The southern press., 1851-08-28
XIII ~ sSI.I 'ya
III Drylnx - o4 ~ -

n sAYs, In tbs National IatSiigencer, r0aDao11nG
4 ths Progress of tbs coral lDrne&i0np~ )a(
4 tfse waters of The sea 10 s0lid. w. n KNl}ei
introduced the discussion, and be III 49, r.
p!'edto by \. y hchettrly, cereeue1 1eat
Mr, Porter Ina that NE oee44 - 49,
ished 10 liquids, " The asnoant of th9 ~Oiti.
formed by the zoqphites and sheii 6.h, and thai
the shores and lines Of eoasts have changed
their form 10 consequences of the subsidsnee OI
water caused BY this dfmis.x1ou. =. ~ 1I11Ini
ties surround ths world IN i hslt. sxteS1 ~
i'39 degrees for thSeYuat8s pwe(s ~ "
ars constantly forming aseIiAs fnuuw -
ocean They have already fosanua ,saaASc a
lions Of square miles. And fiqpiix &fkS5v ~
doced to solids, generally occupy leis 80
Nj. Porter says: ''''' ry'''F 1b
Where rolled many millions of wavxx nov
stasd many millions Of milss Qf Grm SdcIfHH
their bases fast to old oceans xand tkex ,tone
peeriDg above old oceans blua waxes. s< Ia
Mr. Shetterly ia reply. msiAtaina, thnt ltt6onml,
there is a subsistence Of waters, Il must - ffom
other cauaes--The actual quantity al watnr ~,
the globe has not diminished. lie thlhks !
| diminution Of the sea would diminIst the
amount raised by evaporation, and GIIfnr IN
rsin and would be destructive to veQatabIS Itle.
This sort of reasoning is not satisfactory against
a matter of fact. Should great changes take
place on the face Of the world. proyidencs has
sources TO make one thing balance smother.
And agencies OF which we now have no idsa.
might come in to do the work Of sprinkiIor tsie
earth, after the submarine land makers had ex.
hausted considerable portion Of the sea. Jtfs
evident that the world is yet to snhsat popd-
lation vastly greater than it now does; and that
God il making room for Them. And we. read
that in the new earth which IL TO exist niter the
dissolution and re-cO instruction of this--s Ykey.
,cds M more sea- a A
And there may, for uught we know. be a
gradual diminution of the sea, to make wav fDr
the vast population which is to fiji the wuiif In
The millenial state At lenst we need not shrink
from allowing the actual progress Of thin6a e.
wards such result, to have its weirht 81, our
minds, for fear that God cannet spare the
wasted waters, or cannot preserve the life and
health of the world without them The earth
before the feod appears to have been watered
in different way ffom what II now il. And Il
very much limits the resources Of Him who
made the world and who set TO work the
zoophites making its solid land more ample, 10
assume that he las no other means of watering
the solid earth than 10 devoting to IL 30 large a
proportion of the ear'h's surface, as is pow COW
cred by the sea- Puritan Recorder ~
We understand by our worthy contemporary,
that it believes in Mr.. Porter's theory and dthIs
from the Bible an argument for the necessity,
or rather probability of it's correctness aqainst
Mr.. Schettcrly, that although the waters Of the
sea and evaporation were diminished, Providence
has other resources to make one thing brldncs al,
other. 1t throws out the hint that the increase
of the earth may be for the vast population Of
the Millennium, but surely Providence which cnn
make a new way of supplying the earth viii,
moisture, could also find way to sustain the
vast population of the earth with the present
extent of dry land The earth was watered b<.
fore the flood, just as it now is, by evaporation
and condensation. Before man was created. IL
is said there was no rain but misy and from this
we would refer against Biblical critics that aftcr
man was placed in the Garden, before the food.
there came rain--"showers that ushered in the
spring and cheered the thirsty ground.r The
Books Of Moses are profound philosophical
works. not false philosophy, and in no case do
we find them contradicting sound science. The
hypotheses Of Mr. Porter, we believe, is founded
on very slender data. The seas have no leas
waters to day than they had four thousand
years ago; they are constant quantity 1t In
true that some reefs and island have coral founds
tons, but if the dry land has made encrosck-
ments on the sea in some places, the sea hns
made encroachmen's on the dry land in Others.
Where the cities of the Plain stood, there Is now
the deep Dead Sea; the waves roll over the
walls of ancient Tyre. Where Port Royal stood.
the shark ports, and where the quay of Lisbon
once lifted up its solid walls, alas, they now arr
fifty fathoms deep below The sea has been
making. year after year, encroachments on the
coast Of Norfolk, in England, and where once the
large and fine island Of Norland stood in thu,
German Ocean, there are only three small islets.
In one tempestuous night, the sea buried the
most of it beneath it's waves.
We could cite various others instances Of tho
seas encroachment. England was orce united
TO France, and 80 was Scotland to Ireland III,
evidences of this appear to be beyond cawl
There is one expression in the extract Quoted
which we cannot pass over" liquids when re-
1rced to solids generally occupy less space
This is not the case with water, and zoophjtea
cannot raise foot Of coraline rock without
'aking the material from the sen to build Il.
They do not make their formations out OF
nothing, therefore the waters Of the sea cannot
be growing less. unless the coras have dia
covered way to change the very nature Of the
water itself, convert it from water into their
lme formations--a thing impossible. The coral
formations incrense very slowly. In some Of
he gaps in the Australian reefs, scarcely per.
,eptible difference has been discovered in their
'ieNauOh, Tor HItF years. III mere are eieSa-
ions taking place IN one part of the earth.
cienee teaches ns that they must be depre<-
ions in some other BY the common laws CT
he Universe, no portions Of any kind Of matter
re growing less-such the drying up Of tho
ea--bv any organic or inorganic notion The
ga will never dry up until the elements shall
melt with fervent heat," and when there shsl
70 no mere sea, there will not be The sam.-
Kind of inhabitants on the earth, for our bodies
re composed Of about 81 parts Of water. ioe
THE HoEoKRN GpsIEs.--W We published few
weeks ago, some account of band of Gipsiea
hs, had taken up their abode in the woods back
f Hoboken. TIE Newark Daily Advertiser
ives ms some further interesting particulars con-
ernine this singular people: M
When this band arrived in the United States,
hey numbered between 90 and 30 but all ex.
ept the seven, now encamped near the Elysian
'ields Mt Hohoken, went back TO England. with
he determination of returning with strong re-
rult This will unquestionabIv be done, ms the
ead Of the Gipsies told us, since their proceed
ngs will very much depend on his reports OF the