FOOTNOTES:

[6] The old English lawyers puzzled themselves greatly in tracing the

origin of the feudal tenures. The truth is, they may be found in the

incipient stages of society in nearly every nation. They existed, in

fact, in Hindostan, China, and many other countries, for centuries

before the time of the _comites_ of the German princes, mentioned by

Tacitus, who are supposed to have founded them. The services of the

tenant varied according to the character and condition of the

people--the principle was every where the same.

[7] The tael is $1.66; the pecul, 133-1/3 pounds.

ART. IV.--_Precis de la Geographie Universelle ou Description de toutes

les parties du Monde, sur un plan Nouveau D'apres les grandes divisions

Naturelles du Globe, &c._ Par MALTE-BRUN: Bruxelles, 1829.

We place at the head of our article, which we mean to devote to Physical

Geography, the title of the latest edition that we have seen of the

great work of Malte-Brun. This, which has already become well known to

our American public in translation, has received some additions from its

Belgian editors, but has not been fully brought up to the present state

of Science, nor does it contain all the new discoveries which have been

made in that part, namely, physical geography, to which our attention is

more immediately directed. We shall, however, endeavour to supply these

deficiencies so far as lies in our power.

Physical geography stands in immediate connexion with subjects which

have already been presented to the readers of this journal, namely with

Celestial Mechanics,[8] and with the Phenomena of our Atmosphere.[9] It

shall be our endeavour to proceed from the facts laid down in the first

of the two articles to which we have referred, to the more particular

consideration of the state, the structure, and the condition of the

globe we inhabit.

The earth is a planet of the solar system, the third in distance from

the sun, revolving upon its own axis, and around that central body

attended by a satellite; circumstances which affect in a most important

manner the phenomena that are observed upon its surface. Composed of

material substances that mutually attract each other, each particle of

which has a greater or less centrifugal force in proportion to its

distance from the axis of rotation, it has a figure that is consistent

with a state of equilibrium under the joint action of these two forces,

and which is such as would have been assumed by a fluid body actuated by

them. The figure that fulfils these conditions is an oblate spheroid,

the axis of the generating ellipse coinciding with the polar diameter of

the body. Had the earth a figure absolutely spherical, or less flattened

than is consistent with the conditions of equilibrium, the ocean, by

which so large a part of its surface is covered, would have arranged

itself in a meniscoid zone around its equatorial regions; were the

figure, on the other hand, one of greater oblateness, the waters would

have been divided and accumulated at either pole, leaving the

equatorial regions dry. But did its figure fulfil the conditions of

equilibrium, the fluid mass would tend to distribute itself equally over

the whole surface, unless prevented by irregularities in the solid mass.

The last is the actual state of things; the ocean occupies a bed formed

of cavities, lying below the mean surface of the spheroid, and the land

presents to us those asperities and elevations, which rise, although to

a comparatively small height, above the general level.

Was then the earth originally in a fluid state, and has it assumed its

present form under the strict action of mechanical laws, on a body of

that class? are the bed of the ocean and the continents merely crusts

formed upon the surface of a liquid globe? Does the interior still

remain liquid, or has the induration proceeded until the whole internal

mass has become solid? Nay, may not the interior be hollow, as we have

recently seen gravely maintained, and heard sage legislatures recommend

to the public attention?

Mathematical investigations of incontrovertible evidence, show us that

were the earth of equal density throughout, the flattening at the poles

would be 1/234 of the equatorial diameter; that in the hypothetical case

of infinite density at the centre, and infinite rarity at the surface,

the flattening would be no more than 1/578; while, were the surface more

dense than the interior, or did a cavity exist within, the oblateness

must be greater than 1/234. Actual measurements of portions of the

surface, the variation in the length of the pendulum which beats seconds

in different latitudes, and the effect of the earth's figure on the

lunar motions, show us that the earth cannot be flattened more than

1/289, nor less than 1/312, or may, at a mean, be considered as a

spheroid, whose polar and equatorial diameters are in the relation of

299 to 300.

Astronomers have ascertained the deflection of plumb lines from the

vertical, by the action of mountains. The attraction of a projecting

mass of known bulk and density, with one whose bulk alone is known, is

thus determined, and hence the density of the latter may be calculated.

Even comparatively small masses of matter may be placed under such

circumstances at the surface of the earth, that their mutual action can

be observed uninfluenced by the preponderating attraction of the earth,

and thus a new means of comparison obtained.

The pendulum whose vibrations ought to vary according to a definite law,

as we recede from the surface of the earth, has that law affected by the

elevated ground on which it is placed, and here again a comparison may

be instituted between the general and local attractions.

All these modes of investigation concur in, and confirm the general

result, that the mean density of the earth is about five times as great

as that of water. Now as a great portion of the surface is composed of

that fluid, and as the general density of the land is little more than

twice as great as that of water, it follows incontestably that the

interior of the earth is far more dense than its outer covering.

All material substances are capable of assuming, under proper

modifications of latent heat, either the solid, the liquid, or the

gaseous form; yet all are beyond doubt composed of atoms, solid, hard,

and incapable of further division. Under their own mutual attraction

these particles tend to unite, and cohere in solid masses, and to this

attractive force the repulsive power of heat is constantly opposed,

tending to prevent their aggregation, and retaining them, according to

its intensity, in the gaseous or liquid form.

The heat necessary to maintain these states of existence in bodies, may

be produced in various ways. Our usual experience leads us to consider

it as more generally arising from two causes, radiation from the sun,

and the chemical action causing combustion. The former could never have

produced the temperature known to exist at present upon the surface of

the globe, for the earth radiates as well as the sun, and is constantly

throwing off heat into the surrounding space. We know that these two

actions have for twenty centuries exactly balanced each other, and that

the mean temperature of the earth has neither increased nor diminished

in all that period. Had the solar radiation been, previously to that

epoch, in excess, it must at the more recent periods, counted backwards,

have been but slightly so, and ages unnumbered must have elapsed, before

the state of equilibrium which now exists could have been reached. The

earth too, at distant periods, must have been colder than at present,

while that the contrary is true is shown by numerous observations.

Neither could chemical action have had any great agency in establishing

the present temperature of the earth. The substances which burn are but

a small portion of the crust of the earth, and their combustion, if all

fired at a time, would cause no perceptible effect on the sensible heat

of the surface of our globe. Were combustible bodies even infinitely

more abundant, the supporters are insufficient to keep up their

combustion for any length of time, without sensible diminution, and this

would be the case, even were the whole of the oxygen that now exists as

a component of the waters of the ocean added to their present amount. It

is indeed possible that the outer shell of the earth, which is no more

than a crust of oxidated matter, may have existed at first in the

metallic state, but that crust has long intervened, and prevented any

contact between the air or ocean, and the metallic bases of the earths,

that in this case must lie beneath.

In spite of these obvious objections to their theory, some geologists

have madly fancied to themselves a great internal fire, maintained by

actual combustion, a fancy but little more rational than that which

seeks, in the present order of things, precipitation from some vast

quantity of a liquid menstruum, every trace of whose existence has now

vanished.

There is, however, yet another source of heat, if indeed solar heat be

not a mere case of its general action, far more general and universal,

which has its origin in the bodies themselves, and has no reference to

any extrinsic cause. All bodies are sensibly heated when condensed, and

lose sensible heat when they expand, so that their temperatures vary

with the greater or less distance of their particles. The atmosphere of

the earth furnishes a marked illustration of this fact. Of nearly

uniform chemical composition throughout, its elastic nature, conflicting

with its gravity, renders it more dense in its lower than in its higher

regions. The former are in consequence warmer than the latter, and the

mean temperature of our climates is in fact due to this character of our

atmosphere. But this mean temperature could not be maintained, were not

that of the earth itself in harmony with it. The surface might, no

doubt, be cooled or heated by the adjacent air, but the heat, if given

out from an earth warmer than the atmosphere, would be rapidly replaced

from within, and a constant accumulation ensue in the air, while, if the

earth were cooler, a diminution, equally constant, of the temperature of

the atmosphere, must take place. The earth is, however, itself subject

to the same law. All the materials of which it is composed, are capable

of compression, in a greater or less degree, and of being heated by

compression. The tendency of all material substances to the centre of

attraction, loads the parts nearest to that centre with the whole weight

of the superincumbent mass. And in the depth of four thousand miles,

which intervenes between the centre and the surface, the heat must be

far more than equal to that obtained by the compound blow-pipe or

galvanic deflagrator, under whose intense energies the most refractory

substances liquefy. Hence it may be inferred as a fact, as certain as

any in physical science, that the interior of the earth is at present in

a state resembling igneous fusion, not produced, however, by any of the

more familiar sources of heat, but by the intense pressure the upper

masses exert upon those nearer to the centre.

Here, then, we find the reason of the earth's having assumed a figure

consistent with the equilibrium of a fluid mass, whose particles are

endued with a mutual attraction, and which has a motion around an axis.

Let us suppose all the particles which now constitute the earth, to have

been originally disseminated throughout a vast space, and to have

approached their common centre of gravity by the force of mutual

attraction; the consideration thus caused would have produced the state

of intense heat that is now kept up within by pressure; and the

conducting power of the bodies would have propagated the heat nearly

equal throughout the mass. The surface would then have existed in a

liquid state as well as that beneath. But as the radiation from the

surface of a heated body is in exact proportion to its temperature, this

cause of cooling would have been intense, and a crust must soon have

formed upon the outer surface; this crust would have increased in

thickness so long as the heat thrown off by radiation exceeded that

received from the sun. When this state of equilibrium was finally

attained, all the great phenomena which a body thus heated could

exhibit, would cease, and the subsequent changes would become due only

to forces such as we now see acting upon the surface, or would be the

completion of actions commenced during the previous state.

We know, from astronomical investigations, that this state of

equilibrium has existed for upwards of twenty centuries, while analogy

would lead us to infer that it must have been attained at no long period

after the last great catastrophe to which our planet was subjected.

Let us now see whether the fact of the interior of the globe being more

intensely heated than its surface, can be inferred in any other manner

than from the course of reasoning whose principles are here cited. The

feeble power of man, feeble at least compared to the size of the globe

he inhabits, has been able to penetrate to but small depths in its outer

shell, but even at these small depths, an increase of temperature has

been remarked, and so frequently and carefully observed, as to leave no

doubt of its being a general law. This increase, too, appears exactly

consistent with that which it might be inferred ought to take place. But

we, even to the present day, occasionally see the igneous fluid from

beneath forced up to the surface, and spreading from volcanic craters

over great regions. Observation shows us that at remote epochs such

phenomena were much more frequent than at present. We want no more

positive proofs that the interior of the earth is still intensely

heated, and that the bed of the ocean and the solid land are mere crusts

formed upon the surface of a mass in a state analogous to that of

igneous fusion.

