influence 
 of the sun, and consequently it can proceed only from the 
 primitive heat of the earth, and with which it was origin- 
 ally endued. It has long since been conjectured that the 
 heat of the earth increased in some proportion to the dis- 
 tance of descent from its surface; but it is only within a 
 short period, that experiments have teen instituted, for the 
 purpose of ascertaining whether this conjecture was well 
 founded, and if so, to determine the ratio of increase. With 
 this view, many mines have been accurately examined, and 
 the fact of a gradual increase of temperature do wn wards, 
 has been found general. 
 
 In the mines of Cornwall, England, Capt. Lean made 
 the following experiments and observations, in the month 
 of December. 
 
 At the surface, the temperature of the air was 50 Fah- 
 renheit. At 120 feet below the surface, the air was 57. 
 At 600 feet below, temperature of the air 66, of water 64. 
 At 962 feet below, air 70, do. water 74. At 1200 feet 
 below the surface, air 78, water do. 78. 
 
 These, with other experiments in different mines, 
 seemed to show that the increase of temperature down- 
 wards was nearly in the ratio of one degree, for every sixty- 
 five feet.
 
 SEAT AND THEORY OF VOLCANOES. 135 
 
 M. Cordier, who has written a treatise on this 
 subject, we learn that the number of mines in which ex- 
 periments have been made is about forty. These mines 
 are situated in France, England, Switzerland, Peru, Sax- 
 ony, and Mexico. The whole number of experiments 
 made are about 300, some being on the air of the mines, 
 some on the water, and others upon the rocks, or earth. 
 
 From all these observations, made apparently with such 
 caution as to prevent the possibility of any considerable er- 
 ror, M. Cordier derives the following conclusions. 
 
 1. "If we reject a certain number of observations as 
 uncertain, all the rest indicate, in a manner more or less 
 certain, that there exists a remarkable increase of temper- 
 ature, as we descend from the surface of the earth towards 
 the interior. It is reasonable, then, to admit this increase. 
 
 2. " The results collected at the observatory at Paris, 
 are the only ones that can be depended upon with certainty, 
 for obtaining a numerical expression of the law of this in- 
 crease. This expression gives fifty-one feet as the depth 
 which corresponds to an increase of one degree, in the 
 subterranean temperature. And we would remark, in 
 passing, that, according to this result, the temperature of 
 boiling water, under the city of Paris, would be at the 
 depth of 8,212 feet, or about a mile and a half. 
 
 3. " Among all the other results, a small number only 
 afford numerical expressions of the law sought for, suffi- 
 ciently approximate, to be taken into account. These ex- 
 pressions vary from 104 to twenty-four feet for one de- 
 gree of increase | their average, in general, indicates an 
 increase more rapid than has generally been admitted. 
 Their average has so much the more weight, as embra- 
 cing the results of many series of long continued observa- 
 tions. 
 
 4. " Lastly, in grouping together, by countries, all the 
 results, admissible on any principle, I am led to present a 
 new and important idea, to wit, that the difference between 
 the results collected at different places, are referable not 
 solely to the imperfection of the experiments, but also to a 
 certain irregularity in the distribution of subterranean heat 
 in different countries." 
 
 M. Cordier describes at length, the manner of making 
 experiments on this subject, in order to prevent local errors, 
 and from all that himself and others have done and writ- 
 ten, he draws the following inferences.
 
 * 
 
 136 SEAT AND THEORY OF VOLCANOES. 
 
 1 . " Our experiments fully prove the existence of an in- 
 ternal heat, which is natural to the terrestrial globe; which 
 depends not on the influence of the sun, and which in- 
 creases rapidly with the depth. 
 
 2. " The increase of subterranean heat in proportion to 
 the depth, does not follow the same law throughout the 
 globe. It may be twice, or even thrice as great in one 
 country as in another. 
 
 3. " These differences are not in a constant ratio to the 
 latitude or longitude. 
 
 4. " Finally, the increase is certainly much more rapid 
 than has heretofore been supposed ; it may be as great as 
 twenty-seven, or even twenty-four feet for a degree, in some 
 countries. Provisionally, however, the mean must not be 
 put lower down than forty-six feet." 
 
 We must therefore consider it as proved beyond all 
 doubt, that, below the crust of the earth, there exists either 
 a mass of burning lava, or some other cause, by which 
 there is perpetually maintained a considerable degree of 
 heat ; and there is reason to believe that a very high tem- 
 perature exists towards its centre. 
 
 That the internal temperature is caused by a melted 
 mass, such as we have supposed to exist, is not, it is be- 
 lieved, incompatible with any known phenomenon, but, on 
 the contrary, certainly accords with many of the effects al- 
 ready specified. 
 
 But there are other effects which are unaccountable, ex- 
 cept on such a hypothesis; and one of these is the connex- 
 ion, which has often been observed to exist, between one 
 volcano and another, and also between earthquakes and 
 volcanoes. If there exists in the earth an extensive ig- 
 neous fluid, communicating with the open air only by 
 means of volcanic apertures, we should expect, that when 
 this fluid by any means was set in motion, the surface of 
 the ground would partake of such motion, and that in case 
 this fluid should be pressed for want of room, it would be 
 forced out at these apertures. 
 
 Now, the wave-like motion of earthquakes is a phenom- 
 enon almost universally observed, and even where the 
 shock is slight, it produces nausea, like sea-sickness. This 
 motion is inexplicable, if the earth is composed of solid 
 unyielding strata ; but if we suppose its crust rests upon 
 a fluid, liable to agitation, the solution becomes natural 
 and easy. This motion may be strikingly illustrated by
 
 SEAT AND THEORY OF VOLCANOES. 137 
 
 covering a dish of quicksilver with sand or soil, and then 
 giving the vessel a slight agitation. 
 
 The connexion between volcanoes and earthquakes has 
 been so generally observed, that no one at the present 
 day denies that their causes must be the same. Earth- 
 quakes precede volcanoes, and when a wave of the lava 
 reaches an aperture, there happens an eruption, and the 
 earthquakes are diminished in force, or cease entirely, 
 because the internal pressure is thus relieved. 
 
 In proof of this connexion, the elevation of all new 
 islands, and the formation of all new volcanoes, and most 
 commonly the eruptions of old ones, are preceded by, or 
 accompanied with earthquakes, especially where the latter 
 have some time lain dormant. The elevation of Sabrina, 
 of 'the Aleutian Island, of Monte Nuovo, and the forma- 
 tion of Jurullo, together with what is generally known of 
 Vesuvius and Etna, are examples. 
 
 It is true that, in some instances, earthquakes happen, 
 both at great distances from volcanoes, and in their vicini- 
 ties, without any eruption. But, when this is the case, 
 the most calamitous consequences are produced, because 
 the confined matter which causes the earthquakes cannot 
 escape. This was the case, as already noticed, with re- 
 spect to the earthquakes of Calabria, which destroyed 
 60,000 people, there being no eruption either of Etna or 
 Vesuvius It is probable that this was prevented by the 
 masses of cooled lava, by which these apertures were 
 clogged. The great earthquake of Lisbon was also un- 
 attended by volcanic eruptions. 
 
 When the shocks commenced, which ended in the ele- 
 vation of Monte Nuovo, it was expected, of course, that an 
 eruption of Vesuvius would ensue, but instead of this, 
 after the earthquake had continued with great force for 
 twenty-four hours, the earth opened with a tremendous 
 noise, and, throwing out blocks of lava, pumice, and ashes, 
 formed that mountain in 1538. Vesuvius, with a single 
 slight exception, had remained dormant from 1306, and 
 showed no signs of commotion during the elevation of 
 Monte Nuovo. Now, had there been less resistance at 
 the crater of Vesuvius, than there was on the plain, there 
 would have been an eruption, and no new mountain 
 would have been formed. But Vesuvius continued torpid 
 until 1631, during which period Etna was peculiarly ac- 
 tive, suffering frequent and terrible eruptions. This cir< 
 12*
 
 138 SEAT AND THEORY OF VOLCANOES. 
 
 cumstance affords a strong argument in favor of a sub- 
 terranean communication between these two mountains, 
 Etna occasionally serving as an outlet for the elastic fluids 
 and lava, a part of which would otherwise be emitted at 
 Vesuvius, and, perhaps, the latter, in its turn, answering 
 the same purpose during the torpid state of the former. 
 
 Again, the earthquake of Lisbon, as already stated, was 
 felt in all parts of Europe, and also in Africa and South 
 America, as well as by ships sailing in the intermediate 
 seas. Now it cannot be reasonably supposed, that a sub- 
 terranean convulsion could be communicated by the mere 
 vibration of the earth, to the distance of so many thou- 
 sand miles, and especially from one side of the Atlantic 
 to the other, under the ocean. If there existed no other 
 evidence than this, of an interior fluctuating medium be- 
 low the crust of the earth, it would be more philosophical, 
 as well as reasonable, to infer that such a one did exist, 
 than to believe that the earth was capable of transmitting 
 a vibratory motion, however strong, to the distance of one 
 fourth of its circumference. 
 
 Finally, another proof of the existence of an immense 
 mass of igneous matter under the surface of the earth, is 
 the quantity of lava emitted by some volcanoes. Many 
 instances might be adduced, but we will here only refer to 
 that of Skaptar Jokul, in 1783, an account of which has 
 been given. There the quantity of lava covered a sur- 
 face equal to ninety miles long, and twenty broad, making 
 an area equal to 1800 square miles. The depth or thick- 
 ness was generally about 100 feet; but, in some places, to 
 a considerable extent, 600 feet deep. Perhaps, therefore, 
 it would not be an over estimate to call the average depth 
 150 feet. This quantity, if consolidated, would, by calcu- 
 lation, have formed a massive globe of about six miles in 
 diameter. 
 
 Now if the matter of this eruption came from the im- 
 mediate vicinity of the mountain, it is plain that the strata 
 under it, for six miles in extent, must have been thrown 
 upon the surface, and a cavity produced of a proportionate 
 size ; but this is highly improbable, if not absolutely im- 
 possible, from the very nature of the case, because if we 
 suppose a cavity, or definite space, whence the lava pro- 
 ceeded, we must also suppose it constantly full of igneous 
 matter, at least in the neighborhood of the aperture, 
 otherwise it would not have flowed from the crater. For,
 
 ELEVATION OF CONTINENTS. 139 
 
 we cannot believe that in a cavity of such dimensions, 
 steam, or any other elastic body could have operated in 
 such a manner as to throw out all, or the greatest part of 
 its contents. 
 
 From all we have adduced on this subject, we cannot 
 but conclude, that the phenomena of earthquakes and vol- 
 canoes, indicate the existence of an ocean of melted lava, 
 constantly existing at an unknown depth under the surface 
 of the earth, and that these phenomena may, in most of 
 their varieties, be accounted for by such a hypothesis, and 
 by no other which has vet been proposed. It is, therefore, 
 reasonable to infer that such a mass of igneous matter does 
 actually exist. 
 
 ELEVATION OF CONTINENTS FROM THE SEA. 
 
 The occurrence of sea shells, and the remains of marine 
 animals, at a distance from any existing ocean, is a fact of 
 common observation. Some of these remains are deeply 
 buried in solid strata, while others are found in alluvia 
 near the surface. We have noticed in the preliminary 
 part of this work, that such remains excited the attention 
 of the earliest geological observers, and that for want of a 
 more philosophical mode of accounting for these pheno- 
 mena, they were then considered, not real shells, but the 
 products of plastic nature. 
 
 A great proportion of Italy is covered by an alluvial 
 soil, containing sea shells, and occasionally the remains 
 of quadrupeds, both of living and extinct species, such as 
 the elephant, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, mastodon, &c. In 
 this country, in the state of New- York, of Ohio, and in- 
 deed throughout the great valley of the Mississippi, fossil 
 shells are found; and, as in Italy, there occurs also the 
 remains of ancient quadrupeds. 
 
 The theory, long since suggested, that the great lakes 
 of North America, are the deeper beds of an inland sea, 
 which once covered a great extent of land, a part of which 
 is now dry, has undoubtedly many circumstances in its 
 favor, and indeed may be considered as a well founded 
 geological fact. In this instance, if, as some geologists 
 suppose, this ancient sea has been drained by the bursting 
 of some barrier, it is a circumstance which will account for
 
 140 ELEVATION OF CONTINENTS. 
 
 the appearance of shells not situated higher than the bed 
 of the former sea. But it is believed that in many places, 
 marine organic remains are /ound, much more elevated 
 than any reasonable hypothesis could have placed the bed 
 of the former sea. The situations of these cannot, there- 
 fore, be accounted for on the supposition that they were 
 left by the retiring waters. 
 
 In Italy, besides the more common marine remains 
 of shells and small fish, there are found the bones of 
 whales and dolphins, and sometimes entire skeletons 
 of these fish occur at the elevation of 1200 feet above the 
 sea. 
 
 The bones of whales, thus found, are in a high state of 
 preservation, and are often incrusted with oyster shells, a 
 good proof that they have not been transported, and that 
 the sea for a long time remained over them, after they had 
 been denuded of their flesh. 
 
 But it will be seen by the following extract from Cuvier, 
 that such appearances are much more common than has 
 been supposed. 
 
 " The lowest and most level lands," says he, " when 
 penetrated to a great depth, exhibit nothing but horizon- 
 tal strata, consisting of various substances, almost all of 
 them containing innumerable productions of the sea. 
 Similar strata, similar productions, compose the hills, 
 even to a great height. Sometimes the shells are so nu- 
 merous, that they form, of themselves, the entire mass of 
 the stratum. They are almost everywhere so completely 
 preserved, that even the smallest of them retain their most 
 delicate parts, their slenderest processes, and their finest 
 points. They are found in elevations, above the level of 
 every part of the ocean, and in places to which the sea 
 could not now be conveyed by any existing causes. They 
 are not only enveloped in lo'ose sands, but are incrusted 
 by the hardest stones, which they penetrate in all direc- 
 tions. Every part of the world, both the hemispheres, all 
 continents, all islands of any considerable extent, exhibit 
 the same phenomena. They have, therefore, lived in the 
 sea, and have been deposited by the sea ; the sea there- 
 fore, must have existed in the places where it has left 
 them." 
 
 When we find in many parts of the world, stratified 
 rocks, forming the summits of the highest mountains, ele- 
 vated many thousands of feet above the level of the sea,
 
 ELEVATION OF CONTINENTS. 141 
 
 and when we suppose that the objects we are contempla- 
 ting, were once covered by water, we are strongly im- 
 pressed with the changes which the relative levels of the 
 water and land must have undergone. And when we find 
 the remains of shell fish imbedded in these strata, we can- 
 not hesitate to admit that these rocks have once been cov- 
 ered by the ocean. When, lastly, we observe that those 
 beds, which must once have been horizontal, are now ver- 
 tical ; that they are inclined, broken, bent, and dislocated 
 in innumerable ways, we are forcibly led to conclude that 
 their present distance from the sea has been accompanied 
 by violent alterations in the form of the surface, and that it 
 has been produced by the action of enormous powers. 
 JUIacculloch, vol. i. p. 86. 
 
 Allowing that these strata have once been under the 
 sea, and which, from the circumstances, is proved beyond 
 all doubt or controversy, the question to be examined, is, 
 whether the ocean has retired to a lower level, or whether 
 the land, by some enormous force, has not been elevated 
 above the water. 
 
 The phenomena of shells in strata were once attributed 
 to the Mosaic deluge, but we need not, at the present day, 
 employ arguments to show the impossibility of such an ori- 
 gin. 150 days was too short a period to have produced 
 such effects. 
 
 It has been ascertained that some of the Peruvian moun- 
 tains contain sea shells, at an elevation of fourteen thou- 
 sand feet above the level of the sea, and that the nature of 
 the strata in which they are contained, is such as to show 
 that these mountains must for a long period have been 
 submerged. Hence it is plain that no hypothesis connect- 
 ed with the deluge, can explain this fact. 
 
 Now if the sea has retired in a gradual manner from 
 such a height, within a period of five or six thousand years, 
 its level ought now, at this rate of depression, to be at least 
 four thousand feet lower than it was two thousand years 
 ago, but facts, with respect to the Baltic and the Mediterra- 
 nean, tend to prove, that since the Christian era, the ocean 
 has not changed its level, in any appreciable degree. 
 
 There is, therefore, not the least probability, or even pos- 
 sibility, that marine organic remains situated above the 
 sea, or imbedded in strata at a distance from it, can be ac- 
 counted for by any supposition connected with the depres- 
 sion of the inters of the ocean.
 
 ': ELEVATION OF CONTINENTS. 
 
 If now we examine the facts and arguments tending to 
 show that the land has been thrown up from the bottom of 
 the sea, we shall find that the evidence amounts to little 
 less than absolute demonstration that this has been the 
 case. 
 
 In the first place, strata composed of fragments of rocks 
 of any considerable size will take the horizontal direction. 
 It is true that deposites of fine matter, as clay, and sand, 
 from water, will at first take the impression, or form of the 
 bottom when this is uneven,, but if the strata be of any 
 considerable thickness, the layers will assume a horizon- 
 tal level. But we shall find, on examination, that very 
 few stratified rocks in any part of the world, have pre- 
 served their coincidence with the horizon. On the contra- 
 ry, they are inclined at various angles, and are sometimes 
 even quite vertical ; clearly evincing that they have been 
 disturbed, and dislocated by some violence, since their for- 
 mation. 
 
 "If," says Dr. Macculloch, "the highly inclined posi- 
 tion of strata were not itself a proof of their elevation, evi 
 dences of motion are found in a great number of phenom- 
 ena. In their curvatures we find proofs of disturbance ; 
 we find even more decided evidence to the same purpose 
 in their fractures. But when we see that these fractures 
 are accompanied by a separation of parts whirh were once 
 continuous, that one portion of a stratum occupies a higher 
 or lower place than another, and that this separation is oft- 
 en attended by a difference in the angle of inclination of the 
 separated parts, we have every proof that can be desired, of 
 an alteration in the horizontal position of stratified rocks, 
 since the period when they were consolidated." Geology, 
 vol. i. p. 88. 
 
 In the kind of materials, of which many inclined strata 
 are composed, we have additional evidence of their eleva- 
 tion. 
 
 We have stated that depositions of sediment from water 
 will at first take the form of an uneven bottom ; but we need 
 not stop to prove, that fragments of rock of any consid- 
 erable size, will not rest on the sides of steep declivities, 
 but will roll or slide down by their own gravity. Now, 
 "it is notorious," says Dr. Macculloch, "that the conglom- 
 erates which form such conspicuous strata in many coun- 
 tries, and which prevail chiefly at the boundary which sep- 
 arates the strata called secondary, from the primary, are
 
 ELEVATION OF CONTINENTS. 14i 
 
 often found in positions, not only highly inclined, bat ab- 
 solutely vertical. As the materials of these are often of 
 such bulks as to weigh even many hundred pounds, it is 
 evident, that the original position of the strata which con- 
 tain them must have been horizontal." 
 
 It is well known also, that certain marine worms which 
 live in sand, and inhabit straight tubular shells, invariably 
 penetrate the sand in a vertical direction, whether the sur- 
 face be horizontal or not. If the strata remain undisturbed 
 these shells remain in the position seen at Fig. 12. 
 
 p. 12 And it needs little reflection to see 
 
 that a concave, or dish-formed shell, 
 when it sinks in water, must reach 
 the bottom with its convexity down- 
 wards, and hence in all recent forma- 
 tions, such shells are always found 
 in this position. But in the inclined strata, of which we 
 are speaking, such tubular shells are found making various 
 angles with the horizon, though they preserve their perpen- 
 dicularity with respect to the strata : as represented at b* 
 Fig. 13, while had the strata been 
 l3 - pierced after its disturbance, it 
 
 would have been in the direction 
 of c. The concave shells, under 
 like circumstances, are found to 
 have changed their positions, their 
 cavities being no longer upward, 
 but inclined according to the posi- 
 tion of the strata. On the same subject Dr. Ure says, 
 "the erection of subaqueous strata into primitive mountains 
 and plains, was evidently accompanied with universal dis- 
 ruption. Innumerable fragments of both the upborne, and 
 upbearing rocks, were tossed about and washed down into 
 the congregated waters, along the precipitous shores, and 
 over the beds of the primeval ocean. These shattered 
 fragments becoming agglutinated by their own pulverulent 
 cement, soon recomposed continuous strata, which bear in- 
 ternal evidence of the violence which gave them birth. 
 Thus were formed the transition rocks of geologists, min- 
 eral masses which denote the passage between the upright 
 primitive, and the horizontal secondary strata, between 
 those of inorganic and organic evidence." 
 
 The convulsions which after a long interval caused the 
 deluge, have dislocated many of these conglomerates, so
 
 144 ELEVATION OF CONTINENTS. 
 
 Fig. 14. that strata of rounded pebbles assuredly 
 agglutinated in a horizontal position, are 
 now found standing in upright walls. 
 Thus the famous pudding-stones of Va- 
 lorsine in Savoy, are a kind of gray wacke 
 schist, containing rounded fragments of 
 gneiss, and mica-slate, six or seven inches 
 in diameter. That stones previously 
 rounded by attrition, should build them- 
 selves up into a nearly perpendicular wall, 
 as seen at Fig. 14, and stand steadily thus, 
 till fine particles of hydraulic cement 
 should hare time to envelop and fix them 
 in their places, is an absurd and impos- 
 sible supposition. It is therefore demon- 
 strable that these pudding-stone strata 
 were formed in horizontal, or slightly in- 
 clined beds, and erected after their accre- 
 tion. Such effects would be produced, in 
 the convulsive emergence of the pebbly banks out of the 
 primeval ocean, either at the deluge, or by some preceding 
 catastrophe. There are mountains 10,000 feet high, in the 
 Alps, formed of firmly conglomerated pebbles. 
 
 Another and most striking proof that the rocks have 
 been elevated by some force acting beneath them, is ex- 
 hibited by primitive mountains in various parts of the 
 world. 
 
 Here we find granite in the centre, with stratified rocks, 
 as gneiss, mica-slate and clay-slate, leaning against its 
 sides, sometimes nearly in a vertical position. Now as 
 these stratified rocks must have been deposited on a hori- 
 zontal level, or nearly so, and surely not in the highly in- 
 clined positions in which they are found, it is evident that 
 their original positions must have been changed, and their 
 inclinations caused by the game force which elevated the 
 primitive mountains. 
 
 Under the article " Classification of Rocks," this sub- 
 ject is illustrated by a wood cut, to which the reader is re- 
 ferred. 
 
 It thus appears sufficiently evident, that at least a great 
 proportion of the habitable earth was formed in strata 
 under the sea; and that subsequently to its being consol- 
 idated chiefly in the position and form of horizontal lay- 
 ers, it has been violently elevated above the water, by
 
 ELEVATION Off CONTINENTS. 145 
 
 some tremendous subterranean po\ver. Hence the strata 
 are found oblique, dislocated, and rent asunder in nearly 
 every part of the world ; and from this cause it is, that the 
 sea and land have exchanged places, and the mountains 
 have been elevated ; but to the same cause, even to the 
 destruction of that continuity and harmony which seems 
 to have existed in the form of the primitive globe, we 
 must attribute many of the greatest conveniences and com* 
 forts which the present earth affords. 
 
 Had no disturbing forces interposed, there is reason to 
 believe that the inferior strata, now in many places ele- 
 vated into hills and mountains, would for ever have been 
 concealed from the knowledge of man ; for was the earth 
 everywhere covered with horizontal strata, lying in regu- 
 lar layers, one upon another, the same kind of formations 
 would everywhere exist ; and of which we should know 
 nothing below the depth of actual excavations. Metallic 
 veins, salt, and coal, would afford no indications of their 
 existence at or near the surface. There would have been 
 no mural precipices, or mountain declivities, or out- 
 croppings of strata, by which the geologist, or practical 
 miner, would be enabled to judge of the interior. Nor 
 would there have b'een any spring of water issuing from 
 the surface of the earth, for it is the inclination of the 
 strata which directs the water to the surface, and its un- 
 evenness which allows it to break forth in the form of 
 springs. In plain level districts, no water rises to the 
 surface. In these, and many other examples which might 
 be noticed, we cannot but see the traces of benevolence 
 and design, even in the " wreck of matter," which this 
 earth everywhere displays ; and which, at every step, 
 forces us to acknowledge, not only the Power, but the 
 Wisdom and Kindness of the Almighty Builder of this 
 our habitation. 
 
 With respect to the agent which has thus thrown moun- 
 tains and continents from the depths of the oceans, and 
 has dislocated the framework of the globe, we can con- 
 ceive of none except volcanic, of sufficient power to pro- 
 duce such effects. It is true that no continents or exten- 
 sive mountains, have been elevated from the sea, since 
 the historical era, but we have a sufficient number of 
 examples of the effects of this power, even during the 
 present age, to show that the established order of nature 
 would not be changed by the elevation of a continent, 
 13
 
 146 CLASSIFICATION OF ROCKS. 
 
 The elevation of land to the extent of a hundred miles 
 on the coast of Chili ; the rising of the Sabrina island out 
 of the ocean ; and of the Aleutian islands on the coast of 
 Kamtschatka, out of the same; the changes made by the 
 force of volcanoes in the neighborhood of Naples, and the 
 effects of the earthquakes of Calabria and Lisbon, (all of 
 which we have described in the preceding pages,) afford 
 analogies by which it is not unreasonable to conclude, 
 that it was the same kind of force which broke in pieces 
 the crust of the primeval globe, and raised the habitable 
 earth from the ocean's bed. 
 
 At what period of the creation these great changes took 
 place, we must remain in ignorance, but it is improbable 
 that they were all effected at the same time. On the con- 
 trary, the appearance of the strata seem to indicate a suc- 
 cession of revolutions at different, and perhaps remote 
 periods from each other. These revolutions nppear to 
 have been before the creation of man and animals, and 
 probably by such means did the Wisdom and Benevolence 
 of the Creator prepare a place for their reception and 
 comfort. 
 
 CLASSIFICATION OF ROCKS. 
 
 The most simple division of rocks is into Primitive or 
 Primary, and Secondary. The first consisting of those 
 which are supposed to have been originally formed, such 
 as granite and its associates, and the second such as were 
 formed by the disintegration, or destruction of these. In 
 the early state of geological knowledge this was the re- 
 ceived classification. In the first kind no organic re- 
 mains, as plants or shells, are found, and hence they 
 were supposed to have been formed before the creation of 
 organized beings. In the secondary, these remains exist 
 sometimes in great abundance. To this classification the 
 celebrated Werner added the Transition class, which con- 
 sists of the larger fragments of the primitive, and which 
 is intermediate between this, and that usually called se- 
 condary. 
 
 At present, there are a considerable variety of classifi- 
 cations, some of which are too prolix and complicated for 
 a popular work, while others are forbidding on account of 
 the technical language in which they are written.
 
 PRIMARY ROCKS. 147 
 
 Perhaps the best which we can adopt, as embracing all 
 the others, without their minute subdivisions, is the follow- 
 ing: 
 
 1. PRIMARY. 
 
 2. TRANSITION, OR INTERMEDIATE. 
 
 3. SECONDARY, comprising, 
 
 a. THE LOWER SECONDARY SERIES. 
 
 b. THE UPPER SECONDARY SERIES. 
 
 4. TERTIARY. 
 
 5. BASALTIC, AND VOLCANIC ROCKS. 
 
 6. DILUVIAL, AND ALLUVIAL DEPOSITES. 
 
 PRIMARY ROCKS. 
 
 These compose the great frame, or groundwork of the 
 globe. They form the most lofty mountains, and at the 
 same time extend downward below all other formations. 
 One of the principal rocks of this class is granite. This 
 is a compound rock, being composed of three distinct min- 
 erals aggregated into a solid form. These are quartz, 
 felspar, and mica. Quartz has commonly a white color, 
 a glassy lustre, and does not divide into layers when 
 broken. It often forms a large proportion of the granite. 
 Felspar has a yellowish, or milk white color, and when 
 broken, often divides into layers of considerable thickness, 
 with smooth shining faces. Mica is also sometimes white, 
 but more commonly of a dark green color. It consists of 
 thin flexible leaves, adhering slightly together, and easily 
 separable by the nail. This is well known under the 
 name of isinglass, and when in large plates is used for 
 economical purposes, as the dead-lights for ships, windows, 
 for stoves and lanthorns, &c. Granite never consists of 
 strata, or layers, like gneiss and mica-slate. These min- 
 erals differ greatly in their respective proportions in dif- 
 ferent rocks. They also differ widely with respect to 
 size, some granites being composed of crystals, or grains, 
 a foot in diameter ; while in others the grains are no 
 larger than those of sand. 
 
 The other Primitive rocks, are Gneiss, Mica-slate, Clay- 
 slate, Primitive Limestone, Porphyry, and Sienite ; to 
 which some add several others. 
 
 This whole class is generally crystalline in its struc-
 
 148 MICA-SLAT*. 
 
 ture, and never contain the fragments of other rocks, or 
 any organized substance. 
 
 Gneiss, and mica-slate are composed of the same ma- 
 terials as granite, but differently arranged. They are also 
 generally composed of much smaller grains than granite. 
 In gneiss the felspar and quartz are aggregated closely 
 together, forming strata, or layers, between which inter- 
 vene scales of mica. Hence gneiss is a stratified rock, 
 and when broken at right angles with the strata, presents 
 a striped appearance, the quartz and felspar being nearly 
 white, while the mica is deep green or black. 
 
 Mica-slate is chiefly composed of quartz and mica, the 
 felspar being in only small quantities, or in some instances 
 nearly absent. The quartz is commonly in fine grains, 
 and the mica usually predominates, or at least is much 
 the most apparent. Some specimens of this rock appear 
 to be almost entirely composed of small scales of mica, 
 closely adhering together. 
 
 Mica-slate differs from gneiss in containing a less pro- 
 portion of felspar, and in being more distinctly stratified, 
 or slaty in its structure. It is readily divided into layers, 
 or tables, by means of wedges, and is extensively employ- 
 ed for economical purposes, especially for flagging the side 
 walks of cities. 
 
 Gneiss is intermediate between granite and mica-slate 
 in its structure, and is often found interposed between these 
 Tocks, lying over the former, and under the latter. Indeed 
 these rocks pass by insensible degrees into each other, 
 the granite gradually becoming stratified runs into gneiss, 
 while the gneiss becoming fissile forms mica-slate. These 
 three are called granitic rocks, and form together a great 
 proportion of the solid crust of our globe. 
 
 The adjoining wood cut from Daubuisson, represents 
 the most common relative positions of granite, gneiss and 
 mica-slate, as they occur on the earth. 
 
 The centre or middle mass, 1, projecting high above 
 the side strata, is granitie. The flanking planes, 2 2, are 
 gneiss, appearing as though they had been elevated to 
 their present situation by the tremendous force which 
 lifted up the granite. The mica-slate, 3, 3, is seen rest- 
 ing against the gneiss. The two latter rocks have the 
 appearance of once having been in a horizontal position,
 
 the mica-slate being superincumbent on the gneiss, and 
 this on the granite, and we shall see in another place that 
 this was undoubtedly the case, g is a great bed of quartz, 
 included in the micaceous beds, and being much less 
 subject to the disintegration by the weather, rises above 
 the mica. 4 4, are beds of clay-slate, or roof-slate, on the 
 outside of the mica-slate. 5, is an overlaying mass of 
 porphyry, resting on the mica and clay-slate. 6, a small 
 bed of mica-slate, resting between the central peaks of 
 granite, with the strata bent and sloping in opposite di- 
 rections, forming a dish-like cavity. Above 7 is seen a 
 bed of clay and gravel in strata, lying nearly horizontal 
 on the upright edsfes of the clay-slate, demonstrating their 
 subsequent and independent formation. 
 
 In many instances there is safficient proof exhibited 
 by the rocks themselves, that the primitive strata were 
 once in a horizontal position, and that they owe their pre- 
 sent vertical position to a force exerted from below, and by 
 which the granite, being elevated, has raised up the once 
 superincumbent rocks, and given them their various in- 
 clinations. This subject has already been examined un- 
 der " Elevations of Continents from the Sea." 
 
 Clay-slate. Roof-slate. This rock is exceedingly fis- 
 sile, and being divided into thin plates, is in very general 
 use for the roofing of houses ; its appearance, therefore, is 
 too generally known to need description. 
 
 This is the most distinctly stratified of all the primitive 
 rocks, and it is a singular circumstance, that its strata are 
 commonly very highly inclined, sometimes nearly, or 
 quite vertical. This rock is associated with granitic rocks, 
 being often superincumbent on mica-slate. 
 13'
 
 150 PORPHYRY. 
 
 Primitive Limestone. This is called primitive, to dis- 
 tinguish it from the secondary, or that which has been 
 more recently formed ; for limestone is of all ages from 
 that which is now forming at the mouth of the Rhone, to 
 that which has the antiquity of the granitic mountains. 
 
 Primitive limestone is crystalline in its structure, and 
 is found associated with granite, gneiss, and mica-slate, 
 being often intermixed with the latter, or alternating in 
 layers with it. No organic remains are found in this rock, 
 and hence, like granite, it is supposed to have been formed 
 before the creation of living beings. When white and 
 pure, it is known in the arts, under the name of statuary 
 marble, of which the finest specimens of ancient as w^ll 
 as modern sculpture are made. It is found particularly in 
 Italy, Switzerland, and the Grecian Archipelago The 
 Carara marble is a primitive limestone. 
 
 Secondary Limestone contains shells and other organic 
 bodies is compact, and not crystalline in its structure, 
 and is associated with secondary rocks. Thus may the 
 two kinds be distinguished. 
 
 Porphyry derives its name from a Greek word, signify- 
 ing purple, because the first rock to which this name was 
 applied had a purple color. At present, however, any 
 rock having a compact, or paste-like base, with imbedded 
 crystals, is called by this name, whatever its color maybe. 
 
 Porphyry has the appearance of having once been in 
 the form of a soft paste, into which crystals of various 
 kinds, but most commonly felspar, have, by some unknown 
 means been introduced. When associated with granite, 
 porphyry is considered a primitive rock, but is sometimes 
 secondary, and sometimes volcanic. It may, perhaps, be 
 considered as the connecting link between granitic rocks, 
 and those of igneous origin. 
 
 The columns of some of the most ancient and splendid 
 edifices were made of porphyry, of which the remains are 
 still in existence. The great hardness of this rock ; the 
 high polish which it is capable of bearing, and the variety 
 and beauty of the colors which it often presents, afford a 
 combination of qualities for splendid and enduring archi- 
 tectural purposes, which is found in no other mineral 
 body. But the labor of forming pillars of thirty or forty 
 feet in height, and five or six feet in diameter, of this ma-
 
 IGNEOUS ORIGIN OF GRANITE. 151 
 
 terial, such as the ancients constructed, is much too great 
 and expensive for the present age. 
 
 Porphyry, though not an uncommon rock, seldom oc- 
 curs in extensive formations like granite and limestone. 
 
 Sienite. This rock is composed of quartz, felspar and 
 hornblende. It may be considered as a granite in which 
 the mica is replaced by hornblende; it, however, some- 
 times contains small portions of mica. Its structure is 
 granular like that of granite, and its prevailing color is 
 yellowish white, mottled with black, giving it a gray ap- 
 pearance. The city of Boston contains many magnificent 
 columns of sienite. It is associated with granite, into 
 which it gradually passes, as the mica takes the place of 
 the hornblende. 
 
 IGNEOUS ORIGIN OF GRANITE. 
 
 It was formerly believed that granite was of aqueous 
 origin, that is, that the materials of which it is composed 
 were first dissolved in water as preparatory to their as- 
 suming that solid and crystalline form, which we see at 
 the present time. Now chemistry has long since taught 
 us that no substance in the laboratory of art, nor so far as is 
 known, in that of nature, ever assumes the crystalline 
 form until it has been dissolved in some kind of fluid; and 
 indeed a single consideration would seem to show, beyond 
 all question, the necessity of such solution, for otherwise 
 there could be no motion among the particles of which the 
 crystal is formed, and without motion it is equally certain 
 that these particles never could take their places according 
 to the laws of affinity, or in other terms, nex r er could as- 
 sume crystalline forms. 
 
 The kind of fluid in which the particles are dissolved, it 
 is obvious, must depend on the kind of substance. Thus 
 some substances are soluble in water, others in acids, and 
 others in caloric. Now, although the materials composing 
 granite are scarcely soluble by any artificial means, still 
 there is no doubt but under a very high temperature, with 
 the combined aid of pressure, they would be soluble in 
 water, or in caloric alone, and the phenomena, as we shall 
 see, afford conclusive evidence that the latter was the sol-
 
 152 
 
 IGNEOUS ORIGIN OF GRANITE. 
 
 vent, and that the materials composing granite were once in 
 a melted state. 
 
 The igneous origin of granite is satisfactorily proved, 
 from the phenomena of its veins : from the calorific ef- 
 fects of these veins on the walls of the rocks, through 
 which they have protruded ; from the intrusion of granitic 
 matter between the strata of various rocks through which 
 such veins have been forced, and lastly, from the passage 
 of known igneous rocks into granite. 
 
 The igneous origin of trap rocks has long been ac- 
 knowledged by all competent geologists, but the general 
 agreement that granite had the same origin is only of re- 
 cent date. The proofs however of the origin of both are 
 nearly the same. 
 
 Under the " Origin and phenomena of Trap Rocks" 
 it will be seen that dykes or veins of basalt often protrude 
 through the strata of other rocks, and that where they 
 come into contact with these strata, the effects of heat are 
 always apparent. The illustrations by diagrams, also 
 prove that these veins, or dykes, w r ere forced through the 
 fissures, or spread between the strata of the rocks, while 
 the former was in a soft or semifluid state. The same 
 phenomena are found to attend veins of granite which 
 traverse other rocks, there being every indication that these 
 veins were forced up from below in an ignited and soften- 
 ed state. 
 
 Fig. 16. The diagram Fig. 
 
 16, will show the 
 manner in which 
 
 ^granite sometimes 
 traverses stratified 
 =fiii rocks. This drawing 
 is from Dr. Maccul- 
 loch's representation 
 of granite veins pass- 
 ing through gneiss at 
 cape Wrath in Scot- 
 
 **; * TT^' ' floo-N^v - - -- l an d- These veins, 
 '-.;<vV^^' ;'.;':'. :X^.v^^?ii> ;X :i ? ? ma Y be observed, 
 Vv^vNVv-*-*'* '''' 1 '-'v"O'.*V' "**"' '-'L~~-' intersect each other 
 
 in various directions, 
 
 and are curiously branched and contorted. The mass of gran- 
 ite below the stratified gneiss, is also apparent, and as the 
 veins end before reaching the surface of the gneiss, we cannot
 
 IGNEOUS ORIGIN OF GRANITE. 
 
 153 
 
 but infer that they were forced up in a softened state from 
 the underlaying granite with which their trunks are incor- 
 porated. Similar instances, that is, of granite veins travers- 
 ing stratified rocks, and also rocks of granite, are known 
 to occur frequently and in various parts of the world. In 
 Europe such cases were formerly considered singular and 
 important phenomena, and as they went to prove the ig- 
 neous origin of granite, they were described with great 
 prolixity and exactness. But the progress of observation 
 has shown that granitic veins are quite common, and that 
 particularly in mica-slate, examples may be seen in almost 
 any place, where circumstances allow the rock to be ex- 
 amined a few yards below the surface, and often on the 
 surface itself. 
 
 In this country, Prof. Hitchcock of Amherst College, 
 in his Report of the Geology of Massachusetts, has de- 
 scribed and figured many such cases ; some of which we 
 shall take the liberty of inserting at this place. 
 Fig. 17. 
 
 Fig. 17, (fig. 1 1, in Prof. Hitchcock's work,) represents 
 a vein of granite protruding through strata of hornblende 
 slate. It occurs at Ackworth, New Hampshire, and is a 
 remarkable locality of beryls, rose quartz, and crystallized 
 mica. 
 
 " As the traveller approaches this spot," says the author, 
 1 he will observe while several miles distant, a remarkable
 
 154 IGNEOUS ORIGIN OF GRANITE. 
 
 conical half-naked peak, chiefly of white granite, shooting 
 up about 300 feet above the surrounding country. This 
 is the hill represented below, (Fig. 17,) as seen on its north- 
 western side, along which the road passes. The prevail- 
 ing rock in the vicinity is gneiss ; but in this elevation it 
 is chiefly hornblende slate, traversed by an enormous 
 granite vein, a, and exhibiting at least two protruding 
 masses, b, and c, of granite. The vein varies from one 
 half, to four rods in thickness, and the mass b, is four or 
 five rods across : c, is only ten feet wide. The general 
 direction of the lamina? of the slate is north and south, and 
 the dip from 15 to 20 east : but we have here the most 
 decisive marks of its having been irregularly upheaved, 
 and disturbed by the protruding granite. Near the foot 
 of the hill, the slate is bent upwards, so that the chord of 
 the curve is several rods long. But it is a curious fact, 
 that the axis of the elevating force seerns not to have co- 
 incided with the direction in which the vein was erupted. 
 For the highest point of the curve of elevation, near the 
 foot of the hill, is to the right of the vein at h ; and as we 
 ascend the hill we find the slate curved upwards near the 
 vein more and more, as is shown by the drawing. Indeed, 
 the granite of the vein seems to lie on the elevated edges 
 of the slate ; so that the lower side of the vein dips north- 
 easterly ; and does not cut the slate perpendicularly. These 
 facts would seem to evince, that the vein made its way 
 through the slate, not along the line of the greatest press- 
 ure, but on the north side of it ; probably because there the 
 slate yielded most readily. We may suppose the melted 
 granite below to have gradually elevated the slate, until 
 at length it burst its way laterally through the rock. Such 
 cases, I believe, do sometimes occur in existing volcanoes. 
 
 " The masses of granite b, and c, are probably other ex- 
 amples in which the molten matter bursts its way laterally 
 through the slate. And it is an interesting fact in regard 
 to the mass b, that in some places it still projects over the 
 slate several feet, forming in fact an overlaying mass. In- 
 stances of this kind I have rarely met with in the granite 
 of New England." Page 480. 
 
 Fig. 18, also from Prof. Hitchcock's work, represents a 
 nearly perpendicular ledge of mica-slate in Conway, Mass. 
 The strata as shown by the drawing, are much contorted 
 indicating disturbance during their deposition, or while thev 
 were in a soft and yielding state, a, a, are strata of com
 
 PASSAGE OF GRANITE INTO BASALT. 155 
 
 Fig. 18. 
 
 mon mica-slate : b, is a stratum of amphibolic slate. The 
 whole surface exhibited is fifteen feet long and eight feet 
 high. Through this ledge runs a vein of fine grained 
 granite a foot wide. 
 
 " The object of giving this sketch," says Prof. Hitch- 
 cock, " is to show that this vein has produced no derange- 
 ment of the mica-slate : for the different particles of that 
 rock occupy the same relative position on the different 
 sides of the vein. Hence the vein was introduced subse- 
 quently to the consolidation of the slate j and probably it 
 was injected into an open fissure." 
 
 PASSAGE OF GRANITE INTO BASALT. 
 
 Dr. Hibbert describes the manner in which granite has 
 gradually passed into basalt in one of the Shetland islands. 
 The basalt extends from the island of Mickle Voe north- 
 wards to Roeness Voe, a distance of twelve miles. On 
 the west of this there is a considerable mass of granite, 
 andlhe transition from the one into the other is thus de- 
 scribed. " Not far from the junction we may find, disper- 
 sed through the basalt, many minute particles of quartz. 
 This is the first indication of an approaching change in the 
 nature of the rock. In again tracing it still nearer the 
 granite, we find the particles of quartz dispersed through 
 the basalt, becoming still more numerous and larger, an 
 increase of magnitude even extending to every other de- 
 scription of particles. The rock may now be observed 
 to consist of separate ingredients, of quartz, of hornblende,
 
 156 PASSAGE OF GRANITE INTO BASALT. 
 
 felspar, and greenstone ; the latter substance, (greenstone,) 
 being a homogeneous commixture of hornblende and fel- 
 spar. Again, as we approach still nearer the granite, the 
 disseminated portions of greenstone disappear, their place 
 being supplied by an additional quantity of felspar and 
 quartz. The rock now consists of three ingredients, fel- 
 spar, quartz, and hornblende. The last change which 
 takes place, results from the still increasing accumulation 
 of quartz and felspar, and from the proportionate dissem- 
 ination of hornblende. The hornblende eventually disap- 
 pears, and we have a well characterized granite, consisting 
 of two ingredients, felspar and quartz." Ed. Journal of 
 Science, vol. i. p. 107. 
 
 We see, from these examples, that granite has been 
 forced from below into the fissures of other rocks which 
 were superincumbent, consequently, which were deposited 
 after the granite was formed. In several instances it may 
 be observed also, that the granite does not reach the sur- 
 face, by which it is proved that these veins could not have 
 entered from above, a theory long maintained by those 
 who claimed that granite was of aqueous origin. Besides, 
 the indications of fusion which these veins present, the pas- 
 sage of granite into basalt, a rock which all agree bears 
 the marks of fire, is additional evidence that they had a 
 common origin. 
 
 But if we consider granite veins to have forced their 
 way from below, in a state of igneous fusion, then we 
 might expect, that when the mass came into contact with 
 stratified rocks, the strata would be separated, and that the 
 fluid matter would run between them, at least to a short 
 distance, and especially near the surface, where the pres- 
 sure would present little resistance to the separation of the 
 strata. Now this is precisely what is known to have hap- 
 pened in numerous instances, one of the most striking ex- 
 amples of which occurs at Glen Tilt, in the Grampian 
 mountains in Scotland. 
 
 At this place, veins of red granite are seen branching 
 out on the northern side of the glen, from the principal 
 mass, and meeting the slate and limestone which forms the 
 southern side. The granite veins run in all directions, 
 intermingling with, and disturbing the strata of the other 
 rocks, in such a manner as to prove, not only that the 
 
 franite was in a fluid state at the time of its intrusion, 
 ut also, that it was forced up with great violence.
 
 GRANITK OF DIFFERENT AGES. 
 
 Fig. 19. 
 
 157 
 
 The diagram, Fig. 19, from Dr. Macculloch, represents 
 the appearance of these rocks. " The granite at this local- 
 ity," says Mr. Lyell, "often sends forth so many veins as 
 to reticulate the limestone and schist, the veins diminishing 
 towards their termination to the thickness of a leaf of pa- 
 per, or a thread. In some places fragments of granite ap- 
 pear entangled, as it were, in the limestone, and are not 
 visibly connected with any larger mass; while sometimes, 
 on the other hand, a lump of the limestone is found in the 
 midst of the granite ;" a, granite, b, limestone, c, argillace- 
 ous schist. 
 
 The ordinary color of the limestone at Glen Tilt is lead 
 blue, and its texture large grained; but where it approxi- 
 mates to the granite, particularly where it is penetrated 
 by the smaller veins, the crystalline texture disappears, and 
 it assumes an appearance exactly resembling hornstone. 
 This change was undoubtedly produced by the heat of the 
 intruding granite. 
 
 These facts and circumstances are considered sufficient 
 to show the igneous origin of granite, though an abund- 
 ance of others of a similar nature might be adduced from 
 authors. 
 
 GRANITE OF DIFFERENT AGES. 
 
 All the older geological writers believed that granite 
 was the primitive rock of our globe, and the one on which 
 14
 
 158 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN IGNEOUS ROCKS. 
 
 all others reposed. They also considered this rock as 
 everywhere of a similar age, the idea of successive forma- 
 tions of granite having never until recently been advanced. 
 These opinions were founded on the general facts, that this 
 rock lies beneath all others, and that it contains no organic 
 remains, which facts even at the present day we must 
 acknowledge to be generally true. More extensive obser- 
 vations have, however, shown many exceptions to these 
 facts, there having been discovered instances where gran- 
 ite not only penetrates through, and reposes on stratified 
 rocks, but also where the rocks invaded by it contain or- 
 ganic remains. Thus Dr. Macculloch describes a consid- 
 erable mass of granite in the Isle of Sky, which is incum- 
 bent on limestone, and shale. The limestone at some dis- 
 tance from the granite contains shells, but in its immediate 
 vicinity, no shells appear, the limestone being converted 
 into pure crystalline marble. This change, as well as the 
 destruction of the shells, is attributed to the heat of the 
 granite at the time of its protrusion. 
 
 In different part of the Alps, similar phenomena occur, 
 where, according to the observations of Beaumont, and 
 others, granite is seen penetrating through secondary strata, 
 which contain belemnites, and other fossil organic remains. 
 
 In Norway, also, Von Bush discovered a mass of granite 
 overlaying a bed of secondary limestone, containing a va- 
 riety of fossil shells. 
 
 These and other instances of the kind, must however be 
 considered as exceptions to a general rule, there being no 
 doubt, but the granite which universally forms the deep- 
 er portions of the crust of our globe, is the eldest of our 
 rocks. 
 
 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN IGNEOUS ROCKS. 
 
 After having shown that granite, as well as greenstone, 
 is an igneous rock, the inquiry naturally arises why these 
 two rocks differ so widely in appearance, if indeed they 
 have had the same origin ? This is a question which our 
 present knowledge docs not enable us to answer with any 
 degree of certainty, nor indeed do geologists profess to do 
 more than offer plausible conjectures to account for these 
 differences.
 
 TRANSITION, OR INTERMEDIATE ROCKS. 159 
 
 The composition of greenstone is hornblende and fel- 
 spar, that of granite is felspar, quartz, and mica. The 
 crystals in the greenstone are commonly small, often too 
 minute to be distinguished by the naked eye, while those 
 of granite are generally of considerable size, often many 
 inches in diameter. 
 
 Some geologists have supposed that the difference in the 
 size of the crystals, might be accounted for by the differ- 
 ence in the time of cooling, since chemistry, in some in- 
 stances, has shown that the same materials will form large 
 crystals when cooled slowly, and small ones when cooled 
 suddenly. It has been conjectured, therefore, that the trap- 
 pean rocks were erupted under the sea, and that the pres- 
 sure of the water, and the rapid abstraction of the heat, by 
 its agency, has caused the difference in texture. But if we 
 admit that the granite was fused at a greater depth, and in 
 larger quantities, and account for the difference of texture 
 on these conditions, still it is difficult to conceive why such 
 conditions should produce such changes in the composi- 
 tions of the two rocks, the greenstone containing little or 
 no mica, or quartz, while the granite contains only an oc- 
 casional portion of hornblende. 
 
 If we compare granite, and the varieties of trap, with 
 the volcanic products of the present time, or with those of 
 ancient, extinct volcanoes, we shall find, in general, little 
 analogy, either in appearance or composition, between 
 them. No volcano, either ancient or modern, has ever 
 been known to emit either granite or trap ; though the lat- 
 ter and some volcanic products have considerable affinity. 
 
 It is possible that future observations may throw light 
 on this subject, but, at present, though geologists generally 
 agree that granite, trap, and lava, were all once in a state 
 of fusion, yet no one has given any satisfactory theory to 
 account for the differences they present in appearance, tex- 
 ture, and composition. 
 
 TRANSITION, OR INTERMEDIATE ROCKS. 
 
 Next in order to the primitive are the Transition rocks. 
 l^oe teim transition comes from the Latin transitio, in ref- 
 erence 10 Jieir removal, or change of place. These rocks 
 are above the primitive, on which they rest.
 
 160 TRANSITION, OR INTERMEDIATE ROCKS. 
 
 This formation is composed of the larger fragments 
 of all the primitive rocks, consolidated into continuous 
 masses. The manner in which the transition rocks were 
 formed, appears to be sufficiently obvious. At the time 
 when the waters were gathered into one place, to form the 
 sea, or when the primitive rocks were thrown up from the 
 ocean, the disruptions and dislocations consequent upon 
 these mighty movements, reduced the highest parts of the 
 primitive to fragments, which falling down upon the sides 
 of the mountains, covered them with their ruins ; and these 
 becoming agglutinated by the pulverulent cement, pro- 
 duced by the friction of these fragments, formed the rocks 
 in question. 
 
 In the course of their consolidation, organized beings of 
 the lowest orders, such as sea shells, falling in their crev- 
 ices, were there imbedded ; and thus it is proved that these 
 rocks were formed after the creation of organized beings. 
 That they were formed next after the primitive rocks, is 
 proved by their lying immediately on them. 
 
 The rocks belonging to this class are Gfaywacke, Trans- 
 ition Limestone, Slate, and Sandstone. 
 
 Graywacke. This uncouth word, which we have bor- 
 rowed from the Germans, the French geologists have ex- 
 changed for the term traumate, which signifies frag- 
 mentary. 
 
 Graywacke is a slaty formation, which includes the frag- 
 ments of many other rocks. These fragments vary in 
 size, from that of the head to the smallest grains. Some- 
 times it consists almost entirely of rounded pebbles, ce- 
 mented together by sand and oxide of iron. It is then 
 called conglomerate, and no longer retains its slaty char- 
 acter. When the grains are small, and it is stratified, it 
 becomes slate; and when not stratified, it passes into sand- 
 stone. The Rhode Island coal mine is in a graywacke 
 formation. 
 
 Transition Limestone. This is an abundant rock, be 
 ing that which is employed in making quicklime for mor- 
 tar, and also, in many countries, as a building stone. 
 Many of the common variegated marbles belong to this 
 formation. Some specimens are finely colored, and bear- 
 ing a high polish, form beautiful slabs for tables and fire- 
 places.
 
 SANDSTONE. 161 
 
 This rock sometimes underlays large sections of coun- 
 try, and in other instances rises into extensive ranges of 
 mountains. The great caverns which are described as ex- 
 isting in different countries, and which often contain the 
 remains of animals, are of this class. 
 
 Some transition limestones contain abundance of marine 
 organic remains, and hence must have been formed under 
 the ocean. In other instances no fossil relics are found, 
 but the rock is composed of angular, or water-worn frag- 
 ments, consolidated by a calcareous cement. The presence 
 of such fragments will always distinguish the transition 
 from the secondary limestones. 
 
 In England and Wales, this is a very extensive and im- 
 portant formation, and contains not only vast quantities 
 of organic relics, but various metallic ores. " In Derby- 
 shire," says Mr. Bakewell, " where the different beds of 
 limestone have been pierced through by the miners, the 
 average thickness of the three uppermost, is 160 yards ; the 
 beds are separated by beds of trap, or basalt, resembling 
 ancient lavas." 
 
 Slate. Clay slate, although often associated with prim- 
 itive rocks, as already noticed, is also found with those of 
 the transition class. But we have already given a suffi- 
 cient description of this rock. 
 
 Porphyry. This is also, sometimes a transition rock, be- 
 ing so considered when it is found associated with rocks of 
 this class. 
 
 Sandstone. This rock, as its name indicates, consists 
 chiefly of sand, cemented into a solid form. It often con- 
 tains water-worn pebbles, angular pieces of other rocks, 
 as granite, fragments of slate, nodules of quartz, &c., being 
 evidently made up of the ruins of former rocks. Its color 
 is commonly red, owing to the oxide of iron it contains, 
 and which serves as a cement to the grains of sand of 
 which it is compdsed. 
 
 Sandstone, by an uninterrupted continuity, passes into 
 graywacke. The only difference appears to be, that the 
 latter rock is commonly stratified, and of a darker color, 
 not having, like the sandstone, a tinge of red. Where 
 the graywacke is not of a slaty structure, it become sand- 
 stone. 
 
 14*
 
 162 SECONDARY ROCKS. 
 
 SECONDARY ROCKS. 
 
 The secondary rocks have, by some, been divided into 
 the lower secondary, and upper secondary, the second be- 
 ing superincumbent on the first; but as it is difficult to de- 
 termine where the lower series terminate, and the upper 
 one commences, we shall follow the more simple method 
 of considering' the whole as merely secondary formations. 
 The same difficulty, indeed, is applicable to the termination 
 of the transition series, and the commencement of the 
 secondary. The chief differences being, that the second- 
 ary is not so generally composed of fragments, shows less 
 of the crystalline structure, and contains organic remains 
 of known existing species ; while the transition class is 
 more fragmentary; more crystalline, *and contains few or 
 no shells, known to be recent, or living. 
 
 The principal secondary formations, are Coal, Seconda- 
 ry Limestone, Chalk, Oolite, and Sandstone. 
 
 The last named rock, we have placed among the transi- 
 tion series; and undoubtedly that which is composed, in 
 considerable proportion, of the fragments of other rocks, 
 belongs there ; but many sandstone formations appear 
 more properly to be arranged as secondary rocks. The 
 actual inquirer will often find himself at a loss to deter- 
 mine, from the position of strata, with respect to each 
 other, which are the transition, and which the secondary; 
 because, in many instances, the secondary, as well as the 
 tertiary, to be next described, will be found lying imme- 
 diately upon the primitive. This arises from the fact, that 
 no formation of the secondary series extends to every part 
 .of the earth. Did the different formations cover the earth 
 entirely, as the coats of an onion surround each other, there 
 would exist neither doubt nor difficulty on this subject ; 
 for then the same characters would identify the different 
 classes, in all parts of the earth, and each could be known, 
 merely by its depth under the surface. But instead of 
 this, it is quite common, even in countries of no conside- 
 rable elevation, to observe the primitive rocks projecting 
 above the surface, or lying only a few feet beneath the 
 soil. It is, therefore, only in certain parts of the earth, 
 that the relative positions of strata can be determined, as a 
 whole, for it is obvious, from what we have stated, that 
 in some places, the newest formations overlay the oldest,
 
 COAL FIELDS. 163 
 
 without the intervention of any other. In such situations, 
 however, as afford opportunities for observing the several 
 strata lying superincumbent, the same relatiye positions 
 are found everywhere to exist, or to exist so uniformly 
 as to lead to definite general conclusions. 
 
 Coal. This well known substance affords several vari- 
 eties, differing in color, from dark brown to jet black, and 
 containing variable proportions of carbon and bitumen, 
 with more or less impurities. 
 
 The English mineral coal, is stated by mineralogists to 
 contain from fifteen to forty per cent, of bitumen, and from 
 forty to eighty per cent, of charcoal. 
 
 Black, or common coal, is found in regular strata, or 
 beds, from a few inches, to several yards in thickness. 
 Several beds commonly occur under each other, being 
 separated by strata of clay or sandstone. These series of 
 strata are called coalfields, or coal measures. 
 
 Coal Fields. Every coal field has its peculiar series of 
 strata, which vary in thickness from those of any other. 
 The coal beds are also separated by deposites, which dif- 
 fer in thickness, in kind, or in arrangement, from those of 
 other formations. Hence each coal field is a distinct and 
 independent deposite, and is in no way connected with 
 any other coal field, with respect to the sources whence 
 their materials were originally derived. Hence they are 
 all of limited extent, and most commonly basin-shaped 
 concavities, which have the forms, and so far as can be 
 ascertained, the appearance of once having been lakes, or 
 ponds of greater or less depth and extent. In some of 
 the large coal fields, the original formation of the lake 
 cannot be traced, but in many smaller ones, it is distinctly 
 ascertained. 
 
 The number of coal beds, and the various intervening 
 strata through which the shafts of some coal mines pass, 
 often amount to great numbers. In a coal field belonging 
 to Lord Dudley, in Staffordshire, a shaft was sunk to the 
 depth of 939 feet. The beds passed through in this shaft, 
 which the miners distinguish by different names, are 
 sixty-five. The number of beds of coal, are eleven, of 
 which five are above the principal bed, called the main 
 coal, and five below it. The main coal is about three hun- 
 dred feet below the surface, and consists of thirteen diffo-
 
 164 ROCK SALT. 
 
 rent beds, lying close to each other, but separated by their 
 layers of slate-clay. Its thickness is about twenty-seven 
 feet. 
 
 To convey an idea of the regularity of these strata, we 
 here give the names of a few of them, and the succession 
 in which they occur, beginning with the lowest. 
 
 thick. thick. 
 
 Slate-clay, 90ft. 9 Gravel, 6ft. 
 
 2 Limestone, 30 
 
 3 Slate-clay, 230 
 
 4 Coal, 2 
 
 5 Slate-clay, 120 
 
 6 Coal, 15 
 
 7 Slate-clay, 8 
 
 8 Coal, 10 
 
 10 Coal, 9 
 
 11 Slate-clay, 27 
 
 12 Slate-clay, 6 
 
 13 Coal, 6 
 
 14 Slate-clay, 21 
 
 15 Coal, (main,) 29 
 
 16 Bituminous shale, 7 
 
 See " Origin of, and Searching for Coal." 
 
 Secondary Limestone. This is also called carboniferous, 
 and mountain limestone. Its texture is compact, and not 
 crystalline, like the primitive limestone before described. 
 Its prevailing colors are gray, or yellowish white, but it 
 is sometimes bluish or black. This formation is some- 
 times extensive, underlaying large districts, and rising 
 into considerable mountains. The hills of this formation 
 often present mural, or wall-like precipices, and rocky, 
 uneven dales. 
 
 It is considered a more recent rock than transition lime- 
 stone, and is often composed, almost entirely of marine 
 shells, sometimes only slightly adhering together. It also 
 contains the bones of animals, chiefly of extinct species, 
 but sometimes of those now living, and which are never 
 found in the transition class. It is often difficult, however, 
 to distinguish this rock from transition limestone, into 
 which it insensibly passes. 
 
 Rock Salt. Although this salt cannot properly be class- 
 ed as a rock, yet as it forms considerable beds, and is, 
 withal, an important article, it is proper to describe its 
 geological bearings and associations. 
 
 In its impure state, as it is raised from the mine, rock 
 salt is in large solid masses, of a crystalline structure, with 
 a reddish or bluish color. When pure, as it sometimes 
 occurs in the mine, it is perfectly colorless and transparent, 
 like the best flint glass.
 
 ORIGIN OF ROCK SALT. 165 
 
 Rock salt is found at various depths below the surface. 
 At Cheshire, in England, where vast quantities are raised, 
 the first bed is one hundred and thirty feet deep, and sev- 
 enty-eight feet thick. This is separated from the next bed 
 by a stratum of clay-stone, thirty feet thick. The lower 
 bed has been penetrated one hundred and twenty feet, but 
 has not been sunk through. 
 
 The principal known deposites of salt, are those of Car- 
 dona, in Spain ; those of Hungary, and Poland ; that of 
 Caramania, in Asia ; the extensive formations of Germany 
 and Austria ; those on each side of the Carpathian moun- 
 tains, and those of South America. 
 
 According to the traveller Chardin, rock salt is so 
 abundant in Caramania, and the atmosphere so dry, that 
 the inhabitants sometimes build their houses of it. 
 
