SECTION IV.

DEPOSITION OF THE STRATA DURING THE NON-ROTATORY PERIOD.

CHAPTER IX.

Further inferences respecting the existence of the elements of the strata in the primitive ocean; and of the crystalline base on which they universally repose. Attendant circumstances of the Earth in perfect accordance with the work of deposition then going on. Character and component elements of the lower stratified, or non-fossiliferous rocks, given with the design of showing that their elements existed in the primitive menstruum. Endeavours to describe the process by which these elements were abstracted from the water with which they were thus combined. The immediate influence of the luni-solar current exemplified by the theory of the tides. Geological construction of the non-fossiliferous rocks-confusedly crystalline. Their specific gravity given, and the influence of attraction in their formation. Aqueous crystallization, and the predominating influence which it exercised at this early stage of the creation. Capacity of water for becoming chemically impregnated with mineral elements shown and corroborated by the waters of Carlsbad and other mineral springs. Chemical affinity; its universality and influence. Brief summary in conclusion of this, as a preparation for succeeding Chapters.

THE copious and concurring extracts which we have given in the preceding chapter sufficiently prove the deposition from water of the stratified rocks which now constitute a great portion of the solid crust of the earth. They also bear testimony to the fact, that those successive layers rest upon a base of unstratified material, from within which they could not possibly have come.

The sphericity of the earth's surface, which has been premised, precludes it from being supposed that the strata owe their origin to the disintegration of pre-existing rocks; while

it has been shown by a combination of fundamental astronomical laws, that no increase of the weight or gravity of the globe took place since its creation; and that the only addition made to it was the principle of organic life in the inferior animal and vegetable existences which were then brought into being; but as this living principle added not one iota to the gravity of our sphere, we have, as the result of our well-sustained premises, a right to conclude that the elements of the strata which formed part of the weight of the Earth at the beginning, were contained in the circumfluent ocean; and were deposited from it. But we must here be allowed to observe, that it was not alone by the separation of the mineral material parts, by deposition, that the primeval water became the pellucid seas of the present day; the gaseous elements of the atmosphere were, by combination with the principle of light, when formed, made to ascend from the water, and, by their abstraction, also to purify and leave the ocean what we now find it. If it be admitted, therefore, that the ponderous earthy masses were, on the one hand, taken by precipitation from the primitive water, and that the volatilized gaseous elements were made to rise out of them, on the other-all having originally been contained in the water when "the Earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep”—surely, without departing in the slightest degree from philosophical reasoning, or going too far, it may be demanded, for argument's sake, that they may be considered for a short while to be restored to them; while the non-existence of the atmosphere will render this concession, as far as regards the gaseous elements, all the more easily granted. And it having been shown, by the writings of geologists, that the strata now rest upon a base of unstratified rocks, we may safely consider, that the water which held the elements of the strata in its grasp rested, before these were deposited, on that on which the deposited matter now reposes; while to complete the proper conception of the condition of our planet at the remote period to which we allude, we have only to imagine it, thus geologically constituted, to be without rotatory motion, but circulating with the same velocity and in the identical orbit through darkened space, wherein it now travels around the illumined sun.

If there be anything which, more than another, we desire to avoid in conducting this work, it is that of assuming any unnecessary or unfounded supposition as the base line of our subsequent conclusions. We assume nothing but what we feel assured we can prove by well-sustained evidence in the sequel. Our senses prove to us undoubtedly that the Earth at present rotates, is illumined by the sun, and is beautifully diversified by hill and dale, and by the greater inequalities of continental ridges and oceanic hollows. Yet, in asking our readers to imagine, that the world which they now inhabit, with all these advantages, would have presented to the vision-if eyes there had been to behold it—a shoreless abyss of dark and atmosphereless water, devoid of rotatory motion, and deprived of the soul-cheering rays of the sun, we do no more than truth dictates to us: for this was its actual condition for many ages. It is thus first of all presented to our notice in the Sacred Volume, wherein it is announced that "the Earth was without form and void; darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."

If this revealed description be believed in, and its nonrotation conceded for a short time, we feel confident we can prove that it did not rotate for a long but indefinite period, and that it was then in the dark and atmosphereless condition to which allusion has so frequently been made.

