Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1893-03-25

he saws: I'VE find in water the only
tireless agent that works in the mcdiica-
ton of continents; and, instead of being
the great rerovator Of the land, as il is
popularity conceived. il is the great de
stroyer. The destruction Of ancient
Rome has been attributed to time. But
il was due simply 10 the moisture OF the
atmosphere working through chemical
agencies 1t was water, invisible but
penetrating even the very stones OF the
wonderful city, that caused her 10 crum-
/ BILE into ruins, and gave to modern
Rome a grade greatly elevated above
her ancient grade, But il works not alone
in the cities and towns. There is not
hill on earth that has not been shorn OF
something of its altitude by this subtle
force, and there is not a mountain on
earth, If not titfully renewed by volcanic
action that has not been compelled to
lower its peak before this universal lev
eler of the exalted. 1t may bea dread
full thought, indeed, but we do not know
absolutely that we are dependent on the
earthquake and the volcano for keeping
our continental habitat above the level
of the ocean; for water not only destroys,
but it has the persistency and force to
carry of to its burial place in the sea all
that it has caused to perish 1t may take
a long time at its task; but working
either in its gaseous, its liquid, or its
solid form, il seems TO be the most per-
sistent thing on earth, never perishing,
and, however divided and invisible at
times, always ready to unite its forces for
a supreme effort at the degradation of a
continedt.
How THE OCEAN BECAME SALT, -
Prof Edward Hill read paper before
the Victoria Institute, London, recently,
ON GLOW the Waters of the Ocean Be
came Salt From an inquiry into the
character and aihnitics of the organic
forms of past geological ages, the con
clusion was justified that the waters of
the ocean must have been salt from very
early geological times, but it by no
saline as those of the present day. There
were two ways by which they might ac-
count for the Salinity Of the ocean waters
from very early periods of geological
time. First, 10y supposlng that the prim
eval waters were saturated with acid
gases which were held in suspension in
the vapor surrounding the incandesccnt
globe; or, secondly, that the saliuity re-
suited from a process resembling that by
which salt lakes of the present day hac
been formed. He thought that they
must concur with Dir. StcrrN
Hunt that from some cause or othcI
chlorine largely aboundcd in the
waters Of the primcyal ocean
as by far the greater proportion of tn,
salts were chloridcs, and chlorine wa
but very slightly represented in rive
/ waters at the present day. From th'
| examples of closed lakes they coul(
| determine the process of saliniicatiol
with the utmost certainty. Through
t out greater or shorter periods these lake
had been receiving the waters of river
J bringing down both mechanically sus
! pended sediments and chemically dis
solved salts, slicatcs and carbonatos
! The sediments were prccipitatcd over thu
? bottoms of the lakes, and the water being
carried off into the atmospher9 in thu
, form of vapor as far as it entered, lief
=. behind the dissolved ingredients. Thcs
necessarily augmented in quantity, an'
9 ultimately the waters of the lakes becam
:. saturated with salts and carbonatcs
y which were then deposited The oceal
, was a closed lake of enormous mag
nitude and they were thus brough
10 the conclusion that the saltnes
= Of the sea might have originate,
In very much the same way as had tina
u Of the Dead Sea. Lake Oroomiah, o
;, the Great Salt Lake of Utah, and man,
> others which possessed in common tn
: characteristic Of having no outlet. Whcl
" the great envelope of vapor which sur
= rounded the incandcscent globe began +
condense upon its cooling surface, tn
% resulting waters, though containing, a
e DR. Sterry Hunt supposed, acid gases
J. were destitute Of saline ingredients Tn
o process Of sainication began with IN
first streams which entered the seas fror
p the bordering uplands, and this process
c carried on throughout the long ages pro
Is ceding the silurian period, brought tn
d waters 10 condition suited to sustai
. the life Of forms Of inhabitants reprcscr
talive Of those which inhabited the Ocea
at the present day. These long age
might be supposed to include, not onI
the archWan and azoic periods, but TIN
i. during which the first crust was in cour
! Of fermentation over the incandesccl
globe.
J. THE FoEuArfOS or CoAL.-Naturc
.e still making coul, though, unfortunatel,
8 not at rate anything like fast euoug