, 1877-10-06


Professor Cunning ON Friday evening
delivered, at Dashaway Hall, his second
geological lecture ON "Lllr Before Man. ="
The tir-t subject touched upon by the
lecturer was the origin OF metals, which
he Thought OF great interest to CulliOr-
mans lie had noticed many things in
the Utah mines that have escaped the
writers Gn science. Hc had found in all
the mines water line, with which all
miners are familiar, and below this line
the metals are in the torn of sulphlGes
On the water line the metals ure held IN
solution until caught up by chlorine or
CabonIc acid, forming chloride ut silver,
carb0nrte OF lead, etc Above this water
line are always found oxides. From
his observations, he has come to the
conclusion that the longer the mines axe
worked the more obdurate the form of
metals will be iOund, except gold, he
cause the mines will 90 below the water
line. where the sulphides are found, and
sulphides are the most Obdurate forms
Of metals. The lecturer explained that
he will give preliminary talk each eve
ming upon the subject OF metalIurgy.
The Professor then made a rough
drawing of the different strata Of rock
forming the crust Of the earth, and eX-
planned that they are OF two chsscs-
stratificd and massive or crystalline---the
latter underlaying the former. The crys.
taline rock was brought into its present
condition through heat and pressure; the
stratlied rsGks were formed under water
by slow deposit Of different layers I'm.
der the atm osphere the rocks are al
ways undergoing II process Of decay or
disintegration, and the particles carried
down to the sea by rivers are gradually
deposited on the bed of the ocean, form
luS uCN etldlu' nu hltllldlo uuh pluIN>
that die in the ocean sink to the bottom
and are petriied in these strata. II the
Pacific were TO recedG from It's bed and
we could explore its lotion, we could
find rocks formed and forming, and inn
bedded in the rocks we wOulu find pet
rifacti0ns o. whatever lives or has lived
since the Pacific began. Wherever we
place our feet in California we stand
upon the dried bed OF an older Pacific.
oome time in the future the bed of the
ocean will be lifted into new world,
and the new science will read in
the rocks there found the history OF our
lives, ms we read in the strata now con-
posing the land the history of The life
that preceded us. The lecturer then
took up the different types of life found
in the sea, and explained the structure
that underlies each type and is the
GROUND plan OF all animate beings. In
the 40, 600 kinds of fish that inhabit the
sea, we find the foundation OF every yer
tcbrate animal, including man. He ex-
planned how the entire fish can be- recon
structed from a single scale, and the an
imal from one hone. He then went back
through the history OF the globe towards
the beginning. Starting with the coral
reefs OF Florida, he showed that the pc.
ninsuIar could not have been out oi the
sea less than 10000 years, but even that
period does not take us back OF the pres
ent oredr OF things, for in the Florida
limestone we find the remains of no ami
nal that does not exist at the present
time. The Alabama mari is the next IN
order of the recent formation, and irem
a fossil of this period he reconstructed
an auimal neither seal, whale nor reptile,
but compound Of all and as large as
whale. While Alabama was under the
sea, great part of the West was under
fresh water. The" Bad Lands " in wy.
oming formed the bed OF Il lake 500 miles