 Origin of Rock Salt. At Posa, in Castile, there is a 
 deposite of rock salt, within the crater of an extinct vol- 
 cano ; and in the island of Sicily, there exists more or less 
 of the same mineral, in such situations as to indicate that 
 it has been formed by the evaporation of sea water, by 
 volcanic heat. But if subterranean heat has in a few in- 
 stances produced salt by evaporation, still the situation 
 and appearances of these formations generally, are such 
 as to preclude any rational supposition, that they have been 
 formed in this manner. 
 
 The most natural hypothesis that has been offered, to 
 account for the existence of this salt, especially in certain 
 situations, is that which attributes it to the gradual evapo- 
 ration of pools, or lakes of salt water left by the ocean, 
 when it retired from the present continents, in consequence 
 of their elevation. This theory, too, might be considered 
 as receiving strong support from the fact, that in some of 
 the Polish mines, sea shells, the claws of crabs, and vege- 
 table impressions have been found. 
 
 But on the contrary, most salt mines are entirely with- 
 out any organic, or other remains, by which any gleam 
 of light is thrown upon the history of their origin. Were 
 these formations the solid matter, left by the desiccation of 
 salt lakes, we should suppose that fossil sea animals, as well 
 as shells, ought to be found everywhere, and in abundance. 
 Another, and still stronger objection to this hypothesis, is 
 the great purity of subterranean salt, when compared with 
 that obtained bv the evaporation of sea water.
 
 166 OYP6UM. 
 
 With the exception of foreign impurities, such as clay 
 and sand, rock salt is nearly pure muriate of soda ; while 
 sea Avater, by evaporation produces muriate of magnesia, 
 and sulphate of soda, besides muriate of soda. The mode 
 in which rock salt is disposed in the earth, is also against 
 the hypothesis of evaporation. That of Cheshire, instead 
 of being in strata, is found in distinct concretions. 
 
 To these difficulties, it may be added, that the depth of 
 sea water required to produce some of the larger masses 
 of rock salt, must not only have been unfathomable, but 
 incomprehensible. The salt hill of Cardona is 663 feet 
 in height, and is solid muriate of soda. Now, according 
 to the experiments of Dr. Marcet, 500 grains of salt water, 
 yielded 21 1-2 grains of solid matter, of which 13.3 parts 
 were muriate of soda. From 10,000 parts of sea water, 
 Dr. Murray obtained 220 parts of common salt. Accord- 
 ing to such data, if the salt of Cardona was formed in a 
 lake, by evaporation, the water not only yielded pure 
 muriate of soda, but must have been more than 27,000 
 feet, or more than five miles in depth. 
 
 Finally, this subject appears to be one of great difficul- 
 ty, for although geologists have made the theory of these 
 formations a matter of much interest and inquiry, no ra- 
 tional hypothesis concerning them has yet been proposed. 
 
 Gypsum. Sulphate of Lime. This is known under the 
 name of Plaster of Paris, and is so common as to need no 
 description. This substance, like rock salt, is seldom 
 found in extensive formations. It occurs both with primi- 
 tive and secondary rocks, and, from the species of shells 
 it sometimes contains, has been considered a fresh water 
 formation. Beds of gypsum commonly alternate with 
 those of marl and limestone. 
 
 The greatest deposite of gypsum described, is that of 
 Paris, which extends about twenty leagues. At Mont- 
 matre, near Paris, two formations of this substance may 
 be observed ; the lower is composed of alternate beds of 
 little thickness consisting of gypsum, often crystalline, 
 alternating with lime and clay-maris. The upper forma- 
 tion is the most important and remarkable. It is about 
 sixty-five feet thick, and, in some places, lies immediately 
 under vegetable mould. This is especially interesting, 
 from the number and variety of organic relics it contains, 
 and from its being the chief source whence the celebrated
 
 THICKNESS OF CHALK BEDS. 167 
 
 Cuvier drew ths skeletons of so many extinct species of 
 animals. See Organic Remains, 
 
 Chalk. In England, chalk is a very important forma- 
 tion, both on account of its extent and its perfectly dis- 
 tinctive characters. It is also found in France, Ireland, 
 Spain, Germany, Italy, and Poland ; but it is a singular 
 fact, that no deposites of chalk have been found beyond the 
 limits of Europe. In the New World, through the whole 
 extent of the two Americas, not a specimen of chalk has 
 been found. 
 
 The chemical properties of chalk are those of carbon- 
 ate of lime, vi., lime 56; carbonic acid 44=100. When 
 well burned, chalk is said to make as good quick-lime as 
 the hardest marble. In the Isle of Wight, the harder 
 kinds are employed as building stones ; and, at Dover, 
 chalk is used in the construction of docks, or other ma- 
 sonry, which is covered by the water. Some very ancient 
 buildings are constructed of this material, and among them 
 the abbey of St. Omar, in France, which is said still to 
 retain all its beautiful Gothic ornaments in great perfec- 
 tion. 
 
 With respect to the antiquity of chalk, it is considered a 
 more recent formation than coal, and between it and the 
 tertiary, or newer secondary formations. 
 
 Beds of chalk generally contain nodules of flint and or- 
 ganic remains, especially those of shells, sponge, star-fish, 
 madrepores, &c. ; but some beds are entirely without flints. 
 Countries underlaid with chalk are generally far from 
 being flat or level, but, on the contrary, are remarkable 
 for their undulations of surface, the hills having smooth 
 rounded outlines, with deep indentations, or hollows, in 
 their sides. 
 
 Thickness of Chalk Beds. Chalk beds vary in thick- 
 ness from a few inches to 1000 feet or more. At Dover, 
 the beds containing flints are about 500 feet thick, and 
 those without flints 140 feet thick. At Culver clif in the 
 Isle of Wight, where these beds are disposed vertically, 
 and where Mr. Coneybeare says there is the best oppor- 
 tunity afforded to ascertain their thickness, this has been 
 found about 1300 feet. But, generally, this formation in 
 England varies from 600 to 1000 feet in thickness.
 
 168 LIAS. 
 
 Oolite. This is also called Roestone, oecause it is com- 
 posed of small globules resembling the roe of fishes. It 
 has generally a yellowish brown, or ochery color. It is a 
 variety of common limestone, from which it does not differ 
 in composition. These globules do not, however, in all 
 cases, compose the entire mass; sometimes they appear to 
 be imbedded in solid limestone, and, in other instances, 
 they are wanting entirely. 
 
 In England, this formation is superincumbent on chalk, 
 and often contains shells and other organic remains. It 
 is employed as a building stone. St. Paul's church and 
 Somerset house being constructed of this material. It is, 
 however, said not to be a durable stone. 
 
 With respect to the manner in which these globules 
 were formed, Mr. Bakewell remarks, that it is not yet as- 
 certained whether they have resulted from a tendency to 
 crystalline arrangement, or whether they are of animal 
 origin. We should think neither would account for them ; 
 but that they were formed in springs, or rather running 
 water, containing lime, by a gradual deposition of carbon- 
 aceous particles on a small nucleus, as a grain of sand, 
 kept in agitation by the stream. 
 
 Lias. This name is said to be a corruption of the word 
 layers, because this rock is usually stratified. It is one of 
 the Oolitic group, and passes by insensible shades into 
 Oolite. It is an argillaceous limestone, usually found in 
 the conformable position. It retains a uniform mineraio- 
 gical character throughout a great portion of England, 
 France, and Germany. It is often rich in organic remains, 
 and especially of the saurian reptiles. 
 
 In this country it is described by Dr. Hildreth as ex- 
 isting on the Little Muskingum, in Ohio. Color yellow- 
 ish white when exposed to the air, but grayish white 
 when taken from the bed ; structure compact, fracture con- 
 choidal, with an earthy surface ; adheres to the tongue ; 
 composition, carbonate of lime, with a little carburet of 
 iron. In properties and appearance it approaches nearly 
 to chalk. 
 
 Dr. Hildreth says, " that it stands the weather without 
 exfoliation, and would make a most beautiful building 
 stone." 
 
 The associations of this rock, in Ohio, will be seen by 
 the diagram, fig. 20.
 
 LIAS. 
 
 169 
 
 Fig. 20, 
 
 frro 
 9 
 
 Order of the series ascending. 
 
 1. Limestone; compact, dark, and in strata, from 
 six inches, to two feet in thickness. This bed is eight feet 
 thick. 
 
 2. Bituminous Coal, very pure ; structure slaty ; three 
 feet thick. 
 
 3. Water lime, in thin beds reposing on the coal. 
 Thickness, six feet. 
 
 4. A Chloritic rock; color deep, almost verdigris 
 green. Four feet thick. 
 
 5. Lias, which we have already described. 
 
 6. Calcareous tufa. It is porous, as if pierced in all 
 directions by small worms. Six feet thick. 
 
 7. Hard sparry limestone, of a light dove color, tinged 
 with brown. Thirty feet thick. 
 
 8. Sandstone, the lower part in strata of a few inches 
 thick, and contains some fossil remains. 100 feet thick. 
 
 15
 
 170 YOLCANIC AND BASALTIC ROCKS. 
 
 9. Argillaceous, loamy soil, rich, and covered with 
 timber. Ten feet thick. 
 
 TERTIARY STRATA. 
 
 The Tertiary, or third formation, as the name indicates, 
 was deposited after the secondary, and may be considered 
 as proceeding from the disintegration of this and the pri- 
 mary series. 
 
 With respect to its relative antiquity, the tertiary is 
 newer than chalk, and older than the Diluvial and Allu- 
 vial deposites. When these, therefore occur in the series 
 the tertiary formations are between the chalk and the di- 
 luvium. 
 
 The Tertiary strata consists of beds of clay, sand, marl, 
 pudding-stones, and the newer limestone deposites, such 
 as are found in the Paris basin, and in the Isle of Wight. 
 These formations often contain abundance of fossil shells 
 and plants, together with the bones of fish and quadru- 
 peds. The famous locality of fossil fish at Monte Bolca, 
 in Italy, is in tertiary strata. 
 
 In North America this formation is very extensive, rea- 
 ching without interruption along the sea coast from Long 
 Island to Louisiana and extending in some parts several 
 hundred miles inland. It consists of sand and clay often 
 mixed with an abundance of sea shells. The valley of 
 the Connecticut is in a considerable proportion of the same 
 formation, consisting of sand and clay, though the shells 
 are absent. The whole^of Long Island, Martha's Vine- 
 yard, and Nantucket are also tertiary formations. In gen- 
 eral, tertiary strata show no marks of disturbance, being 
 deposited since the lower rocks were disrupted. 
 
 VOLCANIC AND BASALTIC ROCKS. 
 
 These owe their origin to volcanic fire, and have been 
 either ejected from burning mountains, or forced up to the 
 surface of the earth in a melted state by volcanic action. 
 Some of these rocks occasionally cover all the formations 
 hitherto described, and as volcanoes are still active, they
 
 BASALT. GREENSTONE. 171 
 
 may and indeed do, cover the most recent deposites of sand 
 and gravel. 
 
 This division is known under the name of unstratifted 
 rocks, which also includes granite. Many geologists sup- 
 pose that granite also had an igneous origin ; and this in- 
 deed appears to be the prevailing opinion of the ablest 
 writers of the day. 
 
 Basaltic or Trap rocks, including also those formed of 
 lava, cover the other formations, in a very irregular, and 
 uncertain manner. In France, large districts of country 
 are buried under ancient lava, and the northern parts of 
 Great Britain abound with basaltic rocks. 
 
 The word trap, is said to come from the Swedish trap- 
 pa, which signifies a stair, or step, because rocks of this 
 kind often separate in such a manner as to form stairs. 
 
 The application of this term is far from being definite, 
 some geologists meaning by it such unstratified rocks as 
 basalt, greenstone, porphyry, and their associates ; while 
 others have confined it to such rocks as are chiefly com- 
 posed of hornblende, whether stratified or not. The for- 
 mer application of this term is undoubtedly the most com- 
 mon and appropriate. 
 
 The most important volcanic rocks are Basalt, Green- 
 stone, and Lava. 
 
 Basalt. The color of this rock is dark grayish black, 
 or brownish gray. It is found in large shapeless masses, 
 or in columnar prisms, with from three to nine faces. 
 These columns are of all sizes, from a few inches to sev- 
 eral feet in diameter, and sometimes four hundred feet in 
 height. They are composed of joints, or blocks of the 
 same angular shapes, resting one upon another. The 
 texture of basalt is fine grained, or compact, and it often 
 contains other minerals imbedded in it, such as felspar, 
 quartz, mica, leucite, and oxide of iron. It also exhibits 
 hollow cavities, or vesicles, apparently formed by bubbles 
 of air during its fusion. The Giant's Causeway in the 
 North of Ireland, is composed of basaltic columns. 
 
 Greenstone. This is a compact, hard, tenacious rock 
 of a dark grayish color, with a greenish tinge. It is es- 
 sentially composed of hornblende and felspar. This rock 
 occurs in beds of greater or less extent, sometimes forming 
 extensive ranges of mountains. In this country green-
 
 172 DILUVIUM. 
 
 stone is a common rock. The range of mountains on the 
 west side of the Connecticut, reaching from New-Haven 
 to Northampton, is of this rock. In some places, their 
 height is several hundred feet. These rocks, as will be 
 seen in another place, are undoubtedly of volcanic origin, 
 having been elevated to their present situation through 
 fissures, by the force of subterranean fire. 
 
 Lava. This term comes from the Gothic, and signifies 
 to run, in reference to the flowing of volcanic matter. 
 
 The products of volcanic mountains often present very 
 different appearances, and hence have received several 
 names, as volcanic slags, volcanic enamel, cellular lava, 
 compact lava, pumice, &c. But in general terms, all the 
 liquified products of volcanoes are called lava, and for the 
 purposes of elementary geology, this definition is perhaps 
 sufficient. 
 
 The colors of lava are most commonly yellowish, or 
 greenish gray sometimes running into sulphur yellow, 
 and grayish black. Some are compact, while others are 
 full of small pores, and others are fibrous with a silky 
 lustre ;Jbut all the different kinds run into each other, so 
 that it is often difficult to make distinctions between them. 
 
 DILUVIUM. 
 
 Diluvia, or diluvial deposites, are generally supposed 
 to have been formed during the general deluge. They 
 consist of sand, pebbles, and blocks, or fragments of va- 
 rious kinds of rocks, not generally existing in the districts 
 where these deposites are found at the present day, and 
 hence they must have been transported from a distance. 
 In many instances, the diluvial rocks appear to have 
 been moved from great distances, their dimensions and 
 situations at the same time indicating a water power of 
 much greater force, than any which has been described, 
 except the Noachian deluge, and it is therefore consider- 
 ed reasonable to attribute these effects to that cause. See 
 Deluge.
 
 TABULAR VIEW OF ROCKS, AC. 173 
 
 ALLUVION. 
 
 Alluvia, or Alluvial deposites, are such accumulations 
 of sand, mud, and soil, together with fragments of wood, 
 as are constantly forming at the present day, by the cur- 
 rents of rivers and brooks, or by the rain which falls on 
 hills and mountains. These are formed by causes now 
 constantly operating, and we have shown that considera- 
 ble changes have been wrought on the earth by such 
 causes. 
 
 We have now given a short account of each formation, 
 and species of rock which compose the great bulk of the 
 earth. There are, however, several rocks described in 
 more extended treatises on this subject which we have 
 omitted, and which occasionally form considerable hills, 
 or underlay certain districts of country. This deficiency, 
 with respect to names, will be supplied by the following 
 view of M. Boue's classification of rocks, corrected and ex- 
 tended by Dr. Ure, of Glasgow. This contains the names 
 of all the known members of each class, and by it the stu- 
 dent will be enabled to observe the synonymous terms, with 
 the classification we have employed. 
 
 TABULAR VIEW OF ROCKS AND MINERAL STRATA. 
 
 Class I. PRIMITIVE OR INFERIOR Concomitants. 
 ROCKS. 
 
 Order I. Gneiss. Granite, 
 
 Hornblende rocks. 
 Limestone, 
 Quartz-rock, 
 Gypsum. 
 
 Order II. Mica-Slate. Mica-slate, 
 
 Porphyry. 
 
 Order III. Clay Slate. Talc-slate, 
 
 Chlorite-slate, 
 Gneiss, 
 Whet-slate, 
 Alum-slate, 
 15*
 
 174 TABULAR VIEW OF ROCKS, AC. 
 
 Dolomite, 
 Gypsum. 
 
 Class II. TRANSITION OR SUPER- 
 MEDIAL ROCKS. 
 
 Order I. Graywacke. Conglomerate, 
 
 Clay-slate, 
 Flinty-slate, 
 Alum-slate, 
 Limestone, 
 Dolomite. 
 
 Class III. MEDIAL OR CARBONI- 
 FEROUS ROCKS. 
 
 Order I. Old Red Sandstone. 
 
 II. Mountain Lime- 
 stone. 
 
 III. Millstone grit. 
 
 IV. Coal Strata. Coal Sandstone, 
 
 Slaty-clay, 
 Bituminous Shale, 
 Coal, 
 
 Carbonate of Iron, 
 Calcareous Marl, 
 Compact Limestone. 
 
 ClaSS IV. SUBMEDIAL OR SECOND- 
 ARY ROCKS. 
 
 Order L New Red Sandstone. 
 
 Order II. Magnesian Lime- Bituminous Marl- 
 stone. slate. 
 
 Copper Slate, with 
 
 Flints, 
 Breccia-like Gypsum.
 
 TABULAR VIEW OF ROCKS, *C. 175 
 
 Order III. Red Marl. Gypsum and Salt, 
 
 Variegated sandstone. 
 
 Order IV. Shell Limestone, In Germany called 
 or second flat Muschelkalk, said 
 Limestone, to be wanting in 
 
 England. 
 
 Order V. Third flat Lime- Argillaceous beds, 
 stone, or Jura Lias of England, 
 Limestone. Oolite, or calcareous 
 
 Freestone, 
 Marls. 
 
 Order VI. Iron Sand and Chlorite Chalk. 
 Green Sand. 
 
 Order VII. Chalk. Chalk Marl, 
 
 Chalk with flints. 
 
 Class V. SUPERIOR OR TERTIARY 
 ROCKS. 
 
 Order I. London, Paris, and Plastic Clay, 
 Isle of Wight ba- Clay-marl, 
 sins. Sand, lignite, and salt 
 
 water shells. 
 
 Order II. First Tertiary Blue London Clay, 
 Limestone. Chloritic Limestone. 
 
 Order III. First Local brack- Marls, 
 
 ish water deposite. Gypsum. 
 
 Order IV. Second Tertiary Marls, 
 
 Limestone. Burh-stones of Parii 
 
 basin, and Isle of 
 Wight. 
 
 Class VI. VOLCANIC PRODUCTS.
 
 176 COMPARATIVE AGES OF ROCKS. 
 
 Order I. Basaltic Rocks. Basalt, 
 
 Greenstone, 
 Porphyry. 
 
 Order IL Lava. Lava, 
 
 Pumice. 
 
 It will be observed in this classification, that the same 
 formation or kind of rock sometimes occurs more than 
 once, or is arranged under several different classes or or- 
 ders. Thus limestone is sometimes primitive, at others, 
 transition, secondary, or tertiary; and clay-slate and sand- 
 stone are sometimes associated with one formation, and 
 sometimes with another. When, therefore, a rock, under 
 the same name, is supposed, by its associations, to have 
 been formed at different periods, it is classed severally with 
 those of its own age. Thus limestone is of all ages, and 
 consequently belongs to all the classes, except the volcanic. 
 The same is more or less the case with sandstone and clay- 
 slate, and several others. 
 
 COMPARATIVE AGES OF ROCKS. 
 
 We have already noticed, under the descriptions of the 
 different formations, their relative ages, but a recapitulation 
 is required in order to bring this subject distinctly before 
 the reader. . 
 
 It requires no arguments to show that the lowest forma- 
 tions must be the oldest, since these must have been depos- 
 ited before those which lie above, or upon them. It is true 
 that a mountain of granite, when shaken, or uplifted by an 
 earthquake, may fall and spread its ruins on the plain be- 
 low, but such an occurrence would readily be detected, 
 since the situation of its fragments would show that this 
 was not an original and undisturbed formation. 
 
 Granite and its associates, besides being placed lowest 
 in the order of position, are, as we have already seen, en- 
 tirely destitute of organic remains. It ought, however, to 
 be noticed that Dr. Macculloch, in a single instance, in 
 one of the Hebrides, observed gneiss overlaying a bed of 
 limestone, which contained bivalve shells. But the ex-
 
 COMPARATIVE AGES OF ROCKS. 177 
 
 treme contortions of the gneiss, on that island, are suffi- 
 cient to show that a bed, really superior in its general po- 
 sition, may appear to be inferior at some particular points 
 Fig. 21. Thus let a a a, fig. 2 1 , 
 
 be the contorted sub- 
 stratum of gneiss, and 
 b, c, d, e, a superior 
 and incumbent bed of 
 organic limestone, 
 following its flexures. 
 j Now it is clear, that 
 if these beds be visi- 
 ble only at the point d, the limestone will appear to be be- 
 low the gneiss, though the error would readily be correct- 
 ed by an examination at any other point. 
 
 Such apparent exceptions do not, however, affect the 
 general fact, for nothing in geology is more clearly estab- 
 lished, than that granite, and its associates, lie below all 
 other rocks, and hence must be older than any of their 
 super-strata. 
 
 The transition rocks come next to granite, with respect 
 to position, and, consequently, with respect to antiquity. 
 In these, organic remains begin to occur, as plants and 
 shells. 
 
 Next to these are the lower, and then the upper second- 
 ary rocks. In these are found fossil relics in great quan- 
 tities, as shells, fish, and some of the amphibious tribes. 
 
 Above the secondary come the tertiary strata, and in 
 these formations, are found the bones of quadrupeds of ex- 
 tinct species. 
 
 Volcanic products are both of ancient and modern date. 
 Diluvial deposites are supposed to be of no greater an- 
 tiquity than the Noachian deluge, having been formed en- 
 tirely by that catastrophe. In these, the remains of huge 
 quadrupeds, as the elephant, mastodon, and rhinoceros, are 
 found. 
 
 Alluvial products are the most recent in the order of 
 strata ; being, like volcanic products, constantly forming. 
 
 STRATA AND STRATIFICATION. 
 
 Most secondary, and several primitive rocks, are com- 
 posed of layers, or portions, resting one above another,
 
 178 STRATA AND STRATIFICATION. 
 
 with seams between them. These portions, or layers, ar<s 
 called strata, and formations of this kind are. called strat- 
 ified. In general, such rocks are fissile, and may be divi- 
 ded into flat tables, or layers, in the direction of their strata. 
 These rocks have apparently been formed by gradual de- 
 positions from water, accumulated one upon the other. 
 Unstratified rocks show no signs of such gradual accumu- 
 lation ; they present no lines of stratification, nor are they 
 fissile in one direction more than in another; such are 
 granite, greenstone, and basalt. 
 
 Strata are said to 
 
 Fl S- * be horizontal, when 
 
 tfl ey coincide with 
 the direction of the 
 horizon, or have lit- 
 
 as represented by fig. 22. It is very rare, however, that 
 such strata are found, except among the most recent de- 
 posites, the secondary or tertiary strata, in nearly every in- 
 stance being more or less inclined. 
 
 Dip. The inclination of strata from a horizontal posi- 
 tion is called their dip, the amount of the dip being the 
 quantity of the angle, which the line of inclination makes 
 with that of the horizon. This is represented by fig. 23. 
 Fig. 23. If the angle made 
 
 by the meeting of 
 
 * /^^**^^ the lines of the 
 
 strata, b b, and the 
 -a horizontal line a, be 
 equal to 45 towards the east, then the strata are said to 
 dip 45 in that direction. 
 
 Outcrop. When strata protrude above the surface, or 
 are uncovered, as on the side of a hill, so as to be seen, 
 they are said to crop out. The uncovered ends of the 
 strata commonly rise above each other, like stairs, or, as 
 Mr. Bakewell has it, like a number of slices of bread and 
 butter, laid inclined on a plate. In fig. 23, the outcrop of 
 strata is represented at b b. Outcrop is a matter of much 
 importance to geologists and practical miners, since the 
 upper, as well as the under, strata may be observed at these 
 points ; and thus, without excavations or borings, not only 
 the dip can be ascertained, but also the different kinds of 
 rock with which a country is underlaid.
 
 STRATA AND STRATIFICATION. 179 
 
 Outlier. Strata are said to form outliers, when they 
 constitute a portion of country detached from the main 
 mass of the same bed of 
 which they evidently once 
 formed a part. Thus the 
 hed b, fig. 24, on the top 
 of the hill, is an outlier of 
 'the main stratum a, the 
 intervening valley being scooped out, either by the general 
 deluge, or some other means. The kind, and thickness, 
 as well as the range of the intercepted strata, are sufficient 
 to prove that they were once continuous. 
 
 Escarpment. Strata are said to terminate in an escarp- 
 ment, when they end abruptly, as at a b, fig. 24. 
 
 Mural precipice. Mural signifies wall-like, and rocks 
 are said to form such precipices, when they present naked, 
 and nearly perpendicular faces. 
 
 (Conformable position. Strata are said to be conforma- 
 ble, when their gene- 
 
 Fig ' ^ rai planes are parallel, 
 
 whatever their dip may 
 be. Fig. 25, a a, repre- 
 sents conformable stra- 
 ta, as shown by their 
 parallel planes. 
 
 Unconformable Strata. When a series of upper strata, 
 rest on a lower formation, without any conformity to the 
 position of the latter, the upper series is called unconform- 
 able, as represented at b b, fig. 25. 
 
 Fault. This is such a dislocation of the strata, that not 
 only their continuity is destroyed, but the series of beds on 
 one or both sides of the fractures, are forced out of their 
 original positions, so that it often happens in mining for 
 coal, the workmen suddenly come to the apparent termina- 
 tion of the vein by a wall of rock. 
 
 Dyke. This is a wall of rock interposed between the 
 two sides, or ends of a dislocation, and in consequence of 
 which, the continuity of the beds or strata are interrupted.
 
 180 DYKES. 
 
 If we suppose that the dyke was once fused matter, forced 
 tip from beneath, and that on one of its sides the strata 
 were elevated, or on the other depressed by a subterranean 
 convulsion.it would account for the phenomena both of the 
 fault and the dyke. 
 
 Fjo . 2g Fig. 26 will make this 
 
 understood, a a, represents 
 the fault, and b the dyke. 
 The coal strata a, termin- 
 ates at the dyke on both 
 sides; but on "the one side 
 it is raised, and on the other 
 sunk down. When there- 
 fore the workmen search on the opposite side of the dyke, 
 for the coal vein, they find instead of coal, perhaps sand- 
 stone or clay, and thus for a time, the work of the mine 
 is entirely suspended, the coal being lost. In attempting 
 to regain the vein, the first question to be determined is, 
 whether it has been thrown up, or cast down on the other 
 side of the dyke; and this in general, is readily decided 
 by the position of the dyke, or its inclination with res- 
 pect to the fault. For experience has shown, that if the 
 dyke makes an acute angle with the upper surface of the 
 coal vein, the strata are elevated on that side, while if the 
 angle is obtuse, they are thrown down, as represented by 
 fig. 26. 
 
 In some coal fields, the strata are raised or depressed 
 on one side of the dyke, to the extent of four or five hun- 
 dred feet. 
 
 Dykes which intercept coal strata are most frequently 
 composed of basalt, but sometimes of indurated clay. 
 They are, in thickness, from a few inches to fifty or sixty 
 feet, and in a few instances are three hundred feet thick. 
 Dykes are seldom noticed except in mining districts, 
 where they excite much interest in consequence of the dis- 
 turbances they occasion to coal veins. Their extent there- 
 fore is generally quite uncertain, though in some instances 
 they are known to traverse large sections of country. 
 
 Dykes being generally impervious to water, they ob- 
 struct its passage along the porous strata, and occasion it 
 to rise towards the surface; hence it frequently happens 
 that numerous springs make their appearance along the 
 course of a dyke, which is entirely under ground, and by 
 which alone its existence is indicated.
 
 SLATY STRtiCTURt. 181 
 
 Slaty Structure. Professor Sedgwick has made some 
 curious and important observations on the difference be' 
 tween the planes of stratification and those of cleavage, as 
 applicable particularly to the roofing-slate of Wales. 
 
 In mica-slate, the cleavage is in the direction of the 
 strata of deposition, whether the layers are curved or not, 
 and the same is the case with common clay-slate, and in 
 depositions of clay which are separable in layers. In 
 beds of roof-slate the case is quite different, the cleavage 
 being not in the direction of the strata, but in general, 
 obliquely across them. The strata are seldom or never 
 either horizontal or straight, but contorted, bent, or 
 waved, and are often far from being parallel with each 
 other. 
 
 Fig. 27. 
 
 Professor Sedgwick gives the diagram, fig. 27, in illus- 
 tration of this subject, and remarks, "that the contortions 
 of slate rocks are phenomena quite different from clea- 
 vage, and the curves presented by such formations are the 
 true lines of disturbed strata." The contorted lines run- 
 ning lengthwise the diagram, are the true strata, while 
 those crossing these in nearly a vertical direction, and 
 preserving almost a geometrical parallelism, are the lines 
 of cleavage. A region of more than thirty miles in length, 
 and eight or ten in breadth, exhibits this structure on a 
 magnificent scale. Many of the contorted strata are of a 
 coarse mechanical structure; but subordinate to them are 
 fine crystalline, chloritic slates. But the coarser beds and 
 the finer, the twisted and the straight, have all been sub- 
 jected to one change. Crystalline forces have re-arranged 
 whole mountain masses of them, producing a beautiful 
 crystalline cleavage, passing alike through all the strata ; 
 and through all this region, whatever may be the contor- 
 tions, the planes of cleavage pass on, generally without 
 deviation, running in parallel lines from one end to the 
 other. 
 
 " Without considering the crystalline flakes along the 
 planes of cleavage, which prove that crystalline action 
 16
 
 182 FORM OF COAL BEDS. 
 
 has modified the whole mass, we may affirm, that no re- 
 treat of parts, no contraction in dimensions, in passing to 
 a solid slate, can explain such phenomena as these. They 
 appear to me only resolvable on the supposition, that 
 crystalline, or polar forces, acted on the whole mass sim- 
 ultaneously, in giving directions, and with adequate 
 power." 
 
 There is no subject, within the range of geology, of 
 more importance than the natural history of coal, since 
 the inhabitants of some countries are almost entirely de- 
 pendent on its existence and quantity, for the comforts 
 they enjoy during the cold season. 
 
 We have already described this mineral, and given 
 some account of its manner of existence, when treating of 
 rocks and formations generally. It remains here to give 
 a more general and extended account of this important 
 article, and to point out its indications, origin, associa- 
 tions, &c. 
 
 Form of Coal Reds. Nearly all coal formations are 
 basin-shaped, or in that form, as before stated, which 
 would arise from a deposition of strata in lakes, or ponds, 
 of various depths. Mr. Bakewell compares the shape to 
 that of a muscle shell. " The position of coal strata," 
 says he, " in many coal fields, may be represented by a 
 series of fresh water muscle shells, decreasing in size, laid 
 within each other, but separated by a thin paste of clay. 
 If one side of the shell be raised, it will represent the 
 general rise of the strata in that direction, and if the 
 whole series be dislocated by partial cracks, raising one 
 part a little, and depressing the other, to represent faults 
 in the coal, it will give a better idea of the coal field than 
 any description can convey." 
 
 " We are here to suppose that each shell represents a 
 stratum of coal, and the partitions of clay, the earthy stra- 
 ta by which they are separated. The outer or lower 
 shell, represents the lowest bed of coal, which may be 
 many miles in extent. Now if a much larger shell be filled 
 with sand, and th-e lower shell pressed into it, we may
 
 SEARCHING FOR COAL. 183 
 
 consider the large shell to represent limestone, and the 
 sand, grit stone; we shall have a model of the coal strata 
 in many parts of England, and their situation over the 
 metaliferous lime, with the beds of sandstone by which 
 they are separated from it." Geology, p. 117. 
 
 Searching for Coal Inmost instances, the inclination, 
 or bending of coal strata, is such that the veins rise nearly 
 to the surface, and would be visible, were they not cover- 
 ed by the soil or gravel. When this is the case, the re- 
 moval of the soil by rivulets, or the accidental slide of a 
 side hill will uncover the strata, so that their dip and 
 thickness can be determined. This is considered a very 
 fortunate circumstance, because the boring for coal, with- 
 out some such indications that it exists in greater or less 
 quantities, even in coal districts, is a very uncertain means 
 of its discovery. Sometimes borings to great depths 
 have been made in the immediate vicinity of large coal 
 fields, without producing any greater conviction of the 
 existence of the mineral, than the surface 1 before indi- 
 cated. 
 
 Fig. 28. The cause of this will be seen 
 
 by fig. 28, where suppose 1 is 
 the coal vein, and 2 a stratum of 
 sandstone, below which is lime- 
 stone, and that the basin is filled 
 to the surface with slate, clay, &c. 
 Now, on boring at 2, it is evident 
 that nothing but sandstone and limestone would be found, 
 though it might be within a few feet of the coal vein, 
 while had the examination happened to have been made 
 at 1, coal would have been found within a few feet of the 
 surface. 
 
 Where a coal stratum comes to the surface, it is gener- 
 ally in a decomposed state, and so mixed with the earth 
 as to present no other appearance of coal than a darker 
 color, when compared with the surrounding soil. Hence 
 the real quality of the coal cannot be determined until it 
 is taken from below the influence of the weather, and, in 
 general, its quality improves as it sinks deeper into the 
 earth. 
 
 In examinations for coal, the dip and direction of the 
 strata in the vicinity, when known, should be carefully 
 observed ; for if the dip is towards the estate on which the
 
 IS4 INDICATIONS OF COAL. 
 
 trial is to be made, it is probable that the coal may extend 
 under it; but if the dip is in the contrary direction, the 
 search ought not to be undertaken, since experience has 
 shown that it would be useless. 
 
 Fig. 29. 
 
 2 _* 4 
 
 The reason will be understood by fig. 29, where 123 
 4, are a series of eoal strata, dipping towards b. The u- 
 eonformable strata c e, are sandstone, lying over the coal. 
 Now, suppose the coal vein 4, makes an outcrop at that 
 point, on the estate of A, adjoining the estate of B, which 
 lies towards 5, then it is apparent that A would find only a 
 
 n' it of the vein 4 on his estate, and that it would be use- 
 to search in the direction of d for coal, since the dip 
 of 4 is sufficient to prove that none exists there, unless, in- 
 deed, another coal field should be found. Whereas, on the 
 estate of B, though there might not exist an outcrop, still 
 the dip of that on the estate of A would make it highly 
 probable that B would find coal on his estate, though it 
 might be too deep for working. 
 
 We have observed, in another place, that coal has sel- 
 dom or never been found in hot climates. According to 
 Mr. Bakewell, this mineral has rarely been discovered be- 
 yond the latitudes of 35 and 65. It, however, exists in 
 the province of Canton, in about the 30th degree of lati- 
 tude. In this country, the great coal ranges appear to lie 
 between the latitudes of 40 and 45 Q . 
 
 Indications of Coal. Although it is not certain that coal 
 exists at any given place until it is actually found, still 
 there are indications which might perhaps warrant the ex- 
 pense of a search, by boring in districts where coal has- 
 never been discovered. These indications are various, and 
 to point them out requires much knowledge and experience 
 on this subject. 
 
 In England, Mr. Farey states, that the coal districts in- 
 cline to clay, and are generally of an inferior quality. 
 When laid down to pastures, small daisies and insignificant 
 weeds are more disposed to prevail than grass.
 
 STRATA WHICH INDICATE COAL. 185 
 
 In these districts, water is generally procured at incon- 
 siderable depths, and when the faults are numerous, springs 
 are common, and range in a line with the fault, for the 
 reason already explained. See Fault. 
 
 The face of the country where coal exists, is generally 
 undulating, the hiils being rounded and not mural or pre 
 cipitous, and the valleys gently sloping and not deep as 
 they are in granite formations. Sometimes, however, coal 
 is found in hills more than a thousand feet above the gen- 
 eral level of the country. 
 
 Strata which indicate Coal. In England and Wales, 
 coal generally reposes on a series of beds called millstone- 
 grit and shale. The millstone-grit is merely a coarse 
 grained sandstone, consisting of quartzose particles of va- 
 rious sizes, agglutinated by an argillaceous cement. This 
 differs from the sandstone that is found above and between 
 the coal strata, chiefly in its greater induration. 
 
 The shale is a dark colored slaty rock, which differs 
 little from the slate-clay beds found among coal. 
 
 In England, secondary limestone is often associated 
 with coal. This is called carboniferous limestone, be- 
 cause it is generally found in coal or carboniferous dis- 
 tricts. Red marl is also a common attendant on coal for- 
 mations, and indeed, is so common, that few coal shafts 
 are sunk without piercing through it. This is a kind of 
 sandstone cemented with clay and colored with iron. Mr. 
 Bakewell suoposes that it has been formed by the decom- 
 position or disintegration of trap, greenstone and granu- 
 lar quartz. Coal is also accompanied with thin strata of 
 what the English call iron-stone. This is a dark brown 
 or gray stone, of an earthy appearance, but of great spe- 
 cific gravity, being about three times the weight of an 
 equal bulk of water. This stone is smelted for iron, and 
 yields about thirty per cent. Another attendant on coal 
 is that kind of limestone, in Enghnd, called lias. This 
 name is said to be a corruption of the word, layers, pro- 
 bably because the strata of this rock are generally very 
 regular and flat. The finer kinds of lias answer for litho- 
 graphic stones. This rock alternates with lias clay, the 
 whole formation sometimes being several hundred feet in 
 thickness. This clay is highly impregnated with bitu- 
 men, and contains much sulphuret of iron, so that when 
 16*
 
 186 
 
 STRATA WHICH INDICATE COAL. 
 
 once ignited it will continue to burn until the sulphur and 
 bitumen are consumed. Several other minerals are found 
 in coal beds, in greater or less quantities, in the English 
 mines, but those enumerated are the most common. 
 
 The annexed diagram, fig. 30, showing the different 
 strata as they occur in a coal field near Mamsbury, will 
 illustrate the manner in which most of these minerals are 
 placed with respect to each other. 
 
 Pig. 30. 
 
 The lowest stratum, or that on which the others are 
 placed, as within a dish, and which also rises the highest, 
 marked 1, is Old red sandstone. 2, Carboniferous lime- 
 stone. 3, Millstone-grit. 4 4, Coal seams. 5, Coarse 
 sandstone. 6 6, Red marl, or new red sandstone. 7, Lias. 
 8, Oolite. 
 
 In this country, although several of the strata occurring 
 with European coal are wanting, still it is found to be as- 
 sociated with minerals of the same general characters. 
 In Virginia, the strata which cover the coal are sand- 
 stone and clay-slate, the latter often exhibiting vegetable 
 impressions. The coal mines of Ohio, are situated among 
 strata of limestone, sandstone and clay-slate. 
 
 The following section and description is from Dr. Hil- 
 dreth's valuable communication on the coal deposites of 
 the valley of the Ohio, contained in Silliman's Journal for 
 Nov. 1835. 
 
 Dr. Hildreth's paper not only relates to the Geology, 
 but also to the Topography, and Geography of the Ohio, 
 Valley. It is illustrated with a map, several views, and 
 many wood cuts delineating organic remains, and is among 
 the most valuable and interesting communications on these 
 ubjects ever made to the American public.
 
 BITUMINOUS SHALE. 
 
 187 
 
 Section of the Coal strata at the Salines on Kenawha 
 River, Ohio. 
 
 The strata beginning at the deepest are as follow: 
 
 ft. |fi 
 
 \.Sandstone. Sixty feet thick. 
 
 2. Coal. Six feet thick. It is bituminous and is exten- 
 sively worked for several hundred feet under the hills. 
 
 3. Bituminous Shale, and slaty shale, forty feet thick. 
 This, both slate and shale, is filled with extinct species of 
 plants. Every layer not more than the fourth, or the 
 eighth of an inch thick, when separated, displays fresh
 
 188 SILICIOUS SANDSTONE. 
 
 impressions of a variety of species, delineated on the face 
 of the slate with the most exquisite beauty and perfection. 
 Four or five species of the Palm tree, as many of Calam- 
 ites, and several Equisetae, are among the number. 
 
 4. A thin bed of coal, twenty inches in thickness, rest- 
 ing on the shale and clay-slate. This is not worked. 
 
 5. Argillaceous sandstone rock, the upper stratified in 
 thin beds, the lower in beds of fifteen or twenty feet in 
 thickness. This bed is about 200 feet thick, and splits 
 easily into building stones, for which it is much employed. 
 It is a vast magazine of fossil plants. 
 
 6. Bituminous Coal. This bed is four feet thick, and is 
 extensively worked. 
 
 7. Silicious Sandstone. The grains are coarse, and 
 sharp, and the bed reposes on the coal without any inter- 
 vening slate, or shale. 150 feet thick. 
 
 8. Bituminous Coal. The structure of this bed is slaty, 
 and in burning it melts, and runs together, obstructing the 
 current of air necessary to combustion, a fact noticed as 
 being common to all the upper beds of coal deposites. 
 This bed is four feet thick, and the slate or shale on which 
 it rests contains many impressions of plants, chiefly of the 
 arundinaceous and culmiferous tribes. 
 
 9. Silicious Slate, or lydian stone ; color nearly black, 
 and in strata from two to eight inches in thickness. The 
 bed is six feet thick, and is so hard as not to be impressed 
 with the best tempered steel instruments. The Abori- 
 gines manufactured this kind of stone into arrow heads and 
 knives. This deposite has been traced more than forty 
 miles. 
 
 10. Argillaceous iron ore, in nodules from three to six 
 inches in diameter, imbedded in argillaceous, yellowish 
 marl. Eight inches thick. 
 
 11. Silicious sandstone ; color yellowish, grain coarse, 
 with feeble cohesion. At this place this bed is eighty feet 
 thick, but in other places it has a thickness of 150 feet. It
 
 ORIGIN OF COAL. 189 
 
 contains a vast number of fossil trees. The wood has 
 been replaced with silicious matter tinged with iron. 
 Sometimes whole trees, with their roots and branches, 
 have been found. 
 
 Very few fossil shells, or animal remains of any kind, 
 have been found in the Kenawha Valley. 
 
 It is intended that our descriptions and remarks, thus 
 far, should apply entirely to the several kinds of coal call- 
 ed bituminous, and which burn with more or less blaze. 
 These kinds, known under the names, Cannel coal, Slaty 
 coal, Coarse coal, &c., are found only among secondary 
 rocks, and it would be a useless expenditure of time and 
 money, to search for them in any other situations. Dr. 
 Macculloch thinks that bituminous coal does not exist be- 
 low the old red sandstone formations. 
 
 Anthracite. This name, which is derived from the 
 Greek, signifies, merely, carbon or coal. It is called, in 
 England, stone coal, and in Scotland, blind coal In this 
 country, where there are many extensive localities, it is 
 distinguished by the names of the places whence it comes, 
 as, Lehigh coal, Lackawana coal,Peach Orchard coal,&c. 
 
 Anthracite has been found in small quantities only, in 
 any part of Europe, but in this country it appears to exist 
 in great abundance, and within the last ten years, has 
 come into such general use, as an article of fuel, as in a 
 good degree to supersede the use of wood for the warming 
 of dwellings, in most of the sea-coast towns of the North- 
 ern States. These supplies come chiefly from Pennsyl- 
 vania and New York, though this coal exists also in Mas- 
 sachusetts and Rhode Island. 
 
 Anthracite is found among primitive and transition 
 rocks, as mica-slate, clay-slate, and graywacke. 
 
 This mineral is distinguished from bituminous coal by 
 its greater lustre and weight ; by its hardness and con- 
 choidal fracture, and by its burning without smoke, or 
 blaze, or bituminous odor. 
 
 ORIGIN OF COAL. 
 
 It is now generally believed, by naturalists, 
 has originated from vegetables, though there i 
 
 that coal 
 are many
 
 190 ORIGIN OF COAL. 
 
 different opinions with respect to the modes in which the 
 vast quantities of woody matter, required for this purpose, 
 came together, and also with respect to the chemical chan- 
 ges which it underwent during its conversion into coal, as 
 well as the nature of the agent by which this was effected. 
 
 That coal originated from wood, appears to be proved 
 by the fact that at the present day, parts of trees are found 
 in a state of partial conversion into that substance. This 
 is called wood coal, or lignite, and in some countries, is 
 not an uncommon substance. 
 
 Near Cologne, in Italy, exists a great depository of this 
 fossil, which extends many leagues, and is fifty feet thick, 
 Its covering is a bed of gravel about twenty feet thick. 
 Here trunks of trees, partially converted into coal, are 
 common, and many of them are deprived of their branches, 
 which would seem to indicate that they had been trans- 
 ported from a distance. Nuts, which are indigenous 
 in Hindoostan and China, are found among this lig- 
 nite. 
 
 " In wood coal," says Mr. Bakewell, " we may almost 
 seize nature in the fact of making coal before the process 
 is complete. These formations are of a far more recent 
 date than that of common coal, though their origin must 
 be referred to a former condition of the globe, when the 
 vegetable productions of tropical climates flourished in 
 northern latitudes. The vegetable origin of common 
 mineral coal, appears to be established by its associations 
 with strata, abounding in vegetable impressions by ita 
 close similarity to wood coal, and lastly, by the decisive 
 fact, that some mineral coal, in the Dudley coal field, is 
 entirely composed of mineralized plants." 
 
 But though the vegetable origin of coal may be satis- 
 factorily established, there is considerable difficulty in 
 conceiving by what process, so many beds and seams of 
 coal have been regularly arranged over each other, in the 
 same place, and separated by strata of sandstone, shale, 
 and indurated clay. It will perhaps tend to simplify this 
 inquiry, if we examine a coal field of very limited extent, 
 such as those which occur in small coal basins, called 
 swilleys, and which are not more than one mile in length 
 and breadth. It seems evident that these basins have 
 once been small lakes or marshes, and that the strata hav 
 been deposited on the bottoms and sides, taking the con 
 cave form, which such depositions, under such circum
 
 OniGIN OF COAL. 191 
 
 stances, must assume ; and it is deserving of notice, that 
 the stratum of coal, which in one of these basins, is a 
 yard thick in the lowest part, gradually diminishes as it 
 approaches the edges, and then entirely vanishes. This 
 fact proves that the present basin-shaped position of the 
 strata, was their original one ; and that the basin, at the 
 period when the coal was deposited, was a detached lake 
 or marsh, and not a part of the bed of the sea. Geology, 
 p. 123. 
 
 It would seem from the above, as well as from other 
 facts stated by geologists, that coal strata were formed in 
 accumulations of water; but whether this was salt or 
 fresh, it is difficult to determine. The shells found in 
 some coal beds, according to the opinion of Mr. Cony- 
 beare, are those of salt water ; but, on the other hand, the 
 vegetable remains found in the same strau. are clearly 
 those of the land and not of the sea. But the difficulty of 
 distinguishing salt from fresh water shells, wheie the spe- 
 cies are extinct, is well known. And it is also ti ae, that 
 some shell-fish belonging to the ocean may gradually be 
 inured to brackish water, and, finally, to that which is en- 
 tirely fresh, and this, too, without any material change in 
 the form or thickness of their shells. Hence, any decision 
 of this kind, founded on the appearance of a few shells 
 merely, must always be extremely doubtful. 
 
 It would appear, from the account of Dr. Hildreth of 
 Marietta, Ohio, that beds of coal on the Muskingum river, 
 in that state, have either been formed in the ocean, or that 
 since their formation they have been submerged by salt 
 water. " The lime rocks here," says he, " abound in fossil 
 marine shells of the genera Productus, Terebratuloe, and 
 Spirifira, with Ammonites and chambered shells, indica- 
 ting that some of the coal deposites have been deeply sub- 
 merged under the salt water since their formation ; or that 
 the vegetable materials, composing the coal, had once 
 floated in an ocean, and were precipitated by an accumula- 
 tion of calcareous, argillaceous, and sedimentary materials, 
 collected on and about them while floating." 
 
 " Marine fossils," continues the author, "are found both 
 above and below the coal, and sometimes deposites contain- 
 ing fresh water shells are intermixed, although they are 
 not so common as they are nearer the Ohio river. Some 
 of these fresh water fossils bear a striking resemblance to 
 living species now found in our rivers.
 
 192 ORIGIN OF COAL. 
 
 " Through nearly all the coal region, we find many 
 proofs of the predominance both of fresh and salt water. 
 West of the coal deposites in Ohio, the fossil shells are 
 altogether marine, at least so far I have seen them, and 
 many of them belong to the supercretaceous, or tertiary 
 genera, and many are similar to those found in the same 
 formations in the southern States." Sillimaris Jour. Nov. 
 1835, p. 29. 
 
 The only analogy which the present state of things of- 
 fers to the manner in which coal was formed, is the filling 
 up of lakes and estuaries with vegetable matter. In these 
 situations we sometimes find series of strata, composed of 
 peat and submerged wood, alternating with those of sand, 
 clay, and gravel ; and, therefore, presenting the model of a 
 coal field. Of the quantity of vegetable matter required 
 to form a stratum of coal, we know nothing, but there is 
 reason to believe that the thickness of these strata bear but 
 a very small proportion to those of the plants of which 
 they were formed. 
 
 It is not difficult to conceive, however, that the earth 
 might have produced a quantity of vegetation, even within 
 the circuit of a few miles, sufficient to form a thick bed 
 of coal, though the thickness of this might bear only a 
 fractional proportion to that of the wood. Those who 
 have seen the pine forests of our western country, can, 
 perhaps, have some conception of the vast pile which a 
 single square mile of these trees would form, if thrown to- 
 gether. Now, if hundreds of square miles of such timber 
 were accumulated, we might suppose that there would be 
 a quantity sufficient to form a single bed of a large coal 
 formation. 
 
 The quantity of drift wood which descends the Missis- 
 sippi, in the course of a few years, might be supposed to 
 furnish ample matter for such a coal bed. According to 
 the estimate of Mr. Bringier, the quantity of timber which 
 drifted into the Achafalaya, an arm of the Mississippi, 
 during an overflow in 1812, amounted to 8000 cubic feet 
 per minute. The same writer states that the raft thus col- 
 lected at the mouth of the Red River, is sixty miles long, 
 and, in some parts, fifteen miles wide. On this, in some 
 places, cedars are collected by themselves, and in others, 
 pines. Silliman's Journal, vol. iii. p. 18. 
 
 Now, in case the bed of this stream should, at some 
 future time, be changed, so as to leave this immense raft
 
 ORIGIN OF COAL. 193 
 
 covered with the earth, generations to come, might here 
 discover one of the most extensive coal fields yet known. 
 
 Captain Basil Hall states, that on a tongue of land, 
 nearly opposite to the mouth of the Mississippi, and which 
 has extended many leagues since the building of New 
 Orleans, large rafts of drift wood are deposited every 
 year. These rafts are matted together into a net work, 
 many yards in thickness, and cover several hundred 
 square leagues of surface. Travels, vol. iii. p. 338. 
 
 These rafts afterwards become covered with mud from 
 the river, and sink down to the bottom ; and on this, the 
 next year is deposited another layer of trees, thus forming 
 alternate strata of wood and soil. 
 
 What analogy exists between the facts here stated, and 
 the circumstances which took place at the formation of 
 coal beds, it is impossible to determine. But with respect 
 to the manner in which vast quantities of woody matter 
 may be accumulated by the operation of natural causes, 
 there is certainly little difficulty ; and perhaps it is as 
 easy to believe that these accumulations took place in lakes, 
 or ponds, as at the mouths of rivers ; nor is it improbable 
 that coal might have been formed in both situations. 
 
 There is no doubt but all regular coal formations were 
 deposited before the general deluge, or at that period when 
 the temperature of the earth was much higher than at 
 present ; and therefore, when all plants, not only attained 
 a greater size, but grew much more rapidly than they do 
 now in temperate climates. Hence, if we suppose that 
 wintry torrents, or occasional inundations, denuded the 
 earth of her vegetation to a great extent, and swept it 
 into lakes or estuaries, there would be little difficulty in 
 imagining, that under such a climate, the earth would 
 soon be again prepared with her vegetation for a similar 
 sweep, and thus one stratum of coal after another would 
 be formed. During the intervals of these inundations, 
 the operation of ordinary causes as the flowing of rivers 
 into these lakes, would bring down from the mountains 
 the materials which have formed the clay and sandstone, 
 now interposed between the beds of coal, in a manner 
 similar to what is now taking place at the mouth of the 
 Mississippi. 
 
 With respect to the inundations which caused the an- 
 cient forests to descend from the hills to the valleys, and 
 to accumulate in lakes and estuaries, there is little difficul- 
 17
 
 194 ORIGIN OF COAL. 
 
 ty, since the same happens more or less at the present 
 day; and especially since geologists agree, that judging 
 from appearances, natural causes were infinitely more 
 powerful in their effects on the primeval earth, than they 
 have been since. 
 
 Perhaps this circumstance may be considered a sign of 
 that over-ruling Beneficence, which has ever been display- 
 ed towards man ; for then, if he existed at all, it must have 
 been only on a small portion of the globe. 
 
 That natural causes anciently operated with much 
 greater power than at present, is shown by the changes 
 which earthquakes produced on the globe, before the his- 
 torical era. The dislocations of strata, and the elevation 
 of mountains which were effected by this cause in ancient 
 times, have analogies only in miniature, at the present 
 day. Nor is it unreasonable to suppose, that corres- 
 ponding effects were produced by water, during similar 
 epochs. 
 
 It is, therefore, to such ancient torrents that we must 
 attribute these effects, and which, with awful devastation, 
 undermined the sides of hills, and floated the vegetation 
 into lakes and ponds ; or deposited it at the mouths of riv- 
 ers, there to undergo, in the lapse of time, those chemical 
 changes, by which wood is converted into coal ; and thus 
 to supply present and future ages with one of the absolute 
 necessities of life. 
 
 That both earthquakes which elevated and dislocated 
 strata, and inundations of great power, continued in oper- 
 ation after coal was formed, is evident by their effects, 
 which still exist. For, in many instances the strata of 
 coal fields are not only broken into faults, in the manner 
 already described, but they also, near the surface, show 
 the violent effects of water, a part of some beds being en- 
 tirely removed. 
 
 These circumstances are ascertained by the exact cor- 
 respondence of the strata, on both sides of valleys ; show- 
 ing that they were once continuous, and that the hills 
 have been formed by the removal of the strata between 
 them. 
 
 Sometimes strata are so separated, that the direction m 
 which they ranged, when entire, are completely changed; 
 the appearance being such as would be produced by a 
 violent upheaving, and consequent fracture of the whole 
 formation.
 
 AMERICAN COAL FIELDS. 195 
 
 Fig. 32. WO Fig. 32, represents an instance 
 which occurs at the Ashton coal 
 mine, in England, and where, after 
 j the dislocation in consequence of a 
 f subterranean force, a large portion 
 of the strata was removed by a tor- 
 rent of water. The strata on each side of the valley, ex- 
 actly correspond in kind and thickness, though widely 
 separated, a a, coal veins ; b b, millstone grit ; c c, lime- 
 stone. 
 
 Thus is it proved, that these changes took place after 
 the formation of coal fields. 
 
 American Coal Fields. With respect to the coal fields 
 in our own country, and especially of those beyond the 
 Alleghany mountains, the following information is taken 
 from a report made by J. L. Packer, Esq. before the Sen- 
 ate of Pennsylvania, in 1834. 
 
 The great secondary deposite, extending as is generally 
 believed, from the Hudson to the Mississippi, and to the 
 Rocky mountains, is in Pennsylvania, limited by the Al- 
 leghany mountains, which appear to form the barrier, or 
 dividing line between the anthracite and bituminous coal 
 beds, or between the transition and secondary formations. 
 
 The bituminous coal field is therefore confined to the 
 west side of the Alleghany, and is supposed to extend to 
 the centre of the mountain. These coal beds vary from 
 orre foot to twelve feet in thickness, but rarely exceed six 
 feet. They lie in nearly horizontal strata, there being 
 merely sufficient dip to free the mines from water. Some 
 mines contain three or four beds with alternate layers of 
 earth and slate between them. Faults are seldom met 
 with, and in this they differ from the anthracite, and go 
 far to confirm the opinion, that all this vast extent of 
 secondary rocks, was once the bottom of a vast lake or 
 sea, the surface of which suffered little change from the 
 discharge of its waters, which therefore must have run off 
 gradually. This great secondary region has been drain- 
 ed by the Mississippi, the St. Lawrence, the Susquehannah 
 and the Hudson. 
 
 It is a curious and interesting geographical fact, that 
 near the northern termination of this coal field, viz. in 
 Potter county, Pennsylvania, and within an area of about 
 five miles, take their rise the head waters of the Alle-
 
 196 AMERICAN COAL FIELDS. 
 
 ghany, the Susquehannah, the Qenesee, the Chesapeake 
 and the St. Lawrence rivers. With the exception of the 
 Susquehannah and its tributaries, discharging into the 
 Potomac, all the streams arising in the coal field west of 
 the Alleghanies flow into lakes, or into the Ohio river, 
 consequently the elevation of the ground is gradually de- 
 pressed in that direction, and, as is supposed, it becomes 
 too low to contain coal. 
 
 The northern boundary of the coal region appears to 
 be from the head waters of Towanda creek, in Bradford 
 county, across the counties of Potter, McKean, Warren, 
 and Venango, to the Ohio line. 
 
 A report on this region has lately been made by R. C. 
 Taylor, Esq , a practical engineer and geologist, for the 
 Blossburgh rail-road company, in which it is shown that 
 the coal runs out, as the streams decline towards the north. 
 The dip of the coal strata towards the west, is such as to 
 require towards the east an elevation of upwards of five 
 thousand feet, in order to include the coal measures at the 
 state line between New York and Pennsylvania, whereas 
 the hills there are probably less than six hundred feet in 
 altitude. 
 
 This calculation, says Mr. Taylor, is made for the pur- 
 pose of showing the futility of the expectation of tracing 
 these coal fields in a northerly direction, beyond the limits 
 at which they are discoverable. 
 
 This coal field being bounded on the south by the Al- 
 leghany mountain, extends into Virginia, and underlies 
 more or less all the western counties of Pennsylvania, 
 with the exception of Erie, in which it has not been dis- 
 covered. The counties of Bradford, Lycoming, Tioga, 
 Potter, McKean, Warren, Crawford, Bedford, and Centre, 
 lie partly in, and partly out of the coal field. The coun- 
 ties of Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Cambria, 
 Clearfield, Fayette, Green, Indiana, Jefferson, Mercer, 
 Somerset, Venango, Washington, and Westmoreland, are 
 wholly within its range, and embrace together an area of 
 twenty-one thousand square miles, or thirteen million, 
 four hundred and forty thousand acres. 
 
 Coal is mined to a greater or less extent, in all the 
 above counties, at the expense of one or two cents the 
 bushel, and is thus brought to every man's door. 
 
 That the abundance and cheapness of coal has given 
 birth to the vast, and widely extended manufacturing es-
 
 PEAT. 197 
 
 tablishments of the west, there can be no doubt. Pitts- 
 burgh and its environs contain ninety steam engines for the 
 various manufactures of iron, steel, glass, cotton, salt, brass, 
 white lead, flour, oil, leather, &c. These engines con- 
 sume annually 2,065,306 bushels of coal. The city of 
 Pittsburgh and its suburbs, Alleghany town. Birmingham, 
 fec., contain a population of 30,000 souls. The coal con- 
 sumed for every purpose in and about Pittsburgh, is esti- 
 mated at 7,665,000 bushels, or 255,500 tons ; which, at 
 four cents a bushel, the price now paid there, amounts to 
 the sum of 306,512 dollars. 
 
 Besides the coal used in the various manufactures of 
 Pittsburgh, vast quantities are consumed in the western 
 counties of the State, in the manufacture of common salt. 
 In these counties, there are already about ninety establish- 
 ments for this purpose, and which produce yearly about 
 1,000,000 bushels of salt, and consume 5,000,000 bushels 
 of coal. 
 
 It is found that the bituminous coal of Pennsylvania 
 produces coke equal to that of Great Britain, and is em- 
 ployed to a considerable extent by the manufacturers of 
 iron. 
 
 See Silliman's Journal, No. 59. This number is oc- 
 cupied by an account of the geology and mineral resour- 
 ces of the valley of the Ohio, which ought to be read by 
 every American. 
 
 Although peat is a substance entirely distinct from coal, 
 yet there exists considerable analogy between them. They 
 are both of vegetable origin j both are formed by natural 
 processes; their colors are similar; and when perfectly 
 formed, they neither of them present the least traces of 
 their origin; and, lastly, they are both dug out of the earth 
 and employed for fuel. 
 
 There is reason to believe that peat moors will ulti- 
 mately become coal beds. In all instances, peat appears 
 to have been formed since the present order of things on 
 the earth, or since the deluge ; while it seems to be equally 
 true, that coal was formed before that epoch. 
 
 Dr. Macculloch has shown that there is a connected 
 17*
 
 198 PBAT. 
 
 gradation from forest peat, that is, submerged wood, through 
 lignite, to perfect coal. " Lignite," says he, " presents no 
 difficulties, being derived from submerged wood, or forest 
 peat. I have shown that the deposites of this substance 
 [lignite] are of a far higher antiquity than any peat, and 
 thus the degrees of bituminization may be accounted for, 
 though there may be many other causes also still unknown 
 to us." 
 
 " If the contrast between peat and coal is far greater, 
 [than between peat and lignite,] the resemblances are too 
 striking to leave a doubt of the origin of the latter, from 
 beds of that substance. I have shown that all the geologi- 
 cal circumstances are similar, or identical in both ; the al- 
 luvial bed of one corresponding to the rocky strata of the 
 other, as do the deposites of organic substances ; while the 
 insulated condition of each class is also a striking point 
 of resemblance. The mechanical structures of peat and 
 coal often present sufficient analogies ; the resemblance of 
 forest peat to the latter, being often absolute in all but the 
 mineral character; as in both do similar organic remains 
 occur, and in a similar manner, while in both, also, they 
 are sometimes wanting." Geology, vol. ii. p. 357. 
 
 The same writer has shown that wood may be convert- 
 ed into a substance having all the chemical properties of 
 peat; then of lignite; and, lastly, of coal. The process 
 consists in subjecting the wood to heat and moisture in a 
 close vessel, so that none of the gases may escape. He 
 does not, however, suppose that coal has been subjected to 
 a high temperature during the progress of its formation, 
 but, if we understand him, (for of all late writers he is the 
 most obscure,) he believes that the pressure of the incum- 
 bent strata, together with fermentation, and above all, time, 
 has converted wood into coal. 
 