Were the surface, as we have inferred it must have been, ever itself

intensely heated, the volatile and gaseous matters which now constitute

our atmosphere and oceans, must have united to form an atmosphere of far

greater extent than it is at present. The aqueous matter rising into

regions where the rarity of the air would cause cold sufficient to

condense it, would have been in a state of constant motion, boiling in

the lower regions, being precipitated in the higher, and acting most

energetically to promote the general cooling. And so soon as the surface

became cooler than 212 deg., the water would begin to settle upon its

surface, forming at first lakes in its basins or cavities, and finally

extending itself into one vast ocean, covering the whole or parts of the

solid crust according to its greater or less degree of uniformity.

The conversion of the igneous liquid surface into solid matter, could

only have taken place in successive shells or concentric layers; hence

would arise a stratified character. And as the cooling proceeded,

lowering the mean temperature of the whole mass, a consequent diminution

of bulk must have taken place, according to the well known law of

expansion by heat and contraction on cooling. Such diminution in bulk

must have broken the strata into fragments, through the fissures of

which, according to the laws of hydrostatics, the fluid mass beneath

would rise until the equilibrium of rotation would have been obtained,

and the strata, originally concentric, would be dislocated and turned in

every possible direction, pierced with veins and dikes of all possible

magnitude, from slender threads to mountain masses, caused by the

cooling and consolidation of the rising fluid, and occasionally

spreading in overlying currents, congealed and fixed in ridges and

chains. These veins and dykes would present different characters,

according to the dates of their elevation. If raised at a period when

the surface was still of high temperature, they must have crystallized

slowly, and in a perfect manner; at diminished temperatures, the

crystallization would be less complete; if raised into the mass of

ocean, they would assume one character; if coming in contact with air,

another. A breaking of the bed of the ocean, and bringing its waters in

contact with the liquid mass beneath, might produce consequences

extending in their action to districts of the globe, the most remote

from those in which the convulsion occurred; for the water, rising into

vapour, would tend to extend itself in one uniform atmosphere over the

whole surface of the globe, and might be precipitated in unusual

abundance wherever causes of condensation existed. Thus, partial, or

even total deluges, may have occurred, great portions of the ocean being

hurried in vapour from its bed, and precipitated upon the land whose

temperature is not affected by the distant catastrophe.

The waters might, in some cases, flow directly back to the ocean, in

others might accumulate in basins and form lakes, fresh at first, and

gradually becoming saline. These in turn might burst their bounds,

carrying ruin and devastation in their course, or might by evaporation

be dried up, and be again filled by a recurrence of the original cause

of supply.

Such violent and rapid action would finally be exhausted by the gradual

cooling of the earth, but the outer crust would still press on the

igneous fluid beneath, and although far less liable to rupture, its

fluid action might yet enable it to force its way occasionally to the

surface, but at distant intervals, and with diminished energy. Now, a

new series of phenomena must occur, similar to the more familiar of

those we see acting at present; at first more intense, but finally, when

the state of equilibrium of temperature is reached, exactly such as we

now find them both in kind and in energy.

To see how far such a view of what might have occurred, under the action

of well known causes, in case of a certain original order of things, is

correct, let us examine the appearances our globe actually presents.

To a systematized and general examination, it presents the appearance of

a great ocean, covering about three-fourths of its whole surface, and

surrounding two great, and a number almost infinite of smaller islands.

The two great islands are the old and the new continents; the largest of

those that remain is New-Holland. To exhibit this great ocean in its

most general aspect, take an artificial globe, raise the south pole 50 deg.

above the horizon, and bring New-Zealand to the meridian. The hemisphere

above the horizon will now be wholly of water, with the exception of the

southern part of South America on the one side, and New-Holland, with

the Indian archipelago, on the other. These bear, when united, but a

small proportion to the entire hemisphere. The opposite hemisphere

contains more land than water; and when it is in its turn placed above

the horizon, the Atlantic will be seen lying almost wholly on the

western side of the meridian, and forming, with the Arctic ocean, a

species of channel, narrowing from the latitude of the Cape of Good Hope

towards the northern pole, and communicating with the great ocean which

lies principally in the opposite hemisphere by Behring's straits. On

this hemisphere are also seen parts of the Pacific and Indian oceans,

which are considerably more than equal in surface to the lands which

project into the opposite one.

If we turn our attention to the land, we find it unequal in its surface;

and although compared with the whole diameter of the earth, the

inequalities be very small, yet, compared with our own stature, they

often present an imposing magnitude. These greater elevations are

mountains; and we find them sometimes united in chains, sometimes

isolated, and at other times uniting to form elevated plains or table

lands. These table lands sometimes slope outwards, at others they are

surrounded by eminences that prevent the efflux of the waters, or only

admit them to pass through apertures made by their own action. Upon our

continent, table lands of the latter description are to be found of

great magnitude, entering as parts of the great system of the

Cordilleras or Andes; in Europe they are rare, but in Tartary, Persia,

and in central Africa, they occur, forming regions of great extent. In

general, the greater part of the mountains of a continent appear to have

a connexion more or less obvious; it has even been conceived that they

form the skeleton upon which the rest of the land has been deposited,

and which has determined the form of the continent. Thus we speak

habitually of chains of mountains. Mountains, however, do not always

present a continuous ridge, from which the peaks or more elevated

summits rise, but occasionally, the groups we call chains, are composed

of separate mountains divided by valleys; such are the mountains of

Scotland, of Sweden, and Norway; and such is the general structure of

the chain of mountains called in the state of New-York the Highlands, of

whose connexion and grouping we shall hereafter speak.

This being understood, namely, that by a chain or ridge of mountains we

do not necessarily intend a continuous elevation, the term may be

conveniently used in order to express the configuration of mountains.

These chains surround or border upon greater or less basins, which are

each distinguished by the name of the principal stream that conveys its

surface waters to the ocean, or they may, as has been stated, envelop a

table land, whence there is no issue for the waters, or no more than a

mere passage sufficient to afford them an outlet. Even if a map contain

no expression of the position of mountains, we can, by mere inspection

of the courses of rivers, determine the lines in which the chains are

directed, and, from the size of the rivers, judge in some measure of the

elevation of the district. Thus, on inspection of the map of Europe, we

find four of its greatest rivers rising at no great distance from each

other, the Rhine, the Rhone, the Danube, and the Po; here, then, we

might infer a great elevation, and here we accordingly find its highest

mountains, the Alps. In another part of this continent, we see the

Dwina, the Nieper, and the Volga, diverge from points not far distant

from each other, and here accordingly we find an elevated table land,

two hundred miles in length by fifty in breadth, marked however by no

mountain summits. In central Asia, we see a vast space inclosed by lines

joining the sources of a number of mighty rivers, the Indus, the Ganges,

the Barrampooter, the Irrawaddy, the Houng Ha, and Kiang Ku, the Amour,

the Lena, the Yermisir, and the Oby; accordingly, here we find the

greatest table land surrounded by the highest mountains of the globe.

Still, however, the instance we have cited of the rivers of Russia

shows, that the land whence great rivers take their rise, is not

necessarily mountainous; in this case the ascent is almost

imperceptible, and the summit offers the aspect of a level and marshy

plain. Such also occurs in the famous boundary between the United

States and Canada, where the highlands that figured in two successive

treaties have disappeared, and in their supposed place has been found a

series of swamps.

Attempts have been made to arrange the chains of mountains into

connected systems. Of these the most successful is that of Malte-Brun.

"If we draw a line from the centre of Thibet, across Chinese

Mongolia towards Ochotsk, and thence towards Cape Tchutscki,

the eastern promontory of Asia, this line will in general

coincide with a great chain of mountains which runs from the

south-west to the north-east, and which every where descends

rapidly towards the Indian and Pacific oceans, while on the

contrary, it extends itself towards the Frozen ocean in high

plains and secondary hills. It is probable that we may some day

refer to the same rule the chain of Lapata, called the backbone

of the world, in Africa; at any rate this chain runs from the

Cape of Good Hope to that of Gardafui, in a direction

south-east and north-west, and therefore in nearly the same

direction as the great chain of Asia, but we are ignorant of

the disposition of the slopes of these mountains. We may regard

the mountains of the Happy Arabia, which are both steep and

lofty, as the link that connects the mountains of Lapata with

the table lands and mountains of Persia, which proceed from the

mountains of Thibet.

"If we follow the western coasts of America, from Behring's

straits, which hardly form a sensible interruption, to Cape

Horn, we find an uninterrupted chain of mountains. From time to

time this chain retires a little into the interior, but more

frequently it immediately borders upon the great ocean, in

immense cliffs, and often by frightful precipices. On the other

side of it, the manner in which the lakes discharge themselves,

and the direction of the great rivers, show sufficiently, that

the surface of America inclines gently towards the Atlantic

ocean.

"It results from a combination of these observations, that the

greatest chains of mountains on our globe, are ranged in an arc

of a circle around the great ocean, and the sea of India; that

they seem to present rapid descents towards the immense basin

they surround, and gentle slopes on their opposite sides; in

fine, from the Cape of Good Hope to Behring's straits, and

thence to Cape Horn, the eye of the most timid observer cannot

fail to see some trace of an arrangement, as surprising from

its uniformity, as from the vast extent of ground which it

embraces.

"Let us pause for an instant to consider this great fact of

physical geography. If we conceive ourselves placed in New

South Wales, with our face turned towards the north, we have

America on our right hand, Africa and Asia on our left. These

continents, which we hardly before ventured to approach in our

imagination, considered in this point of view, form a

consistent system, whose structure, as far as we are acquainted

with it, presents in its great features an astonishing

symmetry. A chain of enormous mountains surrounds an enormous

basin; this basin, divided into two by a vast collection of

islands, often bathes with its waves the feet of this great

primary chain of the earth."

In this chain lie the greatest mountains of the globe. One peak of the

Himmalayah rises nearly five miles above the level of the sea; another

has a height of 25,500 feet; and a third of 22,217 feet. In South

America are Soratu, in height 25,250 feet.

