The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1881-02-11
GENESIS AND GEOLOGY.

Scripture. We must accent the Bi-
BILE as the Divine word, and in case we
find that which we cannot possibly rec
oncile, we must be satisfied to know that
1t is beyond our comprehension. 1t is
not proposed to explain the whole subject
OF Genesis, but simply to show as well
MS may be, the agreement between the
account of the creation, by Moses, and
the testimony given by the rocks. God
created the Heavens and the earth, and
all that therein is in six days We are
not to suppose that these days were only
twenty-four hours long There was then
no division OF time,aud If there had been
rs there is now, where are those DAYS
to be measured At the polls where they
ave six months long or at the equator
where they are but twelve hours in
length! IL is generally held by scientific
men that the word day as used here
means period, and Judging from the for
nation OF the different rocks and strata
that enter into the composition of the
earth, they hold that these periods were
from one thousand to four thousand
years in length. One of the strongest
proofs ot this fact is, that many of the
shells which live on the coast, and not n
few OF the species of wild animals that
sull roam over the land were in existence
many years before the creation of man.
DESCRIPTION OF THE GEOLOGICAL FoRMA-
TioN OF EARTH.
Embodied in the crust of the earth are
frequently found animals belonging TO
extinct species. Most of these animals
are remarkable for their immense size.
During this ancient time the Northern
Mammoth lived in great abundance. also
the hippopotamus, and two species of
rhinoceros, and though they have all
ceased to exist, weknow that the descen-
dants OF some of their contemporaries.
such as the badger, the fox, wild cat and
red deer still live amid our hills and
brakes. The trees too, under which they
roamed, and whose remains we find bu-
RED IN the same crust, were of species
that still hold their place as aboriginal
trees OF the country. For many ages
must the old extinct elephant have roam
ed amid these trees. From one limited
tia,t OF sea-bottom on the kcoast of Eng
land, the fishermen engaged in dredging
oysters, brought ashore in thirteen wears
no less than two thousand elephants
grinders, besides great tusks and portions
of skeletons. Remains of this ancient
elephant occur all over the globe, in n
broad belt, about thirty degrees in
width. 1t must have taken ages TO pro-
duce 80 many of these mammoth ami
mails. We will speak of the animals of
this period again. Let us now glance at
the question as to whether the reyela
tions OF the science of geology may be
reconciled with the scriptural account of
the creation, 1t has been already ex
planned that the days referred to are be-
riods of long duration. There are six
OF these periods, but geology is called
upon to prove but three of them. viz.
The period of plants, of great sea mon
sters and creeping things and the period
of cattle and beasts. Of the period Din
ring which light was created; of the pc
rod during which armament was
made to separate the wators from the
waters; or of the period during which
tie two great lights with the other heav.
'niiy no lies became visible from the
earth, the rocks will give us no informa.
tion. The principal geological divisions
"re the 1rst Or Oldest fossil bearing di-
vlson the secondary, or middle, and the
tertiary or latest. In the first we find CO.
rails, fishes, few reptiles. But that that
which gives the leading characteristic
to this period is its vegetation. II was
'he period OF plants, ''of herbs yielding
seed after their kind" In no other ace re
was there ever such a fora. The youth
OF the earth was peculiarly a green and
shady youth-a youth of dusk and tan
gled forests, of huge pines, the tall tree
tern and many Others. Every foot of
the dank and steaming soil was covered
with the most rank and luxuriant herb
age. OF this extraordinary age of plants
we have our cheerful witnesses in tho
flames that roar in our chimnevs when
we pie up the winter fires, in the gas
that lights our cities, in the glowing fur.
naces that smelt our metals, in the lone
dusky trains that with shrek and SNORT
speed rapidly across our continent and
IN the great vessels that rush in foam
over the ocean. This is the period of the
coal formation. The geological evidence
is complete as to the fact that the first
great period OF organized being was me-
culiarly, as described in Mosaic record y
perid of plants and trees. The middle
period possessed, like the first one, its
herbs and plants, but not nearly of as
luxuriant growth. The grand existen-
ces OF the age were its huge creepinU
things, its monsters of the deer, and its
gigantic birds, as shown by its footprints
IN the sand stone Its wonderful whales
Its lizards and its crocodiles, the telios-
aurus and megalosarus, animals that more
than rivalled the existing elephant in
height, and greatly rivalled it in bulk
must have crowded the plains, and
swarmed the rivers in myriads, and we
know that the footprints of one of its
many birds is at least twice the size of
that OF horse or camel. Thus the sec
ond creation in the Mosaic account cor
responds to the second geological peri
cd, as it was period in which God ere
ated the fowl that fieth above the earth
with moving creatures both i'm the wat
ers and on the land The third period
In its vegetation, seems to have been no
more conspicuous than the present, its
reptiles occupy subordinate place. but
its beasts of the field were wonderfully
developed. Its mammoths and masto-
dons, rhinoceros and hippopotamus, the
Dinotherium and Megatherium greatly
exceed in bulk aud numbers the largest
animal of the present. In speaking of
England at that time, an English natu-
ralist says; "Grand, indeed, was the
fauna of the British Isles in those days.
Tigers as large again as the biggest Asi
attic species lurked in the ancient thicket,
Elephants nearly twice the bulk of the
largest one now in existence roamed in
herds. The massive cave-bear and large
cave-hyena, with two species of great
oxen, horse of smaller size, an elk
that stood ten feet four inches in height
We're the species of animals, with many
others, belonging to this period. Truly