 It has been supposed that peat had the property of pre- 
 serving animal matter from, decay, and the following ac- 
 count, written by Dr. Balguy, and published in the Lon. 
 Phil. Trans, for 1734, seems to verify such an opinion. 
 
 " On the 14th of Jan. 1675, as ;i farmer and his maid ser- 
 vant were crossing the peat moors, near Castleton, in Der- 
 byshire, they were overtaken by a great fall of snow, and 
 both perished; their bodies were not found until the 3d of 
 May, in the same year, and were then in such a state, that 
 the coroner ordered them to be buried on the spot in the 
 peat. Here they lay twenty-eight years and nine months
 
 PEAT. 199 
 
 when the curiosity of some countrymen, (probably having 
 heard that peat would preserve dead bodies,) induced 
 them to open these graves. The bodies appeared quite 
 fresh, the skin was fair, though somewhat darker than 
 natural, and the flesh as soft as that of persons newly dead. 
 These bodies were afterwards frequently exposed as cu- 
 riosities, until the year 1716, forty-one years after their 
 deaths, when they were buried by order of the farmer's 
 descendants. At that time, Dr. Bourne, of Chesterfield, 
 who examined these bodies, says that the man was per- 
 fect ; his beard was strong, his hair short, and his skin 
 hard, and of a tanned leather color, like the liquor in 
 which he had lain. The body of the woman was injured, 
 having been more frequently exposed, but the hair was 
 like that of a living person. 
 
 In the beginning of the last century, the perfect body 
 of a man dressed in the ancient Saxon costume, was dis- 
 covered in a peat bed at Hatfield chase, in Yorkshire, but 
 it soon perished on exposure to the air. BakewelFs Geol. 
 
 In 1747, the body of a woman was found six feet deep, 
 in a peat moor in Lincolnshire. The antique sandals on 
 her feet afforded evidence of her having been buried there 
 for many ages, and yet her hair, nails, and skin, are de- 
 scribed as having shown hardly any nrtxrks of decay. 
 
 On the estate of the earl of Moira, in Ireland, a human 
 body was found a foot deep in gravel, covered with 
 eleven feet of moss. The body was completely clothed in 
 garments of hair. The great length of time it had been 
 interred, may be inferred from this circumstance, for it is 
 known, that before the use of wool, the inhabitants of 
 Britain made their clothing of hair, and yet this body was 
 fresh and unimpaired. 
 
 At the battle of Solway, in the time of Henry VIII, 
 (1542,) when the Scotch army was routed, an unfortunate 
 troop of horse were driven into the Solway morass, and 
 sinking down, the surface closed upon them. A tradition 
 of this catastrophe had always been kept alive by the peo- 
 ple of the neighborhood, and the place where it was sup- 
 posed to have happened, designated. This tradition has 
 now been authenticated, for a man and horse, in complete 
 armor, such as was worn in Henry's time, has been found 
 by the peat diggers, in the place where it was believed the 
 accident occurred. The skeleton of both man and horse 
 was well preserved, and the different parts of the armor 
 readily distinguished.
 
 200 ORIGIN AND PHENOMENA OF TRAP ROCKS. 
 
 These cases are from various authorities, but are well 
 authenticated. 
 
 Cause of the antisceptic property of Peat. This pro- 
 perty has been attributed to the carbonic and gallic acids 
 which are set free by the decaying of wood, and also to 
 the gums and resins which various plants contain. Others 
 have attributed this effect to the tannin which the peat 
 contains. It is most probable, however, that this property 
 is owing to the formation of pyroligenous acid, during the 
 decomposition of the vegetables. It is true that no known 
 process, except that of the destructive distillation of the 
 wood,- can form this acid by art, still it maybe conjectured, 
 that the natural destruction of the same organic substances 
 may produce the same effect. 
 
 ORIGIN AND PHENOMENA OF TRAP ROCKS. 
 
 It has already been stated, that the term trap, includes 
 a family of rocks of igneous origin, and that these are ba- 
 salt, porphyry, green-stone, and their associates. 
 
 Under what conditions the trap rocks were formed, it is 
 impossible to determine, there being no examples of such 
 formations at the present day. We know that fused mat- 
 ter, as it is thrown out of volcanoes, differs in most re- 
 spects from any of the varieties of trap ; nor do the ancient 
 lavas vary materially from those of the present day, a 
 proof that age does not convert lava into trap. The form 
 under which trap rocks exist, also seems to show, that 
 they could not have been produced under similar circum- 
 stances with the volcanic products of the present day. 
 
 Some geologists have supposed that trap was thrown 
 up under the sea, and that the pressure of the water has 
 been instrumental in causing the difference between it 
 and lava. But were this the case, it might be expected 
 that marine remains, as shells, would be common among 
 the fissures of these rocks. If it is supposed that these 
 have been converted into quicklime and washed away, 
 still such remains ought to exist on the strata over which 
 these rocks are found. 
 
 It is true that such cases do exist, but they are far from 
 being universal, or even common.
 
 ORIGIN AND PHENOMENA OF TRAP ROCKS. 201 
 
 If these rocks were thrown up into the open air in the 
 form of lava, and after the elevation of the land from the 
 sea, then we might inquire how the difference between 
 products having the same origin is to be accounted for, and 
 why trap has taken the form of precipitous mountains, 
 instead of being spread in comparatively thin sheets on the 
 surface, as lava is at the present day. It appears there- 
 fore, that these rocks were formed under circumstances 
 which it is difficult, or impossible satisfactorily to explain, 
 and on which this is not the place to speculate. 
 
 These rocks appear to be of all ages, between that of 
 granite, and those of secondary stratified formations, con- 
 taining organic remains. This is proved from the cir- 
 cumstance that trap is found above all the others, and 
 when it occurs below them, the phenomena prove that the 
 trappean matter has been forced between their strata from 
 beneath. (See Fig. 33.) 
 
 The igneous origin of trap, especially of basalt and 
 greenstone, is most directly proved by the fact, often ob- 
 served, that where they come into contact with the orig- 
 inal strata in their passage from beneath, the effects of heat 
 are always apparent on these strata. 
 
 When a dyke of basalt intersects a stratum of coal, the 
 coal, to the distance of several feet, or, sometimes even 
 yards, is deprived of its bitumen, or converted into coke. 
 Dr. Macculloch observed that the proximity of trap to shale, 
 (a kind of slate,) has the effect to convert it into a sub- 
 stance resembling basalt. But it is unnecessary to cite 
 further examples, since it may be stated in general terms, 
 that the effect of a basaltic dyke on the contiguous strata, 
 is precisely that which would have been produced, had the 
 matter of the dyke been at a red, or even at a white heat, 
 at the time of its protrusion. 
 
 But there are other circumstances which show that ba- 
 saltic dykes were formed in a fluid state, for when these 
 penetrate stratified formations, the matter of which they 
 are composed, sometimes insinuates itself between the stra- 
 ta from beneath, in a manner which would be impossible, 
 had it not been in that state. Dr. Macculloch, in his ac- 
 count of the Western Isles, gives a figure, in illustration 
 of such an instance, which is subjoined.
 
 202 ORIGIN AND PHENOMENA OF TRAP ROCKS. 
 Pig. 33. 
 
 The vertical lines a, fig. 33, represent the basalt partly 
 incumbent in the unconformable position, on the horizon- 
 tal strata c c. At b b, the basalt has forced up the sand- 
 stone, and passed between its strata, two of which it has 
 entirely separated from their fellows, forming between 
 them sheets of its own matter. 
 
 Dykes of basalt form angles with the horizon of every 
 quantity. Sometimes they are nearly or quite perpendi- 
 cular to the horizontal strata through which they pass. In 
 some instances a large vein is pierced by a smaller one, 
 which passing through its middle, divides it into two 
 parts. The adjoining cut from Dr. Ure, represents such 
 an instance. 
 
 Fig. 34. 
 
 Fig. 34, a a, represents the great basaltic dyke, passing 
 through calcareous sandstone, and b, a small vein of the 
 same matter, by which it is pierced through the line of its 
 axis. The latter is singularly undulated, somewhat like
 
 ORIGIN AND PHENOMENA OF TRAP ROCKS. 203 
 
 the zig-zag line of an electric shock passing through the 
 atmosphere. 
 
 Although, in most instances, the trap veins pass from 
 below, towards the surface, still there are instances where 
 they descend from the surface into fissures beneath. This 
 is among the more rare and remarkable phenomena which 
 this interesting rock exhibits. 
 
 This example occurs in the island of Sky, and is de- 
 scribed by Dr. Macculloch. The basaltic veins traverse 
 strata of sandstone, in a vertical direction, and parallel to 
 each other. Fig. 35. 
 
 Fig. 35. 
 
 They appear to descend from the mass on the surface, 
 and are so numerous, in some places, as nearly to equal, 
 taken collectively, the mass of rock through which they 
 pass. Sometimes six or eight veins occur within the space 
 of 150 feet, and their aggregate magnitude is apparently 
 sixty or seventy feet. Their average breadth is about ten 
 feet, though they vary from five to twenty feet. 
 
 It is certainly very difficult to account for the manner 
 in which nature performed this work. Were these veins 
 only an inch or two thick, we might suppose that the 
 melted trap ascended by the large middle vein, seen in 
 the drawing, and having fissured the sandstone by its 
 great heat, descended again by the apertures thus pro- 
 duced ; but the fissures are much too large for such a sup- 
 position. 
 
 It is supposed that every basaltic dyke terminates in a 
 mass of basalt below the surface, and, therefore, that ba-
 
 204 COLUMNAR BASALT. 
 
 saltic rocks, resting on the surface, are connected by the 
 dyke or fissure through which they were thrown up, with 
 that part of the mass Avhich still remains beneath the earth. 
 So that these dykes are necks passing through the crust 
 of the earth and connecting the two masses. Where dykes 
 do not reach the surface, of course they are only connected 
 with the lower masses. 
 
 Columnar Basalt, All the members of the trap family 
 occasionally assume the form of columns, more or less 
 perfect, but, in this respect, basalt excels the others. 
 
 These columns are formed by a natural division of the 
 whole mass of basalt in a vertical direction. They vary 
 in the number of their angles, from three to eleven or 
 twelve, the medium polygons having from five to seven 
 faces. These are often perfectly regular, the angles being 
 sharp and well defined, and the faces plain and smooth, as 
 represented by the annexed cut, fig. 36. 
 
 Fig. 36. I n most cases, when standing in their 
 
 original positions, their sides are in con- 
 tact, or. so little separated as barely to 
 admit the infiltration of carbonate of 
 lime ; a striking difference, as observed 
 by Dr. Macculloch, between them and 
 the irregular prisms, which result from 
 the cracking of dried clay, and showing that the nature 
 of the process by which these divisions are made, 
 (whether crystalline or not,) are entirely different from 
 each other. 
 
 The columns are sometimes continuous, at others joint- 
 ed, either obliquely or at right angles ; occasionally, also, 
 they are fissured without the appearance of regular 
 joints. 
 
 The appearance of a six-sided basaltic column, regu- 
 larly jointed, that is, consisting of short prisms laid on 
 each other, is represented by fig. 37. It is not common, 
 however, that the prisms are as regular, with respect to 
 length, as here represented, the joints being more com- 
 monly repeated at intervals, varying from a few inches to 
 several feet.
 
 COLUMNAR DA8ALT. 
 
 205 
 
 Pig. 38. 
 
 Fig. 37. In their lengths, these columns also dif- 
 
 fer exceedingly. In the island of Sky are 
 some which are 400 feet long, while others 
 are only an inch in length. In diameter 
 some are several feet, while others are less 
 than an inch. 
 
 In exposed situations the prismatic blocks 
 represented by fig. 37, lose their angles by 
 the action of the weather, and become glob- 
 ular, but still retain their columnar position 
 as shown by fig. 38. 
 
 It must not be understood that basaltic 
 columns preserve their vertical positions, 
 as usually represented by the drawings of 
 StafTa and the Giant's Causeway, these 
 beinpf rare instances, both with respect to 
 position and height. These columns are 
 placed in every manner, from the horizon- 
 tal to the vertical angle, though attracting 
 most attention in these latter cases, from 
 their resemblance to the efforts of architec- 
 ture. 
 
 Trap rocks often form mountains of con- 
 siderable height and sometimes spread over 
 large districts of country. The island of 
 Sky, on the western coast of Ireland, is one 
 continuous mass of erupted rock, fifty miles 
 long and twenty broad. With respect to 
 the elevation of trap mountains, the follow- 
 ing are examples. Tinto, in the district of 
 Clyde, is 2036 feet high. Benmore, in the 
 island of Mull, 3097. Salisbury Craig, 550, and Arthur's 
 Seat, 800 feet ; the two last near Edinburgh, 
 
 On this side of the Atlantic, Mount Holyoke in Massa- 
 chusetts is 830 feet above the Connecticut, and 900 feet 
 above the level of the sea. Mount Tom, on the opposite 
 side of the river is still more elevated, being nearly 1000 
 feet high. 
 
 In the valley of the Connecticut, the mural side of the 
 greenstone formations, is generally, and perhaps always 
 towards the west, in which direction the precipices are 
 often nearly perpendicular ; while towards the east, the 
 ascent is commonly quite gradual. Whether this fact has 
 18
 
 206 PROTRUSION OF GREENSTONE. 
 
 been observed of the greenstone of other countries, we do 
 not know. 
 
 Who can conceive of the mighty power which forced 
 these enormous masses from the bowels of the earth ; or 
 the awful scenery which was exhibited, when they were 
 poured forth in the form of red hot lava? for there is no 
 doubt but this was the manner of their production. 
 
 Fig. 39. 
 
 In most instances, basaltic and greenstone mountains 
 present the form of rounded outlines, with occasional pre- 
 cipices on one or more of their sides. 
 
 The configuration of the basaltic columns of StafFa, rep- 
 resented by fig. 39, is peculiarly striking on this account. 
 A part of the mountain has fallen down, in the form of 
 pillars of various dimensions, leaving the others standing 
 in fair view, and preserving a high mural face of great 
 elevation, composed entirely of columnar pieces, touching 
 each other. 
 
 The rounded form of the massive cap, which surmounts 
 these pillars, presents the outline common to basaltic hills. 
 
 Protrusion of Greenstone. Although greenstone strict- 
 ly belongs to the trap family, and passes by insensible de- 
 grees into basalt, still there have been detected but few in- 
 stances, where it has protruded through superincumbent 
 rocks so as to exhibit the fact to the eye of the geologist. 
 The diagram fig. 40, from Prof. Hitchcock's Geology of 
 Massachusetts, shows such a case.
 
 MINERAL VEINS. 207 * 
 
 Fig. 40. 
 
 " The protrusion," says Prof. H., " of the unstratified 
 rocks through the stratified ones, by internal igneous 
 agency, now admitted by most geologists, has led obser- 
 vers to examine carefully for evidences of mechanical dis- 
 turbance, near the line of contact. They have, 1 believe, 
 found less proof of such disturbance by the intrusion of 
 greenstone, than in the case of the older rocks, as sienite 
 and granite. Every such case, therefore, deserves to be 
 noticed. If I mistake not, the following sketch of a vein 
 of greenstone in argillaceous slate, is an example of this 
 sort. The dyke is about ten feet thick, and the general 
 dip of the layers of slate in the quarry, is about 30 south- 
 east. But as shown in the figure, near the greenstone it 
 is considerably curved upwards in the contrary direction. 
 The quarry, where the example occurs, is about half a 
 mile north of the powder house in Charlestown." 
 
 MINERAL VEINS. 
 
 Metallic veins appear originally to have been fissures, 
 often passing through different beds of rock, and which 
 were subsequently filled with metallic ores. These veins 
 must therefore be considered as subsequent formations to 
 the rocks through which they pass. When, however, a 
 vein is found in only one bed of rock, the vein may have 
 been formed and filled at the time when the rock was con- 
 solidated. 
 
 When mineral veins occur in considerable numbers in 
 any tract of country, they maintain a general parallelism, 
 as if all the fissures to which they owe their origin, had 
 been formed at the same time, by some common cause. 
 
 The absolute antiquity of veins cannot be conjectured,
 
 208 MINERAL VEINS. 
 
 but where one vein intersects another, as is often the case, 
 the dislocation of the strata, through which the oldest 
 vein passes, by the contact of the new one, is sufficient to 
 show a difference in their ages. 
 
 Veins exist in primitive, transition, and secondary rocks, 
 but are most common in the former. The substances 
 most commonly found in them, are the metals, quartz, cal- 
 careous spar, barytes, and Derbyshire spar. It hardly 
 need be remarked, that the chief object in pursuing veins, 
 is the metals which they contain. 
 
 With respect to the depth of metallic veins, nothing but 
 conjecture can be offered. The miners believe that they 
 reach quite through the earth, but this opinion has no 
 other foundation than that they never find their termina- 
 tion. Indeed, it is believed, that no instance has been re- 
 corded, where the end of a metallic vein has been found. 
 They, however, often grow too poor to pay the expense 
 of working ; and the difficulty of clearing deep mines of 
 the water, is a frequent reason why they are relinquished 
 when they would pay a good profit, were they near the 
 surface. Veins are seldom rich near the surface; but 
 increase in value at a medium depth, and grow poor again 
 at a greater. 
 
 Metallic veins often change their metals at different 
 depths. In France, there are veins which contain iron 
 above, then silver, and below the silver, copper ; and one 
 of the Cornwall mines contains zinc, in the upper part of 
 the veins, which becomes rich in copper at a greater depth. 
 Veins often change their dimensions also, being narrow 
 in some parts, and wide in others. Thus the Dalcoath 
 mine of Cornwall, varies from forty feet, to six inches in 
 width. 
 
 It is a curious circumstance, that where a vein is inter- 
 sected by a dyke, that the former often divides into two 
 branches, which unite again before reaching the latter, 
 and after having passed it, separates into several ramifi- 
 cations. 
 
 Thus, fig. 41, b b, is the dyke, and a a, the metallic 
 vein, divided at a, but united again before reaching the 
 dyke, after passing which, it again separates into several 
 parts. The dyke has occasioned a fault, by which the 
 two ends of the vein are widely separated. The lower 
 branches are not supposed to terminate as represented in 
 the cut, but to unite again and proceed downwards, c c. 

 
 MINERAL VEINS. 
 
 209 
 
 shows how veins sometimes change their dimensions, be- 
 ing narrow in some parts and wide in others. 
 Fig. 41. 
 
 Sometimes veins containing different metals cross each 
 other, and as above stated, pass from one kind of rock into 
 another. Examples of both, are contained in the tin Croft 
 mine in Cornwall. 
 
 In this mine are five copper veins, three of tin and one 
 mixed, all within about a furlong of space, from north to 
 south. Two of the tin veins proceed in a straight line, 
 the other alters its course repeatedly, in a gradual ap- 
 proach to the perpendicular, and is intersected by two of 
 the copper veins. The rocks through which these veins 
 pass, are slate and granite. 
 
 Fig. 42. 
 
 Vi \\ 
 
 The annexed cut, fig. 42, from Mr. Phillips' paper, on 
 this mine, will make the direction of these veins under- 
 stood, a, a, copper veins ; b, tin veins j c, copper and tin 
 intermixed. The dark shade is slate, and the while parts 
 granite. The vein number 3, passes between slate and 
 granite, one of these rocks being found on the north side, 
 and the other on the south. Detached masses of granite 
 and slate are found in this vein, and also in number 2. In 
 18*
 
 210 THEORY OF VEINS. 
 
 this mine it was frequently the case, that where the vein 
 was passing through slate, it contained fragments of gran- 
 ite, and when passing through granite, it contained pieces 
 of slate. 
 
 THEORY OF VEINS. 
 
 No subject belonging to geology, has been contested 
 more warmly, than the theory of metallic veins. These 
 may be considered analagous to dykes, which are veins 
 of stone penetrating strata differing from themselves in 
 kind, and it is hardly disputed at present, that dykes have 
 not owed their origin to melted matter injected from be- 
 low. In like manner many of the earlier geologists, and 
 among them Dr. Hutton, supposed that the metals were 
 forced into their veins in a fused state, the expansive force 
 of the heat, producing the fissures. This is called the 
 igneous theory of mineral veins. 
 
 Opposed to this doctrine is that of Werner, and his 
 followers, who believed that the fissures of dykes and 
 veins were produced by the shrinking of the rocks in 
 which they are contained, and that the metallic veins were 
 afterwards filled with the metals in a state of solution, 
 poured in from the surface of the earth. This is called 
 the aqueous theory. 
 
 From the facts we have stated concerning veins, and 
 what will be stated directly, the reader will see, that this 
 latter theory contradicts at once, the principal phenomena 
 by which they are attended. For even were it shown 
 that the metals were soluble in water, which, however, 
 cannot be true, still the supposition that the fissures were 
 filled from above, could not be maintained, for the fol- 
 lowing reasons. First. The ores of most veins are un- 
 mixed, but where a vein contains several metals, one 
 kind is above, or below the other. Were the metals 
 poured in from the surface, no reason can be assigned 
 why the several solutions should not have fallen in to- 
 gether ; or why one should have filled the lower part of 
 the vein and the other the upper. Second. When a vein 
 passes through a different kind of rock, as from sandstone 
 through limestone, the quality of the ore is changed, and 
 it becomes richer or poorer. This is a general fact well
 
 THEORY OF VEINS. 211 
 
 known to miners. Now, it is plain, that were these veins 
 filled by solutions poured in, the kind of rock could not 
 possibly influence the quality of the metal. Third. 
 When a fault changes the strata through which a vein 
 passes, by lifting that on the one side, or throwing down 
 that on the other, so as, for instance, to place sandstone on 
 one side of the vein, and limestone on the other side, the 
 vein is never so rich in ore, as it is when both sides are 
 of the same kind of rock. This fact is also plainly in- 
 compatible with the aqueous theory. Fourth. Were the 
 metals poured in from above, we should expect that all the 
 narrow parts of the veins would soon be filled with earth 
 mixed with the solutions, and, therefore, that they would 
 reach only to a short distance below the surface, whereas 
 the termination of a vein, as already stated, has never 
 been discovered. Many other objections might be stated ; 
 but these are sufficient to show that the aqueous theory is 
 incompatible with the known phenomena which metallic 
 veins present. 
 
 If now we advert to the igneous theory, we shall find 
 fewer, absurdities, because much must here be left to con- 
 jecture; -1}ut the difficulties are little less than those of the 
 aqueous. 
 
 The objections already made, may be applied, without 
 modification to this theory; for if the metals were injected 
 in a state of fusion from below, as we must now suppose, 
 how would any change in the kind or position of the stra- 
 ta, change their quantities? and how can we account for 
 the fact, that veins in the same vicinity contain different 
 kinds of metal, perfectly distinct, as tin and copper, in the 
 Cornwall mine ? Besides these objections, the heat of the 
 fused metal would have produced obvious effects on the 
 walls of the veins, as is the case with basaltic dykes. The 
 adoption of either of these theories is therefore only a 
 choice of dilemmas, as they both fail entirely to account 
 for the phenomena observed. 
 
 But the difficulty concerning metallic veins, does not 
 end here ; for were it shown in the most satisfactory man- 
 ner, how the metals might have been soluble in water, and 
 in what way they might have been introduced from the 
 surface into the fissures ; or, on the contrary, could it be 
 made to appear that all the phenomena which veins pre- 
 sent, were compatible with the igneous theory, still the 
 great difficulty would remain unanswered, viz., whence did
 
 212 
 
 THEORY OF VEINS. 
 
 the metals come, before they were melted by the heat below, 
 or dissolved by the fluid above ? 
 
 This, after all the arguments that have been employed 
 on both sides, is the principal question ; and the reasonable 
 answer is obvious. The metals were created by Him who 
 made the other parts of the earth ; but whether they were 
 formed at the same time, and in the veins as we see them, 
 or whether the veins were fissures, afterwards filled with 
 the metals ; and, if so, whether they came from below, be- 
 ing dissolved by heat, or from above, in solution with some 
 fluid, are questions which man, with all his curiosity, seems 
 destined never to answer. 
 
 Fig. 43. 
 
 The adjoining cut represents the most common varieties 
 of metallic veins. It is from Sir W. T. Brande's " Outlines 
 of Geology," and is placed here to gratify the curiosity of 
 the reader, on this mysterious subject. 
 
 With respect to the direction of different metallic veins, 
 we have already observed, that in the same neighborhood, 
 they commonly run parallel with each other, and are oft- 
 en nearly, or quite vertical, or perpendicular to the line of 
 the horizon. But the inclination of different series of 
 veins is found at every angle, from the perpendicular to 
 the horizontal ; and the manner in which they run among 
 the strata is also exceedingly various. In most instances, 
 the line of the vein is across that of the strata, but some- 
 times they run parallel with each other, and the veins 
 spread out between the strata, as represented at No. 4. 
 Sometimes, also, a vein, whose general direction is across 
 the strata, will take a short turn between them, and then 
 proceed on as before, as represented at 7. The branches
 
 MINES AND MINERS. 21J 
 
 of the veins do not terminate as they seem to do in the 
 figure, but commonly join themselves together again, as 
 seen at 2. 
 
 It must not be understood that metallic veins consist of 
 metals, or their ores alone ^ on the contrary, they are mix- 
 ed with greater or less proportions of stony matter. Some- 
 times the ore is diffused through the vein, in some manner 
 as it would be, had the stone been porous, and dipped into 
 a solution of the metal. la other instances, the metal lies 
 in concretions, or crystals, entirely surrounded by the stone. 
 An instance of this is common in the sulphurct of iron, 
 the crystals of which appear as though they had been, 
 perfectly formed, and then dropped into the stone when 
 in a soft state. Indeed, so mysterious are the phenomena 
 which metallic veins exhibit, as in the present state of 
 knowledge, to defy all hypothesis. 
 
 MINES AND MINERS. 
 
 The means of arriving at a vein, or working a mine, 
 varied according to the nature of the rock or country 
 which it traverses, and are dependent upon a great variety 
 of adventitious circumstances, frequently connected with 
 those under which the vein was discovered ; which disco- 
 very is often accidental, as during the making of roads, 
 cutting" of ditches, or draining land; or sometimes it is 
 arrived at, by the discovery of fragments, or pebbles of 
 ore in the bed of rivers, or in alluvial soils through which 
 streams formerly appear to have passed. Thus the an- 
 cient mode of shading, or searching for tin, consisted in 
 tracing certain stones containing that metal, to the vein 
 whence they came. Sometimes the course of a vein may 
 be learned by the nature of the fragments and stones upon 
 the surface, and, more especially, when it is of iron, by 
 their ocherous tints. A knowledge too, of the substances 
 which, in different countries, usually accompany the ore 
 of a metal, forming what is called the ganue, or matrix, 
 is often of much importance in these inquiries. 
 
 Sometimes the springs in the vicinity of metallic veins 
 are so tainted, as to lead to their discovery. Of this, a 
 singular instance occurred some years ago at Dolgetty, 
 where the peat in the neighborhood of the vein, was so
 
 214 MINES AND MINERS. 
 
 impregnated by sulphate of copper, as to leave some of 
 the metal in its ashes when burned. When this was as- 
 certained, the injured vegetation guided to the vein. By 
 the retention, therefore, of these contaminated waters, in 
 the soil near the vein, it may become unfit for vegeta- 
 tion, and thus the sterility of certain patches of ground, 
 may indicate the existence of metallic substances in the 
 district. 
 
 (Mr. Brande, who writes the above account, has not 
 stated what species of copper was discovered. It was, 
 however, undoubtedly a sulphuret, and from the decom- 
 position of which, the sulphuric acid was produced, 
 which uniting with the oxide of the metal, formed sul- 
 phate of copper. In the Anglesea copper-mine, consider- 
 able quantities of the metal are obtained from the natural 
 solution of the sulphate in water. This is done bythrow- 
 ing in pieces of waste iron, on which the copper is pre- 
 cipitated.) 
 
 " There are no class of persons," continues Mr. Brande, 
 " more curiously superstitious than miners ; and hence a 
 variety of omens, connected with the interference of agents 
 from the spiritual world, are among the items of their 
 creed. Sometimes while under ground, they fancy they 
 hear another pick at work, announcing the presence of 
 a little man, or pixey-knocker, in some neighboring cavern, 
 and the consequent vicinity of a good course of ore. Some- 
 times the divining rod is resorted to, as a means of finding 
 the ore; and sometimes it is said that flames of light, 
 dancing about a mining district, have suddenly perched 
 upon the looked for vein ; a circumstance not improbable, 
 and perhaps referable to the power of the vein to conduct 
 electricity. 1 ' 
 
 The habits, however, of the miner, are those of indus- 
 try and perseverance, which sometimes tempt him to ex- 
 ploits that excite astonishment at his venturous hardihood 
 tl The rery idea of a descent beneath the surface of the 
 earth, has something in it of the terrible," says Mr. Phil- 
 lips, " and at which those shudder who are unacquainted 
 with practical mining ; but such is the force of habit, that 
 any other employment rarely tempts him to forsake his 
 own. The occasional perils of his occupation are scarce- 
 ly noticed, or if noticed, are soon forgotten. He walks, 
 often in the middle of the night, and in all weathers, two, 
 or three, or more miles, to the mine, undresses, and puts
 
 MINES AND MINERS. 215 
 
 On his underground clothes, and with his tools, slung 
 over his shoulder, descends to a depth of 1000 or 1200 
 feet, assisted by the light of a small candle, and works 
 in the bottom of the mine six or eight hours, amidst the 
 noise of the \vorking of the pumps, with as much alacrity 
 and with as little sense of danger, as he would feel amidst 
 his ordinary occupations above ground. We should be 
 inclined to feel pity for the wretch, who, as an atonement 
 for his crimes, should be compelled to undergo what the 
 Cornish miner voluntarily undertakes for a small pittance, 
 and that even of an uncertain amount." W. Phillip's 
 Geol. Trans. 
 
 One of the mines in the parish of St. Just, is wrought 
 nearly 500 feet under the sea, beyond low-water mark ; 
 and the sea, in some places, is only about eighteen feet 
 over the back of his workings ; insomuch that the miners 
 underneath hear the break, flux, ebb, and re-flux of every 
 wave ; which, upon the beach overhead, may be said to 
 have the run of the Atlantic ocean for many hundred 
 leagues, and consequently are amazingly powerful and 
 boisterous. They also hear the rumbling noise of every 
 nodule, and fragment of a rock, which are continually 
 rolling upon the submarine stratum 5 which altogether 
 make a kind of thundering roar, which would surprise 
 and terrify the stranger. Add to this, that several parts 
 of the land which were richer than others, have been 
 indiscreetly hulked, and worked within four feet of the 
 sea, whereby, in violent stormy weather, the noise over- 
 head has been so tremendous, that the workmen have 
 many times deserted their labor, under the greatest fear, 
 lest the sea should break in upon them. Prycc's Miner- 
 alogia Cornubiensis. 
 
 In former times, when a vein of metal was discovered, 
 it was worked to a certain depth, and then often aban- 
 doned, in consequence of the insufficiency of the pumps to 
 carry off the water, or the expense incurred in their erec- 
 tion and working. In certain situations, however, it was 
 found that this water run off at lower levels, and that in 
 most instances it might be carried away by an under- 
 ground tunnel, commencing at the foot of the hill, pene- 
 trating to the vein, and thus forming a communication 
 with the working of the mine, and a neighboring valley. 
 These tunnels are now called adits, and when it is re- 
 solved to try a vein, one of these underground passages,
 
 216 PHENOMENA OF SPRINGS AND WELLS, 
 
 about six feet high, and two and a half wide, is begun at 
 the bottom of the neighboring valley, and diiven up to the 
 Vein for the purpose of carrying off the water ; or if a 
 mine hag an engine to raise the water from a greater 
 depth than that of the entrance of the adit, the engine 
 then, instead of having to lift the water to the surface, 
 throws it off, with diminished labor, at the adit. In gen- 
 eral, adits are nearly horizontal, for although a declivity 
 would accelerate the drainage, it would eater the mine at 
 a less depth. The importance of draining mines by adits 
 has led to some gigantic undertakings of this kind. The 
 great Cornish adit, commences in a valley above Carnon, 
 near the sea, and branches off in its course in several di- 
 rections to about fifty mines. Most of the mines are far 
 below the level of the adit, the water being raised into .it 
 by means of steam engines. The entire length of this- 
 adit, with its various branches, is about thirty miles. Bui 
 the greatest length of any one branch from its mouth to 
 the mine, is that of Cardrew Mine, which is about five and 
 a half miles. The greatest depth of any part of this adit 
 is at Wheel Hope, where it is about 400 feet deep. It 
 empties itself into Falmouth harbor. Several great works 
 of the same kind exist in different parts of Great Britain. 
 The adit belonging to the Duke of Bridge water's coal 
 mines, is nearly thirty miles long, and navigable for small 
 boats. 
 
 Where an adit is of any considerable length, it is ob- 
 vious that the air would become stagnant in it, so that the 
 workmen would be unable to proceed. To prevent this, 
 and also to enable them to remove the produce of the 
 excavation without transporting it to great distances, per- 
 pendicular openings, called shafts, are made at various in- 
 tervals. From these shafts, levels, or galleries, are driven 
 in different directions, either for exploring for new veins, 
 or for removing the contents of those already known. 
 See Brandos Geology. 
 
 PHENOMENA OF SPRINGS AND WELLS. 
 
 The origin of common springs is easily understood 
 The water which falls on the surface of the earth, pene- 
 trates its substance, until meeting with a stratum of clay
 
 PHENOMENA OF SPRINGS AND WELLS. 21 
 
 or the surface of a continuous rock, which hinders its de- 
 scent, it accumulates, and taking the direction given by 
 these impediments, continues its course, until meeting with 
 an aperture, gushes out in the form of a spring, 
 
 Fig. 44. 
 
 Suppose a, fig. 44, to be a gravel hill, and b, strata of 
 clay or rock, impervious to water. The fluid percola* 
 ting through the gravel would reach the impervious stra- 
 ta, along which it would run until it found an outlet at c, 
 at the foot of the hill, where a spring would be formed, 
 As water in the earth observes the law of gravity, springs 
 are most commonly found lower than their sources. When 
 however the fluid is intercepted by a dyke, which rises as 
 hi<rh as its source, the hydrostatic law of tending to a level, 
 will carry it as high as its source ; though this in fact is 
 probably not a common circumstance, since the pressure 
 of the water generally will find an outlet before it rises to 
 such a height. 
 
 The people of Artois in France, for a long time, have 
 been in the practice of boring into the earth, until they 
 find a sheet or vein of water which rises to the surface. 
 These are called Artesian wells, because the method was 
 first invented, or employed in Artois. 
 
 This method has for many years been practised in 
 other parts of Europe, and more recently in this country. 
 The size of the boring is usually three or four inches in 
 diameter, and to prevent its sides from falling in when it 
 passes through a stratum of sand, there is introduced a 
 jointed tube, which in Artois, is made of wood, but in 
 other countries of copper, or other metal. It often hap- 
 pens that after passing through hundreds of feet, without 
 success, a vein of water is pierced, which immediately 
 ascends to the surface, and flows over the end of the tube. 
 The first rush of the water is sometimes so violent as to 
 throw it many feet above the surface, where for a time it 
 plays like an artificial fountain, and then continues to run 
 in a steady stream, or perhaps sinks away below the sur 
 19
 
 J18 PHENOMENA OF SPRINGS AND WELLS, 
 
 face to the great disappointment of the operator. This vio- 
 lent gush of the water appears to be owing to the pressure 
 of air or gas on its surface, before it was pierced by the 
 auger. Dr. Hildreth states that in boring for salt in Ohio, 
 the gas rushed out with such force as to throw the auger 
 and poles into the top of a tree. 
 
 In some instances large quantities of water have been 
 discharged from great depths in this manner. In 1824, a 
 well was dug at Fulham, near the English Thames, to the 
 depth of 317 feet, the deepest part of which passed through 
 sixty-seven feet of chalk. On piercing through the chalk 
 the water immediately rose to the surface, and discharged 
 itself at the rate of fifty gallons per minute. 
 
 Sometimes borings for Artesian wells are entirely with- 
 out success. Thus, at Toulouse, in France, the excava- 
 tion was carried to the immense depth of 1260 feet, and 
 abandoned without finding water. In most places, indeed, 
 there is no doubt but success must depend on chance, since 
 neither skill nor experience in ordinary circumstances, 
 can ascertain beforehand the direction of a water vein. It 
 appears, however, that in certain situations, water bearing 
 strata underlay considerable extents of country, as will 
 appear by the following account.. 
 
 In the country about Modena, in Italy, to find water, 
 they dig through several kinds of soil, until they come to 
 a stratum of hard calcareous clay, which resembles chalk. 
 Here they begin their mason work, and build the wall at 
 their leisure, carrying it up to the surface, without the 
 least sign of water. But experience has taught the work- 
 men not to expect it until they pierce this stratum, when 
 it never fails to reward their labors. When the well is 
 finished they bore through this hard stratum with a long 
 auger, but take care to leave the well before they draw 
 it out again; which when they have done, the water 
 springs up into the well, and in a short time rises to the 
 brim, or in some instances overflows into the neighboring 
 valley. 
 
 The source of these wells is supposed to be in the Ap- 
 penine mountains, which lie not a great distance from 
 Modena, and to which the impervious stratum does not 
 reach. The water from the mountains, therefore sinks 
 below this stratum, at a distance from these wells, and is 
 thus prevented from rising to the surface until this ia 
 pierced.
 
 PHENOMENA OF SPRINGS AND WELLS. 219 
 
 Pig. 45. 
 
 ; 
 
 Suppose a, fig. 45, to represent the Appenines, sloping 
 down towards Modena, and passing under the secondary 
 strata at b. Suppose that the impervious strata c, does not 
 reach the side of the mountain, and that the strata, both, 
 above and below it, admit the water through them ; then 
 the fluid would not rise in any quantity above this stratum, 
 except about its edges ; but the pressure being constant on 
 its lower side, because the source is elevated, the moment 
 this is pierced the water flows above it, as at w, which 
 represents a well. 
 
 In many instances, wells overflow their brims, and con- 
 tinue to discharge water, in the manner of springs. These 
 may be springs deeply situated, which happen to be struck 
 by the well, or they may be dishes of water, confined by- 
 dykes, or by impervious strata, inclining towards each, 
 other. 
 
 The annexed cut, fig. 46, 
 represents inclined strata cov- 
 ered with alluvial deposites. 
 The water descending along 
 the strata, would be lost in 
 the adjoining valley, was it 
 not intercepted by the dyke, d, which serves as an imper- 
 vious dam. The water, therefore, rises and forms springs 
 along the inside of the dyke. Now, if a well be sunk at 
 w, the water will rise to the surface of the ground, and if 
 the inclined rocks be considerably higher than the well, it 
 Avill overflow. If the strata form a dish, one side of which 
 is considerably higher than the other, the same effect will 
 be produced. 
 
 London and its vicinity stand over a formation, of rath- 
 er a peculiar kind, called London clay. Its direction is 
 nearly horizontal, and its thickness from 100 to 500 feet. 
 It is covered with alluvial deposites of various thickness; 
 so that although the surface of the clay may be horizon- 
 
 Fig. 46.
 
 220 PHENOMENA OF SPRINGS AND WELLS. 
 
 tal, till the depths of the wells are various, according to 
 the thickness of the alluvium. Until within a few years, 
 most of the wells in and about London, were sunk no 
 deeper than the surface of this clay, and its impervious na- 
 ture is of vast importance to that great city, since the water 
 is thus retained, and a plentiful supply is always fur- 
 nished by means of shallow wells. But this water, 
 though limpid, is hard and impure. That, however, 
 which is drawn from below the clay, is perfectly soft and 
 transparent ; and hence all the pumps about London, which 
 furnish such water, are of great depth, piercing the sand 
 below the clay. 
 
 This water, says Mr. Conybeare, frequently rises so in- 
 stantaneously, on passing through the clay, as not to suffer 
 the well digger to escape, without rising above his head. 
 It appears to rise in different places to different heights. 
 Thus, at Liptrap's distillery, near the Thames, it rises no 
 higher than the level of that river ; but at Tottenham, four 
 miles north of London, it rises sixty feet above that level ; 
 while at Epping, fifteen miles north of London, the water 
 rises to within twenty-six feet of the summit of the well, 
 which is 340 feet above the level of the Thames, and 
 therefore 314 feet above that level. This well is 420 feet 
 deep, of which 200 feet were sunk through by digging, and 
 220 bored with an auger, four inches in diameter. After 
 boring to this depth, no water being found, the project 
 was relinquished, and the well was covered over ; but 
 at the end of five months it was found that the water had 
 risen to within twenty-six feet of the surface, and has so 
 continued ever since. The sinking of this well was there- 
 fore 340 feet above the level of the Thames, and eighty 
 feet below it. 
 
 Another well, two miles from this, at Hunter's Hall, is 
 350 feet deep, but its summit is seventy higher than that 
 at Epping, and 410 feet above the level of the Thames. 
 The water in this well stands 130 feet above its bottom, 
 which is sixty feet above the level of the Thames ; the ac- 
 tual elevation of this water, therefore, is not so great as 
 that at Epping, by fifty-four feet. 
 
 These facts will be better understood by fig. 47, where 
 H marks Hunter's Hall ; E Epping ; T Tottenham ; L Lip- 
 trap's well, at Mile End. a, b, is the level of the sea, as 
 indicated by that of the Thames. It will be observed that 
 all the wells reach below the level of the Thames, except
 
 PHENOMENA OF SPRINGS AND WELLS. 221 
 
 Fig. 47. 
 
 that at Hunters' Hall. The numbers will be chiefly un- 
 derstood by the explanations already given. Thus the 
 water in the well at Hunters' Hall, stands 130 feet from 
 its bottom, the well is 350 feet, and its mouth 410 above 
 the level of the Thames. That at Epping, is 420 feet 
 deep, its summit is 340 feet above the Thames, and its 
 bottom, 80 feet below it; the water is 314 feet deep, and 
 it rises to within 26 feet of the top. The well at Totten- 
 ham is 130 feet deep ; its top is 70 feet above the Thames, 
 and its bottom GO feet below it, and the water rises 60 feet 
 above the sea. 
 
 All these wells being sunk below the London clay, and 
 deriving their water from the same source, it might be 
 expected that agreeably to the general law of hydrostatics 
 that their surfaces \vould have a common level. The Lon- 
 don clay, as we have stated, is nearly on a horizontal lev- 
 el ; the depth of the well at Hunters' Hall, however shows 
 a slight rising of the strata there, but still the water in that 
 well does not rise so high by 54 feet, as that in the well 
 at Epping. 
 
 Now did the water which supplies these wells, exist in 
 a great reservoir, so that a full and instantaneous commu- 
 nication could take place between the different points 
 pierced by the wells, then the water in them all would 
 stand at the same hydrostatic level ; whereas in fact, no 
 such case exists. The strata on the contrary, which bear 
 the water, though more or less porous, are still too close 
 to allow the fluid to pass with rapidity ; hence such strata 
 may be considered as acting on the water in the same man- 
 ner as a series of imperfect dams. Now although the wa- 
 ter in the present case has the same general source, being 
 that which falls on the highlands, beyond the confines of 
 the London clay formation, and percolating so as to rise 
 under it, yet from the want of free communication, it will 
 19*
 
 222 PHENOMENA OF SPRINGS AND WELLS. 
 
 not everywhere rise to the same height when the clay is 
 pierced, but the well will only drain that which presses 
 with the greatest force in its immediate vicinity, without 
 affecting that which is at a distance. If there is a free 
 and extensive drain in any part of such a formation, then 
 it is obvious that t.he water in that vicinity Avill rise no 
 higher than the level of the drain. Thus the water in 
 the well marked L on the cut, rises no higher than the 
 Thames, bacause that river cuts through the London clay, 
 and serves as a drain to the same water bearing stratum 
 which supplies the other wells. 
 
 Wells situated in level countries, and in alluvial forma- 
 tions, generally require to be sunk only thirty or forty 
 feet, and sometimes no more than twenty before water is 
 found. These are not commonly supplied by springs, but 
 merely by the draining of the water which exists within 
 the circuit of a few yards, into a cavity. During severe 
 droughts, many such wells fail, which shows that they are 
 supplied only by the rain which percolates from the sur- 
 face, and not by deeply seated springs. 
 
 But there are some extraordinary phenomena connect- 
 ed with springs which require a different explanation, if 
 indeed they can be explained at all. 
 
 There is little difficulty with respect to those springs 
 which rise in salt marshes, or which gush from the fis- 
 sures of rocks under the sea. The sources of these are 
 in the distant hills ; or in the strata of the vicinity, situated 
 higher than their outlets ; and the presence of the sea or 
 marsh it is plain, could not affect them, since the water 
 from these do not penetrate their sources. This principle 
 will also account for such springs as rise on small islands 
 at little distances from the sea shore, where they could not 
 have been collected from the rain falling there. 
 
 There are however springs which arise near the tops 
 of hills, and which are so situated as to make it apparent 
 that their sources could not exist in the same hills, nor in 
 those in the immediate vicinity. The water with which 
 such are supplied, must therefore, come from the higher 
 hills or mountains, at a distance, and passing the inter- 
 vening valley, rise by hydrostatic force to these outlets. 
 Many rocks are so full of fissures, as to present no diffi- 
 culty in supposing that considerable rivulets might run 
 among them, at great depths below the surface. Rocks 
 also frequently contain large cavities, so that some river*
 
 PHENOMENA OF SPRINGS AND WELLS. 223 
 
 sink down into them and disappear for miles, when they 
 again issue from their hiding places, and continue their 
 courses. In limestone districts it is well known that large 
 cavities are of common occurrence. Perhaps, therefore, 
 the manner in which water is conveyed to the springs, 
 situated as above described, may be as follows. Water, 
 from hills at a distance, and more elevated than the 
 springs, descend through fissures, to a cavity in the valley, 
 which cavity communicates with another fissure running 
 to the spring. In this manner the hydrostatic pressure 
 from the highest hill, would overcome that from the lower 
 one, and the water would be perpetually transferred from 
 one to the other. 
 
 Pig. 48. 
 
 The annexed cut, fig. 48, will make this obvious. The 
 rills a, are supposed to unite and fall into the cavity be- 
 low b, from which, the greater pressure from a, forces the 
 water up the hill, through a fissure, to c, where the spring 
 issues. 
 
 That water runs in considerable streams under the 
 earth and among the fissures of rocks, is proved by its 
 issuing in springs, sometimes in large quantities. Dr. 
 Macculloch states, that a spring in Staffordshire, is com- 
 puted to discharge more water annually, than all the falls 
 in the surrounding country ; and the same, even to a 
 greater degree, is true of that of the Sorgne, in France. 
 
 A writer in Featherstonhaugh's Journal, for August, 
 1831, p. 65, refers to a great body of water which issues 
 from the ground, ten miles from Harrisburgh, Virginia, and 
 which is known under the name of " Big Spring." He 
 says, " it should rather be called a river, so large is the 
 body of water which rises suddenly from the foot of a 
 limestone hill, and continues in a stream some yards in 
 breadth, and half a foot deep, with force sufficient to turn 
 two large mills immediately below." 
 
 There is a spring at Kingston, R. I., which arises from 
 primitive rocks, and discharges such a quantity of water
 
 224 CHANGE OF CLIMATE. 
 
 that a grist mill has been driven by it for a great numbei 
 of years, and more recently, a large cotton factory has 
 been erected below the corn mill, which depended en- 
 tirely on the water of this spring to turn its whole ma- 
 chinery. 
 
 From these, and such like facts, there can be but little 
 doubt, that small streams are constantly running under 
 ground among the crevices of the rocks, and that such 
 springs are formed by a union of many of these tributaries, 
 in a similar manner to which larger streams are formed 
 on the surface of the earth, by the union of several smaller 
 ones. 
 
 CHANGE OF CLIMATE. 
 
 It will be the object of this section to show, that the 
 temperature of the earth's surface, at some period anterior 
 to the era of history, suffered a material, and probably a 
 sudden change, and that in consequence, the climates of 
 different countries have become colder than they were at 
 some remote period. 
 
 This is a subject of great interest in geology, and al- 
 though the idea of a universal change of climate was once 
 strongly controverted, most writers, at the present day, 
 consider that there is sufficient evidence, that the tem- 
 perature of the earth's surface is much lower than for*" 
 merly. 
 
 " That the climate of the northern hemisphere has un- 
 dergone an important change," says Mr. Lyell, " and that 
 its mean annual temperature must once have resembled 
 that now experienced within the tropics, was the opinion 
 of some of the naturalists who first investigated the con- 
 tents of ancient strata. Their conjecture became more 
 probable, when the shells and corals of the secondary 
 rocks were more carefully examined, for these organic re- 
 mains were found to be intimately connected, by generic 
 affinity, with species now living in warmer latitudes. At a 
 later period, many reptiles, such as turtles, tortoises, and 
 large saurian (lizard-like) animals, were discovered in the 
 European strata, in great abundance, and they supplied new 
 and powerful arguments from analogy, in support of the 
 doctrine, that the heat of the climate had been great when
 
 CHANGE OF CLIMATE. 225 
 
 our secondary formations were deposited. Lastly, when 
 the botanist turned his attention to the specific determina- 
 tion of fossil plants, the evidence acquired the fullest con- 
 firmation ; for the flora of a country is peculiarly influ- 
 enced by its temperature ; and the ancient vegetation of 
 the earth might more readily than the forms of animals, 
 have afforded conflicting proofs, had the popular theory 
 been without foundation. 
 
 " It is not merely reasoning from analogy, that we are 
 led to infer a diminution of temperature, in the climate of 
 Europe; there are direct proofs in confirmation of the 
 same doctrine, in the only countries hitherto investigated 
 by expert geologists, where we could expect to meet with 
 direct proofs. It is not in England, or Northern France, 
 but around the borders of the Mediterranean, from the 
 South of Spain to Calabria, and in the islands of the Me- 
 diterranean, that we must look for conclusive evidence on 
 this question ; for it is not in strata, where the organic re- 
 mains belong to extinct .species, but where living species 
 abound in a fossil state, that the theory of climate can be 
 subjected to the experimentum crucis. In Sicily, Ischia, 
 and Calabria, where the fossil testacea, of the more recent 
 strata, belong almost entirely to species now known to 
 inhabit the Mediterranean, the conchologist remarks, 
 that individuals in the inland deposites, exceed in their 
 average size the living analogues." LyeWs Geology, 
 vol. i. p. 92. 
 
 The shells thus existing in strata, and in the fossil state, 
 differ in no respects from those now found in the adjoining 
 sea, except in size; the ancient ones being much larger 
 than those now living. Hence the conclusion, that because 
 these animals do not attain the size the same species did 
 anciently, the climate has deteriorated. 
 
 It has also been ascertained that some species of shells 
 found in the fossil state, in Italy, are now living in the In- 
 dian Ocean, and that these correspond in size ; whereas the 
 same species existing at present in the Mediterranean, are 
 comparatively dwarfs in size, having been stinted in their 
 growth, for want of the heat which now exists in the In- 
 dian Ocean. 
 
 These circumstances go far to show, that the climate of 
 Italy is not so hot as formerly, for it is well known, that 
 these shells attain a size in some proportion to the heat of 
 the climate in which they are found.
 
 226 CHANGE OF CLIMATE. 
 
 Another and perhaps stronger proof* is drawn from the 
 vegetable remains, which are found in various strata, es- 
 pecially in those of coal. M. Adolphe Brogniart, in his 
 " Treatise on the classification and distribution of fossil 
 plants," has come to the following, among other conclu- 
 sions on this subject. First. " That in the strata of coal 
 and anthracite, the vegetables preserved are nearly all 
 cryptogamous, or monocotyledono'us* plants, as ferns,t 
 equisetums,| and lycopodiums, &c., and that some of 
 these tribes which no longer exist, except as fossils, grew 
 to an immense size in Europe." 
 
 (Some of the Equisetums were ten or twenty feet high, 
 and from six to twelve inches in diameter. These tribes 
 in our climate at the present day, grow from one to three 
 feet in height, and are ordinarily about the size of a pipe- 
 stem. A specimen of this tribe from the borders of Ca- 
 nada, now before us, is more than two inches in diameter, 
 a proof that the climate of North America, as well as that 
 of Europe has changed. Plants of the fern kind, in some 
 parts of Europe, attained the height of forty or fifty feet ; 
 and the aborescent club-mosses were sixty or seventy feet 
 high. No plants of these tribes, at the present day, ever 
 attain one fourth of these sizes.) 
 
 Second. " That in the higher strata, a great variety of 
 fossil vegetables exist, which, for the most part, appear to 
 belong to similar tribes of plants, if not in species, at 
 least in genera, to vegetables which still inhabit the hot- 
 test regions of the earth ; nor is it probable that they have 
 been transported to the places where they are found in 
 Europe, from such climates, since their most delicate parts 
 are uninjured." It is therefore, reasonable to suppose, that 
 since the growth of these vegetables, the climate of Europe 
 has suffered a great change. 
 
 The Count Sternberg, author of a splendid work, the 
 " Botanical and Geological Flora," of the 
 
 le Ancient world, 
 
 * Plants with oae Cotyledon, as wheat, Indian corn, and the 
 grasses. 
 
 t Polypodies and Brakes. 
 
 t Horsetails. The scouring rush is a species. 
 
 Ground-pine or Club-mosses. The ground-pine, employed in 
 dressing churches for Christmas, is an example.
 
 CHANGE OF CLIMATE. 227 
 
 M concludes, that the vegetation of which bituminous coal," 
 has been formed, consisted of several species of large trees, 
 of which he has in his collection trunks eighteen inches in 
 diameter. These trees seem all to have belonged to the 
 monocotyledonous or polycotyledonous* families. They 
 were palms, bamboos, &c., plants which at the present day 
 are found only in hot climates. 
 
 " If," says Dr. Ure, " we examine the fossilized fruits 
 found m the upper (coal) strata, we shall see that several 
 of them evidently belonged to the same family of palms ; 
 but one of the most extraordinary facts connected with this 
 subject is, that none of these fruits appear to have grown 
 on the palms with fan-shaped leaves ; but on the contrary, 
 that all the fruits that have been delineated by authors, 
 seem referable to the genera with pinnate, (feather-formed) 
 leaves." 
 
 There is no doubt, however, that palms, with fan- 
 shaped leaves, (fan-palms,) once covered Europe with 
 their lofty vegetation, since petrified specimens of these 
 plants exist in great abundance. The opinion formerly 
 entertained, that these trees had been transported to Eu- 
 rope from warmer climates, appears in the present state 
 of knowledge, to be without the least foundation, since 
 not only trees with entire branches have been found, but 
 also roots in the places where they grew. In some coal 
 mines, have been discovered the trunks of large trees 
 standing in their original vertical positions, around which 
 several strata of rock and coal have been deposited, which 
 fact is clearly incompatible with the hypothesis of trans- 
 portation. 
 
 The existence of the bones of animals of enormous di- 
 mensions, though of extinct species, afford by analogy, an 
 indication of the tropical heat of Europe, at some remote 
 period. 
 
 The great megcdosaurus, (great lizard,) and the still 
 more gigantic iguanadon (iguana-toothed,) says Mr. Man- 
 tell, to which the groves of palms and arborescent ferns, 
 would be mere beds of reeds, must have been of such pro- 
 digious magnitude, that the existing animal creation pre- 
 sents us with no fit objects of comparison. Imagine an 
 
 * Seeds consisting of more than two seed lobes. Very few plants 
 of this character are known at the present day.
 
 228 CHANGE OF CLIMATE. 
 
 animal of the lizard tribe, three or four times as large as 
 the largest crocodile, having jaws equal in size to those of 
 the rhinoceros, and a head crested with horns. Such must 
 have been the iguanadon. 
 
 This huge animal is supposed, from the dimensions of 
 some of his bones, to have been about seventy feet in length, 
 with a body as thick as that of an elephant. Its skeleton, 
 was found in Sussex, England. 
 
 The bones of the megalosaurus, also found in England, 
 indicate an animal of the lizard kind, about forty feet long, 
 and when standing, eight feet high. 
 
 It is true that these animals no longer exist, and there- 
 fore only indicate a change of climate, by the analogy, 
 that animals of similar tribes, and of great size, are found 
 exclusively in tropical climates at the present day. But 
 there is not wanting other evidence of such a change, and 
 perhaps as direct as the nature of such a case will allow, 
 in the fact clearly proved by Dr. Buckland, that animals 
 once inhabited Europe, the genera of which are known to 
 live only in tropical climates. The following are the cir- 
 cumstances : 
 
 A cave was discovered by some workmen at Kirkdale, 
 in Yorkshire, in 1821. Its mouth was at first nearly cov- 
 ered by rubbish, but on removing this, and exploring the 
 interior, there was found a cavern 240 feet in length, four- 
 teen feet high, and from three to seven feet wide. The 
 rock being of limestone, its roof was covered with hang- 
 ing stalactites,* and its floor in many places incrusted 
 with stalagmite.f The floor was covered with a coat of 
 soft mud, or loam, about a foot thick, and in this were 
 found the bones of various animals. These were in a high 
 state of preservation, they were broken, but none appeared 
 as though they had been worn by the action of water, 
 
 * Stalactites are formed by the percolation of water through lime- 
 stone rocks, by which calcareous particles are dissolved, and sub- 
 sequently left by the evaporation of the water, on the roof of the 
 cavern. They hang like icicles, and gradually increase by the 
 deposition of stony particles, in concentric circles. 
 
 t Stalagmite is formed by the water which falls from the stalac- 
 tites to the floor of the cavern, where by evaporation, it deposiles 
 its calcareous matter. Sometimes the stalactite and the stalagmite 
 meet each other, and joining, form pillars, extending from the floor 
 to the roof of the cavern.
 
 CHANGE OF CLIMATE. 229 
 
 or sand, which most probably would have been the case, 
 had they drifted there in the naked state. 
 
 The genera of animals to which the Kirkdale bones be- 
 long amounted to twenty-three in number ; viz., Hyena, 
 Tiger, Bear, Wolf, Fox, Weasel, Ox, Elephant, Rhinoce- 
 ros, Hippopotamus, Horse, Deer three species, Hare, Rab- 
 bit, Water-rat, Mouse, Raven, Pigeon, Lark, Duck, and 
 Partridge. 
 
 A great proportion of these animals belonged to species 
 now supposed to be extinct, though the genera of them all 
 are still living. 
 
 On examination of all the circumstances, Professor 
 Buckland concludes that this cave was the den of hyenas, 
 and that the multitude of bones thus discovered, were car- 
 ried into this place by these animals, and therefore that the 
 hyena, an animal now inhabiting the hottest climates, once 
 lived in England. 
 
 These bones were, without exception, broken or gnawed, 
 so that, among the vast numbers the cave contained, there 
 could hardly be found all the pieces for a single limb, 
 much less for an entire skeleton. The great number of 
 hyenas which had died in this cave, or whose skulls had 
 been carried there, was proved by the number of the canine 
 teeth of this animal, which it contained. 
 
 Professor Buckland states that one collector obtained 
 more than 300 of these teeth, and as each individual has 
 only four of this kind, these must have belonged to at 
 least seventy-five of these animals. But from the num- 
 ber of such teeth found, besides the 300. and other cir- 
 cumstances, it was judged that not less than from 200 to 
 300 hyenas had perished in this cave. Hence, it is con- 
 cluded, that the cave had been for a long series of years a 
 den of hyenas, and that these bones were carried there as 
 their food. 
 
 This supposition is supported by the well known habits 
 and appetites of these animals at the present day ; their 
 habitations being the deep recesses of the rocks, and their 
 food the carcasses and bones of animals already dead, and 
 decayed. 
 
 The immense power of the jaw, which these animals 
 possess, enables them to break and masticate bones in a 
 manner which no other animal can do. When they at- 
 tack a dog, it is said they begin by biting off his leg at a 
 "single snap;" and Prof, Buckland, after a part of his 
 20
 
 230 CHANGE OF CLIMATE. 
 
 work was written, had the satisfaction of seeing a Cape 
 Hyena, in confinement, crush the thigh bone of an ox, in 
 a manner which convinced him that the bones in the 
 cave had undergone a similar operation. The animal bit 
 off all the upper part of the bone, which he swallowed in 
 the shape of fragments, licking out the marrow from the 
 cavity. The lower part, being exceedingly hard, he did 
 not eat; and with this Prof. Buckland compared the frag- 
 ments of similar bones found in the cave. His words are, 
 " I preserved all the fragments and gnawed parts of this 
 bone, for the sake of comparison, by the side of those 
 I have from the ante-diluvian den in Yorkshire : there is 
 absolutely no difference between them, except in point of 
 age." 
 
 This experiment was followed by presenting the fero- 
 cious animal with other bones. " I gave him, successive- 
 ly," says he, " three shin bones of a sheep, he snapped 
 them asunder in a moment, dividing each into two parts, 
 all of which he swallowed entire, and without the small- 
 est mastication. On the keeper putting a spar of wood, 
 two inches in diameter, into his den, he crushed it in 
 pieces, as if it had been touch-wood, and in a minute the 
 whole was reduced to a mass of splinters. The power of 
 his jaws far exceeded any animal force of the kind I ever 
 saw exerted, and reminded me of nothing so much as a 
 miner's crushing mill, or the scissors with which they 
 cut off bars of iron and copper, in the metal foundries." 
 Reliquice Diluviance, p. 37. 
 
 It is not to be supposed that the carcasses of the Ele- 
 phant, Rhinoceros, and Hippopotamus, were carried into 
 this cave in an entire state ; for neither the strength of 
 the Hyena, nor the size of the aperture would favor such 
 an opinion. The state of the bones, on the contrary, 
 would seem to indicate that they were dragged in, one at 
 a time, from the carcasses of such animals as were found 
 dead in the neighborhood, as food for these ferocious 
 beasts. 
 
 On the hypothesis that these animals had entered the 
 Kirkdale cavern, when living, and of their own accord, it 
 " may at once be objected, that unless the size of the aper- 
 ture was much larger formerly than when discovered, this 
 would have been impossible ; besides, the elephant, horse, 
 hippopotamus, and most of the other animals whose bones 
 the cave contained, never voluntarily go into such places.
 
