The Kalida venture. [volume] (Kalida, Ohio) 1841-1865, 1851-04-04

lakes, y How countless the ages necces-
sary for rtbeir accumulation; when ihe |
.iormation. d only q few inches Of thel
strata required life and death Of manyl
generations! Here, Tie mind Is no'
merely carried back through immeasura-
BILE periods, but, while standing amidst
The petrifed remains of the succession
of primeyal forests, and the extinct races
Of animals piled up into sepdlchral
mountains, we seem TO be epcompassed
BY the thickest shadow Of The valley of (
death. .r9, iat.a =, -. ,,.'...fI /
umenis of deaiIl, we leave bshind' US
the last yestige ofland plants, aud pass
down 10 ihe old red sandstone. The
geological Character Of this vast forma-
lion, again, tells OF ages, inlnmerable. ~
FFor, though mapS Thousand feet in depth |
| Il is obviously derived from the materials |
of more T,rfie,l,a.n ancient rocRs fracinfea; decbthl
posed, ard Slowly deposited IN @atet.-
The gradual and quiet nature Of The
process, aud therefore lis immense dura
ton, are evident from the numerous
t.plalrorms Of death which mark its form
a,ion each crowded with organic struc-
lures which died where they are now
seen; and which, consequently, must
|haye persisted, by some destructive ogen-
cy. too sudden 10 allow Of their dsper-
sion, and yet SO subtle and quiet as 10
/ leave The place oftheir habitation, undis-
iurbed. +, - y, -
"Immeasurably far behind us as we
have already left the fir face Of the ex-
iant creation, while travelling into the
night Of ancient lime, we yet feel, as we
stand on The threshold Of The next, Sllu'
| rian system, and look down towards 'ihe
i foundations Of the earth That we are not
balf way on our course, Here on. sur
4 yeyiug the fossil structures. we are hrst
| struck with the total change ia the petit
! fed inhabitants OF the sea, as compared
\ with wba, we found in the mountain tain
limestone Implying The lapse OF long
periods Of lime. during the formation q
4 The intervening old red sandstone, which
we have iust left, But still more are
we impressed with the lapse Of duration,
while descending the long succession o'
strata, Of which this primary ioss'llfcr"us J.
, Is composed, when we think Of Their
slow derivation from the more anclcn,
rocks: Of their of repeated elevation and
!, depression; Of The long periods OF repose
= during which hundreds Of animal specie;
i ran through their generation, and be
! came exrffer, snd of the continuance Q
$ ibis stratify;ng process, until these TIM
= beds have acquired by union, the thick
:, ness of mile and a half. Next belov
- this, wo reach the .Camblian system, Q
!, almost equal thickness, and formed b
:; the same slow process. Here the grad
ir ual decrease Of animal remains admon
! ishes us, that even The vast and drear
= empire ofdealh has It's limits, and lha
H. We are now in lis outskirts. But thet
y Is a solitude greater than that Of ,h
- - boundess desert, and a dreariness NOR
:" rs impre i'm ssive Than Than that which reign
:, in a world entombed. On leaving TIL
:. slate.rocks of lhc Cambrian, aud descer
ID dino to those Of the Cnmbrian formation
Lo Lo we find ,ha; the worlds Of organl
nc No remains are past, and that we hav
ye reached region older than dea,h, be-
- cause older than lie itself Here
~ least il life ever existed, all trace
n lis obli,era,ed by the fusing power
Y, boo, below. In, we have not eve
= We, reached a resiing.place. Passlf
,nna down through the beds Of micha-schl'
- n Imrany thousand fe Il in depth, TO the gre
t., :" 'opnnaeiss formation, we find that we ha
u ". reachcd the limits Of qualification itse
,I' Tie granite masses below, of dep
y, which man can never explore, are n
- oonly crystalzing themselves, but the
,I,y a,y neous power acting through them, h
=, nartially crysalized the, rocks above.
~ Not oniy life, but the condition OF I |
a. ac are here at an end. ,.,os,r.,. 4. oa
ac' ".. Nov. is II possible for US 10 10
os from our ideal position, backwards a
H. H. upwards, TO the ten miles heighl-supi
nns sinp the strata to be piled regularly
i'm from Wnicn we nave uooeit uooeSiiaS"' -
feeling that we have reqched Po'n0t
80 49,, immeasuraaie remoteness in terreslt
ice ,jee. antiquity Can we think Of the soil soil
IL mans few thousand years, in con'r
@ ,rs with the succession Of worlds we hi
lon on passed through; Of the slow formation
~. each or these worlds on worlds, by
H. disintegratiop of more ancient mater e.
,@ss.l @ and Qheir subsistence ir water; OF
msIs MI .eaf.like thinness Of a great propo''
NN Of The strata; ofthe consequent now
bicb time necessary 10 form only few
.,'i;n pehdicular inches ofall these miles; s.
ien, Of the long periods Of alternate o, esva y,
! 80 and depression, action aud repoosses', " wi
~ mark their formation, without ackn,
'N edping that The days and years Of geo.
III The are ages and cycles Of ages! ~ LIE. !
MA conceive, If Eve can, that the atoms Of
sand Of these strata have formed the SAND sane
. ,hiDit t ao hour glass, and that each grain 9
= :, usi "a led d moment, and we may then n
N.SSS .s.. ,,,,,rc . ;noa tion IA the past perlOt