Illimani, 24,000

Chimborazo, 21,400

not to mention Antisana, Mauflos, Chillau, Cotopaxi, all of which exceed

in height any mountains that do not lie in this great system. Nay, did

not the great Volcano of Owyhee enter into the order with a height of

18,000 feet, the list of those surpassing the other mountains of the

globe, might be very much extended.

We shall have occasion hereafter to speak of the volcanic energies still

exerted in this vast stony girdle, and shall therefore confine ourselves

strictly to mere external form.

The arms and branches of mountain chains enclose as has been seen,

basins marked by rivers which convey their surface waters to the ocean.

The rains which fall on the sides of mountains and hills, unite in

torrents and streams, which follow the lines of most rapid slope in

their course to the sea.

The greater rivers mark the lowest part of a principal basin, on each

side of which, at a greater or less distance, are to be found rising

grounds, themselves hollowed out into lateral secondary basins,

containing courses of water less considerable than the first, into which

they cast themselves, and whose branches they are. The borders of these

secondary basins are again hollowed out into basins of a third order,

whose slopes also contain water courses less considerable than the

preceding, into which they in turn discharge themselves. This

ramification continues until we reach the smallest ravines of the

boundary mountains, and the map appears, as it were, covered with a net

work of rivers and lesser streams. The great valley of the Mississippi

and Missouri, forms perhaps the most striking instance of this sort,

upon the surface of our globe.

Rivers and streams are constantly exerting a mechanical action on the

surfaces over which they run; abrading and tearing off fragments even of

the hardest rocks, they roll them in their course until the velocity

becomes insufficient to transport them farther. At diminished velocities

they move fragments of less size, down to the smallest pebbles; at still

less velocities, they transport sand, and finally earthy matter, in the

most minute division. These are deposited in succession in positions

corresponding to the rapidity of the stream, and hence the beds of

rivers present at each of their different sections, materials of

magnitude and quality corresponding to the rate at which the stream

usually flows. The increase in the magnitude of streams, due to violent

rains and the melting of the snows, changes the position of the

substances that compose their bed, and the more easily suspended

materials are often held until the stream actually meets the ocean. In

such sudden increases, the streams often overflow their usual banks, and

make their deposits laterally, until the constant succession of such

deposits raises the adjacent ground high enough to set bounds to the

further spreading of the stream. This deposit is remarkable for its

taking place in greatest quantity close to the usual bed of the stream;

and thus it speedily opposes natural dykes to its own redundant waters.

This action is most conspicuous at points where marked changes take

place either permanently or periodically in the rapidity of running

water: when streams descend from mountains into lines of less descent, a

deposit uniformly takes place, forming _flats_ or _intervals_, as they

are styled in the United States, of which we have such beautiful

instances in the valleys of the Connecticut and Mohawk, and that part of

the Hudson near Albany; again, where rivers meet the sea, they are

interrupted in their course by the rise of the tides of the ocean, and

here again deposits take place, sometimes forming shoals and banks in

the ocean itself; at other times, bars and obstructions at their own

mouths; and again, deltas of solid land, constantly encroaching upon the

sea. This action, which is continually going forward, is called

alluvial. The delta of greatest fame, and from which the others have

derived their generic name, is that of the Nile; this we have evidence,

almost historic, to prove to be wholly the gift of the river. And if it

no longer increase as rapidly as in former ages, the cause is obvious,

for the alluvion has been pushed so far forward as to meet a strong

current that sweeps along the African coast, and must carry off much of

the earth the Nile discharges into the Mediterranean. The great rivers

of Asia and of America carry still greater quantities of solid matter,

but we have not the same distant traditions to refer to for the amount

of the increase they have caused; still, however, we know that the mouth

of the Mississippi has been advanced into the Gulf of Mexico several

leagues since the settlement of Louisiana; and that islands of great

extent are frequently formed, in the course of a single year, by the

deposits of the Ganges.

We however find traces of aqueous action far more extensive and powerful

than those which are now taking place under our eyes by fluviatile

action. There is no part of the globe that has been examined, which does

not show that it has been subjected to the action of water, in floods

far more powerful than any we now are in the habit of seeing. Every

where, except in the case of rocky cliffs, and steep mountains, or where

we see obvious evidence of a recent elevation, we find the surface

strewn with the deposits of water: boulders of greater or less size,

beds of gravel, sand, and clay, form the present outer coating of the

greatest part of the land. These deposits were long confounded with the

alluvial, but have at length been proved, by incontrovertible evidence,

to be the results of an action, which if not contemporaneous, must have

been universal. We have seen an able attempt to show that this species

of deposit did not take place at one and the same period, but was merely

the general consequence of similar causes acting at different epochs.

Our impression, we must however confess to be, that the action was not

only co-extensive with the globe, but contemporaneous. It at any rate

exhibits proofs the most satisfactory, that the last great and

extensive change which our earth has undergone, was effected by the

agency of water, in a state of rapid and violent motion. Ascribing this

deposit to a single flood, it has been styled diluvial.

There are cases where alluvial deposits rest upon the diluvium, and from

the depth of these it has been attempted to calculate the time that has

elapsed since the former of these actions was resumed. The diluvium has

also been found in caverns lying upon an ancient stalagmite, and covered

again with a new formation of that modification of carbonate of lime.

The thickness of the latter deposit has also been made the basis of a

calculation, and although neither of these methods is to be considered

as approaching to an accuracy more perfect than some hundreds of years,

the two methods confirm each other in the general result, which is,

that, at a date not more remote than fifty or sixty centuries, there

must have taken place a total submersion of all the land, except,

perhaps, the tops of high mountains, did they then exist. We have in the

sacred volume, a record of such a catastrophe, the flood of Noah, and

from that time to the present, no convulsion, equally extensive in its

influence, has devastated the globe. Have not then the geologists who

have seen in these indications the convincing evidence of that

occurrence, been warranted in their inference, of the identity of an

event pointed out by undeniable physical evidence, with one recorded in

a history to which one of the most confirmed sceptics has recently

admitted the merit of truth?

The diluvial deposits are found not only in the lower grounds, but on

the tops and sides of lofty mountains; we have ourselves noted them

distinctly characterized at high elevations upon the Kaatskills; they

are found among the Alps at Valorsine, 6000 feet above the level of the

sea, and in another place at more than 7000 feet. The excavations made

in the extension of the city of New-York at Corlaer's Hook, have laid

open a vast mass of diluvium, and afforded means for studying it with

great facility. It in fact presented the appearance of a great cabinet

of specimens of primitive and transition rocks, and it was possible in

many cases to determine the very mountain whence the fragments had been

torn. The most remarkable boulder, for instance, of a weight of at least

an hundred tons, was distinctly recognisable as identical in every

respect with the granitic syenite of Schooley's mountain, distant at

least forty miles. Others had no known type nearer than Connecticut, in

the opposite direction, while the gneiss and mica slate of the island of

New-York, with their various embedded minerals, the serpentine and many

of the magnesian minerals of Hoboken, with sandstone and trap of the

Pallisadoc range, were distinctly recognisable. In this great

excavation, where a region of a mile square was wholly removed, to a

depth, in many places, of thirty feet, no animal remains, as far as can

be learnt, were detected; thus marking a most important difference

between these deposits and those of the Old continent. Such is the

remark of an intelligent geologist, whom we are proud to reckon as our

_collaborateur_, and to whom that branch of Natural History is under no

small obligations.

"Fragments of granite and other primitive rocks, cast here and

there upon stratified formations, and interpersed in

diluvium,[10] present a fact as certain as it is astonishing.

All the chains of Mount Jura, all the mountains that precede

the Alps, the hills and plains of Germany and Italy, are strewn

with blocks of granite, often of a great dimension, and always

of a composition as pure, and as perfect a crystallization, as

the granites of the higher Alps. The same phenomenon is

repeated in the plains of Russia, of Poland, of Prussia, of

Denmark, and of Sweden. From Holstein to Eastern Prussia,

diluvial[11]grounds, sand and clay, are covered with an immense

number of blocks of granite. Near the island of Usedom, several

points of granite rock rise from the bottom of the Baltic. We

see in like manner, Scania and Jutland so filled with these

fragments, that they construct of them enclosures, houses and

churches. In the Lymfiord, a gulf of Jutland, and at some

places on the western side of that peninsula, great points of

granite rise from the bottom of the waters. But what is still

more remarkable, is to see immense masses of granite lying on

the tops of Roeduburg and Osmond, which are more than 6000

feet in height, and are therefore among the highest mountains

in the North of Europe."

Beneath the diluvial deposit, we find beds and strata of substances of

different character, and which appear on a cursory view to be involved

in inextricable confusion. Long and careful examination has at length

been efficient in ascertaining that in this apparent disorder are to be

seen the traces of an order, as perfect as that of any other mechanism

of nature, and of a succession of changes by which the earth has been

finally fitted for the habitation of man. These strata have been finally

arranged into five distinct classes, differing in their characters and

position. These have been so fully described in a former article in this

Journal, by the distinguished associate whom we have already quoted,

that no more remains for us to say, than what is merely necessary to

keep up the connexion of our subject.

These stratified rocks or formations are remarkable for the regular

order in which they succeed and overlie each other, furnishing distinct

and indisputable evidence of their having been formed in succession. The

first set of strata, which are never covered by any of the others, and

hence are conceived to be of most recent formation, lie inclined at a

small angle to the horizon. In many cases they do not assume the

character of rocks, but although distinctly stratified, are often soft

and friable, presenting beds of marle and clay, and thick deposits of

sand. In some cases their appearance is so similar to diluvial or even

alluvial deposits, that they might be mistaken for them, were it not

for their more regular stratification. These are the tertiary formations

of the German school, the superior order of Coneybeare and Philips.

Issuing from beneath these, and forming in their turn a considerable

portion of the surface of the earth, rising occasionally into

considerable hills, are strata of less uniform and regular inclination,

forming basins and cavities in which the tertiary deposits are often

found to lie, curved to conform to the bottoms of these basins.

The third and fourth series issue in their turn from beneath the

preceding, as does the fifth from beneath the fourth. Each is marked in

succession, by a greater degree of confusion or distortion in the

stratification, until the last, which is apparently upheaved and thrown

about without any regularity, its strata being occasionally found in

positions almost vertical. Not only is the succession of the five

different orders of rocks constant, but so is that in which the several

rocks of each series overlie each other. This regularity of succession

is, however, subject to this law; namely, that rocks of particular

orders, or even the whole order itself, may be wanting in particular

districts; thus, tertiary formations may be directly upon the lower

order, and the second, third, and fourth, may not be present; or any one

of the higher orders may lie directly upon any one of those we have

stated to be inferior to it; but it has never been observed that the

arrangement itself has been inverted, or that a rock which is in one

place inferior, becomes, in its turn, superior in another.

