The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1867-02-23

Prof Wm.Dehton, Of Massachusests de-
livered the first Of z series Of lecturss,la
evening, n the music hall ef the opera house,
on the subject OF Colorado and It's mineral
t8eso6rees3 The lecture aVas delivered 70 q
large audience, and being preliminary. It was
on the subject Of general geology
aiaIla6 lecturer eo1nmeneed by the statement
that Biographies yTerezthe most interesting of
books, and Of these autobiOgraplIies were the
best, and be came to present the autobio-
graphy Of our planet, or to- trace the history
bof tAc earth from It's ihfaneyto the present
btime a5 sse1 sdi 3. .f5lfl Ball
! - The earth was so1cef 81 mass OF fiery matter
in a liquid form. The evidence is abundant
aud demohstrAtise that tiis is SO. The IN
4 efesls q Of heat asavc 10 toward the center of
the earth is an evidence of this foR about
every fifty feet the heat Of the earth inerea-
ses one degree.
At the Depth Of forty miles the heat would
be between 80o0and 1000 degrees. Deep
i copper and coal mines and all deep arte-
sian wells show this, Another evidence of
4 the interior heat Of the earth is the presence
4 of bot springs IN various parts OF the earth.
The shape of tue globe furnishes evidence Of
lits former huiditv. The motion Of the earth
upon its axis has. tlaftcned It ut the poles, bat
+ to allow it to take this shape it must have
I been fluid, and If It was fluid, 1t was so be-
cause of its molten. condition Volcanoes
/ furnish another evidence OF she earth IN
ternaI huidity. They are the ehimnies go
ing down to the central fires. Volcanoes are
I found in all zones aud ali continents
The crust OF the earth bears the same pro-
/ portion to the auid portion that an egg she'll
/ does to the Interior Of the egg me ancient
4 volcanoes are always larger than the recent
ones. and while the active volcanoes are only
/
| extinct ones are numbered by thousands,
/ Hence volcanoes IN ancient times must have
/ been more frequent than at present Eartl-
+ tduakes are still another evidence Of internal
] fires. There Is an earthquake somewhere on
/ the surface Of the earth every three days.
/ Imagine the condition of the earth's IN
terror Go through sand and lime and clay,
1 to the gnsiss to the mica till the rocks be-
! come warm; still deeper Is the copper,
/ deeper yet we find tons of pure gold. Deeper,
/ deeper, and the light begins to dawn, for the
rocks are glowing : still deeper, and you stand
on the shores of the molten internal sea 1t
/ is calm as a mirror yet there are sometimes
storms on that seattle result Of an earth
/ quake on the surface It may be that cleo
tricity causes this agitation, but nothing is
certainly known Of its eause.r The earth
was once, an entire mass of molten Ere. It
] is inconceivable how long It has taken To
cool it. Lava has moved down the sides of
-Etpa nine years after it was elected, and
/ lava thrown from Jarulla, In Mexico, 100
/ years ago, is hot yet How long, then, must
/ It have taken to cool the earth surface TO its
i present temperature! All the water on the
/ surface of the earth now was then vapor or
gas, held in the atmosphere. After time
the vapors were condensed to water and the
! seas and oceans were formed. a'1he rocks
were bare and rugged. p, Then was the period
EQf gigantic geySeTs. at this -tlme the tOun-
dations of the world were laid77-the granite
was then crgstalized and granlte - the basis
Of all rocks. At this time there was n9 life
on the globe, and It was long before life made
it's appearance. Mountains were raised,
valleys depressed, the rains, .decendeds and
wore down the Old rocks and ehussthe newer
rocks were formed First 4 this series of
rocks came the metdnbgrphie racks--roois
that are stragi6eds but yet have. been changed
BY heat. In this wearing process alluded to,
the quartz in the granite formed sandstone
and quartzibe the mica formed Inlcaschlsbi
the fsIdspar formed slate. 8lla wsa ss7
~ After the metamogphie rocks. come the
silurian rocks. Ia these are the first re-
mains of living things in the shape of fossils.
Sometimes tbs flahtical thing is found in q
petriied state, Sometimes. oi5s = easb35 only
sometimes merely the loot-maTk Of tue animal
Without fossils the history Of the earth
could never have been searched out They
silurianI rocks in Ensland are 5000 feet in
thickness. We know that they, are Of this
depth by the uplifting or tiltlng OF them IN
the mountain RANGES, where their width or
depth can actually be seen III, this way the
order Of the strata have been observed ttat
lie even ten miles below the surface. IN the
siBrian times there. were no land animals
and no land plants, except y Few unosses that
are found at the surface of these strait.
Life began IN the ocean, Itbeganin tue low
form Of polyps and fucoids. Then follows
shells Those on mountains and rocks en-
tirely composed of shells. The stones used
Ia fag6ing the walks Of Chicago belong TO
the silufIth period In this period smells
grew larger than they have ever since. Speei-
mens58f orthocstltite have been found in
Wfseosfsin twelve inches in diameter and
twelve feet in length The FIRST appearance
of fishes is found in the upper layers ofthe
silurian deposit called the NLndlow bono
beds" The next layer IS called the Devon
lam This Is mostly composed Of the old
red sand stone This. period has been called
the age of fishes from the immense number
that are found IN It. ledge OF Deyonlan
r0eksfs TO be seen at louisville, Ky. In this
rock is found a coral that looks like honey
comb and this shoney7eomb E0el contains
oil On the stones Of the Second PresBy-
terian church Of this city may be seen this
oil Oozing from their surface The great oil
rocks are all heloR the coaibeds. phe oil
does not come from coal -Itis "a product OF
the coral polyp, which. sE0redzib up IN cells.
Pressure from the surlacs of the earth above
has broken these cells and dalyen tue Oh into
reservoirs a8fsrsel5 Idt a crosses
Next to the DeYonian period comes the
3 YcarboBifeFOus formation. The coal was
formed in marshes. Its found in baslT1s---
/ in some cases in Illinois these basins arc no
more than Eve miles IN diameter others are
one hundred miles in diameter. These coal
measures consist Of layers Of coal inteEstFati-
/ fed with limestone. Ia these rocks geolos
+ gists have found the first reptiles
+ Next to the carboniferoua comes the per
/ main, or triassic, or saliferOus formation, the
latter name being derived from The salt that
T is found In these rocks. 1n tho Conneeueut
/ valley these rocks are found in abundance,
and il them have been discovered the tracks
/ Of az least sixteen varieties OF birds, some