The Phoenix herald., 1879-03-19
BY THEO. M. LEMON.


 It is supposed by our wise men that at the beginning the earth con sisted of a mass of molten matter in state of intense heat. As time passed on it gradually cooled by the heat radiating and passing off into space: the surface cooled first and formed a crust. That part of the earth which has become solid by this pro cess of cooling, is what we call the crust of the earth. Heat sepa- rates the particles of matter in all bodies and tends to make them fluid or soft. Cold is the absence of heat and has the effect to harden all fluid substances. The crust of the earth is like the shell of an egg, but it covers mass of intensely hot fluid matter This crust is supposed to vary from i twenty to two hundred miles thick. i One proof that the inside of the earth is hot, is the fact that ill deep mines the heat increases about one | degree to every fifty or sixty feet i'll i depth. At the depth of fifty miles i the heat would be sufficient to melt all known rCck. The internal heat does not extend to the surface of the earth except on occasions of earth quakes and volcanic cruptions. The greater part of the soil is composed of what in former ages constituted the bodies of animals, trees and plants. mixed with mineral sub stances. The earth's crust is con stantly undergoing change, owing to the agency of air, water and heat. Granite is supposed to form the low CT part of the crust The quality of our spring water depends upon the materials composing the rock or soil through which it flows. That which flows from sandstone rock is softer and purer than that flowing through limestone strata. Stratas are layers of mineral substance. The direction Oi GiC SlIdid Ol ClS hoNAiet DN AAC-A- ZOntal and parallel to each other, but the earth interior forces have raised the strata in parts making them un- even. Rock stratas are composed of what has been soft mud, loose gravel, , shells, vegetable and animal bodies.
 When land first emerged from the water it was not then as it Is now, either in extent or form; it was not all raised at once, but step by step, as everything has since God first began this wonderful world. Small points
 were projected which gradually rose
 higher and extended more widely,
 according to the pressure of the
 forces beneath. These parts after
 remaining at the surface for many
 centuries. were again submerged and
 their great masses of vegetation
 trees, shrubs and plants, became covered over with gravel and sand and turned into coal. The different coal beds, lying one below the other show how often that part Of the sur
 face was abore the water level and
 covered with vegetation. In Nova Scotia there have been discovered nineteen parallel seams of coal showing that the land has been'sub merged and then raised nineteen } times. The crust of the earth is onf l great store house from which WIG daily draw fresh supplies. From tho ribs of the hills and mountains from
 the generous and hidden recesses ol earth man is ever drawing the nee , essaries and comforts of life. The
 miner abandons the beauties and [ comforts of home, perhaps leave: : loved ones in distant land, adopts : rough garb and encounters many hardships, nay, dangers, that he may t dig into the bowels of the earth anc
 bring forth it's treasures of yellow
 gold and pale silver, mediums O
 prosperity and comfort in every land , The hardy coal digger, whose face l: | the color of night and whose gar Il ments are anything but beautiful : works in deep and dangerous pits sending up coal-great black massc : which will make comfort in thous ands of homes, and by the warmth o '' which bright eyes will sparkle an( u sweet music fall.
 March 14th, 1879.
 Y TRAVEL.