Before entering upon any investigation as to the manner in which the deposition of the strata took place, it will contribute to the certainty of our convictions were we made aware, that the attendant conditions of the Earth were in accordance with that perfect wisdom which characterizes the operations of Omnipotence. To be assured of this we purpose to enquire, whether the spherical form of the globe, surrounded by an illimitable ocean of equal depth, was not better adapted for promoting the deposition of earthy matter from a fluid, than the relative distribution of land and water, with unequal depths, and reduced aqueous surface, which at present constitute its geographical features; and whether, under any possible circumstances, and at any period, the sea could have covered the whole sphere.

To do this we shall refer to the first Theorem, in which it

is stated, "That a sphere is that form which contains the greatest volume of all bodies of equal surface." This, applied to the case under consideration, assures us, that a sphere is that form capable of containing the greatest possible mass of matter within a given quantity of water, and to permit this last to maintain the greatest possible depth while it circumbounds the contained solid mass. In this state the globe and its aqueous envelope are conceived to have remained during the entire period of non-rotation. By referring to the eighth Theorem it will be observed, that the aqueous portion of the earth's present surface is to the terrestrial part as three to one, or nearly so; i. e. only three-fourths of superfice is now covered by the same water which formerly circumbounded its whole extent; and if, from the first Theorem, we take the diameter of the Earth, we shall soon discover what a vast area that is, and how admirably adapted the surface then was for favouring deposition from a fluid holding matter in suspension; while, if we take into account that the most moderate estimate makes the mean depth of the ocean two miles, others considering it between four and five, and that even the highest mountain rises only two miles above the level of the sea-the greater portion of the earth's surface having but a very limited elevation above that level-no doubt will remain as to the possibility, under the premised conditions of the globe, of the water of the ocean having covered the whole surface of a nonrotating sphere; thereby more fitly adapting it for the gradual deposition of the earthy matter contained in the circumfluent water.* Thus we acquire, by every additional step in the investigation, increasing evidences of the infinite wisdom which directed the whole plan of creation, and become more and more strengthened in our confidence in the revelations which God has been pleased to make of His operations, when no eye was present to behold His wonderful doings.

We have next, in the prosecution of this laborious research, to ascertain the nature and component parts of the stratified rocks throughout the series which are supposed to have been

* See note at page 319.

thus deposited, and enquire into some of the causes then in operation which contributed to their formation.

The inferior stratified or non-fossiliferous rocks, according to Sir Henry de la Beche, consist of

"1. Clay; 2. Aluminous Slate; 3. Whetstone Slate; 4. Flinty Slate; 5. Chloride Slate; 6. Talcose Slate; 7. Steachiste, Hornblende Slate; 8. Hornblende Rock; 9. Quartz Rock; 10. Serpentine; 11. Diallage Rock; 12. Whitestone; 13. Mica Slate; 14. Gneiss; and 15. Protogine: with respect to which he remarks—

"Although the above are the most remarkable of the inferior stratified rocks, they are far from being the whole of them. The varieties and transitions of one to the other appear endless, and, occurring in no determinate order, set classifications utterly at defiance.

"If we consider what minerals have entered most largely into the composition of the whole mass, we find that quartz, felspar, mica, and hornblende are those with which it most abounds, and which impress their characters upon its various portions. Chlorite, talk, and carbonate of lime are certainly not wanting; but if we, as it were, withdraw ourselves from the earth and look down upon such parts of its surface as are geologically known, we find that these latter mineral substances constitute a very small portion of the whole. The inferior stratified rocks, which form the largest part of the exposed surface of our planet, are gneiss and mica slate, and when viewed on the great scale the others are more or less subordinate to them.

"Supposing this view an approximation to the truth, we arrive at another and important conclusion, namely, that the minerals which compose the mass of these stratified rocks are precisely those which constitute the mass of the unstratified rocks-rocks which from the phenomena attending them, are referred to an igneous origin. . . .. We find, still viewing the subject in the mass, that the same elementary substances have produced the same minerals in both, the only difference between them being their general difference of arrangement relatively to each other, so that they should constitute a stratified compound in the one case, and not in the other.

"Viewed on the large scale, the grauwacke series consists of a large stratified mass of arenaceous and slaty rocks intermingled with patches of limestone, which are often continuous for considerable distances. The arenaceous and slate beds, considered generally,