The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1853-02-11
LOCAL MATTERS.

| cvcxnav At THE ATHnNDUHs ON IuneDAT
ry-.rxe LAsr.-After expressing bis heartfelt
,r.tiscation a. seeing 90 many Of bis former pu-
Mia snd old friends present, the lecturer proceeded
"a sneak of the vast spread and influence OF know
lsdee q, the present day. The rays OF knowiedss
penetrated the remotess regions which civiizauou
had illumined. Its influence upon the naoi's sno
| actions of mankind was incslculabie; every noal
results were evolved.
| The lecturer passed to consider one OF tne SCI
enc ss of which it was object OF men 10 nsSo
/ knowledge-geology What were its desiensf-
| Much had been said of this science-sometimess 81
nricalIy and In repreach. Itproposed to point out
the past physical character of the globe for sueces
siye ares-to present to US the development % NE
aud iuanimate nature upon the surface Oh 'he
alobe-snd in ali the various revolutions to trace
out and SID succession OF sublime creations
| which as it were were grated in the sohd rock
| work of the globe. Another great purpose was 10
explore and develop the composition OF al the
| great rocky masses which constituted the surface
of the earth, and all those parts of the earth be-
| meath the surface which were accessible to human
enquiry, As to the latter he would notsay it could
ascertain the compo sition but it atten pied to ex-
pose the formative action Of the progressive mo-
difications Of strata beneath the surface; 1t also
| proposed to show what had been the great physi-
cal revolutions through which the earth had passed
/ and their cause-to trace the successive races OF
| living beings and things that peopled the waters
| and land of this globe-to show what have been
| the revolutions Of climate and the wondrous
changes of beings and things caused by those revo
lutions In all ages. These were among the great
| of in
| Geology was net casmogony. No true geologis,
| affected to know what had really been the origin
of the earth, VIVA, the great changes in the
earliest period OF its history-in other words, to
| know the exact conditions under which the crea-
tive fiat was made fruitful in the product OF earth
and its contents But geology proposed to deter
mine from certain known causes and their results
at the present time, the action of other causes in
former times, where said causes produced results
analogous to those now existing. He would show,
by plain course OF reasoning, how it was possible
to know what changes visited the esrths surface in
former periods.
The lecturer then illustrated his position by re.
ference to a simple record kept of the workings of
mines in Newcastle, Great Britain. A little piece
OF soluble stone was monthly laid aside, which was
complete record of what had been done and what
mad been omitted in the workings of mine
during said mouth. In the recesses of the mine,
water gushed cut from the strata, carrying with it
quantity OF material like the plaster of Paris and
as it collected in pools the water began to deposit
white s.ken sediment. So long the men
worked, clouds of black dust were raised, which
fell upon these pools, covering them When the
men ceased working, the atmosphere became clear
the whole sediment OF black powder was deposi.
ted at the oottom-snd white film of plaster was
formed On top of the pools. Thus for every work
ing day there was black deposit-and every day
of rest or idleness, white deposit. This sediment
became hard, and Oh being taken up monthly,
furnished the Miners Almanac for the thirty days
This was what geology did larger SCALE 1t
told US what had been the periods of repose, of &C
tivty of violent action in nature-the periods Of
Gains, of storms of tornadoes. 1t was mans prl.
vege to his intellectual faculties in the inter.
probation OF nature.
The lecturer then proceeded to make reference
to the composition OF tine hills of Richmond by way
Of Illustration and comparison. Where the au.
dience then Stood the rolling pillows OF an ancient
ocean once fowed-po werful upheaving action and
volcanic fires, poured cut molten rocks upon the
a coast line. During that ancient period those wa.
ters teeued with countless myriads Of minute ami
mails, whose shells Deposited, for successive ages
how long he could not say-had hesped up these
high banks of white clay that the people of Rick.
mond saw Oh both sides of the Valley.
This locality of Richmond was becoming noted
in the geology of the world, and particu larly for
the beds of iuers clay, which every good house
wife understood the use of, and which was used so
extensively-that lay beneath large portion Of
the city, and which showed itself along the cut or
flank of the hill between Church Hill and Shcckoe
Creek, ir breadth of from 10 to 40 feet And
this clay was composed of microscopic shells ex-
Quisitely beautiful and perfect in all their parts
and wonderous in structure. Not only this, but it
was a species of tripoli, or polishing agent, and
would polish almost as good as any ordinary pol.
ishrg powder. And all these microscopic shells
were composed of pure flint and not of tho sub.
stance Of common shells go that when q portion
Of the clay was used, it as if ten millions of
flint chisels were at work upon the surface to which
they were applied. How were they made of flint :
Why all the microscopic animalcula that inhabited
these shells, were of character that Inhabited
none bat fintshels. And these shells bespoke
that they did not grow land, or in lakes or riy
ers. The naturalist knew them well-and that
they were the relics of the ancient habita,ious of
marine animals They proved to US one of the
positions already stated, that where we now stood
the biAows of ancient ocean flowed. and its
mighty surface was broken against the granite
rocks of the falls Of the James river.
Thelecturer said that the layers above this white
clay and sand infusoria contained no shells what.
ever, as an inspection of some of the ravipes al.
jacent to the city would prove. They could see
the ghosts of shells-the spaces which they once
had occupied in the masses of clay and sand even
now. Whist became of these shellsi Below thesa
layers, as could be seen at the foot of Church Hill
and interpreted through the mass of white CLAW
and sand, would be found common plaster of Paris
or that which was akin to it, produced by the chem
ical action Of carbonic acid He would show them
how wonderfully industrious this acid had been
and wha. it was now doing There could be IL .
question that in the hollows te which he had allud
ed, there once reposed shells-and their distinctive
impressions proved them to be salt water shells
The operation of the carbonic acid in the clay upon
these shells destroyed them and In this way their