 CHANGE OF CLIMATE. 231 
 
 The idea has also been suggested, that these animals 
 might have taken shelter in this place in order to avoid 
 some catastrophe, perhaps the deluge. But this opinion 
 is fully as improbable as the other, for in addition to the 
 fact, that most of these animals have never been known 
 to enter caves, on any occasion no circumstances can be 
 imagined, which would have forced the deer and the tiger, 
 the horse and the wolf, the fox and the rabbit, together 
 with the hyena and elephant, to take shelter in the same 
 place, at the same time. But what makes all this improb- 
 able, and indeed impossible, is, that not a single entire 
 skeleton was found in the cave ; clearly proving that the 
 bones, only, of these animals were carried there. 
 
 All these facts and circumstances prove, in as satisfac- 
 tory a manner as can be desired, that England was once 
 inhabited by elephants, hyenas, tigers, and other animals 
 belonging only to hot climates; for that these bones could 
 have been drifted from a foreign climate into this cave, is 
 more improbable than any hypothesis we have mentioned; 
 for the bones alone would have sunk in the water ; and 
 had they been covered with flesh, the larger animals not 
 only could not have entered, but if so, their entire skeletons 
 would have still remained.' 
 
 li is therefore reasonable to conclude, that these animals 
 lived and died in the country where their bones are found ; 
 nor is there any one circumstance which can be employ- 
 ed as an argument against such a belief, except the coldness 
 of the climate at the present day. 
 
 The only climates in which the elephant, the rhinoceros, 
 the hippopotamus and hyena are now found, are among 
 tte hottest on the earth ; and it is said, the only country 
 which all these four animals inhabit together, is Southern 
 Africa. In the neighborhood of the Cape of Good Hope, 
 these four animals live and die together, as they formerly 
 did in England. 
 
 " To the question," says Prof. Buckland, " which here 
 so naturally presents itself, as to what might have been the 
 climate of the northern hemisphere when peopled with 
 genera of animals, which are now confined to the warmer 
 regions of the earth, it is not essential to the point before 
 me to find a solution ; my object is to establish the fact, 
 that these animals lived and died in the regions where 
 their remains are found, and were not drifted thither by 
 the diluvial waters from other latitudes. The state of the
 
 232 CHANGE OF CLIMATE. 
 
 climate in which these extinct species may have lived, 
 antecedently to the great inundation by which they were 
 extirpated, is a distinct matter of inquiry, and on which 
 the highest authorities are not agreed." 
 
 Cuvier is of the opinion, that many of the extinct fossil 
 animals were of a different species from those now in ex- 
 istence, and therefore the inference may he drawn, that 
 some species of the same genera might have heen fitted for 
 a cold, while others could live only in a warm climate. 
 
 Thus the fox is found, both in the coldest, and the hot- 
 test regions ; and the Newfoundland dog is so protected 
 by his coat, as to endure the cold of an arctic winter, 
 while the naked African species would perish in a moder- 
 ate climate. 
 
 On the other hand, it may be contended that the re- 
 mains of many animals are found in strata in cold regions, 
 which are not liable to any such variations, and whic'a 
 from their nature, or structure, are known to live only in 
 hot climates ; such are the crocodiles and some species of 
 the tortoise. 
 
 But the want of vegetation in cold climates, is an insu- 
 perable objection to the hypothesis, that such animals as 
 the elephant, rhinoceros and hippopotamus, could have 
 been maintained during the winter season in Great Brit- 
 ain, let their natural clothing be supposed ever so warm. 
 And besides, the bones of these animals, and especially 
 those of the elephant, are nowhere found in such abun- 
 dance, as in Siberia, one of the most inhospitable climates 
 on the earth, and in which country, at the present day, 
 there is hardly sufficient vegetation to maintain a few ele- 
 phants, even during the few months of summer ; and 
 where that most hardy of all quadrupeds, the rein-deer, 
 can with difficulty maintain itself through the rigors of 
 an eight months' winter. At present, the elephant and 
 rhinoceros, except through the tyranny of man, are never 
 found out of a country perpetually verdant. 
 
 With respect to the supposition which has been offered, 
 that these animals might have migrated with the seasons, 
 and thus enjoyed the luxury of a constant vegetation, it is 
 plain that the present geographical situation of England, 
 would invalidate any such hypothesis, unless it can be 
 shown that these animals found a warmer country by 
 crossing the straits of Dover, a distance of more than 
 twenty miles, by water. This, so far as regards the rhi-
 
 CHANGE OF CLIMATE. 233 
 
 noceros, tiger and hyena, is clearly impossible, and it is 
 well known that the hippopotamus not only lives exclu- 
 sively in fresh water, but that its unwieldy bulk prevents 
 it from taking long and rapid journeys. 
 
 Thus the fact which geology has brought to light, with 
 respect to certain portions of the animal, as well as the 
 vegetable, kingdom, appear very clearly to concur in pro- 
 ving, that the climate of Europe was once, at least as ar- 
 dent as the hottest parts of Africa are at this day ; and that 
 there was a time, when Siberia was clothed with a suffi- 
 ciency of vegetation to support herds of elephants during 
 the whole year. 
 
 Causes which have produced a change of climate. With 
 respect to the cause, or causes which have effected so great 
 a change in the temperature of the earth's surface, there 
 are a great variety of opinions. 
 
 Burnet, as stated in the abstract we have given of his 
 theory, accounted for this change by supposing that the 
 earth's axis took a new and different position at the time 
 of Noah's flood ; but astronomy has shown the improba- 
 bility of any such change in position. 
 
 Most writers who admit a deterioration of climate, sup- 
 pose with Burnet, that the change was sudden, and that it 
 took place about the period of the deluge. Some, how- 
 ever, and among them Mr. Lyell, believe it to have been 
 gradual, occupying thousands of years, and to have been 
 caused by the changes which have taken place in the rel- 
 ative positions of the sea and land. But in the first place, 
 no such changes as this author supposes are proved to 
 have happened with respect to the sea and land ; nor se- 
 cond, had such changes been proved, is it at all probable, 
 such local causes could have been adequate to effect a 
 change so material and universal. 
 
 Other theorists, who maintain the deterioration to have 
 been gradual, think that the most reasonable mode of ac- 
 counting for it, is to suppose that the earth was created in 
 the state of a fused mass, and that it has been cooling ever 
 since. 
 
 Sir John F. W. Herschel has recently made some cal- 
 culations and inquiries, with the view of ascertaining 
 whether there existed any astronomical causes, which 
 might account for the difference between the present and 
 ancient heat of the earth's surface " Geometers," he says, 
 20*
 
 234 CHANGE OF CLIMATE. 
 
 "have demonstrated the absolute invariability of the mean 
 distance of the earth from the sun ; whence it would at 
 first seem to follow, that the mean annual supply of light 
 and heat derived from that luminary would be alike inva- 
 riable; but a closer consideration of the subject will show, 
 that this would not be a legitimate conclusion; but that 
 on the contrary, the mean amount of solar radiation is de- 
 pendent on the eccentricity of the earth's orbit, and there- 
 fore liable to variations. 
 
 " Now the eccentricity of the earth's orbit," he con- 
 tinues, " is actually diminishing, and has been so for ages 
 beyond the records of history. In consequence, the ellip- 
 sis is in a state of approach to a circle, and the annual 
 average of solar heat radiated to the earth is actually on the 
 decrease. But whether this diminution of radiated heat is 
 sufficient to account for the refrigeration of climate, which 
 geological facts appear to prove, is a question which has 
 not been decided." 
 
 Allowing that the earth's orbit should become a perfect 
 circle, we are at a loss to see how the mean annual radia- 
 tion should thereby be diminished. It is the opinion of 
 M. Arago, that the mean amount of solar radiation can 
 never be materially affected by the irregularities of the 
 earth's annual motion. 
 
 It would appear, therefore, that we cannot look to as- 
 tronomy with much confidence, for a solution of the prob- 
 lem in question. 
 
 A recent and highly respectable author, Dr. Ure, of 
 Glasgow, believes that the original heat of the earth was 
 dissipated in consequence of the evaporation of the waters 
 of the deluge. 
 
 The cooling influence of evaporation, under certain cir- 
 cumstances, is undoubtedly very great, and most probably 
 in many instances, produces effects which are attributed 
 to other causes. In India, ice is produced by the evapora- 
 tion of water in the open air. It is said that under cer- 
 tain circumstances, by the spontaneous evaporation of one 
 part of water from the surface of thirty-two parts, at the 
 temperature of 62, the remaining thirty-one parts will 
 be rendered nearly ice cold, and by the evaporation of 
 four parts more, the remaining twenty-seven will become 
 ice. 
 
 The effects of evaporation, together with the absence of 
 a large heating surface, is strikingly illustrated in the tern-
 
 JR. - 
 
 CHANGE OF CLIMATE. 235 
 
 perate climate of St. Helena. This island, though less 
 than eighteen degrees from the equator, and on a parallel 
 with the burning plains of continental Africa, enjoys one 
 of the most comfortable and salubrious climates on the 
 earth. At Jamestown, the thermometer, in the warmest 
 season, seldom rises above 80. In the country, the cli- 
 mate is still more mild, the thermometer, in some seasons, 
 never rising higher than 72. At Jamestown, the average 
 temperature during the year is from 66 to 78, the heat 
 at this place, being concentrated by the high rocks which 
 rise above the town. At Plantation house, the average 
 heat is only from 61 to 73, and at Longwood, the last 
 residence of Napoleon, from 56 to 68. 
 
 The island of Sumatra, though directly under the equi- 
 nox, presents a similar exemption from the excessive 
 heats with which the interior of continents, situated on 
 the same parallel, are oppressed. The heat, at this isl- 
 and, seldom rises higher than 85, at any season ; while at 
 Bengal, which is situated in 22 north latitude, it is often 
 above 100. 
 
 It is at a distance from the sea, and where the surface is 
 dry, that the greatest accumulation of heat takes place. 
 Mungo Park relates that in some districts in Africa, the 
 ground became so hot by the action of the sun, that even 
 the negroes, though accustomed to that ardent climate, 
 could not bear to touch it with their naked feet ; and that 
 he could not hold forth his hand against a current of air 
 which entered the crevices of his hut, without feeling acute 
 pain from its scorching effects. 
 
 Dr. Ure supposes that a portion of the ante-diluvian 
 land is now covered by the ocean, and that the heating 
 surface, or dry land on the earth, was twice as extensive 
 before the deluge as it is now, and, consequently, as a 
 whole, that its heating effects were doubled. 
 
 We cannot follow Dr. Ure through the detail of facts 
 and arguments which he has brought forward on this 
 subject ; but after many additional statements to those we 
 have given, he concludes, " that the facts and observations 
 just detailed, seem adequate to prove that the events of 
 the deluge involved such a change in the terraqueous con- 
 stitution, as rendered the surface of the globe much cold- 
 er and moister than it had previously been." Geology, 
 p. 491. 
 
 The great and sudden fall of temperature, which the
 
 236 CHANGE OF CLIMATE. 
 
 earth suffered at a former time, and which is supposed to 
 have taken place about the period of the deluge, is indi- 
 cated by the situation and number of fossil bones, belong- 
 ing to species known to inhabit hot climates, found in 
 northern latitudes. 
 
 "The almost incredible number of bones of fossil ele- 
 phants," says Dr. Ure, "found in northern Siberia, which 
 betray no marks of having been rolled or transported 
 from a distance, attest the existence on its plains of huge 
 herbiverous animals at that distant epoch. These demon- 
 strate that a vigorous vegetation clothed countries now 
 covered with frost a great part of the year, where, even 
 in summer, sterilizing cold and humidity perpetually 
 reign, and where, at present, the reindeer can hardly 
 pick up from beneath the snow its scanty mouthful of 
 moss." 
 
 Not only the bones of elephants, but those of the rhino- 
 ceros, the mastodon, and hippopotamus, are found in Si- 
 beria. All these animals living on vegetables, and, from 
 their sizes, requiring large quantities for their sustenance, 
 it would seem impossible, as we have before stated, that in 
 the present state of the climate, there should have grown a 
 sufficient quantity of nourishment for the support of these 
 animals. 
 
 That these animals died where they had lived, and where 
 their remains are now found, is proved by the circum- 
 stances that their skeletons are entire, and that their bones 
 show no scratches, or other marks of transportation or fric- 
 tion. That these bones have not lain for a long period in 
 a hot climate, is proved by their state of preservation ; 
 many of the elephants' tusks being perfectly sound, and 
 making the best of ivory, for which purpose vast num- 
 bers have been dug up and sold. The change of climate 
 must therefore have taken place at the deaths of these ani- 
 mals, or soon after. 
 
 That these animals died suddenly, and remained in a 
 cold climate after death, at least some of them, is proved 
 by the circumstance, that the body of an elephant was 
 found on the bank of the river Lena, in 1803. It was 
 frozen in the ice, a large proportion of the flesh being still 
 preserved, and serving as food for the white bears and 
 dogs. Now, since there is no reason to believe that this 
 animal could have lived in a cold climate, and as there is
 
 CHANGE OF CLIMATE. 237 
 
 every reason to suppose that he died where his remains 
 were found, perhaps the nature of such a case could not 
 admit of stronger evidence, that there happened a great 
 aud sudden change from heat to cold in that country, and 
 that this took place at the time when this animal perished, 
 or soon after. 
 
 If it is certain, that this animal could not have lived in 
 a cold climate, and equally so that his hody could not have 
 been preserved more than a few days in a hot one, the con- 
 clusion is inevitable, that the climate must have changed 
 at the time of his death, or immediately afterwards. 
 
 The opinion of Baron Cuvier, entirely coincides with 
 what here seems to be proved. " Every hypothesis," says 
 he, " of a gradual cooling of the earth, or a slow varia- 
 tion, in either the inclination or position of the axis of the 
 globe is inadmissible." 
 
 There are many reasons for believing that the animals 
 whose remains are thus found, were destroyed at the time 
 of the general deluge, and also that their bodies were not 
 transported to any considerable distance by that catastro- 
 phe. There bones are found on plains and the sides of 
 valleys, where we should suppose their bodies would have 
 been left by the retiring waters, and in many instances they 
 have been found covered by sand or gravel, such as are 
 considered diluvial deposites, and under such circumstan- 
 ces, as to make it improbable that any ordinary flood 
 would have produced similar effects. 
 
 On reviewing the facts and circumstances above stated, 
 it is thought that we may fairly come to the following 
 conclusions : 
 
 First, That the climate of Siberia was once similar to 
 that of the tropics of the present day. 
 
 Second, That at the epoch of the deluge, the climate of 
 Siberia suffered a sudden and material change in its tem- 
 perature, and that it then became similar to what it is 
 now. 
 
 Third, That the deluge was the most probable cause 
 of the destruction of several ancient races of quadrupeds, 
 which inhabited that country, anterior to the flood, and 
 among which, were the elephant and rhinoceros, the 
 bones of which still exist there. And, 
 
 Fourth, That the most probable cause of the sudden 
 change of climate in Siberia, and of the decrease of the 
 superficial temperature of the earth generally, was the
 
 238 CHANGE OF CLIMATE. 
 
 cold produced by the evaporation of the waters of the 
 deluge. 
 
 Farther remarks on Change of Climate. Since the 
 former edition of this work, considerable light has been 
 thrown on the subject of organic remains as connected 
 with " change of climate," by various Avriters; and from 
 which it appears that some species of animals belonging 
 to genera, usually considered tropical, have been found 
 capable of sustaining much higher latitudes than was be- 
 fore supposed. 
 
 It will be remembered, that in nearly every instance, 
 the fossil bones of animals belonging to genera now living, 
 were of species unknown to naturalists of the present day. 
 It may therefore be inferred, that if it can be shown that 
 there are elephants and tigers now living in cold latitudes, 
 the fossil bones of these animals, found in Siberia and 
 other northern regions, might have belonged to such spe- 
 cies, and thus that the situation of these bones may be 
 accounted for, without so great a change of climate as has 
 heretofore be*en supposed. 
 
 It has recently been proved, beyond all doubt, that a 
 species of tiger identical with that of Bengal, is common 
 in the vicinity of lake Aral, in Independent Tartary, in 
 latitude 45 north, and also, that this animal is often seen 
 in Siberia as high as latitude 52. Humboldt, who states 
 these facts, remarks, that the part of Asia now inhabited 
 by this species of tiger, is separated from the Himmaleb 
 by two great chains of mountains, each covered by per- 
 petual snow. These mountains are the Kuenlun, in 
 latitude 35, and the Mouztagh, in latitude 42. So that if 
 is impossible that these animals should merely have made 
 excursions from India, and penetrated during the summer 
 to 48 and 53 of latitude, where they are found. In 
 1828, a tiger was killed on the bank of the Lena, in Asiatic 
 Russia, in latitude about 52, and in a climate colder than 
 that of Petersburg, or Stockholm. We are not informed 
 whether this tiger was covered with fur and long hair, or 
 not, but it is stated, in the Ehrenberg Journal of Natural 
 Sciences, as quoted by Mr. Lyell, that a new species of 
 panther (Felis irbis) has been discovered with long hair, 
 in Siberia, evidently inhabiting, like the tiger, a region 
 north of the Celestial Mountains, which are in latitude 
 42.
 
 CHANGE OF CLIMATE. 239 
 
 In 1772, Professor Pallas obtained from the banks of 
 the Wiljui, a tributary of the Lena, the remains of a rhi- 
 noceros, (R. tickorinus,) taken from the sand, where it 
 must have remained frozen for ages. This carcass re- 
 sembled a mummy, but emitted a smell like that of decay- 
 ing, or putrefying flesh. The skin was covered with thick 
 hair, which was of great length about the feet. 
 
 The elephant found preserved in ice in latitude 70, an 
 account of which will be found among that of other fossil 
 quadrupeds in this work, was also covered with a warm 
 coat, consisting of fur and hair. This animal, indeed, 
 seems to have been as well protected from the cold, as is 
 the Musk Ox, of the present day. 
 
 Bishop Heber, in his " Narrative of a Journey through 
 the Upper Provinces of India," informs us that in the 
 range of the lower Himmaleh mountains, in latitude be- 
 tween 29 and 30, he saw an Indian elephant of small 
 size, covered with shaggy hair. 
 
 Mr. Everest says, (Journal of Asiatic Society,) that the 
 wild elephant is found in the mountains north of Bengal, 
 at the elevation of 4000 feet above the level of the sea, 
 and in 31 north latitude. He also states that he had 
 heard of a solitary instance of an elephant covered with 
 shaggy hair at Delhi, but that he had never himself seen 
 such a phenomenon. It would therefore seem that the 
 individual seen by Bishop Heber must have been of an 
 exceedingly rare species, or variety ; since Mr. Everest 
 being a resident in India, and a writer on the subject, 
 would otherwise have obtained further information con- 
 cerning it. Whatever the climate of Russia and Siberia 
 might once have been, it is certain from the accounts of 
 writers, that it was once inhabited by such vast herds of 
 elephants, as to leave no parallel of the existence of such 
 numbers anywhere at the present day. Tilesius states, 
 that in northern Russia fossil tusks are so numerous, as in 
 all probability to excel in that country alone, all the living 
 elephants now on the earth. These tusks are many of 
 them entirely sound, and are at the present day, collected 
 and sold by thousands for ivory. 
 
 Now admitting that these animals were covered with 
 hair, so as to protect them from the consequences of an 
 arctic climate, still, as formerly stated, we are met with 
 the difficulty of accounting for the subsistence of such 
 herds of enormous animals. On this point, Dr. Fleming
 
 240 ORGANIC REMAINS. 
 
 remarks, " that the kind of food which the existing species 
 of elephant prefers, will not enable us to determine, or 
 even to offer a probable conjecture concerning that of the 
 extinct species. No one acquainted with the gramineous 
 character of the food of our fallow-deer, stag, or roe, would 
 have assigned a lichen to the reindeer." 
 
 But as all agree that the whole genera of elephants lived 
 on vegetable food, the difficulty scarcely subsides by sup- 
 posing the ancient species to have eaten a different kind 
 from those still existing, since all the vegetation of what- 
 ever kind now growing in Siberia, would not probably, 
 have supported one in a hundred of the animals whose 
 bones are found there. 
 
 With respect to the remains of animals found in very 
 high northern latitudes, as that of the elephant on the Lena 
 in latitude of 70, it is most probable that at least some, 
 and perhaps all of them were conveyed there by the cur- 
 rents of overflowing rivers. 
 
 It must be remembered that the rivers of Northern 
 Russia and Siberia run towards the north, and that there- 
 fore the snow in the regions of their head waters and 
 upper courses, being melted by the warmth of spring, 
 while hundreds of miles from their mouths, remain lock- 
 ed in ice, these rivers are every season subject to mighty 
 floods, not only because their channels are thus nearly 
 obliterated, but because the narrow valleys are blocked 
 up by the descending ice. 
 
 The Lena and Yenisei, both Siberian rivers, after run- 
 ning at least 2000 miles discharge themselves into the 
 Frozen Ocean, and therefore might transport the frozen 
 carcass of an animal this distance, without its being even 
 softened by the warmth of spring. 
 
 On reviewing the facts and circumstances above stated, 
 although it may not be considered necessary to suppose 
 so great a change in the climate of Siberia, as was for- 
 merly believed, in order to account for the organic phe- 
 nomena existing in that country, still there remain facts 
 in abundance, which we think cannot be reconciled with 
 any theory, but that of a great change of climate. 
 
 ORGANIC REMAINS. 
 
 Organic Remains, include, generally, all such organ-
 
 DIVISION OF FOSSILS. 241 
 
 ized substances as are found buried in the earth, as those 
 of plants, fish, shells, and the bones of quadrupeds. The 
 term Fossil is often used synonymously with organic, and 
 although the former word strictly signifies any thing dug 
 out of the earth, it is often applied to the petrified remains 
 of plants, and other organized bodies found in strata. 
 
 " Of all the appearances which the earth presents," 
 says Dr. Macculloch, "nothing has excited more atten- 
 tion than the existence of animal bodies in strata; while 
 the air of mystery which attended them stimulated curi- 
 osity, and may be said to have laid the foundation of geo- 
 logical science. If the presence of animals once sub- 
 marine, in rocks, and on lofty mountains, was a cause of 
 wonder, and a source of theories, so did the discovery of 
 the bones of large animals, lead to the belief of pre-exist- 
 ing races of giants, while in both cases, philosophy, with 
 history, sacred and profane, were perverted to find explana- 
 tions. 
 
 " The increase of knowledge has given a very different 
 complexion to this subject, and a more rational direction to 
 the pursuit. Yet the geologist seems in danger of forget- 
 ting that it is but one part of his science. Its details be- 
 long to zoology and botany; and he loses sight of his main 
 object, when he pursues these minutiae to the neglect of 
 their more interesting connexions with the history of the 
 globe. Still more deeply does he err, when he supposes 
 that a theory of the earth can be founded on what in- 
 volves so small a portion of its structure and history. It 
 is, doubtless, essential to know these objects; as to ar- 
 range and name them, is the grammar of this depart- 
 ment. But it is unfortunately true, that, whether the con- 
 templation of minutiae disables the mind for wider views, 
 or that only a minute mind can be engrossed by such 
 things, the power of profiting by collections and their study, 
 diminishes in proportion to their extent and the activity of 
 collectors, whether it be in natural history or in books." 
 Vol. i. 406. 
 
 DIVISION OF FOSSILS. 
 
 : :1- ,v.qi : <, 
 
 Fossils may be divided into marine and terrestrial ; the 
 first including all such as belong to the sea, and the second, 
 21
 
 242 INDICATION'S OF VIOLENT CHANGES. 
 
 such as inhabit the earth. The terrestrial may be again 
 divided into aquatic and terrene, since not the earth only, 
 but its waters are inhabited by various tribes, familiarly 
 known under the titles of fresh water fish, shells, &c. As 
 organic bodies, fossil remains are also divided in animals 
 and vegetables. The former including all such as had ani- 
 mal life, as quadrupeds, fish, and shells ; the latter, plants 
 of every kind found in the fossil state. 
 
 Indications of Violent Changes. That the earth on 
 which we live has suffered violent and extensive changes, 
 is almost everywhere indicated by its external appearance ; 
 and when we come to examine the interior of its crust, this 
 idea is confirmed in the most positive manner, by the ob- 
 vious fact that its rocks have been fractured, and its strata 
 dislocated. At what period or periods., these mighty chan- 
 ges took place, we have no means of knowing ; but that 
 its surface has been materially altered since the formation 
 of the more recent rocks, and subsequently to the creation 
 of organized beings, is clearly proved by their remains now 
 preserved in its strata. 
 
 In some instances, very extraordinary collections of 
 bones, remains of fish, vegetables, and other organic bo- 
 dies, have been found in situations, and under circum- 
 stances, which, though indicative of violent revolutions, 
 place all suppositions with respect to their origin at de- 
 fiance. 
 
 Thus, in the valley of the Thames, in England, at a 
 certain locality, in Essex, there is an alluvial deposite, 
 resting on chalk. " This," says Mr. Brande, " contains 
 such a remarkable assemblage of organic remains, some 
 of vegetable, and others of animal origin, as almost to 
 baffle all conjecture as to whence they came, and under 
 what circumstances they were brought together. The 
 remains of sea animals are blended with those of the 
 land, quadrupeds with fish, and fresh water fish with those 
 peculiar to the ocean. Animals of the land, the air, and 
 the water, are assembled together in most unaccountable 
 incongruity ; fruits and leaves, hazel nuts and pine cones, 
 are mixed with shark's teeth, crab's claws, and oyster 
 shells." 
 
 In the island of Sheppy, there exists a similar assem- 
 blage of various species of shells, mixed with fossil fruits. 
 Of the latter, 500 varieties have been found. At Brent
 
 FOSSIL QUADRUPEDS. 243 
 
 ford, phenomena of the same kind, and not less extraor- 
 dinary, have been discovered. Here exists a collection of 
 sea shells, shark's teeth, bones of the elephant, hippopota- 
 mus, ox, and deer, together with fresh water shells ; " the 
 whole," says Mr. Brande, " calculated to impress us with 
 the idea of the destruction of a vast menagerie, in which 
 animals of all denominations, and from all quarters of the 
 world, had been associated." 
 
 FOSSIL QUADRUPEDS. 
 
 In their descriptions of fossil remains, authors have 
 more generally commenced with those belonging to the 
 lowest strata, or those which, in the order of time, as shown 
 by the strata, were first called into existence, such as ex- 
 tinct species of plants, shells, &c. But as these are not 
 easily understood, and as there is no advantage to the 
 learner in such an arrangement, we have thought proper 
 to commence with the more perfect animals. 
 
 The number of quadrupeds, the classes and orders of 
 which have been determined by Cuvier, solely by an 
 examination of their bones, amount to 150. Of these, 
 ninety species were before entirely unknown to natural- 
 ists, and are, therefore, supposed not to inhabit the earth at 
 the present time, their entire races having perished at the 
 period when their bones, found in the most recent strata, 
 were there buried. Ten or twelve of the others' so nearly 
 resemble known species, that no doubt remains of their 
 identity. Many of those which remain, present kindred 
 features with known species, but the comparisons have not 
 been made with sufficient care to remove all doubt, and, 
 therefore, it is still uncertain whether their species exist 
 or not. 
 
 Of the ninety unknown species, about thirty belong to 
 genera still living, and the remaining sixty to genera en- 
 tirely new. 
 
 With respect to the classes and orders to which these 
 animals belonged, about one-fourth of the 150 species were 
 oviparous (egg laying) quadrupeds, as the alligator, lizard, 
 and tortoise. The remaining were mammiferous, or milk- 
 giving animals, as the elephant and mastodon. Of the 
 latter, more than one-half were non-ruminant, hoofed quad- 
 rupeds, as the horse and tapir.
 
 244 FOSSIL QUADRUPEDS. 
 
 From these facts thus developed, concerning the ani- 
 mals of the primitive, or ante-diluvian world, it might 
 perhaps be supposed that some theory could be formed 
 with respect to the proportions of the different genera, 
 which then inhabited the earth, and by a comparison of 
 these with the genera now existing, we should be enabled 
 % to see the difference. But it would be premature to form 
 any hypothesis on this subject at present, since we know 
 not but there are hundreds of extinct species still undis- 
 covered. 
 
 Cuvier has proved, as we shall see directly, that the 
 extinct species of quadrupeds are not varieties of those 
 now in existence, but that there exist distinct specific 
 differences between them. " A species," says he, "com- 
 prises all the individuals which descend from one another, 
 or from common parents, and those which resemble each 
 other, as much as they resemble themselves." Hence 
 the varieties of a species are the result merely of such 
 changes as take place in the color, size, and fineness of 
 the fur of animals, and which may be caused by a differ- 
 ence of climate, of food, or the domestication of the spe- 
 cies ; these varieties may therefore produce the exact like- 
 nesses of their parents. For example, the dog is a ge- 
 nus ; the pointer is one species, and the grayhound is an- 
 other. Now, every one who is conversant with dogs, 
 knows that pointers may differ from each other in color, 
 size, and shape, and even from the same parents it is sel- 
 dom that two precisely similar can be found. These are 
 varieties of the pointer, but the species are not changed, 
 for their instincts, habits, and general appearance are the 
 same with those of their parents. The same variations 
 may be observed in the grayhound, and, indeed, all other 
 species of dogs. But if the races are kept distinct, there 
 are no circumstances of climate, or keeping, that will 
 change the grayhound into the pointer, or the pointer into 
 the grayhound. The species are therefore entirely distinct 
 and unchangeable. 
 
 "The fox and the wolf," says Cuvier, "inhabit every 
 country from the icy to the torrid zone ; they experience 
 in this immense interval every change of climate and 
 condition, and yet the species have suffered no other 
 change, than a slight variation in the beauty of their fur. 
 The same accurate observer compared the sculls of foxes 
 from the north of Europe and from Egypt, with those of
 
 FOSSIL QUADRUPEDS. 245 
 
 France, but found no appreciable differences. Hence 
 we learn that the species of animals are not changed by 
 time and circumstances, as some have thought to be the 
 case." 
 
 Means of distinguishing Fossil Bones. Before pro- 
 ceeding to individual fossil species, it is necessary to de- 
 scribe the method by which naturalists have been enabled, 
 by examining their petrified bones, to distinguish these 
 unknown animals from each other, and from those now- 
 living. This art, or science, originated with the acute 
 and laborious Baron Cuvier, and by him was brought to 
 a degree of perfection, to which little has been added by 
 others. 
 
 "The principle on which this discrimination is founded, 
 is the peculiar, and perfect organization of each species, 
 so that one part is invariably, and exactly adapted to 
 another, and is indicated by it. Each animal constitutes 
 a whole, one systematic cycle, whose parts are in mutual 
 correspondence, and concur to the same definite action, by 
 a reciprocal re-action. None of these parts can change 
 without a symmetrical change in the others ; and hence 
 each taken by itself, indicates and gives form to all the 
 rest. 
 
 Thus if the organs of an animal are so constituted as to 
 digest only raw flesh, its jaws must be constructed for de- 
 vouring its prev ; its claws for seizing and tearing it ; its 
 teeth for cutting and dividing it ; the entire system of its 
 organs of motion for pursuing and overtaking it ; its or- 
 gans of sense for descrying it at a distance ; and even its 
 brain must be qualified for exercising the instinct of self- 
 concealment, and the art to ensnare its victim. Such is 
 the general condition of the carnivorous temperament; 
 every animal endowed with which, must combine them all, 
 for otherwise its race could not subsist. 
 
 For the jaw to seize its prey there must be a certain 
 kind of articulation, which gives prominence to the cheeks, 
 and fits the bones to receive the insertion of strong mus- 
 cles, for without these any such articulation would be use- 
 less. To enable the animal to carry off its prey, there 
 must be a certain degree of strength in the muscles of the 
 neck, and hence results a determinate form in the verte- 
 bras, and the hind part of the head, to which these mus- 
 cles are attached.
 
 246 FOSSIL QUADRUPEDS. 
 
 Whoever will compare the bones of a cat with ihose of 
 a rabbit, will see how these parts differ, and if he will 
 study the subject, he will soon convince himself, why 
 the bones of the rabbit, independently of the teeth, could 
 not have been fitted for the purpose of a rapacious an- 
 imal. 
 
 That the claws may seize the prey, there must be a cer- 
 tain mobility in the talons, and a certain degree of strength 
 in the toe joints, and thence there must result a corres- 
 ponding distribution of muscles, and tendons, so that 
 lightness and power may be combined. /The shoulder 
 bones in such animals must have great firmness, other- 
 wise the legs will not be fitted for the uses of the claws, 
 and this firmness of bone is thus prepared to receive the 
 insertion of strong muscles, by which the required power 
 is given. 
 
 It is unnecessary to show how the other parts of a 
 prowling animal are adapted to each other, so that the 
 whole machinery of bones, muscles, joints and tendons, 
 all combine to the accomplishment of the same end. The 
 parts of any animal, are indeed a "collection of wonders," 
 and he who does not behold in them the traces of Infinite 
 Wisdom and design, must either want understanding or 
 sight. 
 
 " In a word," says Cuvier, " the formation of the tooth 
 indicates the structure of the jaw, and its kind of articu- 
 lation; the structure of the shoulder bone, shows the form 
 of the feet, just as the equation of a curve, involves all its 
 properties ; and as by assuming each property separately 
 as the base of a particular equation, we should re-pro- 
 duce both the ordinary equation, and all its properties ; so 
 the nails and shoulder blade indicate the articulation of 
 the jaw; the thigh bone, and the other bones, taken sepa- 
 rately, give the form of the tooth, or are given by it in 
 their turn. 
 
 Since the mechanism of every animal involves certain 
 fixed and invariable principles and proportions which be- 
 long to the whole race, by ascertaining what these are, 
 we can readily distinguish one tribe or species from ano- 
 ther, though the differences may be ever so slight. To 
 the most common observer, the entire skeleton of a horse 
 would be distinguished from that of an ox, by the size and 
 proportions of the whole; and by comparing the thigh 
 bones of the two animals he would readily distinguish
 
 FOSSIL QUADRUPEDS. 247 
 
 these, and thus take one step in comparative anatomy, for 
 now he would be able to distinguish a horse from an ox, 
 merely by inspecting a single bone. 
 
 It is plain, from this example, that by the constant ex- 
 amination of the bones of different classes, genera, and spe- 
 cies of animals, the observer might attain to great per- 
 fection in this art, so that .even without comparison, he 
 would be able to decide in an instant, whether a given 
 bone belonged to any living genera of animals or not, and 
 by a closer care and comparison, to point out those differ- 
 ences which distinguish the osteology of one species from 
 that of another. 
 
 Are the species supposed to be extinct, varieties of living 
 species ? This question has already been noticed, but we 
 would be more particular on a point of so much impor- 
 tance in geology. Of the 150 fossil species, about ninety 
 are said to be extinct : that is, they are not known to exisf 
 in the living state, at the present time. Among these is 
 the mastodon, or mammoth, the bones of which have been 
 found in many places in this country. This is an exam- 
 ple of an extinct species. It is not found alive in any part 
 of the world, nor does it belong to any species of animals 
 known to exist. If such an animal was still living, even 
 among the most barbarous tribes, there can be little 
 doubt, but some information concerning it, would have 
 been given, at least to one among those individuals, who, 
 within the last few years, have explored most of the be- 
 fore unknown regions, in nearly every part of the world. 
 That the whole race of mastodons are extinct, therefore, 
 there can be no doubt. Nor can there be any question 
 that this animal was a distinct species from the elephant, 
 which it most resembled. This is proved by the size and 
 form of its bones, and especially by its tusks and grinders, 
 many of which have been compared with those of the 
 elephant now living, and the specific differences pointed 
 out. 
 
 It has been supposed by some naturalists, that more or 
 less of the unknown fossil species might still exist in parts 
 of the globe which have not yet been explored; but al- 
 though it may be possible that some of the smaller of 
 these animals may still be living, there is little probability 
 that any of the larger quadrupeds, or perhaps amphibious 
 animals will anywhere be found.
 
 243 FOSSIL QUADRUPEDS. 
 
 " If," says Baron Cuvier, " we examine what species of 
 quadrupeds have recently been found, and in what circum- 
 stances they have been discovered, we shall see that there 
 is but little hope of ever finding those that we have only 
 seen as fossils. Islands, of moderate extent, situated at a 
 distance from extensive continents, have very few quad- 
 rupeds, and these always of small size. When they have 
 large ones, it is because they have been brought from else- 
 where. Bouganville, and Cook, found only dogs and hogs 
 on the South Sea Islands, and the largest species of the 
 West Indies, was the agouti, (a species of the hare.) In 
 fact, only large territories, such as Asia, Africa, the two 
 Americas, and New Holland, have large quadrupeds, and 
 generally, species peculiar to themselves." 
 
 If there remained any extensive countries to discover, 
 we might hope to find new species, among which some 
 might be found, more or less resembling those of which 
 the bowels of the earth have preserved us relics, but it is 
 sufficient to cast a glance over the map of the world, and 
 see the numerous directions in which navigators have 
 ploughed the ocean, to judge that there cannot be any un- 
 discovered large tract of country still remaining. 
 
 The ancients were acquainted with nearly all the ani- 
 mals now known, except such as have been discovered in 
 America and New Holland. The Greeks were acquaint- 
 ed with the elephant, and the double and single horned 
 rhinoceros, and both these animals were common at Rome. 
 Heliogabalus exhibited the hippopotamus, and the giraffe 
 or cameleopard: and the two species of camel were 
 known to the Romans in the time of Julius Csesar. The 
 buffalo, the wild ox, the ox without horns, and the little ox, 
 no larger than a goat, the sheep with the great tail, and 
 the great sheep of India, were all known to the ancients, 
 for they have left descriptions of them. 
 
 The Romans exhibited lions, panthers, and tigers, by 
 the hundred ; they also showed hyenas, and even the cro- 
 codile of the Nile. Even the zebra also, which is found 
 only in southern Africa, graced their shows, and they 
 were well acquainted with the most remarkable species 
 of the ape tribe. 
 
 These facts show, that the ancients were acquainted 
 with all the animals of any size or consequence, in the 
 old world, and that naturalists, in later times, although 
 they have reduced zoology to a science, and have describ-
 
 FOSSIL QUADRUPEDS. 249 
 
 ed many smaller animals, which were probably unknown 
 to the Greeks and Romans, have still failed to discover any 
 quadrupeds of considerable size, with the exception of 
 those of America and New Holland. 
 
 It is quite improbable, therefore, that any of the larger 
 quadrupeds or amphibious animals, now considered ex- 
 tinct, are still anywhere in existence ; and since it has 
 been shown that they are chiefly distinct species, and not 
 varieties of those now known, there is no doubt but these 
 entire races have been destroyed by some violent catas- 
 trophe. 
 
 When, and by what means did these races perish? At 
 what period of the world these extinct species perished, 
 and whose bones are found in many parts of the earth, and 
 by what means a destruction so universal was occasioned, 
 are important questions in geology. 
 
 From the comparative ages in the formations in which 
 their bones are found, it would appear that a great propor- 
 tion of the large quadrupeds were destroyed at the same 
 time, their remains being found contiguous to each other, 
 and in strata, or diluvial deposites apparently of the same 
 age. The most probable cause of this general destruction 
 was that universal deluge, the marks of which we have 
 seen still remain in all parts of the earth. It is true, that 
 no certain proof of this can be adduced, but such a> hypoth- 
 esis will account for most of the phenomena observed with 
 respect to these remains, and which are unaccountable by 
 any other supposition. See Deluge. 
 
 It is proper, however, to state here, that there exists 
 one example of the extinction of a species in modern 
 times, and this in a gradual manner, or without the inter- 
 vention of any general catastrophe. This is the Dodo, 
 a large bird, figured and described by many former natu- 
 ralists. It appears that during the early voyages of Euro- 
 pean navigators to the East Indies, the Dodo existed in 
 various places, and especially on the island of Mauritius. 
 Linnaeus described it under the genus Didus. Brooks 
 (Nat. Hist. London, 1783) describes it as a large bird, with 
 short legs, great black eyes, large head, covered with a 
 membrane resembling a hood, or cowl, bill bluish white, 
 of great length, sharp and hooked at the end, body covered 
 with feathers much like those of the ostrich ; legs yellow, 
 with four strong toes. It is a simple bird, swallows stones
 
 250 FOSSIL QUADRUPEDS. 
 
 and is easily taken. Its flesh is good and wholesome, and 
 three or four are enough to dine one hundred sailors. 
 Vol. ii. p. 66. 
 
 Cuvier (Animal Kingdom) says that the species Didvt 
 ineptus, a description of which was first drawn up by the 
 Dutch navigators, has completely disappeared, nothing re- 
 maining of it at the present day, but a foot in the British 
 Museum, and a head at the Asmolean Museum at Oxford. 
 This, it is believed, is the only instance in which any spe- 
 cies known to naturalists has disappeared. 
 
 PARTICULAR FOSSILS. 
 
 It is incompatible with the design of 'this work, to give 
 a classification of those animals whose remains have been 
 discovered and described by different authors. A mere 
 enumeration of their species and varieties, including the 
 shells, would indeed fill a volume much larger than this. 
 We shall, therefore, select such as are most interesting 
 and instructive only, without reference to scientific ar- 
 rangement. 
 
 QUADRUPEDS. 
 
 Order Packydermata, or thick skinned. This is the 
 first order of fossil quadrupeds, examined by Cuvier. It 
 contains thirteen genera of non-ruminant, hoofed animals, 
 viz., Elephant, Mastodon, Rhinoceros, Hippopotamus, Ta- 
 pir, Hog, Horse, Daman, Pecaris, Phacocheres, Anoplo- 
 therium, Palseotherium, and Elasmotherium. 
 
 Genus Elephant. Of this genus there are three dis- 
 tinct species, two of which, the Indian and the African, 
 still exist, the third having been found only in the fossil 
 state. 
 
 1. The Indian elephant is found on both sides of the 
 Ganges, and in Borneo, Java, Sumatra, and other Indian 
 islands. This species has an oblong scull, concave front, 
 small ears, with grinding teeth, marked by ribands, or 
 plate lines, which are waved. 
 
 2. The African species are found at the Cape of Good
 
 FOSSIL QUADRUPEDS. 51 
 
 Hope, Senegal, and Guinea. It has a rounded scull, 
 large ears, and grinders, with lozenge-shaped lines on 
 their crowns. 
 
 3. Fossil or primeval elephant (Elephas primigenius.) 
 This is the mammoth of the Russians. It has an oblong 
 scull, concave front, very long bony sockets for its tusks ; 
 lower jaw bone obtuse, grinders parallel, and marked with 
 nearly parallel, and little waved ribands on the crown. 
 
 The bones of the last species are found in the fossil state 
 only, the species being extinct. 
 
 The fossil elephant more nearly resembled the Indian 
 than the African species, but differed from both in the 
 form of its grinders, the great size of its tusks, and espe- 
 cially in the projection of its tusk sockets, (see fig. 50.) 
 The peculiarity last mentioned, must have very much 
 modified the figure and organization of the proboscis, and 
 given to this elephant a physiognomy, differing much 
 more from the other species than might be inferred from 
 the resemblance of the other bones. Its size was about 
 that of the Indian elephant, viz. from ten to thi'rteen, or 
 even sixteen feet in height 
 
 In all animals of the same species, and ages, the teeth 
 are precisely alike, in form and number, and therefore 
 whenever we find merely a similarity, and not an identity 
 in this respect, we may know that the species are different, 
 though the genera may be the same. The form of the 
 jaw also differs with those of the teeth. 
 
 Fig. 49. 
 
 The annexed cuts show the difference between the 
 grinders of the living, and the fossil elephant. That on 
 ihe left hand, fig. 49, represents the under jaw of the liv-
 
 252 FOSSIL QUADRUPEDS. 
 
 ing Indian species ; that on the right, the corresponding 
 part of the fossil elephant. The sides of that of the living 
 species, converge nearly together at the lower part, and it 
 has a projecting point at A, furrowed with a long, narrow 
 canal. The teeth also converge, and the inequalities, or 
 ribands on the crowns, are waving lines, running oblique- 
 ly crosswise. The teeth in the fossil jaw stand parallel to 
 each other, and the canal in front is much shorter and 
 wider, and without the projecting point. The ribands also 
 in these are not oblique, as in the living, but run trans- 
 versely across the crowns. 
 
 In the two living species, the tusk sockets (alveoli,) do 
 not extend further down than the end of the lower jaw, so 
 that the chin has room to protrude between the tusks in a 
 pointed projection. But in the fossil heads, on account 
 of the great length of the tusk sockets, the lower jaw has 
 the appearance of having been truncated, or blunted at its 
 lower end, so as to admit of its being closed on the upper 
 one by means of which the lips come together in the act 
 of mastication, contrary from what takes place in the liv- 
 ing species. 
 
 These, with other differences, in the osteology of the 
 fossil and living elephants, which need not here be de- 
 tailed, make it certain that the fossil species belonged to a 
 race of animals not now in existence. 
 
 They resembled the mastodons, in many respects, but 
 were more nearly allied to the elephants, especially in the 
 form of the grinders. 
 
 The grinders of the fossil elephant are often ten or 
 twelve inches long, and have twenty-four ribands, or rais- 
 ed plates of enamel, crossing their crowns. 
 
 Fossil elephant bones have been found in a great num- 
 ber of places, and in many different countries. In nearly 
 every part of Siberia, as high as latitude 65, wherever a 
 river happens to undermine its banks, the bones of these 
 animals are dislodged. In some places, they have been 
 found in such abundance, that large quantities have been 
 transported to other countries, as a valuable article of 
 commerce. Indeed, it is said, that a considerable pro- 
 portion of the ivory employed in the arts, is of the fossil 
 kind. 
 
 Lieut. Kotzebue, in his late voyage of discovery, found 
 the bones and teeth of elephants, oreserved in an iceberg, 
 near Bhering straits.
 
 FOSSIL QUADRUPEDS. 253 
 
 In the valley of the Arno, near Florence, so great was 
 the accumulation of these fossil bones, that it is said the 
 inhabitants formerly used them for making fences between 
 their fields. TJiese bones are also found in many parts of 
 France, in Germany, in almost every part of Italy, the 
 Netherlands, Holland, Russia, Bohemia, in many parts of 
 England, and in the northern regions of North America. 
 A remarkable locality of them was discovered at Thiede, 
 near Wolfenbuttel, where eleven tusks and thirty grinders 
 were disinterred within a short distance of each other. 
 One of the tusks was fourteen feet eight inches long, and 
 bent into a perfect semi-circle. In nearly every gravel 
 pit, around London, the bones of this species are found. 
 They have also been discovered in Brentford, Kew, Wal- 
 lingford, Dorchester, Abingdon, Oxford, and many other 
 places in England. 
 
 This species must therefore have been exceedingly nu- 
 merous, and widely spread over different parts of the globe. 
 
 Elephant f reserved in ice. In several instances, the 
 bones of the fossil elephant have been found imbedded in 
 ice ; that of Lieut. Kotzebue has just been mentioned. In 
 one instance, the entire body of one of these animals pre- 
 served in this manner, has been discovered. It occurred 
 near the mouth of the river Lena, in Siberia. The flesh 
 had undergone no decomposition, the whole animal hav- 
 ing been entirely surrounded by the frozen mass. This 
 discovery was originally made by a Tungusian fisherman, 
 in 1798, who saw a large mass projecting from the ice, 
 but so far above his reach that he was unable to ascertain 
 its nature. The next year, going to the same place, the 
 mass was found partly disengaged from its bed, but still 
 the man was uncertain what it might be, as it was more 
 than a hundred feet above him, and inaccessible to his ap- 
 proach. The next year it was again seen, by the same 
 man, but it was not until the summer of 1803, five years 
 after the first discovery, that it fell down on a sand beach 
 of the Arctic ocean so as to be examined. 
 
 The fisherman now obtained a prize, for having detach- 
 ed the two tusks, he removed and sold them for fifty 
 roubles. 
 
 In 1806, Professor Adams, of St. Petersburg, went to 
 examine this animal, which still remained on the sand 
 beach where it had fallen, but the body was then consid 
 22
 
 54 FOSSIL QUADRUPEDS. 
 
 erably mutilated, the people in the neighborhood having 
 taken away large quantities of the flesh to feed their dogs; 
 and the white bears had not failed to regale themselves on 
 this antedeluvian delicacy. The skeleton, however, re- 
 mained quite entire, except that one of the fore-legs, and 
 the tusks were gone. The head remained covered, by 
 the dried skin, and the pupils of the eyes were still distin- 
 guishable. The brain, on opening the scull, was found 
 not quite filling its cavity, being somewhat dried. One 
 of the ears was in excellent preservation, still retaining its 
 form, and a tuft of strong bristly hair. This animal was 
 a male, and had a mane of considerable length, still on his 
 neck. 
 
 The skin, when detached, was so thick and heavy, that 
 it was with difficulty ten men could remove it. More than 
 thirty pounds of the hair and bristles of this animal were 
 gathered from the beach, where it had been left, and 
 trampled upon by the white bears, when tearing and de- 
 vouring the carcass. This hair was of three kinds, viz. 
 stifF black bristles, a foot long ; coarse hair, of a reddish- 
 brown color, and a woolly covering next the skin of the 
 same color. 
 
 The skeleton of this animal was transported to St. Pe- 
 tersburg, and the tusks having been procured th.^ wr <?! 
 was set up in the museum of that city, wh.fr? i* s;U *t* 
 mains. 
 
 Pig. 50. 
 
 The annexed wood cut, fig. 50, represents the head and 
 tusks of this animal, as drawn by Mr. Stokes, who also 
 gave a description of the whole, in the Ed. Quart. Jour- 
 nal, First Serie?, p. 95.
 
 FOSSIL QUADRUPEDS. 
 
 255 
 
 It will be observed that these tusks are of enormous 
 length, and that they form nearly a circle, differing great- 
 ly, both in shape and size, from those of the elephant of 
 the present day. The projection of the tusk sockets, mark- 
 ed a, may also be observed in this cut, and which, as al- 
 ready noticed, are peculiar to this species. 
 
 The skeleton is about nine and a half feet high, and six- 
 teen and a half feet long; and when it is considered how 
 much the cartilages, flesh and skin, added to his height and 
 dimensions, it is obvious that this must have been an ani- 
 mal of enormous magnitude. 
 
 The hair with which this animal was covered, would 
 seem to indicate that it was fitted for a cold climate ; and in 
 addition to this instance, Professor Pallas mentions the 
 discovery of an entire rhinoceros, with its skin and hair, 
 well preserved, and which occurred on the banks of a river, 
 not far from the Lena, where the elephant was found. 
 The rhinoceros is described as being covered with thick 
 hair, which was particularly long about the feet. 
 
 From these facts, it has been urged by some naturalists, 
 that the bones of the great quadrupeds found in cold cli- 
 mates, and of genera which now only inhabit hot ones, were 
 of species so different from these tribes, that they were fitted 
 for the cold situations where their remains are found ; and 
 hence that it is unnecessary to suppose that they were 
 either transported from warmer climates, or that the climates 
 where their bones are now found, have suffered any change. 
 But, as already observed, there remains a difficulty fully as 
 great, as is presented by the theories of transportation, or 
 change of climate ; for if Siberia was never warmer than 
 at present, it is impossible to believe that it should have ever 
 produced a quantity of vegetation, sufficient to have sup- 
 ported such herds of enormous animals, even during the 
 summer, and much less during the long winters of that 
 climate. See " Change of Climate. 1 ' 
 
 Genus Mastodon. This term comes from two words, 
 which signify a "little hill" and a "tooth," in allusion to 
 the prominences, or tubercles, which the crowns of these 
 grinders present. This form of the crown is similar to 
 that of carnivorous animals; and hence, when little was 
 known of fossil bones, it was supposed that the mastodon 
 had been a flesh eater, an error fully refuted by Cuvier.
 
 256 FOSSIL QUADRUPEDS. 
 
 Fig. 51. 
 
 The form of a mastodon's grinder is represented by fig. 
 51 ; the hilly points being a little worn by use. It is here 
 represented one fourth of the natural size, and is from a 
 specimen in the King's cabinet, at Paris. The difference 
 between this and the elephant's grinder, will immediately 
 be seen. The number of such teeth in the jaws of the 
 adult mastodon, was four in each. 
 
 The whole of the genus mastodon are extinct ; but from 
 their bones, Cuvier has determined six distinct species. 
 These bones have been found in various parts of the world, 
 the species being so different, as in some instances, not even 
 to inhabit the same countries. 
 
 The species of this animal are as follows : 1. The Great 
 Mastodon. 2. The Mastodon with narrow teeth. 3. The 
 Mastodon of the Cordilleras. 4. The Mastodon of Hum- 
 boldt. 5. The Small Mastodon. 6. The Tapiroid Mas- 
 todon. To these, Mr. Clift has added two others, making 
 in all, eight species. 
 
 The remains of the great mastodon have heretofore been 
 found only in North America. That with narrow teeth, 
 formerly inhabited South America ; and at Lima, many 
 of their grinders are preserved in the public cabinet, and 
 shown for the teeth of giants. The bones of the other spe- 
 cies occur in various parts of Europe, especially in Italy 
 and Germany. 
 
 Dr. Ure states that the first account of the Mastodon, is 
 in a letter from Dr. Mather, in America, to Dr. Wood- 
 ward, in London, dated 1712, and intimating that bones 
 and teeth of monstrous magnitude had been discovered in
 
 FOSSIL QUADRUPEDS. 257 
 
 1705, in Albany, in New England ; at present in the state 
 of New York on the Hudson river. He imagined them 
 to be the bones of giants. No interest was excited, how- 
 ever, until Mr. Croghan.an English geographer, in 1767, 
 sent several chests of osseous remains to Lord Shelburne, 
 and other persons in London. Dr. William Hunter ex- 
 amined these bones, and published an accurate description 
 of the lower jaw, in the Phil. Transactions for 1768. He 
 demonstrated that the animal in question, while it differed 
 from the elephant, had nothing in common with the hip- 
 popotamus. He justly concluded that the tusks and bones 
 belonged to the same animal. 
 
 In 1802, Mr. Peale of Philadelphia, having procured 
 numerous bones of the same animal from the neighbor- 
 hood of Newburgh, on the Hudson river, formed two 
 skeletons out of them, copying in wood those parts which 
 happened to be wanting. One of these still remains in 
 Mr. Peale's Museum, and is popularly known as the 
 skeleton of a Mammoth. 
 
 At the salt-springs in Ohio, called licks, and especially 
 at the Big-Bone lick, vast quantities of these bones have 
 .been found. Mr. Croghan, more than seventy years ago, 
 thought he saw there the remains of thirty individuals; 
 but a much greater number from that vicinity have since 
 been found. These bones also occur in Ohio and Ken- 
 tucky, and it is probable that they exist in all the tempe- 
 rate parts of North America. 
 
 In size, the great mastodon was about that of the ele- 
 phant, though it does not appear, in general, to have been 
 more than twelve feet in height, the Indian elephant some- 
 times being fifteen. Its tusks, trunk, and feet, and the bones 
 of the whole skeleton were very similar to those of the ele- 
 phant; the difference being chiefly in the dental system, 
 which, with respect to the grinders, has been above de- 
 scribed and illustrated. 
 
 The number of grinders in the adult mastodon, as al- 
 ready stated, is four in each jaw. Of these, the two front 
 ones, in the upper jaw, have six points, and the other two 
 in the same jaw have eight. In the lower jaw, the two 
 anterior ones have also six points, and the two posterior 
 ones, ten. But, it appears that the great mastodon had, 
 successively, at least four grinders on each side of its two 
 jaws : but as in the elephant, these teeth never appeared 
 all at the same time. Their succession took place, in both 
 22*
 
 258 FOSSIL QUADRUPEDS. 
 
 animals, from behind, forwards. When the posterior one 
 began to cut the gum, the anterior one was greatly worn, 
 and ready to drop out. In this way, they replaced one 
 another. There does not seem to have been ever more 
 than two on each side, at the same time, in full exercise, 
 and in old age, only one. Thus, the effective number of 
 grinders, in youth, was eight, and, in extreme old age, only 
 four. The largest grinders of the mastodon weigh ten or 
 twelve pounds. 
 
 Genus Hippopotamus. There is only one species of 
 this animal living; but Cuvier has determined two or 
 three others, existing in the fossil state. They are all 
 much smaller than the existing species, one of them being 
 only about the size of a wild boar, while the living one, 
 is about twelve feet long, and five or six feet high, and 
 exceedingly thick set. 
 
 There is a peculiarity in the grinders of this animal, 
 which will immediately distinguish them from those of 
 other animals. 
 
 Fig. 52. 
 
 The lineaments of the crown are three lobed, or trefoil- 
 like, as represented by fig. 52, which shows the form of 
 the second grinder of the left side. This singularity will 
 make the teeth of this genus easily recognised. The 
 roots are concealed by a part of the jaw, the tooth being 
 seven-ninths of the natural size. 
 
 The remains of this genus are not nearly so common 
 as those of the elephant, though, in Tuscany, considera- 
 ble numbers have been found. They have also been dis- 
 covered in several parts of England, especially in the
 
 FOSSIL QUADRUPEDS. 259 
 
 Kirkdale cave. Possibly, the paucity of these bones may 
 be accounted for by the circumstance of the amphibious 
 habits of this genus, and their inability to wander to any 
 considerable distances from the water, so that their re- 
 mains might have been more exposed than those of the 
 elephant, to have been swept into the sea. 
 
 Genus Rhinoceros. There are three existing species 
 of this animal. 1. That of India, with a single horn on 
 the nose, and a rugous, plaited coat ; the cutting teeth be- 
 ing separated by a space from the grinders. 2. That of 
 the Cape of Good Hope, with two horns, the skin smooth, 
 and without folds, and no cutting teeth. 3. That of Su- 
 matra, with two horns, the skin but slightly rugous, thus 
 resembling that of the Cape, but having cutting teeth like 
 that of India. 
 
 On comparing the teeth of the living species with those 
 found in the fossil state, Cuvier determined that they were 
 so different as to constitute another species of this animal, 
 and whose remains are now found only in the strata of 
 the earth. 
 
 The remains of the extinct rhinoceros were first dis- 
 covered in digging a well, near Canterbury, in England, 
 seventeen feet below the surface. This was in 1668. 
 Afterwards Professor Pallas found, among a collection of 
 bones at St. Petersburg, four sculls and five horns, be 
 longing to this animal. Since that time, the bones of this 
 animal have been discovered in various parts of England, 
 Germany, and Russia. 
 
 Megatherium. This name merely signifies " a huge 
 wild beast." It is the most rare among all the great fos- 
 sil animals. 
 
 The first skeleton of this singular beast, was sent from 
 Buenos Ayres, in South America, to Madrid, in 1789, with 
 a notice that it was found in the ground about three leagues 
 from that city. 
 
 This animal was set up hi the Royal Cabinet of Madrid, 
 in the manner which has since been followed by Mr. 
 Peale of Philadelphia, with respect to the American mas- 
 todon, and Mr. Adams of Petersburg, with respect to the 
 Siberian elephant. 
 
 A minute description of the Megatherium, was publish- 
 ed soon after it was mounted, illustrated by five copper-
 
 260 FOSSIL QUADRUPEDS. 
 
 plate engravings. Afterwards a Livoninan anatomist, and 
 a German draughtsman, conjointly, published an exact 
 representation, and a good description of this skeleton. 
 Fig. 53. 
 
 The adjoining cut, fig. 53, from Dr. Ure's Geology, is 
 said, by the author, to present an exact form of this skele- 
 ton. It is thirteen feet long, and nine feet high, its size 
 being somewhat less than that of the mastodon. 
 
 With respect to the habits of this animal, " the teeth," 
 says Dr. Ure, " prove that it lived on vegetables, and its 
 robust fore-feet, armed with sharp claws, testify that it was 
 chiefly their roots that it sought after. Its magnitude and 
 its talons, supplied it with abundant means of defence. It 
 was not swift in running, but this was unnecessary, as 
 it had no occasion either to pursue or fly. It would 
 therefore be difficult to find in its organization alone, the 
 causes of the final destruction of this genus ; and yet, if it 
 still exists, where can it be 2 How can it have escaped all 
 the researches of hunters and naturalists ? Its analogies 
 approximate it to different genera of the edentel, or tooth- 
 less family of animals. It has the head and shoulder of a 
 sloth a creature possessing both tusks and grinders ; 
 while its limbs and its feet exhibit a singular mixture of 
 characters belonging to the ant-eaters, and the armadillos. 
 It has no analogy, whatever, to the felis, or tiger tribe." 
 Geology, p. 549. 
 
 This animal had neither tusks nor proboscis, like the 
 mastodon and elephant; this is proved by the great
 
 FOSSIL AMPHIBIOUS ANIMALS. 261 
 
 length of its neck, which, it is apparent, could not have 
 supported such apparatus. As its fore parts are exceed- 
 ingly strong, and its teeth not formed for tearing flesh, its 
 claws were probably employed in digging for the roots of 
 trees, as food, and if so, there is a probability that it bur- 
 rowed in earth. What a phenomenon in the imagination ! 
 An animal, of the size of an elephant, running about 
 under ground, like a mole, leaving a path after him 
 large enough for a horse and wagon to follow ; and, per- 
 haps, at the same time, throwing up a ridge on the surface 
 that would stop the career of a stage coach. If he only 
 burrowed, like a rabbit, what a mountain of earth he must 
 have thrown out ! 
 
 Megolonyx. This term signifies "great clawed" the 
 animal being so named from the great size of its claws. 
 
 This is another of the lost animals of the former world. 
 It belongs to the same genus with the last described, but 
 Cuvier, on comparing their bones, found that it was of a 
 different species. It is not so large, by one-third, as the 
 megatherium, but of the same form, in all respects. 
 
 The bones of this animal were found in a cavern, in the 
 county of Green Briar, Virginia, much decayed, and only 
 in sufficient number to form a small part of a skeleton. 
 
 Besides these skeletons of great quadrupeds, there have 
 been discovered a great variety of others in the fossil 
 state, several of them of large size, as the Elk, Tapir, and 
 some others, but most of them are of less interest than 
 those we have described, and for the descriptions of which, 
 we must refer the reader to more extended works on this 
 subject. 
 
 FOSSIL AMPHIBIOUS ANIMALS. 
 
 Of the antediluvian amphibia, the crocodile and lizard 
 tribes form the most interesting groups, especially the 
 latter. 
 
 Crocodile. Fossil bones of this animal have been found 
 in various countries, and in many localities. In England, 
 Germany, France, and Italy, their occurrence in strata, 
 are not uncommon. They appear all to belong to the
 
 262 FOSSIL AMPHIBIOUS ANIMALS. 
 
 sub-genus of Cuvier, which he called gavials, or long 
 muzzled. 
 
