The morning call., 1892-08-15
A VISION OF A DEAD PAST.

The student of prehistoric times will find
much to interest him in the fossil collection
which the National Museum at WASHINGTON
is preparing TO send to the Chicago exhi-
hition. Among other curious exhibits will
be the fossils which have lately been taken
from lower >ilRrian rocks In the valley of
the Arkansas. near Canon City, Colo. They
are remarkable as being the first fossils of
vertebrate animals which have been found
below the upper suTian. And the lesson
they teach is that the work of creation had
been further advanced at the middle of the
silurian period than has been generally be-
lieved.
Ge0logists generally gree that the branch
of the Rocky Mountains which in Utah and
Colorado is known as the Saguaehe range
was dry land when the prairies lying east
OF II were submerged under the ocean, per-
haps indefinitely as far as the Atlantic, per-
haps only as far as the Appalachian range.
Down the eastern slopes of this dry land
which might be called the Saguaehe Island
or contlnent-dluvia streams necessarily
poured, depositng sediment which after
ward soldified into sedimentary rock. Near
Canon City. Colo, and again in the Book
Mountains of Utah. layer upon layer of this
sedimeEtary rock lies superimposed, having
never heen disturbed by subterTanean
action or fanlting 1t is in these rocks that
the new fossils have been found. and the
wise men at Washington. on calculations Of
their own, reckon that thirty millions of
years have elapsed since these verIebrates
lived and moved and had their being in the
world. The reckoning is the more curious
as on the tops of the mountains of the
Saguache range fossils OF lingula of the
Iifr-l H.
that at the time they aourished the mount
aims were under water.
What is interesting in the state
ment of the Washington scientists is
the attempt to fix periods of time for
thr various stages OF creation How
difficult this is may be inferred from the fact
that no one can figure how long it takes for
the coral insect to build wall, or what
period Of time has elapsed since the last
ice age occurred. Geologists have INDUCED
III ingenious gueSses as TO the number of
years which il took to convert a body of
vegetable matter into serviceable coal, but,
alter all, their guesSss are entitled TO no
more respect than other gueSses. Now,
the Washington philosophers reckon that
100000 years have elapsed since YER
tebrate creatures lived in the lower
siiurian. One is curious to know the data
on W hich their conjecture or their estimate
rests. Ii we knew how long il took to
build up the form ations which oYerie the
lower silnrian. we ought to be able to fig
ure out tie date of the first appearance of
man on the planet.
The trouble is that we have no footrule TO
measure the several s'epS of creation. A
lew years ago an army officer undertook 10
reckon the rate at which the coral insect
works by measuring the growth of coral
reef at Fort jefferson. records OF the depth
OF water having been kept for nearly
century. lie found that in 20 years the
reef had risen one inch. hence he inferred
that it took The insect 400 years 10 build
wall two eet high. But it was evident tbat
so small an increase or decrease of the
water depth might have been caused by a
variety of disturbing Influences, and The
calculation was rejected. a geologist in
the Appalachian region figures that q, coo
feet of sedmentary deposit divides the up
per from the lower silurian. Here was a
basis for comparison if one could have
ascertained beyond question how long il
took Tor the sea To deposit one inch OF
sediment in that region; but no one could
determine that
The secular periods of creation, like the
planetary distances, are so vast that the
mind can hardly grasp them. We eau sea
the effects with the naked eve, but, thus
lar, we cannot begin TO measure how long
II took to produce these effects. 1t is easy
Tor the Imagination TO coDjure up tropical
forest in which the small plants were 20
feet high, the tall trees thrust their tops
Into the clouds, and the seethiug soil, smok-
ing with tropical heat, swarmed with g-
gantic batrachians and hideous monsters
OF forbldding mien. but how long 1t took
TO convert this preadamite wilderness into
a solid bed Of hard coal that can be cut
out IN chunks and used to light fires, the
wIsest philosopher of the Gay would be
puzzled TO determine