Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1876-06-02
Where do the Stones Come From

Riding or walking, wherever we 20, we
meet with stones from the size of the tiny
pebble, to that of the huge boulder, and the
question naturally arises, where do they all
come from? One person, tolerably well in.
formed upon other subjects, would have u,
believe that stones grow, growth less rapid,
doubtless, than that Of a Mushroom, but
growth, nevertheless another, because stones
are often found along the margins of water
courses, supposes that water has some agency
in their production, both of which theories are
as illogical and wide of the mark as was that
OF the Scotchman, who, seeing some granite
boulders on hillside, gravely remarked that
they'd got half way on their down hill jour.
ney." To geology, the achievement OF the
present century, and the newest Of the scien.
ces, inasmuch as it is founded upon them all,
calling them all to its aid in the elucdation
Of its problems, we are indebted for the sou-
ton Of our question. Geology interprets for
us the history OF our globe as it is recorded
in that stony volume, the earth's crust.
There seems to have been time when the
earth was 10 state Of fusion aud the crust
which now encloses this molten mass, is esti.
mated at ten miles in thickness At a depth
Of about six miles occur the first traces Of the
existence Of life, and these first organisms
were doubtless sea weeds, the lowest order Of
plants; plants which, unlike the terrestrial
plants Of to-day, had, properly speaking, no
organs Of assimilation aud nutrition, but, be-
ing rootless, were supported by the direct alb
sorption OF sea water into their cells. The
first forms OF animal life were also low, being
composed Of invertebrates, such as sponges,
corals, startish, molusks. 10. These lived
and died, and their remains were entombed
in the Slurian seas. Just as the remains of
the marine animals Of to-day are being en-
tombed in the present seas. The march Of
time has ever been a march Of progress, As.
cending in the scale Of being, with the prog
ress Of time, we come to tho period when
fishes were introduced next we find an at
mosphere laden with carbonio acid gas in
which plants revel, and n more than tropical
luxuriance Of vegetation followed, and now,
during space Of more than thirty millions
OF years, was deposited the coal whose ruddy
glow lends its charm to our winter evening
fresides
The atmosphere, thus deprived of its redun.
dancy Of u property deeterious to animal life
the age OF reptiles is ushered 10 birds as tall
as the tallest man, literally left their "foot-
prints on the sands of time" by impressing
them in the yielding sands, which have since
become the Connecticut Valley sandstone
and reptiles, from fifteen to eighty feet in
length, roamed at their own sweet will, or
provided with wings having an expause Of
from twenty-five to forty feet, flew through
the air. Then came the tertiary, the ago of
the first general introduction Of mammals
As the time for the advent of man drew near,
the preparations which had been going on
through all the ages, to fit the earth for his
habitation, approached completion. Beds OF
the metals, Of coal aud salt awaited his req
uisit,on, aud tho rocks aud atmosphere con-
tanned the constituents from which his physi.
cal frame was to be formed. But how should
these latter be made available? Obviously
through the medium Of the vegetable king.
dom. Doubtless the scant soil which the
tertiary elements had released would have
afforded sufficient nourishment for the growth
OF the plants themselves for plants for their
own growth require only carbon, aud a small
portion OF silex to give them the necessary
rlgldlty, but more was necessary; they must
contain phosphorus and lime for the bones,
iron for the blood, aud in short, all the con-
stituents Of the human frame.
And now comes the last grand oyerturning
OF the series which the earth has undergone.
Soil must be formed. Over tho northern
hemisphere there stretched vast sheet Of
ice, more than 5000 feet in thickness. OF
the cause of this refrigeration, goOlogists are
not agreed. 1t may have been from an ele-
vatsn Of the arctic lands, thus turning away
the Gulf Stream, or from some eecentricty
Of its orbit the earth may have been deprived
Of its accustomed heat from the SUI. BE this