 A collection of these bones, made at Honfleiir and 
 Havre, in France, are preserved in the museum of Natural 
 History, in Paris. But the most perfect specimen of this 
 fossil is said to have been found near Monheim, in Ger- 
 many. It is enclosed between two plates of schistose, 
 marly limestone, of a yellowish gray color, mingled with 
 fragments of quartz. It was accompanied with the cast 
 of the tail of a small fish, and the remains of an insect. 
 
 The bones of the crocodile are browner than the stone 
 itself. The slab containing this animal is three feet long, 
 and fifteen inches broad, and the form of the head, trunk, 
 and tail, from end to end, is plainly to be seen impressed 
 in the rock, and very little deranged in respect to shape. 
 The upper jaw is armed with twenty-five or twenty-six 
 teeth on each side. The number of vertebrae, or pieces 
 composing the back bone, are sixty-nine ; and these are not 
 deranged, except towards the tail. 
 
 The remains of the fossil crocodile are found in strata, 
 lying far below those containing any species of quadru- 
 pe'ds, and hence are supposed to be of more ancient date. 
 Some remains of this animal in the Jura mountains, are in 
 limestone so solid as to be susceptible of a high polish. 
 
 With respect to these bones, Cuvier remarks, that " the 
 presence of an animal, such as the crocodile, apparently 
 belonging to fresh water, in such beds, is a very remark- 
 able circumstance. It is the more deserving of notice, as 
 it is accompanied with the remains of tortoises, all equally 
 inhabitants of fresh water. This fact, joined to several 
 others, proves that there existed dry lands, irrigated by 
 rivers, at an exceedingly remote period, and long before 
 the successions of those tertiary mineral formations, which 
 exist in the neighborhood of Paris. 
 
 Megalosaurus. This is one of the saurian, or lizard 
 tribe; the term signifies " great lizard." It appears to be 
 allied to the lizards and crocodiles, but differs from them 
 both. This was an antediluvian monster, far exceeding 
 in size any of the crocodiles of the present day. A fos- 
 sil thigh bone of one of these animals, which Cuvier mea- 
 sured, was thirty-two inches long ; and supposing that the 
 animal was proportioned like others of the lizard tribe, he 
 must have had a total length of forty-eight feet ; and from
 
 FOSSIL AMPHIBIOUS ANIMALS. 
 
 the incisor form of its cutting teeth, this must have been 
 an exceedingly fierce and voracious animal. 
 
 The bones of this specimen were found at Stonesfield, in 
 England, among innumerable marine fossils, such as the 
 teeth of sharks, the remains of crabs, sea shells, &c., and 
 therefore there is little doubt but this was a monster of 
 the ocean, though amphibious. 
 
 MrJMantell, of Lewes, in Sussex, has discovered mega- 
 losaurus' bones, of still greater dimensions, one of the 
 thigh bones being twenty-two inches in circumference, 
 whence he concludes that its length must have been fifty- 
 four inches. This, according to the estimated propor- 
 tions of the animal, gives him a total length of more than 
 seventy-five feet, a size in the animal kingdom, rarely 
 exceeded, even by the whales of the present day, and yet 
 this monster, in all probability, was capable of crawling, 
 or walking, both on the bottom of the sea, and on the 
 dry land, like the crocodiles of our own times. Its height 
 was probably fourteen or fifteen feet, being equal to that 
 of the largest elephant. 
 
 What sort of engines the ante- 
 diluvians possessed, which could 
 have withstood or destroyed a fierce 
 reptile, capable of devouring an ele- 
 phant or a rhinoceros at a meal, we 
 know not. At present, with the ex- 
 ception of our artillery, we possess 
 no weapons capable of preventing 
 the devastations of such a monster. 
 
 The teeth of this animal were lodg- 
 ed in distinct sockets. They were 
 curved backwards, undoubtedly for 
 the purpose of the better securing 
 their prey. They were compressed 
 or flattened laterally, with the edge 
 toothed, or serrated, through the 
 whole length of the posterior, or cut- 
 ting side, and at the point of the ai 
 terior side or edge. Fig. 54 repre- 
 sents the tooth of a megalosaurus of 
 the natural size. It is thin on the 
 concave or cutting edge, but thicker 
 on the convex side, so as to give it 
 strength, its shape being similar to
 
 264 FOSSIL AMPHIBIOUS ANIMALS. 
 
 that of a pruning knife. An animal seventy-five feet in 
 length, with a mouth containing perhaps more than sixty 
 such teeth, with a disposition like that of the crocodile, must 
 have presented a spectacle of which we postdiluvians can 
 have but a faint conception. 
 
 The formation of Stonesfield, where these remains oc- 
 cur, consists of a sandy slate, about six feet thick, lying 
 below several strata of limestone, of different kinds, and 
 about forty feet from the surface. ' 
 
 Iguanodon. This animal approached in structure, more 
 nearly to the Iguana, a large species of lizard, found in the 
 West-Indies, than to any other species. Its length was be- 
 tween sixty and seventy feet. 
 
 Cuvier pronounced this reptile to have been the most 
 singular and extraordinary of all the antediluvian wonders 
 yet discovered. Its great peculiarity consists in the form 
 of its teeth, which shows, that notwithstanding its saurian 
 form, it was a herbivorous animal, in which it differed from 
 all the lizard tribes. 
 
 Ichthyosaurus and Phsiosaurus. These are two genera 
 of singularly formed sea lizards. Ichthyosaurus is derived 
 from two Greek words, and signifies marine lizard. Ple- 
 siosaurus means lizard-like. 
 
 These, among all the fossil animals that have been disco- 
 vered, are most calculated to surprise the naturalist, by their 
 least resemblance to any individuals now living, and by 
 their singular combinations of structure. 
 
 In the Ichthyosaurus we see the muzzle of a dolphin, 
 the teeth of a crocodile, the head and breast of a lizard, the 
 paddles of ^ turtle, and the backbone of a fish. 
 
 In the Plesiosaurus we have the same turtle-like pad- 
 dles, a lizard's head, and a long neck, like the body of a 
 serpent. 
 
 Fig. 55. 
 
 Ichthyosaurus. This fossil skeleton is represented by 
 fig. 55. No entire skeleton of this animal has yet been
 
 FOSSIL AMPHIBIOUS ANIMALS. 265 
 
 found ; but fragments having been collected in the lime- 
 stone formations in various parts of England, and the 
 whole having been joined, and the absent parts supplied 
 with carved wood, a skeleton, such as is here represented, 
 is composed. It appears that England was the principal 
 sepulchre of this animal, few of its remains having been 
 discovered otherwhere. 
 
 In length, this animal was about twenty feet, and there- 
 fore, does not in this respect, compare with several of the 
 antediluvian reptiles. But its singular combinations of 
 structure, together with the vast number of bones compo- 
 sing its skeleton, have rendered it one of the most curious 
 and interesting objects to naturalists which has been pre- 
 sented. 
 
 The vertebra? amount to about ninety in number, and 
 the number of pieces of bone contained in each paddle, is 
 100. These are flat, and placed in contact with each 
 other, like Mosaic work, or a tesselated pavement. It was 
 an amphibious animal, but lived chiefly in the water, as 
 is indicated by the form of its paddles, which hardly could 
 have permitted it even to crawl upon the shore. It is 
 probable, therefore, that although it was an air-breathing 
 animal, if it had the misfortune to be cast upon the shore, 
 it must ha.ve remained motionless and died, as whales and 
 dolphins do, under like circumstances. 
 
 The teeth of this animal were about half an inch in 
 length, sharp pointed, but not curved like those of the 
 megalosaurus ; their number was thirty in each jaw. 
 
 But the most striking feature in the appearance of this 
 strange animal, was the enormous size of his eyes, and 
 which must have given h!"a a most terrific physiognomy. 
 Fig. 56. 
 
 The sclerotic, or outer coat of the eye, was beset by a 
 circle of bony pieces, as seen in the adjoining representa- 
 tion of the skeleton of the head, probably in order to give 
 it strength arid prominence. These pieces of bone from 
 
 23
 
 266 FOSSIL AMPHIBIOUS ANIMALS. 
 
 a character common to birds, tortoises, and lizards, to the 
 exclusion of crocodiles and fishes ; and hence, one of the 
 marks by which it is proved that this animal belonged to 
 the lizard tribe. The comparative size of the eye socket, 
 when compared with the other parts of the head, will give 
 us some idea of the frightful appearance of this animal j 
 as will the long rows of curved teeth with which his jaws 
 are studded, of his power to seize and hold his prey. 
 From the dimensions of the head, we may suppose that 
 these eyes were fully as broad as a tea saucer, being pro- 
 bably at least six inches in diameter. 
 
 Plesiosaurus. " This genus," says Dr. Ure, " is en 
 tirely English, and solely due to the sagacity of Mr. Co- 
 nybeare." Some vertebrae, mixed with those of the cro 
 dodile and icthyosaurus, in the lias of the environs ot 
 Bristol, appeared to him to differ from those of both ani 
 mals. From this circumstance, he was led to make fur 
 ther examinations, and these were continued until a suf 
 ficient number of bones had been obtained to show the forra 
 and size of this strange antediluvian. 
 Fig. 57. 
 
 The most singular part of its construction, is the im- 
 mense length of the neck, and the disproportion of this, 
 to the other parts of the system. This is composed of a 
 greater number of bones than the neck of any known ani- 
 mal ; exceeding, in this respect, even the swan, which 
 has a greater number than any existing species. 
 
 The most entire specimen of the plesiosaurus yet found, 
 is that which came from Lyme Regis. This relic is con- 
 tained in several blocks of stone, which were once con- 
 tinuous, and which fit each other exactly. The bones 
 have the posture which they would have taken, had the 
 animal been crushed by a heavy weight from above. Its 
 length is nine feet six inches. The number of vertebrae 
 are ninety, of which forty belong to the neck. 
 
 The plesiosaurus, in the living state, must have present-
 
 BONE CAVERNS. 267 
 
 ed a neck resembling a large serpent, with the tail cut off, 
 and the remaining half fastened to a trunk, the propor- 
 tions of which, differed from those of many other animals. 
 The tail, especially, by its shortness, could scarcely remind 
 one of a reptile, and hence this animal must have display- 
 ed a form so much the more singular, as its extremities, 
 like those of the ichthyosaurus, were genuine fins, similar 
 to those of the whale tribe. 
 
 That this animal was aquatic in its habits, is evident 
 from its fins, and that its element was the sea, may be 
 equally inferred, from the marine remains, withxwhich its 
 bones are everywhere associated. Its motion on the 
 land, like that of the ichthyosaurus, must have been awk- 
 ward and difficult, and its long neck would impede its 
 progress through the water. It was an air-breathing ani- 
 mal, and Mr. Conybeare suggests whether it might not 
 have swam along the surface, arching its neck, like the 
 swan, and now and then darting down its head to catch 
 the fish below. 
 
 BONE CAVERNS. 
 
 Professor Buckland, in consequence of the publication 
 of his great work, " Reliquiae Diluvianas" has made the 
 subject of osseous caverns highly interesting and instruc- 
 tive. Before the appearance of that work, little was 
 known on this subject, nor was it, indeed, considered by 
 geologists as of much importance. The bones of some 
 animals found in caves, had occasionally attracted notice, 
 but no one appears to have inquired how, or under what 
 circumstances, they could have found their way into such 
 places. Nor was it until after the celebrated cavern of 
 Kirkdale was discovered and described, that the contents 
 of other caverns became the subjects of geological inves- 
 tigation. 
 
 We have already given some account of the Kirkdale 
 cave under the article " Change of Climate," for the pur- 
 pose of showing that England was once the native coun- 
 try of the elephant, rhinoceros, and hyena. 
 
 Since the description of that cave, notices of others, 
 containing bones, have become so numerous, that we have 
 not room even for a catalogue of their names and places ; 
 and there is little doubt, but these will ultimately be the
 
 268 BONE CAVERNS. 
 
 means of producing a body of geological evidence of 
 much importance. 
 
 It appears that all extensive limestone formations, con- 
 tain more or less such caverns as that of Kirkdale, some 
 of which are of great extent, and have long been admired 
 for the brilliancy of their stalactites, and the pillar-like 
 forms which they assume. The island of Crete contains 
 a great cavern, which has long been the wonder of tra- 
 vellers, and throughout the same island, Tournefort says, 
 there is a world of Caverns. 
 
 In the limestone districts of England, these caves abound. 
 In Derbyshire alone, Mr. Farey enumerates twenty-eight 
 remarkable caves, and as many fissures locally called 
 "snake holes," or "swallow holes," from their swallow- 
 ing up the streams and brooks, which sometimes in that 
 district disappear suddenly, without, so far as is known, 
 ever rising again to the surface. 
 
 Of the bone caverns of Germany, Cuvier says, " noth- 
 ing is more truly curious, than the new theatre to which I 
 am about to transport my readers. Numerous grottos, 
 brilliantly decorated with crystalline stalactites of every 
 form, succeeding each other to a great extent, through the 
 body of the mountains, communicating together by open- 
 ings, so narrow that a man can hardly proceed by crawl- 
 ing on his hands, yet with their floors all bestrewed with 
 enormous heaps of bones of animals of every size form 
 undoubtedly, one of the most remarkable phenomena 
 which the fossil kingdom can present to the meditations 
 of the geologist, more especially, when we consider, that 
 this scene of mortality is repeated in a great many places, 
 and through far distant lands. No wonder then, that 
 these vaults of death have become the objects of research 
 among the ablest naturalists, and their bony relics have 
 been often described and figured." 
 
 Prior to these philosophical inquiries, however, these 
 bones were famed among the populace, and were long dug 
 up, and sold to apothecaries as the bones of the fossil uni- 
 corn, and who again portioned them out to their patients 
 as sovereign remedies in various diseases. There is no 
 doubt but this strange traffic, contributed mainly to the 
 investigation of old caves, and the discovery of new ones, 
 long before geologists took the subject in hand. 
 
 Having already given such an account of the Kirkdale 
 eave as our limits will allow, and to which the reader is
 
 BONE CAVERNS. 
 
 269 
 
 referred, we will here notice several other osseous caverns 
 in different parts of the world. 
 
 In Germany, there are many caves, where bones have 
 been found, but among these, that of Gaylenreuth has at- 
 tracted most attention, on account of its great extent and 
 beauty, as well as the number of fossil bones it contains. 
 This cave is situated in Franconia, and in the same neigh- 
 borhood with several others, the whole of which have been 
 described by Professor Goldfuss, of Bonn, in a treatise ex- 
 pressly devoted to this subject. 
 
 ' The gateway, or entrance to the cavern of Gaylenreuth, 
 is seven and a half feet high, and faces to the east, and of 
 this wonderful place, Professor Buckland gives the follow- 
 ing description. 
 
 The adjoining section is diminished from that drawn by 
 Professor Buckland, in 1816. 
 
 Pig. 58. 
 
 The first grotto turns to the right, and is upwards of 
 eighty feet long. It is divided into four parts, by the une- 
 qual height of the vaulted roof; the first three are from 
 fifteen to twenty feet high, whereas, the fourth is only four 
 or five. On the bottom of this part, and on a level with 
 the floor, there is an orifice only two feet high, which 
 leads into the second grotto. This runs first southward 
 for sixty feet, being forty feet wide, and eighteen high ; it 
 then turns to the west through a space of seventy feet,
 
 270 BONE CAVERNS. 
 
 becoming gradually lower till its altitude is only five feet. 
 The passage to the third grotto is very incommodious, 
 winding through several corridors ; it is thirty feet wide, 
 and only five or six high. The loam on this floor is stuff- 
 ed full of teeth and jaw bones. Near the entrance to it, is 
 a gulf of fifteen or twenty feet wide, into which visitors 
 descend by a ladder. After going down, they arrive at a 
 vault fifteen feet in diameter, by thirty in height ; and on 
 the side on which they descend, is a grotto all bestrewed 
 with bones. By going down a little further still, they fall 
 in with a new arcade, which conducts to a grotto forty feet 
 long, and a new gulf eighteen or twenty feet deep. Even 
 after this descent, another cavern presents itself, forty feet 
 high, quite covered with bones. A passage now, of five 
 by seven feet, leads to a grotto, twenty-five feet long, and 
 twelve wide ; then an alley twenty feet long, conducts into 
 another cave, twenty feet high, and finally, a grand grotto 
 expands, eighty-three feet in width, and twenty-four in 
 height, more copiously furnished with bones than any of 
 the rest. The sixth and last grotto runs in a northerly di- 
 rection, so that the whole series of caverns and corridors 
 describes nearly a semicircle. 
 
 A rift in the third grotto, disclosed in 1784 a new grot- 
 to, fifteen feet long by four wide, where the greatest num- 
 ber of hyenas' and lions' bones were found. The opening 
 was much too narrow to have allowed these animals to 
 have entered it. A peculiar tunnel which terminated in 
 this grotto, afforded an incredible number of bones, and 
 large skulls, quite entire. 
 
 The excavation on the extreme right and lowest part of 
 the figure, does not form a part of the original cavern, but 
 has been sunk for the purpose of finding bones. Several 
 cavities have been dug in different directions from this 
 well, for the same purpose, in one of which there is, in the 
 cut, the figure of a man holding a torch. 
 
 " The cavern of Gaylenreuth is one," says Dr. Ure, 
 "whose bony relics are best known, in consequence of the 
 researches which have been so long carried on with regard 
 to them by men of eminent science, such as Esper, Hum- 
 boldt, Eb'el of Bremen, Rosenmueller, Goldfuss, &c., as 
 well as by the rich collections which these researches have 
 furnished. 
 
 These collections have been examined by that great fos- 
 silist, Baron Cuvier, who has ascertained that the bones
 
 BONE CAVERNS. 271 
 
 composing them, belong in the proportion of three-fourths 
 to bears, and that next to these in numbers, were the bones 
 of hyems, foxes, wolves, gluttons, and polecats. A few, 
 only, of the remains of the feline tribe, have been found 
 in this cave, and still more few, of those of the elephant 
 tribe." 
 
 Near this cavern are several others. One called Hole- 
 berg, or hollow mountain, has eight or ten grottoes, forming, 
 a suit of apartments two hundred feet in length, with two 
 outlets. Another called Wonder hole, has a circuit of 
 one hundred and sixty feet, and still another called Klaus- 
 tein, is composed of four grottoes, and is two hundred feet 
 deep. In all these, more or less bones have been found. 
 The rocks in which they are situated are of limestone, like 
 that of Kirkdale, and indeed like those of all other caverns 
 of a similar description. 
 
 One of the most interesting facts developed, by the ex- 
 amination of these caverns, and others which we have no 
 room to describe, is, that they all, with an exception or 
 two, contain the bones of the same species of bear, and in 
 a similar proportion to the other bones. This has been 
 found to be the case, even to the extent of more than five 
 hundred miles, at which distance, some of these caves are 
 situated from the others. The exceptions to this general 
 fact exists in two or three caves, situated in England, which 
 contain a preponderance of hyenas' bones. 
 
 How are toe to account for the existence of so many 
 bones, and of all kinds of animals in these caverns ? One 
 of the most natural questions which would occur to the 
 mind, after having read the above account, would be how 
 these bones came into these caverns. The solution of this 
 question is attended with doubts and difficulties. 
 
 " It is scarcely possible," says Cuvier, " to imagine any 
 other than the three following general causes, that can 
 have placed these bones in such quantities in these cav- 
 erns. First, they are either the remains of animals which 
 dwelt and died peaceably in these chambers ; or, Second, 
 of animals which inundations and other violent causes 
 carried in ; or, Third, of the animals which had been 
 enveloped in the stony strata, whose watery solution pro- 
 duced the caverns themselves, but the soft parts were dis- 
 solved away by the agent that scooped out the mineral 
 substance of the caves."
 
 272 BONE CAVERNS. 
 
 The last hypothesis is refuted by the circumstance, that 
 the strata themselves, in which the grottoes are excavated, 
 contain no bones ; and the second, by the entire state of 
 preservation of the smallest prominences of the bones, 
 which precludes the idea of their having been rolled or 
 transported from a distance. We are, therefore, says Cu- 
 vier, obliged to return from these to the first cause, what- 
 ever difficulties may attend it. 
 
 The vast number of bones which some of these caverns 
 contain at the present time, together with the dust of those 
 which have decayed, would pre-suppose that a vast period 
 of time must have elapsed since these houses of death were 
 first inhabited, if indeed, these remains belong to such 
 animals only, as " had lived and died peaceably in these 
 chambers," as Cuvier supposes. 
 
 Dr. Buckland supposes that the contents of these cav- 
 erns are due to two causes, viz., to the deaths of the prowl- 
 ing animals which inhabited them, and to the bones of 
 other animals which these, brought home for food, and 
 this, without doubt, is the true theory. The elephants 
 and other large animals, the bones of which are found in 
 these caves, do not inhabit caverns; and if they did, the 
 entrances are often too small to admit them while alive. 
 Such bones most clearly must have been conveyed to such 
 places after they had separated, by the decomposition of 
 the soft parts, and there is, perhaps, the best reasons for 
 believing that these, and perhaps a great proportion of 
 the other bones found in the caves, were carried there by 
 the hyenas and other beasts of prey. We think that the 
 facts and arguments adduced by Professor Buckland, 
 are sufficient to convince any impartial reader, that this 
 was the mode of their transportation into these houses of 
 death. 
 
 The immense quantities of organic relics, which have 
 been deposited in some of these caverns, may be, in a de- 
 gree, conceived of by the following facts. 
 
 " In this cavern," (of Kullock,) says Professor Buck- 
 land, " the size and proportions of which are nearly equal 
 to those of the interior of a large church, there are hun- 
 dreds of cart loads of black animal dust, entirely covering 
 the whole floor. The quantity of animal matter accumu- 
 lated, on this floor, is the most surprising, and the only 
 thing of the kind I ever witnessed; and many hundred, I 
 may say thousand, individuals must have contributed to
 
 OSSEOUS BRECCIAS. 273 
 
 make up this appalling mass of the dust of death." Re- 
 liq. Diluv. p. 138. 
 
 Of the same cave, Cuvier says, " I have stated that the 
 total quantity of animal matter that lies within this cavern, 
 cannot be computed at less than 5000 cubic feet; now, al- 
 lowing two cubic feet of dust and bones for each individual 
 animal, we shall have, in this single vault, the remains of 
 at least 2500 bears." We should think that a single cu- 
 bic foot of dust is more than ought to be allowed to each 
 bear. 
 
 We have already stated, at considerable length, under 
 the article " Change of Climate," the reasons of Dr. 
 Buckland, for believing that these caverns were the dens 
 of hyenas, and that the multitude of bones found in them 
 were carried there by these animals. To that article 
 we must, therefore, refer the reader for the sequel of this 
 subject. 
 
 OSSEOUS BRECCIAS. 
 
 Breccia, in Mineralogy, is a rock composed of angular 
 fragments of other rocks, joined together by some kind of 
 cement. In osseous breccia, bones take the place of the 
 angular pieces of stone. 
 
 Osseous, or bone breccias, are found in many places on 
 the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, as at Gibraltar, Cette, 
 Antibes, Nice, Pisa, Corsica, &c. These are found filling 
 up the fissures of calcareous rocks. It is a curious fact, 
 that in all these places, as well as in Sicily, Dalmatia, and 
 Cerigo, though so distant from each other, these conglom- 
 erated fragments of bone are similar, and appear to have 
 belonged to the same animals. They are the relics chiefly 
 of ruminant animals, such as the deer, mixed with a few 
 lions' teeth, panthers' teeth, and sometimes the bones of 
 rats, and occasionally those of other animals. The pieces 
 of bone are impasted in a red earthy concretion, resem- 
 bling highly burned bricks, but spongy in texture, from in- 
 numerable porous cavities, of various sizes, and which are 
 occasionally interspersed with starry incrustations. As 
 the bones are not pressed together, it is reasonable to sup- 
 pose, that the cement which contains them, must have been 
 progressively deposited around them as they fell into the
 
 274 OSSEOUS BRECCIAS. 
 
 rifts of the rocks. The bones have, in general, been bro- 
 ken in pieces before receiving their crust of spar, or their 
 cement. They are entirely separated from their organic 
 arrangement, but exhibit no signs of having been rolled 
 or transported. 
 
 The stony fragments which this breccia sometimes em- 
 braces, are coarse grained limestone, of a dark gray color, 
 containing now and then veins of white spar, and appear 
 to have been rolled. In size, they vary from that of the 
 fist, to small grains. 
 
 These bones do not belong to any existing species of 
 animals. In the bone rock of Gibraltar, Cuvier found 
 one species of deer, and another of hare, both unknown 
 species. 
 
 It is unnecessary to be more particular in the descrip- 
 tion of these breccias, as they occur at different places, 
 having already observed, that they all bear a similar char- 
 acter. 
 
 The breccia of Dalmatia is the most extensive of any 
 which has been discovered; stretching along the whole 
 coast of that country. Its structure and aspect is the same 
 as that of Gibraltar. 
 
 With respect to the origin of these bone rocks, Dr. 
 Buckland supposes that the bones of the extinct species are 
 those of animals which fell into the crevices of the rocks 
 before the flood, and perished there. The same author has 
 shown that the red cement of the osseous breccia is an 
 earthy loam, differing merely in color from that which 
 fills the caves and fissures of rocks in Germany, and con- 
 stitutes the diluvial loam on their bottoms. 
 
 It appears that something analogous to this breccia, is 
 still forming in different places. At the extremity of 
 Prince's Lines, high in the rock which looks towards 
 Spain, is found a reddish calcareous earth, and the bones 
 of small birds cemented thereby. The rock around this 
 spot, is inhabited by a number of hawks, that in the breed- 
 ing season nestle there and rear their young; and the bones 
 in this concretion, are probably the remains of the food of 
 these birds. At the base of the rock, below King's Lines, 
 the concretion consists of pebbles of the prevailing calca- 
 reous rock. In this concretion, at a considerable depth un- 
 der the surface, was found part of a green glass bottle. 
 Ed. Phil Trans. 
 
 It will be observed that these breccias are peculiar to
 
 FOSSIL HUMAN BONES. 275 
 
 limestone rocks. Now, lime is known to be soluble in 
 water, in small quantities, and hence the calcareous spar 
 with which these bones are often surrounded and impreg- 
 nated, is readily accounted for. The soil, or cement, which 
 holds these bones together, is also hardened by the infil- 
 tration of the same substance. 
 
 Osseous Breccia of Australia. This has been recently 
 discovered. From a communication of Major Mitchel to 
 the London Geological Society, it appears that this breccia 
 bears a great resemblance to that of Europe. The princi- 
 pal cavity where it occurs, is an irregular kind of well, or 
 natural fissure, accessible only by means of ladders and 
 ropes, and the breccia is a mixture of limestone fragments 
 of various sizes, and bones enveloped in an earthy red 
 salcareous stone. But this differs from the breccias of the 
 Mediterranean coast, in this important particular, that the 
 bones of which it is chiefly formed, are those of the kan- 
 garoo, wombat, and other animals, which are still living 
 in that country. The bones of the elephant, and also of 
 some species of other animals not known to exist, are oc- 
 casionally found with the others, but the principal parts 
 are composed of bones of living species. It was therefore 
 probably formed at a more recent period than the breccia 
 of the Mediterranean. 
 
 FOSSIL HUMAN BONES. 
 
 Cuvier, and other geologists, have expressly declared, 
 that no fossil human bones have ever yet been found, nor 
 have any bones of the quadrumanous, or monkey tribe 
 ever been detected. "It is wonderful," says he, "that 
 among all these mammifera, of which, at the present day, 
 the greater part have a congenerate species, in warm cli- 
 mates, there has not been found one quadrumanous ani- 
 mal ; not a single bone, or a single tooth of a monkey; not 
 even a bone, or a tooth of an extinct species of this ani- 
 mal, has ever been detected. 
 
 " Neither is there any remains of man. All the bones 
 of the human race which have been collected, along with 
 those which we have spoken of, have been the result of 
 accident, and besides, their number is extremely small,
 
 276 FOSSIL HUMAN BONES. 
 
 which it certainly would not be, if rnen had been estab- 
 lished in the countries inhabited by these animals. Where 
 then was the human race? Did the last and most perfect 
 work of the Creator exist nowhere? Did the animals 
 which now accompany him on the earth, and of which 
 there are no fossil remains to be found, surround him? 
 Have the lands in which they lived together, been swal- 
 lowed up, when those which they now inhabit, and of 
 which a great inundation might have destroyed the an- 
 terior population, were again left dry?" " To these ques- 
 tions," says Cuvier, "the study of fossils gives us no in- 
 formation." 
 
 One might be led to suppose, from the above language 
 of the great fossilist, that every part of the earth had al- 
 ready been explored, and the question concerning fossil 
 human bones, that is, the existence of human antediluvian 
 relics, had been finally settled. 
 
 "But," says Granville Penn, "the great question con- 
 cerning human remains in a fossil state, stands now be- 
 fore the world under a new aspect, and entirely different 
 from that under which it stood at the period when M. Cu- 
 vier first published his celebrated ' Theory of the Earth} " 
 
 This new aspect is to be dated from about the year 1820, 
 when the cavern of Durfort, and the quarries of Kosritz, 
 were laid open for the instruction of science. 
 
 Cavern of Durfort. The cavern of Durfort is near 
 a small village of that name, in the Department du Gard, 
 France. It is about 300 feet above the level of the Medi- 
 terranean. Its orifice presents itself in a vertical fissure, 
 or crevice, in the surface of the ground, about five feet in 
 length, and one and a half feet in width. The descent is 
 perpendicular, about twenty feet, and must be made by 
 pressing with the back and knees against the rugged 
 sides, in the manner of chimney sweepers. From thence 
 you enter into a narrow passage, which, as it extends, 
 divides itself to the right and left. These two passages 
 are both so low as to make it difficult for a person to 
 penetrate through them. The one on the right leads to 
 the principal chamber, the dimensions of which are only 
 ten or twelve feet in length, and three in height and 
 width. The passage on the left is pursued with still 
 greater difficulty, being considerably lower. No bones 
 are found in either of these passages, but the cave is ter-
 
 FOSSIL HUMAN BONES. 277 
 
 initiated by a small chamber, three yards square, in which 
 all the human bones are found. They lie in the utmost 
 confusion, in the paste or matter that unites them, and 
 are in quantities so great as to form more than half of the 
 bed. The bones are partly filled with an extremely fine 
 calcareous earth, colored by oxide of iron. The, deposite 
 is here raised more than a half a foot above the true floor, 
 which is covered with human bones, some of which are 
 insulated from the rest ; a great number are united to the 
 rock, to which they have been fixed by calcareous incrus- 
 tations. The bones are chiefly those of the head, thigh, 
 and arms. They lie without any relation to the system, 
 and many are wanting, so that an entire skeleton, has 
 never been found. They are not worn, or rolled, so that 
 they could not have been transported from a distance. 
 They are not mineralized, but retain a portion of gelatine. 
 These bones belonged to adults both of men and women, 
 and some of them to children. 
 
 How these human bones came in such a place is the 
 main question, and its answer is bv no means easy. M. 
 de Serres, the 'author of the above description, says that 
 the difficulty of the entrance would have opposed an in- 
 vincible obstacle to the introduction of the bodies after 
 death. The people of the country have a tradition, that 
 at some remote and unknown period, these bones were 
 brought from a distance and deposited there. 
 
 Mr. Granville Penn has no doubt but these are ante- 
 deluvian bones, and thinks there is as much reason to 
 believe them so, as there is in the case of the elephants' 
 bones in the cave of Kirkdale. "It will be plain," says 
 this author, " to every one who compares the descriptions 
 of the two caves, that the leading circumstances, geo- 
 logically considered, are so peculiarly analogous, that if 
 we read, in the Durfort account, ' young and full grown 
 elephants? &c. instead of ' young and adult human sub- 
 jects,' we shall almost seem to be reading the Kirkdale 
 report." 
 
 Unless there is some other entrance than that already 
 described, (and after much search, none has been found,) 
 it is difficult to imagine how these bones could have been 
 conveyed into such a cavern, and for what purpose. It 
 is much easier to believe, did many such examples exist, 
 that they were imbedded during the. formation of the lime- 
 stone rock, in which they are found, than that they were 
 24
 
 278 FOSSIL HUMAN BONES. 
 
 conveyed there by human hands. As these bones exhibit 
 no marks of teeth, there is no reason to suppose that they 
 were carried there by rapacious beasts. PeniUs Comp. 
 Estimate. Vol. ii. p. 400. 
 
 The Quarries of Kosrilz, where other human bones 
 have been also found, are in Upper Saxony, and the ac- 
 count is given by Baron Von Schlottheim. The forma- 
 tion is of limestone, accompanied by secondary gypsum. 
 In the fissures or cavities of the limestone, have been found 
 the remains of the antediluvian rhinoceros and hyena, and 
 other extinct species. In the fissures or cavities of the 
 subordinate gypsum, human bones have been found, to- 
 gether with the bones of small quadrupeds and birds, at 
 the depth of from sixteen to thirty feet below the surface. 
 These occur in every quarry which has been opened, and 
 not in caverns, but in the loam, which has formed there, 
 and such as envelops the bodies of Gaylenreuth. The 
 Baron supposes that the human bones are not, however, 
 of the same antiquity with those of the antediluvian an- 
 imals, with which they occur. Still the Baron says, " It 
 is quite evident, that in the country near Kosritz, human 
 bones are found intermingled, without order, \vith the 
 bones of animals of the ancient world, and with those of 
 existing species; and under precisely the same circumstan- 
 ces, being firmly enveloped and compacted in the loamy 
 deposite, which occupies the fissures and cavities of the 
 bed of gypsum that occurs in that vicinity. All these 
 considerations give, on the first view, a probability to the 
 conclusion, that the other animals were destroyed at the 
 same time with man; an opinion which I have already 
 advanced." 
 
 M. V. Schlottheim, afterwards became doubtful of the 
 accuracy of this conclusion from the single circumstance, 
 that remains of existing as well as of extinct animal spe- 
 cies, Avere found with the human bones. 
 
 Had the Baron seen Professor Buckland's account of 
 the Kirkdale cavern, which was printed afterwards, this 
 circumstance alone, probably would not have raised a 
 doubt, since there were found both extinct and existing 
 species mingled together, and yet no doubt has arisen that 
 they were not all antediluvian. 
 
 These facts and circumstances, in the opinions of seve- 
 ral able geologists, leave little or no doubt but those bones
 
 FOSSIL HUMAN BONES. 279 
 
 were real fossils, and that they belong to a period before 
 the flood, while others think the evidence not sufficient to 
 establish so important a geological fact. The inquiring 
 reader will find this subject fully discussed in " Penn's 
 Comparative Estimate of the Mineral and Mosaical Geolo- 
 gy," vol. ii. 
 
 Professor Buckland also found human bones, in the 
 same caves with those of antediluvian animals, and yet 
 he seems to suppose that the former were much less an- 
 cient than the latter, the human bones having fallen in 
 through some crevice, formerly open, but now closed. 
 Although a strong advocate of the truth of the Mosaic 
 history, he denies the existence of fossil human remains, 
 though, had the bones of some species, considered extinct, 
 been found under the same circumstances, no doubt it is 
 believed, would have been entertained of their antedilu- 
 vian origin. This reluctance to admit their discovery 
 and existence, appears extraordinary and unaccountable in 
 an advocate for the truth of the Scriptures, since, if men 
 and animals were created within a few days of each other, 
 their remains ought to be found together. " It is said," 
 says Dr. Macculloch, " to be a proof of the especially re- 
 cent formation of man, that his remains are not found in 
 the same alluvia as those of other animals. What sup- 
 port of Scripture is this ? That record says, man and 
 animals were created in one short period. If they ought 
 thus equally to be found, and are not, it is evidence 
 against the record, and not in its favor." Geology, vol. i. 
 p. 451. 
 
 In what manner bones might be thrown into caverns. 
 Perhaps every limestone country contains more or less 
 subterranean caverns, which admit streams of water to pass 
 through them, either constantly, or duriug certain seasons 
 of the year. 
 
 In the Grecian Morea, it appears, that such caverns are 
 common, and during the late French expedition to Greece, 
 they were particularly examined and described by M. Bo- 
 blaye, one of the adventurers. 
 
 In that country the seasons are divided into the dry and 
 rainy, with nearly the same exactness that they are bet ween 
 the tropics. The rainy season lasts four months, and 13 
 succeeded by eight months of drought.
 
 280 FOSSIL HUMAN BONES. 
 
 In the elevated districts of the Morea, there are many 
 deep valleys or basins, surrounded on every side by moun- 
 tains of cavernous limestone. 
 
 During the rainy season, the torrents from the moun- 
 tains, rushing into these basins, would form lakes in ordi- 
 nary circumstances ; but here the water is received into 
 fissures or caverns, called by the Greeks " katavothra," 
 and which lead to subterraneous caves of various dimen- 
 sions below. 
 
 In some of the basins, the apertures not being sufficient 
 to receive all the water as it descends, lakes are formed, 
 which either gradually run off at these apertures, or find 
 other openings at a higher level. 
 
 In some places where the water descends through fis- 
 sures in the bottom of the basin, which is often in the mid- 
 dle of a plain, nothing can be seen in the summer, when 
 the lake is dry, but a deposite of red mud cracked by the 
 heat of the sun in all directions; but more commonly 
 the receiving chasm is at the foot of the surrounding es- 
 carpment, and is sometimes large enough to allow a per- 
 son to enter it in the dry season, and to penetrate far into 
 the interior. Within are often found a suite of caverns or 
 chambers, communicating with each other by narrow pas- 
 sages, as is the case with similar caves in this and other 
 countries. In one of these entrances were observed hu- 
 man bones imbedded in recent red mud, and mingled with 
 the remains of plants and animals now inhabiting the Morea. 
 
 In summer these mouths being half closed with alluvial 
 mud, produce a rapid and vigorous vegetation, which is 
 cherished by the moisture of such places. They then be- 
 come the favorite hiding places of jackals and foxes, so 
 that at one season of the year, the same cavity serves for 
 the den of carnivorous beasts, and at another, the chamber 
 of an ingulfed river. 
 
 Near the mouth of another of these caverns, M. Boblaye 
 and his companions saw the carcass of a horse partly de- 
 voured by jackals, the size of which prevented these ani- 
 mals from dragging it in ; but it was evident that the ensuing 
 flood would float in whatever remained of the skeleton. 
 
 Some of these torrents form subterranean rivers, af- 
 ter running many miles come again to the surface; and 
 although the waters are exceedingly turbid when they 
 are ingulfed, the emerging stream is perfectly clear and
 
 FOSSIL HITMAN BONES. 
 
 281 
 
 limpid, the impurities subsiding during the underground 
 passage. The points of emergence are usually along the 
 sea shore of the Morea, but sometimes they are subma- 
 rine, and at some distance from the shore. When this is 
 the case, the force with which the fresh water rises under 
 the salt, is sometimes such as in calm weather, to form 
 large convex waves, the sand at the same time boiling up 
 to a considerable distance from the bottom. Lyell. 
 
 During the dry season, the sea, undoubtedly, takes the 
 place of the fresh water, carrying in marine shells and 
 sand, to mingle with the bones and mud brought down 
 from the land ; thus forming a mixture of fresh, and salt 
 wates remains. 
 
 Should the Morea be elevated by a subterranean force, 
 and these places exposed to the investigations of geolo- 
 gists, there would probably be exhibited the same phe- 
 nomena that has so puzzled the naturalists of the present 
 day ; a congregation of mammiferous bones, clay, sea 
 sand, marine and land shells, and the whole, perhaps, in- 
 terspersed with human bones. 
 
 From what we have here stated, it may be seen that in 
 the course of centuries, large quantities of the bones of 
 quadrupeds and of men, may be carried into caverns, and 
 there mingled promiscuously : and probably also inter- 
 mixed Avith marine productions. And as in limestone 
 countries these caverns are constantly filling up with sta- 
 lactites, and carbonaceous matter brought in with the water, 
 the wonder with respect to the ingress of organic relics 
 into certain caverns, would seem thus in a degree to be 
 explained. 
 
 Lake Cirknitzersee. The fact stated above, that there 
 is a spot on the Morea, where at one season of the year 
 the same cavity serves for the den of carnivorous beasts 
 and at another for the channel of an ingulfed river, 
 brought to mind a still more singular natural curiosity, of 
 somewhat the same kind, as stated by the old traveller, 
 Keysler, which we had heretofore believed was rather 
 fabulous than true. Keysler, however, was F. R. S. of 
 London, and one of the most able antiquarians of his time. 
 
 " The Lake Cirknitzersee," says he, " situated in the 
 
 south-east part of Austria, is one of the greatest of natural 
 
 curiosities, and has been the subject of many disquisitions 
 
 of naturalists. It is a common proverb, that one may 
 
 24*
 
 282 FOSSIL HUMAN BONES. 
 
 sow, reap, hunt, and fish, in the Cirknitzersee, within the 
 space of a single year. But what is truly wonderful in 
 this lake, is the manner in which it ebbs and flows. The 
 former happens during a long drought, whether in sum- 
 mer or in winter, and the ebbing continues, commonly for 
 about five and twenty days. The water during this time, 
 is absorbed by eighteen holes or cavities, resembling 
 whirlpools, in the bottom of the lake. The water seems 
 to rush through a crust of the earth into a cavern below. 
 The cavities have each a particular name and period of 
 time when they cease to absorb water. These periods 
 differ, probably according to their different elevations 
 above the lowest surface of the ground. One cea*es in 
 five days, one in ten, one in fifteen, and so on, until the 
 end of about twenty-five days, when the lake is entirely 
 dry. Instances have been known of its having dried up 
 three times in the year. When great quantities of rain 
 fall, this lake is again filled by the same cavities which 
 absorbed its waters. If the rain continues, and especially 
 if attended with claps of thunder, the water issues out of 
 these holes with great impetuosity, rising two or three 
 fathoms above the surface. Some of the cavities only ab- 
 sorb, but do not eject the water, while others both absorb 
 and eject, as the lake ebbs or flows. 
 
 Notwithstanding the lake becomes absolutely dry, and 
 nothing remains alive in it, yet as soon as it begins again 
 to flow, great quantities of excellent fish, of different kinds, 
 some weighing fifty pounds, are taken in it ; a convincing 
 proof that the reservoir which supplies it with water is 
 well stocked with fish. But the most extraordinary fact 
 is, that ducks also are ejected with the water, many of 
 them being seen to rise from two of the cavities in par- 
 ticular. They are of a black color, blind, and almost des- 
 titute of feathers, but they are fat, and in about a fort- 
 night's time, become fully fledged, receive their sight, and 
 fly away." Keysler's Travels through Germany, &c., 
 translated from the German, and published in London, 
 1756, vol. iv. p. 213. 
 
 FOSSIL REMAINS OF PLANTS AND SHELLS. 
 
 It has been supposed, by some naturalists, that there
 
 .USS1L REMAINS OF PLANTS AND SHELLS. 283 
 
 was a gradual and progressive development in the or- 
 ganization of created beings, from the most simple to the 
 most perfect and complex ; and in proof of this doctrine, 
 it has been shown l.iat in the strata of the earth, the 
 lowest orders occur first, or are situated at the greatest 
 depth, over which occur those that are less simple, being 
 created afterwards, and so on progressively, to the most 
 perfect or complex, which are found only near the sur- 
 face. 
 
 It is true, indeed, that plants were created before ani- 
 mals, and that the inferior animals were formed' before the 
 more intelligent ; and it is also true, that, in this respect, 
 the discoveries of geology harmonize most perfectly with 
 the order of creation as recorded by Moses ; the several 
 creations, with respect to time, coinciding entirely with 
 the successive order in which their remains are found in 
 the earth. But it will be shown in the sequel, that the 
 general fact of the lower orders being found in the deep- 
 est strata, proves nothing with respect to the progressive 
 improvement of organized beings, because in many in- 
 stances, animals of a more simple structure are found 
 above the more complicated. This is particularly the case, 
 with several species of shells, some of the most curious 
 and complex kinds being found in the deepest strata, 
 and far below those of a more simple structure. This 
 fact, while it takes nothing from the coincidence which 
 exists between the scripture narrative of the creation and 
 the discoveries of geology, destroys at once the doctrine 
 of the gradual development of organic life, since the very 
 basis of this doctrine supposes an uninterrupted progress 
 from the most simple structure, towards that of the greatest 
 complexity. 
 
 Plants of the lower orders, and many of them entirely 
 different in structure and species from any now existing, 
 have been discovered in situations, which not only indi- 
 cate, from the nature of the rocks in which they occur, 
 their great antiquity, but also that they were imbedded 
 at a time anterior to the existence of any other organized 
 substances. 
 
 Next to the plants, and above them in the order and 
 succession of strata, occur shells of various kinds, and 
 next above these are found the remains of reptiles, fish, 
 birds, &c., and still nearer the surface, the bones of quad- 
 rupeds. But we will not here anticipate a subject to
 
 284 FOSSIL PLANTS. 
 
 which a section will be devoted at the close of this vol- 
 ume. 
 
 FOSSIL PLANTS. 
 
 Fossil botany has within a few years, been studied with 
 much ardor and considerable success. Most of the plants 
 discovered in deep strata, and which have been attributed 
 to a period before the deluge, are of the cryptogamous* 
 and monocotyledonousf tribes. These occur chiefly in 
 the slates, limestones, and sandstones, together with other 
 formations which are associated Avith coal ; and it is a cu- 
 rious circumstance, that the vegetable impressions from 
 coal strata in North America, New Holland, and various 
 parts of Europe, show a close analogy in the ancient vege 
 tation of these distant countries. Indeed, so far as ob 
 servations have been made, there exists a similarity in 
 the plants of coal formations, in every part of the world. 
 Most of these plants belonged to tribes or orders now in 
 existence, though in nearly, if not in quite every instance, 
 these species are now nowhere to be found. These spe- 
 cies are, therefore, considered as extinct, but at what pe- 
 riod, and in what manner they were destroyed must be 
 left entirely to conjecture. 
 
 We shall see that some of these ancient plants were 
 highly curious and singular in their construction, and in 
 which they differed entirely from any vegetable of the pre- 
 sent day, while others were similar in appearance to those 
 now existing. 
 
 The argillaceous nodules found in some of the English 
 coal mines exhibit beautiful and distinct impressions of 
 many unknown species, some of which, however, it is 
 said, have living analogues in tropical climates. When 
 these nodules are carefully broken, the impressions are 
 preserved on both sides, but not as might be expected, dis- 
 playing each side of the vegetable, but the same side on 
 each broken surface ; in one, in alto, in the other, in basso 
 relievo. The explanation of this curious circumstance, 
 
 * These plants have their fruit concealed and are flowerless, as 
 the mushrooms, ferns, mosses, and sea-weeds. 
 
 t As the palms, rushes, lilies, grasses, &c. This term has al- 
 ready been explained.
 
 FOSSIL PLANTS. 285 
 
 which long puzzled observers, is found in the vegetable 
 matter, which during its passage through the bituminous 
 change became softened, and having filled its own mould 
 with its melted and subsequently hardened substance ; the 
 nodule, on being broken, showing on one side, the surface 
 of the adherent bituminous cast, and on the other, the cor- 
 responding mould. 
 
 The adjoining cut will give a good idea of these impres- 
 sions. It represents a species of polypodium, in slate clay, 
 from the coal mines of Lancashire. Sir James E. Smith, 
 considers it the production of a tropical climate, nothing of 
 the same species being known in Europe. 
 
 Pig. 59. 
 
 It has repeatedly been stated in different parts of this 
 volume, that the cryptogamous plants found in Europe, in 
 the fossil state, indicate by their immense s'zes, a tropical 
 climate. The calamites or equisetums, a genus well 
 known to botanists, and one species, to housewives, under 
 the name of scouring rush, are examples. The remarka- 
 ble size of this species, at the period when the earth pro- 
 duced the vegetables which now form coal, would seem to 
 show, that the climate of England, and the higher parts 
 of North America, where its fossil remains are also found, 
 were hotter than any region of the earth is at the present 
 day. The equisetums afford an excellent standard of the 
 warmth of the climate in which they grow, being found 
 at the present day, from the highest northern regions, to 
 the hottest southern ; and progressively increasing in size 
 from the pole to the equator.
 
 FOSSIL PLANTS. 
 
 Fig. 60. 
 
 But even under the equator, they never attain the size 
 of their fossil analogues, the catamites.* 
 
 The annexed figure, from Dr 
 Ure, represents the fossil species 
 called by Brogniart, Calamites 
 approximatus, on account of the 
 proximity of its articulations. It 
 is found in the coal formations 
 of Newcastle, at Lubec, near 
 Canada, in France, and in Sibe- 
 ria. One specimen from Lubec, 
 is nearly two inches in diameter, 
 but much larger ones, even ten 
 or twelve inches in diameter, 
 are said to have been found. 
 In this climate, it is believed 
 that none of the equisetums now 
 rise higher than four or five 
 feet, with a diameter seldom ex- 
 ceeding half an inch, and gen- 
 erally little more than half this 
 size. 
 
 Some of the antediluvian 
 plants, were singularly curious and beautiful, as is shown 
 to us by the impressions, or casts left on stones, or by their 
 petrified remains. Some are ornamented by regularly 
 disposed, straight ribs, arranged longitudinally, or trans- 
 versely, over their whole surface ; some by the decussa- 
 tion, or crossing of nearly straight lines, obliquely dis- 
 posed ; and many, by the alternate contact and receding 
 of gently waving lines, forming areas, regularly, but most 
 singularly varying in their forms, and having in their cen- 
 tres, tubercles and depressions, from which spines have 
 probably proceeded. In others, lines, obliquely disposed, 
 intersect each other at angles, varying in their acuteness, 
 in different specimens, and in, it would seem, an almost 
 endless variety, forming surfaces apparently covered with 
 scales. 
 
 One of these, called Phytolithus verrucosus, or warty 
 
 * The calamites are not considered of precisely the same species 
 as the equisetums, the first being only fossil, and the second only 
 recent ; but both are of the same family.
 
 FOSSIL PLANtS. 
 
 287 
 
 Fig. 61. 
 
 stone plant, has attracted particular attention, but appears 
 to have foiled every one who has attempted to explain its 
 original nature and mode of existence. 
 
 The subjoined cuts will give a 
 
 food idea of this strange ante- 
 iluvian. It is described by Mr. 
 Martin, to have a sub cylindrical, 
 subramose, tuberculated trunk, 
 fig. 61, with suppressed tubercles 
 set in quincunx order, a, having 
 linear, lanceolated leaves, fig. 62, 
 b, horizontally disposed. In some 
 parts, is a deep, longitudinal sul- 
 cus, or furrow, as seen at c, fig. 
 61; beneath which is a rough 
 imbricated body, of a slender, 
 cylindrical form, exposed at d, 
 fig. 62. This, Mr. Martin sup- 
 poses, after a certain distance, 
 strikes out laterally, and forms a 
 branch: the trunk i$ then con- 
 tinued for some length, without 
 the furrow, or imbricated body, 
 after which, this again appears, 
 and another branch is thrown out 
 in a different direction. 
 
 Various opinions have been en- 
 tertained respecting this interest- 
 ing fossil, so unlike any of the vegetables of the present 
 day. Mr. Parkinson had conjectured that it belonged to 
 some body resembling the strobilus, or cone of some ve- 
 getable, while Mr. Martin describes it as above. The 
 Rev. Mr. Steinhauer has since studied this fossil, and con- 
 cludes that the bodies supposed by Mr. Martin to be 
 leaves, were cylindrical fibres, which shot out of the 
 trunk, while the plant grew in a horizontal posture. He 
 supposes that it grew in this direction, in the soft mud at 
 the bottoms of lakes or seas that it had no branches, but 
 sent out fibres on all sides; and that it was furnished in 
 the centre with a pith, of a structure different from the 
 surrounding wood
 
 288 
 
 FOSSIL PLANTS. 
 
 But the ingenious author of 
 these observations has omitted 
 to notice the imbricated or re- 
 ticulated surface of the central 
 substance, referred to above, 
 and which Mr. Parkinson thinks 
 will afford some information. 
 These configurations undoubt- 
 edly depended on the attach- 
 ment of some parts of the vege- 
 table, and probably were the 
 bases on which were placed 
 those delicately formed tubular 
 processes, represented by fig. 
 63, a, which are seen to pass from the internal substance 
 to the surface of the body. 
 
 From all the information that has been obtained, it is 
 supposed by naturalists, that the Phytolithus verrucosus 
 was a plant of the succulent tribe, differing from vegeta- 
 bles of the present world, by its containing a more solid 
 part within its succulent substance, from which proceed- 
 ed a delicate organization, by which a communication was 
 preserved with the external surface. It also appears that 
 the species of this genus, distinguished by their character- 
 istic markings, may have been numerous. Parkinson's 
 Organic Remains, and Trans. Am. Philo. Soc., New Se- 
 ries, vol. i. 
 
 Fig. 64. Phytolithus cancellatus. (Cross 
 
 barred stone plant.) Mr. Stein- 
 hauer has taken much pains to 
 detect and explain the different 
 appearances which this species 
 presents. He has ascertained 
 that there are three distinct kinds 
 of configurations proceeding from 
 it, originating in the epidermis, 
 the bark, and that which may be 
 considered as holding the situa- 
 tion of the wood of the plant. 
 
 The first, or epidermal part, is formed of rhombs, divided by 
 lines, forming a network in a manner difficult to express, 
 either by drawings or descriptions, and which leaves the 
 rhombs still approximate.
 
 FOSSIL PLANTS. 
 
 289 
 
 Fi 
 
 Fig. 66. 
 
 The impression of this part, is represented by fig. 64. In 
 the second, or the cortical part, the 
 lines between the rhombs are of more 
 breadth, the ridge broader, and less de- 
 fined, and forms, with the contracted 
 superior elevation, a protuberance, and 
 the central part assumes the figure of 
 a squamula. Fig. 65, represents the 
 matrix or cast of this part. The third 
 or ligneous configuration, differs ex- 
 tremely from the two former, and only 
 close observation determines that it 
 originates from the same plant. The 
 cancillated appearance is here entirely lost ; the surface is 
 slightly striated Avith a scarcely perceptible rising under 
 the central ridge, and a minute, but distinctly raised dot 
 in the place of the depression 
 in the epidermis. It has all the 
 appearance of a peeled plant, 
 which has been furnished with 
 small branches, set in quincun- 
 cial order. This is represent- 
 ed by fig. 66. 
 
 Eight species of this genus 
 are described, but the plan of 
 this work forbids further de- 
 tail. 
 
 In some instances, trees of large dimensions have been 
 discovered in the fossil state, but these are mostly of the 
 Monocotyledonous kinds, as the palms and tree-like 
 ferns. 
 
 In the quarry of sandstone, belonging to the coal for- 
 mation, on which the city of Glasgow is built, the quarry- 
 men came upon a tree in its place, and just as it had been 
 growing. The trunk is about twenty-six inches in diam- 
 eter, not quite round, but somewhat oval, so that the north 
 and south diameter is several inches longer than the east 
 and west. The body of the tree is composed of sandstone 
 precisely similar to the rest of the quarry ; but the bark 
 has been converted into perfect cherry coal, which ad- 
 heres firmly to the stone tree, and renders it easy to re- 
 move the rock with which it is incrusted. About three 
 feet of the bottom of the tree has been uncovered ; this 
 portion is situated about forty feet below the surface, in a 
 25
 
 290 FOSSIL PLANTS. 
 
 solid quarry of sandstone. The upper part of the trunk 
 and branches have not been uncovered. The roots may 
 be seen dipping down into the earth precisely as the roots 
 of living trees do. Four very large roots may be seen 
 issuing from the trunk, and extending, some of them, about 
 a foot before they are lost in the surrounding stone. There 
 is nothing to indicate the species of tree, of which the 
 mould has been thus preserved. From the appearance of 
 the roots it is obvious, however, that it was not a fir. 
 
 This petrifaction demonstrates, that the sandstone has 
 been formed at some period since the growth of large 
 trees, and that the water worn appearance of the quartz 
 pebbles, of which the sandstone is composed, is not a de- 
 ceitful indication. 
 
 Petrifactions. There is a popular opinion, that in the 
 process of petrifaction, wood is changed to stone. The 
 truth appears to be, that as the wood decays, its place is 
 supplied by particles of stony matter, deposited from water ; 
 and as those particles are exceedingly small, and the de- 
 cay of the wood slow, its fibrous structure is preserved in 
 the stone, after the wood has entirely disappeared. Wood 
 never undergoes this change when in a state of soundness 
 and integrity ; but only when it becomes spongy by decay, 
 and when all its constituents have disappeared except the 
 woody or ligneous fibre. This is proved by most speci- 
 mens of petrified wood, which show a partial decay before 
 the process of mineralization began. 
 
 There are two kinds of petrifactions ; the one caused by 
 the infiltration of calcareous, and the other of silicious 
 particles. 
 
 Calcareous Vegetable Fossils. Lime is not very fre- 
 quently the mineralizing matter of vegetable fossils ; it is, 
 however, sometimes found introduced into the remains of 
 wood in the form of spar, or imperfect crystals ; in the 
 compact form, it is also found filling the interior of fossil 
 reeds and succulent plants. 
 
 Silicious Vegetable Fossils. These are immediately 
 distinguished from the calcareous, by their greater hard 
 ness, the former giving fire with steel, while the latter are 
 easily scratched with a knife. The silicious fossils are 
 remarkable for the correctness with which the fibres and 
 markings of the wood have been preserved.
 
 FOSSIL PLANTS. 
 
 291 
 
 The color is generally grayish, or yellowish white, 
 sometimes passing into brown, and is easily broken into 
 sharp edged fragments. It is found in many parts of the 
 world, but the finest specimens are said to come from 
 Hungary. The English, Portland limestone, contains 
 large fragments of wood, petrified by silicious infiltration, 
 the'interstices often containing fine crystals of quartz. 
 
 These petrifactions prove that silicious matter is so- 
 luble in water, under ordinary circumstances, and that 
 it not only takes the form of the woody fibre, but also of 
 crystals. 
 
 Dr. Maceulloch has shown also, that in many instances, 
 the mosses and other small vegetables, become incrusted 
 with silicious matter, while in their vegetable state, and 
 are thus preserved from decay. But these real cases, 
 must be distinguished from the black, tree-like appear- 
 ances, which are often seen on the flat surfaces of lime- 
 stone, and which are produced by oxide of iron, or man- 
 ganese. 
 
 The vegetable matter is easily de- 
 tected by mixing a little of the moss 
 agate, ground fine, with some black 
 oxide of copper, exposing the mix- 
 ture to heat, in a glass tube, stopped 
 at one end, and. bent so that the other 
 may dip in lime water contained in 
 a vial. If any vegetable matter be 
 present, carbonic acid gas will form, 
 and passing into the lime water, will 
 give it a turbid or milky appearance. 
 The adjoining cut represents a spe- 
 cimen of moss, apparently belonging 
 to the genus hypnum, contained with- 
 in a silicious deposite, called chalce- 
 dony. In some instances of this kind, 
 the vegetable form is so perfectly pre- 
 served, that the plant seems to float 
 as if in a liquid. Even the green co- 
 lor occasionally is preserved, and, in a few instances, the 
 species has been determined. 
 
 Fig. 67.
 
 292 CONCHOLOGY. 
 
 FOSSIL SHELLS. 
 
 That the student may understand what follows, it is ne- 
 cessary for him to become acquainted with the principles 
 on which shells are arranged, and a few of the terms by 
 which the different parts of a shell are denoted. 
 
 Shells, in their recent state, are composed of carbonate 
 of lime, mixed with a little animal or gelatinous matter. 
 In their fossil state, the gelatinous matter is seldom pre- 
 sent, though sometimes a small quantity has been de- 
 tected. 
 
 CONCHOL06V. 
 
 Conchology is the science which treats of the structure, 
 arrangement, and properties of shells. Shells are in- 
 habited by testaceous animals, and to which they are only 
 partially attached. Crustaceous animals are confined 
 entirely within their coverings, each limb, or member 
 being invested by its own peculiar shield, as in the lob- 
 ster and crab. Many of the testacea are fixed by an at- 
 tachment to other substances, as the oyster and muscle ; 
 while others have the power of crawling along the bot- 
 tom, or of moving through the water, as the unio, (fresh 
 water clam,) and the scallop. The animals which in- 
 habit shells are called mollusca or molluscous animals, 
 but the classification depends, not on the habits or form 
 of the animal, but on the form and other properties of the 
 shell. 
 
 The Linnzean system of conchology, which is the most 
 simple of any that has been proposed, divides shells into 
 Multivalves, Bivalves, and Univalves. 
 
 By valve, is here meant any single piece of shell, which 
 forms the habitation or part of the habitation of a mol- 
 luscous animal. Any shell formed of more than two 
 pieces is a multivalve. Bivalves consist of two distinct 
 pieces, and univalves of a single piece.
 
 OONCHOLOGY. 
 
 293 
 
 Fig- 68. i. MULTIVALVES. This is much 
 
 the smallest class, but contains some 
 beautiful shells. The genus Lepas, 
 which contains the common barnacle, 
 fig. 68, belongs here. The Chiton or 
 coat of mail is another member of this 
 class. The generic description of 
 Lepas is, "Shell multivalve; affixed 
 at the base ; valves unequal, erect." 
 These shells are chiefly parasitic, be- 
 ing attached to extraneous substances, 
 often to ships, pieces of wood, whales, &c. The generic 
 characters of this class are derived from the number and 
 situation of the valves. 
 
 2. BIVALVES. This class includes all such shells as 
 are composed of two pieces only, whatever their forms or 
 dimensions may be ; and in these respects, the species dif- 
 fer exceedingly. The two valves of the Chama gigas 
 sometimes weigh 500 pounds, and from this, there are all 
 grades of size down to that of a grain of sand. 
 
