The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-08-11
OUR BARTH---PAsT AND FUTURE.

will, and he is met by problems so ab-
struse, with obstacles so formidable, or
apparent contradictions so irreconcil-
able, that at every step he is lost in
wonder and admiration, or so con-
founded as to be tempted to lay aside
the great book of nature as one too pro-
found for his intellectual powers, or too
contradictory for his credence. Yet,
thanks to the persistency of modern re-
search, much light has already been
thrown upon many of the natural prob
lens that had previously baffled human
genius, and enough of the apparent
contradictions have been reconciled to
convince the thinking that none really
exist, but that the entire universe is
governed by fixed laws, and forms a
consistent, perfect whole.
Less than half-century ago the pop
ular opinion, founded upon a strange
misunderstanding of the first chapter of
Genesis, was, that this planet upon
which we dwell, with all the stellar
worlds, was created but about six thous-
and years ago. A very limited knowl-
edge of the sciences of astronomy and
geology, however, is sufficient to con-
vince one that our earth has existed for
untold ages.
The law of succession seems to per-
wade all the phenomena of nature. Day
follows day; lunation succeeds luna
ton; spring-time, with its leaves and
flowers, returns in its season to be fol-
lowed by summer with its bios
SONS, autumn with its fruits, and
winter with its chill, and astronomy
tells US that not more certainly does
day follow night, or season follow sea-
son, than cycles of about 2l,0O0 years
in duration follow each other. The ge-
ologist reads upon the earth's crust the
indelible imprint of not less than six
teen of these successive cycles, which
places the date of creation back at least
$4,000 years. 1 am aware that scien-
lists do not agree as to the agencies that
have wrought these wonderful changes
in the physical geography of our earth,
but they do agree that, where we now
see parched deserts and elevated noun
ranges, and fertile, blooming valleys,
sometime in the remote past, old ocean
reigned supreme.
1t is well known that the earth has
no less than three distinct mOtions-its
diurnal motion on it's axis, its revolu-
ton about the sun once a year, and a
wabbling or gyratOry motion, which
causes the pole to describe a circle in
the heavens with a radius of 234o in
$4,000 years. This last motion is what
occasions what is called the procession
of the equinoxes."
The path of the earth around the sun
is an ellipse with the sun in one of the
centers; hence, it will be seen that we
are nearer the great source of light and
heat during one-half of the year than
we are during the other. At the present
time, the nearest approach of the earth
to the sun is about the 1st of January.
Then we are some 8, 200, 900 miles nearer
than on the first day of July. And,
since bodies travel faster when near
the center of attraction than when
farther away, it follows that the earth
passes over our winter portion of her
orbit in eight days less time than over
our summer portion of it. South of the
equator, however, their winter is eight
days longer than their summer. And,
since the earth is over three millions oI
miles nearer the sun during our winter
than in summer, and at her greatest
distance from the sun during the winter
in the Southern Hemisphere, it will be
seen why the Antarctic winters are
more rigorous than those of the Arctic
circle. Year after year for ages past, q
constantly augmenting quantity of ice
has been forming within the Antarctic
circle, and, in proportion to the increase
in weight of the Southern Hemisphere,
the earth's center of gravity has slowly
moved toward the south pole, drawing
the waters away from the Northern
Hemisphere, and piling them up toward
the south pole; and this is probably the
agency that has uncovered the cont.
nents of Europe, Asia, and America nc
less than sixteen times. But, is the
Northern Hemisphere to henceforth
enjoy perpetual immunity from these
aggressions of old Ocean's pillows, oI
will the law of succession once again
bury US beneath the inhospitable deep :
In about ten thousand years there must
come complete reversal of polar con-
ditiOns and climates. But how? 1t il
universally conceded by astronomers
that the ellipse which the earth de.
scribes in moving around the sun il
itself revolving, SO to speak, making
the circuit of the heavens in about
$4,000 years; and, since this motion il
direct, or in the direction that the sur
appears to move, and that of the equi.
noxes the reverse, it will be seen thai
the conjunctions of the eouinoxes
which cause the notifications of eli.
mates on the earth, are accomplished
in a much shorter time-according &c
the calculations of an eminent Scotch
mathematician, in about 2l,OOO years