The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1868-10-27

account u the causes of earikqaake'
add volcanoss. and ~ the nses the,
serve iot mankind. and We in tnri
Abridge tro'n The oo,amns d the Tipss
4 Where the uninktrnctel mind leaves
ofE fAtiguod at the thought o. 50 muci
calamity. and puzzed 70 reconcile sncl
scoarges wiih the conception ot q be-.
novoleni Creator, science appears, Ia
boriously studies these strange phe
I nomaua Ia terrestrial physics, succeed,
at length in connecting them with
the general cosmic plan, and last ri.
umph ot diyining power boldly pro,
claims that the earthquake itself, desc
lating as are sometimes its effects, Is
bat fresh illustration oi the great law
of compensation, but an incident in a
vast system Of action. TO which We owe
the very ground We stand upon. and
the very land we inhabit
uScElsISa DISTRACTION on THE LAsp.
Everywhere around the coast line oi
every continent the sea is constantly at
work wearing against the land. crumb-
ling away lis edges, grinding il into
powder, and carrying the detritus away
aud spreading it out over its bottom.
This process is slow, but it goes on for
ever, aud the result is that in time
that is, in the secular time in which
geology works. the structure Of conh-
nents is entirely worn away and new
ones are formed out Of the ruins of the
former ones 1t is quite certain that
our present land was formerly the bed
OF the sea, and that continental masses
once reared their forms where now rolls
the deep and dark blue ocean. Now,
rightly estimating this mighty power
OF the aqueous agents which incessant-
ly labor, to reduce the inequalities OF
the earth's surface to level, it is easy
to see that, If they went on unopposed
they would clear away and spread over
the bed of the ocean all our present ex-
isting continents and islands, and, in
deed, they have been at work long
enough to have, if unopposed, produc-
ed this very result
usEs OF THE VOLCANO.
II is the earthquake and the volcano
which place themselves in opposition to
this destructive tendency; so that we
may regard the igneous agents as in
constant antagonism to the aqueous
agents, the latter laboring necessarily
TO obliterate the land, while the former
are equally active To restore it. What
are these igneous agents, and what is
their source?
UNIVERSAL suBTRRRASEAS FIRE
1t is fact perfectly assured that, in
proportion as we descend into the
earth, the heat augments, and the deep
er We go the hotter the earth is fonnd
to be. This is proven by numberless
observations that have been made not
only of the temperature of air in mines,
but in that of rocks and in the water
issuing from them In boring Artesian
wells the water comes up hot, and the
deeper the boring the hotter the water.
In the famous well in Paris, at La
Grenelle, the water rises from depth
of l,794 feet, and its temperature is 81
degrees Fahrenheit, which is almost
that OF the equator. The same thing
appears in natural hot springs, as, for
instance, that Of Arkansas, which is
scalding hot, and shows a continuous
temperature Of 1s0 degrees. This in
crease is estimated at about a degree
Of the thermometer additional warmth
for every ninety feet additional depth;
or about SO degrees per mile. AT
twenty miles depth, says q distinguish
ed physicist, according to this rate,
the ground must be fully red hot, and
at no such very great depth beyond,
either the whole must be melted, or
only the most infusible or intraetible
kinds Of material, snch as our freclays
and fints would present some degree Of
solidity,
An immense range Of terrestrial phe-
nomena compels us to conclude that
beneath the crust OF the earth is sea
Of liquid FIRE, on which the continents
and the land beneath the ocean contin-
ually are floating. This fiery sea is not
at all remote from us. Tie limits sci
ence has yet reached never seem 10 us
more narrow than when We are re-
minded bow little We know Of physical
phenomena continually so near us =
The fluid is IN n state Of energetic elias
tIciiy. sometimes producing violent un-
dalaiory motions, and at others break
ing through the crust and vomiting
forth lava and the central Audit, in
deed, toe two are necessarily distinct.
The undulatory motions are earth
quakss, the elections constitute volca-