 Bivalve shells, when their 
 valves are similar in size and 
 form are said to be equivalved; 
 if not similar, inequivalved ; 
 when the anterior part agrees 
 in form with the posterior, 
 they are said to be equilate- 
 ral, if not, inequilateral. The 
 valves are connected at their 
 ~-'ff base by a ligament, with or 
 \vithout a hinge, the ligament 
 being placed externally or in- 
 ternally. The belly, a, fig. 69, 
 is the most tumid part; the disk, b, is that part between the 
 belly and the margin, c, which is considered to refer to the 
 external side, or, as it may be termed, Avhen the shell is 
 placed on its base, the upper side ; then the umbones (emi- 
 nences) d, are beneath the hinge, and terminate in the 
 points or beaks, e, which are incurved, reflected, or ear 
 formed. The beaks are frequently in particular shells, ac- 
 25*
 
 294 CONCHOLOGY. 
 
 companied by two external impressions, one of these, tho 
 corslet, f, is on the anterior surface, and is separated from 
 the disk, generally by a ridge, an angle, or a sunken line ; 
 and is often distinguishable by its difference of color ; it is 
 sometimes spinous, carinated, lamellated, &c., but is more 
 generally smooth, when it is said to be naked. The other 
 impression, called the lunule, g, is placed at the bottom of 
 the posterior surface ; it is variously shaped, oval, oblong, 
 lanceolate, &c. The two pieces, forming the shell, are 
 called the right and left valves. The shell being placed 
 on the hinge with the anterior side forward, that is consid- 
 ered as the right valve, which answers to the left hand, 
 the other being the left valve. The length of a bivalve is 
 from the umbones to the margin opposite ; and the width 
 or breadth, from the end of the anterior to that of the pos- 
 terior margin. Hence many shells are broader than they 
 are long. Those whose length exceeds their width are 
 called longitudinal, and those whose width exceeds their 
 length, are called transverse shells. Shells are distin- 
 guished by the appellations free, when they are capable of 
 moving, and fixed when they adhere to other bodies. 
 
 Bivalves are divided into three orders, depending on the 
 mechanism of their hinges. 
 
 Fig. 70. First. Those which 
 
 are furnished with inter- 
 nal teeth at the hinge, but 
 which are not inserted 
 into the opposite valves, 
 as in fig. 70. The genus 
 Mya, (to which belongs 
 the common long clam,) and Solen, (razor shell,) are ex- 
 amples. 
 
 To the Mya genus, belongs the Pearl Gaper, (Mya 
 margaritifcra,) a beautiful shell with a pearly lustre, and 
 which occasionally produces pearls of great value. It is 
 found in the large rivers of the northern latitudes, and is 
 not the shell which is the object of the regular pearl 
 fishers. 
 
 To this genus also, belongs some shells in considerable 
 request among collectors : but on the whole, the genus is 
 not remarkable for the beauty of many of its species.
 
 CONCHOLOGY. 295 
 
 Fig. 71. Second. Shells which 
 
 have their teeth inserted 
 into their opposite valves, 
 fig. 71. To this order 
 belongs the Cardium, 
 (heart shell,) and the 
 Venus; one species of 
 which is well known in our markets, under the name of 
 round clam, and which are taken in great abundance on 
 the shores of Long Island, and sold as an article of food. 
 
 Third. Shells, having a hinge, without teeth, as in the 
 well known shells, the oyster and scallop. 
 
 The generic distinctions of the bivalves, depending en- 
 tirely on their teeth, and their genera in the Linnaean sys- 
 tem amounting to only thirteen in number, they are easily 
 distinguished from each other. The species depending on 
 the forms and markings are not so readily distinguished. 
 
 3. UNIVALVES. This is much the largest class, and 
 contains a great proportion of the shells which collectors 
 seek after with so much avidity, and many of which are 
 exceedingly beautiful in their forms and colors. 
 
 Univalves differ greatly from each other in form, size, 
 and coloring. Like the bivalves, their different parts are 
 distinguished by peculiar names, which are applied in sci- 
 entific descriptions, and by means of which conchologists 
 are enabled to understand each other. 
 
 Only the most necessary and common of these terms 
 can here be explained. 
 
 The univalves are distinguished chiefly by the form, 
 size, and direction of their apertures, but sometimes by 
 the conformation of the shell. 
 
 The univalves are exceedingly numerous, of a great va- 
 riety of forms ; and some of them remarkably beautiful, 
 both in shape and color. The names of the several parts 
 of a univalve will be distinguished by the annexed cut
 
 296 
 
 CONCHOLOGY. 
 
 Pig. 72, 
 
 The spire, a, in the uni- 
 valve, fig. 72, is formed 
 by the union of the turns, 
 or whorls, b, which are 
 counted by reckoning the 
 lower turn, containing the 
 opening below, as the first, 
 and counting on the same 
 line to the top of the spire. 
 The turns in most shells 
 go from the right to the 
 , left ; when they pass from 
 left to right, which rarely 
 happens, the shell is said 
 to be reversed. The line 
 passing round the shell 
 like a screw, and at which 
 the whorls are united to each other, is termed the suture. 
 The whorls are plain, grooved, crenulated, crowned with 
 points, &c. 
 
 The back of the shell, c, is the external, tumid part, on 
 the opposite side, and above the aperture. The body con- 
 sists of the whole of the tumid part, c, which forms tbe 
 first whorl. The opening, or aperture, e, is circular, oval, 
 angular, &c., and it is often the form of this part which de- 
 termines the genus of the shell. This opening terminates 
 in a groove or notch, which is either straight or turned to 
 the right or left, or backwards. When the opening is 
 longer than wide, it is said to be longitudinal ; and when 
 wider than long, transverse. The edge or margin of the 
 opening is divided into right and left lips. The right, or 
 outer lip, d, reaches from the body, or first turn of the shell, 
 to the base. The left lip, g, is on the other side of the 
 
 rning, and is of small extent in those shells, the openings 
 which are entire. This opening is filled with a body 
 composed of shell, or cartilage, which is attached to the 
 animal, and with which he can close the opening at pleas- 
 ure, by drawing it in. This is termed the operculum. 
 
 The little white bodies, popularly called eye-stones, are 
 operculums. 
 
 Univalves are distinguished into two kinds.
 
 CONCHOLOOY. 
 
 297 
 
 Fig. 73. 
 
 First. Those which are furnished 
 with a spire, as fig 73, and those having 
 no spire. 
 
 Those furnished with spires, are again 
 divided into such as have, 1st, their aper- 
 tures effuse, that is, having the lips sepa- 
 rated by a sinus, or gutter, so that if filled 
 with water, it would flow out at the back 
 part, as the conus, cyprcea, bulla and -va- 
 luta,. 2d. Such as have their apertures 
 canaliculate, or like a canal, as buccinum, 
 strombus, and murez. 3d. Such as have 
 their apertures coarctate, or contracted, 
 opposed to effuse, as helix, turbo, and ne- 
 rita. 
 
 Fig. 74. 
 
 Second. Those either having no 
 spires, or irregular, or imperfect 
 ones. The patella, or limpet, fig. 
 74, is an example. 
 
 In this epitome of conchology, 
 we shall describe a part, but not the 
 whole of the thirty-six Linnasan 
 genera, at the same time indicating which are recent, or 
 now living ; which are fossil, or extinct ; and which are 
 both recent and fossil. 
 
 Fig. 75. MULTIVALVES. Genus Pholat, fig. 75. 
 
 Shell bivalve, inequilateral, and gaping ; 
 having small accessory valves, a, situated 
 on the hinge and posterior slope ; hinge 
 recurved and furnished with a tooth. 
 
 The name Pholades, imports seek a 
 hiding, in reference to the habits of the 
 animals, which live in limestone rocks, 
 or wood, entering when small, and grad- 
 ually increasing their cells, according to 
 their growth. The largest specimens 
 are found in chalk, which being a soft 
 rock, perhaps admits of a larger growth, 
 in consequence of the ease with which 
 the animal enlarges his cell. There is 
 a mystery concerning the means by which these animals 
 penetrate the substance of their future prison, which from
 
 298 
 
 CONCHOLOGY. 
 
 the size of the aperture must be done when they are very 
 young. The animal undoubtedly has the power of dis- 
 solving the stone and wood by means unknown to man. 
 The idea of friction with the shell, is untenable, since this 
 is covered 'with raised net work, with the points sharply 
 defined. This shell has not been found in the fossil state. 
 
 Fig. 76. BIVALVES. Genus Mytilus, fig. 76. Shell 
 longitudinal, equivalved; the beaks nearly 
 straight, terminal and pointed ; hinge without 
 teeth. Shape either folded or lobed, crested or 
 attenuated towards the apex. This is the 
 muscle of common language. To this genus 
 
 C*""^ belongs the pearl-bearing shell, (mytilus mar- 
 garitiferus,) of the Indian fisheries. The whole genus 
 are inseparably attached to other substances. 
 
 The species in which pearls are found, are most abun- 
 dant, and in the greatest perfection, on the coast of the 
 Persian gulf and of the island of Ceylon. The term 
 pearl oyster is commonly applied to this shell, but incor- 
 rectly, as is obvious, since the genus is Mytilus, and not 
 Ostrea. 
 
 In the great pearl fisheries which supply the eastern 
 markets, the number of fish annually brought up by di- 
 vers, is almost incredible. Many of the shells contain 
 no pearls, but some contain two or three. Those of two 
 grains, sell from about 1.50 to 2 dollars each, those of five 
 grains, from 8 to 10 dollars each: those of eight or nine 
 grains are of arbitrary value, because they are very rare. 
 The finest specimens sometimes bring enormous prices, 
 being considered invaluable, and fit only to adorn the 
 persons of eastern potentates. 
 
 Of the Mytilus, there are about forty recent, and two 
 fossil species. 
 
 Fig. 77 
 
 Genus Ostrea. Shell bivalve, gen- 
 erally with unequal valves, and slight- 
 ly eared hinge ; without teeth, but 
 furnished with an ovate hollow, and 
 usually with lateral transverse grooves. 
 
 This genus includes the scallop, or 
 pecten, fig. 77, which, however, unlike 
 the oyster in the habit of the animal, 
 and the general form of the shell,
 
 CONCHOLOOY. 299 
 
 agrees with it in the mechanism of the hinge, the part on 
 which the generic distinctions depend. 
 
 The locomotive powers of the scallop are exerted in a 
 singular manner. On the ground a rapid progress is made 
 by opening and shutting the shell suddenly, and with so 
 much muscular force, as to throw it five or six inches 
 each time. In the water, an equal dexterity is evinced hy 
 the animal in raising himself to the surface ; probably by 
 the same means, and of directing his course at pleasure. 
 When disturbed he shuts his valves, and sinks to the bot- 
 tom like a stone. 
 
 Of the Ostrea, there are fifty living, and thirty-six fossil 
 species. 
 
 Fig. 78. UNIVALVES. Genus Argonauta. 
 
 Shell, an involuted univalve; the 
 spire turned into the opening, very 
 thin, with a tubular double dorsal 
 keel, fig. 78. 
 
 The art of navigation is supposed 
 to have owed its origin to the expert 
 management of this instinctive sail- 
 or. He was observed by the ancients, (and subsequent ex- 
 perience has confirmed the observation,) to raise himself 
 to the surface of the sea, by ejecting a quantity of water, 
 and thus diminishing the specific gravity of his vessel. 
 When floating in a calm, he throws out two or more ten- 
 tacula, or feelers, to serve as oars. If a favoring breeze 
 springs up, he spreads a fine membranous sail, on two 
 extended limbs, and steering with his other arms, shows 
 his naval skill by numberless evolutions. In case of dan- 
 ger, he draws in a little water, hauls in, and coils up his 
 tackle, and sinks to the bottom. This is rarely, if ever, 
 found in the fossil state. 
 Fig. 79. 
 
 Genus Patella. A shield-formed, sub-con- 
 ical univalve, without a spire ; sometimes with 
 a perforation through the summit, fig. 79. Fig. 
 74, a perforated Patella. 
 
 The name Patella, is from the resemblance 
 of some species to the knee-pan. There is considerable 
 variety in the forms of the species, but all are fixed firmly 
 to the rocks or stones, by the animal which is covered by 
 the shell. 
 
 It is both fossil and recent
 
 300 CONCHOLOOY. 
 
 Pig. 80. Genus Dentalium. Shell univalve, sub-conical, 
 a little curved, tubular, not chambered, open at both 
 ends. Fig. 80. 
 
 The form, as the name expresses, is like that of 
 teeth, or tusks, especially like the tusks of an ele- 
 phant. 
 
 These shells are found partly buried in the sand, 
 and the animal, which some naturalists have sup- 
 posed to be free and unattached to his shell, may be 
 observed to sink deeply into it, in order to avoid danger. 
 The species are few, and entirely recent. 
 Fig. 81. Genus Cypraa. Shell univalve, involute, 
 
 obtuse, smooth ; aperture effuse at both ends, 
 linear, toothed on both sides, longitudinal, 
 fig. 81. 
 
 This genus is remarkable for the high 
 polish, and often beautiful colors, with which 
 it is adorned in its native state. Many of 
 the species are quite common, and therefore 
 not so highly prized by collectors as the more rare. They 
 are often set for snuff boxes. 
 
 The inhabitant of this shell, it is said, has the power of 
 quitting it, and of forming a new one better fitted to his 
 necessities or convenience. " The Cyprsea live deeply bu- 
 ried in the sand, from whence, it is said, at the full moon, 
 and during its increase, they leave their habitations for 
 the benefit of conchologists, and crawl forth in a state of 
 nakedness, to expatiate on the rocks above, and to begin a 
 new dwelling." This accounts for the great numbers 
 and high state of preservation in which these shells are 
 found. Naturalists, however, doubt the ability of these 
 animals to leave their shells. 
 
 The name of this genus appears to be derived from that 
 of the Cyprian goddess, on account of the great beauty of 
 the species. 
 
 Genus Bulla. Shell univalve, convolute, 
 unarmed ; aperture sub-coarctate, or a little 
 contracted, oblong, longitudinal, entire at the 
 base, fig. 82. 
 
 The shell of this genus is enclosed in a 
 mantle, or fold of the animal, instead of form- 
 ing an exterior shield, as in most cases. 
 Some of them are river shells, but they most- 
 ly live in the sea, buried a few inches in the mud.
 
 CONCHOLOOY. 
 
 301 
 
 The name Bulla, a bubble, is descriptive of the swelled, 
 or puffed form of the shells of most species. 
 
 Pig. 83. Genus Valuta. Shell univalve, convo 
 
 lute, columella or pillar plaited or screw- 
 ed, the lower plaits being the largest ; it 
 has neither lip nor umbilicus, fig. 83. 
 
 These shells are easily discriminated by 
 the plaited columella, and by which they 
 are particularly distinguished from the 
 genus Conus. The plaits are longitudi- 
 nally inclined and not nearly horizontal, 
 as in the genus Murex. The name of this genus is ex- 
 pressive of the form of the shell valuta, " rolled up cylin- 
 drically." The genus contains many shells of considera- 
 ble beauty, and, on the whole, is among the most elegant 
 known. 
 
 The recent species are numerous, besides which eigh- 
 teen fossil species are known. 
 
 Fig. 84. Genus Buccinum. Shell univalve, spiral, 
 gibbous, or protuberant, aperture ovate, ending 
 in a canal turned to the right, with a short 
 beak ; interior lip flattened, fig. 84. 
 
 The direction of the canal towards the 
 right, that is, from the exterior lip, is very 
 characteristic of this genus. The name Buc- 
 cinum, signifies a trumpet, or horn, but is oft- 
 en misapplied, since many of the species are 
 less like a horn than those belonging to other 
 genera. 
 
 This genus is divided into several families. The shells 
 of some having little resemblance to each other in form ; 
 but a reference to the peculiarity of the beak will gene- 
 rally distinguish this genus. Fossil and recent. 
 
 Fig. 85. Genus Strombus. Shell univalve, spiral, ex- 
 panded ; aperture having the lip unusually di- 
 lated, and ending in a canal, inclined towards the 
 left, or from the pillar, fig. 85. 
 
 One species of this genus is well known un- 
 der the name of Conch-shell, the interior of 
 which is of a beautiful pink color, and was for- 
 merly in fashion in ornamental jewelry.
 
 302 CONCHOLOGY. 
 
 Some members of this genus might easily be mistaken 
 for Murices, or Buccina ; but the Strombi have a. depres- 
 sion, or sinus, on the dilated wing, which is separate from 
 the groove at the base of the shell, next the pillar. Atten- 
 tion to this will lead to the distinction. It is both recent 
 and fossil. 
 
 Fig. 86. Genus Murex. Shelve univalve, spiral, often 
 
 f formed with longitudinal membranous sutures ; and 
 beset with spines; aperture terminating in a canal, 
 either straight or turned up backwards, and not in- 
 clining to the right or left, fig. 86. 
 The very peculiar form of the aperture or canal, is a 
 very distinctive feature in this genus. This is oblong-oval, 
 or perfectly oval, and does not gradually contract into a 
 canal, like the Strombi and Buccina, but suddenly opens 
 into it at the same, or nearly the same, width, which it re- 
 tains through the whole length of the beak. 
 
 The famous Tyrian purple was extracted from an ani- 
 mal inhabiting one species of this genus. A single vein 
 near the head contains the coloring liquor ; but the art of 
 dyeing, in latter times, has disclosed more beautiful and 
 much less costly colors than this produces. 
 
 The name Murex means rough, or rock-like, a designa- 
 tion which fails to apply in many of these species. It is 
 both recent and fossil. 
 
 Fig. 87. Genus Turbo. Shell univalve, spiral ; ap- 
 erture contracted, round, and entire. Fig. 87. 
 One of the best distinctions of this genus 
 is the round aperture. The shells often 
 closely resemble those of the Trochus genus, 
 but, in these, the aperture is angular, often 
 the only mark of distinction between the two 
 genera. 
 
 The Turbo might at first be mistaken for the spire of 
 another shell, but its unbroken base and round aperture 
 will generally distinguish the genus. The name Turbo, 
 means any thing which whirls around, as a top, in refer- 
 ence to the spiral form of the genus. It is both recent and 
 fossil. 
 
 Genus Conus. Shell univalve and turbinate. Aper- 
 ture effuse, longitudinal, linear, toothless, and entire at the
 
 CONCHOLOGY. 
 
 303 
 
 Fig. 88. base. Columella smooth, base attenuated, 
 sometimes marked with oblique grooves. 
 Aperture sometimes dilated; whorls, mostly 
 flat, often channelled, rarely crowned. 
 
 The great beauty of this genus, both in 
 form and coloring, renders it highly interest- 
 ing and valuable to the lovers of the science. 
 The rare species are sought after with avidity 
 by shell collectors, and the most beautiful kinds often sell 
 for considerable sums. The Conus gloria-maris, and the 
 Conus cedonulli, sometimes bring from twenty to twenty- 
 five guineas for single shells. 
 
 The name Conus, a cone, refers to the shape of the 
 genus. 
 
 Fig. 89. Genus Trochus. A spiral, sub-conical 
 
 univalve ; aperture four sided, and some- 
 what angular, having the upper part of the 
 margin converging towards the pillar, 
 which is oblique. Fig. 89. 
 
 In some species the aperture tends to an 
 oval form, but these are distinguished from 
 the Turbines by a tooth-like projection. It 
 must, however, be confessed, that there is 
 much difficulty in distinguishing some specimens of these 
 two genera from each other. In general the Trochi have 
 the form of a pointed cone, capable of standing nearly 
 erect on their bases. The word Trochus has a similar 
 meaning to Turbo the common name is top shell, or but- 
 ton shell, the shape being similar to that of a common 
 spinning top or an ancient conical button. 
 
 Fig. 90. Genus Helix. Shell univalve, spiral, 
 translucent, brittle; aperture coarctate, or 
 contracted, lunate or circular, having the 
 segment of another circle taken from the 
 whole area, fig. 90. The common land snail 
 is a good example of this genus. The 
 whorls are contiguous, and the body of the 
 shell always forms a lunate projection into 
 the aperture, and this character will distinguish the Heli- 
 ces from the Trochi and Turbines. Another mark of the 
 genus is tenuity, or thinness and translucency.
 
 304 
 
 CONCHOLOGY. 
 
 Fjg. 91. Genus Nerita. Shell univalve, spiral ; 
 
 gibbous, flat underneath, aperture semi- 
 orbicular, or semi-lunar, having uniformly 
 ' the pillar lip, or columella straight. Fig. 
 91. 
 
 The Nerita is a genus well character- 
 ized, and therefore easily distinguished, the straight pillar 
 lip being a uniform mark, which at once separates them 
 from the Helices, which their forms most resemble. No- 
 thing can exceed the beauty and delicacy with which 
 some of these shells are marked, or the rich tints of^color 
 with which others are stained. It is both recent and 
 fossil. 
 
 Extinct Fossil Shells. Such shells as have not been 
 found in the recent, or living state, are considered as ex- 
 tinct. It is obvious that this criterion must, however, in 
 the present state of knowledge, be exceedingly uncertain, 
 since further investigations most probably will show that 
 many species now considered as lost, will be found still 
 living. Had all the shells unknown to Linnaeus, been 
 considered extinct, a great proportion of those now in the 
 cabinets of collectors, would have been among the lost 
 number. Still there is, perhaps, no other rule by which 
 naturalists can be guided, than to consider every unfound 
 species of shell, as well as 
 Fig. 92. of quadrupeds, extinct, though 
 
 there is a thousand fold great- 
 er prospect of finding new spe- 
 cies of the former, than of the 
 latter. 
 
 Encrinite. This is a genus 
 of singular and curious animals 
 which being found among the 
 lower strata of rocks, are sup- 
 posed, by those who think there 
 were successive creations, to 
 have been among the first in- 
 habitants of this earth. 
 
 The Lily Encrinite, fig. 92, 
 is a beautiful fossil, so called 
 from its resemblance to the 
 form of that flower. It was an
 
 CONCHOLOGY. 
 
 305 
 
 acephalous or headless animal, attached by a root-like base, 
 to other substances. This base was jointed as seen in the 
 figure, and on its top were placed five wedge shaped bones, 
 which constitute the smooth circular central part, around 
 which are disposed five other pieces, called ribs. On the 
 upper edge of these are placed bones forming two arms, 
 each of which divide into articulated fingers, and tentacula, 
 or feelers, which, when closed, bear a lily-like appearance, 
 (as in the figure,) and when expanded, form nearly a cir- 
 cular net of jointed meshes. These on closing, would 
 secure the prey and direct it into the stomach, which, 
 probably, was situated in a central cavity, at the upper 
 part of the base. These animals appear to have had con- 
 siderable range for the seizure of their prey, without pos- 
 sessing absolute locomotion, the peculiar mode of articu- 
 lation, affording them a great degree of mobility, with 
 considerable security against dislocation. 
 
 These remains are found in that species of limestone 
 called oolite, at Stonefield, in England, and are often in 
 such abundance, that a considerable proportion of the rock 
 appears to be formed of them. 
 
 No living analogue of this animal is known. 
 
 Fig. 93. Belemites. This is a conical, spindle-shaped 
 stone, of brown radiating spar, generally term- 
 inating at the small end in a point, and having 
 at the larger end, a conical cavity, naturally re- 
 taining a conical testaceous body, divided into 
 chambers, by plain concave partitions, and pier- 
 ced by a siphuncle, or orifice, fig. 93. 
 
 This extinct fossil occurs in great abundance 
 in the kind of limestone called lias, in several 
 parts of England. It is also found in the newer 
 limestone groups of this country. 
 
 Fig. 94. 
 
 Ammonites. A multiocular, or many 
 celled, spiral shell, with contiguous appar- 
 ent turns ; the chambers being divided by 
 winding partitions, and pierced by a siphun- 
 cle or winding orifice, placed at the outer 
 side, fig. 94. 
 
 More than seventy species of this fossil 
 are found, and have been determined and 
 26*
 
 306 CONCHOLOOY. 
 
 named by the English geologists. It is found in the lime- 
 stones of different names and ages, and also in chalk and 
 clay. No living analogue of this genus, has ever been 
 discovered. 
 
 Fig. 95. Orthoceratites. A multiocular, and slightly 
 bent, cylindrical, or slightly conical univalve 
 shell ; the chambers separated by a plain septa, 
 concave towards the larger end, and pierced with 
 a siphuncle, fig. 95. 
 
 This is considered one of the earliest creations, 
 by those who suppose that the days of creation, 
 were indefinite periods, and yet it is a shell of great com- 
 plexity, showing that the most simple organizations, do not 
 necessarily belong to the lowest strata. 
 
 Nautilus. A many celled spiral univalve, 
 the turns contiguous, the outer one includ- 
 ing the others ; the chambers separated by 
 plain, or nearly plain partitions, placed trans- 
 versely, and concave outwards ; these are 
 perforated by shelly tubes, connected by a 
 tubular aperture, running across the chambers, so as to 
 form a complete siphunculus, fig. 96. 
 
 To observe the chambers and siphuncle, the shell must 
 be sawn into two parts longitudinally. It is both fossil 
 and recent. 
 
 The name Nautilus signifies sailor, and under this term 
 was formerly included the Argonauta, which, from its 
 supposed skill in sailing, gave name to the whole. 
 
 The great difference in the internal structure of the 
 shells have induced subsequent conchologists to separate 
 the genera. The present Argonauta is the true sailor, 
 though the credit is popularly given to the " Nautilus." 
 which it is said, "taught men how to sail." 
 
 There is a considerable number of species of this genus, 
 both fossil and recent, some of which are so small as only 
 to be defined by means of a microscope, while others are 
 nearly a foot in diameter. 
 
 Fossil Insects. Insects, owing to the delicacy of their 
 structure, and the nature of the substance which enters 
 into their composition, appear, generally, to be unfitted to
 
 FOSSIL FISHES. 307 
 
 sustain those changes which convert animal substances into 
 fossils, and hence few insects have been found in this state. 
 The crustaceous coverings of the bodies and limbs, and the 
 hard wing-cases of a few genera, are the chief, and per- 
 haps the only fossils which can be referred to this class. 
 
 Fig. 97. The Trilobite, or what is called in 
 
 England the Dudley Fossil, fig. 97, is con- 
 sidered by some an insect, but by others a 
 bivalve shell. Its superior covering, the 
 only part distinctly preserved, is oblong, 
 ovate, convex, and marginated ; the ante- 
 rior, wider part, is gibbous, and furnished 
 with two semilunar tubercular projections 
 resembling eyelids ; and posterior to, and 
 on the inner side of each of these, are two 
 round tubercles. Adjoining to this part, commences a 
 series of scale-like transverse slips, so disposed, that the 
 three rows of these connected slips, form three longitudi- 
 nal transversely divided lobes, gradually diminishing to 
 the lower termination. In some specimens, the fossil is 
 nearly globular, showing that the animal had the power 
 of coiling or folding himself together, like the millipede. 
 It is doubtful how this animal accomplished locomotion, 
 since it is not certain that any indications of legs and feet 
 have been observed. This insect fossil has been found 
 four or five inches in length, though the common size is 
 much less. 
 
 It occurs abundantly in the organic limestone formation 
 at Trenton Falls, New York. 
 
 Fossil Fishes. Mr. Parkinson says, that " The fossil 
 lemains of fishes are found in such various states, under 
 such different circumstances, and in the formations of such 
 distant periods, as cannot but lead the zealous inquirer to 
 expect that he shall derive from their examination, inform- 
 ation of considerable importance." 
 
 The fish, in some specimens, are found nearly entire, 
 the harder parts, " all in their natural situations, with their 
 scales, and even skin preserved. In others, all the other 
 parts are removed except the skeleton, the bones of which 
 either retain their original relative situations, or have un- 
 dergone considerable distortion, or even dislocation. In 
 some instances, not only separation of these parts has ta-
 
 308 FOSSIL FISHES. 
 
 * 
 
 ken place, but the greater part of the skeleton has been re- 
 moved." Organic Remains, 277. 
 
 There is, probably, no class of animals, the remains of 
 which are found in the fossil state, that are capable of be- 
 ing referred to so many living analogues as fishes. Ac- 
 cording to Mr. Lacepede, more than thirty Asiatic, Afri- 
 can, and American species, have been found in the neigh- 
 borhood of Verona, in Italy. The most celebrated locality 
 of fossil fish is at Monte-Bolca, in Italy, and it cannot be 
 doubted, that the catastrophe, whatever it might have been, 
 which caused this vast accumulation of the finny tribes, 
 must have been almost instantaneous, and that the fishes 
 were not only suddenly deprived of life, but immediately 
 afterwards buried in the deposite where they are now 
 found. This appears from the singular circumstance, that 
 one fish was found in the very act of swallowing another, 
 having apparently had not sufficient time before it died to 
 let go its prey. Now, when any fish (especially if fur- 
 nished with an air bladder) dies, it remains at the bottom 
 of the water for two or three days, it then rises to the sur- 
 face, decays, and the bones sink to the bottom. Hence, if 
 some time had elapsed between the death of this fish and 
 its burial, it would, instead of being caught in the earth, 
 have rose to the surface of the water, and at least separa- 
 ted from the victim it was about to swallow. This is 
 probably the reason why fossil fish are so rare, even among 
 strata known by other remains to have been deposited from 
 the sea. They first rise to the top of the water, after be- 
 ing deprived of life, where they remain until the flesh 
 is so decomposed, that the bones separate, and are dis 
 persed. We may, therefore, conclude, that in most, if not 
 in all instances, where fossil fish are found, they must have 
 died and been buried by some extraordinary catastrophe 01 
 convulsion. 
 
 Besides the proof just adduced of the suddenness of the 
 revolutions which have entombed fishes, in almost all 
 cases, the remains have been found in postures indicating 
 a violent death. Thus, at Eisleben, in Thuringia, where 
 there is a locality of ichthyolites, the fish are in every 
 possible attitude, some of them three feet long, often lying 
 on their backs, or recurved into constrained positions, 
 with their heads crushed and disfigured. The strata en- 
 closing them is a marly slate, impregnated with copper and 
 bitumen.
 
 ARRANGEMENT OF SHELLS IN STRATA. 309 
 
 The fish at Monte-Bolca are by some thought to owe 
 their destruction, and the origin of the rock in which they 
 are enclosed, to an adjoining volcano. The formation in 
 which they are found is a marly slate. This, though not 
 volcanic, might have arisen from the disturbance of a vol- 
 cano. The remains as now found, show that most of the 
 fish were enclosed in the earth while in an entire state, and 
 many of them are still so perfect, that their generas have 
 been determined, as the following list, among others, found 
 there, is sufficient to show. The shark, ray, file-fish, sun- 
 fish, globe-fish, trumpet-fish, pike, silurus, herring, pipe- 
 fish, cod-fish, blenny, goby, mackerel, bull-head, gurnard, 
 gilt-head, perch, flounder, flying-fish, eel, dory, and many 
 others. 
 
 Thus it may be observed, that although the remains of 
 most quadrupeds are those of extinct species, a great pro- 
 portion of the fossil fishes are those of living genera. 
 
 Arrangement of shells in strata. Although, as stated 
 at the beginning of this article, the succession in which 
 organic remains occur in the strata from below upwards, 
 coincides, in a general sense, perfectly with the succes- 
 sion in which they were created, that is, plants, and " the 
 moving creature that hath life," and the birds, were form- 
 ed before the quadrupeds and man ; still this general fact 
 proves nothing with respect to the " successive develop- 
 ment of organization," as some have attempted to show. 
 Could it be proved that from the most simple organization, 
 found in the lower strata, there was a regular gradation to- 
 wards the most complex, there might exist some ground for 
 a pretence, that there had been a gradual and constant im- 
 provement in the works of creation, leading to the atheisti- 
 cal supposition, that nature had improved by experience. 
 But in detail, this gradual development of organization does 
 not hold true, since animals of a more complex structure 
 are often found in deeper strata, or below those which are 
 less so. 
 
 " It has been conjectured by some naturalists," says 
 Mr. Parkinson, " who had become convinced of the com- 
 paratively late creation of land animals, and of man, that 
 the peopling of this planet had commenced in enduing 
 with the principle of life beings of the simplest forms 
 and organizations, and that by the influence of certain ex- 
 ternal causes, acting through passing ages, those changes
 
 310 ARRANGEMENT OF SHELLS IN STRATA. 
 
 had been gradually wrought in succeeding animals, from 
 which have resulted the numerous differences which con- 
 stitute the various tribes, rising from the almost lifeless 
 sponge to the highly complex and more perfect animal, 
 man. On this hypothesis, it might be expected that those 
 beings which had possessed life under its most simple 
 modifications, would be found in the earliest strata ; and 
 that in proportion to the lateness of the period at which 
 the strata had been formed, would be the degree of com- 
 plexity in the organization of the inhabitants whose re- 
 mains they contain. But investigation has ascertained 
 that such a conjecture, with respect to shells, is ill-founded. 
 In the carboniferous and mountain limestone are discovered 
 the remains of shells, of apparently the earliest creation, 
 which are unexpectedly found, with hardly an exception, 
 to exceed in complexity of structure all the shells which 
 have been discovered, either in any subsequent formation, 
 or living in our present seas. It is in this early creation 
 that those shells are found which possess that complicated 
 structure, very rarely found in shells of this day, which 
 enabled their inhabitants to rise and sink with them in the 
 water. Such are the many chambered univalves, the Nau- 
 tilus, Ammonites, Orthoceratites, &c." Parkinson's Org. 
 Remains, p. 254. 
 
 The hypothesis of the gradual development of organic 
 life, which it is thus shown cannot be sustained by facts, 
 is both skeptical and unphilosophical. Its object is to 
 prove that after the simplest form of plants and animals 
 had existed for ages, from these there gradually resulted 
 other plants and animals of more complex kinds, and so 
 on in progressive improvement, until both, during the 
 lapse of myriads of ages, arrived at their present slate of 
 perfection. It is skeptical, because it either acknowledges 
 no Creator, or denies his power to form at once the most 
 perfect beings ; as though the same power which created 
 an oyster, wanted the experience of millions of years to 
 form quadrupeds and man. Thus showing that the work 
 of creation, for this reason, instead of being finished in 
 six days, required millions of years. It is unphilosophi- 
 cal, inasmuch as it supposes that new genera and species, 
 of different and more complex kinds, have been derived 
 from others which were less so; whereas, in truth, we 
 find that nature is invariable in this respect ; not a solitary 
 instance being known where this has happened either in
 
 MARINE AND FRESH WATER SHELLS. 311 
 
 plants or animals. Will any one, in his senses, believe 
 that the oak ever sprung from the polypod or mushroom, 
 that the flying fish carne from the sponge, or that man 
 began his race in the form and capacity of an ape ? If 
 this is ridiculous, the doctrine of progressive organic de- 
 velopment is equally so, since it is founded on these very 
 suppositions. 
 
 Alternating Marine and Fresh Water Shells. It has 
 been supposed that in various parts of Europe, there was 
 sufficient evidence of alternating marine and fresh water 
 shells, imbedded in strata, and that, therefore, those parts 
 of the earth where such phenomena exist, must, at some 
 remote period, have been alternately covered by salt and 
 fresh water. In France, there occur beds of gypsum and 
 marl, in which are found the remains of quadrupeds, and 
 above these occur marine shells ; above which there is 
 another fresh water formation. 
 
 The gypsum and marl being considered fresh water de- 
 posites, it is supposed that the bones found in them, be- 
 longed to animals which inhabited the shores of the lake, 
 which once existed there. 
 
 From such facts, Cuvier and Brongniart inferred, that 
 these different beds demonstrated the repeated alternations 
 of the sea and of fresh water on the same tract, and that 
 while the sea deposited marbles and slates, the lakes in 
 their turn formed gypsum, marls, &c. But while maturing 
 such opinions, these naturalists found it necessary to ad- 
 mit, that gypsum might be formed from salt, as well as 
 from fresh water, and finally, that marine and river shells 
 were really mixed together. Still Cuvier maintains the 
 alternation of fresh and salt water formations ; which doc- 
 trine is, however, strongly opposed by several naturalists 
 of great ability. Metherie objects entirely to the suppo- 
 sition, that because the bones of land animals, and fresh 
 water shells, are found in these formations, that therefore 
 there must have existed a fresh water lake, but sees no 
 difficulty in supposing that both were carried where they 
 are now found, by the current of a river, which also de- 
 posited the matter in which they exist, in the sea, the wa- 
 ter gradually retiring as the deposition was formed. 
 
 M. M. Brard, and St. Fond, are of opinion, that all the 
 shells found in these depositions, originally existed in the 
 same water ; but that in process of time, perhaps from the
 
 312 MARINE AND FRESH WATER SHELLS. 
 
 increase of the saltness of the sea, a separation took place, 
 the inhabitants of the shells which are at present found in 
 the fresh water formation, having migrated to situations 
 more congenial to their natures. 
 
 A dispute now commenced between these naturalists, 
 and Cuvier and Brongniart, on the points of distinction 
 between marine and fresh water shells, and in the course 
 of which, the reader will find, 1st. that some shells live 
 both in fresh and salt waters; thus, the Patellse of rivers 
 and those of the sea, differ hardly at all in their shells. 
 2nd. That in many other instances, besides that mentioned 
 by Cuvier, land and sea shells have been found mixed with 
 each other; thus, at Grignon, Lamarck found forty-eight 
 river and land shells, among those which were decidedly 
 marine, and all of them in the fossil state. 3d. It appears 
 that the comparative thinness of land and river shells, as 
 a distinctive mark between them and those of the sea, 
 though often a true test, is not always so. And 4th, it ap- 
 pears that Cuvier and Brongniart had founded their opin- 
 ion of the fresh water origin of the upper bed of gypsum, 
 in the Paris formation, on the presence of tiro shells only, 
 which they considered, of course, to be of fresh water 
 growth ; but one of which, Lamarck supposed to be a sea 
 shell. 
 
 Now all these appearances may readily be accounted 
 for, even admitting that there do exist fresh and salt water 
 formations over each other, by supposing that such places 
 were once the estuaries, or outlets of rivers, into the 
 sea. At the mouth of every river may be found more or 
 less fresh water shells, mixed with those of the sea. It 
 cannot be otherwise, since the current floats these light 
 bodies, after being separated from the animal, to consider- 
 able distances, and of course must occasionally deposit 
 them among those thrown along the coast by the sea. It 
 would hence seem, that the revolutions of the earth, in- 
 sisted on by Cuvier, and in consequence of which the sea 
 is supposed several times to have changed its bed, and to 
 have alternated on the land with fresh water, are no longer 
 to be considered, in accounting for the changes which the 
 earth has undergone. 
 
 It has been already shown, that the facts observed at the 
 mouth of the Rhone, will account for the -mixture of ma- 
 rine and land shells, under the most common circumstan- 
 ces. See " Delta of the Rhone in the Sea."
 
 GEOLOGY AND MOSAIC HISTORY. 313 
 
 COINCIDENCE OF GEOLOGY WITH THE MOSAIC HISTORY. 
 
 Almost from the commencement of geological inves- 
 tigations, designing men have attempted to show, that 
 the physical history of the earth, and that of the creation, 
 by Moses, could not be reconciled that the former pre- 
 sented facts which were incompatible with the statements 
 of the latter, and therefore, that revelation and reason 
 were here in direct opposition. 
 
 Hence it was, that in the early history of this science, 
 the church looked with jealousy upon these investigations, 
 and even went so far as to restrict philosophers in their 
 pursuits, or at least in their publications, and to denounce 
 those who pretended to make discoveries, which they 
 could not reconcile with the Mosaic record. 
 
 At that time, it is true, that little was known on this 
 subject, and these alarming facts have long since been 
 shown to accord entirely with revelation. But as the 
 earth has been more extensively explored, new and un- 
 explained facts have been constantly unfolded, and these, 
 in their turn, have been made to bear against revelation ; 
 and have consequently, in many instances, operated 
 against the free inquiries of those who had determined 
 not to lift their hands against the Holy Scriptures, though 
 they were made to believe, that geology presented facts 
 which could in no way be reconciled with the common 
 understanding of revelation. 
 
 Judging from the effects of causes now operating on 
 the surface of the earth, it has been supposed impossible, 
 that the deep strata of its crust could have been formed 
 within the period assigned by the sacred history. The 
 whole earth, indeed, seemed to bear such marks of anti- 
 quity, as could not be reconciled with any hypothesis of 
 its recent origin. Time was, therefore, wanted: for the 
 cosmogonist found that it was impossible to bound his 
 speculations within the narrow limits allowed by the 
 sacred historian. It was consequently necessary that hfl 
 27
 
 314 COINCIDENCE OF GEOLOGY 
 
 should either come out boldly and deny that authority, 
 or invent some new interpretation of the text, by which 
 the scope of his speculations should be free and un- 
 bounded. 
 
 In this dilemma, the celebrated theorist, Whiston, in 
 about 1696, first proposed that the book of Genesis should 
 be so interpreted, as to allow theoretical geologists full 
 and ample scope for their cosmogony, without being sus- 
 pected of heretical opinions ; and thus were the Scriptures 
 made to bow down before geology. 
 
 This, we believe, was the first innovation which was 
 made upon the Mosaic history, for the accommodation of 
 geologists ; but certainly not the last ; for at the present 
 day it is the practice of some philosophers, and even those 
 who profess their belief in the truth of the Scriptures, to 
 interpret them for the express accommodation of their own 
 understandings. 
 
 Now, if a geological, or any other fact, contradicts the 
 Scriptures, they are not the words of truth, and if this is 
 the case, let the fact be shown ; for if the Scriptures con- 
 tradict the truth, they cannot be of divine origin, and, 
 therefore, ought not to be the rule of our faith ; for it is 
 certain, that truth can never be inconsistent with itself. 
 But before we reject or misinterpret this record, let us be 
 certain that our facts are true ones, and that they do not 
 coincide with the plain and obvious meaning of the sacred 
 text. 
 
 We have the satisfaction of believing, that the systems 
 of Inspiration and Nature have both emanated from the 
 same Divine authority, and that when both are under- 
 stood they will harmonize with each other ; and it will 
 be our object to show, in the following pages, that even 
 taking the Scriptures in their most obvious sense, there is 
 no want of harmony between inspiration and natural phe- 
 nomena, so far, at least, as relates to the Mosaic history, 
 and the facts of geology. 
 
 Our knowledge of the primitive or ancient world, is 
 derived entirely from two sources, viz. first, The his- 
 tory of the creation by Moses, as contained in the first 
 chapter of Genesis; and second, The investigations of 
 geology. 
 
 The information to be derived from Genesis is of various 
 kinds, and of the highest importance, since it is the only 
 icurce whence we gain any consistent account of the
 
 WITH THE MOSIAC HISTORY. 315 
 
 origin of the universe and of ourselves. We shall, how- 
 ever, confine ourselves chiefly to such parts as relate to 
 geology, and shall proceed with the understanding that 
 this history is from an inspired pen ; that it is written in 
 a manner by which its great outlines are adapted to a plain 
 and common apprehension, and that the author, in this re- 
 spect, intended his words should be received in their most 
 obvious meaning. 
 
 CREATION OF HEAVEN AND EARTH. 
 
 " In the beginning God created the heavens and the 
 earth." Gen. i. 1. 
 
 That is, in the beginning of time, the earth was created, 
 for, before this, there was nothing by which time could be 
 measured, or its beginning dated. All was eternity. 
 
 " The earth was without form, and void, and darkness 
 was upon the face of the deep." V. 2. 
 
 How long the earth continued without form, and in 
 darkness and chaos, we have no means of knowing. Had 
 this information been of importance to man, God would 
 have revealed it to Moses, and he would have recorded it 
 for our use. On this point, therefore, we have a right to 
 conjecture, and may believe, without the least violation of 
 the sacred text, that the materials of which the earth is 
 composed, were created a thousand, or a million of years 
 before they were brought into a form fit for the habitation 
 of man. 
 
 That the earth was not from eternity is shown by the 
 first words of the history ; for eternity has no beginning, 
 and what is created cannot always have been. Besides, 
 we have the direct testimony of inspiration, that there was 
 a period when the earth did not exist. " Before the moun- 
 tains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the 
 earth, and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, 
 thou art God." Ps. xc. 2. Hence, although we are bound 
 to believe that this world had a beginning, and was a part 
 of the work of creation, still there is nothing on record 
 which restricts us with respect to its antiquity. Theoretical 
 geologists may, therefoie, allow themselves full scope in this 
 part of the history, with respect to time, provided they do 
 not go beyond the " beginning." The primitive rocks, in
 
 
 316 COINCIDENCE OF GEOLOGY 
 
 which no organic remains exist, we may consider, without 
 violation of Scripture authority, as having been millions 
 of years in forming, but it is much more reasonable, we 
 conceive, to suppose, that at some unknown period they 
 were, like the other parts of creation, brought into existence 
 at the immediate command of the Creator ; for, not being 
 stratified, there is no reason to believe that their formation 
 was a work of time. The secondary rocks, containing the 
 remains of organized beings, stand in a different relation 
 with respect to time. These show, by their stratified struc- 
 ture, that they were gradually deposited from a fluid, and, 
 therefore, that time was consumed in their formation. But 
 every one who believes the Scriptures, is Sound to believe 
 also, that since these rocks contain organized substances, 
 they were formed since that period, when it was said, " Let 
 the waters, under the Heaven, be gathered into one place ; 
 and let the dry land appear," for, before that period, there 
 is no account of the creation of either plants or animals. 
 
 Whence did the first Light emanate ? And God said 
 let there be light; and there was light. In Hebrew, 
 " light was." V. 3. 
 
 This is the first particular creative act stated in the his- 
 tory; the first verse containing merely a general declara- 
 tion that the heavens and the earth had been created ; the 
 manner in which the latter was brought from its chaotic 
 state, into a condition fit for the residence of organic be- 
 ings, and the succession in which these beings were crea- 
 ted, forming the succeeding narrative. 
 
 Various opinions have been advanced, concerning the 
 nature of this light, and the source whence it proceeded. 
 Some have supposed that it was electrical, and others 
 that it was phosphorescent, and, in both cases, that it did 
 not emanate from any particular point, but that it was 
 diffused through the space surrounding the earth. Others 
 again have believed that it proceeded from a meteor, 
 which was created for the purpose of enlightening the 
 earth during the first three days, and before the sun was 
 called into existence. But there exists no analogy for 
 such a hypothesis ; and it would even be derogating from 
 the Wisdom and Power of Him who, three days after- 
 wards, set the great lights in the firmament, to suppose 
 that He should have made an evanescent one, for the use 
 of the earth, while as yet it contained neither plant nor
 
 WITH THE MOSAIC HISTORY. 317 
 
 animal. There is no instance recorded, where the crea- 
 tive fiat has been employed for such a purpose, nor does 
 the language of Moses necessarily imply, that the sun 
 and moon were not created at the time when God said, 
 " let there be light." When we come to the fourth day's 
 work, we shall attempt to show, that the luminaries had a 
 previous creation, but were first made to shine upon the 
 earth on that day. 
 
 " And God divided the light from the darkness." V. 5. 
 
 Whatever might have been the source whence this light 
 proceeded, it is plain from this declaration, that it could 
 not have been generally diffused around the earth, for had 
 this been the case, it is impossible for us to apprehend 
 how it could have been divided from the darkness. On 
 the contrary, the terms of the record lead to the belief, 
 that at this time the earth had commenced her diurnal 
 revolutions, and the light emanating from a fixed point, 
 was divided from the darkness by the first succession of 
 day and night. This, indeed, is affirmed by what imme- 
 diately follows. " And God called the light, day ; the 
 darkness he called night ; and the evening and the morn- 
 ing were the first day." 
 
 Creation of the Firmament. " And God said, let there 
 be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide 
 the waters from the waters." V. 6. 
 
 Firmament. Heb. Expansion. The original word is 
 Rakiah, which comes from a root, signifying to stretch 
 out, or expand like a curtain. It also means, to make 
 hard and firm by treading, stamping, or beating icith a 
 hammer.* But it appears to be the former signification 
 only, which applies to the present case. 
 
 It is apparent that Moses intended to adapt his account 
 of the creation to unlettered common sense, and to de- 
 scribe natural events as they would have struck the eye 
 of a common observer. Hence the firmament is called 
 heaven, because it is over our heads, and for the same 
 reason, the sun, moon, and stars, in v. 15, are said to be 
 placed in the firmament. Now heaven, as the word is 
 here employed, means nothing more than the blue vault 
 of the sky ; and therefore is synonymous with firmament. 
 Firmament is the atmosphere which we breathe, and 
 
 * Bush on Genesis. 
 
 27*
 
 318 COINCIDENCE OF GEOLOGY 
 
 which science has taught, reaches to the height of about 
 forty-five miles from every part of the earth's surface. 
 The stars are millions of miles beyond this firmament, 
 but since they are seen through, they appear to the eye to 
 be placed in it, and the Mosaic history is adapted to this 
 illusion. This is one among many existing proofs, that 
 the narrative of the creation was intended to describe 
 natural phenomena as they meet the eye, rather than to 
 give a system of physics to the minds of philosophers. 
 
 " Ana God made a firmament, and divided the waters 
 which were under the firmament, from the waters which 
 were above the firmament." V. 7. 
 
 By this act, the atmosphere was made to absorb a part 
 of the waters which had previously covered the earth, and 
 thus to elevate them above the surface. The quantity of 
 moisture contained in the atmosphere, differs greatly in 
 different countries, and at different times ; but that it is 
 capable of elevating large quantities of water, is sufficient- 
 ly proved by the fall of dew and rain upon the earth. The 
 atmosphere is incapable of absorbing any of the solid in- 
 gredients with which the water on the earth is mixed ; a 
 striking mark of design, for were the salt of the sea taken 
 up with its waters, and thrown upon the earth, in the form 
 of rain, not only almost the whole vegetable kingdom 
 would be destroyed, but also all terrene animals. 
 
 MOSAIC, AND NATURAL SYSTEMS OF PLANTS. 
 
 After the sea was formed, by the gathering of the wa- 
 ters into one place, and the dry land made to appear, the 
 earth being thus prepared for the growth of vegetation, 
 and the residence of organized beings, then " God said let 
 the earth bring forth grass, and the herb yielding seed, 
 and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed 
 is in itself upon the earth ; and it was so." V. 1 1. 
 
 Here we find a remarkable coincidence between the di- 
 visions of the vegetable kingdom, by Moses, and the most 
 improved systems of natural botany, at the present day. 
 
 In the 1 1th verse, instead of grass, the Hebrew means 
 tender, or budding grass,* or grass sprouts ; thus appa- 
 rently intending to include all the small, or inferior plants, 
 
 * Marginal reference.
 
 WITH THE MOSAIC HISTORY. 319 
 
 with which the earth is clothed, and which to common ob- 
 servation spring up without seeds, or are propagated hy 
 their roots. Many low plants, of the moss kind, also bear 
 capsules, which appear like buds, though they produce no 
 flowers, or visible seeds; and these, in popular language, 
 would come under the general denomination of grass. 
 
 The terms, therefore, warrant us in concluding, that in 
 this division the author intended to embrace, generally, 
 those plants which give verdure to the earth, but whose 
 seeds were concealed, or not apparent, and thus to distin- 
 guish them from " the herb yielding seed," or those whose 
 seeds form the most obvious part of the plant. If there 
 is nothing unreasonable in this conclusion, then this divis- 
 ion includes those tribes now known under the title of 
 Cryptogamous, or flowerless plants. 
 
 In this division, there are neither flowers nor apparent 
 seeds; reproduction being effected by parts, termed spo- 
 rules, as in the flags, ferns, mosses, &c. 
 
 The " herb yielding seed," by the most obvious con- 
 struction, applies to that division of plants now called Mo- 
 nocotyledonous, or such as produce seed, with a single 
 cotyledon or seed lobe, as wheat, barley, and the grasses. 
 In many of the useful plants of this class, the part most 
 apparent is the seed, as in the saccharum, (sugar cane,) 
 sorghum, (broom corn,) oat, wheat, rye, millet, &c., and 
 hence, " seed-yielding plants," would be one of the most 
 natural distinctions between these, and the cryptogamia, 
 and smaller grasses, where the reproductive parts are ei- 
 ther entirely concealed, or so small as to be apparent only 
 by close inspection. 
 
 " The tree yielding fruit, whose seed is in itself," that 
 is, in the fruit, is a description which clearly forms a third 
 division of the vegetable kingdom. This division was un- 
 doubtedly .intended to include the larger vegetables, or 
 trees, properly so called, and the description applies with 
 singular accuracy to many of the most common fruit-bear- 
 ing plants, in most parts of the world. The apple, pear, 
 peach, almond, grape, bread-fruit, orange, chestnut, bean, 
 pea, melon, and many other domestic, as well as wild 
 plants, which from the most ancient times have been best 
 known, and most esteemed, bear their seed within their 
 fruits, and are thus readily and naturally distinguished 
 from wheat, barley, and other plants of this kind, where 
 the seed is apparent to the sight.
 
 320 COINCIDENCE OF GEOLOGY 
 
 Th/s division, therefore, corresponds to the present class 
 in Natural Botany, called the Dicotyledonous, or plants 
 whose seeds consist of two cotyledons, or seed lobes, and 
 which class, besides those already mentioned, includes 
 many of the largest and most important vegetables. 
 
 Thus we arrive at the surprising fact, that the three grand 
 divisions of the vegetable kingdom, made by Moses, not 
 merely bear an analogy to the most improved Natural 
 Systems of Botany, of the present day, but that the two 
 systems, in their great outlines, are nea'rly identical ; and it 
 is worthy of notice, that the existence of this analogy is 
 owing to the perfection to which natural botany has been 
 brought, by the recent investigations of profound natural- 
 ists. Thus do philosophers, unawares, confirm the inspi- 
 ration of the scripture, for there is not the slightest prob- 
 ability that the system of Moses could have been founded 
 on botanical knowledge then existing, and therefore could 
 not have been derived from any human source. 
 
 We do not pretend that the descriptions of Moses are 
 so definite as to include all the plants of each of the pres- 
 ent classes, to the exclusion of all the others. But that 
 his definitions apply to the most common and useful vege- 
 tables of each class, and are such as to form natural dis- 
 tinctions between these, which would be apparent to a 
 common observer, it is thought we have made fully to ap- 
 pear, and thus to have shown that the progress of a hu- 
 man science towards perfection, has only served to approx- 
 imate its great outlines more nearly to a system founded 
 on an inspired knowledge of nature, and written 3000 
 years ago. 
 
 From this we may infer the impropriety of wresting the 
 plain and obvious meaning of the Scriptures, so to make 
 them agree with what we call scientific facts, and especial- 
 ly on subjects still in controversy, as are many of those 
 belonging to geology. If we will but let the sacred wri- 
 tings stand until our sciences become perfect, we shall 
 then see their coincidence, and if we do not, it will be in 
 time to amend the Scriptures so as to make out the agree- 
 ment, when it is clearly proved that science is right, and 
 Scripture wrong. We refer here, particularly, to the 
 translation of the days of creation, into indefinite periods, 
 a subject which we shall examine in its proper place. 
 
 The discoveries of geology, with respect to the order in 
 which fossil plants, shells, and bones occur, show a con-
 
 WITH THE MOSAIC HISTORY. 321 
 
 sistcncy with Scripture, little less extraordinary than that 
 we have shown to exist between the Mosaic and modern 
 botany. 
 
 In the order of creation, we have seen that plants of the 
 lowest grades were first brought into existence, and that 
 those of the more perfect kinds were formed afterwards. 
 In the strata of the earth, the same corresponding order 
 exists ; the Cryptogamous plants being found deepest, and 
 below those of the Monocotyledonous tribes; while above 
 these, the Dicotyledonous species occur. We shall throw 
 the details of these, and other coincidences, into the form 
 of a table, a few pages hence. 
 
 Sun and Moon made to appear. The work of the 
 fourth day consisted in setting the great lights, and also the 
 stars, in the firmament. 
 
 " And God made two great lights, the greater light to 
 rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; he 
 made the stars also." V. 16. 
 
 " And God set them in the firmament of the heaven, to 
 give light upon the earth ; and to rule over the day." V. 
 17, 18. 
 
 The original word for made, is not the same with that 
 rendered create. The latter term signifies re-form, or 
 renovate, while the former more often implies constituted, 
 appointed, or set apart.* 
 
 The language does not, therefore, necessarily imply 
 that the sun and moon were created on the fourth day, 
 but only, we conceive, that they were made to appear and 
 act as rulers over the day and the night, at that time. If 
 we suppose, with others, that Moses stated the story of 
 the creation, as it would have appeared to human eyes at 
 the time, these luminaries would undoubtedly have looked 
 like a new creation ; when, in truth, they might have ex- 
 isted from the time when it was said, " Let there be 
 light." 
 
 We infer this from the circumstance, that the newly 
 formed earth must have been surrounded with dense va- 
 pors, since, until the third day, the atmosphere rested en- 
 tirely on a continuous ocean of water. The mist spoken 
 of afterwards shows that the newly formed earth supplied 
 
 * Bush on Genesis.
 
 322 COINCIDENCE OF GEOLOGY 
 
 the firmament with abundance of moisture, for some time 
 after the dry land had appeared. We know that, at the 
 present day, aqueous exhalations are peculiarly dense on 
 the ocean, and that they often hide the heavenly bodies for 
 many successive days. Hence, when nothing but oceans 
 existed on the surface of the globe, with the same atmos- 
 phere which we have at this day, it certainly cannot be 
 unreasonable to conclude, that the sun and moon might 
 have been entirely obscured, and prevented from throwing 
 their direct rays upon the earth, for the space of three 
 days. During this time there would have been a diffusive 
 light, while the sources whence it came would be invisible. 
 
 Now, on the third day, the dry land appeared, and, 
 therefore, the source of these exhalations became dimin- 
 ished, so that they, of course, became less dense than 
 before. Under such circumstances, from what we observe 
 of meteoric phenomena at the present time, we should ex- 
 pect that by the fourth day the exhalations and clouds 
 would entirely disappear, and that the sun would shine 
 forth in all its splendor. To the eye of an imaginary 
 spectator, therefore, this would appear as a new creation, 
 since the sun had never before shone upon the renovated 
 earth ; and, at night, the moon and stars would appear un- 
 der the same aspect. 
 
 This supposition accounts satisfactorily, we think, for 
 the division of light from darkness on the first day, and the 
 succession of day and night, by the diurnal revolution of 
 the earth afterwards, for as, at the present time, when the 
 face of the sun is invisible, there is still a division of light 
 and darkness, or day and night. 
 
 Hence, as it is not incompatible with the terms of the 
 history to believe that the sun and moon were created on 
 the first day, is it not more probable that this was the case, 
 and that " the light was divided from the darkness," by 
 the first revolution of the earth, than it is, that a phospho- 
 rescent light was created expressly for the use of an unin- 
 habited earth, for so short a period, and during which, we 
 cannot account for the succession of day and night ? 
 
 Signs, Seasons, Days, and Years. Besides " dividing 
 the light from the darkness," and "ruling the day and 
 night," the sun and moon were to be for " signs, and for 
 seasons, and for days, and for years." V. 14. 
 
 The vicissitudes of the seasons are caused bv the annu
 
 WITH THE MOSAIC HISTORY. 323 
 
 al revolution of the earth around the sun, together with 
 the obliquity of the earth's axis. It is, therefore, the real 
 motion of the earth, instead of the apparent motion of the 
 sun, by which these changes are produced. The language 
 is, however, in conformity with that employed in other 
 parts of this history, the effect being attributed to the mo- 
 tion of the sun instead of to that of the earth. 
 
 In addition to the effects which these changes have 
 upon the face of the earth, and the interests of the hus- 
 bandman, the four seasons were particularly noticed in 
 ancient times, because they fixed the periods of the sacred 
 festivals. 
 
 The length of the year* is the time occupied, by the 
 earth, in making one complete revolution around the 
 sun, during which the sun appears to make 365 diurnal 
 revolutions around the earth. The sun, therefore, in 
 effect, is the cause of the seasons, the days, and the years; 
 for, without his light and heat, none of these changes 
 would take place ; and, to this day, when it is universally 
 known that the diurnal and annual revolutions of the sun 
 are only apparent, his motions, in common language, are 
 still spoken of as real, and time is every where measured 
 by his motions instead of those of the earth. Thus, we 
 say, the " sun rises in the east," and " sinks in the west," 
 &c. 
 
 That the historian here meant, we should understand 
 by the word day, the time included between two set- 
 tings of the sun, or a period which we call twenty-four 
 hours, instead of an indefinite period, as some have 
 claimed, for the days of creation, that, by the word 
 seasons, he intended the common seasons of the year ; and 
 that by this term, was signified, from spring to spring 
 again, or a term of 365 days, we believe no one will deny, 
 who desires to give the Scriptures a fair and honest inter- 
 pretation. 
 
 Creation of Creeping and Flying Things. On the 
 fifth day, " God said, let the waters bring forth abundant- 
 ly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may 
 fly above the earth, in the open firmament of heaven." 
 V. 20. 
 
 This is often rendered creeping, instead of moving 
 creature. The root, in Hebrew, (sheretz,) is said to ba
 
 824 COINCIDENCE OF GEOLOGY 
 
 derived from a verb which signifies to bring forth or 
 multiply abundantly, so that the translation ought not to 
 be the creeping, but the rapidly multiplying creatures.* 
 
 The meaning is obviously intended to include the larger 
 reptiles, as well as all the small animals inhabiting the 
 water, as insects, worms, and shell fish, many tribes of 
 which are known to be exceedingly prolific. The rapid- 
 ity with which some shell fish, as the oyster, multiply, 
 may be inferred from the vast numbers which are con- 
 sumed for food ; and there is reason to believe that other 
 species, which are placed without the ordinary reach of 
 man, or which he does not use for food, are equally pro- 
 lific. The great thickness and extent of some strata, 
 composed almost entirely of shells, are a sufficient proof 
 of the almost infinite fecundity of these animals. 
 
 The word rendered/cm?/, (in Hebrew oph,) and by which 
 its meaning is limited to the birds of the air, is said more 
 properly to signify flying thing,\ and that the original 
 will admit of such a meaning as to include flying insects, 
 appears from Levit. xi. 20. All fowls that creep, going 
 upon all four. We may therefore understand that flying 
 insects, as well as shell-fish, reptiles, and birds, were cre- 
 ated on the fifth day. 
 
 
 
 Creation of Mammalia and Man. On the sixth and 
 last day of the creation, the "beasts of the earth," " cattle 
 after their kind," and lastly man, were brought into exist- 
 ence. 
 
 The " beast and cattle" are supposed to include the 
 whole division of what are now called Mammalia, or milk- 
 giving quadrupeds, the amphibious quadrupeds having 
 been created on the fifth day. 
 
 Coincidences between Genesis and Geological facts. 
 Having thus taken such notices of the history of the crea- 
 tion as our object requires, we will next proceed to show 
 the coincidences between the successive creations, and 
 the results which geology has been the means of unfolding. 
 
 It was long since remarked by geologists, that impres- 
 sions of ferns, and other cryptogamous plants, were found 
 
 Professor Jameson's Ed. New Phil. Jour. 1832. t Ibid.
 
 WITH THE MOSAIC HISTORY. 
 
 325 
 
 in the deepest secondary strata, or in the first deposited 
 earth which contained any signs of organic life; while on 
 the other hand, it was well known that the bones of mam- 
 miferous animals existed only near the surface. Succes- 
 sive discoveries have completed the series, and have shown 
 that there exists an exact correspondence between the order 
 of creations, as stated by Moses, and of the fossil remains 
 of vegetables and animals discovered by geology 
 
 The basis of the following table is contained in Profes- 
 sor Jameson's new Philosophical Journal, published at 
 Edinburgh, in 1832. In the references to Genesis, the 
 events on which geology can throw no light, are in 
 italics. 
 
