Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1853-04-21

has been secured by the wise and benev-
olent prescience and provision of the Gre
ator
Veins Of metal have been produced in
the rocks by geological laws; whether
they were raised in vapor from below, de-
posted by fusion, or by galvanic secre-
ton. From the solid veins of quartz or
the vein stone, whatever it may be, they
have been often detached, or rather the
vein has been broken up, and thus the
metal has become alluvial This is par
ticularly true of California, where the
gold is found chiefly in this condition,
although it is found also in the regular
veins in the rock.
Salt, the great antiseptic of the ocean,
was doubtless formed originally from its
elements, sodium and chlorine. Potas-
sium also, ard calcium, and magnesium,
metallic bases, whose compounds in the
saline form with chlorine, iodine, bromine,
and perhaps fourine, contribute to the
saline character Of sea water, are always
present, more or less, along with cannon
salt
The original ocean must, therefore, of
necessity, have been saline; with such ele-
ments there could have been no other re-
suit; and this state of things made it ne
cessary that the earlist created beings,
both vegetable and animal, should be
marine. This accords exactly with the
earlist fossilliferous rocks, those marine
deposits of vast thickness below the coal
1t was impossible that there should be
any fresh waters as long as there was no
land elevated above the waves. The e.
vaporated water rising to be condensed
into rain would, Of course, become again
saline as it fell into the ocean.
But as soon as the mountain-tops and
contiguous lands were elevated, then rills
and brooks of fresh water would be pro-
duced on the surface to refresh the new
ly-created terrestrial vegetation, and, per-
colating through the strata, they began
to form reservoirs in the ground, and ever
and anon, fountains and springs of water
would rise from the earth, and, after
washing away the salt which remained
IIOIil IIlC dHCitIlJ SuDlutI Slcjiy pei olSllI
sources of fresh water would be supplied
and since that era, they have never ceas-
cd.
The elevation of the land was neces-
sary to place the mineral materials of the
earth within the reach Of man. A globe
mathomatically regular would have re-
quired the most painful and expensive
boring and mining in order to discover,
reach and raise the substances most use
full to man. But now the sides of the
hills and the mountains often disclose
their treasures to the eye, and lateral
galleries, mines, and quarries are made
with facility among the solid strata, and
the water runs of by natural declivity.
The elevation Of the land was necessa-
ry to create hydraulic power. Had the
globe been only regular sphere there
would have been neither rills, brooks,
rivulets, or rivers; nor springs and foun-
tains, nor artesian wells, nor moisture so
near the surface as to nourish vegetation,
and, Of course, animal life. No wheels
could revolve by falling water, except
from trifing reservoirs, painfully elevated
by man, and frequently renewed, as a
miserable substitute for the magnsfcent
and powerful hydraulics established by
the Creator.
The elevation of the land has produced
all the variety of grand and beautiful
scenery by which the earth is adorned
4 round world, without hill, or plain, or
mountain, or valley, would have been
tame and monotonous in the extreme.
Had the world been composed of only
one kind Of materials, for instance a
world Of granite alone, or Of marble, or
Of iron, or even of gold, $50 much DESIRED }
who could have lived in it?
All the variety which God has given it
is equally necessary to sublimity and
beauty of scenery, as to utility in the arts
and economy of human life.
The elevation of the land produced
variety Of climate. The highest noun
tains, even under the equator, show an
arctic winter on their icy summits-a
winter which never relents-and a tropi-
cal climate exits at their feet, while be-
tween these extremes are the climates of
the temperate zones; and all the vegeta-
bic productions, above and below, are in
perfect correspondence. Groups of snowy
like Mount Blance and the
Alpine ranges, are perpetual sources of
fertility to the countries below. Cloud
less and sunny Lambardy, Piedmont and
Tuscany maintain splendid verdure and
produce rich crops by the vast natural
and artificial irrigation from the neigh
boring Alps, while in the old United
States proper, we have no such reservoirs
to regulate the flow Of our rivers
The elevation Of the land, by exposing
the tops of the hills and mountains to
disintegration and washing down, affords
our clays, gravel, sand, and soils; and all