The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1859-06-08
From the Scientific Artisan. /
The Are and Destiny Of the Earth

Inc are ana Destiny Of the Earth.
The following j. the conclusion Of q re-
msrksbIs paper BY Professor H-lmhols. Of
Bonn, trsnsIated BY Professor Tyud,ll. end
published 10 the London Philosophical Mage.
zine. Tae subject is. "The Natural Action
o' N'.ursl Furces.' This extract on great
and narrowly understood subject will prove
interesting to the reader:
Men are In the habit OF measuring tbe
greatness and the wisdom of the universe b.
the duration aud the profit which il promises
70 their own race; but the past history Of
the Earth already shows whst an insigni6.
cant moment the duration Of the existence
Of our race upon II constitutes. A Nineveh
vessel, r ,insn sword. swskes in " the
conception Of gray antiquity.
What the Eo'opesn Museums show US or
the remains Of Egypt and Arsyria We gaze
on with silent sstonishmeni. and desp-ir OF
being able 10 carry our thoughts back to :
period 80 remote. Sill must the human
race have existed for sges. and multiplied
itseif before the pyramid Of Nineveh wss
erected. We estimate the duration Of hu-
man history At six thousand years; but, i'm
measurable % this may seem to Us. what is
i in comparison with the time which tho
earth carried successive series OF rank
plants and mighty animals. and no men;
during which 10 our neighborhood Ger
many the amber.tree bloomed and dropped
is costly gum on the earth and 10 the sea;
while in Siberis, Europe and North Ameri-
CO. groves Of tropical plants Aourlshed.
where gigantic lizsrds, end after them ele-
phsnis, whose mighty remsins We 6aJ bu-
ried in the earth. found home.
Different geologists, proceeding from dif-
ferent premises, have sought to estimate the
duration Of the above created period, and
vary from milli,n to nine MILL n years.
All the time during which the earth geners-
led organic beings is again small. when We
compare il with the ages during which the
earth was ball Of fused rocks. Fur the
doss'ioa of - eooliug isom sws sAsusasd %
'wo hundred eentiessde, the experiments Of
Bishop upon basslt show that about three
hundred and fifty millions Of yesrs would Be
necessary. And with regard 10 the time
which the fret uebulous mass condensed in
70 our planetary syslem. our most daring
conjectures must c. ase. The history Of
man, 'herefcre.i is but short ripple in the
course Of time. For much longer series
oi years than that during which man has
already occupied this world, the existence
4 the present state u inorganic nature
favorable 10 the duration of man secms TO
be secured, 90 thst Tor ourselves and Tor
long generations after Us we have nothing
10 fear.
But the same forces or air and water. and
The whole volcanic in erior. which produced
former geological revoIo ior. and buried ono
series Of living forms after smother, oct still
upon The esrlh's crust. They will, more
bring sbont The last day OF the hu-
nan race, than iho<e distant cosmicle alter.
atoms Of which We have spoken. and per-
'aps force us 10 make way for more COM
'lete living forms. as the lizard and tho
mammoth hsvs given place 10 Us and our
which now exist. Thus she
hresd which has conducted rs to universal
sw Of nature, permits q long but not an
'ndless existence; il threatens Il with :
lay Of judgment, the dawn Of which is still
apply obscured. AZ each cf ~ must
'ingly endure the thought oi his death, the
ace must endure the same. But above the
crms u life gone By, the human rsce has
'ieh moral problems before II. The bearer of
which i is. and in the completion Of which
I fulfilIs its destiny.