New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1842-11-19
rIr. Smiths Lectures on Geology.
20. III,

audience he had received communication lor
me of the most distinguished clsrgymea Of opr
CITY. dissenting from some OF tie views which h.
had presented. :: The Reverend gentleman, sai3
he. admits the accuracy OF my facts and doc,
full Justice TO ray honesty Of purpose, but oop.
esives, wha, is very probable, THAI have fallsa
into error. Ny mistake consists, he says, in fol.
lowing the received translation Of the Bible, wEics
he proneunces ncorrcc,-an opinion also ant=r.
aipsd bv Que OF the hes, informed members Of TIL,
institution
"Now.whelher these gentlemen be wrong or tists
is not for me to say, for am no Hebrew scholar.
And should my learned correspondent succeed ii
his intended attempt 10 convince tnore cornpe,sn,
Judges than myself that Moses, truly interpreted,
confirms all that stated, he viii confer grea,
vor upon more than one sincere inquirer after
truth. vet whatever MAY be the result eff his Ia.
bors. shall always feel indebted to him for ,hs
liberal. nav kind spirit by which his very friandE
communication i. characterised the more g,at.
fyiur because have NOT the honor Of his personal
| acquaintance.
That may be wrong is. as have said, possible
enough Adler aai more learned men have failed
in the same investigation and to nothing 90 lay
claim, save zeal and labor II, therefore hare
mscarricd, after the most dilligent employment
Of such talents US possess, must plead an ma
blty which no effort could oyercome---ready, nos
ever, at all times, TO haii the happier effects of
protounder cruditon and greater abilities.
In entering upon the subject for the evening,
he said that when we look upon the world We
see chemical action gong On in every substance
that meets the eye; and its uniform effect is 10
render the different substances Of the earth nors
and more complex every day, so that, as we as
cend toward the beginning OF time, i, follows that
there was a period when material elements were
| perfectly simple; AID reason leads ua to believe
that The changes that have taken place are In con.
| sequence OF Impressions made upon them at the
creation. Dr.. ). said that this WIS the argument
with which he usually met Atheists: he had con.
| tended that, as different chemical actions were CON
tinua!y going on, IN the course or time every pos
| sible mode OF action must be exhausted II the
earth had existed from all eternity, every mode Oh
| chemical action would have been exhausted but
we see that this action is yet gong on thereiors
| all modes not yet exhausted: therefore tbs
world has not always eXisted-and having had
| beginning, it mast necessarily have had Creator.
All the evidence we huve OF the existence OF
matter tends 20 show that it was first in the form Of
nebula According to Lapsce, this system 10
which our earth belongs was one OF those me-
bul;e which we see in The Celestial Universe, tbs
different planets having been thrown of at differ
ent times. This seems bold conjecture, but DR..
S. said he understood that certain chemical mat
tiers are best explained upon this nebulous theory
For the comets, ut ali events, we must have dit
ferent theory, can we tell why, upon this sup
position all the planets were thrown of and
cooled, according to a certain fixed java com.
plex, but still fixed law---as they are known to
nave been. Nor can that law be deduced from
the nebulous theory.
Whether the theory he true or not, the yapor
would first have been condensed into the form OF
fluid The zodiacal light is said TO be the le.
mains of the nebua. Whether the theory he trus
or not, this globe toas once q duid, dissolrsd BY
heat.
One proof of this proposition Is iousd in the fact
that the length of the equatorial diameter is SEINE
20 or 80 miles greater than the pclar and this can
be explained Oh no ether snppcstion than ,hst Of
revolving fluid. Many hold this fact to be de-
monstralive-a term, however, Dir. S. said, which
he was very cautious about Using We should
never asc the word until we could see from the
be otherwise: and this could not be said Of the
proposition lie had Just advanced.
In the next place, the specific gravity OF the
Earth corresponds with that which would result
from this theory The absolute weightand the spe.
citic gravity, or tho comparative weight OF tbs
Earth with water, is accurately known. Inns -
easily discovered from the iheorem that one body
IS attractedo another inyerbey the square OF the
distance, aud directly as their weights Now know
ing the amountof rnattern the Earth, there canbeno
difficulty in ascertainng the specific gravity ny this
established theorem. BY the principle OF tors'on
also, though by a more complex process, the spo-
chic gravity ol the Earth is ascertaIned To be D,
But tlet OF the mountains upon its surface lstoupa
to be less. The weight therefore increases as we
go towards the Earlii-and this is often thought
not TO be in consequence of difference OF position
and OF pressure to whIch it Is subjected, but from
difference in the nature of the matter. The answer
to this is, that when we get below certain deph
we lind nothing but granite; and we can show with
considerable certainty tina, for adistanceof60 miles
surfaceitis still grant, rat least granitic.
we faay then assume That it's such throughout
and the supposion, therefore, that the difference
OF specific gravity between the surface and the cen
tire Is to be explained b. difference of substancs
falls to the ground Again, ali these primitive sub.
stances Plutonic Rocks as they are called (named
from their supposed origin) are found to have been
acted upon universally BY heat; they have allbeen
in of fusion, and formed thus as
WEDGEwooD and Sir JAMES HALE have proved by
experiment DR.. Hurrcs started the theory and
the experiment was tried in Edinburgh to see il
similar rocks could be produced by a similar aIlh'
cial process; and it proved successful--establisi.
ing that extreme heat and prodsicus pressure bad
produced these rocks.
i In the next place in descending towards the cen
tire Of the Earth we have first the surface chang