The Kalida venture. [volume] (Kalida, Ohio) 1841-1865, 1851-04-11
From the Philadelphia Saturday Express.
THE NATURAL SCIENCES.
THE EARTTl'S CRUST AND IT'S
if REVELATIONS. s,.

THE EARTH'S CRUST AND IT'S
| it REVELATIONS. .s,s
| q. THE PAST AND THE PRESENT.
REsEMBLANCEs AND DIVER, 1rIEs. From
what has preceded, it will at once be
inferred, that although the earth's history
reaches back through immeasurable
periods, we can nevertheless Judge with
considerable cer'ainty with respect to the
phenomena of the past. Organic remains
which have been apiIy termed by DR..
Mantell, "medals of Creation )" and
fossil footprints and water marks, give
as cerlan data for our investigations as
The ruins Of ,Egyp, or of Greece, or any
4 other ancient nation whose history has
been eli sed by the revolutions of former
lime. Ii is true that many particulars
ofpasi history must remain unknown !;
every ves'ige having been destroyed by
successive mutations, yet the grand out
Ines remni, mnrked out by m j,stic
and beaulifu IT ins. These us point out
aany points sofresemblance win The IRE
sent; and many d,versities. We have not
space to treat oflhem all, but shall content
curse Ives with few Of the most promin
. ent a#at Hnt ai
"'The first great fact respecting the
earth in what we may call The geological
ages is, that, as far as we can see, it was
in its main features, such a world as we
find it to be in our own time. 1t conss
led Of sea and land; there were un a,mos-
phere and light; and animals lived and
died, many of them preyng upon each
other as they now do. Rams, winds, and
rivers, operated then, as now, in wearing
down the land, and forming out of the
ma'eiias new strata in the bottom of the
sea. The operations by which mountain
ranges were formed, lavas distributed,
and disturbance effected in the stralifed
rocks, were in like manner identical in
character with the effects OF volcanoes
in the presen, day. There we're indeed
some differences, though not such as to
affect the general case. For example,
the seas in the earlcs: ages, were much
more extensive han they are now; this
is inferred from the vast extent Of surface
at present occupied by these rocks, which
evidently required equally extensive seas
for their deposition. 1t is also evident
| from the character ofihese ancient rocks
that III higher temperature existed
at the time Of their formation than wha
! is now experienced upon earth; and i
further appears at later time, that
heat now confined TO the tropics was then
diffused into medium and even pola
latitudes. Still, as has been SAID the
world was in the main such as il now is
And Of this, the memorials are in some
instances extremely curious. We find
for example, extensive surfaces Of stata
in quarries marked by the same ltle
wavy ridges which may at this day be
seen on any sandy beach after the ebb o
tide, These were formed exactly as
such wavy ridges are now formed. What
is now a platform OF hard rock was origin
ally sandy beach, along which the sea
rose and fell under the influence o
tides. A peculiar gentle agitation of,he
water when it was shallow, produced the
ripple mark there, as i: sill produces i
r on The shores of our seas. The surface
so marked being hardened before the
next tide, a quality of new sand brough
over il did not obliterate the marks, bu
merely covered ,hem, and formed ney
, LAYER above. Now this new layer nigh
! of course be expected TO be marked un
derneath by the wavy ridges of the sui
9 iacent layer; and such is actually tn
!. case. Quarrymen digging up sandston
formed unnumbered ages ago, find uppe
layers lnvariable presenting perfect cast
of the rpped s.race on which they rest
More Than this one may often remark a
, he walks after a shower along a sand
: beach, that the drops Of rain have pnies
: it all over with little holes, each hayin
the sand raised like the lips of Gu
around it. Nowthese holes have likewis
been, observed upon ripple marked rock
surfaces iu quarries, being Of course tn
, memorials OF showers which fell immedl
! ately after the sand now forming th
Irock was laid down in a soft state, No
is this all, for in some of these roc
! surfaces, the hollows being found TO hav
their lips raised higher on one side tha
! the other, as happens when rain is drive
by wind in particular direction, W
: have, il may be said, memorials of th
wind which blew, and ofthe point Of th
: compass from which il blew at the Tim
) when the rain fell upon these tablets, W
have here, i, must be admitted, the MOI
curious as well as convincing proofs tha
;, The meteorology Of the inconceivabl
q remote times under our notice, while Q
J. vet there were 20 human eyes TO not
;, Zines and s"-[Chambers' Rt
= nance of Geology.
Belonging TO thus early period-the Pa
eozoic age-we find fossils, general lly I
: the Lowest classes, which present b.
! little resemblance 10 the animals no
. living. The 'Trilobites, Of which man
genera have been discovered, hut whic
have all long since passed away; I'll