Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1866-05-31
A ANR saEoI1aI.

o1E PRodREss.
"The earth moves" said Copernicus'
and so it does, and will, no matter who
says no; and our knowledge Of its size,
shape, and motions issbecoming strangely
altered also. Not many years ago we
were oil taught that the earth was round
like an orange and Aattened at the poles
But now all this is superseded. 1t is not
orange, but lemon shaped, elongated at the
poles, we are told. Whether this ia caused
BY the shrinkage of the earth in gradually
cooling of, and whether this is the proper
mode Of accounting for the upheaVal. Of
those lines Of mountains running length
wise of our continent, such as the Rocky
Mountains, the Alleghenies, the Sierra
Nevada, ETC., we need not pretend to
guess; but that there must have oeen'
ages ago, q shrivelling up on mt hand, or
an elonga,ion on the other, is becoming
quite clear. There have also been periods
Of intense action, followed BY periods Of
long reposes-periods when our present
tropics were covered with vast fields Of
Ice for ages, and others, when England
and all Europe had q tropical climate
periods, in fact, when the earth's axis
mus, have been different from what it is
at present. All this is clear enough.
Blu, some Of the astronomical changes
and relations Of our planet are also meet.
ing now with separate study, for this is
no more steadfast science than geology
It has long been known that the moons
motion was being very slowly accelerated,
and that our months were really shorter;
and this was all laid to another well.
known fact: that the earth's orbit was
gradually approaching more perfectly to q
circle. This would account, it was found,
for Just one.half Of the moons accelera-
ton. But Mr.. Adams. the astronomer.
ha, not only proved this, but he has also
shown that the other half is due to the
very slow and gradual frightening out, Of
the day, so that in the last W thousand
years each day is n and one.6fth per
cent, Of Il second longer than 1t was in
days Of julius Cesar.
Such is the substance Of the latest assro.
nomical knowledge exhibited in the Lon
don Atheneum. The SAME paper also
contains some brilliant speculations as to
the future geological history Of our planet,
derived from its past known history.
Biologists Of high reputation shrink from
the inquiry, and yet it u and will be
though, Of, and from admitted facts we
may form a sort of analogy Of geology for
the future. It may, for instance. fairly be
supposed that the present distribution OF
sea and land will not always remain. New
islands are at this moment being thrown
up in the Mediterranean. There was for
merly q continent on what is now the bed
Of the Atlantic, and there may be one
again. What the effects Of these changes
will be upon the climate, who shall tell !
but they must exert a modifying influence
in the distribution Of all the future plants
and animals on the globe, in the diminu-
ton of some and Encouragement Of all
BY slow degrees Of the whole-the exter.
mination of certain genera and species, and
the increase and modification of others.
The whole history of the past shows us
that amid this universal instability Of all
things esteemed most solid and enduring
mountains and continents, oceans, days,
months, years and climates-there is q
steady plan of progress visible, as guiding
the whole course of nature and Of time
From the minutest plant Or animal to the
very highest, the law runs on, ever OF pro-
gress from the simpler to the more com.
pick, from the imperfect toward perfection
The vertebrate animals advance more rap
idly than the invertebrate, the warm.
blooded than the cold. blooded, man than
all other animated beings.
To what extent will all this affect the
future of man on this earth: Men are
reluctant to part with any characteristic
feature they now possess, nor can they
conceive of any perfection that will com
pensate for that. And yet man doe:
change and is changing from savage to
civilized. The race is growing, and grow
ing most of all through hopefully antici.
pating the coming good and working to.
ward it. Prof. Owen says, "Hypothesi.
cally, I would remark that man is no,
likely to preserve his present condition
longer than contemporary species theirs.
The present characters Of the human kind
are likely to be sooner changed than those
of the lower species existing; and with
such changes Of specific character, If it
should be in the ascensive direction, there
might be associated powers OF penetrating
the problems of zoology, SO far transcend.
ing those Of our present condition as to be
equivalent to a different and higher phase
of intellectual action, resulting in what
Nigh. be termed another species Of zoologi-
cal science. And so it is that the zoolosist
sees in the future man a higher geological
character, and each man sees in the future
a higher, brighter, broader holy manhood,
according to what is in him to discern OF
| the future.
RxpoRr OF THE PRovosr MARSHAL
GzSsRAL.-The repor. OF Provost Marshal
General Fry, which has just been for