Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1880-11-11
ALL THINGS SEEK THEIR
LEVEL.
by Charles Morris. J

Yet it is, in reality, quality apper-
tanning to all matter, whether solid,
liquid, or gaseous, ond one which pro-
duces results OF the greatest import
ance in the geologic development Of
the earth.
Its effects are, it IS true, not imme-
diately or strikingly evident to is in
! solid and gaseous substance, and we
are too much in the habit Of forming
our opinions from what passes under
our eyesight, unheeding all that is net
wildly evident to our senses. It GER
tainly needs no argument to show that
the propensity to seek a level exists in
gases, and that in this form Of matter
its action is still more immediate than
in liquids. The surface Of the atmos-
phere-if it have any defined surface
is level plain, the same as the SUR
face of the ocean. 1t has its tides as
the sea has; it has its currents, its elc-
vations and depressions, temporarily
breaking its level, but constantly OPP
posed by the leVelIing influence
The same rule holds with the waters
Of the ocean. They are exposed to
opposite influences, one set constantly
breaking their level, the other con-
stantly seeking to restore it. The re-
suit is a compromise between the two,
for each being necessarily active
neither can produce its complete effect
But when we come to consider mat
ter in its solid state, this principle is
by no means so evident. The move
ment of solid substance towards a level
is slow and imperceptible, yet it is
none the less active. The same level
ling forces which act upon liquids act
upon solids as welI, and the slowness
Of the effect is simply because the re-
sistance is more vigorous. 1t is not
difficult to perceive this down-fowing
influence in semi solid substances. and
it has been frequently observed in ma
terial of m ore rigid consistency. Lead
sheets, for instance, when laid upon a
sloping roof, are found to display
gradual downfow, slowly thickening
at their lower and thinning at their
upper edge. producing the same result
which pitch or tar would more quickly
display under similar circumstances.
But the leveling force acts vigor-
ousIy on the most rigid substances.
Other means are employed, but the
final effect is the same, The ridged
mountain chains, in which the solid
earth has been tossed upwards as bill
lows are tossed above the sea S surface.
are slowly but inevitably brought back
to their old level. They are abrad ed
by winds and rains, by the trickling
rivulet or the rushing torrent They
are rent by frosts and shattered by the
expansion and contraction of heat and
cold. Now huge masses rush down in
laudslides; now massive rocks are in
sensibly born down by glaciers; now
the avalanche sweeps down the small
er fragments which have been loosened
by frosts, and continually the silent
waters, flowing over the surface, or
percolating through the interior,
abrade, dissolve, and roll downward
the material loosened from the slowly
yielding mountain TANKS. The mate
rials thus reft from the peaks go to fill
up the shadows. Those disintegrated
and carried off by the waters are
spread in level strata on the bottom of
the ocean, producing broad plane sur
faces from the debris of lofty and mar
row ridges. For uncounted ages this
process has gone on, yielding, as its
result, miles in thickness of such level
deposits, the spoils of mountain chains
in the far past.
The earth would long since have
been reduced to dead level but for
opposite influences, which are constant
ly undoing the work thus performed,
lifting the plains into new ridges, re-
placing the lost mountains by new
chains, and tossing up the liquid fire
of the earth's interior into huge cones
of hardened lava. As tides and winds
ridge the seas, so do these forces up
heave the solid land. And the level
ling influence exercised by ocean tides,
storms, and currents upon its borders
are opposed by lifting forces which
slowly elevate these coast lines, more
rapidly oftener than they can be worn
away by the wasting sea
If we would seek another illustra-
ton of the action of these opposing
principles we may find it in organic
nature. The forces at work in animals