The fifth, or inferior order, is uniformly found beneath one or all of

the others; and, we may infer, that it in fact underlies the whole

surface of the globe, forming not only the foundation of the solid land,

but the original bottom on which the present bed of the sea is

deposited. The rocks that compose this series are all highly crystalline

in their character, are mostly composed of substances wholly or nearly

insoluble in water, are wholly devoid of organic remains, and are in

fact such substances as might be supposed to have been formed by slow

cooling, from a state of igneous fusion. Is it then assuming too much to

infer, that they are in fact the crust which has been first formed upon

the surface of the earth, intensely heated by its own condensation,

under the action of the gravitating force, that, communicated to it by

the hand of the Creator, determined its figure, and still maintains its

equilibrium. We do not include in this class, as is usually done, the

crystalline rocks not stratified, as we conceive them to have been

formed in another manner, to which we shall hereafter refer. All the

four higher series of strata show, in the most evident manner, that

their formation has been due to the action of water; the grauwacke is,

perhaps, the only rock that exists among them, in which the question

could, even on simple inspection of specimens, appear doubtful; but this

rock lies at the base of the old red sandstone, and upon the limestone

of the submedial order, or transition, as it is styled by the

Wernerians, and is equally regular in its stratification with either; we

cannot, therefore, admit any other cause of its formation than what is

common to them.

Some of these strata are obviously mechanical, others chemical deposits;

thus, the sandstones and conglomerates are certainly the products of the

disintegration of older rocks by a violent abrasion of running water,

and have settled when the currents have ceased to flow; all calcareous

rocks, except the limestones of the inferior or fifth order, the

primitive of Werner, on the other hand, appear to have been products of

chemical precipitation; while there are a few cases, as in the beds of

rock salt, where the deposit must have been due to evaporation.

Of all these rocks and formations, the primitive, as has already been

stated, and the sandstones, are wholly devoid of organic remains. And

even the last rule is to be received as not wholly free from exception;

for vegetable impressions have been found, as we are credibly informed,

in sandstone, at Nyack on the Hudson, and near Belleville in New-Jersey,

besides some other similar cases we shall hereafter note. All the other

strata present a greater or less abundance of the traces of the organic

kingdoms, from the slate, which lies lowest of the fourth order, to the

most recent beds of the tertiary, and to so much of the diluvium as has

been examined in the old continent. And although in the isolated case of

the diluvium at New-York, no fossil remains have been found, we are yet

unprepared to admit this as more than an exception, and are inclined to

think that the remains of the mastodon, for instance, must be diluvian,

or pre-diluvian. In this opinion, however, we know that we are opposed

by high authority, and therefore do not express it without hesitation.

"Organized fossil remains belong to three different classes:

the remains that have preserved their natural state, at least

in part; petrifactions; and impressions.

"The remains of the first class are principally bones, and even

entire skeletons, which, after having been stripped of the skin

and flesh that covered them, have remained, some buried in the

earth, others hidden in deep caverns. They are, sometimes,

calcined in whole or in part, without having lost their

configuration; they at others preserve, not only their texture,

but even some traces of their hair and skin. They are also

occasionally seen covered with a calcareous crust.

"Petrifactions, to use this word in its familiar sense, include

all stony bodies that have the figure of an organized body.

There are cases in which a strong solution has penetrated into

a cavity formed by an organic body that has disappeared. Then

the strong substance has occupied the cavity that has been left

empty, and has taken the external form of the body that

formerly existed there. If this body were, for instance, a

branch or trunk of a tree, the stone will have at its surface

its knots and asperities; but within, it will present all the

characters of a true stone; it will be no more, to use the

language of Hauy, than the statue of the substance that it has

replaced.

"At other times, a vegetable or animal substance, while

undergoing decomposition in a successive manner, and by obvious

degrees, is pressed by the petrifying liquid that already

surrounds it. As soon as an organic particle has disappeared,

its place is occupied by one of stone."

* * * * *

"Metallized bodies, and those which have been changed into

bitumen or carbon, belong to this system of formation; thus,

the turquoises, for instance, are the teeth of a great marine

animal; a metallic substance has penetrated them, and has

gradually replaced the softer parts of the bones.

"Impressions are often found between the plates of slaty rocks;

they are relievos or intaglios representing the skeletons of

animals, particularly fish, leaves, seeds, and entire plants,

of which the most common kind belong to the forus."

The impressions of vegetables are most abundant in the shales that

accompany coal formations; those of leaves and branches are the most

common, but there are a few instances in which they retain the delicate

structure of the flowers. All analogy leads to the inference, that those

now found in temperate climates, are of such a character as could only

exist in tropical regions; and when, as in some of the newer formations,

the species are identical with those which now exist, the living type is

only found within the torrid zone. A still more curious fact, is their

identity in similar formations in different parts of the world. At the

present day, the same soil in Pennsylvania and England produces plants

of very different characters, and those which are native to each are of

wholly distinct genera and species, while the fossils that accompany the

coal in the two countries are precisely similar. But even those brought

by Parry from the polar region of Melville island, are identical with

those of England, and of course with those of this distant part of the

same hemisphere in which the former are formed, although the character

of the climate is so diverse. At the epoch of the coal formation, there

existed plants, of genera, which, in temperate climates, at present

rarely rise to more than a few inches in height, and which were at that

remote period of enormous size. Thus, the forus must have attained the

height of from fifty to sixty feet. At present, the forus assume the

size of a tree only in the very warmest climates, and even there, are

far inferior in magnitude to those of the coal formation. Now, it is

well known, that the large size of the living species is due to great

and constant heat, and copious moisture. Hence we may fairly infer that

similar circumstances existed even at Melville island, where, at the

present time, for the greater part of the year, the thermometer is below

the freezing point.

As further instances of the same kind, we may quote the following facts.

Faujas St. Fond found, in a marly slate, covered by lava, in France, the

tree cotton, the liquid amber styrax, the cassia fistula, and other

plants of tropical regions. The same observer found the fruit of the

arcea palm near Cologne. The elastic bitumen of Derbyshire in England,

is identical with the caoutchouc, which now grows only in the warmer

parts of South America; and the amber of Prussia appears to be a fossil

gum, similar to the Copal.

Among the more recent in formation of fossil vegetables, are the

bituminized woods; these are often buried to great depths by diluvian

action, but are never found in perfect rock. The most remarkable

instance of this kind is at Bovey-Heathfield, in England, and beneath is

found the retinasphaltum, that seems to be no more than the expressed

viscorous juice of the trees. Coal is a similar formation, but due to a

more ancient period. The mines of Pennsylvania occasionally furnish

specimens, in which the fibre of the wood is as distinctly visible as in

recently prepared charcoal. However these vast beds may have been

formed, no doubt whatever can exist in respect to their vegetable

origin.

Among animal remains found in the fossil state, shells and zoophytes are

the most abundant. They form the principal parts of rocks which often

occupy considerable districts. They are most frequent in calcareous

strata, from the transition limestones to the highest of the marles. A

remarkable fact is observed in respect to these shells, and the other

fossils which accompany them; those which are found in the oldest, or

transition formations, are more different from those that now exist,

than those in the more modern deposits. Thus the transition limestones

and slates contain terrebratulites, with encrinites, pentacrinites, and

trilobites; in those of the submedial and medial series we find

belemnites and the cornu ammonis; many of which are extinct genera, and

some of which are of families that are no longer found living on our

globe, while even where the genus is now to be met with, the species at

least has become extinct; while in the latest of the tertiary or

superior formations, we find ostracites, pectinites, buccinites,

chamites, and many other genera that are still abundant, and even types

of living species.

By far the greater part of the animals whose remains are found in the

older strata are aquatic, and the vast extents over which they are

distributed, show, that the waters must at one time have covered a very

great proportion of what is now dry land. Nor has this change been

produced by any gradual subsidence, for we find no coincidence in the

levels of those portions of the land that contain similar fossils; some

for instance are still lower than the level of the present ocean;

others, again, of similar character, rest upon the tops or sides of the

highest mountains. In Europe, the tops of the highest of the Pyrenees,

rising 11000 feet above the level of the sea, are of limestone,

containing numerous fossil remains, while Humboldt found a rock,

similarly characterized, among the Andes, at the height of 14000 feet.

The ancient philosophers, who, in other departments of physical science,

were far behind the moderns, seem in this alone to have pursued a

process of inductive reasoning, which led to results far more accurate

than any attained by the moderns, until within a very few years. The

dogmatism which determined to find in every fossil aquatic remain a

proof of the particular Noachic deluge, and the timidity of those whose

researches had made them better informed, left the world wholly in the

dark as to the real inferences to be drawn from a study of the structure

of the earth; but what modern geologist could better express what are

now admitted opinions, than the words which the Roman poet puts in the

mouth of Pythagoras.

"Vidi ego, quod quondam fuerat solidissima tellus,

Esse Fretum. Vidi factas ex aequore terras:

Et procul a pelago conchae jacuere marinae;

Et vetus inventa est in montibus anchora summis.

Quodque fuit campus, vallem decursus aquarum

Fecit: et eluvie mons est deductus in aequor:

Eque paludosa siccis humus aret arenis;

Quaeque sitim tulerant, stagnata paludibus hument.

Hic fontes Natura novos emisit, at illie

Clausit: et antiquis concussa tremoribus orbis

Flumina prosiliunt; aut exaecata resident."

The order in which fossil remains are found to succeed each other in the

successive formations that are to be traced from the oldest rocks to the

diluvial deposit, are well illustrated in the words of a late

distinguished philosopher, whom we shall quote.

"In those strata which are deepest, and which must consequently

be supposed to be the earliest deposited, forms, even of

vegetable life, are rare; shells and vegetable remains are

found the next in order; the bones of fishes and oviparous

reptiles exist in the following class; the remains of birds,

with those of the same genera mentioned before, in the next

order; those of quadrupeds of extinct species in a still more

recent class; and it is only in the loose and slightly

consolidated strata of gravel and sand, and which are usually

called diluvial formations, that the remains of animals such as

now people the globe are found, with others of extinct species.

