The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1899-07-06

corning the history iof the earth worthy
OF his notice, until the beginning of the
10th century. In 1917 some shells dug
from the earth attVerona, Italy, be-
came the subject, discussion, which
may be considered as having laid the
foundation OF true geological know.
ledge.
l will briefly state here, that, although
such shells and remains had been found
before in various places, no persons OF
learning or judgment had troubled
themselves as to tn agency, which had
placed them where it was supposed i'm
possible that the sea had ever been.
The idea that the sea had changed it's
bed, or that the strata had been elevated
by subterranean forces, being then en-
tirely unknown. OF course at present
such phenomena ale readily accounted
for on the hypothesis, that many parts
of the earth have been thrown up from
the bottom of the sea by volcanic
action.
L will omit giving the theories as ad-
vanced at the time of the finding of the
shells in 1917 at Verona, and get down
to this one question, how are we to
solve this problem? In what manner
or by what changes or events are we to
account for the present appearances or
condition of the earths surface?
The Hutton theory (plutanic) briefly
stated is this: The materials which
form the present surface of the globe,
have been derived from the ruins of
ancient rocks, which have been dis
integrated and puiverized by the con.
tinual action of the torrents and cur
rents of water; and by the same means
these materials have been transported
to the bottom of the ocean. Here they
have been consolidated, partly by time
and partly by the pressure of the
water, but chiefly by the effects of sub
terranean heat. By the same cause,
more powerful exerted, that is by the
expansive power of volcanic heat, the
strata thus formed have been elevated
from the bottom of the ocean. to occupy
the situations, under which they now
appear, and thus the strata are thrown
into different degrees of inclination to
the horizon, or are broken and dis
located, or appear in nearly vertical
position, depending on the degree of
force, or the point of it's application.
Sometimes, also, where the heat has
been most intense, an entire fusion of
the materials has been affected. The
rocks, which are not stratafed, or not
composed of layers, as granite, are sup
posed to have undergone complete
fusion, while those, which consist of
layers, such as mica slate, have only
been softened by the heat. The same
disintigration and corrosion, and the
same transportation to the sea, is con-
stantly going on with respect to our
present rocks, so shat finally these ma
terials will be again restored to the sea,
to be again raised above its surface by
volcanic fire, as before; and as the
present continents were formed by the
destruction of ancient rocks, so future
continents will be formed in their turn
by rocks, now preparing for that
purpose.
Now you have the two theories of
geology, and we are ready, as said, at
some future time to take up some of
the different subjects under their re-
spective heads, and determine how some
of the wonderful phenomena are &C.
counted for. will state here, however,
that the Hutton theory plutanic will
account for much greater number of
the geological phenomena than Wer-
ner's, for instance, we must either sup
pose that the sea occupied the earth
for ages, or that these strata were
found under the ocean, and elevated
by some mighty force, and we know
that islands are thrown up from the
sea by volcanics force at the present
day, and it is Opay reasonable to attri-
butte the same effect to the same cause
anciently, otherwise we could not &C.
count for the present situation of stra-
titled rocks containing sea shells.
w. II. A.