True American. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1835-18??, 1839-02-08
LETTERS FROM THE CoAST.-Ne. TX
fCOnttnxed.)

The world seems in lis progress through thew
period of tune in which it Las moved, To have changed
its inhabitants! Its past population of vegetable and
animal life haye disappeared aud their place supplied
With new species and new existencies How wonderful
to contemplate? How inadequate for the human mind
10 calculate upon the untold millions Of that have
preceded carrying back that period, when the
huge Santius md ganc monsters had sway upon the
earth When AlIigutors and Palm trees, four. he'd
don in Latitude SOP! Or. when the huge Mammoth
grazel upon our plains Or gushing the mind still
further back, 10 the vast distance in past time when
sea shells, and still lower organized animals, seemed
TO have formed the sole inhabitants Of tho EARTH
Who shall say, with these facts before him, how old the
world is? II
We read in the fossil remains of past ages, the in
| calcuable antiquity of the world They are types,
set by nature herself to mark the pages Of her history
| for untold ages.
The theory of the earhs formation, is that i, has
passed through several vast periods Of time in arriving
10 its present suite, not less than four or five, some
reckon more. 1t is supposed that the central mass Of
the earth, is mass Of granite Or other primitive rock
which, at some period, may have been surrounded by
tive state Of the world, in that class of Zoology
as shell fish, Of the very simplest organization Their
remains seem to he the most ancient, and said 10
belong 10 the first layer that surrounds the granite
ball The next layer seems to contain the remains Of
animals Of more perfect organiza ton, such as those
win s'ne and nervous apparatus, or what are call
contain those Of still higher organization. Those pos
sessing heart and active circulation, called warm
blooded animals. The third lavcr comprises vegetable
re'nalns which imply the existence Of dry land The
next comprises the hebverous apimals and last
the carnivereus snals. Man seems 10 have been the
last inhabitan placed upon the earth, well by fu
the most perfect OF all. While all living species seen
suhselvisnt to his purposes and while the enrh il 81
full Ct the re mains Of other animals, alone has
per'fed remains existing in any part Of the earth,
we except case or two, which were supposed to b'
accidental The present inequalities Of the earth ar.
supposed to hare been produced by commissions,
uplifting Of mountains caused by internal heat. The
order Of the layers before noticed, is reversed
1t sometimes happens that ma, he missing or alb
sent, III that case, tho next in order is to succeed
And On the sides Of some mountains, these layers ap
pear to be broken up aud rest against the moun,ai
~ n" inclined position, when if they had remained n.
shcy had been formed, they should have remainet
hnrizOntal.
This brings us 10 conclude our remarks with an oh
scryation respecting the galley Of The Mississippi
which presents of the largest ondary formation
in the wor Id, lie: the most recently formed from
derosites) And proves concusively that at grea
period hack, in the history Of the world, compared witt
other evidences of the earth's vast antiquity. Thi
whole valley was covered by The And am in
duced to believe that the Pacific Oceun one time re
acted to the western loot Of the Allegheny Mountain.
rocky mountains and the valley Of the Mississippi witt
them This theory receives great plausinity from tn
fact that wherever you Nee, with Lime Stunc in III
western country you break it carefully, you Will Sc
the traces of shells in it, proving, the whole rock la
been formed from these materials. The shells, too
othc same description as are now found on the shore
VI Tue nu OF NleAco IN ilVIS state. W hrst Obsery
ed their pcrifed forms in blue limestone, the OH
River above Maysve Ky The rock in Nlaysville
also flhe same kind. We went and examined Il,
Limestone at Louisville, especially the Fer, andu
us you go to New Albany in Ind We next saw
crossing Ind. and Illinois, and again in St. Louis
is curious fact, that Louisville aud This city, more tia
1000 miles from the sea, are built stone, prime
puly made of shells! 1T is we'll KNOWN that tn
SUBMITS of the Allegheny Mountains, ind their sns
ern slope, composed of granite and other prmiti,
rocks Not no, with the peaks of the rocky mountain
They are composed of sand stone, secondary roc
which proves The whole chain to have been upder W,
ter. Mr. Ball, few years ago, student Of Geol,
gy under Eaton penetrated across the rock
mountains on foot and reached the Pacific Ocean. II
declared the mountains were secondary the COZ
tinent, to the Pacific Ocean. This being tn. case
is probable, lead mines, continue across the roc
mountains, to the Pacific, and our Coal fields in III
hubube globe being traced in places, ;" as to m Ike
uppe' that they bounded b, the Lakes on the nor
the Gulf of Mexico on he south, tue Allegheny Nour
tnins the east and The Pacific Ocean on the west.
Al