New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-02-16
ACCORDANCE OF ASTRONOMY AND
GEOLOGY WITH SCRIPTURE.
BY PROF. A. GUYor.

Cosmooonjc Lectures was delivered on. Friday ngns
=, Hone Chanel, before good audience. The SUB
,ct for the evening was the Second, or Geological
Period ,nclusine the last three days OF the Creation
| as recorded by Moses.
The Professor referred to the frs! lecture as ex.
planning the first great period OF creation, relating
especially TO the organization OF the Celestial Uhi-
verse This second lecture was to embrace the or
gsnic period, the origin OF vegetable and ANNA
hfe Science gives very clear commentary on
the simple words OF Moses these words Of Moses are
bref and not in detail You have seen that the
original state Of matter, chaos, was gaseous, and
all the most learned teachers OF Astronomy, Geol-
ogy and Natural History agree in this. The first de-
velopmen, is the manifestation Of light, as Her
shells examination Of the Nebule establishes, mex.
s the division of matter, the separation of waters
hom waters; tbs is taught by Laplace and Al
txander. Chemistry, or mechanical geology, gives
us the third work, or consolidation of matter into
tie globe, and all the globes, of which there
told millions, and the consequent appearance OF
land above or lii the waller. In the beginning OF the
second period, find that the work Of the fourth
DAY to belong to the preceding epoch that 49,
the formation and regulation of our solar system
God now made the sun, Moon and stars or made
Them TO appear. Here is the first establishment OF
DAY and night and OF seasons, the regular success
Of which is so necessary to the life of the ant
al creation This succession of night, cay seasons
Jsals, is the real basis Of the animal creation with
cut H. no he would have been possible. During
Il @ preceding epoch there were immense changes
81 matter, sudden changes or coDtrdctionS III The
SIZE OF the earth sudden increase OF rOtatory mo-
ton 10 stdDility-the whole globe at times IN
caroescent mass. These things. could not take
. ace without terrible heat, and equally terrible
pay seal coDvulsiOns, aid OF course no animal life
con tie Looked for. But y-andby this subsidies the
taIth sOidhes, coels becomes steady in its notion
ard now for The first time We may have regular day
and hight Of "a hours and just at this moment Just
seen as 1t can be done, the succession of light
and darkness and seasons is established. But why
u it SAID that God MADE the Sun and Moon, &c, at
that time, when it would seem that they we're already
adei The word employed In the Hebrew signifies
not "creatiOn," but the making to appesT"-,he
further manifestation OF the thing already created
There are but three instances III which the Hebre
word for creation (bara is employed in this chapter
viz In announcing the creation OF the heavens, the
creation of animal life, ard the creation of the hui
man soul. The Professor further explained the re-
laiion of the Hebrew verbs which translate
created" and made, but it is hardly expresslble
so to be understood by the casual reader and we
iced Hebrew characters 10 eucidate the philolo.
ev. From the argument adduced, the Professor con-
GUIDED that the work OF the fourth day was not a
creation, but only development Of bodies already
created. He again referred to Laplace's theory Of
the creation. The outermos! planets IN all systems
were formed first and came to state of perma nence
Instability earlier than those the center.