 In the original table there is no reference to the dis- 
 tinctions which Moses has made with respect to the dif- 
 ferent kinds or classes of plants, and which we have 
 shown to form the most striking coincidence between 
 scripture and science. This coincidence, so far as we 
 know, has never before been shown to exist in detail, 
 and this discovery, if we may so call it, has not only been 
 added to the table, but the whole has been enlarged about 
 one half, by additional quotations from different authorities. 
 
 TABLE 
 
 Or COINCIDENCES BETWEEN THE ORDEH OP EVENTS, AS DESCRIBED 19 
 GENESIS, AND THOSE UNFOLDED BY GEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS. 
 
 IN GENESIS. 
 
 Gen. i. 1, 2. In the 
 beginning God crea- 
 ted the heavens and 
 the earth. And the 
 earth was without 
 form and void ; and 
 darkness was upon 
 the face of the deep ; 
 and the spirit of God 
 moved upon the face 
 of the waters. 
 
 V. 3i, 4, 5. Creation 
 of light. 6,7,8. Crea- 
 tion of the expansion 
 
 DISCOVERED BY GEOLOGY. 
 
 It is impossible to deny that the waters 
 of the sea have formerly, and for a long 
 time, covered those masses of matter whicK 
 now constitute the highest mountains ; and 
 further, that these waters, for a long time, 
 did not support any living bodies. Cu- 
 vier's Theory of the Earth. 
 
 Again, " Thus it is rational to believe, 
 that shells and fishes did not exist at the 
 period of the formation of the primordial 
 layers." Cuvier's Rf.v. of the Globe, p. 68. 
 
 It is unnecessary to stop to prove, that 
 our continents have once formed the bed 
 of the sea ; there is no longer any division
 
 326 
 
 TABLE OF COINCIDENCES CONTINUED. 
 
 IN GENESIS. 
 
 or atmosphere. 9, 10. 
 The sea formed by 
 the gathering of the 
 waters into one place, 
 and the appearance 
 of dry land. 
 
 12. Creation of ten- 
 der, or budding grass. 
 
 12. Herb yielding 
 seed. 
 
 Wheat and barley 
 are monocotyledo- 
 nous plants. 
 
 12. And the frui 
 tree yielding fruit af- 
 ter his kind, whose 
 seed is in itself. 
 Pears,apples, peach 
 es, chestnuts, are di 
 cotyledonous plants. 
 
 14 to 19. Sun,moon 
 and stars, set in the 
 firmament, to divide 
 the day from the night, 
 and to be for signs, 
 and for seasons, ana 
 for days, and for 
 years. 
 
 20. Let the water; 
 bring forth abundant- 
 ly the moving crea- 
 tures that hath life. 
 
 Creation of flying 
 things. 
 
 of opinion among naturalists upon this 
 point. LJe Laic, Lett. Geol. p. 301. 
 
 DISCOVERED BY GEOLOGY. 
 
 Cryptogamous plants in coal strata. 
 Many authors. 
 
 In the formation of coal and anthracite, 
 ihe vegetables are almost all cryptogamia, 
 as ferns, equisetums, &c., and. plants of 
 the monocotyledonous tribes, some of 
 which were of arborescent species, now 
 no longer exiting. Adolphe Brogniart. 
 
 There may be a connexion between an 
 extraordinary profusion of monocotyledo- 
 nous plants, 'and a youthful condiiion of 
 he world. Lyett, vol. i. p. 147. 
 
 Brown coat is formed of large trees, 
 whose texture is still to be discerned, and 
 from scattered leaves, they undoubtedly 
 belonged to dicotyledonous families. 
 Count Sternberg. 
 
 (Brown coal is considered a more recent 
 formation than common coal, or anthra- 
 cite.) 
 
 Shells in the Paris basin. Cuvier. 
 
 Shells in Alpine and Jura limestone. 
 Humboldt. 
 
 Fish in Jura limestone. ib. 
 
 Shells and vegetable remains are found 
 in the next order below those of fish and 
 oviparous reptiles. Sir II. Davy. 
 
 Teeth and scales of fish in Tilgate sand- 
 stone. Mr. Mantdl. 
 
 The remains of birds with those of fish 
 and oviparous reptiles. Sir If. Davy. 
 
 Bones of birds in Tilgate sandstone. 
 Mr. Manttll. 
 
 Elytra of winged insects in calcareous 
 slate at Stonesfield. ib.
 
 TABLE OF COINCIDENCES CONTINUED, 
 
 327 
 
 IN GRNESIS. 
 
 21. Creation of rep- 
 tiles, livery living 
 thing that tnoveih, 
 which ihe waters 
 brought forth abun- 
 dantly. 
 
 24, 25. Creation of 
 mammalia; the beast] 
 of the earth after his 
 kind, and cattle after 
 their kind. 
 
 26, 27. Creation of 
 he human race. 
 
 Bones of crocodiles at Manhenn. Von 
 Dusk. 
 
 Bones of saurian animals at Stonesfield. 
 Mr. Mantell. 
 
 Remains of sea turtles and lizard like 
 animals, at St. Pierre. Dr. Ure. 
 
 It will be impossible not to acknowledge, 
 as a ceriain truth, the number, the large- 
 ness, and the variety of the reptiles which 
 inhabited the seas, and the land, at the 
 epoch at which the strata of the Jura were 
 deposited. Cuvier. 
 
 There was a period when the earth was 
 peopled by oviparous quadrupeds, of the 
 most appalling magnitude. Reptiles were 
 he lords of the creation. Mantell. 
 
 Animals analogous to the frog, toad, and 
 salamander, existed when the strata were 
 disordered by the revolutions of the globe. 
 Dr. Ure. 
 
 BY GEOLOGY. 
 
 Bones of mammiferous quadrupeds are 
 found only when we come to the forma- 
 tions above the coarse limestone, which is 
 above the chalk. Cuvier. 
 
 The remains of quadrupeds of extinct 
 species, occur next above those of birds 
 and oviparous reptiles. Sir H. Davy. 
 
 It is only in the loose and slightly con- 
 solidated strata of gravel and sand, and 
 which are usually called diluvial forma- 
 tions, that the remains of animals, such as 
 now people the globe, are found. Sir H. 
 Davy, Consolations of Travel. 
 
 It is a fact, that as yet no human bones 
 have been discovered among fossil re- 
 mains. Cuvier' s Rev. of the Globe, p. 81. 
 
 But found covered with mud, in the 
 caves of Bize. Journal. 
 
 The great question concerning human 
 remains in a fossil state, stands now be- 
 fore the world in an entirely different 
 aspect from what it did when Cuvier pub- 
 lished his work. GranxiLle Penn. 
 
 Human bones, supposed to be fossil, 
 have been found in the caves of Durfort 
 and Kosritz. Outlines of Geology. 
 
 In some few instances human bones oc- 
 cur, but the era to which their possessors 
 ought to be referred, has not been satisfac- 
 torily ascertained. Though some are more 
 modern, others seem to claim an antedilu- 
 vian antiquity. Sharon Turner.
 
 TABLE OF COINCIDENCES CONTINUED. 
 
 IN GENESIS. 
 
 Genesis, chapter vii. 
 The Deluge of Noah. 
 " And the waters pre- 
 vailed exceedingly 
 upon the earth; and 
 all the high hills that 
 were under the whole 
 heaven were cover- 
 ed." V. 19. 
 
 The deluge hap- 
 pened A. M. 1G56. 
 being 2348 years be- 
 fore the Christian 
 era, and 4184 before 
 1836. 
 
 DISCOVERED BY GEOLOGY. 
 
 In the delta of the Ganges human bones 
 have been found ninety feet deep. Von 
 Hoff. 
 
 If there be any thing determined in ge- 
 ology, it is, that the surface of our globe has 
 been subjected to a vast and sudden revolu- 
 tion, not longer ago than five or six thou- 
 sand years. Cuvier's Rev. Globe, p. 180. 
 
 A universal deluge seems clearly proved 
 by the utter extinction of the primeval race 
 of animals. Dr. Ure. 
 
 The Alps and Carpathians, as well as 
 every other mountainous region which I 
 have visited, bear the same evidence of 
 having been modified by the force of wa- 
 ter, as do the hills of the lower regions. 
 Dr. Buckland. 
 
 Geology fully confirms the scriptural 
 history of the deluge. Prof. Silliman. 
 
 The numbers 4, 5, and 6 t we will not conceal, are liable 
 to be interchanged among themselves, in respect to place, 
 and we shall derive no argument from them, farther than 
 what arises from the circumstance, that they are all 
 placed in one group. Still the number of coincidences 
 here shown between the order of the epochs of creation 
 assigned in Genesis, and that discovered by geology, are 
 calculated not only to excite the attention of scientific 
 men, but also that of theologians, as forming an additional 
 argument to the truth of inspiration. 
 
 Human science, in the probability of chances, as illus- 
 trated by La Place, has put us in possession of an instru- 
 ment for estimating the value of these coincidences ; and 
 we* feel amply entitled to take advantage of it for that 
 purpose, for no case could well be pointed out, where it 
 would be more correctly applicable than in this, where 
 the coincidences assume a definitely successive numerical 
 form. We are entitled to adopt even the language of La 
 Place, and to say, " by subjecting the probability of these 
 coincidences to computation, it is found that there is more 
 than sixty thousand to one against the hypothesis, that they 
 are the effects of chance."f 
 
 " It is thus, then, that the discoveries of geology, when 
 more matured, instead of throwing suspicion on the truths 
 
 Jameson's Journal. 
 
 t System du Mcnde, Book V.
 
 DAYS OF CREATION. 329 
 
 of revelation, as the first steps in them led some to main- 
 tain, have furnished the most overpowering evidence in 
 behalf of one branch of these truths.* 
 
 DAYS OF CREATION. 
 
 At the commencement of this article, we noticed that hy- 
 pothetical geologists required more time than was allowed 
 by Moses, to account for various phenomena which the 
 earth presents ; and that so early as the time of Whiston, 
 it was proposed so to interpret Genesis, as to leave geolo- 
 gists full scope for their speculations. 
 
 From that time to the present, there have not been want- 
 ing authors, who either through motives of self-convenience, 
 or a desire to reconcile science with revelation, have ven- 
 tured to call the days of creation, periods of great or inde- 
 finite length. 
 
 To believers in revelation, this cannot be an unimpor- 
 tant subject. If the very commencement of the book of 
 inspiration can be interpreted in a sense so entirely dif- 
 ferent from its plain and obvious meaning, what portion 
 of scripture conveys truth to the understanding? And if 
 the translation does not convey the intended meaning of the 
 author in this case, where are common readers to look for 
 such meaning? 
 
 We propose, therefore, to examine the question, whether 
 the terms in which the Mosaic history of the creation is 
 written, will, by any fair interpretation, allow the belief 
 that the periods therein called days were intended to mean 
 indefinite time, or whether they were periods of more than 
 twenty-four hours. 
 
 If the Scriptures are true, they must be so in their most 
 plain and obvious sense, and if any scientific fact contra- 
 dicts this sense, then, to a common understanding, they do 
 not convey the truth. 
 
 If an author uses the same terms in different places, 
 and apparently in the same sense, we are bound to believe 
 that he means the same in every case. If he intends to 
 convey different ideas by the same terms, standing in 
 similar connexions, and this without warning his readers, 
 
 * Jameson's Journal. 
 28*
 
 330 DAYS OF CREATION. 
 
 he cannot be a correct writer, because he is not only incon- 
 sistent with himself, but cannot be understood, and there- 
 fore he is not to be credited. 
 
 It is believed that no one will deny, that whatever may 
 be said of the prophecies, the narratives of the Old Testa- 
 ment were intended, by their authors, to be understood by 
 ordinary capacities, nor will it be claimed that the author 
 of Genesis has been so inconsistent with himself, as on that 
 account to raise a suspicion of his veracity. 
 
 This author has not only given us the history of the cre- 
 ation of all things, but also of the destruction of the ancient 
 world by a flood of water. 
 
 Whoever reads the account of the latter, will there find, 
 that "the flood was forty days upon the earth," or that it 
 rained forty days ; and that " the waters prevailed upon 
 the earth an hundred and fifty days." And, whoever 
 reads the account of the creation, will there find that the 
 whole work was performed in six days, each day's work 
 being described by itself, and the day carefully number- 
 ed, that in so important a work, there should be no 
 doubt either with respect to the succession of the seve- 
 ral creations, or to the time occupied in finishing the 
 whole. 
 
 Now these narrations being from the same pen, being 
 also continuations of the same general history; and the 
 word day being employed in the same unqualified manner 
 in both cases, no reader can doubt, if the translation con- 
 veys the meaning of the historian, that he intended they 
 should be understood to signify the same periods of time in 
 both narratives. 
 
 From the statements of Moses, therefore, we are as fully 
 entitled to the belief, that the waters of the deluge prevailed 
 upon the earth for an indefinite period, or that a day of the 
 deluge was a thousand years, and thus that its waters co- 
 vered the earth for the term of 150,000 years, as we are to 
 believe that a day of creation was an indefinite period, or 
 a term of a thousand years, and thus that 6000 years were 
 occupied in the work of creation 
 
 If the terms of the history allow any difference with 
 respect to the length of the days, this would certainly be 
 in favor of those of the deluge, since the plural is there 
 employed, while the singular only is used in the descrip- 
 tion of the creation, and each day is expressly confined 
 within the " evening and morning." But no one, we
 
 DAYS OF CREATION. 331 
 
 believe, has proposed to consider the days of the deluge of 
 greater length than twenty-four hours, though from the 
 words of the record, we cannot perceive why they should 
 not, equally with those of the creation, claim to be periods 
 of a thousand years. 
 
 But it is needless to extend these considerations. If 
 the words of Moses were intended to mean that a day of 
 creation was a period of a thousand years, or any other 
 period, more than a natural day, why have not the trans- 
 lators so rendered it ? No man in his senses will pre- 
 tend that Christianity required one translation and geol- 
 ogy another ; or that the Hebrew is better understood at 
 the present day, than at the time when the Bible was 
 translated. 
 
 Finally, with a few exceptions, it is the universal be- 
 lief of the Christian world, and ever has been, that the 
 work of creation occupied only six natural days, and this 
 alone is a sufficient proof that the common 'translations 
 convey no other meaning. The exceptions, therefore, 
 could not have been derived from the translations, and we 
 shall show directly, that they could not have been derived 
 from any fair construction of the original. 
 
 Does the word DAY, in Gen. i. admit of any of her inter- 
 p? station than the common onel We think it has been 
 shown above, that if the history of the creation has been 
 fai/ly translated, it is impossible its author should have 
 inxended to convey by the word day, any other meaning 
 in that history, than a period of twenty-four hours ; and 
 that this is proved by the universal understanding of the 
 Christian church, and of the Christian world. But since 
 some declare that this universal understanding is owing 
 to a misinterpretation, or at least, that the terms of the 
 original will admit of a construction different from the 
 common one, we will here inquire of commentators, how 
 far this is true. 
 
 Mr. Faber's Theory making the Mosaic days 6000 
 Years. The most conspicuous theologian who interprets 
 Moses, so as to extend the days of creation to periods of 
 great length, is Mr. Faber, an English writer, well known 
 as the author of the " Three Dispensations," and other 
 works, some of which are in common use, and in high 
 estimation, in this country.
 
 332 DAYS OF CREATION. 
 
 Mr. Faber says, " that the six demiurgic days, instead 
 of being nothing more than six natural days, were each a 
 period of very considerable length, may be proved partly 
 by analogy of language, partly by the very necessity of the 
 narrative, partly by ancient tradition, and partly (and that 
 most decisively) by the discoveries, or possibly the re- 
 discoveries, of modern physiologists." 
 
 With respect to the analogy of language, Mr. Faber 
 says, that in Scripture, nothing can well be more indefi- 
 nite than the term which we translate by the English 
 word day. Sometimes it signifies a single revolution of 
 the earth round its axis ; sometimes it denotes a revolu- 
 tion of the earth round the sun, or what we call a natural 
 year, &c. 
 
 " The question therefore is," says he, " what specific 
 period it describes in the Mosaical history of the crea- 
 tion." If God labored six natural days, and rested on the 
 seventh natural day, the very terms of the statement will 
 imply that he resumed his labors on the eighth natural 
 day, or on the first day of the following natural week. 
 But did he resume his labors on the eighth natural morn- 
 ing ? " Most assuredly he did not, and if he did not re- 
 sume his labors on the eighth natural morning, then his 
 Sabbath, or day of rest, extended beyond the seventh 
 natural day, therefore a single natural day could not be 
 the measure of the divine Sabbath." 
 
 " But at what time did the divine Sabbath, thus plainly- 
 extending beyond the limits of the seventh day, termi- 
 nate ?" asks our author, and to himself replies, " In good 
 truth, its termination has not even yet arrived ; for the 
 creative labors of God have never been resumed." To 
 show the truth of this, Mr. Faber quotes from the heathen 
 " Institutes of Menu," as follows : " He, whose powers are 
 incomprehensible, having created the universe, was again 
 absorbed in the Supreme Being, changing the time of en- 
 ergy for the time of repose ;" and then says, "The time 
 of God's energy was doubtless the period of the creation." 
 We are sorry that Mr. Faber is obliged to quote Indian 
 heathenism instead of Scripture to support his doctrines. 
 But leaving this to the reader's own comments, we will pass 
 at once to the author's conclusions on this part of the subject. 
 
 From the above data, he says the divine Sabbath has 
 not yet terminated, nor will it terminate, until " the pre- 
 dicted dissolution of the present order of things."
 
 DAYS OF CREATION. 333 
 
 " Thus it appears," says he, " that the divine Sabbath, 
 instead of being limited to a single natural day, is in truth 
 a period commensurate with the duration of the created 
 universe ; what that duration will be, no one knows save 
 the Father only." 2 Peter iii. 10, 13. But this we know, 
 that the world has existed about 6000 years. " The divine 
 Sabbath, therefore, is a period of not less duration than six 
 millenaries."* 
 
 Having come to this odd conclusion, Mr. Faber goes 
 on to show that the analogy of language requires us to 
 " interpret homogeneously the seven days, which consti- 
 tute the great week of God." Hence, as the Sabbath day 
 was a period of not less than 6000 years, so each of the 
 other days must have been periods of at least 6000 years. 
 
 Thus, does the learned Mr. Faber call upon his fellow 
 Christians, whether geologists or not, to believe that He 
 who said, " Let there be light, and light was," " who 
 brought all things out of nothing by the word of His 
 power," occupied" at least 36,000 years in creating this 
 little earth, a mere speck, a mote, when compared with 
 his other works, the "hosts of heaven," the universe. 
 
 Let us look for a moment at the bearing of this theory. 
 Since "the ways of God are equal," there is every reason 
 to believe, that if time was required in the creation of this 
 earth and the garniture thereof, a proportionate quantity 
 of time was also required in the creation of the other 
 planets of our system, for there is not the least probabili- 
 ty, that if the creative power required at least 36,000 
 years to form our earth, that the same power could at the 
 same time have been at work in the production of the 
 other planets. Mr. Faber's theory does not allow such a 
 supposition ; for no reason can be assigned, why the pro- 
 cess of creation occupied so long a period, except the 
 want of power to finish it in a shorter time ; and there- 
 fore since the entire power of the Creator must have been 
 occupied on our earth, it is plain that no other work could 
 have been accomplished at the same time. 
 
 Now since there are twenty-eight planets in our sys- 
 tem besides the Earth, if we consider the latter of a medi- 
 um size, then the time occupied in creating the whole 
 would be twenty-nine times 36,000 years, without refer- 
 
 Three Dispensations, vol. i. 115, 116.
 
 334 DATS OF CREATION. 
 
 ence to the creation of the sun. But the sun contains 500 
 times as much matter as all the planets put together, and 
 therefore, according to Mr. Faber's doctrine, we cannot see 
 why it must not have occupied 500 times as long a period 
 for its creation as all the planets. 
 
 According to this doctrine, then, it must have taken 
 nearly five hundred millions of years for Him who said, 
 " Let the dry land appear," and it was so, to have created 
 and made this our solar system. What time then must 
 have been occupied by the same creative power in the 
 formation of those myriads of worlds which the vault of 
 the heavens contain, for " He made the stars also." But 
 enough of this. And now if Mr. Faber's theory does not 
 fairly lead to such conclusions, then the folly of drawing 
 them must fall on the writer of this book, and not on himself 
 
 But whether our present conclusions are true or false, 
 we will call upon any man, even on our author himself, to 
 reconcile another bearing of his theory with itself, or in 
 other words to show how it is possible that a definite por- 
 tion of time should be perpetually increasing in length. 
 Thus, Mr. Faber says, that the length of the Sabbath is 
 the length of all the other days, and that God having 
 rested from his labors 6000 years at the present time, 
 therefore each day of creation is now, or was, 6000 years 
 long. But he goes on to inform us that the said Sabbath 
 has not yet terminated, nor will it terminate until the pre- 
 dicted dissolution of the present order of things; or in the 
 language of Menu, "the time of repose has not yet changed 
 for the time of energy." 
 
 Now since the length of the Sabbath, and all the other 
 days, depend entirely on the length of time which God has 
 rested, or will rest, from his labors, then it plainly follows, 
 that had Mr. Faber written his theory at the expiration of 
 twenty-fours hours after the last creation, the length of the 
 days, according to himself, would have been only twenty- 
 four hours long, for the same reason that he makes them 
 6000 years long at the time he did write. And so he who 
 lives 6000 years hence, and reads Mr. Faber's theory, will 
 find that according to it, the days of creation were 12,000 
 years long, and so on, until "the time of repose is changed 
 for the time of energy." 
 
 Does any ancient tradition, or any discovery of modern 
 physiologists, warrant a grave and learned author to em- 
 ploy such logic as this?
 
 DATS OF CREATION. 335 
 
 Again, if the days of creation were 6000 years long 1 , 
 then \ve must believe that it was 18,000 years after the 
 waters were gathered, and the dry land made to appear, 
 before man was created that it was 12,000 years after 
 the creation of plants before animals were brought into 
 existence, and that it. was 12,000 years after the sea was 
 formed before it brought forth the " moving creature." 
 
 But Mr. Faber finds, from the. very necessity of the 
 narrative, that a considerable portion of time must have 
 elapsed between the creation of plants, and the creation 
 of animals, otherwise the herbivorous tribes must have 
 perishfd for want of food. 
 
 In this part of his theory, it must be confessed that the 
 author has shown a marvellous degree of sagacity, having 
 discovered this necessity in. a passage where less acumen, 
 or less anxiety to support a theory, would certainly have 
 looked for it in vain. 
 
 The words of the narrative which afford this necessity, 
 are found in Gen. xi. 5. " God made every plant of the 
 field before it was in the earth ; and every herb of the 
 field before it grew." The remaining part of the same 
 verse explains this, "for the Lord God had not caused it 
 to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the 
 ground." This plainly showing, that although the pro- 
 cess of vegetation usually requires rain and tillage, yet 
 in this case it was perfected without either.* 
 
 It was plainly, from the words of the text, a miraculous 
 creation of full grown vegetables, without the planting of 
 seeds, and without the process of vegetation. 
 
 It appears from this verse, says Dr. Adam Clarke, that 
 God created every thing, not only perfect as respects its 
 nature, but also in a state of maturity ; so that every ve- 
 getable production appeared at once in full growth, and 
 this was necessary, that man, when he came into being, 
 might find every thing ready for his use. 
 
 Now although nothing can be more obvious than that 
 the sacred historian intended we should understand by 
 this language, that the first plants did not pass through 
 the gradual process of growth as they afterwards did, but 
 that they were called into existence in full maturity, yet 
 from these very words, Mr. Faber infers that we are un- 
 
 * Bush on Genesis.
 
 336 DAYS OF CREATION. 
 
 der the necessity of concluding that the whole vegetable 
 kingdom was created in the form of seeds ; and because 
 in the ordinary course of nature, these seeds could not 
 have grown in time to have supplied herbivorous animals 
 with food, which were created two days after ; so these 
 days must have been at least GOOD years in length, for 
 otherwise the cattle of the field would have perished for 
 want of food. 
 
 Now, independently of what we must consider a total 
 perversion of the meaning of the text, this interpretation 
 is utterly inconsistent with what follows, for it is clear, 
 if we are guided by analogy, (which is one of the corner 
 stones of Mr. Faber's theory,) we must allow that the 
 animals were created in the young state, as well as the 
 plants, and granting this to have been the case, then it is 
 plain that the seeds would have vegetated into herbs, at 
 least as soon as the young animals could have been fitted 
 to partake of such food. 
 
 But that the animals were created in full maturity, as 
 well as our first parents, no one can have the least doubt, 
 otherwise who nursed and brought them up, since they 
 had neither fathers nor mothers. 
 
 It is unnecessary to follow Mr. Faber in further details. 
 The propriety of his interpretation he has attempted to 
 prove, as already stated, 
 
 1. By analogy of language. 
 
 2. By the very necessity of the narrative. 
 
 3. By ancient tradition, and 
 
 4. By the discoveries of modern physiologists. 
 
 With respect to the last ground of proof, he quotes 
 Cuvier on the revolutions of the globe, to show that the 
 earth has undergone great changes since its first creation, 
 and which no one denies. But on this point he advances 
 nothing new, or which in the least degree shows the ne- 
 cessity of his new interpretation. It is therefore needless 
 to follow him through this portion of his argument. 
 
 And now, in taking leave of Mr. Faber, we must be 
 allowed to express the astonishment we have felt, that a 
 Christian writer of his reputation should have so far lent 
 himself to the support of a theory, as to have seen in an- 
 cient traditions, or the discovery of modern physiologists, 
 a sufficient reason for giving the sacred Scriptures a mean- 
 ing, which otherwise he does not pretend they could have 
 had. What ! a man professing to teach the sacred truths of
 
 DAYS OF CREATION. 337 
 
 the Bible, and yet warping its plain and obvious meaning, 
 for the express purpose of making it agree with heathen 
 philosophy, or his views of modern naturalists! we hope 
 that no successor of Mr. Faber's will ever venture on such 
 hazardous ground. 
 
 Is it not enough that infidels profess to be wise above 
 what is written ; and do not Christians put weapons into 
 the hands of unbelievers, when they turn the plain and ob- 
 vious meaning of the sacred text aside, even for the sake 
 of argument? 
 
 The discoveries of modern geologists, so far from call- 
 ing for new interpretations of the Bible, are constantly 
 confirming its truths as commonly understood. 
 
 Let us then adhere to Moses, until we find some fact 
 which clearly proves a discrepancy between revelation and 
 nature. 
 
 Prof. Sillimaris Theory. We are aware that several 
 American geologists, who deservedly stand high in public 
 estimation, and who also revere the Sacred Scriptures, 
 still see in the mechanism of the earth a necessity of ex- 
 tending the days of Genesis to longer periods than twenty- 
 four hours. Among these are Professor Silliman of New 
 Haven, who has given the world his views on this sub- 
 ject. 
 
 His communication contains, at considerable length, a 
 detail of the geological facts, which he considers incom- 
 patible with the common reading of Moses. Also, co- 
 pious extracts from " Mantel's Geology of the Southeast 
 of England," and from " Prof. Jameson's Edinburgh 
 Journal." 
 
 The latter is understood to be the production of Prof. 
 Jameson himself, and is a critical examination of the He- 
 brew text, with respect o the word which we translate 
 day, and in which, with Mr. Faber, he comes to the con- 
 clusion that it may signify a long period of time, though 
 he does not pretend to fix its length. 
 
 On this subject of Hebrew criticism we have nothing to 
 offer; but he who can read the English translations of the 
 Bible, cannot but have observed, that the word day is 
 there often made to signify long periods. " They that 
 shall come after him shall be astonished at his day" Job 
 xviii. 20. In this case, it undoubtedly means the period 
 of a man's life ; and the same use is made of it in common 
 29
 
 338 DAYS OF CREATION. 
 
 language everywhere. How often do we hear persons, 
 both old arid young, say, in " my day such a thing was 
 unknown." " In rny day such a thing would not have 
 been tolerated," &c., meaning the whole period of their 
 past lives. 
 
 In these cases we employ the word to mean a compara- 
 tively short, though an indefinite period of time, in the 
 same manner as the Scriptures do, and from which we 
 perhaps have derived this mode of expression. But when 
 we say a day, or first day, or second day, we mean a natu- 
 ral day, of twenty-four hours, and this, and no other, ac- 
 cording to the best philologists, is the meaning of Scripture. 
 But this point we must refer to the criticism of Prof. Stuart, 
 which will be found a few pages forward. 
 
 With respect to the geological facts which Prof. Silli- 
 man has brought forward, in order to show a physical ne- 
 cessity for extending the length of the Mosaic days, we 
 had seen most of them stated in other works, and had con- 
 sidered that although, perhaps, some of them could not be 
 satisfactorily explained in the present state of geological 
 knowledge, yet that not one of them, taken separately, pre- 
 sented a single point which any man could show to be 
 contradictory to the common reading of Genesis. 
 
 If we take, for an example, Mr. Mantel's account of the 
 Portland and Wealden formations, (p. 28, 29,) which are 
 among the strongest cases Prof. Silliman has adduced 
 with respect to apparent age, who will say that, under the 
 existence of former circumstances, these formations were 
 not began and finished within the compass of a few centu- 
 ries, or at most, of a few thousand years. 
 
 It is true, that the deep vegetable soil, containing pebbles 
 and the roots of petrified trees, the stems of which shoot 
 into the limestone strata above, the fossil remains of a 
 tropical forest ; and the alternate elevation and submersion 
 of the island itself, would seem to show that a lapse of 
 ages was required to produce the phenomena which the 
 geology of Portland exhibits. 
 
 And so, also, of the Wealden formation. Its diametei 
 of 200 miles, and its thickness of 2000 feet, would seem 
 to point back to a very remote age for its commencement. 
 
 But let us see, for a moment, what evidence these phe 
 nomena exhibit of the lapse of time. 
 
 With respect to vegetable soil, Mr. Mantel says it ap 
 pears to be such. But allowing the fact, who will ven
 
 DAYS OF CREATION. 339 
 
 ture to predicate any definite length of time on its forma- 
 tion. Possibly it was washed into its present location j 
 and if not, if it was formed by the decay of vegetation, even 
 then certainly, no immense length of time is required for 
 its production, for the artificial mounds of Ohio, which 
 contain undecayed human bones, are covered with a soil 
 so rich as to produce the largest trees of the forest. And 
 besides, it is understood that the Portland soil was formed 
 under a tropical climate. 
 
 Neither can great portions of time be predicated on 
 water-worn stones, since those on our shores must have 
 been formed since the commencement of the present " or- 
 der of things," which all naturalists agree was compara- 
 tively within a recent period. And it is most probable 
 those found in recent strata were formed before the 
 creation of organic existences, and while yet " darkness 
 dwelt upon the face of the deep." 
 
 With regard to silicious petrifactions, into which the 
 trees were changed, it is acknowledged that we know 
 nothing with certainty, of the length of time required to 
 produce this change on the Portland fossils. But reason- 
 ing from analogy, we may conclude that this process oc- 
 cupied only a centurv or two at most, since we know that 
 the silicious springs of St. Michaels, one of the Azores, 
 have the property of incrusting vegetables with an exter- 
 nal coat of silex in a very short time, perhaps in a day or 
 two, and that as fast as the wood decays, its place is sup- 
 plied with silicious matter, until the whole is replaced by 
 solid stone. 
 
 It is known, also, that the ends of cedar posts which are 
 set into the ground, sometimes become petrifactions, be- 
 fore their upper parts are entirely decayed. 
 
 We may therefore believe, that where this change is 
 effected at all, the entire process is completed in a few cen- 
 turies. It is probable, at any rate, that the process must 
 cease with the entire absence of the woody matter. 
 
 As to the deposition of the limestone, embracing these 
 petrifactions, we have again no means except that of anal- 
 ogy, of judging at what rate it took place, and therefore, 
 perhaps there are as many reasons for believing that it 
 required only centuries, rather than thousands of years, for 
 its formation. 
 
 We know that limestone is constantly forming at the 
 pres?nt day, by the deposition of its particles from water.
 
 340 DAYS OF CREATION. 
 
 Thus, in Tuscany, a certain spring, or rather springs, 
 deposit solid limestone, at the rate of at least half a foot 
 per year, making a formation of 500 feet thick in 1000 
 years, or of 3000 feet thick in one of Mr. Faber's Mosaic 
 days. 
 
 In reference to the submersion and re-elevation of 
 Portland, we have given an account of a parallel instance 
 in the Temple of Serapis, which occurred within the his- 
 torical era. See p. 129. 
 
 Now, when we consider that the several processes 
 forming most of the phenomena exhibited at Portland 
 Island, might have proceeded at the same time, viz. those 
 of petrifaction, fossilization, and the deposition of limestone, 
 where is the necessity of disturbing the common reading 
 of the sacred historian in order to gain a series of ages to 
 account for such phenomena? 
 
 Who knows what preparations took place for the pres- 
 ent order of things, while " the earth was without form 
 and void ?" and what man can say what violent changes, 
 what dislocations of the lower strata, and what upheaving 
 of mountains, were effected, when God said " Let the 
 waters under the heaven be gathered together into one 
 place, and let the dryland appear?" Undoubtedly the 
 most tremendous convulsions took place at that command, 
 by which hills and mountains were elevated, and the great 
 valleys of the earth formed. 
 
 Days of Creation indefinite periods. But while Prof. 
 Silliman sees a necessity in the mechanism of the earth, 
 for extending " the days of creation to periods of time of 
 indefinite length," (p. 65,) he finds in various parts of the 
 Scriptures themselves, full liberty to make such an inter- 
 pretation. 
 
 With respect to the word day, he says, it could have had 
 no application previous to the revolution of the earth, be- 
 fore an illuminated sun, which did not happen until the 
 fourth day. But we think it has been shown, that when 
 God said, " Let there be light, and light was," then the sun 
 was created. If our arguments have convinced the reader 
 that this was so, then this objection is done away. 
 
 But Prof. Silliman has brought many passages of Scrip- 
 ture where the word day evidently signifies a longer term 
 than twenty-four hours; in some instances the whole of a 
 man's life ; in others it is used for a set time, or short pe-
 
 DAYS OF CREATION. 341 
 
 riod, though its length is not defined. Examples are, " So 
 also shall the son of man be in his day" " Rejoiced in 
 my day" " One day is with the Lord as a thousand 
 years, and a thousand years as one day" " These are 
 the generations of the heavens, and of the earth, when they 
 were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth 
 and the heavens," "Shall accomplish as an hireling his 
 day," " Whose day is come when iniquity shall have an 
 end," " He will not spare in the day of his vengeance." 
 
 In all these cases, and more might be selected, it is 
 plain that the word day is not confined to the period of 
 twenty-four hours. 
 
 But we would inquire what analogy of language, or of 
 meaning, exists between " one day is with the Lord as a 
 thousand years," and " the evening and the morning were 
 the first day, or the second day." Or indeed, how the use 
 and meaning of the word day, in any of the above passages 
 can show that the same word, when defined as it is in the 
 narrative of the creation, between the morning and the 
 evening, signifies an indefinite series of ages. 
 
 If a man says, " On the first, or second day of my arri- 
 val, I saw the king ;" and at the close of his narrative tells 
 us, " I have suffered many and great perils in my day," 
 who would understand him to mean by these different uses 
 of the same word, the same periods of time. And yet we 
 can see no reason why this is not as fair an exegesis of 
 the traveller's account, as that of Genesis, when it is 
 maintained, that because Moses at the close of his narra- 
 tive employs the language, " in the day that the Lord God 
 made the heavens and the earth," therefore the terms of 
 time which he had before defined as the first day, and the 
 second day, signify periods of indefinite length. 
 
 That the sacred historian understood Him, under whose 
 inspiration he wrote, to mean that the world was created 
 in six natural days, all parts of the narrative, both of the 
 creation and the deluge, amply testify. Professor Silliman 
 allows that Moses so understood it. 
 
 " It is granted," says he, (p. 70,) " that Moses might 
 have understood the word, (day,) according to the popular 
 signification, and that this sense would be the most obvi- 
 ous one to every mind not informed as to the structure of 
 the globe ; even those who are learned on other subjects, 
 but ignorant of geology, always adopt, in this case the 
 literal and obvious meaning." 
 29*
 
 342 DAYS OF CREATION. 
 
 We are utterly at a loss what to say of this concession 
 of the learned Professor. Is it so then, that the servant 
 of the Lord God, who wrote down the words of inspira- 
 tion as they were communicated to him, was so deficient 
 in knowledge or understanding, as to stand corrected by 
 the geologists of the present day ? Who committed the 
 error ? Who made such a mistake as to put a single day 
 for myriads of years, for time indefinite ? Was it Moses ? 
 Certainly not, for he only acted as the instrument by which 
 God communicated to this wicked world the narrative of 
 the creation and the fall of man. Did Moses misunder- 
 stand the intent and meaning of the inspired communica- 
 tions, or is his language such that it may convey error 
 instead of truth ? If so, why have not errors been found 
 in other parts of his narrative. Who then made this 
 mistake? Before we venture a reply to this question, 
 had we not better ascertain more certainly that our facts 
 are clearly incompatible with the sacred history as it 
 stands, and as it is commonly understood, and as Moses 
 understood it? 
 
 Coal Formations. But, says Professor Silliman, " In 
 the usual mode of understanding the account, all the im- 
 mense deposites of coal, and of vegetable and aquatic ani- 
 mal remains, with their vast strata and mountains must 
 have been made within seventy-two hours, for there was 
 no dry land until the third day, and consequently no ve- 
 getables." (p. 69.) * * "According to the popular under- 
 standing," he continues, " the transition and secondary 
 mountains, with their coal beds, plants, and animals, were 
 therefore formed in two or three natural days, by physical 
 laws, which is incredible, because it is impossible." (p 
 70.) 
 
 It is believed that no one, who has given the least at- 
 tention to this subject, ever supposed that these deposites 
 were made within three days. Nor does the history ren- 
 der such a belief at all necessary. Coal is constantly 
 forming at the present day, as is proved by specimens of 
 lignite partially converted into that substance. The dif- 
 ferent formations in which coal is found, show also by 
 their different ages, that coal has been formed at variour 
 periods of time. 
 
 When God said, " Let the earth bring forth grass, the 
 herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after
 
 DAYS OF CREATION. 343 
 
 his kind," there is no doubt but the dry land which had so 
 recently been prepared, was immediately covered with ve- 
 getation, from the herb, to the largest trees of the forest, and 
 these all in full maturity. How soon after this, those vio- 
 lent changes commenced, which swept these vegetables 
 into lakes and estuaries, to form the first, or lowest beds of 
 coal, is unknown to us; nor can we now ascertain what 
 periods of time elapsed between the formation of different 
 beds of coal lying one over the other, twenty or thirty of 
 which are pierced by some coal shafts. The fact, how- 
 ever, of superincumbent coal beds is sufHcient to prove, 
 beyond all doubt, that the vegetables of which they were 
 formed, were deposited at different periods of time. 
 
 It is agreed by all naturalists, that the origin of coal 
 was wood, but no one has yet shown what the conditions 
 or circumstances were, under which one is converted into 
 the other, and much less the time which nature requires 
 for such a process. 
 
 Now, supposing (and no one can show to the contrary) 
 that the wood of which the oldest beds of coal are formed, 
 was gathered immediately after the last day of creation ; 
 then, according to Dr. Male's Chronology, we have 2256 
 years for the carboniferous process, down to the time of the 
 deluge ; and 3155 years more for the same process to con- 
 tinue down to the Christian era, making 5411 to the latter 
 period; the whole forming a lapse of 7245 years at the 
 present time. 
 
 It is true that many coal beds are at great depth from 
 the surface, and the strata by which they are covered are 
 ancient, though not primitive formations ; while other car- 
 boniferous deposites are clearly of a more recent date. 
 
 But since it is impossible to determine what periods of 
 time are required to convert wood into coal, or how much 
 time elapsed between the depositions of vegetable matter 
 forming the older and newer beds, and as we know nothing 
 of the circumstances or degrees of heat, under which this 
 conversion was effected, so it is in vain to conjecture from 
 any analogy observed at the present day, at what period 
 of the world the process commenced. 
 
 As we understand the inspired historian, there is allow- 
 ed us little more than 7000 years in which to account for 
 the formation of coal beds and their phenomena, and yet, 
 since these beds were formed at a period when tropical 
 plants grew to enormous sizes, under high northern lati-
 
 344 
 
 DAYS OF CREATION. 
 
 tudes, and when this globe was subject to mighty convul- 
 sions, they might have been formed and covered with the 
 intervening strata, within the term of two or three thou- 
 sand years. 
 
 With respect to vegetable and animal remains found in 
 limestone and other secondary rocks, we are equally ig- 
 norant of the periods at which they were entombed, and, 
 therefore, in reference to time, they must be placed on the 
 same ground with the coal formations. 
 
 At the close of his treatise on the " Consistency of Geol- 
 with 1 
 wing 
 
 ogy with the Sacred History," Professor Silliman has the 
 
 " Suppose that there are inhabitants at the poles of the 
 earth, how might they understand the days of creation 1 to 
 them a day of light is six months long, and a night of dark- 
 ness is six months long, and the day made up of night 
 and day, covers a year, and it is a day, too, limited by 
 morning and evening." (p. 80.) 
 
 As this stands alone, and closes Professor Silliman's 
 treatise, we are led to suppose that the question it contains 
 was considered important and unanswerable. We must, 
 therefore, view it as deserving a special reply ; and if we 
 should succeed in solving the problem to his satisfaction, 
 we hope thus to become the humble means of advancing 
 Professor Silliman one step towards a coincidence of opin- 
 ion with Moses, in respect to the days of the creation. 
 
 In the first place, since there are no inhabitants at the 
 poles, the supposition itself is without foundation, and 
 therefore we might justly, on this ground, give an evasive 
 answer ; but taking no such advantage, we will suppose 
 that the poles are inhabited, then let us see whether the 
 people would, or would not, be sensible of the diurnal 
 revolutions of the earth. 
 
 Our answer requires it to be remembered, that the sun 
 always shines on just one half of the earth, and, there- 
 fore, that the vicissitudes of summer and winter of light 
 and darkness, at the polar circles, are caused by the alter- 
 nate approach and recession of these parts towards and 
 from the sun's light. 
 
 Now, as the Arctic and Antarctic regions alternately 
 enjoy the light of the sun, so they must of necessity be
 
 DAYS OF CREATION. 345 
 
 alternately immersed in the dark shadow of the earth. 
 But this alternate change cannot take place without throw- 
 ing these parts into such a position with respect to the 
 sun, that his rays will reach both poles at the same time, 
 which takes place twice in each year, to wit, on or about 
 the 21st of September and the 21st of March, therefore, 
 at these seasons there is a diurnal succession of day and 
 night at both poles. 
 
 Besides, as the earth gradually turns each pole in suc- 
 cession to\vards the sun, so the line dividing the annual 
 darkness from the light, must by degrees recede from and 
 approach each pole; and as the earth turns constantly on 
 her axis, and as the light of the sun alternately reaches 
 23 beyond each pole, it is clear that before the seasons 
 of total night and entire day at the poles, there must be 
 there a period when day and night succeed each other, 
 making together twenty-four hours, as they do at the 
 equator. 
 
 Thus it is plain that were the poles inhabited, the peo- 
 ple there, equally with those of the equator, would be ac- 
 quainted with days, "limited by morning and evening" 
 
 These inquiries and remarks have not been made in a 
 spirit of contradicting the opinions of others, but under 
 the sober conviction, that geology as yet presents no facts 
 which, when carefully examined, will be found to conflict 
 with the Mosaic history of the creation, as it is commonly 
 received, and as it is allowed the sacred historian himself 
 understood it. 
 
 Scripture proof that the Mosaic days were of common 
 length. Unless these days were of common length, how 
 can the sun and moon " be for signs, and for seasons, and 
 for days, and for years?" If the days were six thousand 
 years, or indefinitely long, what must have been the length 
 of the scripture seasons and years ? 
 
 Again, " six days shall thou labor and do all thy work, 
 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God ; 
 in it thou shalt do no work. For, in six days the Lord 
 made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and 
 rested the seventh day. Wherefore, the Lord blessed the 
 Sabbath day, and hallowed it." Exodus xx. 
 
 Thus it appears that this commandment was expressly 
 founded on the fact, that the heavens and the earth were 
 created in six days, and is designed to be in imitation and
 
 346 DAYS OF CREATION. 
 
 in perpetual commemoration thereof. " Six days shall 
 thou labor and do all thy work." " For in six days the 
 Lord made heaven and earth." But the seventh day is 
 the Sabbath, " in it thou shall not do any work," for the 
 Lord rested on the seventh day, and "therefore blessed 
 the Sabbath day and hallowed it." 
 
 Now the commandment to work six days, and rest on 
 the seventh, being in commemoration of the work of crea- 
 tion, and of the resting of the Creator, after it was finish- 
 ed ; we would inquire whether this command is not, in ef- 
 fect, an express declaration that the creative days were of 
 the same length as those on which men were commanded 
 to labor, and to rest. If, therefore, it is discovered, that 
 this is not the case, then we may humbly conceive that 
 the command itself, though religiously observed through 
 all generations to the present time, is no longer binding 
 upon us; for if the days of creation were periods of 1000 
 years, then by the terms and connexion of the command, 
 men are required to labor 6000 years, and to rest 1000 
 years. The command, therefore, being an impossibility, 
 we are not bound by its requirement. 
 
 But the express declaration of the inspired writer, that 
 "in six days the Lord made heaven and earth," cannot by 
 any mode of exegesis be made to apply to other than or- 
 dinary days, for this declaration refers to a period, when 
 the commandments were given to Moses, that is, about 
 2500 years after the creation, and therefore long after the 
 ordinary course of nature had been established. These 
 days, therefore, could only have referred to such as belong' 
 ed to that period. 
 
 Criticism of Prof. Stuart. We have already extended 
 this subject much further than was originally intended, 
 but still, the question whether the Hebrew word, transla- 
 ted day, in the history of the Creation, admits of any other 
 meaning, remains to be more particularly examined. 
 
 In this examination we must depend entirely on the 
 opinions of Hebrew philologists, and we are gratified that 
 it is in our power to offer such authority, on this part of 
 our subject, as that of Prof. Stuart, of Andover, first sta- 
 ting, that the Hebrew word yom is that which is translated 
 day, the plural of which is yamim. 
 
 On this word, Prof. Stuart writes to the author as fol- 
 lows:
 
 DAYS OF CREATION. 347 
 
 " The inquiries you make concerning the word yarn, in 
 Genesis i., 1 will briefly answer. It does not signify an 
 indefinite period of time, but always some specific and 
 definite one, when employed as it is in Gen. i., in the sin- 
 gular number. It sometimes means a specific day of the 
 week ; sometimes to-day, that is, this day ; sometimes a 
 specific day, or season of calamity, joy, particular duty, 
 action, suffering, &c. It is only the plural yamim, 
 which is employed for time in an indefinite way, as, in 
 many days to come, days of my life, &c. But even 
 here the plural, in most cases, is a limited one limited 
 by some adjective, numeral, &c., and yamim signifies, 
 therefore, a limited portion of time; often it stands for a 
 year. 
 
 " In general, the Hebrew word that means either day or 
 days, corresponds quite well with our English word, by 
 which we translate it. Thus, when we say, in the day of 
 his calamity he will repent ; in the day of his prosperity he 
 will rejoice; in the day when God will judge; all the days 
 of his life ; his days will be short ; in past days ; at a future 
 day ; &c., we express ourselves in all respects as the He- 
 brew Scriptures do. 
 
 " But when the sacred writer in Gen. i. says, the first 
 day, the second day, &c., there can be no possible doubt, 
 none, I mean, for a philologist, let a geologist think as he 
 may, that a definite day of the week is meant, which 
 definite day is designated by the numbers, first, second, 
 third, &c. What puts this beyond all question in philolo- 
 gy, is, that the writer says specifically, that the evening 
 and the morning were the first day, the second day, &c. 
 Now, is an evening and a morning a period of some thou- 
 sands of years? Is it in any sense, when so employed, an 
 indefinite period? The answer is so plain and certain 
 that I need not repeat it. 
 
 " Plain as it is, however, I have never seen a geologist 
 notice it. He has his reasons, no doubt, for this, and one 
 reason, also, mny be, that he analyzes his rocks and his 
 coal strata somewhat better than he does Hebrew roots. 
 What have a priori speculations, however, to do with such 
 a matter? If Moses has given us an erroneous account 
 of the creation, so be it. Let it come out, and let us have 
 the whole. But do not let us turn aside his language to 
 get rid of difficulties that we may have in our specula- 
 tions.
 
 348 DAYS OF CREATION. 
 
 " When the great Lord of the Sabbath ordained that 
 the seventh day of the week should be kept as holy time, 
 because 'on the seventh day, God rested from all his 
 work, and finished his work in six days,' how, in the name 
 of common sense, did Moses expect, in communicating 
 such a command, that the people of Israel would under- 
 stand him as meaning a period of 6000 years, for each of 
 the days in which God created ? And if they did so un- 
 derstand him, what reason could this be for the Hebrews 
 to keep holy every seventh day of the week ? The whole 
 thing bears on the face of it the appearance of something 
 monstrous and incredible. No philologist can ever be- 
 lieve it. 
 
 " Then as to the taste of such a conceit. The Creator, 
 ' who spake and it was done ; who commanded and it stood 
 fast," who said, 'let there be light, and light was;' this 
 great and glorious Creator the Almighty God, 36,000 
 years in making a world ! 
 
 " Andover, 5th Feb., 1833." 
 
 Mr. Penris Criticism. It is believed that few, at the 
 present day, will venture to throw themselves into the 
 scale of philology in opposition to Professor Stuart; and 
 yet to show the coincidence of authority on this point, we 
 will quote the opinion of another able critic, who, at 
 the same time, has spent many years in geological inves 
 tigations. 
 
 In the sequel of twenty octavo pages, which Mr. Gran 
 ville Penn* has written on this subject, he comes to the 
 following conclusions, and which the reader may observe 
 are precisely those of Prof. Stuart. 
 
 " The Hebrew noun yarn, which means day, is always 
 definite in its import, and essentially exclude^ the wide 
 and extensive notion which we attach to the English word 
 period. The peculiar signification of yamim, the plural 
 of yarn, is a point totally irrelative to the present question, 
 which turns exclusively upon the singular yom ; that sin- 
 gular noun, which is the word used by Moses in his history 
 of each day of the creation, and which alone we have to 
 consider, never, in any single instance, denotes a year, but 
 
 * Author of the " Comparative Estimate of the Mineral and M<h 
 saical Geologies." London, 1825, 2d Ed. '
 
 DAYS OF CREATION. 349 
 
 I 
 
 only each of the individual parts of a year, which lie be- 
 tween t\vo sun sets. It is true, that it is sometimes repre- 
 sented as denoting time, but in that case it always denotes 
 and defines actual time, or time actually impending and 
 we might with just as much foundation affirm, that the 
 Greek singular hemera, the Latin dies, the French jour, 
 or the English day, are terms peculiarly indefinite, and 
 would be more accurately expressed by periodus, periode, 
 and period, as to affirm it of the Hebrew singular yom. 
 
 Since then yom in the singular, is the term applied by 
 Moses to each of the six days of creation since the ope- 
 rations executed in each of those days were creative acts, 
 to which acts time could contribute no co-operation and 
 since the series of those six days, with the following- 
 seventh day, were specially presented, as the exemplar of 
 seven days, to be perpetually observed from thenceforth, 
 in sequence and succession, in imitation and commemo- 
 ration of them there is no ground whatever, either in 
 true criticism, or true philosophy, that will at all either 
 authorize or justify an interpretation of the days of crea- 
 tion different from that which they received from the age 
 of the historian until a recent date namely, a measure of 
 time lying between two sun-sets.* 
 
 Thus it appears beyond all doubt, that the Hebrew 
 word yom, which is translated day, as it is employed in 
 the Mosaic history of the creation, cannot be extended to 
 a period beyond twenty-four hours, without a gross mis- 
 interpretation, or wilful violation of the plain and obvious 
 meaning of the sacred writings. 
 
 WHAT ARE THE GEOLOGICAL FACTS WHICH CONTRADICT 
 THE COMMON UNDERSTANDING OF GENESIS. 
 
 Having, we hope, shown to the satisfaction of the read- 
 er, that the hypothesis of a longer period than six natural 
 days, for the completion of the work of creation, is not 
 only unwarranted by the terms of the common transla- 
 tions, but is entirely incompatible with many other pas- 
 sages of Scripture ; having also proved by the best philo- 
 
 * Comparative Estimate, vol. i. p. 288295. 
 30
 
 350 DAYS OF CREATION. 
 
 logical authorities, that the terms in which the history of 
 the creation was originally written, cannot be made to 
 signify that a day of creation was a period of more than 
 one diurnal revolution of the earth ; we will now examine 
 some of the facts and circumstances, which have been 
 supposed not to coincide with the common reading of 
 Genesis. 
 
 We have shown in the preceding work, that it is not 
 an uncommon circumstance to find shells, plants, and the 
 bones of various animals, in the deep strata of the earth, 
 and we have stated that many of these are of species now 
 unknown, and are, therefore, considered extinct. 
 
 Some authors who are professed believers in the truths 
 of inspiration, have proposed to account for these appear- 
 ances, by supposing that there have been many successive 
 creations before the earth was brought to its present form, 
 and sometime between that period called in Scripture, 
 "the beginning," and the time when the present races 
 were created. In this manner it has been proposed to 
 avoid the difficulty concerning the Mosaic days; to ac- 
 count for the extinction of the lost species during the lapse 
 of ages, and thus give geologists ample time to reconcile 
 all the appearances which the earth presents, both with 
 reason, philosophy, and scripture. 
 
 The only ground on which it can be claimed that such 
 a hypothesis may be reconciled with Scripture is, that we 
 are not bound to believe the work of creation detailed by 
 Moses was the first, since we are nowhere told that this 
 was the case ; and, as it is plain, that the heavens and the 
 earth were created before that time, that is, in the "be- 
 ginning," why may we not suppose that animals of the 
 lower orders, such as live under water, might not also 
 have been created at that time? It appears to us, how- 
 ever, that this doctrine cannot be adopted by those who 
 acknowledge the inspiration of the Scriptures; for, besides 
 its want of coincidence with what is implied in the history 
 of the creation, namely, that the work was commenced 
 on the first day and finished on the sixth, we are express- 
 ly told in Ex. xx. that the whole creation was begun and 
 finished within the compass of six days. 
 
 We are bound, therefore, by the terms of the Scrip- 
 tares, to believe that every organic substance, found in 
 the strata of rocks, however ancient they may appear to 
 be, and whether of plants, fish, or quadrupeds, originated
 
 DAYS OF CREATION. 351 
 
 within the six days of creation, mentioned by Moses, and 
 that these are the exact representations of their parents 
 then made, or the parents themselves of all similar races 
 now existing 1 . 
 
 It is in vain to undertake to support the Scriptures by 
 denying some parts and adopting others, as best suits our 
 convenience. As well may we reject the whole at once, 
 for if one part is false, all are so. Hence, if we can be- 
 lieve that a single plant or shell, found in the earth, was 
 created before the period alluded to in Genesis, it would 
 be useless to declare our assent to the truth of the Scrip- 
 tures generally, (and, at the same time, account for this 
 appearance, by supposing a more ancient creation than is 
 mentioned by Moses,) since the account he gives excludes 
 any such idea ; and, consequently, the two facts cannot be 
 made to coincide with the history. To suppose, therefore, 
 that the organic remains of strata were formed before the 
 time alluded to in Genesis, implies a denial of the truth of 
 that history. 
 
 Strata supposed to be more ancient than is allowed by 
 Moses. Some, of the secondary strata which have ap- 
 peared to geologists to claim a more remote antiquity 
 than the Mosaic history allows, are of the following 
 kinds : 
 
 First. Limestone, containing shells of extinct species, 
 and which, from their situations, bear marks of great ap- 
 parent antiquity. " It must always have been evident to 
 unbiased minds," says Mr. Lyell, " that successive strata, 
 containing, in regular order of super-position, distinct beds 
 of shells and corals, arranged in families, as they grow at 
 the bottom of the sea, could only have been formed by in- 
 sensible degrees, in a great lapse of ages." 
 
 Second. The great number of different strata, observed 
 in some formations, and occasionally amounting to seve- 
 ral thousands, are, in the opinions of others, sufficient to 
 indicate a lapse of time which the sacred history does not 
 recognise. 
 
 Third. The great amount of alluvial matter, known to 
 exist in some lakes, and the formation of land on the bor- 
 ders of certain seas, (considering how slowly these de.-
 
 352 DAYS OF CREATION. 
 
 positions take place, have been thought to indicate more 
 time than can be accounted for by the common under- 
 standing of the Scriptures. 
 
 Fourth. Allowing that every kind of limestone has 
 been formed of shells, how is it possible, inquires another, 
 that at their present rate of increase, such immense moun- 
 tains of this rock couM have been formed within the pe- 
 riod of 6000 years ? 
 
 Fifth. The coal formations, being supposed of vege- 
 table origin, seem to prove that plants were in existence 
 at a period vastly more remote than their creation, ac- 
 cording to the Mosaic history. 
 
 Lastly. The fossil remains of various animals, the 
 species of which are now supposed to be extinct, and 
 which appear to have been in existence before the cre- 
 ation of man, are thought to show that more time elapsed 
 before, or during the progress of the creation, than is indi- 
 cated by the vulgar understanding of Genesis. 
 
 These, and a great variety of other circumstances and 
 appearances, have been declared, by some naturalists, to 
 be entirely inconsistent with the supposition that organized 
 beings were only brought into existence within the recent 
 period of 6000 years. 
 
 The reader will observe, that the evidence, if so it 
 maybe called, in all these cases, is merely circumstantial, 
 and entirely dependent on the opinions of the observers ; 
 and that hence, while some could see nothing in the 
 facts, Avhich might not be accounted for within the 
 period of a few thousand years, others would see appear- 
 ances which could be reconciled only with the lapse of 
 ages. 
 
 Our ignorance concerning the formation of strata. In 
 reasoning on the facts which the strata of the earth pre- 
 sent, we are under the necessity of bringing them to the 
 test of some hypothesis which we may adopt, and which 
 we believe most likely to account satisfactorily for them, 
 by considering the circumstances under which they ap- 
 pear to exist. For, having never witnessed the formation 
 of such rocks, we are obliged to reason entirely from 
 analogy, and to draw our conclusions from such parallel
 
 DAYS OF CREATION. 353 
 
 facts, as our own experience, or that of others, may happen 
 to furnish us. 
 
 Of the actual circumstances under which these strata 
 were formed, or jthe time necessary for this purpose, we 
 are entirely ignorant, and this is acknowledged by the 
 most experienced geologists. 
 
 On this subject, Daubuisson speaks as follows : " The 
 nature of this cause, and the manner in which it acted, are 
 most likely removed for ever from our knowledge; no ef- 
 fect of the same kind is ever now produced. All the cir- 
 cumstances of the divisions of the mineral masses into 
 strata, both in the primitive and actual states, are very far 
 from being known to us ; and we are constrained to say, 
 that to determine respecting stratification, its circumstances 
 and its laws, still remains a problem to be resolved, and 
 is, perhaps, the most important one in geology."* 
 
 " We are," says Baron Cuvier, " in the most absolute 
 ignorance, respecting the causes which have occasioned 
 the diversity in the substances of which strata are com- 
 posed. We are unacquainted even with the agents which 
 may have held some of them in solution; and it is still 
 disputed respecting several of them, whether they owe 
 their origin to the agency of fire or water."! 
 
 De Luc speaks to the same effect. " These strata," says 
 he, " the formation of which has entirely ceased, must have 
 been the effects of primordial causes which no longer sub- 
 sist.'^ 
 
 Notwithstanding such opinions, and sounder ones do not 
 exist on this subject, st : ll there are those who, not con- 
 tented with knowing the facts as they are, begin to conjec- 
 ture, concerning the manner in which these formations 
 we/e deposited, and bringing everything down to the test 
 of their own knowledge, wisdom, and experience, come 
 fort h with a body of facts which show most clearly that 
 th* common understanding of some parts of the sacred 
 writings must be entirely changed, to accord with these 
 discoveries, otherwise the whole Christian code will be in 
 jeopardy. Thus declaring that the Creator, in the forma- 
 tion of this world, could not have subjected matter to natural 
 laws which men cannot now explain, without jeopardizing 
 the whole moral code which, in mercy, he has given us. 
 
 * Daubuisson, Book 1, p. 352. t Prelim. Disc. p. 27 
 
 t De Due. Lett. Geol. p. 72. 
 
 P-0*
 
 354 DAYS OF CREATION. 
 
 " It is revolting to reason" says Mr. Granville Penn, 
 " and, therefore, to true philosophy, to observe how stren- 
 uously physical science, though expatiating on the won- 
 ders of creation, has labored to exclude the, Creator from 
 the details of His own works, straining every nerve of in- 
 genuity to ascribe them all to secondary causes ; and with 
 what undisguised relief of thought, it exchanges the idea 
 of God for that of nature."* 
 
 So far as we know, all writers who have brought geo- 
 logical phenomena to contradict the common reading of 
 the Scriptures, have reasoned on general circumstances 
 and appearances, rather than on particular facts. Whether 
 this has arisen from a tenderness towards the Scriptures, 
 connected with a desire to keep such glaring facts as exist 
 from the knowledge of the world, for its moral good, we 
 do not pretend to know. But we do not hesitate to be- 
 lieve, that no one has yet published a single geological 
 fact, which, when fairly and candidly examined, would 
 in the opinion of sound judgment and discretion, be found 
 to stand in the light of such proof, against the common 
 reading of Genesis, as would be required to invalidate 
 the foundation of any well grounded opinion, commonly 
 received among men. 
 
 Inferences from organic strata. Concerning the strata 
 containing shells, although their appearance proves no- 
 thing with respect to the period at which they were form- 
 ed, (any further than that this must have been since the 
 creation of the living remains which they contain,) or the 
 time occupied in their formations ; still, from certain cir- 
 cumstances, we may fairly draw several conclusions con- 
 cerning them. Thus, the fact that they contain shells, 
 shows that they were formed under water; and since one 
 series of strata rest upon another, this proves that the low- 
 est series were formed first. The shells, and the stratified 
 structure of these rocks, also indicate that the matter of 
 which they are composed was deposited from water. 
 
