The Santa Fe weekly gazette. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.T. [i.e. N.M.]) 1851-1854, 1852-12-11

ing panorama, where the scenes, ever
varying, are still instructive; lesson of
wisdom, enabling us in the crystal dew,
OF the rainbow arch, the flower span
ged prairie Or the majestic forest, the
coral ledge or the expanded continent,
to behold an infinite Redeemer.
The snblimIty of science is seen in
the beauty and grandeur Of the universe.
rhe vast and the minute, the illmitable
and the microscopic, the gigantic NAM
moth and the Smalle.t insect, the huge
ocean king and the almost invisible CO.
raj a, imalculae. the wide waste of wa
tels, the snow-crested mountains, the
far.reachins plains and channeled val
leys,--this cath, where tile ice pillars
are shining, the crystal waves dashing,
the green carpet growing, the saud
clouds burning, and lhe iunumerabIe
heavenly orbs giitering with radiated
or reflected light-are among some of
the subimitipS which deck the temple
of science.
But this study is not alone connected
with the present. Through it we c,n
trace animate and inanilnate nature back
to their origin, read their history, and
understand their use. We admire the
snblimity of a mass of icy mountains, Of
Niagara, Of a ldya.breathing volcano,
and of FurionSIy circliug maelstrom.-
We vi-w, as sketchlngS Of tue Sublime
in nature, an ocean SunliSe,a lightning
veincd Storm-cloud, and the northern
sky sill, sheet,d with the radiant Az.
FORA, All these excite in The soul its
strongest emotions. Bat diversified as
tbeyappear, beautfIiland thrilling as are
her natural splendors when ,iewcd by
lie light of the sciences, yet they are
only very few of the many grand
scenes which our globe has presented
from its first ,olving to the present Iimr.
Science reveals that the world had
been in existence msriads o! years be.
fore the time of Adam-tlat before the
present races of animals aud plants had
been created, there were several dis
tinct creations, each existing many thou
sand years, shat at the terminating
and commencing of each, the world was
convulsed, continents sank and ocean
beds upheaved- volcanos were quench-
ed and new ones lighted rivers chang
ed their courses, aud seas and lakes
were formed anew. She tells us that
this earth was once a partially melted
: ball of lirp-again it was somewhat ev-
olved, but the boiling ocean and molten
crust told still! of internal heat. AnolIt-
: er period finds mountains, plains, rivers
and valleys, but not veslIge of animate
life inhabits it, The sun rose and set
on verdurelesS continent and tenant
less sea. Another revolution, and life
came. 4 few species of plants deckrd
the stoney and the crystal edged rock,
and varieties of shcK- fill first sporird
amid the slf on the lake and The ocean
shores. Ano,herand anoIhcrrevouton.
the earth at each successive period be-
, coming more and more peparedfo high.
er orders; and finally, after the last con-
| vulSion, oceans and seas were placed
within their present limits, tue latest
races of animals and plants created, ant
Gods crowning work, Man, brca'hec
the breath of life.
Such is Science as she reads the bis.
tory of our earth Is ii doubted? 1t i,
> written IN eternal characters upon oul
. gigantic mountains, amid our massive
! qnarries, within our massive cavenS
,, and alongoul boulder pathways With
. in the beds of solid rock, beneath oui
hills and plains, the physical history o
: our globe is legbly inscribed, and BY th'
aid of science that history can be plain
y read. 1t shows where land and SCI
were found uncounted years ago. |
tells us without the aid of revelation
that Niagara has rolled over those jut
ting rocks for thousands Of years.
i II tells us that in this western region
: where now the tops of high hills appear
9 once existed broad plain, and that al
the inequalities of surface the del
where the fountain springs, or the deeI
d valley where the river Aows-have al
been channeled out by natural causes
during the protracted flight of time. |
! records an era when our temperate
: zones glowcd with the warmth Of III,
burning tropics, and gigantic palms ant
) ferns, and club-mosses luxuriantly vege
: tated; and again it tells us of a time
when every hillside, nook and moantaii