Thus in our sy stem, Neptune (of ali the planets yet
discoveIed) was the first cTeated-the result Of the
tIeakDg up the first great ring which encirced the
matter shrank up under the influence of the mighty
chemical forces set to work when the spirit of God
moved over the face of the great deep. Alter Nep-
iune, Hersheli or Uranus broke from the parent
Chaos and then Saturn, Jupiter, &c, do vi to the
sun itself. The Earth, then, must have been once
Tie same state that the Sun now is that is, in
highly gaseous or uncOndensed condition. We
may refer TO the Sun Tor moment. We now see
frequent and variable spots on the face of the Sun,
fro M which we infer tina, the Sun is still enyeloDed
in robe or atmosphere OF luminous gas under
800. A.,lr al d.. a..
TIE body of the Sun. When the gaseous robe or
cloud is rent, We see the opaque and rsyless body
OF the Sun itself. What is the luminous robe OF the
sun 1t is the original gases under the powerful
action of electrical forces, which electricity is in
visible in Opaque SubstaUc es but becomes highly
luminous in rare atmosphere or III a vacuum He
explained this by the common electrical light or the
production of a continuous and vivid spark from
electrical machine AS the Sun is not yet cooled
down like the earth, this electrical action is still
very powerful, and, radisng in every direction, en-
robes the orb in the luminous atmosphere which sur
ROUNDS it. And the Sun no " is, so the earth has
neen at one period OF its formation In the very first
cay OF creation, as soon as the earth had become
globe ty ITSELF II was surrounded by this electrical
and luminous atmospheIe-there was light, equase
constant and brilliant light not from the Sun, for
that does not appear until the fourth day-does not
appt az until the arh is cooled and the electricity
thiown off has become too faint to illuminate the
upper atmosphere With regard to the production
OF this electricity, science has no doubt The fact
of lis production shows that the first at.
mosphere must have been exceedingly acid,
because OF the precipitation OF the alkaline
bases. These bases, corroding In the acid
gases, and settling to the first crust Of the earth,
produced precisely the effect OF An immense fre.
The earth, then, in the frst and portion Of the
second period, was In this state. And we have,
now, In the Aurora B0realis, remnant OF this.
Electric currents passing off at the poles into cold
and highly Iarifed atmosphere, is the most probable
reason of the Aurora, which is now generally con-
sideIed to be the vanishing points OF currents OF
electricity reaching far above the earth and minsng
in sufficient quantity TO become visible. The earth,
then, Deedec not indeed could not receive the light
of the the light of the third day was this elecr-
cal robe; and only when the cooling Of the globe
DESTROY ed the of this, was the sun necessary
and here the fourth day II made to appear It's In
this fourth day that the natural forces came to an
equilibrium, and earthbecame fitted to receive animal
life Aperiod OF such consequence fifty placed at the
beginning of the second great division OF creation
the first person In the second great Trinity OF Gene
SIS We pass now 10 the geological understanding
of the last three DAYS Of the week OF creation. we
Lave no more to look above the soil under our feet
contains all the facts which we seek. The crust OF
the earth is composed of succession OF layers,
which we find have peculiar characters always the
same, and always clearly defined Fist and lowest
have the primitive rocks, the GRANTEES, the gneiss
and the states which belong to the earliest period OF
deposit These contain no traces OF animal or yege-
tab e life, nor Of the action OF water. The second
sefies-caled the Silurlan system, from slurus,
species OF fsb)-embraces sandstone, pebbles, con-
Ciomerates, and holding In everlasting petrefacton
the earliest organic life OF which we have any
knowledge or susplcion-the great whales" as Mo-
ses using generic term, calls them. This Siluran
deposit especially conspicuous the eastern por-
uon of this Comment. Next comes the vast layer
of limestone and upon this, the coal beds which
the product of the rank and gigantic vegetation
OF the third and fourth Gays. Above the coal, IS
another strata of sandstonenot so thick as the older
one then an immense thickness OF Limestone, espe.
c ally prominent IN the Continent OF Europe ana
ASA Above this have the O0litc Tor uRce-
meL,ed) masses, the tertiary lmesioaes and
&C, glomerates, and finally the drift or dllu-
yum which IS the surface OF the earth
al The present oay and which is constantly posted
by floocs ard tides and rivers And this order OF de-
posl is regular there is no reversal, no transposl'
ton il is everywhere the same. IL rs, therefore,
ob,lous that they represent ages peIioos OF devel
Cpinent the rings Ia the body OF tree represent
the years Of its existence. The mlAeralceical de-
yelCpment is very irregular IN some strata there IS
,nuch In otherS n,tle or mono at All But although