Weekly national intelligencer., 1851-07-19
TO THE EDITORS.
sUBsIDENcE OF OCEANS, SEAS. LAKES Sc

article written BY w. ID. PORTER, in which he at
tempts to account for the above phenonenoH On
the supposton that shell-6sh and cor1 insects abb
stract from the water of the sea salt soda andme,
from which they manufacture their Shells the coral
reefs a.d the foundations Of islands al which doubtless
true But all this will not, far my reasoning powers
enable to determine account for the subsidng Of the
water, nor indeed diminish the quantity of it, unless Mr. r
show that the aggregate volume the shells and coral
occupy less space in the basin Of the than
their ingredients did before they were transmitted
that the greater quantity Of these shells and rock
main in the water, and whatever quantity Of mg be
consumed by the living beings nhabing it will be mad up,
in my estimation, by the hydrogen arising from vegetables
decaying 10 it, and uniting with the oxygen in thesmo
sphere will also be remembered that all the rvesof the
earth constantly carry quantities Of solid fpm the
land into the ake seas, and oceans, tending fill Up their
basins Mr.. p justly says if one thousand pounds water
were taken from the sea- and shell-sh and nsecs set to
work in it, the remaining water, after they had formed their
shells and rocks would both weigh less and occupy s space
than the quantity before they to work By this fact
affords him argument unless he supposes the hells and
rocks be tsken after they have been formed for all
be left together there will be no diminuon Of weight
volume, 80 far we know.
Notwithstanding the subsistence Of the all large
basins have idea that the actual quantity spptainng
our planet undergoing dminuton, any an that the
quantity Of air belonging to atmospheric is decreasing
The great omniscent and omnpoent Architec the Uni
versa made such bunglins work that Hsh.s mnst
amply provided the natural Of reproducing every
thing that is as were, consumed into combina
ton with other things For instance though oxygen
into combination with nitrogen form atmospheric air
with nearly all the metals forming their several oxdesand
united BY electricity in the Of air to form water, &C.,
yet oxygen supplied by the natural process Of vegetation in
such nexhausble quantities that the supply has yet su
fered no dmnution far know and the same OBJ
servaon may be made with regard to the aggregate quantity
of hydrogen, one Of the constituents Of water.
Supposing, Mr. r. nfers, from his reasoning that
the to bscome strait, or perhaps rivu
let" what would be the consequence 1t is well known
that the principal part Of the that falls from the atmo
sphere in the forms Of rain, hail. snow and dew, evapor
ated from the surface Of large bodies Of water while much
less especially Of the latter falls there than dry land
Now suppose the aggregate surface Of water on the earth
were to dwnde into insgni6cance, compared with what
now is and the quantity Of moisture precptated from the
atmosphere would become Insignificant in the same proper
ton vegetation would Of and animal life be-
come extinct for want Of sustenance
But the question, what the cause Of the subsidng Of the
waters In all great basins returns. have been informed BY
the oldest settlers Chicago that Lake Michigan has sub
sided very considerably within thirty forty years. In
swerng this question admonished, by the length Of this
article to state my hypothesis and submit few remarks
only without entering into any argument in its support
present. am also that my theory differs from the
hypothesis Of all geological WRITER'S at least from those whose
writings have read but think it amply supported by exist
ing facts.
is supposed by Lye and others that all considerable ee
vaons on the ear surface have been caused upheavngs
from beneath Now if the Andes, Aeghanes Appenincs
sc. were heaved up from beneath, there must be vacant
spaces underneath them equal the dimensions Of those vs
chains Of mountains for it difficult to imagine how
the vacues produced by the upheavngs have been
filed up, and geoogs has attempted to do What,
them is it that supports those mountains in their present posi-
ton We read Of the sinking Of low and comparatively level
ground during Patos Atlantis and the
ouay at Lsbon-bu history does record the disappear
ance Of single mountain far as know. It is said very
small islands have appeared the ocean, the result Of volcanic
action which might have been expected but where has
mountain, three or eight thousand, even fifty miles in
length ever been heaved from the bosom Of the deep Such
an instance is not on record.
is admitted all geoogsts that our planet was once in
ud and then in liquid state, and is yet in that condition at
no very great depth below the solid surface If this suppo
son confirmed BY indubitable evidence. be true, il will
count for the spherodal form Of the eah But this state
ensions were once much greater than at present. and
still decreasing provided its internal heat continue to be
dated as formerly fer all bodies diminish in size in proper
ton as heat leaves them Now, the rotation of fluid body
revolving on fixed axis would give it the spheroda FORM
But then it, surface regulated by The attraction Of It's
and the centrifugal force Of its PARTICLES would be regular
without any projection any where This smooth
ness Of the earhs surface 80 once was, will account for
al the principal geological appearances we now witness
l. The primary and oldest fossil remains are the e1uvia Of
she-h which found some high, II not the highest
mountains on our GLOBE and in such quantities prove they
were formed there when those places covered with water
They were the FIRST and isolated productions because the
earth was then 1T produce and sustain any Others
g. remains of vegetable origin, such strata Of
stonecoa the vast accumulaons Of which, in pacu
lar localities can only be accounted for the supposon
that vegetation much prolific in those regions
where they exist than at present.
g. Next come the fossil remains Of animals for the susie
nance Of which the earth does not aft d matera such
Is the mammoth the megatherium, the Sauan tribes &C.,
whose remains generally not exclusively, found IN the
temperate and south part Of the north frigid zones.
g. The last fossil remains those Of the human race,
which are by far the least abundant know thst the exist
ence Of these has been disputed but refer the
the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, VOL ], p. 422.
Now the deductions naturally following from the facts al
ready stated sre--
l. That the earth was peoped with senien beings in
successive gradaion its surface became suitable habsa
H u