New-York tribune., 1874-11-07


only issue In gradual dissolution that the potential
forces of heat light and life which have been stored
from the primitive nebua, or from surrounding meteors
In star SUM- and planet as the ages roll on. Will iney-
taby be spent and the whole machinery OF the heavens
fall back into ruins that already the moon is but
charred cnder of the earth the earth cooling ember OF
the sum- the a blazing fragment of the stars. the
stars themselves but dying and oil their gaiaxes
doomed to pale and wane iuto universal night and
death.
The design Of the heavens the habtability Of other
worlds and their mutual relations, the possibility of life
and intelligence throughout the universe. arc also
emerging questions Of like double import. While the
one party. from Donysius aud Gregory TO Chalmers.
have imagined ascending hierarchy OF angels. prnc
palities and powers, rank above rank. through the
heaven OF heavens toward the throne of jehovah the
other party, from Plutarch aud Keper to Whewcll can
discern In the stars. sum- and planets only so many
globes Of fire. vapor and Stag, wholly Incapable OF sus
tanning life and reason and destitute Of any intelli-
be purpose the crystals that sparkle or the flowers
that bloom where ne eve can ever SEQ them Aud the
concluding question to the gao or aim Of the whole
cosmic process has at length issued in the extreme
opinions of Jonathan Edwards and Herbert spencer
on the hand that of miraculous creation and re-
generation of the heavens and earth at fixed epochs for
good creatures aud the glory OF their Creator on
the other hand that Of rhythmic ebb and flow OF ever
persistent force from Debula to planet and planet to
neDula, from chaos 10 cosmos ana 10 cnaos
through endless cycles Of evolving and dissolying
worlds. amid which sports upon the earth as the
merest anmacule of bubble tha flashes In the sun
shine.
GEOLOGICAL PROBLEMS-THE EVOLUTION OF THE,
GLOBE
Geology next meets us with problems scarcely less
grand and even interesting such the origin OF
our own planet formation OF the rocky layers which
ncose its hidden contents and the growth Of the fossil
hnrin in
On the one side the question is the hypothesis Of secu
lar evolution OF a slow unfolding of the globe from
chaotic into its organized form through the action
existing during indefinite time. II any germs
such hypothesis can be found In the mundane egg
of Orpheus the primitive water and fire OF Thales
and Heraclitus, and the specuations OF Strabo upon
floods and volcanoes they remained buried under dog
matte traditions during the middle ages until they were
again brought forth by the early Italian geoOgsts as
Lye has shown and at length cast into more scientific
shape Leibntz without calling in question the Mosaic
eosmogOny, postuated for his "proogea" or primitive
EARTH sort of extinguished sum- slowly cooling through
fire vapor into the Clouds lands and strata OF
our present globe Buon at the request OF the Theoog-
ical Faculty, recanted similar Theory OF the Earth,
which he had fanced the planets ancient fragments
of the sun, struck of by comet and left freezing as
they whred in their orbits; earth at this date still
retaining the volcanic nucleus and universal ocean by
whose Joint action its and continents formed.
Neptunsts vulcansts at length traced the aqueous
and igneous strata to the winch are still
producing alluvium and lava, though az rate that
would require an immeasurable past Lamarck and st.
Hialre broached theories OF transmutaOn serving TO
blend together through long epochs the fossil and living
species which Cuvier would have broken apart
with his successive deluges. Herschel and Pois-
son, in like manner. sought to transform ancient
into modern climates by means OF celestial causes
OF inconoeivable slowness such as q swayng OF the
earts orbit and poles in the solar rays uctuaton OF
heat and light In the ITSELF and even radiation
among the Babbage and Lye traced the secular
changes of climate 0nd species to more terrestrial
causes such the decline of the earh primitive heat
and the gradual shifting OF the continents by the action
OF its Humboldt, bringing these facts together in
one comprehensive review, has sketched the progress
sve stages Of planet as at first fiery ring cast on
from the nebulous SUD- then incandescent sphere,
and at length granite she'll sustaining between the
central fire and solar heat the successive Kingdoms Of
organic life which unknown ages have fourished
upon its surface. Most living geoogists and and palB-
onologists to proceed upon such hypothesis
and by the advanced party according to Prof. Huxley
held be not unlikely that the whole development
of the globe through all its and phases may yet be
plainly traced the growth OF fowl within the egg
THE DOGMA OF SPECIAL, SUCCESSIVE CREATIONS
On other side OF the question is the dogma of
successive creations, of Almighty ats calling into being
one after another land and and sky reptiles plants
and animals, six days Of "a hours, few thousand
years ago Although derived from the Mosaic Genesis
it is q dogma which has varied its terms with each
of the Church. The early fathers Clement and Origen
treated the six days sacred alegOries rather than
literal epOchs The later fathers AhsDasus and Angus
tine termed them the timeless acts OF nstan
taneous creation. successive only in thought and
guratiycly represented to us working days measured
by sunrise and sunset. The schOomen st. Victor and
Lombard defined them as miraculous works which might
indeed have been performed all at tho fathers
taught but in fact were produced successvey IN six
literal days religious lessons Of the Creator to his
creatures The Westminster dvines also held them to
be periods OF hours and found their rationale In the
sevenod division of time in six days OF work with one
of worship. Francis Turretne argued that each days
work produced instantaneouSly by single fat,
plants and animals starting forth mature state and
therefore in the Autumn of the year Archbishop Usher
by act of Parliament fixed the date Of Creation the
25th October 4OOi B. c. The learned Dr. Gill particu
larzed the name we'll date Of each creative day
from Monday morning to Saturday night. Living
dvines still follow these different authorities have
as vet made no new definitions OF the dogma. and for
anything that appears IN our existing creeds, the in
terminable strata hOras and faunas which geoogsts
have been unfolding are still TO DO viewed as only so
many didactIc miracles wrought in single week
As before Indicated it would not fall within the scope
OF this survey notice the scientific attempts Of
Hugh Miller and Guyot TO expand still further the
Mosaic days into vast creative cpochs or cosmOgoDio
eras nor yet the dogmatc efforts OF Strauss and
Po veil 10 resolve them into phOsopac myth poem
THE INTENT AND DESTINY OF EARTH.
The destiny OF the globe is also becoming scientific
as well as a religious question. It formed part Of the
ancient faith matured by Augustine and Aquinas and
depicted the sacred arts, that earth, having
been cleansed by for the sin of man, would yet
be pureed by fire for his redemption, at gwen signal
when the PurgatOry beneath 1t should send forth its
flames. And some OF the early geologists, suca