Randolph County journal. [volume] (Winchester, Randolph County, Ind.) 1855-1862, 1858-08-12

altogether competent to fill. Having
q mind thoroughly learned, and being
in its true sense, practical man. his
peer is not easily found.
Age and Destiny of the World.
The following is the conclusion Of a
remarkable paper by Prof. HelmhOltz.
Of Bonn. translated by Prot. Tyndall,
and published in the London Philo-
sophical Magazine. The subjec, is
The Natural Action of Natural
Forces" The extract on great and
narrowly understood subject will prove
interesting to the reader
Men are in the habit Of measuring
the greatness and the wisdom of the
universe by the duration and the profit
which it promises to their own race:
but the past history Of tie earth al
ready shows what an insignificant mo-
ment the duration Of the existence of
our race upon it constitutes. A Nine
veh vessel, Roman sword awakes in
us the conception of gray antiquity
What the museums of Europe show
us of the remains Of Egypt and Assy-
ria we gaze on with silent astonish-
ment, and despair of being able to car
ry our thoughts back to a period so
remote. Still must the human race
have existed for ages, and multiplied
itself, before the pyramid of Nineveh
could have been erected We estimate
the duration of human history at six
Thousand years; but immeasurable as
this time may appear to us, what is II
in comparison with the time during
which the earth carried successive Sc
ries of rank plants and mighty ami
mails, and no men; during which, in
our neighborhood, Germany the
amber-tree bloomed and dropped its
costly gum on the earth and the sea;
when in Siberia, Europe and North
America groves of tropical palms
flourished; where gigantic lizards, and
after them elephants, whose mighty
remains we still find buried in the
earth, found home?
Different geologists, proceeding
from different premises, have sought to
estimate the duration Of the above cre-
ative period, and vary from a million
to nine million years. And the time
during which the earth generated or
ganic beings is again small when we
compare it with the ages during which
the earth was ball Of fused rocks
For the duration of its cooling from
two thousand degrees TO two hundred
degrees ccntigrade, the experiments Of
Bishop upon basalt show that about
three hundred and fifty million of years
would be necessary. And with regard
TO the time during which the first neb-
ulous mass condensed into our plane
tary system our most daring conject-
ures must cease The history Of man.
therefore, is but short ripple in the
ocean OF time For much longer Sc
ries of years than during which man
has already occupied this world. the
existence Of the present state Of inor-
ganic nature favorable to the duration
of man seems to be secured, so that
for ourselves and for long generations
after us we.havc nothing to fear. But
the Same forces Of air and water, and
Of the volcanic interior. which pro-
duced former geological revolutions,
and buried one series Of living forms
after another, still act upon the eaith's
crust. They more probably will bring
about the last day of the human race
than those distant cosmicsl alterations
Of which we have spoken, and perhaps
force us TO make our way for new and
more complete living forms, as the
lizard and mammoth have given place
to us and onr fellow creatures which
now exist. Thus the thread which
has conducted us to universal law OF
nature, TO our own race permits long
bat not az eadless existence; it threat
ems it with day of judgment, the
dawn Of which is still happily obscur-
ed. AS each Of US singly mus; endure
the thought of his death, the race mus,
endure the same. But. above the
forms Of life gone by. the human race
has higher moral problems before it.
the bearer of which it is, and in the
completion OF which IT fulfils It's des.