The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-03-15
AT THE UNIVERSITY.
TAL1ACE DELIVERS
AN INTERESTING LECTURE.
The Field and History of the Science
of GeoIOgS-NumerOus Stereopti-
con Views, Illustrative of an His
toricaI Sketch of the Earth.

In the announcement of President
Talmage's lecture it was stated that
the doors would be closed at ten
minutes past 8, but before the time for
the lecture to begin had arrived all
the seats we're taken, the aisles filled
and the entrance SO crowded that the
doors could moi be closed.
Professor Matthews introduced the
doctor who was warmly applauded as
he stepped to the platform. Geology
was the subject of his discourse, a
brief synopsis of which is az follows:
of the science. with a historical sketch
of the same, in which geology was
shown to be the youngest Of the
natural sciences, the speaker referred
to the common error that geology is
simply a study Of rocks or of frag-
ments Of the earth's crust, similar to
ithOlogy and nlineralogy- Geology
was pronounced to be the science of
the earth as member of the great
world kingdom. The earth cannot be
assigned to any one of the three king
dons of nature. mineral, plant or
animal. The. infancy of geology was
marked by Imaginative theories and
fanciful views, but very recently true
investigation has taken its place The
speaker dwelt upon the declaration Of
our oldest record--''in the beginning"
The beginning Is to US mystical but
yet What man calls the beginning may
in reality be the ending Of preceding
processes. The point was illustrated
by the case Of a lump Of coal burning
TO Vapor and ash. The existence Of
solid fuel seems to be at an end, but
new bodies have come into being; the
burning Of the coal is return to the
state OF matter existing while the coal
ungrounded speculation concerning the
history of the earth was referred to,
and the common error Of reasoning
from incorrect premises by considering
that all geological processes have al
ways been marked by the same IN
tensity and rate, received full illustra-
ton and weight.
The Bible. sacred book as it is,
should not be perverted or wrongly ap-
Piled; aSsuredly the Bible wag not
written as a, text book of geology.
After thus outlining the subject the
stereopticon was used to illustrate an
historical sketch of the earth, between
forty and fifty beautiful views being
shown. The incorrect Use of the term
"earth's crust was referred to. BY
pictures and models disturbances of
strata and faults were shown and GX-
planned. Representative fossils from
all the important systems of rocks
WOlS 1AiOSNa1b~A Ny RtAOSOSldDllS anu
hand paintings upon the screen There
were ammonites, triiobites. and beautf-
ful crinoids or stone lilies. fossil rain
drop marks and rippies. Huge fish of
the Devonian age with beautiful land
scapes of this and the carboniferous
age; then came the huge creatures of
the meSOzoic era or age of reptiles,
the great Ash lizard, ichthyosaurus,
and among flying creatures the winged
reptile, pterodactyl, the 1ong necked
plesioSauruS and many otherg Slabs
Of stone with footprints Of animals
were shown bound together IN books
The microscopic wonders of chalk
from among the cretaceous deposits re-
ceived attention. a scene Of the
glacial period and the great ice cap
covering a large part OF the earth, and
the skulls of large animals character
izing the cenozoic period
There was the tapir like anoplothe-
rum, ana the horse like paleotheriun,
the huge and unWie!diy megatherium.
and the colossal n2stodon and NAM
moth, and among birds The huge
dinorniS and the odd looking dodo.
The lecture showed clearly that there
has been an all pervading unity in the
development of the earth leading by
stages perhaps to be measured by
countless years to the great consume
ton of habitabIe earth; the advent
Of man was declared to be no chance.
but the crowning piece of "a great
Creators labor.