Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1882-07-26
A GeLeraI Dcluge

1t Is we'll known to geologists tha
animals whose habitat was in or nea
the tropical regions, and distant from
which they could not survive, have beeI
found imbedded In ice in the Arctic re
gions north of Asia. They were s,
well preserved through the counties
ages since their hyperborean imprison
ment that their flesh was consumed b,
carnivorous animals now inhabitins
those regions when a warmer SUI
melted their encasement, This fact o
itself demonstrates that the polar lie
glons were once approximating The
equatorial; for these ANIMALS co1ld never
have wandered so far from the places o.
their nativity. 1t also proves that the
change from a high to low tempe-a.
ture was sudden, not leaving time for
animal decay to commence after the de-
struction of life, and the formation oi
Ice by which they were preserved.
Beds of the most excellent mineral coal
are found in Greenland, from which it is
quarried and loaded directly ON ship
board of exploring steamers visiting
those high latitudes. 1t is found out
cropping from cliffs at the very margin
of the sea.
Twenty-eight different beds of coal,
superseded one above another, with
varying thickness of intervening rock
and slate, have been opened and worked
III Grtat Britain. The lowest of these
are more than 5000 feet below the pres
ent surface of the sea. This tells us,
with unerring certainty, that there have
been twenty-eight epochs, each of in
finite duration, when those islands were
alternately above and below the sea
Level; periods when the earth was COW
cred wit, dense verdure; when the surg
ing ocean rolled over it and covered that
verdure with sand and gravel, the ma
terial of which overiying rock was
formed; when it again emerged; was
again adapted to the growth of yegeta-
ton, and again, after the lapse of count
less ages, went down, and 50 has con-
tinued until the present order of things
was introduced.
What il true of the British Islands III
this regard is probably true of every
other island and continent on the globe
And this oscillating condition of the
earth's crust will ever go on with seas
and continents, while the same laws
which have governed matter in the past
shall continue. To-day a continent
CO cred with animal and vegetable life;
tomorrow the ocean rolls its turbid
waves over the melancholy wreck, leav-
ing no trace Of the toll, anxiety and un-
bounded hopes of him who had delved
to make it satisfactory home for his
ambition.
The present revealngs on the sur
face of Greenland, where few hun
dred years ago were green fields, way
ing forests, flowing rivers, populous and
thrifty villages and a contented people,
show only mountains of ice, all nature
a country of desolation and
snow. This change has been gradual,
and the temperature is still declining.
Iceland, too, is slowly undergoing a
similar change. At the same rate of de-
in anotLer hundred years it
will cease to be inhabitable. Already
such portions of the population as have
means are removing to the northern lat
itudes of America. The island, like
will soon be a cold and
,ireary desolauon, SO to remain until
other changes transpIre when it may
again, in lower latitude, become the
home of man; but ages of frost and ice
must first mark its site; other lands In
turn, now nearly tropical. must become |
frigid; and then it Is quest enable if any |
races of man, even as insignificant as |
the stone ak or arrow head, shall remain |
TO excite wonder or curiosity among |
those who shall delve in its soil.
While We can account for the gradual |
changing of the polarity of the earth
and the shifting of clImates-the glacial |
period always existing In some parts of
The earth-we cannot, 10y the same mode |
Of reasoning, explain why whole contl-
nents are suddenly submerged, or why !
the beds of oceans, as suddenly, become |
continents.
Mountains of ice are continually
forming within the arctics; the heat Of
summer cannot reach them: but century
after century and age after age the accu
mutation goes on, adding to the polar
]eusity. Some disturbing element, as
IN earthquake shock convulsing the |
globe, a volcanic eruption and up |
leaval, or the addition of some frag
planet or wandering body lost
10 space, which has been attracted from |
It's orbit by its nearness to our earth,
'alls upon it, the equipose is lost. and
he waters of the ocean, seeking their
plane, roll over the rocky bounds, en-
gulf continents and sweep away every |
,estige of aspiring man, save the few |
favorable locations which accidentally |
,scape the general deluge and the sub
nergence of continents.