The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-01-15

"' ~ouio y dovo Lived In Fresh Wa
ter-hIoses' Short Account.
The sen Mt present contains 90, oOO.-
900. 0O0, 900, 900 tons of salt. If this salt
could DO gathered in n solid form and
compressed into the shape of u cube. it
would contain 10.173, 900 cubic miles.
Each edge OF such u cube would meas
ure somewhat moro than 200 miles.
inns is enough to cover all the land on
this globe with q uniform layer of salt
to n depth of 1000 foet.
This statement as to the saltiness Of
the sen is interesting enough in itself.
but it is also suggestive. The questions
may we'll be asked, Where did all this
salt come from, and what is the use Of
ltF Several scientific gentlemen rave
attempted to answer this first question.
their efforts IRE not entirely salts
factory. The second question is not so
difficult.
According to the history Of the crea-
ton OF the world, rs told by Moses in
the Genesis, it is implied that the ocean
existed before the land, for, on the
third day" tho water under the beoy-
ems was gathered together and the dry
land appeared.
Thls statement has bothered q great
number of able philosophers, who, in
their effort to stick to the letter of the
Scripture and at the same time to rem
son out everything On perfectly natural
principles, have been puzzled to know
now such a grand transformation could
be accomplished in one day. And their
perpleXlty was not relieved when learn
Ell biologists announced that it must
nave required ages for the waters that
enVeloped the earth to subside and re-
veal this land that lay beneath.
But When 1T was suggested that the
word day" as used by Moses meant,
not a period of "a hours, but an era of
thousands of years, the difficulty was
removed. This meaning of the word
day is at present generally accented
oy devout scientists, who now declare |
that there is nothing impossible in Mo
ses' account of the creation.
This description. TO be sure, is la
mentally brief. 1t was hardly adequate
TO pass over such a huge event as the
creation OF n world in a few lines. That |
was a big story from a newspaper point
OF view, and all thoughtful persons
must acknowledge that Moses did not
take advantage of his opportunity.
Accepting tho Mosaic account, DR.. r. |
,. Hunt, q learned writer OH the phys |
lcai history of the globe, supplies what
moses left out, and i'll SO doing he gives
q very good reason for the presence of
the salt i'll tho sea. Having arrived ut
the point of Moses meager narrative
where the earth was in n molten state
and surrounded by an envelope Of gases
and OF water vapor. DR.. Hunt says:
1.-The carbonates, chlorides and sui
phates Chemical combinations of car
chlorine and sulphur with oxygen)
were changed into silicates. The car
Don' chlorine and sulphur, being thus
freed from the oxygen, separated in the
lorm OF acid gases. These, with nitro
gen, vapor of water and Il probable ex-
cess OF oxygen, formed the atmosphere.
winch was very dense (and also yery
1nhealthy).
1.-The surface of the earth was cover.
'd with Jumps of molten rock (probably
resembling furnace slag). The depressed
PARTS or the surface were filled with
heated solutions of h%ydrochloric
md s%ulphuric acids, which alto into the
surface and decomposed it. In this wav
he siilcates were changed to pure silica,
ahlng the form of quartz as the atmos-
mere cooled, and the condensation of
vaporous atmosphere produced sea
wafer, holding i'll solution salts of sodi-
I'M, calcium, magnesium and ammoni-
III. h atmosphere, thus freed of its
'oxlous clements, became puro and fit
or man.
1t is therefore evident that the sea
ms been salty from the creation of tho
'orld. The salt does not come, as is
supposed. from friction of the
Sater against salt rocks in the bed
the ocean. This, then, answers the
irst question. Where did the salt come
rom? The second question is pretty
iell answered by Mr.. G.. w. Little
alcs III Appleton's Popular Science
lonthly.
1T seems" he says, Chat the sea
'as mado salt i'll tho beginning as q
art OF tho grand design of the Creator
D provide for the system of evolution
Inch has been going on since the crea- ,
Many distinct species of living s
oXist in tho sea as a result of !
IS salinity, and their remains have :
lrgely contributed to the growth of con-
n minute creatures that have lived !
the sea for ages past have left endur- {
lg monuments i'll the shape of islands, s
'cks II continents. If the sea had not F..
cen salty, these marine animals could G
have existed and secreted the hard I
known rs q ''calcareous skele-
N" which has largely contributed to {.
10 growth Of continents. Among these ]