But in none of these formations, whether called secondary,

tertiary, or diluvial, have the remains of man, or any of his

works, been discovered: and whoever dwells upon this subject,

must be convinced that the present order of things, and the

comparatively recent existence of man as the master of the

globe, are as certain as the destruction of a former and

different order, and the extinction of a number of living

forms, which have types in being. In the oldest secondary

strata there are no remains of such animals as now belong to

the surface; and in the rocks which may be regarded as most

recently deposited, these remains occur but rarely, and with

abundance of distinct species;--there seems, as it were, a

gradual approach to the present system of things, and a

succession of destructions and creations preparatory to the

existence of man."

We have stated that the zoophytes and shell-fish have left the most

numerous fossil remains. Those of other families are not however rare.

Fish, for instance, are found in great abundance, near Glarus in

Switzerland, in clay slate; in Germany, at Papenheim, in a slaty marle,

in the cupriferous slate of Eisleben, in the fetid limestone of

Oehningen. They are also found in Egypt, and we have specimens of the

same sort from Lyria, in a limestone apparently belonging to the oolitic

or Jura formation. China and the coast of Coromandel have also fossils

of this sort, but by far the greatest quantity have been procured from

Mount Bolea, near Verona. A splendid suite from the last locality are to

be seen in the Gibbs' Cabinet at New-Haven. Besides the impressions of

entire fish, separate portions are very abundant, and perhaps the most

frequent of these are the teeth of sharks, which are sometimes of a

magnitude vastly greater than those of any living species. Animals of

the class of amphibia appear not to have existed until after the aera

that gave birth to fish. The oldest are probably the tortoises, of which

a specimen has been found in sandstone near Berlingen. They have also

been found in England, in the Netherlands near Brussels, at Aix in

Provence, and in the quarries near Paris. The most remarkable fossils of

this class belong, however, to the lizard family. Of these the most

remarkable are the plesiosaurus, the megalosaurus, the iguanodon, and

the crocodile of Maestricht, all belonging to extinct species.

The marine animals that are met with in a fossil state, are in great

part foreign to the climates in which they are found buried. It has been

shown that the fish of Bolea have their nearest living prototypes in the

seas of Otaheite. The perpites of Gothland have been supposed to be

petrifactions of the medusae of India. The madrepores, so abundant in

Russia and in the frozen deserts of Siberia, only live now in seas

within the tropics. Shells analogous to a great part of those found

fossil in England, are only to be seen in the Atlantic, in a living

state, on the coasts of Florida and Cuba. A shell-formed fossil at Havre

is only to be met with recent at Amboyna.

Of the shells found in Italy, fossil in the sub Appenine hills, many are

common to the Mediterranean and the Indian oceans. But while those in

the fossil slate and the recent specimens from the tropics correspond in

size, individuals of the same species from the Mediterranean are

dwarfish and degenerate.

Thus then the remains of aquatic and amphibious animals appear to

confirm the conclusion drawn from vegetable fossils, that a climate of

temperature as elevated as that now found in the tropics, once extended

into high northern latitudes. It has been seen that the fossil remains

and impressions of shells have been found at great heights upon the

sides, and even upon the tops of mountains; and that in the older of the

strata no trace is to be found of any but aquatic animals. Thus before

our existing mountains and the minerals they contain had arisen above

the general surface; before diluvial and alluvial deposits, or even the

great formations of sandstone and conglomerate had arisen from their

disintegration, the globe was covered, in a great degree, and as it

appears from considerations we have not space to enter into, by various

successive eruptions, with waters, sometimes fresh, sometimes saline.

These waters have, it could be readily made to appear, often rested long

on the surface in a quiet state, after having been in violent agitation;

and long ages of tranquillity have been succeeded and closed by

convulsions of the most violent character.

In all the regularly stratified formations, animals of the mammiferous

or cetaceous classes are wholly wanting; at least we have no proof that

can be relied upon of any having been found in formations which took

place prior to the last great deluge, that covered so much of the land

with diluvium. In this last formation, however, they are often found in

great abundance. Some of them are of recent, others of extinct species.

Among the most remarkable of the latter are, the palaeotherium, and

anoplotherium, found near Paris; the megalonyx, an animal of the sloth

genus, but of the size of an ox, found in Virginia; a still larger

sloth, called the megatherium, found near Buenos Ayres; the fossil

elephant, as different from the living elephants of India or Africa, as

the horse is from the ass, and which has been found in Europe, in Asia,

and in America. The mastodon, of which several species have been

discovered on the banks of the Hudson, in Kentucky, in Louisiana, in the

plains of Quito, in France, and finally on the borders of the Irrawaddy.

The bones of rhinoceroses, bears, elephants, and hyaenas, have been found

mixed in confusion in caverns; and it has been shown by Buckland that

the latter animal had inhabited these caverns, and drawn thither the

carcasses of the others as his prey, in one of the most perfect

inductive arguments which has been produced, since Bacon propounded the

rules of that species of reasoning.

"The moveable earths that fill the bottoms of valleys, and

which cover the surface of great plains, have furnished us in

the above two orders, of pachidermata and elephants, the bones

of twelve species, to wit: one rhinoceros, two hippopotami, two

tapirs, an elephant, and six mastodons. All these twelve

species are now absolutely extinct in the climates in which

their bones are found. The mastodons alone may be considered as

forming a separate genus, now unknown, but closely approaching

to the elephant. All the others belong to genera now existing

in the torrid zone. Three of these living genera are now found

only in the ancient continent, to wit: the rhinoceros, the

hippopotami, and the elephant; the fourth, that of the tapirs,

only exist in the new. The distribution of the fossil species

is different; the tapirs have been found only upon the old

continent, while elephants have been discovered in the new."

The fossil species, although belonging to known and existing _genera_,

are essentially different in _species_ from those which now live upon

the earth. The former are not mere varieties, but have marked specific

differences. This at least is beyond all doubt in respect to the

smaller of the hippopotami, and the gigantic tapir, as well as the

fossil rhinoceros, and is extremely probable in respect to the elephant

and the smaller tapir. If there be any question of the fact, it is only

in respect to the greater hippopotamus.

"These different bones are buried in all different places in

beds that resemble each other. They are often mixed

indiscriminately with those of other animals, identical with

those which exist at present. These beds are generally

moveable, sandy, or marly, and always within a short distance

of the surface. It is therefore probable that these bones have

been enveloped by the last catastrophe of the globe. In a great

number of places, they are accompanied by the accumulated

spoils of marine animals; in other places, but these are less

numerous, the remains of marine animals are not found, and

sometimes the sand or marle that covers them contains only

fresh-water shells. Although a small number of shells attached

to fossil bones indicate that, they have remained some time

under water, yet is there no authentic account of their having

been found covered with regular stony beds, filled with marine

remains, nor, in consequence, is there any proof of the sea

having made a long and peaceable stay above them.

"The catastrophe that has covered them, would appear then to

have been a great marine inundation, of no long duration, were

it not that they are found upon the tops of high mountains,

whither the waters of our present ocean could never have

reached in their most violent agitations. On the other hand,

these bones presenting no appearance of having been rolled,

being occasionally only fractured, as the remains of our

present domestic animals may occasionally be, and being

sometimes found in entire skeletons, and accumulated as if in a

common cemetery, demonstrate that the living beings to which

they have belonged, must have met their fate in the very parts

of the globe in which we now find the fossil monuments of their

existence."

All the animals of which we have particularly spoken, are of genera now

only found in the torrid zone, and the abundance of food which their

great size would have caused them to require, renders their existence in

numbers only possible in a warm climate. Their remains are, however,

found in almost polar regions, whence we obtain a third link in the

chain of evidence, that before the last great catastrophe to which the

globe was subjected, its surface must have been warmer than at present.

We have seen in a former place, that such a change of temperature may

have gradually occurred in consequence of a cooling of the external

surface of the globe by an excess of its radiation above the quantity of

heat received from the sun. The final cooling of its solid crust, down

to the mean temperature at which we now find it, might, as is obvious,

have been effected by a great irruption of waters, like that of which we

have distinct evidence in the diluvial deposits, and the animal remains

upon its surface. From that time, a state of equilibrium in the action

of solar and terrestrial radiation having been attained, while the mean

temperature still continues to depend upon the internal structure and

nature of the globe, the distribution of heat upon the surface, and the

vicissitudes of the seasons, have been solely influenced by the varying

relation between these two radiations, which if equal to each other in

their total amounts, differ in every different latitude, for every

successive day in the year, and during each varying hour of the day.

It has been attempted to explain this change that has unquestionably

taken place in the temperature of climate, by conceiving a change in the

situation of the earth's axis. This hypothesis, however, is shown to be

untenable by the calculations of physical astronomy: no other cause then

remains but an actual change in the condition of the earth itself.

The most remarkable of all the phenomena which the earth presents, are

the great changes of weight that have taken place in identical

formations which must have arisen from the prevalence of water, and

therefore nearly if not exactly upon the same level. The primitive or

lowest stratified rocks, probably had not water for their cause; still,

however, they must have been in the fluid state, and these are not only

found beneath all other rocks, and in the lowest places to which the

industry of man has penetrated, but they also rise and form the greatest

part in bulk of many of the highest mountains; indeed, if we except

volcanic mountains, of all the more elevated masses. The transition and

secondary formations are subject to similar although less changes of

level, rising, as has been seen, to the tops of the Pyrenees, and to

even a greater height on the sides of the Andes. The tertiary or

superior formations are found in Italy and Sicily, forming mountains

several thousand feet in height, while the latest of all, the diluvial

with its embedded mammalia, exists in the lofty table land of Quito. The

inference is irresistible, that we do not now find these deposits at the

levels where they were left by the ocean, as in the case of the

primitive rocks by their own crystallization from a fluid state, but

that they have been altered in their positions by actions of a character

totally distinct from that by which they were originally formed.

This inference is still further confirmed by the great and sudden

changes of level that are frequently to be seen in similar strata,

faults, as they are styled by miners, in which the same bed has its

level sometimes changed hundreds, nay even thousands of feet. These

faults, if in greatest abundance in the more ancient rocks, are to be

found even in the newest, and sometimes affect several formations

incumbent on each other, of ages the most different. Thus, then, we have

distinct and conclusive evidence, that as we inferred from theory, the

solid crust of the globe has been shattered and fractured repeatedly,

and at all the different epochs of its history. This fracturing and

cracking we have shown, must, in conformity with strict mechanical laws,

have been attended with the rise of the molten liquid from beneath,

which ought in some cases to have formed veins and dykes, in the places

where the fractures occurred. It is however possible, that the rise of

the fluid from beneath, may not have taken place where the pressure

occurred; but it would then have been compelled by hydrostatic pressure,

to issue at some other point, breaking and tearing the weaker parts of

the solid crust, in order to afford itself a vent.

