The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1880-02-05
WHAT WE AIR Il.
Lecture Delivered by John L. Moore,
at the Teachers Institute, Thursday
Evening, January 1, 1880.


tiquity, myriads of ages ere the dawn OF
civilization, and infinite centuries ere
the first sweep of written history, this
globe did not present the same diver
sity of landscape it does to-day. TAX
ing our starting point far on the hith-
er side of that period, when the ''earth
was without form and void, and dark
ness dwelt upon the face Of the deep;"
this side, but upon the verge of that
age when the frozen glaciers OF the
North extended their boundaries over
the greater portion of Ohio, and whose
boulder wrecks strew all our plains
down almost to the 39th parallel of
north latitude, we may inquire of the
earth then, for then appear the first
records of mans existence. At that
far time, the basin in which stands
our sister city Of Chillicothe was fast
clasped in the frigid embrace of the
great ice-feld's southern fringes.
The spot upon which we now stand,
scarcely emerged from it's former con-
dition of marsh and lake, was begin
ming to disport in the livery of short
arctic summer; while in the great lab
oratory beneath the surface, and be-
meath the sand-rock, the dynamic
agencies of nature were displaying en-
ergetic activity, preparing for the use
Of subsequent ages those rich deposits
of coal and iron, that to us are so
commonplace as to excite no inquiry
except as to the price of the one per
bushel, of the other per ton.
At that time, perhaps the elevated
plains of Kobi, the highest lands upon
our planet, together with the beauti-
full vale of Cashmere, and the neigh
boring savannahs of Thibet were en-
ioying an almost temperate climate,
and were approaching that period in
creation fitted to receive the breezes
of paradise and the location of the
Garden of Eden. For Indian tradi-
tions, possibly antedating the ancient
civilization of Cush, fix the first abode
of man upon Mount Meru, noun
tain on the borders of Thibet, and
from Mount Meru spring four great
rivers, the Ganges, the Brahmapootra,
the Indus, and another flowing East
ward, and Genesis 2, 10, may be trans
lated: -Four rivers flowed out of
Eden, and they separated continually
more and more widely"
Then England was little more than
a morass, covered with the course
rough moss of high Northern lati-
tudes, while what is now France
France celebrated in song and story
for its delightful climate, was con.
gealing beneath a temperature more
frigid than at this day prevails in thu
farthest regions of the Scandinavian
Peninsula
And at the confluence of rivers, a
points where great cities have beer
historical, biblical and NEUROLOGICAL
for forty centuries and more, the rusl
of daily tides and oceanic current
were the only disturbers of the deep
placid waters. Perhaps some one O
more of the Seven Hills may hav
been barely peeping over the might,
lagoon of the Tiber; perhaps Mont
martre's infant head may have rise1
above the tawny tide of the Seine an
wondered at the ripples and whirl
pools created in the awful stream b
the heights whereon gay Paris nov
stands, but surely not more; over al
the vast residues of the Northern con
tinents the mighty glaciers furrowe
their irresistible way and deposite
their boulders on hill and plain as me
mentoes of their conquests and resist
less force. We have taken our stan
this side of the icy period; but if ask
ed, How far this side? the answer i,
) Il can not tell" The record disclose
that at least four great alternate ur
heavals and submergences took plac
before our landscape assumed a for1
tending to its present symmetr,
These seem to divide the genesis
the earth into epochs, the duration {
: which is beyond computation; SON
idea, however, may be obtained b
!: having regard to the cretaceous per
cd; the language of its dispositions
written by the hand of nature, an
the Authorization thereof by Il
great seal of the Master in Chancel
who presides over the courts of Il
Universe may aid us.
1t is said, that if all points at whic
true chalk appears were circumscribe
they would lie in an irregular oval
about 5000 miles in long diamete
s with an area as great as the whole
), Europe, and many times exceedir
the largest inland seattle Mediterr