Daily Yellowstone journal., 1890-05-17
THE VERY btolNN,NG.
Something About the Formation Of This
World N IL "Whiried In space"


In the burning mass that composed
our earth At first, there existed copper,
sulphur and all the other substances
that are ON and in our earth now, only
all We're in "A gaseous state. The cold
had not yet hardened them into solids.
They tell US that this collection of
burning material belonged originally
to the sun. and was thrown off from it
in consequence of a natural law, and
sent ''whirling in space" Do you m
derstand what that word space"
meansl This globe Of ours is wrap
ped up in a huge cloak. some forty
miles thick, called the atmosphere.
Beyond this thick envelope stretches
far away that unknown region called
space What are its boundaries, no
one can tell us. Whether it holds
other worlds than ours We ran only
guess. But n thing about it is known
for certain. which is. that il is very
cold. Its temperature is about 200
dogs. below zero; 50 we have need of
our thick, warm atmosphere.
What effect did this intense cold
have upon the mass of fiery gas, sent
spinning out through its depthsi Just
che same effect that the cold mountain
peaks have upon the vapor of water.
Il cooled the gases upon the outside,
hardened them. and in the course Of
time formed a thin crust. This was
Gods first day Of creation, and some
men think it was equal to thousands
and thousands of our years-maybe
millions-because this forming of the
crust must have been slow work.
First, little patches Of gas became
solid. Then these floated together and
perhaps in making "a crust
joined all overland a hot, rumpled
crust il was! Then the boiling, seeth-
ing mass inside broke through, and
the work had TO be done all over
again. %
When the vapor of water was con.
densed, rain began to fall.
Then came another struggle. As
quickly as the rain fell on the hot
crust, it was changed into vapor again,
and sent up into the air To repeat its
work. What a boiling, steaming, hot
oall this world must have been.
During all this time there were ter.
rife peals Of thunder and flashes Of
lightning. Whenever any liquid is
changing into a vapor, electricity is
produced; and when so vast a guam
tity of water was changing into stearh,
the intensity and frequency of the
lightning must have been immeasura.
bly, beyond anything we can imagine.
Ii only we could have been al "A safe
distance above this steaming world and
looked DOWN. on il. what a sight we
should have seen, and what deafcning
pealsof thunder We should have heard!
Even though the rain was almost
Immediately changed into vapor, it
must have cooled the eartti's crust a
little; coming directly from the icy
realms Of space. And at last came "A
day when the cold conquered the heat.
and the crust became cool enough t9r
the water TO stay down. IL tilleG up
all the cracks and crannies. and there
was SO much Of IL that only a little bit
of the earth's crust could peep above
its surface. OF our own continent,
only a narrow strip of land, extend
ing from what is now Nova Scotia to
where the great lakes were 10 be, and
thence westward to the region now
called Alaska. remaining above the
waters. In the place now occupied
by Europe, there were many little
patches, but no land 70 extensive n
the strip in the western hemisphere.
Thick. dark yapors brooded over the
earth aud shut out the light Of the sun.
And these gloomy vapors, the little
pieces Of dry, hot crust and the surg.
ing, boiling waters, were the begin
nings out Of which God was 10 make
our beautiful world, with its pure air.
its blue sky and snowy clouds, IL, dense
woods and fertile fields, its hills and
valleys. its lakes and rivers.
There could have been ma life in
those days neither plant life nor ami.
NAL life. In the first place the crust
was too hot; neither animal nor plant
could live on it, nor in the waters that
touched il. In the second place. ami.
mails and plants cannot lis" without
sunlight; and no suuiigt' could
pierce those MASSES of h,.. vapor.-
Tlvesa &. IrOflOh ia 81 r.1.
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