The latter class of phenomena are still in action, and we have evident

traces of their occurrence in all the different stages of the world's

existence; of the former it will also be seen there is conclusive

evidence.

The visible effects of a subterranean heat, are most frequently met with

at the present day in the form of volcanoes. Of these, there are not

only a great number in activity, but there are still more that have been

certainly active since the last great change that the surface of the

earth has undergone.

That part of the great group of mountains which we have before

described, which lies in the new continent, contains many active

volcanoes, and others but recently extinct. Terra del Fuego, as its very

name imports, is the seat of many; Chili has several; in Peru are to be

noted Arequipa, Pichinca, and Cotapaxi; while Chimborazo is obviously

one that has become extinct at a period not remote. Passing the Isthmus

of Panama, we find the volcanoes of Guatimala and Nicaragua almost

infinite in number. In Mexico, are Orezaba, Popocatepetl, and Jorullo;

the last of which first rose from beneath the surface in 1759.

California has five active volcanoes; and we know, from the observations

of La Perouse and Cook, that they also exist along the north-western

coast of America. Mount St. Elias, in particular, was seen in a state of

eruption. These mountains connect those of Mexico with the volcanoes of

the Aleutian islands and of the peninsula of Alaska, which continue the

system towards Kamtschatka, in which peninsula there are three of great

violence. We have seen some proofs, that there are active volcanoes to

the north-west of China, but none now exist in Thibet; and the action

that once took place there has sought new vents, in regions more near to

the present bed of the ocean. Thus, Japan has eight volcanoes, Formosa

several, and, in proceeding to the south, the land of volcanic action

widens, and becomes of immense extent. It embraces the Philippine,

Marian, and Molucca islands, Java, Sumatra, Queen Charlotte's islands,

and the New-Hebrides. The active volcanoes of Europe and western Asia

are few in number; but those that are extinct form a great system, in

which the active ones are included, and which seems to spread in the

form of a belt, from the Caspian sea to the Atlantic. Volcanic action

still occurs on the shores of the Caspian. In the chain of Elburg is a

lofty mountain that still emits smoke, and around whose base are several

distinct craters. Syria and Palestine abound in volcanic appearances, of

which the great crater that has swallowed up the waters of the Jordan,

and forms the Dead sea, is the most remarkable. Greece and the Grecian

Archipelago have been, almost within historic times, the seat of a

volcanic action, of great extent and violence, and which has not wholly

exhausted itself. In Sicily, AEtna has burnt for 3300 years, and is yet

surrounded by extinct craters of more ancient date. The Lipari islands

are wholly volcanic. Vesuvius, that had long before intermitted its

eruptions, and broke forth again in the great one that destroyed

Herculaneum and Pompeii, is not the only volcanic mountain of Naples. An

extinct one of much greater size is to be found near Roccafina. The

catacombs of Rome are excavated in lava, and Tuscany contains strong

evidences of volcanic action. Volcanic indications can be traced near

Padua, Verona, and Vicenza, extending into Dalmatia. A district of

Hungary was suspected of containing the seeds of subterranean fire, and

the suspicion has been confirmed by an actual eruption. Germany and

Bohemia contain a great number of extinct volcanoes, as does the south

of France, and particularly Auvergne. In Spain, too, the proofs of a

volcanic agency are clear and decisive.

Greenland and Iceland present a third group of volcanoes; in the latter

island, a single volcano was in a state of continuous eruption for five

or six years. The Azores, the Canaries and Madeiras, also contain

numerous volcanoes, both active and extinct, as do the Caribbean

islands.

In comparing together volcanoes that are in present activity, and others

in which the crater and the streams of emitted lava are too distinct to

permit a doubt of their having arisen from the same cause, differences

are observed that only have arisen from great differences in the

circumstances under which the eruption has taken place. In many of the

ancient volcanoes, we find the emitted streams are arranged in prismatic

forms, constituting basalt, and frequently passing into what under other

circumstances would be styled _trap_ by the Wernerians. Now, we know

that when streams of lava enter the sea, they spontaneously assume the

prismatic structure. Hence we may infer, that these ancient volcanoes

originally gave vent to their craters beneath the level of the sea, at a

time when the rocks through which they penetrated, and over which their

streams have passed, were beds of the primitive ocean. The trap rocks

themselves may have been formed in a similar manner, by upward pressure

of the igneous fluid beneath, through the veins and fissures formed on

the breaking of the solid crust. Trap traverses, in dykes of unknown

depth, many formations, and is occasionally seen forming beds between

successive strata. It frequently occurs in faults, and sometimes in

extensive overlying masses. Close observation, and a just course of

analogy, lead to the irresistible conclusion, that all the trap rocks,

however situated or arranged, grow out of the same great cause, the

rising of the liquid interior of the earth to its surface. An action

sometimes taking place through veins and fissures in the solid crust,

and sometimes by the eruption of volcanoes, both occurring during the

pressure of water upon the surface. One of the most extensive groups of

trap-rocks is to be seen in the north-eastern part of the state of

New-Jersey. The Hudson is bordered for nearly forty miles by a great

ridge of columnar rock, lying upon sandstone. When this is surveyed with

an eye to its analogy to volcanic action, it appears as if it were the

outpourings of a crater, whose basin is now occupied by the lake in

which the Hackensack river takes its rise, and whence a great stream of

lava has run over the sandstone rock, as far as the strait that

separates Staten Island from the main land. The two Newark mountains are

ridges of the same description, of even greater extent; other smaller

ridges of the same kind are also distinctly visible, and the whole of

this last system appears to have proceeded from a crater now filled by

the alluvion of the Passaic, but which is bordered by a ridge still

occupying two-thirds of a circle, and showing conclusive marks of

igneous action, that goes by the name of the Hook mountain. The

phenomenon of a dyke of trap is well exhibited in the quarries near

Hartford in Connecticut, where this rock has been laid bare for a

considerable depth, as it rises through a sandstone rock, instead of

overlying it, as it is seen to do on the Hudson.

The trap-rocks, which are, generally speaking, of the character called

by mineralogists greenstone, vary in this district of New-Jersey, from a

compact basalt of homogeneous structure, to one of regular and distinct

crystallization, not distinguishable in hand specimens from primitive

syenite. A rock of this last character is to be found in the mountain

that extends from Morristown to Mount Kemble, which is columnar in its

structure, but almost identical, in mere external characters, with

stratified rocks of gneiss containing hornblende, that are found in the

primitive ridges within a few miles.

Thus then the older volcanic rocks gradually pass in character into

those which, under the general name of granitic, form the apparent

nucleus of gneiss and mica slate mountains, and penetrate them, and the

primitive limestones, in veins. One of the best instances of veins of

granite with which we are acquainted, are those which occur in the

quarries of white marble at Kingsbridge, which are traversed in every

direction by thin veins of a rock, principally composed of a white fetid

felspar, mixed with spangles of silvery mica, and small grains of

quartz, interspersed with occasional masses of tourmaline. The famous

locality of chrysoberyl, beryl, and other interesting minerals, at

Haddam, in Connecticut, is said to occur in a granitic vein passing

through strata of gneiss.

In all these cases we cannot fail to see evidence of igneous eruptions,

taking place, however, under circumstances widely different from those

of our present terrestrial volcanoes, or of the submarine craters of

more remote dates, but which can be readily explained by supposing,

either that the penetration took place when the surface of the earth was

so intensely heated as to admit of the injected veins being slowly

cooled, and therefore more perfectly crystallized; or that the issuing

mass was so great as to retain its heat for a great length of time.

It might at first sight appear difficult to explain how volcanic

energies should still continue in activity, now that the mean

temperature of the earth has become constant, and the outer crust can be

no longer subject to the shrinking, and consequent cracking which it

must have undergone while cooling. The phenomena that attend volcanic

eruptions furnish a full explanation of this, for they are attended in

almost all cases with the evolution of great quantities of gaseous

matters, and steam, which must therefore exist in a state of intense

compression, and at elevated temperatures, in the mass whence the

volcanic flood issues. Their elastic energies are sufficient to account

for all the striking effects that attend the action of volcanoes.

The earthquake is a phenomenon connected with volcanic eruptions, and

arising from the same great cause; but while the latter are confined to

certain mountains, and restricted within narrow limits at the present

day, an earthquake is sometimes found to prevail over a very large

portion of the earth's surface. To omit the more usual phenomena of

earthquakes, we shall speak of but one, which has in some cases been

observed, that throws a great light upon the manner in which the

stratified rocks have had their levels changed, and been dislocated and

distorted in the manner we now find them. We allude to the sudden

raising of countries of greater or less extent. Of this we shall quote

three several instances from a paper of Arago's.

"During the night of the 28th September 1759, a district of

three or four square miles, situated in the Intendency of

Valladolid, in Mexico, was raised up, like an inflated bladder.

The limits where the elevation ceased may still be determined

at the present day, by the fracture of the strata. At these

limits the elevation of the ground above its primitive level,

or that of the surrounding plain, is no more than thirty-seven

feet; but towards the centre of the lifted district, the total

elevation is not less than five hundred feet.

"This phenomenon had been preceded by earthquakes that lasted

nearly two months; but when the catastrophe occurred, all

seemed tranquil; it was announced only by a horrible

subterranean noise, that took place at the moment when the

ground was lifted. Thousands of little cones, of from six to

ten feet in height, called by the natives ovens, arose in every

direction; finally six great projections were suddenly formed

along a great crevice lying in a north-east and south-west

direction, all of which were elevated from 1200 to 1600 feet

above the adjacent plains. The greatest of these small

mountains has become a true volcano, that of _Jorullo_, and

vomits forth lava.