 As a matter of hypothesis, we may infer also, that the 
 lower strata of these rocks were formed during the time 
 when the earth was passing from a state of chaos, to that 
 more perfect condition which it assumed, during, and 
 
 * Comparative Estimate, vol. i. p. 117.
 
 DAYS OF CREATION. 355 
 
 after the creation of animals ; for, at that period, there it 
 reason to believe that the agitation of the waters conse- 
 quent upon the changes which took place, would cause 
 them to transport and deposite large quantities of loose 
 matter from one place to another. Meantime the rapidly 
 multiplying creatures of the water, which undoubtedly 
 were originally created in all parts of the sea, might be 
 supposed to have been swept along with the turbid waters, 
 and fallen to the bottom with their deposites. Nearly all 
 parts of the earth show that the present dry land has been 
 thrown up from the bottom of the sea ; but evidently not 
 at the same time, and the fact that these elevated strata 
 contain shells, shows that this land was under water at the 
 time, and perhaps long after the creation of animals. The 
 convulsions by which these strata were elevated, may be 
 well supposed to have occasioned movements in the water, 
 by which depositions of great depth, containing shells, 
 might have been made in a short period. 
 
 No geologist can prove at what epoch these elevations 
 of land took place. Some have supposed, indeed, that 
 the shells they contain were formed while " darkness was 
 upon the face of the deep," and before "the waters were 
 gathered together into one place." But this, as we have 
 shown, supposes a creation anterior to that detailed in 
 Genesis; and, therefore, as the strata themselves contain 
 nothing which contradicts the hypothesis, that they were 
 formed after the creation of animals, it is most reasonable 
 to believe that this was the case. 
 
 With respect to the great number of different strata 
 which some formations present, no practical geologists of 
 the present day, would ever propose to offer them as indi- 
 cations of absolute time. Dr. Macculloch, in his account 
 of the "Western Isles," has described a tract of country, 
 which, says he, " may be considered as exceeding twenty 
 miles, on a line taken transversely to the bearings of the 
 strata; and throughout this space, computing from enume- 
 rations taken at different places, there are probably not 
 less than 40,000 strata." This great number is owing en- 
 tirely to displacements occasioned, probably, by subterra- 
 nean convulsions. " It is probable," says the author, 
 "that this tract consisted once of a series of horizontal 
 strata, of, perhaps, four substances only; and that, in con- 
 sequence of numerous displacements, they have assumed 
 the complicated and deceptive appearances which they
 
 356 DAY8 OF CREATION. 
 
 now present. 7 '* These four substances are quartz rock, 
 mica-slate, chlorite-slate, and hornblende-slate. 
 
 In another part of his work, the same author says, " Ge- 
 ologists have endeavored to compute the antiquity [that is 
 of the earth] by various means, often by very ' childish 
 chronometers,' when deposites of peat, and accumulations 
 of stalactites, have been adduced as measurers of time. 
 Thus, also, by measuring the annual depth of earth depos- 
 ited in the valley of Egypt, it has been attempted to fix 
 the period at which the Nile begun to flow. But this is 
 equally vain ; since the multitude of modifying causes 
 must render all such deposites useless, even as the means 
 of an approximation, independently of the fact that all are 
 not the produce of rivers."! 
 
 This is considered a sufficient reply, with respect to 
 computing time by the number of strata. 
 
 Limestone formations. But if, as many have supposed, 
 limestone is an animal product, the vast masses of this 
 rock, which occur inmost countries, are much the strong- 
 est proofs which the earth exhibits of her antiquity. The 
 oldest limestone, however, exhibits no marks of organic 
 origin, but is arranged among primitive rocks, as may be 
 seen by the tabular arrangement in the preceding volume. 
 It is the secondary limestone only which contains shells, 
 and it cannot be denied, that, in some instances, consider- 
 able beds of this species, appear to be almost entirely com- 
 posed of these remains. But there is much difference in 
 this respect, in different formations which are considered 
 of the same age. In the oolitic group of Western Europe, 
 shells are very abundant, while in the Italian, Alpine, and 
 Grecian limestones, which represent the same series, very 
 few organic remains are found.;}: It may be difficult to 
 account satisfactorily for this disparity, if these rocks 
 were formed at the same time and of the same materials. 
 
 Possibly, however, the Italian limestones were formed 
 at the mouths of ancient rivers, whose waters passing 
 through primitive limestone countries, brought down cal- 
 careous matter, which being deposited in a shallow sea, 
 might embrace the shells there growing. At the same 
 
 * System of Geology, vol. i. p. 93. t Vol. ii. p. 60. 
 
 * Dela Eeche, I\'.an. Geol. p. 323.
 
 DAYS OF CREATIOS. 357 
 
 time we may suppose, that the European limestones were 
 formed in deep water, out of the reach of such calcareous 
 deposites ; and, therefore, consists entirely of shells. 
 
 Be h of shells formed by sea currents. But the great 
 difficulty on this subject, is to conceive how such vast beds 
 of organic limestone could have been formed of shells, 
 without requiring millions of years for their growth. It 
 was in consideration of this subject that the Editor of the 
 Quarterly Review, vol. xlii., (1829,) declares that the earth, 
 instead of being millions of years, was millions of ages in 
 forming. 
 
 The idea of geologists, who require so much time for 
 these formations, appears to be, that the shells must of ne- 
 cessity have gro\vn and perished in the exact places where 
 their remains are now found, and that one generation must 
 have lived on the remains of the other, in succession, until 
 they formed the masses which we now see. 
 
 But there is not the slightest probability, from the very 
 nature of the case, that this was the mode in which these 
 masses were formed. For, in many instances, we find 
 them of considerable thickness in the centre; gradually be- 
 coming thin towards the edges, and of small extent; the 
 very form a mass of shells would have assumed had they 
 been swept together by currents of the sea, and quite dif- 
 ferent from that which would have been produced had 
 they lived and died on each other. In the latter case, there 
 is no reason why these masses should ever assume the form 
 of hills, but, on the contrary, we should naturally suppose 
 that in similar climates, and under the same circumstances, 
 these testacea would increase as rapidly in one place as 
 in another, and thus that the strata they formed would be 
 widely extended, and every where of the same thickness. 
 Whereas, we find that beds of shells, in the same vi- 
 cinity, are often entirely insulated. Besides, many of 
 these shells are known to be such as burrow in the sand 
 and mud, and unless we suppose that these masses were 
 formed by currents, we are under the necessity of be- 
 lieving that such species forsook their natural haunts, for 
 the purpose of living and dying on the remains of their 
 ancestors. 
 
 Besides, we know from the reports of naval men, who 
 have been employed in surveying sea coasts in various 
 countries, that beds of shells are constantly forming at the
 
 338 DAYS Or CREATION. 
 
 bottom of the ocean, by the agency of the currents, and 
 sometimes at the depth of several thousand feet. 
 
 In the strait of Gibraltar, Capt. Smyth found shells al 
 the depth of 950 fathoms, carried thither probably from 
 comparatively shallow parts, by the strong current which 
 flows through that channel. Capt. Vidal detected on the 
 coast of Ireland large quantities of shells, at depths vary- 
 ing from forty-five to 190 fathoms; and also in the same 
 region a bed of fish bones extending two miles along the 
 bottom of the sea, in eighty and ninety fathoms of water. 
 
 "Analogous formations," says Mr. Lyell, "are in pro- 
 gress in the submarine tracts extending from the Shetland 
 Islands to the north of Ireland, wherever sounding can be 
 procured. A continuous deposite of sand and mud, replete 
 with broken and entire shells, echini, &c., has been traced 
 for upwards of twenty miles to the eastward of the Fa- 
 roe Islands, usually at the depth of from forty to 100 fath- 
 oms. In one part of this tract, fish bones occur in ex- 
 traordinary profusion, so that the lead cannot be drawn up 
 without some vertebra? being attached. This ' bone bed, 1 
 as it is called by the surveyors, is three miles and a half in 
 length."* 
 
 The sea, undoubtedly, is almost every where forming 
 beds of shells by its currents in the same manner, and 
 which in the course of a few centuries at longest, might 
 reasonably be supposed to form stratified organic rocks, of 
 hundreds of feet in thickness, cemented by the sedimentary 
 matter of rivers, with which the sea abounds on every 
 coast. How, then, does it become necessary to allow ages 
 of time for these formations. 
 
 The objection that has been brought against the theory 
 of accumulation by currents, in the fact that many or most 
 of the shells still retain their sharpest angles and most 
 delicate parts uninjured, will be found of little weight, when 
 the circumstances are considered. 
 
 All shells will swim in water of sufficient depth, even 
 after the animal has perished ; and, under water of mo- 
 derate depth, most species will float to great distances 
 without the slightest injury. In several extinct species, 
 which are found in the greatest abundance in limestone, 
 the specific gravity of the shell was so near that of water, 
 
 * Vol. iii p. 295.
 
 DAYS OF CREATION. 859 
 
 lhat the animal had the power of raising or sinking itself 
 at pleasure, probably by drawing in or throwing out a 
 little of that element. Such were the many-charnbered 
 univalves already described and figured, the Nautilus, the 
 Ammonites, and the Orthoceratites. 
 
 On the coast of England, in places where the current 
 is so swift as to remove deep channels in the regular 
 strata, and where rocky masses are often precipitated into 
 the sea, there still live fragile shells and tender zoophytes, 
 (corals and sponges,) in abundance, and in the midst of 
 these violent movements.* 
 
 There is, therefore, we conceive, no difficulty in sup- 
 posing, that shells might have been swept into beds from 
 great distances, and still retain their finest lines and 
 sharpest angles. Those which we find on beaches, where 
 they have been constantly exposed to the friction of the 
 sand, by the motion of the surf, bear no analogy of cir- 
 cumstances to those which remain in deep water. 
 
 Vast number of shells created. Under the hypothesis, 
 that all secondary limestone has originated from living ex- 
 istences, and has been formed within a few thousand years, 
 we must believe that vast numbers of these tribes were 
 originally created, and that they have multiplied with great 
 rapidity. 
 
 With respect to the number created, we are bound to 
 believe that it was peculiarly great, from the terms of the 
 history, for in no other instances is the same language 
 employed. " Let the waters bring forth abundantly the 
 moving creature," are the words of the command; and 
 we shall see, in this case, a coincidence between the Scrip- 
 tures and the facts of geology and natural science, not be- 
 fore noticed. 
 
 As the terms of the command were general, (" Let the 
 waters bring forth,") so must have been the effect; and we 
 are therefore bound to believe, that this creation was not 
 confined to particular portions of the sea, but that the 
 waters in all parts of the earth brought forth an abundance 
 of living creatures, and we need not stop to show that 
 shells are included in this creation. 
 
 * lAfeU't Geology, vol. i. p. 308.
 
 360 DAYS Or CREATION. 
 
 Rapid progress of Conchology. There \z reason to be- 
 lieve, that no department of nature is so abundantly sup- 
 plied with species and varieties, as Conchology. It is true 
 that there are at present, more known species of plants 
 than of shells, but the facility of collecting the former, to- 
 gether with the connexion which botany has with medi- 
 cine and domestic economy, makes it the more interesting: 
 and important science. Yet, it is believed that the com- 
 parative number of new species of shells, recently discov- 
 ered, have been much greater than those of plants. 
 
 Perhaps some judgment may be formed of the pro- 
 gress of conchology, and the vast number of species 
 which probably still remain to be discovered, by compar- 
 ing the system of Linnaeus with that of Lamarck. The 
 former naturalist describes only thirty-six genera of shells, 
 while the latter has determined and described two hun- 
 dred and fifty genera; and many new species have been 
 discovered within the few years since the last work was 
 written. Hence we may infer, that conchology is only in 
 its infancy, at least with respect to the number of species 
 known, and that it is probable, thousands of species, if not 
 of genera, still remain to be discovered in this department 
 of nature. 
 
 The number of known species belonging to some of the 
 Linnaean genera are already very numerous, and new ones 
 are almost every day accumulating. Of the genus Conus, 
 Mr. Mawe names 170 species, and of the genus Voluta 
 200 species, and of each of these, there are numerous va- 
 rieties.* 
 
 The subject of fossil conchology has still more recently 
 attracted the attention of naturalists, but when we come 
 to examine the catalogues of extinct species, which have 
 already been determined, and consider that these have 
 been discovered in those few places on the earth, where 
 excavations have been made, chiefly for economical pur- 
 poses, we cannot avoid being struck with an idea of the 
 vast multitude of these species which the earth contains, 
 the most of which still remain unknown. 
 
 Of the genus Ammonites, there have been determined 
 and named 159 species, not one of which are now sup- 
 
 * Mawe's Conchology, p. 87105
 
 DAYS OF CREATION. 361 
 
 posed to be in the living state.* Of the genus Cerithium, 
 seventy fossil species are known, and of the genus Tere- 
 bratula, fifty species have been determined, and catalogues 
 of both given. f 
 
 In the oolitic limestone alone, there has been already 
 tiscovered and described, not less than 1000 species of 
 shells, a great proportion of which occur in England.^ In 
 the Paris basin, the species long since enumeratad, amount- 
 ed to 1200, and an equal number have been found in the 
 more modern formations of the subapennine hills. 
 
 Now, when if is considered that these investigations 
 have only just commenced, and that the parts of the earth 
 which have been examined are mere points, when com- 
 pared even \vith the secondary portions of the whole ; when, 
 we remember, also, that most of the recent species known, 
 have been picked up along the shores rather by accident 
 than through any scientific design ; and that the wide 
 oceans, the distant reefs, and the deep waters, are still un- 
 explored, and when we compare these circumstances 
 with that of the number of shells already known, we can- 
 not but conclude, that there must be in the earth, and in 
 the sea, thousands, perhaps millions, of species, which the 
 eye of man has never yet seen. 
 
 From this vast number of species which it is thus cer- 
 tain have existed, or do still exist, we are led to see the 
 propriety of the peculiar language which Moses employs 
 with respect to the first act of the fifth day's creation ; for 
 since all these species were commanded into being at that 
 time, the term abundantly, as applied to these animals, 
 and these exclusively, has a literal and appropriate mean- 
 ing. 
 
 It has been shown under the article, " Change of Cli- 
 mate," that the temperature of the earth was formerly- 
 much greater than at present, and it is well known that 
 shells of the same tribes increase in size, in some propor- 
 tion to the heat of the climate where they are found. It 
 is also a general law, that animals multiply most rapidly 
 in hot climates. It may, therefore, be fairly inferred, that 
 much larger quantities of organic limestone w r ould have 
 
 * De La Beche, Manual, p. 364. t See Parkinson's Fossil Or- 
 ganic Remains, f De La Beche's Catalogue, Manual, p. 323369. 
 5 Lyell's Geology, vol. i. p. 151. 
 31
 
 362 DAYS OF CREATION. 
 
 been formed during the same period, anciently, than at 
 present. But who knows what beds of this rock are now 
 forming in the depths of the oceans, and who will know 
 until they are elevated for the inspection of geologists ? 
 
 Conclusions from the above facts. From all the facts 
 and circumstances thus stated, may we not draw the fol- 
 lowing inferences. 
 
 First. That testaceous animals were originally created 
 in great abundance, and in every part of the sea. 
 
 Second. That these animals increased much more rap- 
 idly under the ardent heat of the ancient world, and attain- 
 ed much larger sizes than at present. 
 
 Third. That beds of shells were formed by the cur- 
 rents of the sea, and not by their accumulation upon each 
 other, by natural increase. 
 
 These inferences being admitted, may we not conclude, 
 that it is possible all the shell limestone which is known 
 to exist, might have been formed by constant accumula- 
 tions within the period of the nearly 2000 years which 
 have elapsed between the creation and the deluge. 
 
 Secondary limestone not always formed of shells. It is 
 not necessary, we should suppose, that all secondary lime- 
 stone has been formed of shells, for we find that this pro- 
 cess is constantly going on at the present day, by means of 
 water containing carbonaceous particles. It has already 
 been stated that the waters of San Filippo formed strata 
 of solid carbonate of lime at the rate of thirty feet in twenty 
 years,* and which, therefore, during the period above 
 named, supposing the same process to continue, would 
 form a mass of limestone 3000 feet thick, which would ex- 
 ceed any known limestone formation in depth. In various 
 other places, similar depositions are forming. 
 
 It has also been stated in the preceding volume, that 
 limestone, containing shells, is now constantly accumula- 
 ting at the delta of the Rhone, in the Mediterranean. 
 Large masses are continually taken up from that place, of 
 arenaceous rocks, cemented by calcareous matter, including 
 multitudes of shells, of recent species. A cannon was 
 
 * LyclPs Geology, vol. i. p. 204.
 
 DAYS OF CREATION. 363 
 
 also discovered and taken up at the same place, imbedded 
 in crystalline limestone.* 
 
 The Coral islands and reefs, also exhibit vast accumu- 
 lations of calcareous matter, which at the present day are 
 constantly increasing. That on the coast of New Hol- 
 land extends in an uninterrupted course to the length of 
 350 miles, and with others, form a continuous line of 1000 
 miles in length, varying from twenty to sixty miles in 
 breadth, and is probably from 1000 to 1500 feet in depth. 
 This, if thrown up from the bottom of the sea, would form 
 a mountain of organic limestone, of far greater extent than 
 any now known to exist on the face of the earth. f 
 
 Now this immense mass of organic calcareous matter 
 has been forming only since the commencement of what 
 geologists call "the present order of things," or since the 
 sea has occupied its present bed, and which all agree was 
 not at a very remote period, certainly not more than 6000 
 years ago, and yet this is acknowledged by geologists to 
 be the most extensive range of organic mountains in ex- 
 istence. " It far exceeds," says Dr. Macculloch, "any that 
 are known in the extent of its range.":}: 
 
 When such a formation is seen and known, or acknow- 
 ledged, to be but of comparatively recent origin, why is it 
 necessary, to suppose that other organic formations, which 
 took place in the depths of the ocean, and of which we 
 know nothing except by conjecture, should have required 
 millions of years for their production? 
 
 The truth is, that no man can prove at what period the 
 ancient rocks were formed, by their appearance, or by 
 any series of intrinsic circumstances attending them, nor 
 can he show, with any degree of certainty, how long a 
 period was required for their production. All agree that 
 the organic rocks were formed under the waters of the 
 ocean, and, therefore, that their growth was concealed from 
 all observation. The few analogies that can be adduced 
 of similar formations, seem to show that the lapse of 
 many ages is not required to produce extensive calca- 
 reous formations. Who knows what exists in the bottom 
 of the ocean at the present day ? or what geologist will 
 deny that the elevation of a few square miles of land 
 
 * Lyell's Geology, p. 234. t See the preceding vol. p. 64. 
 t System of Geology, vol. i. p. 339.
 
 3C4 DAYS OF CREATION. 
 
 from the middle of the Atlantic, might not entirely 
 change all existing theories with respect to the age of 
 the earth ? 
 
 Doctrine of successive creations. The doctrine of a 
 succession of creations, by which some writers have pro- 
 posed to account for the organic relics which they suppose 
 more ancient than those described in Genesis, is not only 
 opposed to the implied meaning of Scripture, as already 
 noticed, but, if we are not mistaken, it contradicts one of 
 the most important and interesting series of facts which 
 geology has unfolded, and which we have taken especial 
 pains to establish in the preceding pages, viz. that there 
 exists, in the strata of the earth, a regular gradation of 
 organic substances, from the lowest plants to highest or- 
 ders of animals, and that, in this respect, there is an exact 
 coincidence between revelation and geology. Now, if 
 there have been many successive and distinct creations, 
 each creation must have been either of the same kind as 
 that which took place before it, or of a different kind. If, 
 for instance, the first creation was cryptogamous plants, 
 of one species, and the second creation, plants of the same 
 tribe, of another species, the first becoming extinct before 
 the second came into existence ; then we are to suppose 
 that the soil and climate of the whole earth was every- 
 where the same, and that for thousands of years it was 
 fitted for nothing but cryptogamia. This would only seem 
 to show that one species was ordered out of existence, 
 merely that another might be created, under precisely the 
 same circumstances, and thus, that the Creator, for thous- 
 ands of years, (if so long is required by the theorist,) oc- 
 cupied the earth only with the lowest vegetables. When 
 plants of the higher orders came into existence, we have 
 to suppose a recurrence of the same corresponding pro- 
 cess ; and so of the testacea, amphibia, and mammalia, the 
 earth being fitted for each class in succession, and no other, 
 and that many species of each class were alternately 
 created, and permitted to go out of existence. 
 
 That the doctrine of successive creations can be true on 
 no other grounds, is shown by the well ascertained geolo- 
 gical facts, above mentioned, viz : that the order in which 
 organized remains occur in strata, from below upwards, is 
 thus : cryptogamous plants, dicotyledonous plants, testacea, 
 amphibia, and mammalia.
 
 DAYS OF CREATION. 365 
 
 Now had different parts of the earth been prepared for 
 each of these classes at the same time, or had a creation, 
 at the same epoch, consisted of plants, testacea, amphibia, 
 and mammalia, the remains of these ought now to be 
 found in series of strata, by themselves, and when these 
 became extinct, to be followed by another series in the 
 same manner, whereas we find, in truth, that the lower 
 strata, never contain the relics of the more perfect animals, 
 but only those of plants, shells, &c. 
 
 The doctrine of successive creations, therefore, cannot 
 be maintained as geologically true, unless we suppose that 
 the lower orders only were created ; then annihilated, and 
 again replaced; and that the same law was followed with 
 respect to the other orders of creation ; for on no other 
 hypothesis, will the several creations correspond with the 
 succession of remains which the strata contain. 
 
 This notion, if not ridiculous, is at least derogatory to 
 the Wisdom and Power of the Creator. 
 
 Does not reason as well as religion, therefore, dictate, 
 that before the Holy Scriptures, or any part of them, are 
 wrested from their plain and obvious meaning, (or from 
 the sense in which they have been universally understood 
 by the whole Christian world,) in order to adapt them to 
 what have appeared to some to be geological facts, that 
 these facts should be more clearly established than they 
 appear to be at present? Will it not be in time to change 
 the meaning of Moses, when geology clearly shows, that, 
 with all his inspiration, he was in an error? or, at least, 
 until geologists agree with respect to the points in which 
 he was mistaken? Still, we are entirely opposed to the 
 suppression of any geological fact because it seems to 
 bear against revelation. Let the whole truth come forth, 
 in a fair and impartial manner, and if the Scriptures cannot 
 stand against it, let them fall. No truth is impious, nor 
 will facts, in the light of the present age, ever convict their 
 discoverer of heresy. 
 
 We do not deny the remote antiquity of the earth; it 
 was created at the " beginning," and, therefore, as formerly 
 remarked, men may speculate with safety on the changes 
 it suffered while " it was without form, and void, and 
 darkness was upon the face of the deep." Here, revela- 
 tion is no guide with respect to time, and theorists may 
 call millions of ages to their aid in accounting for the phe- 
 nomena which the ancient world presented. But, from 
 31*
 
 366 DAYS OF CREATION. 
 
 the period when plants and animals were created, we have 
 a guide, at least, with respect to certain parts of the earth's 
 history, which no one may contradict by mere inferences, 
 and from which guide, no believer in revelation can de- 
 part with propriety or safety. 
 
 We have no room, at present, to notice the other rea 
 sons which have been brought to show the great antiquity 
 of secondary strata, nor is this necessary, since they are 
 chiefly predicated on grounds already examined. 
 
 Opinions of Geologists with respect to the antiquity of 
 the present form of the Earth. In concluding the sub- 
 ject of the Mosaic days, and the earth's antiquity, we 
 will cite the opinions of two or three geological wri- 
 ters, who appear to have carefully investigated these 
 points. 
 
 Dr. Ure. " We may," says Dr. Ure, " ask, why we 
 should claim, in behalf of our globe, a more ancient ori- 
 gin than that assigned by the inspired chronologist? 
 Will its rank, dignity, and importance, be enhanced by a 
 remote genealogy? Is not this a taint of the pride of 
 ancestry common to the whole family of man? But how 
 can it be safely gratified? Even lynx-eyed science can 
 pierce the dark veil of creation no further than common 
 vision." 
 
 Again, " it is to be regretted that any commentators of 
 Scripture, misled by the fancied necessity of certain geo- 
 logical schemes of stratiform superposition, should have 
 vexed themselves and their readers, in torturing the He- 
 brew words for day, and evening, and morning, into many 
 mystical renderings. That Moses attached no such vague 
 meaning to the creative days in Genesis, is evident from 
 the language of the fourth commandment in Exodus, 
 Six days shalt thou labor,' " &c.* 
 
 Dr. Macculloch. Says Dr. Macculloch, "They who 
 have attempted a conciliation, by altering the lengths of 
 the periods, have taken an unnecessary, as well as an un- 
 warrantable liberty of interpretation; since they thus wrest 
 the plain words of Scripture to their own evil purposes ; 
 
 * New System of Geology, p. 11.
 
 DAYS OF CREATION. 367 
 
 too ignorant to perceive the unbounded hazard of such 
 a principle. And it may surprise them to be told, boast- 
 ful as they have been, that they have not even read with 
 understanding the plainest passages of a book, which is 
 far more often read than considered, and much too often 
 read for the purpose of confirming a religious hypothesis, 
 not for discovering the truth."* 
 
 Baron Cuvier. "We see," says Baron Cuvier, "that 
 even in confining themselves to the limits of Genesis, 
 naturalists have a wide field before them ; they soon found 
 themselves in difficulties, and when they had succeeded 
 in attributing to the six days of creation, indefinite pe- 
 riods, ages costing them nothing, their systems took a 
 flight proportioned to the intervals which they could dis- 
 pose off 
 
 Ignatius Paradisi. Ignatius Paradisi, a learned ec- 
 clesiastic of Florence, has advanced a theory by which 
 the facts established by Cuvier concerning the revolutions 
 of the globe, are reconciled with the Mosaic cosmogony. 
 
 The first of these revolutions, is that which displaced 
 the materials of which the surface of the globe is formed, 
 from their original position ; elevating the mountains, and 
 forming the great valleys which the earth now presents. 
 At this time " darkness dwelt upon the face of the deep," 
 no organized beings had been created, and hence among' 
 the primitive rocks no fossil remains are found. 
 
 The second revolution, or series of revolutions, formed 
 the strata now called secondary, and in which are inclu- 
 ded innumerable remains of plants and animals. Hence, 
 these revolutions took place after God had said, " Let the 
 earth bring forth grass," and " Let the waters bring forth 
 abundantly the moving creatures that hath life." 
 
 Geologists have attempted to show, that between these 
 revolutions, there must have been an indefinite series of 
 ages, and an equal number of creations and annihilations 
 of organized beings, at least before the races now in exist- 
 ence were brought into being. 
 
 But, says Paradisi, it does not seem reasonable to at- 
 tribute to a long duration of time, the production of those 
 
 * Geology, vol. ii. p. 62. t Revolution of the Globe, p. 38.
 
 368 DAYS OF CREATION. 
 
 phenomena of the causes and agents of which we are en- 
 tirely ignorant. We find, at first, that " The earth was 
 without form and void," Gen. i. 2, and how long it was 
 in this state, we are not told. But when the " Spirit of 
 God moved upon the face of the waters," then took place 
 those first revolutions, the origin and cause of which, 
 geologists have so vainly attempted to conjecture. With 
 respect to the agents employed to effect this revolution, 
 we are entirely ignorant. It is sufficient for us to show 
 that nothing in geology is opposed to the expressions of 
 revelation, but, on the contrary, that all the new discoveries 
 tend to confirm its truth. 
 
 Who will not perceive, in the expression, " The Spirit 
 of God moved upon the face of the waters," the origin of 
 these first revolutions, for the historian immediately pro- 
 ceeds to describe the effects produced. " Let there be 
 light." " Let there be a firmament." " Let the waters 
 under the firmament be congregated," and " Let the dry 
 land appear." 
 
 To see, in an instant, light divided from darkness ; wa- 
 ters formed into seas, and the dry ground appearing at the 
 command of the Omnipotent, what is it but to exhibit the 
 most violent changes. 
 
 Could the work of the third day, when the mountains 
 were elevated, the waters gathered", and the dry land made 
 to appear, have been performed without convulsing the 
 earth to her centre ? And how vain would it be to seek to 
 reduce such phenomena to the ordinary laws of nature ? As 
 vain as to attempt to explain, by the laws of vegetation, the 
 sudden production of ripe fruits ; or by those of animal phy- 
 siology, the instant creation of a man in full size and vigor. 
 Says Cuvier, "the methods of nature are changed.the thread 
 of her operations is broken, and none of the agents she 
 now employs, could have produced her ancient works." 
 
 The second series of revolutions happened when our 
 earth was clothed with vegetation, and full of living be- 
 ings, with the exception of man, having also many species 
 of animals now extinct. These revolutions are indicated 
 by the remains of plants and animals, found in the strata 
 of our globe. 
 
 At this period, only a single pair of our race were in 
 existence. They were placed in the garden of Eden, but 
 they sinned and fell. " Cursed be the ground for thy 
 sake," said God to Adam; and who can tell what horrible
 
 DAYS OF CREATION. 369 
 
 revolutions this earth was made to suffer, when this awful 
 malediction was pronounced 1 We may believe that with 
 the exception of such as were in paradise, every creature 
 which had life, perished, and that the whole earth was 
 changed into a dreary desert, fit only to produce briars 
 and thorns. In this awful change ought we not to see 
 that revolution which buried such innumerable numbers 
 of plants and animals in the strata of the earth, and whose 
 remains we find at this day? 
 
 " Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee ; and 
 thou shall eat the herb of the field," was the terrible sen- 
 tence which the sin of man brought upon the earth, and 
 upon himself 
 
 We know Avith certainty that the earth has suffered a 
 revolution, which buried the productions of her surface in 
 its ruins ; and it is a fact of sacred history, that this same 
 earth was cursed of God, and that in consequence of that 
 curse it \vas suddenly and entirely transformed, and laid 
 waste. Nor can any known cause, except this curse, be 
 assigned with any degree of probability to account for this 
 revolution. Why, then, have recourse to a long succes- 
 sion of ages to explain such phenomena ? Time is not 
 of itself an agent of nature. No extent of time can give 
 to nature, forces which it does not possess, nor agents of 
 which it is manifestly destitute. 
 
 If we inquire where was man, and the animals which 
 survived this revolution, the historian informs us. They 
 were all in the Paradise of delights. Without inquiring 
 into the site of Paradise, it is evident that it was separated 
 from the earth which was cursed. This appears evident 
 from the expressions, Plantaverat autem Dominus Deus, 
 Paradistim Voluptatis ; But the Lord God had planted a 
 Paradise of pleasure ; and afterwards, Tulit ergo Domi- 
 nus Deus, hominem et posuit eum in Paradiso voluptatis. 
 Therefore the Lord God took man and placed him in the 
 Paradise of delight. It evidently follows that Paradise 
 was a very different place from that earth which was cur- 
 sed, and which was afterwards destined to be the abode 
 of Adam and his posterity. Here, therefore, our first pa- 
 rents dwelt with all the animals which survived the ca- 
 tastrophe consequent upon the curse God had pronounced. 
 The fossil bones which are found so abundantly at the 
 present day, belonged to animals which had been dispersed 
 over the earth. These all perished, and hence many of
 
 370 INDIAN ASTRONOMICAL TABLES. 
 
 their species remain extinct, while the species which were 
 in Paradise are those which now exist. Paradise was then 
 the only place of refuge, as the ark afterwards was during 
 the deluge. Thus may these singular phenomena be ex- 
 plained by the sacred history, and under its faithful guid- 
 ance do we recognise the second series of revolutions, 
 exhibited by the aspect of our earth. 
 
 These are the opinions of some of the most enlightened 
 men who have lately written on this long controverted 
 subject, and we may remark in general, that the more 
 that is known of geology, the greater is the number of ad- 
 vocates for allowing the common reading of the Scrip* 
 tures to remain, under a belief that further investigations 
 will destroy every ground of excuse for a change in the 
 obvious meaning of Moses. 
 
 INDIAN ASTRONOMICAL TABLES. 
 
 Since we are on the subject of the connexion between 
 the sciences and revelation, we will end our labors by 
 briefly citing two or three instances, in which infidelity, 
 for a time, was allowed to triumph over the Scriptures, in 
 such a manner as seemed to show, that either the demon- 
 strations of the exact sciences must be false, or the writ- 
 ings of Moses could not be true. But the reader will see, 
 that in these as well as in all other cases, inspiration has 
 proved itself the test of truth. 
 
 The Hindoo, or Indian Tables, were calculated by the 
 astronomers of India, and were supposed, by many, to 
 substantiate, in no small degree, the pretensions of the 
 Hindoos to the vast antiquity which they have always 
 claimed for their nation. Here, it was said, were mathe- 
 matical calculations of great abstruseness and accuracy, 
 made by these people, thousands of years anterior to the 
 epochs at which any European nation could trace its 
 origin. 
 
 Th'ese tables were first published in Europe by M. 
 Bailly, a Frenchman, who claimed a high standing in the 
 world for learning and eloquence. But had it not been 
 for the influence of Professor Playfair, of Edinburgh, they 
 would have been little known, and, therefore, would have 
 had little influence in depreciating the veracity of Mosea.
 
 INDIAN ASTRONOMICAL TABLES. 371 
 
 In a paper which this learned professsor read before the 
 Royal Society of Edinburgh, in 1788, he declared his un- 
 qualified belief in the truth and solidity of this Hindoo 
 production. 
 
 No professor in Europe had, at that period, attained to 
 a higher eminence in the department of mathematics, than 
 Playfair; and being withal a man of amiable manners, and 
 the most eloquent of scientific writers, his open avowal of 
 the truth of a series of mathematical calculations, designed 
 to prove that the Christian had no foundation for his be- 
 lief, could not but have produced strong emotions in the 
 public mind. Some who had never before doubted, now 
 began to waver ; while others who had before tried to be- 
 come skeptics now had sufficient excuse, as they thought, 
 to come out downright infidels. 
 
 Professor Playfair's commentary on the Indian Astrono- 
 my was published in the Philosophical Transactions for 
 1790. He there says, that "it is through the medium of 
 astronomy alone, that a few rays from those distant ob- 
 jects, (the primitive inhabitants of the earth,) can be con- 
 veyed in safety to the eye of the modern observer, so as to 
 afford him a light, which, though scanty, is pure and un- 
 broken, and free from the false coloring of vanity and su- 
 perstition." Thus declaring, that it is through the me- 
 dium of astronomy, and not through that of revelation, 
 that we are to look for any knowledge of antiquity, 
 " which is pure, and free from the false coloring of van- 
 ity and superstition.' 1 
 
 With respect to the tables themselves, Professor Play- 
 fair says, "that on grounds which have now been explain- 
 ed, the following general conclusions appear to be estab- 
 lished. The observations on which the astronomy of In- 
 dia is founded, were made more than 3000 years before 
 the Christian era, (consequently 650 years before the del- 
 uge, by the Hebrew chronology,) and, in particular, the 
 places of the sun and moon, in the beginning of the Caly- 
 youg, or age of misfortune, that is 3102 years before the 
 Christian era, were determined by actual observation." 
 
 " Two other elements of this astronomy," he continues, 
 "the equation of the sun's centre, and the obliquity of the 
 ecliptic, when compared with those of the present time, 
 seem to point to a period of this astronomy 1000 or 1200 
 years earlier, (that is 4300 years before the Christian era,) 
 and the time necessary to have brought the arts of calcu-
 
 372 INDIAN ASTRONOMICAL TABLES. 
 
 lating and observing 1 , to such perfection as they must have 
 been, at the period spoken of, comes in support of the same 
 conclusion." 
 
 Thus, on the authority of Professor Playfair, it was es- 
 tablished that the Hindoo period called Caly-youg, being 
 3102 years before the Christian era, was the epoch at 
 which these calculations were made; then other elements 
 point to a period 1200 years before this, making in all 
 4300 before the Christian era, so that the astronomical 
 calculations of these heathen philosophers, extended to a 
 period nearly 300 years before the creation of the sun, and 
 moon, and planets, according to Moses.* 
 
 All this was proved by one of the first mathematicians 
 of the age, for Professor Playfair had made himself re- 
 sponsible for the truth and accuracy of the Indian cal- 
 culations, as well as for the period at which they were 
 made. 
 
 These important conclusions, solemnly announced from 
 the mathematical chair of Edinburgh, gave them a degree 
 of consequence and authority in the estimation of the 
 world, proportionate to the high source whence they 
 came. 
 
 Few persons could follow the professor through the 
 calculations from which these demonstrations had been 
 deduced ; and fewer still, thought of making public oppo- 
 sition to such authority. 
 
 Thus, infidels believing their cause now settled on a 
 foundation that could not be moved, thought and spoke 
 of Moses and his history with the utmost contempt ; while 
 many Christians, believing that, at least, some truth had 
 emanated from such a source, and being unable to bring 
 any thing but the naked word of inspiration, against 
 what were considered mathematical deductions, were 
 happy when they could avoid all religious discussions 
 with those who, at the onset, were ready to prove that 
 the very foundation of their faith was wanting. 
 
 * This estimate is founded, as above stated, on the Hebrew chro- 
 nology, which gives 4004 years from the creation to the incarna- 
 tion. It is, however, but fair for the reader to remember, that the 
 Constantinopolitan chronology makes 5504 years between these 
 events, and that Josephus makes the same period to con sist of 5200 
 years. If we adopt either of these periods, the calculations of 
 Flayfair do not extend beyond the time of the creation.
 
 INDIAN ASTRONOMICAL TABLES. 373 
 
 But whether the Mosaic record remained true or false, 
 it is certain that the demonstrations of Professor Playfair 
 did not destroy the verity of all Scripture, since the truth 
 of that declaration, "a kingdom divided against itself can- 
 not stand," was confirmed and illustrated in his own case, 
 as the event will prove. Laplace, the French astronomer, 
 who was contemporaneous with Playfair, and on whose 
 high attainments the professor had pronounced a splendid 
 panegyric, Laplace himself, the lover and patron of infi- 
 delity, was destined to become the agent by whom Moses 
 and the prophets were delivered from obloquy and con- 
 tempt; and by which it was demonstrated, that notwith- 
 standing the existence of the Hindoo tables, and the opin- 
 ion of the Edinburgh professor, the Scriptures might still 
 be a revelation from Heaven. 
 
 "Every thing," says Laplace, "leads us to conclude 
 that they [the Hindoo tables] are not of high antiquity. 
 They have two principal epochs, which go back, one to 
 the year 3102, and the other to 1491 years before the 
 Christian era. These are linked together by the mean 
 movements of the sun, moon, and planets, so that one of 
 the epochs are necessarily fictitious." " In fact," he con- 
 tinues, " if we assume for our point of departure, the epoch 
 1491, and go back, by means of the Indian tables, to the 
 year 3102, before the Christian era, we obtain a general 
 conjunction of the sun, moon, and planets, as these tables 
 suppose; but this conjunction differs too much from the 
 result of our best tables to have taken place, demonstrating 1 
 that the epoch to which it refers is not grounded on ob- 
 servation, 
 
 " The tables altogether, and particularly the impossi- 
 bility of the conjunction which they suppose at the same 
 epoch, prove, on the contrary, that they have been con- 
 structed, or, at least, rectified in modern times."* 
 
 " It is well known," says Baron Cuvier, " that M. Bailly, 
 thinking that the epoch which is used as a period of de- 
 parture in some of the Indian astronomical tables, had 
 been really observed, has attempted thence to deduce a 
 proof of the remote antiquity of this science among that 
 people, or, at least, in that nation which bequeathed its 
 knowledge to them. But the whole of this system, so la- 
 
 Book v. chap. i.
 
 374 INDIAN ASTRONOMICAL TABLES. 
 
 boriously conceived, falls to the ground of itself, now that 
 it is proved that this epoch was subsequently adopted on 
 calculations made backwards, and the result of which was 
 incorrect."* 
 
 M. Bently has discovered that the tables Tivalour, on 
 which, particularly, the assertion of Bailly was founded, 
 must have been calculated about 1281 after Christ, (540 
 years since;) and that the Surya-Siddhanta, which the 
 Brahmins regard as their most ancient and scientific trea- 
 tise on astronomy, and which they pretend was revealed 
 more than twenty millions of years ago, could not have 
 been composed until about 760 years since. 
 
 These authorities might be considered sufficient to settle 
 for ever the famous question of the Indian tables, which, 
 for a time, it is known, was the strong hold of infidelity; 
 and yet the opinion of Playfair has been so widely dis- 
 seminated, and is contained in so many books still in ex- 
 istence, and still read, that we add one other authority, 
 lest, in the minds of some, these should not remove every 
 doubt. 
 
 Delambre, in his History of Astronomy, writes on this 
 subject as follows : 
 
 " The extensive treatise on Indian Astronomy, by Bail- 
 ly, has been labored with more care than any of his works. 
 We regret only to remark too frequently in it, that spirit 
 of system which predominates in all his productions. In- 
 stead of giving an exposition of the facts, which may ena- 
 ble us afterwards to consider them in every point of view, 
 he espouses an opinion to which he makes every thing 
 conform. He renders it available with much address, and 
 by approximations which are often specious. Sometimes, 
 and especially in his Indian Treatise, he intrenches him- 
 self behind imposing masses of calculations, carefully dis- 
 sembling whatever may prove prejudicial to his cause, as 
 well as the objections that might be advanced, and which 
 he himself could not fail to perceive. 
 
 "If we be allowed to hazard a conjecture, we would 
 say that Bailly never writes but to prop a system framed 
 beforehand; that he glances slightly over the writings of 
 the ancients, reading them in bad translations, and that 
 he runs over all the calculations, in order to pick out ob- 
 
 * Cuvier's Disc. p. 145.
 
 INDIAN ASTRONOMICAL TABLES. 375 
 
 scure passages which may lend some countenance to his 
 ideas." 
 
 " When we inquire why the Indians chose the remote 
 and fictitious epoch of Caly-youg, or misfortune, we per- 
 ceive, in the first place, that it was from national vanity ; 
 and in the next, that they might make all the planets start 
 from one point, a conjunction which their method of cal- 
 culation required. If we further ask, why they adopted 
 a complicated method which employs divisions and multi- 
 plications of enormous numbers, with so many additions, 
 subtractions, reductions, and different precepts, the answer 
 is, that they did not wish for written tables ; they wanted 
 numbers which could be put into technical verses, even 
 into songs, so that the calculations might be performed 
 without writing a book. These facts, now well known, 
 through the labors of the Asiatic Society, are alone suffi- 
 cient to subvert the whole system of Bailly." 
 
 " Mr. Playfair, in the 4th k volume of the Edin. Phil. 
 Trans, has spoken of the Indian table of signs, believing it 
 to be very ancient. Consequently he is not surprised at 
 finding no tangents in it, which were unknown in Europe 
 till the 16th century. But as the idea of them is very 
 clearly expounded in the work of Albategni ; and as, in 
 the 13th century, we find tables of tangents calculated by 
 the Arabs, we need not wonder if they should be found in 
 the Surya-Siddhanta, whose date is now known to be 
 more ancient. The Professor is astonished at seeing 
 versed sines among the Indians; but his memory has be- 
 trayed him, when he asserts that the Arabs did not know 
 them. He acknowledges that the Indians have not ac- 
 tually demonstrated either of the processes which they 
 point out for these calculations. I would be tempted to 
 believe that they were ignorant of these demonstrations ; 
 if they had known the principle, their table would have 
 been probably a little better. Mr. Playfair has not calcu- 
 lated it anew, he has not even had the discernment to per- 
 ceive the error of the division, 225 substituted, probably 
 by an error of the copy, for the true divisor 235. 5." 
 
 Thus, at the touch of truth, vanished the most specious, 
 and apparently the most solid foundation for infidelity 
 that modern times have afforded ; and thus did Moses and 
 his history triumph over the vain pretensions of the 
 Hindoos, combined with the demonstrations of one of the 
 first mathematicians of Europe. And, it is not a little
 
 S76 EGYPTIAN ZODIACS. 
 
 gratifying to the friends of the Bible, that the " pure and 
 unbroken light which is free from the false coloring of 
 vanity and superstition" was thus freed from contempt 
 and derision, not by the guardians of religion, but by those 
 who were searching for truth solely in honor of the sci- 
 ences, and who would (at least some of them) have rather 
 the error had fallen against Moses, than against the Indian 
 Astronomy. 
 
 EGYPTIAN ZODIACS. 
 
 " No sooner," says the Rev. Mr. Conybeare, "has any 
 new discovery, whatever might have been its subject, oc- 
 curred, (whether it was a fragment of Indian Chronology, 
 or an Egyptian Zodiac, or the mechanism of the Universe, 
 or that of living bodies, or lastly some new fact relating 
 to the structure of the earth,) than the first aspect under 
 which some minds have seemed anxious to view it, has 
 been, whether it would not furnish some new weapon 
 against Revelation."* 
 
 Recent history, especially that department which re- 
 lates to the sciences, constantly affirms the truth of the 
 above observation. In no age have the advocates for un- 
 belief sought after new resources, with so much eagerness, 
 as during the present. The mighty movements of the 
 Christian world, have not only shown a determination to 
 spread the truths of the gospel, where they are still un- 
 known, but also to remove from herself, as far as possible, 
 every taint of irreligion. The light of science, and a 
 more general knowledge of the Bible, have long since 
 thrown all the ancient systems of infidelity into oblivion. 
 Even those which were in fashion thirty years ago are 
 now obsolete ; so that the errors and the authors against 
 which Dr. Dwight warned his Baccalaureate in about 
 1800, are such as young men are in little danger from at 
 the present day. The world is too far advanced in know- 
 ledge, to be caught by commonplace arguments against 
 religion. All this is well known to the infidel ranks in 
 every part of Christendom, and hence they see the ne- 
 cessity of looking among the higher branches of know 
 ledge for new weapons. 
 
 * Conybeare and Phillips' Geo. Int. p. 50.
 
 EGYPTIAN ZODIACS. 377 
 
 The progress of the sciences has lately afforded these 
 men their chief hopes, and already several high attempts 
 have been issued from this quarter. Among these the 
 Systeme des Animaux sans Vertebres, and the "Hydro- 
 geologie" from one hand, and the Expose du Systeme 
 du Monde, from another, stands conspicuous. 
 
 Meantime, Egypt, that country of wonders and of an- 
 tiquities, of which no one could tell the origin or date, 
 has been for a long period looked upon as a most proba- 
 ble source, whence some strong proof against revelation 
 would come ; and from time to time it has been asserted, 
 that monuments had been there discovered, which, could 
 their antiquities be known, would undoubtedly, as counter 
 truths, go far to destroy the influence of the Bible. But 
 the language of the Egyptians being unknown, was the 
 excuse for not proving to the world the antiquity of these 
 monuments, and thus doing away at once, all ground of 
 religious prejudice and superstition among men. 
 
 It was not, however, until Egypt was occupied by the 
 army of Napoleon, that monuments which appeared to 
 offer any great available promise for such a purpose, 
 were discovered, and these were the famous Egyptian 
 Zodiacs, which for a time occupied the almost entire at- 
 tention of all the antiquaries, and many of the learned 
 men of Europe. 
 
 There were two of these Zodiacs, one of which occupi- 
 ed the place of a ceiling in a temple at Dendera, in Upper 
 Egypt, and the other a corresponding situation in a temple 
 at Esne, the ancient Latopolis. At the latter place indeed 
 there were two, in different temples, one of which, how- 
 ever, was of a small size, and of which it is unnecessary 
 to take further notice. 
 
 These works were supposed by many learned men, to 
 afford the most conclusive evidence, (on what ground will 
 be seen directly,) that no history yet known, had recorded 
 the true epoch of the creation of man ; and not a few 
 writers exulted in the belief, that at last, reason and sci- 
 ence had triumphed, and that now the minds of men were 
 no longer to be held in religious bondage. 
 
 The Egyptian Zodiacs present the same figures that 
 are employed to represent the several constellations at 
 the present day, but are arranged in a right manner, and 
 are engraved in wood and painted. That of Dendera is 
 the most perfect. This temple faces the north. 
 32*
 
 378 EGYPTIAN ZODIACS. 
 
 Here the sign of the Lion heads the band ; he is direct- 
 ing his course towards the north, and has his feet towards 
 the eastern wall. The Virgin, the Balance, the Scorpion, 
 the Archer, and the Capricorn, follow in the same line. 
 But it is needless to describe what cannot be understood 
 without drawings. 
 
 The force of the argument for the antiquity of this 
 monument, consisted in the supposition, that the peculiar 
 distribution of these figures represented the exact state, or 
 relative positions of the constellations, with respect to 
 each other, at the time when it was constructed, and that 
 by astronomical calculations made backward, from the 
 present state of the constellations, it could be ascertained 
 at what period they were actually in the position repre- 
 sented by this Zodiac, and thus the period of its construc- 
 tion would be known. 
 
 Figures of the Zodiacs were first published by the ac- 
 complished Denon, in his work on Egypt, and it appears 
 that the subject excited the most intense interest among 
 learned men of Europe, and particularly of France. 
 
 " The Zodiacs," says M. Greppo,* " were immediately 
 published, and commented upon with more or less good 
 faith and decorum. Science struck out into systems very 
 bold ; and the spirit of infidelity, seizing upon the discove- 
 ry, flattered itself with the hope of drawing from it new 
 support." 
 
 It was said that the Zodiacs exhibited the state of the 
 heavens at the most remote periods, and that it was possi- 
 ble, from present data, to show when that period was. 
 Accordingly, calculations of great prolixity and abstruse- 
 ness were instituted to prove, what before had been as- 
 sumed, namely, that these monuments were constructed 
 long before the period of Scripture chronology. 
 
 These calculations, founded on the sure basis of mathe- 
 matics, were said to be conclusive beyond all controversy. 
 But a difficulty arose, which, in the opinion of truth and 
 sobriety, threw a doubt over all such demonstrations. 
 This was, that the philosophers did not agree among 
 themselves, as to the actual time when the Zodiacs were 
 constructed, though several coincided so far as to deny in 
 
 * " Essay on the Hieroglyphic System," by M. Greppo. 
 
 Trans-
 
 OYPTIAN ZODIACS. 379 
 
 the most positive manner, the veracity of Moses. Thus 
 M. Burkard demonstrated that the temple of Esne had 
 stood 7000 years, while M. Nouet, making his calcula- 
 tions from other data, afforded by the same figures, proved 
 that this temple was built 4600 years before the Christian 
 era, that is, about 600 years before the creation, according 
 to the Mosaic Chronology. M. Dupuis, taking a still 
 different view of the subject, and making his demonstra- 
 tions from some peculiar data which his learning and saga- 
 city had discovered, shows, by calculations through which 
 few could follow him, that these temples must have stood 
 at least 15,000 years. 
 
 "Although the sensation which the Zodaical system of 
 infidelity produced, was at first chiefly confined to men 
 devoted to study, there were many others, who when they 
 understood its bearings, were ready to applaud its pre- 
 tended triumphs, so that intelligent, as well as pious men, 
 were grieved to find the common belief of all Christian 
 societies, not unfrequently attacked in their very founda- 
 tion."* 
 
 In the midst of this apparent triumph of infidelity, a 
 circumstance happened, which gave a new excitement to 
 the subject of the Zodiacs. This was no less than the 
 arrival of the planisphere of Dendera at Paris. 
 
 M. Leloraine, an enterprising young traveller, in spite 
 of many obstacles, was the means of detaching this cele- 
 brated monument from the ceiling of the temple, and of 
 transporting it to the sea, whence nit was shipped, and 
 fin illy reached Paris in 1821. 
 
 M. Greppo describes the intense interest it there excited. 
 "An object of interest," says he, "to educated men, and 
 of vanity to those who thought themselves such, it could 
 not remain unnoticed by the multitude; and classes of 
 society, who knew not even the signification of the term 
 Zodiac, rushed in crowds to behold it. In the journals, 
 in the saloons, the Zodiac was the only topic of discussion. 
 Have you seen the Zodiac? What do you think of the 
 Zodiac? were questions, to which every one was seeming- 
 ly compelled to give a well informed answer, or to be 
 degraded from a place in polished society. 
 
 Greppo.
 
 380 EGYPTIAN ZODIACS. 
 
 The learned could now examine the original instead of 
 its representations, and thus a new impulse was given to 
 the discussions concerning the Zodiac, and new opinions, 
 and new publications, arose in consequence. 
 
 These discussions fermented an unbelieving spirit, even 
 among those classes which had never before arrayed 
 themselves against the truths of revelation. Rash and 
 unfounded opinions were hazarded ; the infidelity of Du- 
 puis, who had made the world 15,000 years old, was 
 spread abroad in Paris, by means of small tracts, and thus 
 the minds of multitudes partook of the poison. 
 
 At this moment, as though an antidote to the virus of 
 infidelity had descended from heaven, there arrived in 
 Paris, that celebrated antiquary, Champollion, the young- 
 er, from a visit to Egypt. This young man had just be- 
 fore solved the great secret of the Egyptian hieroglyphics, 
 and having examined the Zodiac before its removal from 
 Dendera, he had there deciphered, not only the inscrip- 
 tions which it contained, but also several others, inscribed 
 on several parts of the temple itself. 
 
 Armed with this great discovery, he was enabled to 
 reveal the truth concerning these wonderful monuments, 
 nnd thus to dispel the dark cloud of skepticism, which 
 seemed destined to spread from the French capital to all 
 parts of the world. 
 
 The title on the Zodiac consisted of the following let- 
 ters, viz. : A O T K P T P. These, with certain letters, 
 interspersed according to the rule discovered by Cham- 
 pollion, form the Greek word for Emperor. Besides 
 this, he discovered, in the temple of Dendera, the names, 
 titles, and surnames of the Emperors, Tiberius, Claudius, 
 Nero, and Domitian, and upon the portico of Esne, whose 
 Zodiac had been judged many centuries older than that of 
 Dendera, he read the names" of Claudius and Antoninus 
 Pius.* 
 
 Here, then, the entire substratum of the Zodiacal system 
 of infidelity was crumbled into dust, and the fabric, which 
 had been erected upon it with so much zeal and confi- 
 dence, fell at once upon its builders, and covered them with 
 shame and confusion. 
 
 And here, again, it may be remarked, (as was the case 
 
 * Smart's Greppo, p. 184.
 
 BEDS OF LAVA AT ETNA. 381 
 
 with the Hindoo tables,) that the facts were not brought 
 to light by those whose especial duty and interest it is to 
 defend the truths of revelation; but by one who had gone 
 forward of his species in the science of philology; a cir- 
 cumstance of great interest and consequence, in both cases, 
 since infidelity can never claim, that, in these instances, its 
 cause has been crushed by the undue influence of "pre- 
 judice or superstition" upon the world. 
 
 It is only necessary to state, in concluding this subject, 
 that the Egyptian Zodiacs have no greater antiquity than 
 the Roman domination of Egypt, which commenced one 
 or two centuries after the Christian era ; and that these 
 signs do not, in any respect, relate to astronomy, but are 
 connected with the idle phantasies of judicial astrology. 
 The figures, therefore, which were so lately and confi- 
 dently expected to revolutionize the Christian world, and 
 reduce it to heathenism, are nothing more than what 
 adepts in the pretended science of astronomy, call themes 
 of nativity. 
 
 And now, what reader does not see especial marks of 
 Divine Superintendence, in the circumstance, that the so- 
 lution of the Egyptian hieroglyphics, (which had been a 
 principal object among antiquaries and learned men for 
 centuries,) should have been discovered, just at a moment 
 to destroy one of the most specious systems of infidelity 
 ever offered to the world ? 
 
 BEDS OF LAVA AT ETNA. 
 
 " I have," says Dr. Ure, " met with persons of consid- 
 erable pretensions to candor and sagacity, who, having 
 devoured, with greedy eyes, the story told by Brydone, in 
 his Sicilian Tour, about the canon Recupero, conceive 
 that it justifies them in reviling the chronology and cha- 
 racter of Moses."* 
 
 This popular book has been very extensively read in 
 this country, and it is believed, that even at this day, the 
 beds of lava at Etna, are often brought forward to prove 
 that there is no truth in the Mosaic Chronology. It is for 
 
 * Geol. Int. p. 14.
 
 382 BEDS OF LAVA AT ETNA. 
 
 this reason that we here state the circumstances as they 
 are said to have occurred. With respect to the beds of 
 lava, Brydone pretends to publish the opinions of the 
 canon Recupero, who lived in the neighborhood, and who, 
 it is stated, was a competent judge in such matters. 
 
 This man, of undoubted piety, of great simplicity of 
 life, and well known for his hospitality, is made to say, 
 that, in his opinion, a bed of lava requires 2000 years ex- 
 posure to the weather, in order to undergo sufficient de- 
 composition to form a soil of a certain thickness. On 
 examination, it was found, that Etna afforded seven beds 
 of lava, with a thickness of soil between each, equal to 
 that which the canon had said could only have been 
 formed in 2000 years. By this mode of calculation, it 
 was therefore proved that the first eruption, in this series, 
 must have been 14,000 years ago, and there would, of 
 course, be reason to suppose, that the mountain itself 
 might be much older than the first bed of lava. 
 
 The manner in which this attempt to raise doubts, with 
 respect to the veracity of Moses, was received, shows with 
 what avidity certain characters catch hold of any thing, 
 which looks like a weapon against religion ; and, also, 
 how willing many people are to be deceived, when a lie 
 suits them better than the truth. 
 
 This simple story, which no man of common sense 
 would have taken as testimony in the smallest matter of 
 science or business, was immediately brought forward 
 and published to the world, as presenting the most posi- 
 tive facts, in evidence, that the Bible was not true ; and 
 although it has long since been proved, that there never 
 existed the least foundation for such an inference, it is 
 still employed to the ignorant as an argument against the 
 Bible, and by some is considered as good evidence even 
 to this day. 
 
 The truth appears to be, that what Brydone believed, 
 or pretended to believe, was decomposed lava, was pro- 
 bably what geologists call volcanic tufa, or volcanic 
 ashes, either of which might have covered the surface of 
 the lava current, a foot or two in depth, in a few hours, 
 instead of its requiring 2000 years, as he makes the canon 
 to suppose. 
 
 That no estimate of time can be made from any such 
 circumstance, is proved by observations on other beds of 
 lava.
 
 BEDS OF LA*A At ETNA. 385 
 
 " Some of the lavas of Auvergne," says Daubuisson, 
 "have maintained an entire surface, all over blistered, 
 and bristling with asperities, whose edges and angles are 
 still sharp, and well preserved. We might even imagine 
 these lava streams to have just flowed from the bowels of 
 the earth, and that they had hardly had time to cool. It 
 is, however, probable, that these lavas have lain on the 
 soil of Auvergne for 3000 years, exposed to the action of 
 the elements." 
 
 On the contrary, Sir William Hamilton has shown that 
 over the matter which buried Herculaneum, there are six 
 streams of lava with veins of good soil bettcecn them. Now, 
 Herculaneum was destroyed about 1800 years ago, which 
 shows that veins of good soil have there been formed in 
 300 years, instead of 2000, as estimated by Brydone. 
 Here we see, that in one case, no soil was formed in 
 3000 years, while in another, veins of some thickness 
 were formed in one tenth of that time ; which proves most 
 clearly, that no inference can be drawn with respect to the 
 age of the lava, from the state of its surface. 
 
 Mr. Daubeny, an experienced observer, has recently 
 visited the famous pit at Aci Reale, on which the Scottish 
 traveller made the canon to speculate, and of which he 
 speaks as follows : 
 
 " At all events, Brydone has been grossly deceived, in 
 imagining that the seven beds of lava seen lying one 
 above the other, near the spot, have been sufficiently de- 
 composed into vegetable mould ; the substance which 
 really intervenes between the beds, being nothing more 
 than a sort of ferruginous tuf just similar to what would 
 be produced by a shower of volcanic ashes, such as 
 naturally precedes, or follows, an eruption of lava, mixed 
 up with mud or consolidated by rain."* 
 
 On the same subject, Dolomieu, a distinguished min- 
 eralogist, says, " The canon Recupero deserves neither 
 the praises which have been bestowed on his science, nor 
 the doubts which have been raised concerning his ortho- 
 doxy. He died without any other affliction, than that 
 which was caused to him by the work of Brydone. He 
 could not conceive for what purpose this stranger, to 
 whom he had rendered services, endeavored to excite sus- 
 
 * Edinburgh Phil. Jour. vol. xiii. p. 26C.
 
 884 BEDS OF LAVA AT ETNA. 
 
 picions concerning the orthodoxy of his faith. This sim- 
 ple man, very religious, and attached to the faith of his 
 forefathers, was far from admitting, as an evidence against 
 the book of Genesis, pretended facts which are false, but 
 from which, even if they had been true, nothing could have 
 been concluded. Vegetable earths between the beds of 
 lava do not exist ; and the argil' aceous earths, which are 
 sometimes found between them, may have been disposed 
 there, by causes totally independent of the antiquity of 
 Etna/' 
 
 
 We are not a little surprised to find that Mr. Faber, au- 
 thor of that learned work, the " Three Dispensations," has 
 so magnified the story of the lava beds at Etna, as to make 
 out of it one of his arguments for extending the days of 
 Genesis to periods of 6000 years. (See an Epitome of 
 his Theory, p. 319.) 
 
 " The extension," says he, " of the six demiurgic days 
 into six very long periods, most effectually nullifies the in- 
 fidel objection, drawn from the ancient eruptions of Mount 
 Etna." 
 
 After describing the lava beds and strata of earth be- 
 tween them, Mr. Faber allows the infidel the full benefit 
 of this argument, and even more. He may, if he pleases, 
 date an eruption 30,000 years before the creation of man. 
 " What then," says the author, " does such a concession 
 at all tend to disprove the Scriptural chronology of man's 
 formation. Most assuredly not : for. if the six demiurgic 
 days each exceed a term of six thousand years, we shall 
 have quite time enough for the eruption, even prior to the 
 formation of man, without there being any need to impugn 
 the Scriptural authority of that event." Vol. i. p. 159. 
 London, 1823. 
 
 We cannot but hope Mr. Faber has since discovered, 
 that the ground of this argument no longer exists, and 
 also, that there may be danger in disseminating the ac- 
 count, since it is possible some of his readers may believe 
 the facts concerning the beds, without recognising the 
 counteracting force of his arguments. 
 
 ;: '*
 
 oc 
 
 m 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 Santa Barbara 
 
 THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
 STAMPED BELOW. 
 
 RET'D MAY 10 1996 1
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 illllili 
 
 A A 000 941 475 6