"It will be seen that the most evident and well characterized

volcanic phenomena accompanied the catastrophe of Jorullo; that

they were perhaps its cause; but this did not prevent an

extensive plain, old and well consolidated, upon which the

sugar-cane and indigo were cultivated, from being, in our own

days, suddenly raised far above its primitive level. The escape

of inflamed matter, the formation of the ovens and of the

volcano of Jorullo, far from having contributed to produce this

effect, must on the contrary have lessened it; for all these

openings must have acted like safety valves, and permitted the

elevating cause to have dissipated itself, whether it were a

gas or a vapour. If the ground had opposed a greater

resistance; if it had not given way in so many points, the

plain of Jorullo, instead of becoming a simple hill five

hundred feet in height, might have acquired the relief of the

neighbouring summits of the Cordilleras.

"The circumstances that attended the formation of a new island

near Santorin, in the Greek Archipelago, seem to me also well

fitted to prove that subterranean fires not only contribute to

elevate mountains by the aid of ejections furnished by the

craters of volcanoes, but that they also sometimes lift the

already consolidated crust of the globe.

"On the 18th and 22d May 1707, there were slight shocks of an

earthquake at Santorin.

"On the 23d, at sun-rise, there was seen between the great and

little Rameni (two small islands) an object that was taken for

the hull of a shipwrecked vessel. Some sailors proceeded to the

spot, and on their return reported, to the great surprise of

the whole population, that it was a rock that had risen from

the waves. In this spot the sea had formerly a depth of from

400 to 500 feet.

"On the 24th, many persons visited the new island, and

collected upon its surface large oysters that had not ceased to

adhere to the rock. The island was seen sensibly to increase in

size.

"From the 23d May until the 13th or 14th June, the island

gradually increased in extent and elevation, without agitation

and without noise. On the 13th June it might be about half a

mile in circuit, and from 20 to 25 feet in height. Neither

flame nor smoke had issued from it.

"From the first appearance of the island, the water near its

shores had been troubled; on the 15th June it became almost

boiling.

"On the 16th, seventeen or eighteen black rocks rose from the

sea between the new island and the little Rameni.

"On the 17th they had considerably increased in height.

"On the 18th smoke arose from them, and great subterranean

noises were heard for the first time.

"On the 19th all the black rocks had united and formed a

continuous island, totally distinct from the first; flames,

columns of ashes, and red-hot stones arose from it.

"The volcanic phenomena still continued on the 23d May 1708.

The black island, a year after its appearance, was five miles

in circuit, a mile in breadth, and more than 200 feet in

height.

"On the 19th November 1822, at a quarter past ten in the

evening, the cities of Valparaiso, Melipilla, Quillota, and

Casa Blanca, in Chili, were destroyed by a terrible earthquake

that lasted three minutes. The following day several observers

discovered that the coast, for an extent of thirty leagues, had

been visibly elevated, for upon a coast where the tide never

rises higher than five or six feet, any rise in the land is

easily detected.

"At Valparaiso, near the mouth of the Coucon, and to the north

of Quintero, rocks were seen in the sea, near the bank, that no

person had before perceived. A vessel that had been stranded on

the coast, and whose wreck had been visited by the curious, in

boats, at low water, was left, after the earthquake, perfectly

dry. In traversing the shore of the sea, for a considerable

distance near Quintero, Lord Cochran, and Mrs. Maria Graham,

found that the water, even at high tide, did not reach rocks,

on which oysters, muscles, and shells still adhered, the

animals inhabiting which, recently dead, were in a state of

putrefaction. Finally the whole banks of the lake of Quintero,

which communicates with the sea, had evidently mounted

considerably above the level of the water, and in this locality

the fact could not escape the least attentive observers.

"At Valparaiso the country appeared to be raised about three

feet, near Quintero about four. It has been pretended, that at

a distance of a mile inland, the rise had been more than six

feet; but I do not know the particulars of the measures that

led to this last inference.

"In this case there was no volcanic eruption, no lava poured

forth, no stones or ashes projected, into the atmosphere, and

unless it be maintained that the level of the ocean have

fallen, it must be admitted that the earthquake of 19th.

November 1822, has raised the whole of Chili. Now the last

consequence is inevitable, for a change of level in the ocean

would have manifested itself equally along the whole extent of

the coast of America, while nothing of the kind was observed in

the ports of Peru, such as Paytu and Callao.

"If this discussion had not already carried us so far, the

preceding observations, from which it results, that in a few

hours, and by the effect of a few shocks of an earthquake, an

immense extent of country rose above its former level, might

have been compared with those which show, that there exists in

Europe, a great country (Sweden and Norway) whose level is also

rising, but in a gradual manner, and by a cause that acts

unceasingly, but which cause is unknown."

Thus, then, to whatever portion of the earth's surface we turn our eyes,

we find the proofs of igneous action; our existing volcanoes, protruding

themselves through the newer stratified formations, and even the

diluvium, being in some cases more recent in their origin than the last

great catastrophe to which the earth has been subjected; those of more

ancient date forcing their way through the upper and lower secondary and

transition formations, which are also cut and intersected by dykes of

trap, while granite from the size of mountain masses down to their

veins, has upheaved and penetrated the oldest stratified rocks. We also

find great extents of country rising, sometimes gradually, sometimes

suddenly, above their former level.

Mountains, then, are not the nucleus on which our continents and islands

have been deposited, but are of subsequent origin, and have in their

rise elevated the land to such a height as to be no longer accessible to

the waters of the ocean. We may, even by examining through what strata

the mountains have been raised, or those which compose their sides and

crests when the elevating agent has not pierced through to the surface,

infer the geological age which gave them birth. A research of this sort

has been recently attempted and conducted with great ability by M. E. De

Beaumont.

We shall quote an abstract of his reasoning from the "_Annuaire,"_ for

1830, in the words of Arago, which will also serve to illustrate various

other points upon which we have touched.

"Among the formations of so many different kinds that form the

crust of our globe, there is a class which has been called

sedimentary (_terrains de sediment_). Those formations to which

this name is properly applied, are composed wholly, or in part,

of _detritus_, carried by water like the mud of our rivers, or

the sands of the beaches of the sea. These sands, in a state

of greater or less division, and agglutinated by siliceous or

calcareous cements, form the rocks called sandstones.

"Certain calcareous formations may also be reckoned in the same

class, even when they are wholly soluble, as is however rare,

in nitric acid; for the fragments of shells which they contain,

show, in another and perhaps better manner, that their

formation has also taken place in the bosom of the waters.

"Sedimentary formations are always composed of successive

layers, that are very distinctly marked. The more recent of

them may be arranged into four great divisions, which, in the

order of their antiquity, are

"The oolitic series or limestone of Jura;

"The system of greensand and chalk;

"The tertiary series; and finally

"The diluvian deposits.

"Although all these formations have been deposited by water,

and although they may all be found in the same locality lying

upon each other, the passage from the one to the other is never

made by insensible gradations. A sudden and marked change is

always to be perceived in the physical nature of the deposit,

and in that of the organized beings whose remains are found in

it. Thus it is evident, that between the epoch at which the

limestone of Jura was deposited, and that of the precipitation

of the system of greensand and chalk which covers it, there has

been upon the surface of the globe a complete change in the

state of things. The same may be said of the epoch that

separates the precipitation of the chalk from that of the

tertiary formations; as it is also evident that in every place

the state or nature of the liquid, whence the earths were

precipitated, must have changed completely between the time of

the formation of the tertiary strata, and that of the diluvium.

"These considerable variations, sudden, and not gradual, in the

nature of the successive deposits formed by the waters, are

considered by geologists as the effects of what they call '_The

Revolutions of the Globe_.' And even although it is very

difficult to say exactly in what these revolutions consisted,

their occurrence is not the less certain on that account.

"I have spoken of the chronological order in which these

different sedimentary strata have been deposited: I must

therefore state that this order has been determined by

following, without interruption, each different formation, to

those regions in which it could be ascertained beyond question,

and over a great horizontal space, that some particular layer

was above some other. Natural excavations, such as the cliffs

that border the sea, common wells, and Artesian fountains, with

the excavation of canals, have furnished powerful aid in this

inquiry.

"I have already remarked, that all these sedimentary formations

are stratified. In level countries, as might be expected, the

disposition of the layers is nearly horizontal. In approaching

mountainous countries, this horizontality, generally speaking,

ceases; finally, on the sides of mountains, some of these

layers are very much inclined; they even sometimes attain a

vertical direction.

"May not the inclined deposits that we see upon the slopes of

mountains, have been deposited in inclined or vertical

positions? Or is it not more natural to suppose, that they

originally formed horizontal beds, like the contemporaneous

beds of the same nature with which the plains are covered, and

that they have been lifted up and assumed new directions at the

moment of the elevation of the mountains on whose sides they

rest?

"As a general principle, it does not appear impossible that the

crests of mountains may have been incrusted _in place_, and in

their actual position, by sedimentary deposits, since we daily

see the vertical sides of vessels, in which waters charged with

sulphate of lime evaporate, covered with a saline crust, whose

thickness is continually augmented; but the question before us

does not present this general aspect, for it is merely required

to determine whether the _known_ sedimentary formations can

have been thus deposited. To this question we must reply in the

negative, as can be shown by two species of considerations,

wholly different from each other.

"Incontestable geological observations have shown, that the

calcareous layers which constitute the summits of Buet in

Savoy, and Mount Perden in the Pyrenees, elevated 11,000 or

12,000 feet above the level of the sea, have been formed at the

same time with the chalk of the cliffs that border the British

channel. If the mass of water whence these strata were

precipitated had risen 11,000 or 12,000 feet, the whole of

France would have been covered, and analogous deposits must

have existed upon all heights not exceeding 9,000 or 10,000

feet; now, it is found, on the contrary, that in the north of

France, where these deposits appear to have undergone little

change, the chalk never reaches a height of more than 600 feet

above the level of the present sea. They present precisely the

disposition of a deposit formed in a basin filled with a liquid

whose level has never reached any points that are at the

present day elevated more than 600 feet.

"I pass to the second proof, borrowed from Saussure, and which

appears even more convincing.

"Sedimentary formations often contain pebbles rounded by

attrition, and of a figure more or less elliptical. In the

places where the stratification is horizontal, the longer axes

of these pebbles are all horizontal, for the same reason that

an egg cannot stand upon its point. But where the strata are

inclined at an angle of 45 deg., the greater axes of many of these

pebbles form this same angle with the horizon; and when the

layers become vertical, the greater axes of many of the pebbles

become vertical also.

"This observation, in respect to the position of the axes of

the pebbles, _demonstrates,_ that the sedimentary formations

have not been deposited in the position they now occupy; they

have been raised in a greater or less degree, when the

mountains, whose sides they cover, have arisen from the bosom

of the earth.

"This being proved, it is evident that these sedimentary

formations, whose strata present themselves upon the slopes of

mountains, in inclined or vertical directions, existed before

these mountains arose. The formations of the same class that

are prolonged horizontally, until they meet the same slopes,

must be on the contrary of a date posterior to the formation of

the mountain; for it cannot be conceived, that, in rising from

the mass of the earth, it should not have elevated at the same

time all previously existing strata.

"Let us introduce proper names into the general and simple

theory which we have developed, and the discovery of M. de

Beaumont will be announced.

"Of the four species of sedimentary formations that we have

distinguished, three, and these are the uppermost, the nearest

to the surface of the globe, or the most modern, extend in

horizontal layers, from the Cote d'Or and from Forez, to the

mountains of Saxony; and only one, which is the oolite or

limestone of Jura, shows itself elevated within this district.

"Therefore the Hartz, the Cote d'Or, and Mount Pilus of Forez,

have risen from the globe since the formation of the Jura

oolite, and before the deposit of the three other formations.

"On the slopes of the Pyrenees and Appennines, two of the

formations are raised up, namely, the oolite and the greensand

and chalk; the tertiary formations, and the diluvium that

covers them, have preserved their primitive horizontality. The

Pyrenees and Appennines are, therefore, more modern than the

limestone of Jura, and the greensand which they have raised,

and more ancient than the tertiary strata and the diluvium.

"The western Alps, and among them Mount Blanc, have, like the

Pyrenees, raised the limestone of Jura, and the greensand, but,

in addition, they have also raised the tertiary formations; the

diluvium is alone horizontal in the vicinity of these

mountains.

"The date of the elevation of Mount Blanc must, therefore,

inevitably be placed between the epoch of the formation of the

tertiary strata and the diluvium.

"Finally, upon the sides of the central Alps, (Mount St.

Gothard,) and of the mountains of Ventorix and Liberon, near

Avignon, no one of the sedimentary formations is horizontal;

all the four have been raised up. When these mountains arose,

the diluvium itself must have already been deposited."

"The sedimentary formations appear, from their nature, and the

regular disposition of their layers, to have been deposited in

times of tranquillity. Each of these formations being

characterized by a particular system of organized beings, both

vegetable and animal, it is indispensable to suppose, that

between the epochs of tranquillity, corresponding to the

precipitation of two of these overlying formations, there must

have been a great physical revolution upon the globe. We now

know that these revolutions have consisted in, or at least been

characterized by, the raising of a system of mountains. The two

first liftings-up pointed out by M. de Beaumont, not being by

any means the greatest of the four he has succeeded in

classing, it will be seen that we cannot infer that the globe,

in growing older, becomes less fit to experience this species

of catastrophe, and that the present period of tranquillity may

not be terminated like those that have preceded it, by the

elevation of some immense mountain chain."

M. de Beaumont next attempted, by a fancied arrangement of zones and

parallels to great circles, to classify the mountains he had not an

opportunity of examining, with those in respect to which he had obtained

the above satisfactory conclusions. We fear, however, that he has

proceeded to theorize too speedily, and before he had obtained a

sufficient number of facts. We are certain, that in respect to the great

Alleghany group of the United States, which he classes with the Pyrenees

and Appennines, he must be mistaken, for no formations later than the

transition limestone are to be found in their vicinity. In respect to

the highlands of the state of New-York, and their branch of primitive

rocks, which extends along the Hudson to the island of New-York, the

sandstone of New-Jersey appears to continue horizontally until it

reaches their bases, and no rocks appear to have been raised on the

south-eastern side of the highlands, which are the easternmost of the

five parallel ridges of the Alleghanies, older than the slate; but on

their north-western side the transition limestone appears to have been

raised. They therefore are older than any mountains examined by M. de

Beaumont, and were we to hazard a conjecture, we should class them with

the Grampians of Scotland, and the mountains of Wales, in both of which

slate is the only rock of the transition series that appears to have

been elevated.

To complete our subject, it would be necessary that we should enter into

a discussion of the manner in which the ocean is now acting, by its

currents and tides, to distribute and deposit in its bed the sediment

which rivers and streams are constantly hurrying into it; and that we

should form some estimate, from what occurs within our reach, of the

effects produced in these deposits by the vast number of organized

beings that must people them, the deposits of vegetable matter, and the

exuviae, of animals. Such discussion would, however, be in a considerable

degree purely conjectural, and we therefore shall not enter into it. It

is sufficient to say, that formations analogous to those which the

elevation of the continents has exposed to our view, must be now taking

place in the bed of the ocean, whence they may be in their turn raised,

to task the ingenuity of future races of reasoning beings.

* * * * *

Inquiries into the history of the changes which our earth has undergone,

as they lead with infallible evidence to the proof of an existence of

this globe at a period almost infinitely more remote than that at which

man became its inhabitant, have been stigmatized as impious. The

intolerant theologian, adhering with pertinacity to his own system of

interpretation, fulminates anathemas against all who find in natural

appearances convincing evidence, that the earth was not suddenly and by

a single fiat called into existence in the exact, state in which we now

find it. Timid geologists have bent to the storm, and have endeavoured

to reconcile natural appearances with the arbitrary interpretations that

have been deduced from scripture. But neither is the inquiry itself less

holy than any of those which consider natural phenomena, exhibiting in

their progress convincing proofs of infinite wisdom and power in the

Creator, justifying the ways of God to man; nor is any one of the

results of the inquiry in the slightest degree opposed to the texts of

the sacred volume. The impiety rests with the interpreter, and not with

the physical inquirer. The former unwisely links to his spiritual belief

an interpretation at variance with natural appearances; and the latter,

if he do not inquire for himself, and believe on the evidence of the

former, that the truth or falsehood of the two distinct propositions are

inseparably connected, must, as he sees the one to be inconsistent,

hesitate with respect to the other. Some geologists, then, may have been

sceptics; but could the secrets of the heart be laid open, we cannot

help believing, that those who have most earnestly endeavoured to

reconcile the phenomena we know to exist, with the interpretation of

scripture, from which they appear to vary, have been at bottom the least

sincere in their religious faith.

For ourselves, we see no difficulties, no discrepancies between the

record of direct revelation, and the sublime passages of the book of

nature. We believe that "in the beginning God created the heavens and

the earth;" that he called at once into existence the whole material

world; but we also believe that he then impressed matter with laws,

under the action of which that material world must maintain its

existence, and secure its permanence, until the same almighty power

shall annihilate it. We are not of those who judge of the works of the

Deity from the conditions of the works which can alone be effected by

the power of man. However perfect or complete be human mechanism, it can

only move by the application of some power inherent in matter; did not

an elastic spring expand itself after being coiled, the chronometer

would be a dead and lifeless mass; did not fluids obey the force of

gravitation, and currents in the atmosphere the expansive power of heat,

the water-wheel and wind-mill would be useless; did not water form

vapour at elevated temperatures, and condense when cooled, the still

more powerful agency of steam would be wanting. Not only are machines of

no value unless impelled by natural agents, but they themselves are

subject to rapid decay, and require perpetual attention. Such is not the

case with the machinery of the universe; its motions are perpetually

varying, but yet in their variations invariable; continually oscillating

on each side of mean rates, yet never losing or gaining in intensity.

Such too is the case on the surface of our globe; the seasons

alternately clothe the forests with verdure, and strip them of their

leaves; seed time and harvest recur with invariable precision; the whole

of existing vegetables perish, and animals die and decay, yet the race

is perpetuated. Shall we set bounds to the exertion of almighty power,

and say, that races, that families, that species and genera, nay that

whole natural kingdoms may not in their turn decay and die, after

providing for the repeopling of the earth by new inhabitants? The

catastrophes of our planet are not yet at an end; the time will and must

come, as we may guess from natural appearances, and as we find predicted

in scripture, when the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll, and the

earth shall melt with fervent heat; and in the new system of

appearances, the new heaven and earth shall succeed--the corruptible

bodies that are now sown in dishonour, shall be raised in honour and

incorruptible.

The present surface of our globe is to our limited views slowly

changing; to him who compares time with the immeasurable duration that

has preceded and must succeed our existence, it is rapidly hastening to

apparent ruin. The waters raised from the ocean, falling in greatest

abundance on the land, tear and wear away the surface, and deposit it in

the bed of the sea. Deltas form at the mouths of rivers by this action;

the basin of the ocean is gradually elevated, and, in addition, islands

and archipelagos are raised from its bed. The surface of the sea is for

the present lessening under the influence of these causes, but the time

must come, unless it be prevented by some catastrophe, when the ocean

must in its turn encroach upon the land, when the plains and valleys

shall become bays and gulfs, or even unite in continuous expanses of

water, and the greater mountains alone, diminished in bulk by continued

abrasion, shall stand as islands in the vast abyss. The earth would then

again be without form and void of inhabitants, as it was before the

creation of man. Such, however, will not be the termination of the

present order of things; we are taught to look for this in an igneous

eruption, the source of which now slumbers almost quiescent beneath our

feet.

Not only does revelation, but science, teach us that the earth must have

been covered with water, and void of animate life, previous to its

becoming the habitation of man. But they read their scriptures

differently from us who think that this state of things was the actual

beginning. There is no necessary connexion between the first verse of

Genesis and the succeeding. The beginning of the existence of matter,

and the state of vacuity and darkness whence the present order of things

emerged, may have been, so far as the text is concerned, and were, as we

know from appearances, separated from each other by unnumbered ages.

Neither is it necessary that we accept the literal meaning of the

passage, and conceive the Deity speaking with human voice, and calling

creation forth by audible fiat. The voice of the Deity is that unheard

and silent command which nature hears and obeys throughout all his

works. The pious and sincere believer sees an overruling providence

preserving him in kindness when it saves him from shipwreck, or

chastening him in mercy when it deprives him of friends or relations, as

distinctly as if he beheld the prince of the air stayed in his furious

course, or the angel of destruction taking his visible stand beside the

pillow of departing life. No miracles are necessary to him who sees in

the rising and setting of the sun, in the order and beauty of the

universe, in the absolute perfection of its mechanical laws, in his own

fearful and wonderful structure, the evidence of infinite wisdom in

design, and infinite power in execution; and the examination of the

structure and character of our globe, is as well calculated as any other

physical study to exhibit in full and brilliant light these attributes

of the Deity.